Life is about creating, not about getting | EVS/ESC Review #6

These days are white and red in Warsaw and Poland because the country is celebrating Independence Day. Moreover, this year there is an anniversary here - 100 years of regaining independence! So many times of efforts, fight and decisions. Congratulations, Poland! May you flourish even more!

#1. Me in the middle of nowhere

On Tuesday I was visiting the educational fair totally at the end of the world! Actually, the school, where the fair was conducted, was even out of Warsaw because while going I saw the traffic sign mentioned that the city area was finished. Thus, let me tell you the fascinating story of getting to that place :)

I kept in mind, that the time of the fair was between 10 am and 12 am. So firstly, I consulted a useful app JakDojady where the best route could be found for you. So, I started at 10 (I had some business till 10) and, as the app showed me the best way lasted for 20+30 minutes, I had lots of time planned for the fair.

Plan is plan. Real life is real life. So, when I arrived at Wilanowska metro station and started looking for the bus, I realized that it was quite a task! Even asking people on the street didn't help much as there were repairment works all around. Luckily, I found the bus stop after 10-15 minutes but the bus had already departed. And the next one was going to be... after 1 hour! 

Even taking to account that when I found the first bus stop it was 10:40, I decided not to give up and go to the next destination point to get to the fair - Kabaty metro station. That meant additional 20 minutes. Well, here I was! After 10 minutes of looking for a bus stop, I finally got it. However, the bus was to come at 11:01! And that time was... 3 minutes ago... Well, even despite the fact the buses are really accurate here, I decided to wait till 11:25. In that case, I had 20 minutes for getting to the place of the educational fair and 10 minutes for the fair. 

And, thankfully, my efforts were not useless! The previous bus (11:01) came a little bit later and, thank God, I was at the educational fair and had those 10 minutes for talking to the representatives. I cannot say that the little trip was stressful. But was it challenging? Completely!

#2. From participant to the moderator

We have a great open space Window on America in Kharkiv, which is open for kids, youth and adults. Here you can find lots of useful things for your English learning, admission process as well as get the consultations and visit various event. The last year of my studying I started visiting Mafia Club there in order to practise English, meet new people and had a great time on Friday evening. I am a great fan of Mafia even though not always I can hide my emotions :) 

This week I decided to make a Mafia-evening at my English speaking club and that event, as I think, was of a great success! 14 ladies played for 1.5 hours and had no idea who might be the killer! However, when there were only 3 citizens left, the murderer was discovered; therefore, the citizens won. 

Love this game for practising public speaking, making short and clear speeches, analyzing people's behaviours and even more. I believe it is a perfect game for a big company! 

#3. 3 hours of Polish talking

Also, I don't forget about my Polish and this week I visited a new Polish speaking club. Actually, it was just a friendly meeting in a pub and talking about everything in the world. My attention was drawn by two ladies from Japan and we spend almost an hour and a half on talking and discussing school, education, traditions and so on. 

I found out that Japanese pupils study all year long. They start in September and finish a formal educational year in the middle of July. You may think that 1.5 months they have for having rest and 'doing nothing', but no - children have lots of homework for this period. Thus, Japanese work hard starting from an early age! 

#4. Different people - different goals

We welcomed another STP group here in Warsaw this week.13participants came to Warsaw from Lodz to observe the city, visit the museum of Warsaw and explore Poland even more.

What I can say, that these guys were completely different from the previous group. Other thoughts, other goals, other ideas. I wonder how my group looked like?

#5. EVS. as well as your life, is made of things you create yourself

To continue the previous part, I always say some useful and personal information about EVS to STP participants as I know what it means to be a part of this 'big world of EVS'.

I was told, that two EVS-volunteers the group met before were not quite happy that they spend their time on the project. The volunteers do not have many interesting things to do, they have too much free time, etc. So, the general tone of telling about their impressions was more negative than positive.

What I can say in defence is that EVS is really flexible! If you want your time to be more exciting - make it more exciting! Create projects, run workshops, visit places, meet new people and more and more. EVS is about making decisions and changing your life as well as the life around you! You will never get the plan 'this you do firstly, this you do secondly and your life will be magnificent'. No! 

There is no other way but create this book yourself. Unfortunately, this book would be in use only once, but how amazing it is to realize that every word of it was written by you!

All the best from EVS/ESC-wolontariuszka Ira Konoplianko. 
Cześć!😉

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