Visit to Szkoła Podstawowa Nr 1

Hey everyone!

This week, we had the first snowfall of the year, finally! I was really scared that we will not see the snow this winter, which is so sad and shows the seriousness of the global warming. However, fortunately we could enjoy a lovely and white view. Pułtusk is even prettier when it is all in white J

Besides snowfall, we were also honored by an invitation from Szkoła Podstawowa NR 1

im. Konstytucji in Nasielsk this week. It is a primary school in Nasielsk, which is a small town close to Pułtusk. We went there to meet the students from 4 to 8 grade and introduce our projects, countries and have a quiz afterwards.  Firstly, we were welcomed by the director accompanied with nice conversations and coffee. We introduced ourselves to them and got to know about the school. She introduced the school to us and we visited some classes. We didn’t stay very long not to interrupt them, however the students and the teachers were very nice and welcoming. We had a chance to see how they have their classes so we could compare if there is a difference between their system and ours.

After visiting the classes, we went to the room that we met students. First, the voluntary club of the school had a presentation about their activities. It was very inspirational to see what they’ve achieved as the voluntary club. They are responsible young people who are trying to have an impact on society, which is really impressive.

After their presentation, we had introduced ourselves, our countries and our projects. When we finished, we wanted to see what they have learned from us so we had an interactive quiz with them. Results were surprisingly good! I can say that they were really interested in different cultures and they asked a lot of questions to us when we were having conversations with them. At the end of the meeting, they gave us diplomas which were designed under our names. It was very nice of them, thank you once again 😍

We all had a great time in Szkoła Podstawowa Nr 1. Also, they want to host a volunteer in future which means that we will be in touch 😊

This is all from Pułtusk for now. 😋

Have a great weekend!

-Hande Ozdemir

Primary school in Przemiarowo

Today, we were invited to a primary school in Przemiarowo.

We had the first meeting with the young group. We have introduced ourselves and we gave some informations about our countries. Since they were young, they needed translation sometimes and Sylwia and the teachers helped us about it. 😊

After the presentations we divided the class into two. One group prepared sandwiches while the other group were playing games. Thanks to the activities, we could have a chat with the students and shared something together.

Then we have met the older group. Their levels of English were better, so this time, we could talk about ourselves and our cultures more.

After that, we have made two different salads, one Turkish and one Polish. Both were really delicious, so it was a good team work.✌😋

By the time we were making the salads, the other group were playing games like Tingo Tango. And they were punished with tongue twisters which was really funny. Also the students and the volunteers had a chance to talk about their lives, hobbies and so on.

At the end of the day, all of us had so much fun😊
Dziękuję bardzo!


-Hande Ozdemir

Language Cafe at Prus

Today, we visited Zespół Szkół im. B. Prusa w Pułtusku with Chien for Language Cafe meeting.

 We started with an introduction of ourselves. We talked about our background, volunteering and the project which brought us to Pułtusk. We also wanted to get to know the students, so they have introduced themselves as well.

After that, we showed some pictures from Turkey and Taiwan. We have given some general information about our countries and cultures. They were really interested in the pictures we showed.

Chien talked about Taiwan and the most famous cities, foods and drinks of her country. It was pretty exciting to learn about Taiwan. 😅

Then I have started talking about Turkey. I showed them some of the cities, typical Turkish breakfast, Turkish coffee and the very popular Turkish series 😹 It was funny that most of their grandmothers are watching those series.

After we introduced our countries, they wanted to learn some phrases in Chinese and in Turkish language. It was great to see that they were really interested in our culture. Then we taught them some basic words and sentences in our languages.

They all tried to pronounce the words correctly and to be honest, they were pretty good at it! 😍

It was a great meeting for both of us! ✌ We are looking forward to meet them again.


-Hande Ozdemir

The new volunteer, Hande!

Hi!

