Blog Katy (English)

Friday, 9th August

Several days have now passed and they have been absolutely jam packed with activities, fun and lots of glorious sunshine! I have to admit that by the end of each day I am simply too tired to sit and keep up to date with this blog, even though I would like to. I also must admit that instead of writing my blog, I sit with 'the teachers' and we laugh and joke about the day, drink tea and the cherry on the cake is an evening game of 'dixit' a card game that can overcome any language barrier (as long as Jan is there to translate – just in case!)

Today was another beautiful sunny day and I am feeling as though my mood is swinging from being very relaxed and happy to being a little stressed and irritated at the thought that our time here is coming to an end (and that I will have to return to Scotland and worse than that, to 13C!!!)

We played a new game this afternoon called 'Hobbit volleyball'. This highly intellectual and stimulating game is played as follows:
-fill balloons to the brim with ice cold water
-do this with as many balloons as you can get your hands on
-two people standing either side of the net holding between them a towel
-lob said water filled balloon across the net by means of the towel and the other pair lob it back......if they can.....if they can't they feel the icy blast of cold water as the balloon splits!
This game was fantastic and provided hours of entertainment for not only the kids but for all of us big kids too.

Two days ago we had quite a different adventure. We all left nice and early to take a 'short' hike through the beautiful hills and countryside surrounding us. This 'wee walk' was in total 25km long! It was a tough day as the temperature was at least 32C all day – but – what an incredible walk. The vistas were absolutely beautiful, sound of music, eat your heart out – that kind of beautiful. Maria would have been singing 'the hills are alive with the sound of music' at the top of her lungs. Not all of us know that song but there was certainly singing as we marched and everybody stayed in fantastic spirits all day. I honestly didn't hear any complaining and I noticed how the kids were all so good at looking after one another. They take the hands of littler children, they offer water to anyone who has run out and they always notice if someone is flagging at the back and they make sure we really do stick together as a team. We stopped at several small Polish resting houses in the mountains. To me, these little wooden chalets reminded me very much of those you would find on a skiing holiday. In fact, we were walking alongside several chair lifts and it was clear that at a different time of the year, where we were walking would be a wonderful ski resort!

On our decent back to the town of Muszyna we faced a really steep and rough path with very loose stones and rocks underfoot. It took a long time to get everyone down and there were a few little falls but no complaints. They helped one another and at every trip they laughed, picked themselves back up and carried on. I am still so impressed by them all.

After this impressive display from our budding mountaineers, we decided to give them (and ourselves) a little rest and spent yesterday at the open air pool once again. This was heaven as it was 36-38C throughout the day and water is the only place to be. My legs are a little pink and stingy today but it was worth it and my shoulder tan is coming along quite nicely. Followed by our relaxing day at the pool, we hosted the traditional 'disco'!! The music was somewhat crackly coming through ancient speakers, the hall smelled a little of feet and there were no refreshments to speak of but they had an absolute ball! I was exhausted after all the jumping around and crazy dancing that I was 'forced' to do! The girls all looked very pretty and the boys exceptionally clean. There was the classic row of boys squashed against a wall as if they were held there by super glue and there were the more out-going girls who were all holding hands with one another and just going crazy to the music (I might have been one of them!) but there were also a few who were brave enough to dance in a pair – boy and girl! Lots of fun especially as a lot of the girls are so much taller than the boys their same age :) We were informed by one rather dashing 8 year old, that he had brushed his teeth, washed his feet and was wearing his new shirt so he was ready to get a girlfriend! Sadly his efforts didn't seem to go down that well – his girl of choice happened to be about twice his size and several years older than he is – but he seemed to have a lot of fun trying to impress her with his dance moves!

Memories of school discos gone by were flooding back and I could remember being 11 years old and on a school camp as if it were yesterday, though its quite nice being all grown up and to realise that the disco at summer camp is not the most important thing in the whole wide world, as it used to feel like.


