I did origami with the older students this week, and Canada with the younger students!  Some students dreaded an attempt at a paper crane, but others were so excited it made every class a success.  It was so much fun; I felt like an actual instructor! It was a great exercise in listening and understanding.  

On Friday I went out to dinner with some other volunteers.  We all had pierogi, and none could possibly complain.  It was delicious.  

On Saturday, I went to Krakow with my host family.  We visited St Mary's Basilica: it was one of the most spectacular and intricate places I've ever been.  In Canada, we don't have any architecture like that, so it was shockingly beautiful to me.  We also went to Wawel castle, and walked around the cathedral.  But the cathedral was stunning, and also massive.  We then went to the Market in the main square, and I picked up some more gifts for family and friends back in Canada: one of my favourite things to do.

Natalie:)

This week was Thanksgiving back in Canada, so that was my theme this week!  We talked some about the holiday, and did classic Thanksgiving crafts.  It was great to see what "variations" a few students came up with!

On the holiday Wednesday, some friends and I went to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.  It was incredibly informative, and I ran out time to see it all.  There was a very fancy famous woman visiting that day, so I was stuck in one room for quite some time. 

Thursday was a very exciting day, because another volunteer--Charmain--and I traveled to Gdansk for the weekend!  We met after our classes for the day, and went by PolskiBus.  We arrived to seaside city at ten o'clock, so we had to navigate a new city in the dark!  We felt very pro asking a women for directions to the main road, in Polish.  She then responded entirely in Polish and we were very thankful for her hand gestures!  We stayed in a hostel just off Długi Targ, and were pleasantly surprised in the morning by its beauty!  It was quiet and misty; we couldn't stop oohing and awing over the atmosphere.  

After a bit of spotty exploration we visited St Mary's Basilica.  There was a service in process, which was interesting in itself.  We went to the top of the tower, and maybe I didn't look very closely when we were at ground level, because I kept thinking, "Surely, this must be the end!" There were a lot of stairs.  But the view was a worthy reward, and, personally, I thought the fog added a nice touch to the cityscape. 

Ventured out to Sopot in the afternoon and greeted the Baltic Sea!  It felt very at home to be next to​​​​​​​​​​​​ the ocean once again.  We spent as much time on the pier as we could muster.  We walked down the beach in our city shoes - not advisable.  But it was worthwhile, as we can now say we have "been in" the Baltic Sea.  Our fingertips have been in the Baltic Sea.

Had the most delicious soup and juice for dinner.  Seriously, the best soup.  And juice. Ever.  Maybe I was just hungry.

Saturday was very chill.  We took the train to Gdynia and visited the aquarium!  It was my first time using an audio tour, and it's fair to say I got lost more than once.  The tiny sharks were my favourite of all.  We waddled for a while in Gdynia, but the weather was very poorly, and bringing down our spirits.  We backed to Gdansk and explored some little alleys.  We also walked down the river, and to our delight saw a pirate ship tour!  It was too late for us to join, but it did look fantastic.

The only time I managed to truly be lost in the entire weekend was when we arrived back in Warsaw.  I got off the metro and found myself completely disoriented.  Got to finish strong!

Natalie:)

This week at the school I did a presentation about Canada.  It was really fun, and the students enjoyed it as well.  They all like how Canadian money is made of plastic, and unable to rip.  I also did origami with the younger students, which was a blast!  It was a great challenge of dexterity and comprehension, all wrapped up in English.  

In my free time I met up with one of the other volunteers at Zlote Tarasy for a bit of mosying about.  We ended up having an hour-long conversation with a very nice man from Australia.  We are learning how differently "meeting people" works when you live somewhere that operates in a language foreign to your own.  We able to catch up with some of the other volunteers, and that was definitely well-needed.  We sat at a table for a few hours just sharing stories of the past couple weeks we haven't seen one another!  A few of us wandered to a Costa Coffee and continued our catch-up over some delicious hot chocolates and cheesecake. Mmmm!

