I think I really owe this blog a long long post about what I have been doing for the past 7 weeks. I shall answer some questions that people keep asking me.. haha. Here it goes:

What has Joy been doing in Poland?

Er.. tough question cos I have been doing a lot of stuff.

First of all, I have been volunteering in a alcohol and drug rehabilitation home. I work with youths of age between 15-21. My main job scope is to interact with them, try to be a listening ear to them and teach them English.

I am enjoying what I am doing now – eating well, sleeping more than I do in London and meeting new people.

I have also been travelling around my city and hope to cover even more after I officially end my internship here.

Met any cute boys/girl?

Ahhh.. I like this question! Haha.. Of course! So many that I have lost count already (:

Has Joy been eating a lot?

Undeniably yes.

 pork knuckles boiled in beer and honey..

 roomie with our food supply (:

 

 

 

 

 

At last count, I ate KFC 5 times since coming to Poland. I think in UK, I only ate KFC once in Manchester. Yes yes.. 5 times??!! Er.. at least I didntfinish the bucket by myself, I shared it with my roomie (:

Also, we found this damn good biscuit called Kokosanka. It is a coconut biscuit – damn sinful but damn yummy. Haha. And we ate a lot lot lot of ice-cream, or as called Lody here, there was one Saturday that we just gobbled down 2 big big Lody in 1 day!

Seriously, how can I not get fat? I have a huge supply of food from evil bf and awful-ly sweet cookies baked by him.. (If I get fat, blame him! blame him!!)

But on another note, I have exercised more here than I ever did in my 9 months in London. Haha. And I got a little tanner now. So I look like a fatter tanner pig now -.-

And oh oh.. (though not answering the question), there was one day when the kids and I walked 30km (yes.. you heard me right.. 30km!!) to the beach! Wahhh.. tell you that was damn damn good exercise! Haha!

What?! Joy can cook??

Haha. You have to believe it – Yes, she can cook! But don’t start havingdreams that she will be cooking for you anytime soon.

Together with my roomie, we cooked porridge for supper for one night and prepared a delicious Binoffee Pie for dessert.

Eh.. the kids didn’t really like the porridge cos’ it was deemed too weird for them. But the texture of the porridge was damn good ok… Roomie and I are seriously considering a career as porridge-sellers! The Binoffee Pie was very very well-received – the Polish really have a sweet tooth.

Ahhh.. photos as proof (:

 

 

 How did Joy celebrate her 20th birthday?

The kids in my centre planned a surprise birthday party for me (: Okay.. it was that big a surprise. It was quite funny cos’ they were planning for my birthday party right in front of me – but they were speaking Polish so they thought I couldnt understand anything at all. Haha.

They gave me a hand-printed mug, a stained glass heart, a card and chocolates. (yes.. even more food..)

Then before rommie left, we celebrated my birthday with yet another pig out session – we finished up another 1 Daim cake (ie. 1600kcal) and she gave me a huge huge chocolate bar before leaving. Haha!

Of course, how can I forget the horrible 3.695 kg package aimed to make me even fatter as well (:

I guess it is definitely one birthday that I will remember. It is my first time spending it away from home – but I am really glad that I did. Not that I don’t miss my family and friends, but it was a sign that I am growing up and I have to be independent. Plus, I was doing something that I always wanted to do – to volunteer somewhere for a extended period of time. So I felt really happy doing so (:

Has Joy been spending a lot of money?

Hmm…not that that much. I can’t help it since it is the Polish Sales now. Haha. In my defence, the pair of jeans I brought over spilted! It become a hole-lypair of jeans so I had to get a new pair. While shoppingfor jeans, of course it was easily to get distracted by the sales. Haha.

Rather than shopping, due to the bad influence of my roomie(just kidding), we spent a lot of on junk food. Haha. The main other expenditure is just for transport. The centre provides me with free accomodation and food so I dont spend that that much la…

Plus, I havent been drinking much! The last time I drank – I think it was more than 5 weeks ago.. (:

One of my best buy – a Sudoku book. It brought me so much entertainment and joy while my brain still tries desperately to function. Haha. I was so happy when I found my Sudoku book cos’ I was craving to play it. And the bookshop I went to didnt have it, so I was quite disappointed. But when I finally finally found it at a newspaper stand, I was just damn elated. My roomie said she don’t remember when was the last time I smiled so happily and spastically. Haha.

Where has Joy been to?

I have been to Gdansk (the city I am currently in), Gydnia, Sopot, Malbork and Marinówek.

The interesting part is that Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot forms a Tri-City in the northof Poland. These 3 cities are connected together by a rail system which is super convenient. It is as easy as to travel between the 3 cities like taking the MRT.

I l-o-v-e the beaches in Poland. They are natural, long and beautiful – totally unlike the artificial beaches of Sentosa. I have never been a beach person before coming to Poland. But now my opinion of beaches are so so pleasant that I dont want to go to Sentosa to ruin it. Haha.

Gdansk – a very beautiful city. The Old City is so filled withcharm and amazing architecture. Roomieand I went to rent a ducky to pedal along the river of Gdansk. The one hour of pedalling was really damn good exercise (we tried really hard to compensate for all the non-stop eating we do..)

 

Sopot – a much smaller city but very pleasant. The beach there is really damn nice!!

Gydnia – a port city. A very nice place to chill out – a good place to start emo-ing as well.

Malbork – another small city. Famous for its Gothic castle. I went there for a day-trip, paid for the ticket and got a English tourguide who explained a lot about its history. It is really amazing. The castle is listed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List so I was like I must go see see look look. It was worth the train ride and expensive entrance ticket.

 

 

Marianowek – That was where I attended the 30th anniversary festival of my NGO, MONAR. It was a great event as I got to meet new people and learnt even more about the therapy work of the organisation. (Though the food was really really crappy!!) The weather was really bad as well. It was freaking like 13-15 degrees in the middle of summer??!!

Where does Joy intend to go next?

I will be backpacking to Torun, Warsaw and Krakow before I head back to London.

Does Joy like what she is doing?

Definitely yes.

This has been something that I have been looking forward to. I also wanted to volunteer for an extended period of time – I think it is more effective than a 2 week programme as you wont even get to know the kids well and next moment, you have to get going already. It is really great to get to know the kids here and interact with them. It is my first time interacting so closely with ex-drug addicts – you really get to see things from their perspective. It is a really different experience for what you may have read in books to come alive around you. The problems they face are so real, how they succumb the pressure, how they cant help but to cut themselves – your problems really seem so minute near to theirs. Worse part of it, they are still so young and definitely ill-equipped to handle with all these yet.

A lot of people ask me why I choose to volunteer in Poland instead of some ELDC – I dont think that the location matters that much seriously where you choose to voluneer. Different countries have different problems. The problems that EMDCs face are not that significantly different from in ELDCs - drug and alcohol abuse are just another 2 kinds of societal problems.

I definitely want to volunteer again. But I may choose a different environment next round. The biggest problem I have faced here is the language barrier. Polish is indeed one of the most difficult European language to learn! If I knew more Polish, I think I will be in a better position to know what is going on.

This also marks the first time I am seriously travelling alone. It is really a different experience to be travelling alone. Definitely it is great to travel with company, but when you are alone, you start to see things in a different perspective and have time for yourself to reflect.

So I am proud to say that I have learnt a few lessons about life here. I think that is what matters most in such a experience. For yourself to grow and learn how to be a better person (:

So when is Joy FINALLY heading home?

Soon soon.. only9 more days to home (: I know everyone is looking forward to my return (eh.. at least let me think this way leh.. hahaha)