Slupca

Before travelling to Slupca,I was a bit apprehensive as not many people in Srem had heard of Slupca and also after looking for information about Slupca online, i found the website but it was all in polish and later found on wikipedia that the town had only had 14,600 people living in it. However that feeling changed when we reached Slupca and there were around 10 people waiting for us on the platform at the train station.

Heres a picture of Lia,Rii and me with our hosts and a teacher from the high school...

My host was also named Peter and later i realised that he was just as crazy as me. We got along really well and his family was great especially Peter's 10 month old nephew Stanislaus.

The school organised a lot of activities for us and we barely had any free time.The first day was a trip to Biskupin, which is a old town an hour away from Slupca. We learnt how to make pots and also looked around the museum and also models of the houses.

The second day after school we learnt how to cook Polish food. The students from the high school taught us how to make Zurek,Schabowy and also Chruściki.

We got to interact with other students from the high school in a informal environment, there were around 20 students at the dinner.

On Wednesday we met with the Staros of Slupca and i felt a bit uncomfortable as the meeting was too formal. There was also people from the local media (TV station and radio).We had the rest of the day off and the students invited us for a "house party". I learnt how high school students in smaller towns spent their weekends...

On our last day we went to Konin after school. We went bowling and later to the cinema to watch the movie "Nine". I have not been bowling in a while so it was fun althought i started off with a few gutter balls. I enjoyed the song and dance in the movie but did not care much for the story.Later in the night we had a cooking session at Peter's house. Lia cooked Indonesia food "Fried rice" and i cooked Indian food, Tandoori chicken and

mushroom with green peas. It was a lot of fun. We made the most of our last night in Slupca.

Soon after school on Friday we headed back to Warsaw for "Switch", more on that in my next post.

I had a great time in Slupca and I think i will have to make another trip back sometime soon...

here are some more pictures from Slupca...

More about śrem

Its my last night in śrem, going to meet up with some of the high school students in a bit.

Earlier today the school organized a trip to Poznan. I have been to Poznan before but it was a bit different as the last time i was there it was in spring and much warmer.

A few people made my week in Srem awesome, my host, Gosia and her family. They made me feel like i was a member of their family. The English teachers at the school made us feel comfortable and also part of the staff of the school.

It was a nice start to the project and also our travels around Poland.

Here are some more pictures from Srem..

Being interviewed for śrem TV




Article in "Srem Courier" about the PEACE project



Angelia, Rii and I with the English teachers from the School

Next post from Slupca

śrem

The first town i am visiting as part of the PEACE project is Srem. Angelica (Indonesia) and Rii (Japan) are in my group.
Since i had never heard about Srem earlier i looked it up on google and found the website of the town (www.srem.pl). It was pretty useful as it also had some information in English. On the website it said, Śrem is the town "for me, for you, for everyone...", reading it me really comfortable visiting the town and i was looking forward to it.

The high school that we are teaching at is called "Zespół Szkól Ogólnokształcacych". I am being hosted by one of the girls from the high school, Gosia. Her family is really nice.

I was a bit nervous before the first day of class, not sure what the school would be like and also what students would be like. The first thing we did on Monday was meet the "Starost" of Srem, Tadeusz Waczyński, who is the head of the administrative council of the town along with 3 other neighbouring towns. It was nice to meet him and learn more about the town of Srem and his history, he was also interested in the countries that we came from and also wanted to know what we thought about Poland.

The students at the school are a mix, some are shy but some are also friendly.They responded well to my presentation about United Arab Emirates and have a lot of questions.

Angelica,Rii and i were interviewed by the local television channel. The feature should be online in a few days, will post the link to it.

The school arranged for us a visit to the Kornik Castle. The castle dates back to the 15th century and is currently a museum.

Tomorrow will be my last day teaching in śrem, will post more over the weekend.

Here are some of the pictures from the first few days.

with Tadeusz Waczyński, starost of śrem

Outside the high school

After my frst day at school.

More pictures on my facebook album.