Tomorrow is our second last day and I am really very sad and stressed to leave. It feels as though we just arrived and I really do wish I could stay for another month....maybe I would begin to feel the strain a little by that point, but by then the girls would have me speaking fluently 'po polsku' and I would be fantastic at water polo and hobbit volleyball! Doesn't sound too shabby for Katy :)

Saturday, 3rd August

On Friday we took a bus tour through the beautiful landscapes of Beskid Sadecki, a mountain range in the region of Poland known as 'little Poland'. The scenery in this region is quite beautiful, rolling hills with many trees and three rivers that snake their way through it. From our bus we could see across the river to a small church, not more than a few hundred metres away, this church was in Slovakia!

We were taken first to 'Stary Sacz' where there is an incredible wooden open air alter, one that was built for the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1999. This is the only alter that has been left in place following a visit from the Pope. The papal mass that took place in the fields of Stary Sacz attracted more than 700 000 people who patiently waited in rain and mud for the pope who on that day was running a little late. The evidence of this nation's devotion to the late pope can be found almost everywhere. The short visit at the site of papal mass was followed by a tour of a near my nunnery of St.Kinga. In this beautiful building, 32 nuns live in an entirely enclosed environment. This thought to me is quite staggering. The idea that these women commit their lives to God and demonstrate it through such a strict way of living is something I cannot even begin to imagine.

Following this tour we were allowed to enjoy a quick ice cream before climbing back into our big bus. On this next part of our tour, the children decided they wanted to sing some songs and in particular 'My bonnie lies over the ocean'. This little Scottish song about the famous Bonnie Prince Charlie, has proved to be very popular with this group of very intellectual Polish children! They can sing it and pronounce every word perfectly after hearing it only a few times. We then taught them a new song – 'I like the flowers'. This is an old Brownie Guide Song that I know. Something I would have sung on the way to Guide Camp and one of those songs that once you learn it, it becomes well and truly stuck in your head! Well we taught them it and boy did they like it! Singing in canon, the song went on and on and on. Again, I was simply amazed at how enthusiastic and clever they all seem to be. So content and proud with themselves that they had learned another new song and in English. I was very impressed, I still am. They take to everything that is put in front of them. No one is sitting on an i-phone, nobody is texting constantly, nobody is crying because they want their game boy. They are just happy to be sharing this fantastic experience and to be learning new things and playing with new friends. I wonder if such a summer camp could exist in the UK? I find myself thinking of home and comparing the children I treat as patients back in Scotland. I observe that all children are mischievous, cheeky and like to push their luck, but not all children are brought up by a television, not all children know how to have fun whilst being kind and courteous to the others around them and for sure- not all children understand what it means to listen to their elders, to respect their teachers and to do what they are told when they are told to do it. I will let you figure out which group of children are better at this, though I think you can guess!

Today (Saturday), was swimming pool day. It has been glorious weather, I believe 32C – which for my pasty Scottish skin, is very very hot! (But I love it!) We decided today was a day for the pool. We walked down from our camp to the main town centre in Muszyna and found the open air swimmig pool . Split into 2 groups – the swimmers and the non swimmers – we all jumped in and that was us for the full day! One little boy in particular has such a habit of making me laugh. His name is Radek and Radek has taken a real shine to 'Panie Jasiek' (Mr Jan). Every time Jan climbed out the pool, lay on his towel in the sun and shut his eyes, the infamous words could be heard “Panie Jasiek, Panie Jasiek, PANIE JASIEK – poplywamy?” To swim in Polish is 'plywac' and that was all Radek wanted to do, but not on his own, no no, he needed Jan! Radek is very inquisitive and will ask a question at any opportunity (and then some!) He is 7 years old, has bright blonde hair and has to run when he walks along side Jan in order to keep up! Although Jan became quite tired with “Panie Jasiek”, Radek is the sort of little boy it is just very difficult to say no to. Like a little puppy, no matter how many times you try, he will inevitably just keep bouncing back and begging for more :) Anyway, no hearts were broken and Jan obliged by playing with Radek for almost the entire day.
The other kids were having a ball as well, enjoying the slides, playing water polo, volleyball and badminton. Again, the adults were left to rest and relax as the children entertained themselves with one another and enjoyed the sun as much as we all did.