      

         I’m Hande. I am 24 years old. I’m from Izmir which is the third biggest city of Turkey and it locates in the west part of Turkey by the Aegean Sea.  I have studied English language and literature and I have graduated a year ago. I have worked as an English teacher at some private schools in my city Izmir. I have gained experience with kindergarten, primary and secondary school students. I like working with both age groups even it may be difficult to communicate with the kindergarten kids sometimes J However we had so much fun together, even they don’t understand me all the time. We were singing songs, playing with flashcards, making handcrafts and sometimes watching animations in English. They really liked the activities we had done and they started learning the language eventually. At least, they were familiar with the basic daily words that I was using every day and they were able to answer my questions in English.

               

          In my free times, I like reading books and watching series. Since I have studied literature, I am familiar with most of the masterpieces of English and American literature. I also like to cook. I really like to try new recipes. Mostly, I cook Turkish traditional dishes but I also like to try something from different cuisines. Sometimes I can fail but at least I try to do my best J Another thing that I like to do is taking a walk or running in fresh air. I try to go and take a walk by the sea every day. Also I like to travel and explore new places. I like to meet new people from different cultures and introduce my culture to them.

        I really like to participate in cultural exchange activities. I went to Romania as an Erasmus exchange student and I lived and studied there for one year. I have met lots of great people and we had so much fun together. Also, last summer, I went to USA for work and travel program. I worked there in a restaurant as a waitress. Again, I have had very good friends and I have learned a lot. Each day, I was exploring something new. I could have the chance to compare my culture and the new culture that I’m living in. I also had chance to introduce my own culture to people from different countries.

        After one year of working as a teacher, I wanted to participate in a voluntary project. I have heard about European voluntary services when I was in Romania for my Erasmus. Then, I have started researching about it and decided that it is very interesting for me since I really like social interaction and intercultural environments. After I decided that I want to be a volunteer, I have started looking for projects on the database of European Solidarity Corps. I have applied for some of them. I wanted to find one which works with students mostly. Then I finally have found which really attracts my attention and luckily they accepted me. Now, I am a volunteer at International Youth Exchange and Voluntary Service Centre in Pultusk. We are promoting volunteering and we do activities with the kindergarten and high school students and seniors. I believe that it is a great opportunity to take part in such activities because it brings people together as a community and improves us in many ways. It is a good way of self-realization and also a nice opportunity to learn how to be respectful to the differences. 

     
        I am so excited for this 11 months :)


        -Hande Ozdemir



       This project is funded by European Union.

WELCOME TO QUIZ-CLUB!

Hey everyone!

My today’s post is about QUIZ CLUB that we start last Thursday, 27^th of March.  First of all a couple of words about a conception of the game: it is an intellectual team game where participants can compete in smartness and ability to work in team. The game consists of 4 rounds such as picture-guessing round, music round and 2 rounds with questions. Questions touch different spheres of knowledge – geography, history, music, cinema and ect. The minimum of participants in each team starts from 2 but of course if more than better!

These kinds of games are very popular in my city Irkutsk and we even different types – for example, for literature and music fans. There is also closed club only for VIP (yes, yes - our businessmen compete not only in market (smile))! Moreover we found out that in many towns of Poland exists a PubQuiz game.

We played QUIZ in an office of our organization in Pultusk. Participants spontaneously divided into 2 team with surprising names – “boys” and “girls”. In first round boys and girls were asked to guess the country by an image of national holiday. Our participants were very prepared, so this task wasn’t that difficult! Questions were more difficult because they had to recall knowledge from different spheres and demonstrate witness. They easily guess the name of “the most patriotic” pizza Margarita that has 3 national colors of Italy but it was challenging to guess why Japanese government called on all employees to go to work in the summer without ties and jackets. But anyway after some discussions and deliberations guys found out that thrifty Japanese just saved electricity, they wanted to cut off expenses for air conditioner! In my opinion the most interesting round was musical one. The task is to guess film by soundtrack. And this round was crucial one! In 3 round number of points were more or less the same, but it appeared that girls know more soundtracks and it led them to victory!

