The moment when the photo was taken no one knew that the consequences of a pandemic will affect us in 10 days. We all know at this time, about the fact Corona Virus is already in Europe and Italy has already a lot of cases, but Poland seemed so far away, and we didn’t think about this to much. All volunteers went to Wojkowice a small town near to Katowice, because there were Asha and Benedikt living and making their volunteering service at the local Highschool. My task and the task for the other volunteers were promoting some European values. After the school the students spent the time with us and gave us some insights in their life. At one evening most volunteers and the students who hosted them, went to a roller skate disco.
For me it was the first time to go in one of this roller-skate disco places. It had such a nineties vibe. Everything felt retro, in such a good way. I haven’t roller skated in years but still, my skills weren’t completely gone but I needed some time, to feel good on the roller skates again. But then afterwards it was a blast. I enjoyed it a lot the whole time, not only at the roller skate place, also the rest of the trip to Wojkowice, it was on of this moment were I really had the feeling the idea of the European Solidarity Corps works very well. Intercultural exchange as it best I would say. There the local teenagers saw that I don’t matter where you are from, that we can understand each other with a common language. It is more about seeing the similarities between all the different cultures. But the same apply for me and the other volunteers, having close contact to Poles and getting to know better the polish culture
Every language has some tongue twister, and it is always a funny way to compare language and see how difficult every language can be . This trip will be always connected to me with the name Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz. This tongue twiser is just a name but still so hard. the name is from a movie, where it should show the difficulty of the polish language, which is proved with it. During the stay in Wojkowice I tried it many times to say it right, but I am not sure if I ever managed to say it correct.
4.3.2020