ON ARRIVAL TRAINING. JENNIFER SOTO

So, last week was my on-arrival training in Warsaw.

I was very excited but at the same time I had no clue what to expect for the training.There were a lot of people from different countries and ages living in Polanddoing this volunteering experience abroad. 

It was a week full of activities, games, discussions, challenges and learning. We had time to hang out, explore the city, share experiences and embrace the cultural differences. They gave us many tips on having the best experience in Poland, how to adapt and solve conflicts, deal with the cultural shock and a few polish classes, too. We had a lot of fun. 

We had a time to share our culture and our super power. It was very interesting to teach and learn some words in different languages, do some yoga for beginners, rules of thirds in photography and basics of football. Learn the Georgian alphabet, the most traditional dishes in Turkey, important facts about Ukraine and the Spanish dance called Macarena. We also did puppets for shadow theater and much more.

The days passed by, we kept knowing each other better and became friends. 

For our last night in Warsaw we visited a couple of museums because last saturday was the International Museum Day and that meant night at the museums.

Museums have a different charm at night and the city looks spectacular, and surrounded by amazing people, looks even better.

 

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: My favorite part was the traditional polish dances presentation, I enjoyed learning some basics dance steps even though I’m not good at all. 🙈

From this experience I realize that, although all of us come from different countries and continents, we share social and political realities, some dishes, similar traditions, the aim for traveling, discovering the world, learning and keep learning, taking chances, exploring, and of course, helping and doing volunteering service wherever we are. That’s what got us here.

This week was to wide our vision of the EVS experience. It’s about voluntering, living in another country, exploring new places, make connections and, as a friend told me, it’s about growing and to become a citizen of the world.

:) 

-Jennifer Soto

EUROPEAN YOUTH WEEK

EUROPEAN YOUTH WEEK

Last 9th May we joined the European Youth Week 2019 in Warsaw University Library.

We participate in different activities and met other volunteers from all around the world, having a good time. To share our experiences and ideas. 

At the debate, we disccused about the importance of voting, the reasons why young people don't vote these days and what the politicians can do to motivate them 

It’s important to generate the spaces for young people to get involve and interested, to take full responsibility and participate, because, democracy is a series of small steps. 

We have to teach and empower the kids how develop the abilities to talk with the people in charge, in their school, communities and local governments, how be more comfortable around them to start working together. 

For the concert, Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet performed. It was the best way to end this day. 

You can check their songs in their official YouTube page, they are really good with very interesting mixes.

Activities in the day Care Center

Making Easter cards:
 One week before Easter we made Easter cards and passed them on to other children. We had many different decorations and papers to choose from, as well as some templates, whether eggs or Easter bunnies, anyone could make his card as he wanted. I helped the kids use the hot glue gun because they burned so fast. The children were very helpful and so each child made several cards, which they then gave away

Presentation about Germany: Children are curious, especially if someone comes from a foreign country, they want to know everything about the country, that's why I decided for a presentation and a quiz about Germany. The topics were very child-friendly, in addition to the general geographical situation, the typical leisure activities of children in Germany was an issue. The children were amazed that despite the other country there are many similarities, because German and Polish children love to play football. In the quiz then came general questions about Germany, the children were surprised that the favorite tea in Germany is mint tea and not black or green tea, as usual in Poland. The afternoon was fun for the children, they laughed a lot and learned a lot.

VOLUNTEER SERVICE IN SCHOOLS

VOLUNTEER SERVICE IN SCHOOLS

Today we visited  public school Jana Pawła II in Płocochowie with Tobias and Jennifer.

Jennifer explained how the school system works in Honduras and what are the main volunteer activities for kids in Honduran schools with Sylwia's help. 

In every school in Honduras there's a school government runned by the students and each one can vote for their favorite candidates. Also, there's a groups of kids that help in the election day with the process. Before the elections, the candidates even run a campaing and go to each classroom and present their proposals. 

Some schools have a Youth Movement coordinated by a school professor. They do diverse activites all along the year like: visiting the seniors bringing them clothes, foods and just to have a nice time with them, sometimes they play with them, activities to raise money for phsyscally disable kids or to do other activities with the community or also, celebrate Childres's Day in a countryside public school.