It was a testing of new kind of activity and I think it’s a viable idea! I hope all the participants enjoy it and have ambitious to play and win. And of course everyone is welcome to join us next time. Follow our Facebook page and web-site to keep up with our events.        

Daria

Jak było luty?

As all of the months lately, February has also been active in the life of our organisation. Let’s see what happened with us in the past month.

 

Spoktanie z Węgier, 20 February

There are some activities that are becoming regular, like ‘Spotkanie z Węgier’ every second Thursday. At these meetings people have the chance to get to know the culture of Hungary through its cinematography. The films are provided for us by the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw. We start the meeting with a bit of introduction to the film, a couple of minutes dedicated to get to know the background and characters of the story. Then, after watching a film, there is discussion about the film and usually the conversation continues for hours.

The other two Thursdays of the month is always dedicated to something fun and interesting. The most popular is ‘Czwartek z planszówkami’, a meeting where we play board games together while practicing languages. In our game collection we have: Settlers of Catan, Dixit, Jungle Speed, Wieża (Polish Jenga)

Patience and stady hands are the key
to be a Jenga master

and a Hungarian version of Monopoly with bankcards (with translated instructions, of course) just to mention some. Participants are also welcome to bring their own games for these events. This is how we had the chance to get to know ‘Ryzyko’. My personal favourite is of course, Jenga. It is always funny to play this game while solving impossible situations.

The last two weeks of the month, we were spending with children at Świetlica during winter holidays. We supported the teachers there with their activities and we got some time every day to carry out our own ideas. Just like during the workcamp in July, we created a two-week-competition for them and each day we gave them different tasks where they had the chance to  get points. For a couple of days, two of our fellow volunteers joined us to help with activities and bringing their own ideas. Pia and Tom both spent a really nice time with the kids, while introducing them Germany. Pia gave them some general information about the country and Tom taught them some songs with the help of his trumpet.

The kids really enjoyed trying to play the trumpet
after learning German songs

Russian and Hungarian day also did not miss from the programme. After a general presentation, the kids were given flags and traditional symbols to colour. This was followed by a little quiz to test their memory. We also tried to organize a sport day for them but we never managed to find a perfect time for it. Once the weather was not so nice, then the other day it was impossible to discipline and organize the children into their groups so it only had a shorter version. As we are teaching the children English, a quiz about their knowledge and memory about words was also part of the activities. As Zimowiska took place during carnival season, it was obvious that we are going to finish it with a little party. The days before we were creating masks for ourselves and on the last day, we celebrated with balloons and dancing. We also had a closing and award ceremony to end the competiton. All participants were given cute certificates and the first three got bronze, silver and gold medals just like at the Olympics.

On the 27th of February, we organized a tandem meeting. As this day was Tłusty Czwartek, we were welcoming our guests with delicious pączki. Those who came had the chance to practice their Russian, German and English knowledge. We prepared different topics but in some places, the conversation was not dedicated to a specific topic.

That’s all folks for now. Thank you for everybody’s help and participating during this month, it really has been a pleasure to spend it with you.

If you want to know more about our activities, follow our blog and facebook page, more information and updates are coming soon!

Na razie,

Zsófi

Czwartek z planszówkami - 2

Hi there!

Time goes fast, two weeks has flown and 13th of February we met again for playing our favourite board games. A lot of fun, new and old friends - we love this kind of work! Guys, thank you for coming!  

Some of us like stratagic games

And others prefer crazy Jangle Speed 

  

"Czwartek z planszówkami" or "Thursday with board games"

“Czwartek z planszówkami” or “Thursday with board games” is our new activity. The idea of it is easy as a name of the event: we invite people from Pułtusk to play famous board games, practice English and just have fun!