On Sunday I went for a walk with my host mother and her little baby to a forest by our house.  I was expecting trails, but we went through a side-entrance and ended up on some dirt bike trails--with a stroller!  But it turned out that a fun roller coaster ride was just what the baby needed to cheer up.

Natalie:)

It was a good, energetic week with my lessons. I made cookies with my host family and had a lovely evening in spent with them. Sunday led us to Łazienki Park: it is such a huge park! And very beautiful! We collected so many chestnuts for the baby, but he just wanted to throw them back on the ground. It was a good way to tire us all out. 

My first task was "Star of the Week," in which I presented a few things about myself to the students who then made their own project based on what they learned about me.  

On Saturday my family took me to a little village where The Grandparents live.  

My host mother's family was there, meaning nine people (well, eight fully-functionable people and one baby) all stayedin a tiny house for the night!  Though there was very little privacy, and no one else spoke English outside my host family, I had a lot of fun.  We played Macau with The Uncle, confused The Dog with a coat, and built houses of cards whilst a Polish game show played bizarrely in the background.  Snuggled under a blanket, reading, while everyone around me spoke a language I never understood was a lovely time spent well.

The next day we visited the ruins at Czersk, which were, I believe, the first ruins I have ever seen. They did not disappoint. I even climbed terrified to the top of a tower just to say I did it.  Roller coasters, no problem. Medieval tower? No thank you. 

Natalie:)

My first week in Warsaw was spent partially trying to take in as much knowledge as I could possibly absorb and entirely creating incredibly close friendships.  

As us seven Canadians--the only new volunteers this term--partook in the TEFL course at the British Council, we eagerly bonded through being completely foreign in Poland.  From learning how to manage a classroom to Mexican-English pub outings, it was hard to part on Saturday from Nathan's lovely little Villa.  But I met my host mother and was whisked out of the comfort zone we created together in our messy room.  

But I was more than excited to meet my new family for the next five months, despite sickness brewing in my sinuses.  For my first meal in my new home we ate traditional homemade tomato soup--it is so delicious!

On Sunday I explored Old Town with my host mother and her children; the little baby slept happily as his stroller bumped and rattled over cobblestones.  We had Italian ice cream whilst out on our adventure, and it is fair to say it was the best "swirly ice cream" I have ever tasted.  For dinner we went to a traditional Polish restaurant where we devoured pierogi and tea.  I am happy that I fit in with my host family so perfectly, so easily.

Natalie:)

It's hard to believe that my time in Poland is nearly up - time seems to be flying! I've had a lovely couple of weeks both in and out of school and I'm struggling to comprehend that it's all about to end.

The main highlight of my last few weeks was the couple of days I got to spend with my mum and aunt when they popped over from England for the weekend. The weather was brilliant and I had a wonderful time taking them around my favourite places in Warsaw and showing them a bit of what my life here is like. In the way of tourist sites, we visited the Old Town, the Palace of Science and Culture, the POLIN museum, the Jewish cemetery, beautiful Łazienki Park and wiled away many hours just wandering and exploring the city. We also spent a joyous afternoon in the company of my incredibly host family who perfectly personified Polish generosity and hospitality, something I'm so glad my mum and aunt were able to experience. 

As I begin to wrap up my schedule with most classes, the older grades have been putting on talent shows (one of my favourite lessons!). So far we've had many creative dances, freestyle football displays, a two-person rendition of the 'Cup Song', a keen baker bring in a batch of his best cupcakes (yummy), a few rounds of karaoke, some gymnastics and lots more. The kids' courage never ceases to make me smile. 

With my younger classes I've been thoroughly enjoying reading two English picture story books my mum brought over. Despite the language barrier, the children appear to love the books (with some translation from Beata) and become really invested in the narratives. These have definitely been some of my favourite classes with the younger children all semester.    

