The last week of camp was nothing but fun and games. Weather was our biggest enemy due to the fact that several hiking trips had been planned and alternative trips had to be made up on the spot. Don't worry, the kids stayed very entertained the whole time with a trip to a water park in Slovakia on Tuesday and visits to Zakopane and museums for the rest of the week. The water park was nice at least for my aching body as I sat and boiled in the heated spring pool. Some of our nights however were a little bit more risky as the week progressed.
Monday evening the Amercian volunteers were entertained by the students performing a Polish night which included some history, dancing and roasting what else but Polish sausage over a warm campfire. Trouble insued soon after once the kids were done with their act and the Polish adults took center stage. Two highlander cooks came to our camp to cook an entire lamb over the camp fire while we were entertained by the head director of another camp right outside of Siedlce. I'm not sure if it was the head director guy or who it may have been but somebody brought along some home brew of vodka so of course everybody participated. The initial couple of shots weren't so bad considering they were believed to be only about 50% alcohol. However, after that two liter bottle of vodka was demolished the big guns came out and what I like to refer as "the bottle of death", became our next mission. Don't worry, I paced myself and didn't have hardly any. I can't say the same for some of my other group members. The highlanders who had made the stuff took swig after swig as if it were water but most of the others agreed that rubbing alcohol may have been a better alternative. Songs and laughter ensued as the Polish adults sang song after song of traditional Polish music and entertained us all. Overall the evening was a great success for all so two days later American night took over the stage.
The volunteers had decided upon three main 'events' followed by a traditional campfire snack. Several members teamed up with the kids in a bowling game while Matt (not yours truely) taught the kids some line dances that one would typically hear at nearly every American wedding. Jim, Marissa, and now yours truely, headed up Baseball in the Danuta house driveway seeing as how the soccer field was a mud whole. Its hard to explain baseball to somebody who hasn't played it before but imagine trying to do it with people who barely speak your language. They all seemed to love it though and were eager to play another game in the days to come however time ran out and that never happened. Surprisingly nobody lost any limbs or broke any bones so we put a 'gold star' on American night. Thursday and Friday were typical camp days and then soon enough everything came to an end early Saturday morning.
Long before the roosters in the neighborhood even made a noise, the kids and staff woke up early Saturday morning for breakfast and their last goodbyes. Some tears were shed but we all knew that they were tears of happiness because it was such a great experience had by all. The kids filled up the bus and drove away, some never to return to camp again while others said they couldn't wait to come next summer. I wish we had more time with them but I know that even within the short two week period that the Global Volunteers were there, a huge impact was made to improve the students language and change many peoples outlooks on life. It was such a great learning experience for myself and I will miss the kids greatly. And so I begin the last leg of my trip with only eleven days to make it from Zakopane, Poland to Lisbon, Portugal with many wonderful stops along the way. The first city outside of Krakow will be Prague/already is!
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Where I stayed:
Danuta Guest House
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