I found Ukraine far away from it | EVS/ESC Review #18
Working from home, two creatures sitting on my shoulders, visiting the places I wanted long time ago, a good event for your language development, and realizing you're a little bit older. Read about all these bright moments of my week below.
#1. Remote work or all your life in one place
#1. Remote work or all your life in one place
Sitting in a room, no talking to other people and being disorientated of where you are - that is what my week started from :) The point is that I am a bit sick this week (again) so the best decision was to stay at home and work remotely.
Weeeeell, not the best option for me, actually. The day started as usual but instead of going to the office I opened my laptop and started working from my little home. You don't see other people, you don't go outside, you don't communicate and don't hear people communicating... Tough time, though. Even for me, a person who is more a listener than a talker (I believe), such a long time of 'reservation' was quite wearisome.
Also, another situation happened that day. I was working, time was passing and suddenly somebody knocked at my door (???). My heart started beating at a rapid pace... I slowly come up to the door, opened it and... there was a dorm manager who was asking 'Iryna, are you ok? We haven't seen you since Friday. You didn't leave the key. Is something wrong?' :) :) :) Oooh, what fun! I love these people here! :)
P.S. That coconut was one of the thing to cheer me up when I was sick :)
#2. Overcoming fear
Here I overcome fear every day because everything is new and unfamiliar to me (even still). And every time I master my fear and go further I get so much happier! Such a self-motivation, you know.
One of such situations happened on Thursday. It was a perfect evening at Prezentacja antologii "Współczesna dramaturgia ukraińska" organized by Oleksandra Iwaniuk as a part of Klub Literacki PO SĄSIEDZKU.
There was not an ordinal meeting of discussing a book, talking about impressions and thoughts but an open discussion with people connected to the edition of the book (representative of a publishing agency, correstor, proofreader, etc.) and a performance of part of 'Studnia' directed by Zuza Barc. Wonderful event as well as all the others organized by Oleksandra Iwaniuk!
Talking about me overcoming fears, firstly, I still think that my Polish is poor and not very good. Secondly, now we are working on creating a project connected to theater and inclusion*, and that meeting was just a perfect opportunity to talk to a director!
So, when the meeting finished, there was an opportunity to ask all the questions in private if you had any. Of course I had them! I wanted to tell about the project we're trying to make alive! And then IT started:
- 'Oh, come on, you can do it later through FB, find that lady and write to her. It's easier and she won't notice your bad Polish'
- 'Why do it later is she is here and you're here too?'
- 'How you're going to tell her about the project if you still don't have a clear schedule and trainers you need?'
- 'Of course you don't have them, because for cooperation you should talk to professionals in that sphere'
It has been lasting for 2-3 mins approximately untill the moment I cut that short and went upstairs. There I asked for Zuza, talked to her, introduced myself and idea of the project, we exchanged our contacts and wished all the best to each other. And all of that was going in Polish!!!
So from now every time insted of thinking 'you can do that later' or 'you're not good enough for that' I think 'Why not now, huh?'
#3. Tandem, finally!
This day finally came! I have visited Tandem Warsaw International Community! This is a perfect occasion for practising your general language skills, finding friends, spending a good time and learning something interesting about other cultures.
On Friday I became a member of a Polish speaking table with two other guys from Japan and Poland. We had a nice time while sharing our cultures, talking about stereotypes of our nationalities, other funny things and many more. Polecam :D ('I recommend' in Polish)
#4. Life changes so we do
When I was a 2-year-student I happened to become a visitor of one of Ukrainian Language Specialization practical class (I had to finish my IT tasks and I stayed after my class in the same room). The lesson, at least for me, was simply talking for 1 hour and a half about roles, characters, mood, phrases, etc. That time it was so boring for me, I thought 'Oh, God, spend so much time on nothing, that's crazy'.
However, this week I became a visitor of Warsaw LitClub here in Warsaw and I spend so lovely time there. And guess what we did there? Right! We were talking about all those 'roles, characters, mood, phrases, etc.'
So complete transformation, isn't it? Is it because of age? Or people who surround you? I don't know for sure yet, but I like such changes in myself.
All the best from EVS/ESC-wolontariuszka Ira Konoplianko.
Cześć!😉