Preparation didn’t take a lot of time – so at 5 p.m. we had 4 tables with different games and were refreshing rules when guys come. Almost all of our guests were from Ruszkowski – we have been visited this school during this week. Erasmus students from Pułtusk also participated – this time my new mentor Maria joined us!

Some of guys started to play “Wieża” with Zsófi, but Maria, Tomek and I joined Sylwia to play “Settlers from Catan”. It’s a game with many-many rules which are difficult to remember from first time…especially if you are a foreigner! But what can I say? It was challenging I was practicing polish and moreover I know some new polish words! Playing “Settlers” we didn’t notice how time had gone but meanwhile other guys managed to play a lot of games! For example, besides “Wieża” they played “Jangle Speed” and “Monopoly”. The story of last one is really interesting! Our coordinator Sylwia borrowed it from one Cultural Center. And originally this game is in Hungarian and probably, no one would play it if we didn’t have Zsófi who carefully translated it into English! Thank you Zsófi, you gave second life for the game and a lot of fun for us!

Unfortunately time has gone so fast but for sure it’s not the last meeting. “Czwertek z planszówkami” is in Pułtusk and will stay here for a long time, I think. Board games are a super nice alternative to sitting in front of computer in cold winter! It’s a chance to meet new people and practice English or even learn some Hungarian or Russian! And as usual - everybody is welcome!

Follow our web-site and Facebook for detailed info about our events.

The first Hungarian Film Club

Let’s take a look at last week before starting preparation for visiting schools this week. Thursday was the day of the first Hungarian Film Club. Before the event, I was promoting in schools with the help of teachers. They gave me some time from their lessons and I had the chance to introduce the idea to the students. I told them a bit about Hungary, then about the development of cinematography, some important films and finally, the film club itself.

The poster

I also got a lot of technical help from Sylwia, our dear coordinator. Without her, I would have never figured out how to make posters with Publisher. :D We are borrowing the films from the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw, they are our official supporter.

 I am planning to have these kind of meetings twice a month, on Thursdays at 17:00 in our office at 3 Maja 19. This film club is not only for watching films. Nonono. The idea is to start the meetings with a little introduction, then watch the film which can be followed by discussions. This way, the students don’t only have the chance to get to know more about Hungary, watch foreign films but also to practice their English in a friendly environment.

As I told you, our first film club was last week. Finally, 8 students from Gimnazjum nr 1 came for the first meeting. We were welcoming them with the and 'kókuszgolyó’, the easiest cookie that you might know from a previous meeting.

Kókuszgolyó and tea

These students were encouraged by Pani Iwanowska and their Geography teacher. There has been a little misunderstanding, as they thought that they are going to see a film about Hungary and that the meeting will only last one hour. As they were expecting to get to know some things about Hungary, I started with telling a few things about Hungary while showing them a poster with pictures. After that, I introduced them the film that they were about to watch. The film, Sorstalanság, is based on a book and its author, Kertész Imre got a Nobel Prize in 2002. The story is about the life of a Hungarian Jewish boy who is deported to different concentration camps. It was inspired by personal experience, as the writer himself is a survivor of the Holocaust. The film version premiered in 2005 after long years of production. The producer is Koltai Lajos. Before, he has been a cameraman,  this is why the result is a beautiful scenery. The film also has an amazing soundtrack, composed by the world famous, award winning Ennio Morricone. Many students had to leave before the end of the film as they did not expect that the meeting is lasting so long.

The room is ready for the students

All in all, I am satisfied with the result. Every start is difficult, but I hope that I will be able to keep going with the film club as I really enjoyed the preparation and the meeting with the students, as well. The next film club is on the 6^th of February at 17:00! For more information about it, follow our blog and facebook page! 

