Poland update (2)

Warsaw

It turns out that internet access was sparser at camp than I'd anticipated. I snuck online a few times in the past two weeks, but never for long enough to write anything. Apologies for that...

Since the last post, the young kids stayed around for another 3 days, and then we had a week with teenagers which finished this morning. The first camp finished well, mainly because we were a big enough team to share out the energy needed to give the kids a good time. Our prayer for them is that (1) they saw something of Jesus in our lives and interactions with them, and (2) they'll remember what they learned so that in the future when their English improves, songs like "Jesus loves me, this I know" will make sense.

This time last week, a coachload of teenagers had arrived in the mountains at the hotel where the camps are taking place. Many of them were familiar faces, having been before. Others had heard about the camp through various channels and had come from all over the place. This year we had kids at Camp Arka who live in Warsaw, Bydogoszcz, Denmark and the Netherlands! Some of them were going cross-cultural just to attend camp.

For me, the week was very encouraging. I taught a group of 5 young guys (15-17 years old), all of whom spoke very good English, and all of whom are believers. So after a couple of days I was able to abandon traditional lessons and dive into some Bible study to help them in their Christian walk. Other kids are in need of your prayers, because in the past year or two they've started to slip into rebellion, emulating gang culture and turning away from their parents. The other male native speakers did a great job in starting to mentor them and hopefully it will bear fruit in the months and years to come.

It was fun today to travel up to Warsaw on the train with the 5 kids who live here and came to camp - 2 of whom were in my group and the other 3 sat on the dinner table with David and me. Seeing what the post-camp atmosphere is like for the kids was interesting, and it was great to hear them singing "Mighty to Save" and "Open the Eyes of my Heart" to themselves on the train, which we sang through the week with them.

So now I'm in Warsaw after 12 hours of travelling. I'll be here until Monday afternoon when I board the next train, bound for Moscow.

Poland update (1)

Szklarska Poręba, Poland

I've now been in Poland for a week, and up here in the mountains since Saturday. Most of the team of native speakers arrived on Wednesday and Thursday so we had some time to meet and orient ourselves before the camps began.

We're staying in actually quite a nice place, which is probably used as a skiing hotel in the winter. The facilities are good and the food is, mercifully, varied and well cooked (not to be taken for granted!). With 60 kids this week we need lots of energy and enthusiasm to keep up with them, and the Polish staff on the camp are doing a good job of keeping them occupied when they're not studying English.

The last time I spent any time with kids was this time last year, so it took me a few days to remember how to relate. I'd also forgotten that kids are really fun! (Some would say that I've found my vocation...)

I'd hoped to preserve my energy right through my time in Poland and into Russia, but as it happened I burned through my initial stock of energy in two days and since then have been reliant on coffee and naps to get through the days.

The schedule seems to change from day to day, but generally we are responsible for two 30 minute English lessons per day, and some craft activities. Last night we put on the traditional British/American cultural evening, although with 12 Americans and 1 of me it was a bit one-sided!

Still to come this week: a carnival night (basically an excuse to give out lots of prizes), treasure hunt, find the leader, and of course the cricket masterclass. The photos here are of a trip to the local waterfall, and the church in the town.

I'll hopefully update again on Saturday. Cześć until then!

Camp Arka 2008

Wroclaw, Poland

It's time to kick off some summer mission once again. I've come back to Poland to partner with the Christian educational organisation "Arka" in running summer camps for kids and teenagers. As in previous years (this is year 5 for me) I, along with the team of native English speakers, will be teaching conversational English for an hour or two every day of the camps. The aim is to make these lessons not just useful but actually fun, so that they realise the value of learning languages and are motivated to continue their studies the next year.

We haven't come just for English teaching: the aim is to introduce Jesus to the kids through our words, actions and attitudes; which is especially important for the younger kids who won't understand what we say. The challenge is to help them understand that we're not just friendly because we're westerners; we're interested in the kids because Jesus loves them too.

Mission in this context is quite nuanced and contextual, so please pray that we will all have wisdom in our approach, and especially that we won't turn them off through any inadvertent (or deliberate) mistakes.

It's very encouraging, and great fun, to see so many of last year's team of native speakers return. There are about 14 of us here this year, of whom only 5 are new. Unfortunately I am the only British team member in a sea of Americans which brings its own cultural challenges...

