Cultural Understanding | Lublin, Poland | International Kindergarten Lublin
I arrived in Lublin, Poland on May 7th, 2015. Lublin is a small city in eastern Poland in the state of Lubelskie. It's called a 'student city' or 'campus city' because there are many universities and many student living here. My flight left Calgary around 3:00 pm, with eight hours until I reached Frankfurt and had a quick transfer to Warsaw. I took a train from the Warsaw Central station, two hours to Lublin. I accidentally took an 'expensive' taxi which cost me 200 PLN or about $60.00 CAD, which made me upset, because I felt tricked and I was exhausted from travelling. It made me worry that Poland isn't a friendly place, that I would be taken advantage of by being a traveller. But when I arrived in Lublin and met my buddy Aneta at the train station, I felt better. The AIESEC Lublin team was wonderful. My first night was at the flat/apartment of a friend of AIESEC, Hubert. He made me perogies. I met Raul and Bardwi, from Mexico and India. My first weekend before volunteering was busy and tiring, but a lot of fun. I drank Perla, the Lublin beer, went to a free concert, toured the Lublin old town, and went to the AIESEC preparation seminar. Lublin is a nice city, very green and safe. Most students speak English. Language wasn't an issue. I got locked in Hubert's bathroom because the lock was stuck, but I got out. Raul likes to remind me! Magda, Jola and Paulina were very helpful to us EPs in our first few days, leading an excellent seminar. I didn't know, but AIESEC has a lot of dancing (roll calls) and some 'shouts' like-
"Hey AIESEC!
Yo b***h!
How are you feeling?
Excellent!
How are you feeling?
Excellent!
How are you really feeling?
F***ng excellent!"
#1: Biskupice
On May 11th, I took a bus with Laura from Columbia to a village called Biskupice, 30 min away from Lublin, to stay with a host family and volunteer in a primary school. Biskupice might be my favourite week in Poland. The family was a teacher and her husband and son and daughter, Kaspar and Karolina. Karolina was great, and she wanted to practice English with me as much as she could. As soon as I arrived, the teacher made me a Polish soup, with bread, ham and cheeses, and 'compote' which is hot fruit juice made from cooked fruit. We worked in a primary school, which was excellent. We were prepared to do games and crafts, but ended up just presenting to the older children about our countries, talking with them and answering their questions. I feel that we adapted quickly. Our host families really made our stay special. We had a weenie roast and I was always, always eating something! We went on a school trip on Thursday to go hiking and to see a few tourist sites, like an old village. I felt that we left a good impression at the primary school and my host family was amazing. They made me Polish crepes and my favourite food, curry <3
#2: Kopina
My second week was spent in another village with a new host family. Kopina was very small, only about 200 people. It was very picturesque and somewhat isolated. This time, we were in a kindergarten with children aged 2-7. It was a complexly different experience. I found that you can't expect small children to sit and listen to you for long. They want to play and learn with games and activities. Their attention span is short. They seemed less interested and excited to see us, unless we had something to show them. But they are very charming. They will hold your hand, and hug you, and when you talk to them or help them, they are very happy. The children loved my beaver puppet, and shout 'BOBR!' when they see him. They like to sing and dance, and we often coloured together. I was with Laura and Carmela (from the Philippines). I was happy to work with Laura, she's very kind and thoughtful. Carmela loved the kids, she memorized their names in one day! The host family was lovely again, and the villagers were very welcoming.
#3: Kamien
I was in Kamien, another village close to Chelm and the Ukraine border, with Raul. The school was similar to Biskupice, with primary students. I stayed with an English translator who's friends with the English teacher at the school who organized the program for us. During the day, we taught lessons with about four to five classes. The students loved us! They were excited to ask us questions in English, and they liked being around us, taking photos and even asking for our signatures. It was different from Biskupice, because we had the same students up to three times in the week. We used our presentations, and did Mexican dances with the children. We saw a kindergarten class once, and I read a book to them and played a game with my Canada beach ball. I feel very confident volunteering in the schools so far, it's been a great experience for me. The children are wonderful, even though it can be tiring, it's very rewarding and every day has been good. The people in the villages and schools make volunteering great, because they're truly happy to have us. Laura and I are invited to Kamien for the holiday long weekend.
Good Things
- a wonderful Lublin AIESEC team, buddies and reception team who help us with anything we need, spend time with us and find fun things for us to do in Lublin
- seven fantastic EPs from six countries who are becoming good friends, who look out for each other
- people are generally kind, helpful and accommodating; the host families and villages are happy to see us and meet new people
- beer in Lublin is only 2 PLN, most things are very cheap in Poland, compared to Canadian currency
- the food is wonderful
- the weather is awesome
- Poland is beautiful, country and city
Challenges
- our schedule can be unpredictable and can change and sometimes the volunteer hours are longer (5-6 hours)
- occasional language barriers; when shopping, taking the bus/train, with the teachers in the schools, with host families who don't speak English
- coming up with lesson material when you have the same class more than once, making the lessons interesting, holding attention