I went to Berlin with my friends for a long weekend. Berlin's always been 
somewhere I've wanted to visit and I wasn't disappointed. I loved how modern 
and yet how historical it manages to be at the same time. Highlights certainly 
include Museum Island where we saw the famous Bust of Nefertiti (something I 
was very excited about), the murals at the East Side Gallery and just 
generally wandering around in the sunshine with my friends. I think the only 
downside of the weekend was getting my phone and ID stolen but that's not 
enough to change my perspective of a city I could quite happily live in. 

 These past few weeks have seen my work life following the same general routine and schedule, so not a huge amount to report there. In terms of my social life, my friends and I have come to the realisation that it's the beginning of the end of our time in Poland and our time together so we've been trying to spend as much time together as possible. Not last weekend but the weekend before, I whiled away a lovely afternoon in the sunshine at Łazienki Park which is just as beautiful as everyone keeps telling me.

I then went to a medieval knights tournament with my host family, which was certainly something out of the ordinary for me!

Rarely do I get the opportunity to watch grown men dress up in costumes and whack each other with swords while onlookers, including to severed heads on spikes, ohh and ahh at every blow. This past weekend I traveled back to Kraków to see one of my friends for the last time. While we were there we passed much of our time making the most of being together but I did spend Friday at the Wieliczka Salt Mine. 

It's not like anything I have ever seen before or really like anything I'd ever even heard of. Again, many students and teachers at the school have recommended it and I'm glad to say that their suggestion did not disappoint.     

After last week's insanity, this past week had been very quiet. At school the 

kids are still very cute and I'm still just carrying on with the set lesson 

It was interesting to see Warsaw empty over the weekend. I, unlike many of my 

plans, even with the occasional class outside! 

friends, stayed in the city and spent a bit of time just wandering around 

The weather was so nice that my host family decided to turn on the barbecue 

parts of the city I haven't explored yet and enjoying the beautiful gardens. 

which left me fondly remembering summer afternoons spent having barbecues back 

home. 

Jessica:)

I began my week by running the introductory 'interview' lesson with the older Monday and Tuesday classes. As usual, I really enjoyed these lessons and had to smile at some of the portraits of me that were produced. I was flattered in one class I particular where a group of students spent about fifteen minutes arguing about how to go about drawing my hair!

On Tuesday afternoon I made a mad dash to London where I spent the next two days at my future university, getting a feel for the place and an in-depth understanding of the course I'll be taking. I'm so glad I went as I now know pretty much exactly what I've got myself into for the next three years.

Finally, over the weekend two of my friends and I explored the beautiful city of Torùn. Though it is small, Beata's home town has a lovely relaxed atmosphere and plenty to fill up a weekend of gingerbread munching and sightseeing. I especially loved the House of the Esken Family, which is now a museum, as it gave me an insight into medieval and pre-medieval Poland, someone I haven't had before.

Jessica:)

In truth, this week has been really quiet so I don't have a huge amount to report. I've been spending a bit of time playing catch-up and making up for missed lessons with some classes, while with others I've been wrapping up my lessons completely (as my timetable changed on Thursday). This has meant that I've been treated to multiple talent shows this week and a wide variety of acts including break-dancing, ballet, science experiments, the flute and even half an hour of English karaoke. 

Thinking about it, pretty much all of my social outings into Warsaw this week have revolved around food. My friends and I discovered a lovely little chocolate shop full of solid chocolate sculptures on Tuesday, a cute vegan street food place on Friday and a Czech restaurant that we visited with all the Warsaw volunteers to celebrate our friend's birthday. Perhaps when the sun comes out we will spend less time indoors and eating... But I doubt it.  