Today is an orientation day before we leave for the hills tomorrow. Week 1 is for 7-9s ; week 2 is 13-19s; week 3 (for which I'm not here) is 10-12s. Please pray also for energy and enthusiasm to be maintained throughout the time we're in Poland. Pray also for the Polish staff who have the responsibility of running the camp, and for Rebecca who co-ordinates us as a team of native speakers. We're enormously grateful to God for his provision this year: 176 kids are coming to camp! In a country like Poland that is a huge blessing and one that we definitely don't take for granted.

I should be able to get online fairly frequently during the camps so I will try to give updates on how they're going. For now: peace out.

Battling bureaucracy

London

On Tuesday evening I'll jump on the Piccadilly Line, and after a few changes of train will end up in Asian Russia. What can I say? It seemed like a good idea at the time... before I learnt about the mountain of faff that needs to be climbed in order to make this journey. Seven trains, each of which I've purchased a separate ticket for. Seven countries, most of which are now in the Schengen zone meaning I don't have to show my passport. The other two - Belarus and Russia - deserve to be shown up for the one-eyed bureaucratic monsters that they are.

I've nothing against buying a visa to enter a country; it so happens that I've never needed to until this year. Russia's system is fairly bizarre: receive an invitation from a Russian organisation, fill in an electronic form on the embassy's website which you then print out, go and queue outside in the rain for an hour and a half, hand over £45, and a week later you have a shiny visa in your passport.

Belarus requires a very similar process. Have a read of their form and feel your life draining away. It's two full pages long and requires a photo, work and home addresses, purpose of visit, information on all previous visits to Belarus, blood type and inside leg measurement. All that, and all I'm doing is sitting on a train for 8 hours passing through the country. At night. Not exactly a borderless society - and at £79 for the "express service" an unmitigated rip-off.

I hate faff.


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Injections

After locking my bike to a lamppost outside 99 Harley Street, I rang the big brass bell and was immediately let in to the clinic. The receptionist asked me to fill in a health questionnaire while I waited for the doctor and ushered me in to the "waiting room", which wouldn't look out of place in the Times Luxx magazine. Rather than a tatty copy of Hello magazine or yesterday's London Lite, she gave me an artwork catalogue to lean on while I completed the questionnaire.

Where are you travelling to?
Poland
Russia

How long will you be there?
3 weeks
2 weeks

What is the purpose of your trip?
Teaching English
Discipleship and evangelism

What type of travel is it?
Hostel
Camping

The doctor's office was suitably impressive, and she made a few notes while talking about my trip. And then gave me the first of two TicoVac injections to vaccinate me against tick-borne encephalitis, a disease that is as dangerous as it is hard to say. In southern Russia it's all the rage apparently.

The best part about all of this? For some reason this clinic offers the cheapest TBE vaccinations in London - 30% cheaper than my local clinic in Holloway, which has letters hanging off its sign and safety-glass windows. Unless I need botox treatment it's doubtful I'll be back in Harley Street after the second shot of vaccine in 4 weeks, but in mission one has to learn to take the rough with the smooth...

What a mistake-a to make-a

Krakow (finally)

An interesting weekend, all told. Eight modes of transportation, one wrong turn, one small-world moment and several goodbyes.

On Sunday I was staying with a Polish couple in Wrocław who put Josh and me up after Camp Arka. We went for a cycle ride in the afternoon and were alongside the river Odra when Andrzej spotted a boat. "I have a friend who owns a boat like that," he said, and led us down to the bank to have a closer look. Sure enough, it was his friend's boat - imported from Florida - with his friend's family on board for a Sunday afternoon cruise. Andrzej waved them over to the side and we put our bikes on board to go for a spin. The man's wife, Ula, is an English teacher so we were able to have a good conversation. She asked me where in England I'm from and when I said "Reading", looked amazed. Did I know a man she and her husband had met 20 years ago in Poland and stayed with in Reading 16 years ago? Well... as it turns out, yes I do. Small world eh?

Rode a horse for the first time ever on Monday while taking Rachel to her horse camp near Opole. They're bigger than they look, or maybe I've just not been paying attention.

Today I went to the dentist in Wrocław in the morning for a check-up. That cost a whopping 20zl ($6) and then I went straight to Głowny to catch my train down here. Unfortunately I had a slight mix-up between Departures (wyjazd?) and Arrivals (odjazd?) which led to my catching a train from Krakow heading north. The Polish countryside all looks the same so I was as surprised as the conductor to discover I'd been on the wrong train for nearly an hour! I just missed the train back to Wrocław, then just missed the train to Krakow, then the 15:00 train was 30 minutes late... all told the 4-hour journey took over 8 and cost an extra 70zl in tickets and bribes. Oops!

