Day 1: At 9 am we all gathered at platform 9 at the train station. I had my suitcase plus two huge bags full of towels and toys for the kids, my friend had 4 boxes of linens and others brought donations as well. This made piling onto the train a difficult task. Once we managed to all make it onto the train, we stuffed our boxes and luggage where ever we could find space and found a place to sit for the next 4 hours to Berlin. We had a half hour lay over and then it was onto the next train to Poznan. The train to Poznan was delayed 2 hours, but we finally got moving and got to Poland around 8:30. A few of the kids from the care home came to the station to pick us up and took the bus with us to the hotel. Once at the hotel we got our buddies and unpacked our things. We all ate dinner together and exhausted from the travelling went to bed almost immediately.
Day 2: We woke up for breakfast at around 8 and packed our things so we could head to the care home. Once at the care home we walked around a bit and then all went outside to the soccer field. We tried to play soccer but due to the snow we were unable to, so some people resorted to volleyball. With 7 inches of snow on the ground, it made it easy to start a snowball fight. All of the kids got involved and attacked Mr.Brown. One of the girls taught us some polish words. Once inside we had tea and then played ping pong, monkey in the middle, soccer, ninja and handball. We ate lunch with them which consisted of schnitzel, coleslaw and broiled potatoes. After that we walked to the church just nearby the home and sat in on a church service. Following the service we took the kids bowling and stayed for a few hours before taking them back and returning to the hotel.
Day 3: Today we went to the high school and had a tour of the school, meeting some of the kids and teachers. We played a name game and then a trivia game. The questions were extremely difficult; here is an example: They read us a 3 line poem and asked the meaning of the poem? Was it about the dung beetle plague of 1864, the polish currency or the weather? Lets just say we didn't win that trivia game! After finishing the game we left the school and went back to the care home and ate lunch. Around 3 we headed over to this sports center where we played soccer, tennis and Zumba. There was also a salt cave for relaxing. Unfortunately, only a few kids were able to come with us. The few who did, headed to the indoor soccer field and played for 3 hours. Others made it over to the salt cave and took a nap and some of us, including me, went to Zumba; where I embarrassed myself and showed off some of my spectacular dancing skills ;) After 4 hours at the complex, we dropped the kids off and went back to the hotel.
Day 4: This morning we went to the elementary school just near by the care home. We made Easter eggs, wood models and bracelets. They were so cute! After staying an hour or so with the kids we walked down the road to the store where we bought sausage, meat, tomato, flour, sugar, eggs, milk, butter and chocolate. As we had decided that we were going to cook chocolate pancakes and pasts for the kids at the home. We split off into groups, I helped make the pancakes. After experimenting with the first few we got the hang of things and slowly produced a bulk supply of pancakes for dessert. The other group made mini meatballs and tomato sauce. Unfortunately we ended up leaving the pasta in too long and the pasta turned very doughy. The food was not the best in the world, and the few kids that came tried to eat the food to be polite! ha ha. After lunch we walked back to the school and played hockey and soccer. I was excited to play hockey, thinking it would be a fun game of indoor hockey just like gym class. However as we walked into the gym I saw the hockey class finishing up and quickly realized we were way out of their league. After losing to the little boys, we decided to stop playing. After hockey and then soccer we returned to the care home where they had made 5 different types of cake for us. We all enjoyed this together.
Day 5: On our last day we woke up and went to a huge mall, about an hour away, for almost 3 hours. We walked around a bit, ate some frozen yogurt and bought some box fillers. After the mall we went back to the hotel and finished filling our boxes. (We each made a box for a kid at the care home, filled with toys, magazines, videos, nail polish, a watch etc.) Then the hotel, having a stable, gave horse sled rides and some people rode the horses. There was a bonfire for roasting sausages. The kids seemed genuinely happy. We gave our kids their box and each kid seemed appreciative. One of the boys cried when he was given his box was so excited to see that inside the box there was an old Ipod inside. Then we had to say goodbye, which was really sad. Even though we didn't get to know the kids very well it was sad to leave them. It gives you a new perspective on life and appreciation of family and everything you have. I hope we brought a little bit of light into their lives and had an impact in some way. I had gone into the trip, hoping to get to know all of the kids and make a huge impact; however I realized afterwards how difficult the whole thing must be. Non the less I hope we helped them in some way and I hope maybe next year we can go and fix the home and or improve it somehow, to make their lives a little bit better. The trip definitely brought a whole new meaning to family and appreciation for me.
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| He was trouble! |
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| The school |
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| The Elementary School |
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| 7 inches of snow! |
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| Ping Pong |
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