Opening week of PEACE Project

The Opening week of the PEACE Project as i metioned in my last blog was GREAT!!
It was a time to learn, get to know each other and also party :D

Some of the trainings we had were, a crash course in the Polish language by the AIESEC students, "How to speak in Public under pressure" by The English Cocktail and also some sessions by Amnesty International Poland. All the training sessions were really useful and i really liked the sessions by Amnesty International about the "Faces of discrimination".

The parties were a lot of fun. Global Village was the best, seeing everyone dressed in their national costumes. Everyone wanted to take pictures with me, guess its not very often that they meet some one from United Arab Emirates.

I've also met a lot of people and made new friends during Opening week. I was hosted in Warsaw by the head of the project, Anita. She is like a firecracker and full of energy.

Here are some of the pictures from Opening week.











More pictures @ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2637115&id=28118637&l=abdc98d613

Next post about the first town i will be visting, śrem

...........

Its been almost 2 weeks since i reached Poland and i finally get down to posting this...

A lot has happened in this time. Its been hectic and hence the lack of posts here, also the lack of time on the internet.

I am currently in a town called Srem at the moment. Opening week was great, 24 people from 22 different countries, more on that later. Some great trainings, the ones bz Amnesty International and even bz AIESEC. As i expected the Global Village was one of the best parties. More on the Opening week in the next post with the pics also.

Last few hours before i leave....

I'm done with my packing and all the last minute shopping so here are some of my thoughts before i leave Abu Dhabi for Warsaw.

As i mentioned in the last blog, i am looking forward to my new internship. After the experience of my last internship, i know to expect a few things but as its a shorter internship this time the experience i have is going to be a lot different.

There are 25 other interns from different parts of the world coming to Warsaw,Poland as part of the PEACE project, new friendships will be formed and old friendships will be renewed. The party when i go back to Wroclaw is going to be CRAZY!!!

The next 2 months is going to be another learning experience for me and i am going to make the most of it. I've got a lot more thought going on in my head now but these are all the i can express at the moment, i guess i will edit this later on. I think i am going to end with these thoughts....

The next 6 months or so will be a turning point in my life and the next 2 month will determine the direction....

Here is a song by an artist based in Dubai, Tim Hassall.

I have heard the song many times but recently i have been able to relate to this song especially these lyrics.

Its all changing
We are all changing
This is all happening
We are all travelling
To find our home

I love traveling, seeing new places, learning new things and also meeting some new people.

For the longest time considered the place where my parents lived as "home". My dad has lived in United Arab Emirates for the past 27 years, however that is going to change sometime soon when he retires from work here and moves back to India. This has got me thinking about where i will call my "home" after that. Even though i grew up in India i have never really considered it "home" for reasons stated earlier.

I'm not sure where exactly i want to live in the future. I'd like to travel more, there are many places in the world that i have yet to see. So until i find that place i can call home, I'll keep on traveling....

Next post from Warsaw,Poland :D

New internship - Peace Project

Coming back to United Arab Emirates after my internship in Wroclaw,Poland, i was not sure what i should do, i thought about doing another internship but not sure where and when...

However, that changed when came across a message on facebook from a friend of mine from Warsaw SGH about a developement traineeship in Warsaw, Poland. The internship was with Amnesty International, its part of the PEACE Project organised by AIESEC Warsaw SGH.

After giving it some thought, i sent in my application and was selected for the internship.

This year is the 9th edition of the project. Heres something more about the project.

PEACE dares to respond to the call for cross-cultural understanding, in its fight against stereotypes,intolerance and prejudice in Poland. For the period of two months it unites a group of students from all over the world. By conducting classes at Polish secondary schools the participants create a unique opportunity for the young people to discover other cultures.

Check out their website : http://www.peace2010.pl/

The internship is for two months, till the end of March.It is a combination of 2 things i enjoy doing, traveling and teaching. I am also glad to be going on internship to the same LC at whose "Adapciak camp" i was Chair in September last year. It is going to be great meeting all the people from the camp and the LC. I am also i am looking forward to going back to my "home LC" Wroclaw UE and meeting all my friends all over Poland.

I am flying to Warsaw in tomorrow night, so theres a lot of things going through my head. More on that in my next post...