I'm in Krakow until Friday. The weather is going to be scorchio so I'll scoot down the 15º salt mines for a day and find shade the other day. Needless to say, neither the trains nor the hostel have air-conditioning...

O co chodzi?

Wrocław

Well, camps are over for another year. We arrived back from Kudowa this afternoon on a beautiful day - ironically much better weather than we've had during the camps. This was a frustration especially last week with younger kids who could get antsy without enough activity. Thankfully all the camps' kids were great and there was very little whining about the weather or anything else.

My blessings from the camps are mainly developing friendships and deepening relationships: with the other 11 native speakers - 8 of whom were here for the first time, with the Polish staff, most of whom I knew from previous years, and of course with the kids, especially the older ones. (You guys rock!) It is wonderful to return every year and see the growth in some of their lives and my biggest prayer request is for them, that they might find good fellowship and solid friendships based on Christ, and grow together as a community of young believers in Wrocław. Some of the Polish staff have this on their heart too so hopefully in the next year a program might get off the ground which takes root and which the churches support (traditionally they hold on to their youth and don't like to see them leave).

I'm staying with a Polish couple tonight, and then on Tuesday will head down to Kraków for a few days, before returning to England on Friday.

Arka update

Dańców, Poland

This is a very quick update using slow internet access here in the Polish mountains. The camps are going very well - we have a great team of Americans, Brits and Poles and good groups of kids. Last week the teenagers were fantastic and learnt a lot. This week the kids are younger so our teaching is less interesting and the connections are harder to make. Many of us are getting pretty worn out so please pray for energy, enthusiasm, blessing on the Bible studies and for good weather - the last week has been quite cold and rainy which is a bit oppressive for too long.

Thanks! Back in the land of internet on Saturday evening.

Camp Arka 2007

Wroclaw

I'm getting a sense of deja vu here, you might recognise this blog post from others I've made in the past. I'm off to the hills of southern Poland today to teach English on summer camps again, this will be my fourth year at Camp Arka. I'll try and write a couple of posts while I'm down there but internet access is likely to be pretty sketchy. In any case please be praying for me, the other native speakers (mostly Americans again), the Polish staff on camp, and of course the campers - 50 teenagers this week, 50 10-12s next week. Gulp - I want to both improve their conversational English and build relationships with them to introduce them to Jesus. They all know who he is, but very few actually know him at all.

Back in town

Wroclaw, Poland

Well, I made it back! The last week has been the most tiring, not just because it was our third in a row, but also because we had to do a lot more planning for lessons ("let's learn about family!") and take a lead with workshops and sports. The camp took a while to get going, but after 3 or 4 days the kids stopped whining and I got a new burst of energy to be enthusiastic - so the past few days have been great.

Anyway, I'm very tired and we're off to the centre to eat, shop and relax for a few days. Peace out!

Update 2

Marianówka, Poland

Hello everyone. I don't have long so will make this quick!

Last time I wrote was after week 1 with the little kids. That seems a long time ago... we've had another week and a bit since. The second week was for teenagers - 13-18 years old, about a third of whom I knew from previous years. I was the "teacher" of a group of 6 15-year old guys: Marcin, Piotr (x2), Maciek, Mariusz and Michał.

To start the week I did a few normal lessons on the media, newspapers etc. - but they and I found them boring, so with Rebecca's advice I switched to more discussion-based lessons. We talked about war and peace, geopolitics, leadership and the role of men - not all at the same time - and I segued into a brief Bible study at the end. I was so encouraged by the classes: I don't know how many are believers but I am praying (and ask you to do the same) that they will have found them, as well as the regular Bible studies, useful and challenging.

I was also able to give my testimony on Sunday morning at the service here. I laid the need to make a decision on the line for them and challenged them to follow Christ with their whole lives, not merely on Sunday, as most in Catholic Poland do.

We were all sad to see the teenagers leave yesterday, and somewhat surprised when the busload of new kids arrived an hour early! Thankfully we were able to get ready quickly. They're a nice bunch, mostly from ages 10-13 but with an errant but very cute 7-year old also here! I am taking the lowest group this week, so it's back to colouring and games rather than discussion.

Tomorrow we're off on a hike in the hills for half a day, then back to camp for an English lesson, Bible hour and crazy games in the evening.

Please continue to pray for me and the staff on camp, that we would have energy in the last few days, to love the kids and provide the best experience we can for them; and that our testimonies would speak to them of their need of salvation.

That's all for now. Thanks.

