Indo-Polish Student Exchange 2015

środa, 27 maja 2015

Crazy guides Communism Tours and Salt Mine Visit

Our Indian friends are now being in Poland for six days and I can't believe that it's passing so fast! Unfortunately, most of the time polish students were spending at school but we all know studying is important and we are actually given three days off next week so no complains!

I was very happy to go around Kazimierz with our friends on Sunday, I think it was very enriching not only for them but for the polish group also. We had a nice guide, the weather left a lot to be desired but at least it wasn't raining :) Before that, I took Kshiti to Jurgów where I'm lucky to have a house so that She could relax by the fire place and feel what it means to live in the mountains. She told me that She's really happy that I took her, even for one day. We had a barbeque, we went for a walk, watched some movies and talked. She even went to the local church to participate in a slovakian mass (You have to understand that the polish one was at 8 o'clock and it was Sunday...). We came back on time to meet our friends at Kazimierz.

Monday was school mostly, the Indians were shown around at school, there was a welcoming and some organisation talks. What was really funny that day is that me, Asia and Weronika took our girls to the first lesson (we were supposed to meet at 9 and the lessons starts at 8) which was maths and it was of course in Polish....Kshiti told me that she understood the numbers but, well, Polish is not that simple ;p

After we finished the lessons we got some time to walk aroud the Main Squere. We even baught some souvenirs already. We were supposed to meet at 5 o'clock in Polonia's House for the opening of an exhibition of our IB school friends. I think the whole idea si amazing becouse young people don't often get an opportunity to show themselves in public and the works were pretty impressive - looking forward for more :)

On Thuesday we did not see each other much becouse we left our indian friends at 9 o'clock in the mornign and we met again at 7:30 in the evenign. I'm glad that I had some time to do my school work but still it was a bit boring without them. I asked Kshiti about the Nowa Huta sightseeing becouse I've never known that there is a possibility to go around this place with a guide. She told me that, except the rainign, the whole trip was quite interesting, they got to see how a communist house looks like and they've learned a bit about this part of our history. I think it is important to raise awarness of the importance of the time of communis in Poland becouse it really affected our lives and these affects could still be seen.

They also visited Wieliczka but, as it usually happens there, they had fun, no explanation needed :)

I'm looking forward to Friday because the weather is supposed to be nicer and we're going to Warsaw so we can focus more on sharing our country with our foreign friends than on doing homework. Actually the whole next week will be much more interesting for us polish students, of course it will be pretty intense but exchanges are about finding out and getting to know the country as much as you can, not about resting.

Motivated and ready for some more culture acknowledging!

Natalia Nikoniuk

Welcome at VIIIPALO, IB World School 006265

Kshiti Sinha -Blog

Today was the first day at VIII PALO our host school. I was excited and keen to go to school as I knew that it is going to be a different experience. My partner Natalia and I were dropped to school by her father. As soon I reached the school I went to an identified meeting place a classroom. We met the Principal who welcomed us to the school with warmth and enthusiasm.
The day began with us attending a philopshy lesson. It was an interesting experience and an interactive class.After the lesson we made three power point presentations on India one after the other to the students of the school. Activities like rangoli making , identifying spices, wearing a sari and a short quiz made the activity funfilled and interesting. We had food in the school canteen -hot beet root soup and pasta!

We attended a geography class taught by Anna ma'am. The way ma'am taught was captivating and interesting. It was interesting to know that there was only one student Alex who had enrolled for the class. It was nice to know him and we discussed the Polish history with him.

After the school got over all of us went to the main square and shopped a little. The main square was really big, beautiful with a church and surrounded by cafes and restaurants.

We attended an art exhibition at Polonia house in the main square where the fine arts students of the school displayed their work.

After the exhibition, we all went to our homes. I chatted with my host family and understood the various aspects of the Polish way of life.They make me feel welcome and special. They are also appreciative of the Indian culture.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, full of new experiences. As each day passes by, I start loving this city more and become more appreciative of the world and its diversity.

niedziela, 24 maja 2015

Day 1 Family Day

My first day of 28 hours

Hello dear readers!

Well, are you wondering that how come I had a 28 hours day when we have only 24 in a day. That is because we were on a flight to Zurich which took across different time zones which then resulted in us getting 4 more hours to spend, which I then spent in talking to a Swiss gentleman who knew a lot of Hindi and History(YES!!!), because he travelled to India often. But, we are not here to talk about the flight plan but about my first day in the polish leg of the Indo-Polish Exchange program.

So,

Objective: To observe everything so as to compare and contrast things between India and Poland so as to know more about Poland.

Status: Incomplete

Well, like it takes days for a snake to digest its prey so that it can provide nutrition to it for weeks or months, it would take me more than the 13 days there in India and 1 day in Poland to get information about Poland which I think would last a lifetime. So even though I tried my best to see and notice everything, I just couldn’t do it in one day. But whatever I saw, I could see many distinct things, like the colour GREEN here. This area is so green, so fertile that the meaning of Poland(roughly the country of fields) gets justified. I am just bedazzled by the green here, it is present everywhere, EVERYWHERE !!!! I just wonder why they do not have green in their flag. This is also accompanied by vast spaces. The area in which I am living, is so open that I want to just live here. I now envy the polish people who get so much space to do whatever they want to do whereas we in India are living in comparatively congested areas.

The food which I am being fed is also very good, the bread with which we were greeted in Poland was so good that I ate all of it(Thank you Kasia), and wanted more but then I wanted to try out new stuff, so I didn’t ask for more . Then we went to Julia’s house where almost everyone had gathered, and there I found the biggest apple of my life(which everyone is saying is medium-sized!!!!), the apple was 4 times bigger than the ones found in India, and it also tasted good.

There are many other aspects, like politics, ads, rooms etc but due to restricted time(for you) and space(for me),I will move on to the next topic. that is my house.

My house is very beautiful, with all the greenery around, it looks like paradise to me . As beautiful is the house as outside, as beautiful it is inside i.e. Marcin and his family, they are all nice people who are taking great care of me. But the best member of the house is zorka( I hope the spelling is right!!) , she is so lively that whenever I come in front of her, she immediately jumps at me. Then I try to make her sit, but she doesn’t . even right now I have to give her a pat so that I can write this.

So, this was the account of the things which striked me during the first day. will see you later.

Regards

Shubham Sharma