This evening we had our evening gathering where we sing songs, we talk about the day, we say prayers of thanks to God and we wish one another 'dobranoc' (goodnight) before heading off to bed. This evening, Pani Grazyna (Jan's mum for those who don't know), asked us all, did we know this was the year of faith? Everyone nodded and raised their hand to acknowledge that they did know. She then asked us all what this year of faith means to us and that perhaps we should all go away, think about this and write it down. So I have been thinking, for me, this year of faith cannot be summed up as just one thing. It has been a year for many things. Many thoughts, ideas, goals, plans, activities and commitments. This camp is a demonstration of one of the most important parts that this year of faith has prompted me to think about.

It is very easy as you grow older (perhaps even easier in a country within the UK), to drift away from the basics, to let the little things become forgotten, or less important in some way. At this summer camp, we are not just here having fun, playing games and making friends. I am not just here to learn Polish. We are sharing a special experience with one another. We have a morning prayer every day before breakfast. After we eat, we thank God for our meal. We say grace before meals and then at night, we come together to thank one another and to thank God for what the day has brought. Small traditions, something quite basic, simple, child like, yet something that I so frequently forget about. I go to mass every Sunday, but how often do I thank God for my food when others have none? How often do I sit down with my friends and family and share what was important in my day and ask them to share theirs and follow this by thanking God? This year of faith has been about many things but today it seems to come down to getting back to basics. Getting back to that simple, child like relationship with God, No fuss, no frills, just remembering to remember him. This is what this camp is showing me, this is what these children are teaching me. Sometimes we joke with each other 'who is looking after who!' 

Wednesday, 31st. July

We arrived in Krakow on Tuesday evening where we were collected by two young men who had driven to meet us. Jasiek's Babcia had kindly arranged for a priest from a small monastery near Krakow to come and collect us. I had been expecting a kind old man to have waited up and been dragged out of his comfortable bed to come and meet us. My stereotype was completely blown out the water when two young men pulled up in front of the airport in their car! One was a priest, the other a nearly-seminarian. We went back to the house of the 'Comboniani Order' which was a really beautiful place. We were then treated to a cold beer and met the 3 other members of the community that live there plus 4 friends who were all sitting playing games. We were then invited to have a midnight tour of Krakow!



Krakow by night was simply incredible Such a spectacular city (with excellent tour guides). I was blown away by the sheer number of churches and how close they were to one another! If you are late for Mass in Krakow you have absolutely no excuse because the next nearest church might only be 5 feet away! It was a very unexpected evening but one that was very memorable and I think Jasiek and I both felt this was a wonderful start to our 'vacation'!

We arrived in Muszyna the following day and met all the group as they were walking back to the accommodation after a morning hike. I felt very nervous, suddenly the realisation that – I don't speak Polish – hit me! Later in the afternoon we had a chance to meet our group and introduce ourselves to one another. We then decided to 'inflict' upon our group – a Scottish Country Dance! Everyone was a little reluctant at first, naturally enough the boys didn't want to hold hands with the girls and vice versa! After a few initial teething problems, they did really well and performed excellently.

After this there was some free time. A group of girls, around 10/11 years old, began to chat with me and became my new Polish teachers, explaining everything to me very slowly and clearly and I think I maybe learned more in one afternoon than I did in months of Polish lessons! The girls were really fantastic and in exchange I taught them a few English (and Scottish) words. We played 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' po Polsku and po Angielsku. This was the point in the day where I forgot all about being nervous for not speaking Polish and realised that the two weeks here in Muszyna are going to be a lot of fun and the best 'crash course' in Polish I could have picked :)

1 komentarz:

  1. Kraków! <3 a beautiful beginning of holidays, sounds really great :) I hope we'll meet soon!
    Justi

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