Workcamp 2 in July '13

Once upon a time, I spent two weeks with four amazingly awesome people in the lovely Pułtusk. It was my second workcamp, I was still full of memories from the first but at the same time looking forward to the new one. Here is how it went:

The arrival day was the 14^th of July, a sunny Sunday. We had a little meeting to discuss the two weeks’ programme and we set up cleaning and cooking teams to share work in the flat. After that we started getting to know each other. We got to know that Hwan from South Korea plays the guitar and likes J Rabbit. It turned out that Marzena, our leader is a fan of travelling and she finished a workcamp in Germany the previous day and Katja, our new friend from Ukraine likes photography and Amelie is her favourite film.

The next day we headed towards the daycare right after breakfast. The kids were really excited to meet the new team of volunteers and after introduction and name games, they were already treated as good old friends. After lunch, we had a meeting with Justyna. She works at Polskie Radio and for one day they were broadcasting from Pułtusk. We first made a short video and then came the interviews for Czwórka. We were asked about our experience in volunteering, motivation to work with kids and future plans.

In the following days we played a looot of games inside and outside. Sometimes we became detectives, then we played really serious table football, basketball, badminton and table tennis matches. Sometimes we were exhausted and tired and fed up with kids jumping on and around us. But these kids are so full of love and energy that it is almost imposible to be mad at them. Almost.

For one day, I joined the workcampers in Wieliszew for an eco-training. It was good to meet new people and to have a day off from kids. They are sweet but after three weeks straight, you need the break. Meanwhile, the kids visited the local fire brigade. On Friday went for a daytrip with the kids to a traditional Polish cottage. We got to know how to prepare home made kompot, sour cream and butter. We met cute sheeps, chickens, goose and rabbits. It was obvious that we started singing ‘Złota Kaczka’ when seeing the ducks.

Our weekend turned out to be a really sporty one. We visited the workcampers in Komornica and we went kayaking together. We started from Dębe and arrived to Modlin. That’s 15 kilometers. Our lifeguards were kind enough to give us a ride back to the school which was our accommodation. Aching arms, wet clothes and burned skins everywhere but it was worth it. In the evening we had a campfire and played some funny games together. In the morning we went to Zegrze. After a missed bus, my friend, Kasia came to pick us up by car and we went to the beach.  We ate pierogi, everyone’s favourite Polish dish. We got so inspired that the next day we made it at home for dinner. Surprisingly, it was really good at our first try.

Let’s not forget about country presentations! Hwan showed us beautiful landscapes and traditional dresses, told us about the history of Korea and of course, Samsung. Then we singed and danced Gangnam style. The day before we learned the choreography for a cute Korean song about a frog and the kids really enjoyed dancing it with us. Katja introduced us Ukraine. We saw pictures of her town, Odessa and some very delicious dishes. We learned the Russian alphabet and then the task was to write down our names. During Hungarian presentation, I first tested what they remember from the previous one last week and then showed some pictures of Hungarian national foods. Then I taught them some simple phrases in Hungarian and also showed them the famous saying about the friendship of Hungary and Poland. Then, I made a huuuge mistake by asking if they had any questions. They had a lot!!!! :D I was happy to see that they are interested, though. We also had a disco for the kids and the day after, it was the closing show of the summer camp. We spent our weekend in Warsaw. Marzena and her Mom were kind enough to host us for one night and we had a really great and well-organised sightseeing tour.

What have I learned?

More and more important and useful Polish words (especially if you work with kids), like ‘Późnej’ and “Poczekaj’. I also learned how to make pierogi with a Korean and not to disappoint our leader.

How locals reacted

As time went by everybody knew that we are foreigners but no one knew for sure what we are actually doing here. We got some smiles and friendly talks with some of the parents. They were happy to have their kids in an international environment.

Do widzenia,

Zsófi