"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

Getting know Russian traditions: lessons in Liceum №1 and Gymnazium in Dzierżenin

I mentioned once that I have my little network of teachers of Russian language. So this time Pani Dorotha from Gymnazium in Dzierżenin and Pani Joanna from Liceum №1 in Pułtusk invited me for lessons about Orthodox Christmas traditions. The structure of the lessons was simple – first short presentation from which students got to know why Orthodoxal Christians have Christmas (“Boże Narodzenie” in Polish or “Рождество Христово” in Russian)  at 7^th of Janua

ry, what a word “sochel’nik” means, what dishes we eat for Christmas and New Year dinner and why New Year is the main winter holiday. Then we saw a fragment from old famous movie “Night before Christmas” («Вечера на хуторе близ Диканьки, или ночь перед Рождеством») directed by A. Rou in 1961. I chose that one because it perfectly illustrates all the people’s Christmas traditions like caroling and fortune-telling. After that students did little task. The main idea of it was to listen to the dialog between Devil and a blacksmith Vakula and then to fill in the missing words. Of course, because of the age students from Liceum were more successful in doing this task and we had pretty much time for comparing Christmas traditions of Poland and Russia. But smaller students from Dzierżenin were also intrested and could even answer some of mine questions in Russian!  

I really enjoy making such kind of lessons and can’t wait when I will meet these students! Next lesson for students in Liceum is in February and it will be about Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. With children from Gimnazium we will meet in the end of April for an Easter lesson.  

     Daria

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

New year, new ideas

Hello everybody!

I hope you are having a great time in this beautiful, sunny day. I started the week quite actively and early. I am planning to create a Hungarian film club here in Pułtusk, so I visited Liceum to introduce myself and to promote this idea.

It all started after I have arrived back from holidays. I have had the idea of a personal project in mind for a long time, I just did not have anything concrete. I wanted to create something which helps me introduce my country and at the same time it gives me the chance to get closer to local youth in a fun way. This is how the idea was born. Let’s see the process:

After some brainstorming with my dear coordinator, Sylwia, it was the time to make some posters and flyers for promotion. It’s enough to say that I am not going to be good friends with Publisher. I also asked some teachers to meet me. I told them about the idea and they were kind enough to help me with realizing my project. My other big supporter was the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw.

I have already visited them once back in October, that time I was just collecting information. This time I was more prepared and they were eager to lend me the film I chose. They also suggested sending a report about the first meeting and if it becomes regular, they offered to include my film club in their monthly programme. Aren’t they the best?

And now we have arrived to today’s promotion lessons. I prepared a presentation that lasts about 15 minutes.

I told the students a bit about Hungary which was followed by some information concerning film industry in Hungary. I also introduced them a couple of films that might be shown later on. I was very happy to see some interested faces, nothing is better than being appreciated. (Maybe chocolate ;))

My idea is not to just simply watch the film and leave. The meeting would start with a little introduction of the writer or the background of the film (something related). After that, we would watch the film together while enjoying some tea, cookies and sometimes even Hungarian specialties. The film would be followed by a discussion about the film. This way, the students would have the chance not only to get to know a bit of Hungary, but also to practice their English.

So that’s all folks, see you soon!

Zsófi


First meeting: 23.01.2014 17:00 @ 3 Maja 19 Pułtusk
Zapraszam! : )

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

Mid-term training

You might remember our post about the on-arrival training. Yes, already it was time for another one. This training is compulsory for every volunteer who has a long-term project. Thanks to the National Agency, our trainers and all the volunteers who were present we had a great time. Let’s see what happened:

 

The most delicious symbol
of Toruń: pierniki

The arrival day was the 6^th and many of us were stuck in traffic jams for long hours because of heavy wind and snow. However, everybody made it in time for dinner. It was great to see familiar faces from the previous training but we were also excited to get to know the new ones. After dinner, we had a quick integration session with the trainers and then we decided to explore Toruń’s bars. One of our fellow volunteers had his project in Toruń, so he was our guide that night.

The next day was the first real day with workshops. After energizers and other fun brain starting activities, we split into groups. The groups were given a piece of paper with only one word on it. The task was to go out in the city, find out what this is and to get to know the story behind it.

Want to know a city well? Ask locals.

Then we met in our meeting room to present these stories. It was not just a simple presentation. We became actors and had to use our creativity and drama skills to tell the others our story. Fortunately, we had really nice weather and friendships already started to form, so we were happy to be there. It was a really nice way of getting to know Toruń. One day, we also had a little guided tour around the town.

Wojtek as a tour guide

On other occasions we visited the Centre of Contemporary Art and we also went to a children’s theatre once. Probably, Dudi the bird and her adventures will be remembered for a long time. At the Centre of Contemporary Art we did not only have a visit but it was also the place of a workshop. The topic was everyone’s least favourite: future. With the help of the sheets of papers on the ground, we had to walk on the path of our future and present our plans. I really liked the idea of exploring possibilities this way but somehow I was too scared to think about it. It was too soon maybe.

Let’s see some other activities, shall we? Once we were offered to discuss different topics at different parts of the hostel. There was one day when one part of the group wanted to go outside for activities and the rest of us preferred to stay inside. We were given questions to discuss questions about our stay in Poland, our projects and point of views. The ones who decided to go out did the same but they also had to take pictures that reflect their project or goals in the future.

Presenting the story of  'Filuś'

Most of the time we were working in groups and had various workshops and we (almost) always ended the day with evaluation and our Wojteks were welcoming any request. It was great that they took everyone’s needs into consideration while making the plan of activities for the training. Time went by very quickly and we soon arrived towards the end of our training. We finished the training with an evaluation letter and wishes and thoughts for everybody. During our last lunch altogether, we did a little performance in the dining room for our trainers to thank them this great experience. There was a friendly atmosphere all through the whole training, we got to know awesome people, nice stories. I would say that the training was a huge success and we all went back to our projects full energy and motivation.

Group shot!

I hope to see you guys soon!

Hugs to everybody,

Zsófi