That’s all folks! : )

Zsófi

The story of a nice, snowy Wednesday

Wednesday has been really nice for us and not necessarily because of the arrival of the snow. We were invited to Gimnazjum Nr 2 in Popławy where we had the chance to introduce international voluntary service, our countries and we also prepared a little competition for the students to make the lesson more interesting. We had two lessons, one with a group of about 20 students, the next one was around 30 students. Let’s take a closer look to the events, shall we? :)

Explaining the task to the girls' team

The lesson started with introduction of voluntary service, presented by our dear coordinator, Sylwia. She was also helping us with translation of tasks later on. Then came country presentations. The students got to know more about Russia, its traditions, crazy winter and the Polish village in Siberia. They now also know the height of the Hungarian Parliament, what inventions Hungarian scientists gave the world as well as some basic phrases. After that, the students were split into teams. In case of the first class, we had the boys’ and the girls’ team and at the second class, we divided them in three teams with the popular counting method. The teams had two tasks. 

The boys during some serious work

One was concentrated on Geography of the two countries. They had to find the countries that are not neighbours and for extra points, they could also write the name of the neighbouring country in the correct place on the map. While these were being corrected, a new challenge began: recognising pictures. We were showing the pictures on the projector and the task was to raise the flag of the country where the picture belongs. The fastest one gets the point. Then we added all the points and the team with the biggest number of points was given a certificate to prove their knowledge of Hungarian and Russian culture.

After the lessons have finished and we have eaten our delicious obiad, we had the chance to take a walk in this beautiful, modern and well-equipped school. All teachers were kindly welcoming us and it was great to see that the students enjoyed our visit, as well. For sure, we had a great time and we are looking forward to our next visit! : )

The winner of the second lesson: Team One

To wszystko będzie. Keep warm, everybody!

Zsófi

Christmas is almost here!

Just arrived after Mid-term we were invited to Christmas Evening for Seniors Club, which was appointed on 14th of December. As international volunteers we shared how Christmas and New Year are celebrated in our countries.

Of course there are a lot of similar traditions, but at the same time there is something special in each culture! Let’s see what similar and different have people from Hungary, Poland and Russia about Christmas and New Year. 

Christmas in Hungary

On 24th of December life in Hungary goes around Christmas. Streets are empty and some people are decorating Christmas trees, others are making dinner for the family feast. Traditionally people serve dishes with fish – Halászlé (fish soup) and carp baked with potatoes. Why carp? The answer is easy – the fish symbolize wealth and well-being for everyone! In every family there is own secret recipe they follow for years! Töltött pulyka (stuffed turkey) and Pörkölt (stew) are also favorite dishes in many families. It’s hard to imagine Hungarian Christmas without Bejgli – rolled dough filled with nuts or poppy seeds, people buy them in cake-shops or bake at home. And of course time for presents is the most pleasant time – brightly and colorfully packed they wait for children and adults under the Christmas tree! When dinner is finished religious people go to the Church for Christmas mess. And the day after is the day for visiting relatives and friends.

 

Christmas in Poland

Christmas has an important place in life of Polish people. Especially if we talk about Wigilia, Christmas Eve in Polish. There is a special role for Christmas decorations – the main element of it is a Christmas tree and Christmas wreaths. Also you can see compositions represent Holy Family, Christ Child and Magis. On 24th of December people cover tables with a white covering and set a table for the all family plus for one uninvited guest. Traditionally people lay little piece of hey under the covering as a symbol of well-being for the family. Christmas dinner should consist of 12 dishes.

There is one rule – all the dishes should be without meat. Usually among all the dishes there is “polish borsz” (beetroot broth), pierogi with cabbage, bigos and of course plenty of pies, gingerbread and poppy seed rolls. Every member of family has to try each dish at least once. And traditionally for all Catholical countries after the dinner people go to Christmas mess.