Jessica:)

In most of my classes before the break we were still continuing with the set 
lesson plans as all the classes are at different stages of the schedule. I 
don't have any qualms with this to be honest, it means I can run the 
plasticine activity for a few weeks! In a couple of the lessons, however, the 
teachers and I did special Easter themed classes. These were really engaging 
for me because Easter in Australia is quite a commercial event whereas in 
Poland (as I was learning), it is still a very family-orientated and 
traditional holiday. In truth my Easter became family orientated as my brother 
decided to visit Warsaw from the UK. It was lovely to see him but 
unfortunately the rain and cold followed him here from England. 

Over the Easter week, I visited Prague with my brother and a few of my friends 
who live around Poland. To begin with I was nervous about spending so much 
time in Prague but we left not having done everything and very keen to go 
back! It's a beautiful city and while we were there Easter markets were dotted 
around the city so we passed many an hour sampling all the Czech food and 
drink we could.

My past week (or three days) at school have been much the same as usual with 
the addition of a new lesson 'Poland's Got Talent'. During this class the kids 
stand in front of their peers and (in English) present their talent or a 
collection or something they're proud of. Every time we ran this lesson I was 
amazed at the students' courage to sing or dance or show off their personal 
sketch book for their friends. It's so lovely to see confident kids and to 
know that they feel comfortable and safe enough at school to do that.

My weekend's been quite low-key. I feel like it's gone very quickly, but I 
think that's just because I'm not used to being a normal adult and working on 
Fridays! Saturday was beautiful so I went into town with my friends and saw a 
completely different Warsaw to the one I've been living in for months. The 
streets were bustling and I'm sure I saw more people while wondering around 
yesterday than I have done in the whole two and a half months I've been here. 
It was wonderful and I cannot wait to keep exploring the Warsaw and Poland in the sunshine!

\

Blog Week 8

My lessons last week were quite mixed as not all classes are doing the same activity in the same week for one reason or another. With many classes I ran the Didgeridoo craft lesson while with others we completed the Marmite tasting session or the plasticine activity. I especially enjoyed the plasticine classes where the kids brought in plasticine in different colours so they could create eye-catching monsters from my instructions. Additionally, Beata and I continued to practice the 'Happy Little Vegemite' song with our Grade 3s and they're getting very good! The lyrics are becoming clearer each time they sing it and their improvised dance moves to the instrumental break haven't failed to entertain me yet. It's so satisfying to see the kids enjoying themselves during lessons - learning should be fun!

This weekend was the second in a row that I stayed in Warsaw. To be honest, it was quite a quiet few days. My friends and I continued testing out Warsaw's restaurants and bars (though we're yet to venture from the Old Town or the city centre!) and I spent some time exploring my local area. As the weather has been so nice I've taken to getting outside more and wandering around a bit, making the most of the sunshine.

Blog Week 7

Last week was quite a quiet week. To begin with, I ran the Jeopardy lessons with most of the classes on Monday and Tuesday (I think this has been my favourite activity so far, with many of the kids becoming incredibly competitive!). With the Grade 3's, however, I had much delight in introducing , and together with Beata, teaching them the 'Happy Little Vegemite' song. This is the jingle from a famous, old Australian advert for Vegemite (which is much like the English Marmite). It took the kids a while but eventually they picked up the lyrics and the tune and I cannot wait to film them performing it next week! Thursday saw my classes either creating Didgeridoos (Indigenous Australian instruments) or doing a describing activity with plasticine where they had to make monsters that either I or a peer described. For both activities the kids' creativity was evident and their interpretations of Aboriginal art and imaginary monsters was very entertaining. 

I stayed in Warsaw over the weekend in an attempt to save money, but all the other volunteers from around Poland came here so we still had a great time. On Thursday night, we visited a vegan burger shop not far from Centrum and it was amazing! I loved it so much I'm planning on going back this weekend, and maybe every weekend after that... 

Thought the weather over the weekend wasn't fantastic, the start of last week and now the start of this week have been been beautiful. I've been missing the sunshine for weeks and now Spring is here (hopefully to stay) I feel so positive and even slightly less homesick!

