Every year there are two volunteers working in the office of the Foundation. I want to tell you what a normal work-day looks like for me and what activities the Schuman Volunteers have.
Normally I start my day in the office at 10 o´clock. It takes some time to get to the office from the flat, but on my way by metro I have enough time to fully wake up. Most of the time the 10 minute walk from Metro Politechnika to the Office is a nice morning walk, except for some days when it is snowing and raining. In the office I usually start by checking for new emails and answering them. We are in contact with teachers all around Poland inviting us for presenting our workshops at their schools. So for this task we are confirming visits, planning dates, checking buses and trains and informing teachers about our stay. Each of us is offering one workshop and we have another one together. In the beginning of the volunteering it took some time to create a workshop with a Canva presentation and games for pupils.
For lunch we usually bring our own from home or go to the nearest Żabka. There is also a Milkbar with cheap meals on the way to the Metro station .
Another task we have is creating content for Social Media. We are responsible for the Schuman Volunteers Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok account. Normally we share posts about things we have done the previous days or inform about new ESC-Projects from partner organizations. It is a lot of fun creating a collage or video on Canva and thinking of a discription to go underneath.
Working in the office is great, because it is flexible, you can prioritize tasks and create content and workshops about things you are interested in. We have our own room in the office with all the equipment we need and also frequently make use of the kitchen to make tea and coffee. We also find time to learn Polish, when we do our homework from the lessons or repeat vocabulary.
And the work will definitely not get boring, because of the days we visit schools for our workshops. Normally we have one or two visits per week, sometimes we also stay overnight. On these days I often have to wake up very early and go to one of the train or bus stations in the city.
Sometimes we get invited to schools in Warsaw, which is convenient to sleep longer, but we also often sleep on the bus or train rides to another city. Finding the right bus to a smaller city sometimes is very challenging and creates some stress in the morning, but most of the time there are people to ask for the way. When we arrive, we usually get picked up from the station by a teacher or find our way to the school by ourselves. In the school we meet many teachers and we are often welcomed with a coffee and cookies. Then we set up everything we need and start with our workshops. Depending on the schools preferences we can do one workshop or change classes and do several per day.
The workshop depends on the pupils in the class, sometimes some things have to be translated by a teacher, often there are many questions at the end and I am always happy to see the interest of the pupils.
Sometimes we get offered a lunch or snack in the school canteen or they even show us their city. Workshop days are always unique and exciting, it is so much fun to travel trough Poland a little bit and present pupils something new.
For Europe Day in May the volunteers working in the office are working together with the other volunteers to create games and activities for children. Most of the preparations are happening in the conference room at first every Thursday and in the week before the event every day.
Greetings from the office ?
Susanna