When I first arrived at this little school here in Bemowo, I had no idea what to expect. I was a little nervous, a little worried, and incredibly excited to teach English to a group of Polish children. On our first day we were shown the school, given our timetables, and told to come back if we wanted lunch by our awesome teacher Beata. The lunches were fantastic, I was a bit worried to begin with, having never eaten Polish food, nor eaten from a school cafeteria. Cafeteria food is rarely good, but the school lunches here are delicious!! My favourite place in the school was definitely the libaray; Edyta, Basia and Agnieszka are three very lovely friendly ladies who are very happy to help all the time (or maybe I was just annoying them all the time with endless requests!) The other teachers here were also very friendly, not just the other English teachers, Lena and Justyna, but all of the others too.Like I said in my first blog, the first thing that comes about this school is HUGS! I thought they would stop after the first few weeks but they certainly didn't.I really enjoyed doing other things, like making boomerangs and didgeridoos, giving the children (and some of the teachers :D) Vegemite to taste, and teaching them about Australia. Playing all of the creative games that Beata thought of was also a lot of fun.I have learned alot of new and interesting things furing my time here, and I hope that the students have as well. What else can I say? This has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I will never forget it.
Elena Vukanovic:)
Hello Warsaw 306, Alex here. This will be the last time that i write to you, as my work and my time here in Poland is coming to an end. There are now new volunteers arriving, people from all over the world coming all the way to Warsaw just to teach you lucky kids English. Be kind to them, and don't try and play rugby with them in the hallways on their first day, because you might not ever see them again.
My time here at 306 has taught me alot about myself. When I signed up for this programme, I was looking for nothing more than an easy way of having an extended holiday in Central Europe. When I arrived however, I discovered that this would not be an easy, way of spending 6 months away from home, it would be a lesson in how well I could cope with living in a country whose language I could not speak, doing a job which I had never done before.
To Beata's credit, she made me feel right at home, as did my host families and the other volunteers, and by the end I had grown in confidence in my abilities as a teacher, and as a person. This would not have been at all possible without her help.
My host families we're the people with whom I spent the most time, and we're the ones who made sure that I was never too homesick, because of the way they accepted me into their home's, and treated me as if I was one of their own.
But most of all, you kids, the children of Warsaw 306, are what made the experience what it was, unforgettable. I could never have expected that you kids would be as fun and outgoing as you were, and beleive me when I say I will never have a better job as the one I just had. I wish you little ones all the best, and I hope your kind to our new volunteers.
Thank you Warsaw 306, this experience has been as amazing as it has been challenging, and I will remember each and everyone of your for a very very long time.
Love Alex