Jessica:)

Week 6

Last week was so busy it's amazing to think it was only 7 days! For my Monday and Tuesday classes we ran the interview activity I've done with other groups previously. Many students produced lovely portraits of me and summaries of my life, a couple even attempted to draw my brother (though in stick figure form). On Thursday I ran 'ordering food' lessons during which the kids ordered and tasted the infamous English Marmite and Bovril (less well known). The general, revolted response was not entirely unexpected - I think we only had five students all day who enjoyed one or the other spread and came back for more!

My wonderful friends in Warsaw all came out for dinner for my birthday on Thursday then on Friday I left for England to spend the weekend with my family. It was brilliant to see them, though of course my Mum and Dad are still in Australia so it was not quite the whole family. Surprisingly, the sun even came out on Saturday and I spent a wonderful few hours in a t-shirt and a skirt. Who would think of going to England to get some sunshine!

Jessica:)

Week 5

This week found most classes putting together puzzles of cultural icons of Canada, America, New Zealand and Australia and matching the picture to its label. I had a very amusing time watching the confused faces when the students were confronted with words like 'bogan' and 'poutine', and even more fun when they matched things like 'redneck' to a picture of a wombat or 'pavlova' to Mount Rushmore. 

Over the weekend I visited Wroclaw with all but one of the volunteers currently in Poland (so there were 20 of us) and we all had a brilliant time taking over the hostel and catching up on the last three weeks. Wroclaw has a beautiful Old Town, similar to Krakow, but of course it has many little gnome statues dotted around so, in my opinion, that gives it one up on the former capital!

Jessica:)

Week 4

This week at Warsaw 306, the kids either gave me presentations on Poland and Polish culture (attractions, music, food, sport, famous people etc) or they planned my weekend and gave me recommendations of things to do in Warsaw. I haven't yet explored Warsaw as a proper tourist so this was all very useful! As usual, the students were enthusiastic and I received many creative drawing of the National Stadium, the Palace of Science and Culture, the Old City and even Pizza Hut. I was proud of many of the kids for having the courage to present their work to me personally, even though their English was not perfect. The highlight of this week was probably a group of Year 5s on Friday have an argument over where to send me for lunch - very cute!

I stayed in Warsaw over the weekend. On Friday, I went bowling and then out for dinner with most of the volunteers who are also placed in Warsaw and then we all spent Saturday night together. It was lovely to have a big group back together again and catch up on all the interesting experiences people have had in Poland. One slightly scary story was of a friend of mine walking the streets of Warsaw at 2am with no phone credit and absolutely no idea where he was...

Jessica:)

Week 3

In most of my classes last week we did a big, interactive cultural quiz called 'Jeopardy' with the kids. I based in on Canada, America, New Zealand and Australia as they are the countries Warsaw 306 has had volunteers from in the past. It was lovely to see all the classes become very involved in the competition and I have to say my favourite moments were the ones were students screwed up their faces, desperately trying to recall facts that previous volunteers had taught them. Then of course there were the excited yells as they got the correct answer, or the disappointment when a teammate knew the answer to a question but didn't have the courage to speak up.

Thursday was 'Fat Thursday', an entirely new phenomenon for me. I thought I'd pushed the boat out by having three doughnuts (and feeling very sick that night!), but as it turns out, one of the volunteers had twelve... I can't imagine how he felt!

As I mentioned last week, I headed off to Krakow with some friends over the weekend and it was an experience to say the least. On Friday we visited Auschwitz and I'm struggling to put into words how it felt. Emotionally draining and clarifying is probably the best description for me. Then on Saturday we did a free walking tour of the Old Town and were able to see what a beautiful city Krakow is and just how different the architecture is to that of Warsaw. On the social side of things, I really enjoyed seeing some of my friends who aren't placed in Warsaw but didn't enjoy meeting certain travellers who were staying in the same hostel as us... I'll leave that there.

Jessica:)