            

New Year and Christmas in Russia

It is well-known that most people in Russia are orthodox. That’s why we have Christmas on 7th of January. The reason is Julian calendar wasn’t change to new Gregorian one and that’s why we have 13 days difference. Unfortunately, most of Christmas traditions in Russia are just history now because in 1918 it was prohibited to celebrate Christmas. It’s so sad to imagine that children didn’t see the Christmas tree that year! Only in 1935 holiday appeared again, but it became rather New Year celebration then Christmas – because of anti-religious propaganda most of traditions were lost in history. Now only most religious people celebrate it according to all traditions, but others just prepare Christmas dinner and spend nice time with families.       

That’s why for most people in Russia nowadays New Year is more significant than Christmas. For this reason there are more traditions connected with New Year. For example, my favorite – making a wish! The secret is to write down a wish on a little piece of paper, burn it, throw ash in a glass with champagne and drink while Kremlin clock is striking twelve times! Also according to Russian tradition how you celebrate New Year's will dictate the course of the next 12 months...So that’s why people prefer celebrate it with family and close friends. And for this reason also there are so many dishes on the table – meat, fish, and different salads and of course caviar! If you have a lot of tasty food on your table, a year will be rich and prosperous.

And of course New Year and Christmas are favorite holidays for all children in the World. In each country there are characters that come especially for this time and secretly give presents to children! In Russia there are even two main characters – Ded Moroz (Father Frost) and his grand-daughter Sniegourochka. Together they go to New Year’s parties in kindergartens and schools and leave sweets and tangerines under the New Year tree. 

In Poland and Hungary live brothers of Russian Ded Moroz - Święty Mikołaj and Mikulás, but unlike from him they bring presents much earlier – at 6th of December. In Hungary there an interesting tradition – good children get chocolates fruits from Mikulás, while bad children get “virgács” (a broom) from little evil-helper of Mikulás – Krampusz. In 24th of December children get presents again – this time from little Jezuska.

In the end I’d like to wish Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for everyone! Enjoy your holidays, spend time actively and gather energy for the next year! See you soon! 

Daria

Once we were fortune-tellers: Anrzejki in Dom Polonii

Since old days Andrzejki is a time of fortune-telling and mystic. Previously people believed that only in the night of 29^th of November all the rituals have special power that makes wishes come true and open gates for the future. Nowadays Adnrzejki is rather a good way to spent time with friends having fun by fortune-telling and usually nobody takes it seriously.

In Andrzejki Party organized by a local Social Care Center for Seniors Club in “Dom Polonii” we had a chance to show our actors abilities as far as we had roles of fortune-tellers there! Preparations started long time before this event and till the last moments we had no idea how it’s going to be, but the task was clear – collect different types of fortune-telling in our countries.

So, at 23^th of November (yes,yes – one week earlier then it is) we arrived to “Dom Polonii” to prepare our “mystic corner” for traditional palm-reading, fortune-telling by books and coffee, but we also had a surprise – unusual fortune-telling from Transylwania! 

Now more about last one. In English it’s so called dumpling fortune-telling. The idea is to put 3-5 little papers with one’s wishes into a piece of dough, then put it into boiling water and wait which dumpling will come to the top first. Of course, that one will turn into reality! It took more preparations but the result was really worthy!

Dumplings are ready!

After official part and little concert, people started to come with their wishes to know the future. We are professionals but we give only good prognoses!

The most popular questions - how long will I live and will I meet my love!

I have to say that we were not the only “wrożkas” (wrożka – a fortune-teller in Polish) in this party. On the left side there were another pavilion where worked a girl from Poznań who was doing wax fortune-telling for us as well.

What your name says about you?

It's not just a shadow - it's a gnome!

How did people react?

It was our first meeting with a Seniors Club in Pułtusk. It’s another generation with different view on modern life but they were very interested to know why we are here and what do we do in Pułtusk. Maybe, they will tell grand children about us and they will join our activities?

What did I learn?

For me the most important thing in that evening was communication. In the very beginning I was frustrated about it because there is a language barrier between us and seniors. But it’s appeared not that much difficult and even funny – at least they understood my Polish!        

Daria