The kids were very excited to make the "German-Honduran" quiz. Toby was in charge to make the questions, they learned a lot and they were suprised to find out what the currency of Honduras (by the way, it's LEMPIRA) 

National Sovereignty and Children's Day (23.04)

Today, April 23, this is the first and only Children's Day celebrated on an international level.

Every year in Turkey we celebrate this "Sovereignty and Children's Day" as a national holiday. It was a gift from the founder of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk addressed to all the children of the world. On this day, on which the National Assembly of Turkey was founded on April 23, 1920, only the Soviet Union, Iraq, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria participated in the first year. In the capital Ankara from 1979 to 2000 celebrations were held. In the following years, celebrations took place in the various large cities of Turkey such as İzmir, İstanbul and Antalya. With the participation of nearly 50 countries, these days in every city of Turkey we are celebrating more enthusiasm in Turkish homes and find an important opportunity to get in contact with the Turkish children and to learn about each other's countries and cultures. The foreign children's groups also attend the special session of the Grand National Assembly. In the early morning we do a traditional walk with the children of the host countries. We set up tents with various activities for children during the day and make sure they spend the festival having fun. Then we organize nature walks and picnics for them and of course traditional Turkish cuisine throughout the festival.

The International Children's Festival on April 23 gathers children from all over the world under the motto "Love, Friendship and Peace". The World Peace Festival seeks to increase the participation of more children in the country year after year.

This year I volunteer in Poland and of course I congratulate to this special and meaningful festival with the children of my kindergarten in Poland, where I work voluntarily. It was a perfect feeling for them and for me such a nice and funny experience. I work with children from 2 to 6 years old. I mentioned art and science works from national and international dance performances, various concerts that also offer dough and sculpture activities for children. with the faces of children with their favorite game heroes. After the presentation of the festival I also prepared the traditional Turkish shadow play Hacivat and Karagöz for them. I think they enjoyed it for hours, and I help them develop new perspectives in different cultures.

"Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the people."

"Peace at home, peace in the world." Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK.

Meet new volunteers

Dzień dobry,

We have a new volunteering season, Pułtusk is welcoming another two EVS volunteers and we would like to present ourselves to you.

Jennifer

Hola! My name is Jennifer Soto. I’m 24 years old, I’m from Honduras and I’ll be here in Pułtusk for eight months. I like to write, listen to music, paint and do handcrafts. In Honduras, I’m a college student and I do my volunteer with kids in public schools where we give them art workshops, go to museums and art centers paint and do activities with local and international artist also, training new young volunteers interested in art, culture and kids.  

I’m very excited to be here and I’ll be working at the office. It’s my first time in Poland and in Europe, so I want to explore this country, its culture; traditions, food, music and important places, besides learning polish is very important for me. And of course, I want to travel to other European countries, too.   

Thanks! :) 

Presentations about Germany in Ann-Katrins kindergarten

In the last four weeks our German volunteers, Toby and Ann-Katrin went to the kindergarten in that
Ann-Katrin normally works and hold presentations about Germany. They told about for different topics:  landscapes, food, traditions and a day in a German Kindergarten.
The kids were  excited to learn more about the country where the teacher is from.


 Toby and Ann-Katrin  started with the topic landscape and big cities. The kids were surprised how many different landscapes they have  in Germany and understood that some of them are the same as in Poland. At the end of the presentation some kids said that they want to visit Germany.



The second topic was food. They told about traditional dishes and popular firms that are German for example Haribo. The children recognized that every region in Germany have a special food or dish. In Bavaria they eat for example white sausages with sweet mustard and in the north the people eat sandwiches with fish. The kindergarten kids told our volunteers that they have food which depends on the region too.


In the third week they spook about traditions in there country. The all saw that they have some same but also some different traditions. At Eastern and Sylvester polish and German celebrate almost the same way but Santa is not filling shoes at the morning of the 6 December  in Poland. For polish people was new  that they have St.Martins day in Germany.


The last topic a day in a German Kindergarten. The most interesting fact for the children was that they don’t have lessons in Kindergarten.
All of them enjoyed to learn more about the cultures of each other. One main idea of doing the presentations was to show the kids that every country have there own culture and get them more open-minded for them.