Quick update 1

Kłodzko, Poland

Hello all. I've just finished the first week of camps, which was with 35 6-10 year olds. It went quite well from our point of view - there's only so much conversation practice you can have with kids who don't understand words like "where" and "how much"! My group of 8 kids did a lot of colouring in, singing and playing games. Outside of 90 minutes a day of English, we took them on hikes, to the (murky) swimming pool, to play baseball and around the campfire.

The team I'm part of consisted of 7 'native speakers' - Rebecca, Jenny, Britney and Katlyn from the USA, and Jamie Clegg, John Guddat and myself from England. In addition there were four Polish staff members - Dominika, Ela, Łukas and Jacek, who kept the kids in line as much as possible!

We're staying in the hills near the Czech border (in fact, my cellphone thinks it's in Czech half the time) in very pretty countryside, although we're a long way from anywhere. The local shop has a sign outside advertising its wares: bread, sausage and beer; two of which have been our staple diet! We have cereal for breakfast every few days, and some pasta to vary the supper diet a few times. Yesterday the pasta was served with strawberry sauce! Bizarre.

Next week we'll be with 40 teenagers, from 13-18 years old. I'll be teaching the highest level group which I'm looking forward to, as I shouldn't have to lower my English level when I'm speaking, and we can talk about subjects other than my family and other animals.

That's all for now! Please continue to pray for us as we seek to meet the felt needs of the kids, and thus the real spiritual needs...

Are you ready to go...?

Wroclaw, Poland

This is the calm before the storm :) I'm staying with missionary friends in the city of Wroclaw before our camps begin tomorrow. I've met the team of English, Americans and Poles I'll be working with (some of whom I know already) and I'm excited already.

Yesterday the other native speakers went to Auschwitz for the day. It's something that everyone should do once - but only once. I went in 2004 and harboured no desire to return, so Rebecca - the American who's leading the camps for us - and I went for a cycle ride around Wroclaw! It was a lovely day and we had a lot of fun... more fun than the others I think. Anyway, from now on it's all go.

35 7-9 year olds this week; 40 13-18 year olds next week; 30 10-13 year olds the final week. I'll be teaching on my own (yikes!) but I have a lot of materials to use.

I also have a cricket set for a bit of cultural education!

Signing off for now. I'll try and write next week sometime - in the meantime, please be praying for us that we'll do a good job as teachers and that we can be useful for God's service in whatever other ways we can: encouraging, challenging and just being with the other Polish staff and the kids are the main ways.

Cześć!

Polska

On Sunday I'm flying to Wroclaw in south-west Poland for nearly four weeks. I'm going to be a native English-speaking teacher on three summer camps for children from the city. This will be the third time I've been, which gives me more of an idea of what to expect... not entirely a good thing! We'll be staying in a hotel/hostel in the Carpathian mountains near the Czech border (here, in fact).

See the camp website here or my pictures from 2004 and 2005 or the blog I wrote last year.


The village we stayed in in 2004. L-R Sandy, Erin, Jess, me, Lucy

Every day will consist of mostly the same things: 90 minutes of English teaching in the morning, then sports, then lunch, then another 45 minute English lesson, a Bible story/study, more sports, supper and then some evening activities. On some days we'll go out for half-day or full-day excursions in the mountains, which will be a nice break for us :)

If you're a Christian, would you please pray for me? I'll be going as part of a team of 7 foreigners, plus Rebecca our co-ordinator, who works at the Arka school in Wroclaw full-time.

Please pray:

• for safety in travelling for us and for the kids to and from camp every week, and in the activities while we're there (last year I broke my collarbone! I've spent enough time in a Polish hospital for the time being);
• for inspiration and wisdom as we try and teach good lessons and help the kids improve their English (this is the major attraction for parents, and they'll only send their kids back if we do a reasonable job!);
• that we can build up relationships with the kids and other Polish staff-members (some of whom aren't Christians). As we get to know them in a short period of time pray that we'll make the time count;
• for Rebecca, who works her socks off organising us and everyone else
• for the Polish leaders, especially those leading the spiritual times. Pray that they will preach the Gospel faithfully;
• that some of the kids (and maybe the adults!) will become believers (they're all "Christians" already in Poland, of course...);
• for good weather

I think that's it for the moment! I'll have infrequent internet access while I'm over there, so I will try and update this blog every week or so.

All that remains, then, is to pack and cheer on England tomorrow! Serve your King...

PS: if you're feeling posty, then you could send me some post while I'm there! Cheers.

Ośrodek Wczasowy
Pinokio
Marianówka 3
57-512 Idzików
Poland