Resevoir Blogs

Hello from England!!!

I am home safely, currently resting up in southampton with Ruth's family which is great!

It was an amazing trip to Poland. We built some really good meaningful friendships which Lke can carry on. And it was great for me to leave the UK for a while and just have some space to think and pray and look to the future. I really feel re-rocussed and ready for a couple of years of hard work (or more!) before applying to go on staff with the Navigators to work with students.

BRING IT ON!!!

Thanks again for all your prayers and support, they really helped carry me through well.

Hope to see you soon!
Cszech hey,
Jonny

The Blog Lebowski

Hello!

This will probably be my last blog as I will be going home to England in 3 days (monday 3rd). It has been a great last few weeks in Poland with loads of oppertunities to continue the friendships we have made.

I have been down to the local gym with some of my friends...I have never felt so tiny and weak in my life!! In every other gym i have been to there are always 2 or 3 proper muscley -Schwartznegger-Scott Jackson-style blokes, but this gym is completely full of them! Im going back there this afternoon (my arms are still aching after going 4days ago!) for some more constructive torture ;-)

I also helped lead the worship band in the Polish church I have been going to, which was very interesting as I still dont speak more than 5 Polish words! They have invited me to help lead again this Sunday so I guess I didn't faux-pas too severely!

Since my last blog I have played basketball, table-football, gone to a rock concert, climbed a mountain, watched a few movies, won at Uno, lost at Uno, visited lots of people and experienced more amazing Polish hospitality.

I am really looking forward to going home and spending some time with Ruth, and my family, and some mates in Chichester, but also very sad to be leaving Poland! It has been an epic 6 weeks and I have made some friends for life here and have learned A LOT!

All in all, an experience that i wouldn't trade for the world.

Thanks so much for your support and I hope to see you soon!
Jonny


PS: I won't miss Polish mosquitoes! Here is some mosquito-hate-related Monty Python
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgvxt8QfkZ8&feature=related

2001: A Space Blogyssey

Hello!
It has been a quiet few days for me in Poland. I have been able to spend some good time reading my Bible and some books, and I even took a nap yesterday afternoon!

I've also enjoyed hanging out with my new mates Bartek (who I met at the English Speaking classes we ran a few weeks back) and Mateusz (who I met at the local youth club). It has been an extravaganza of table-football, snooker, basketball and football, and I'm planning to lay the smackdown on Mateusz tomorrow in a game of ping-pong!

I have just under 2 weeks left so next week Luke and I are planning a few days away to the countryside to spend some time with God and pray about the upcoming year. It will be good!

If you are a praying person, then these away days are really key. And these 2 meaningful friendships are very important to pray about too.

I will leave you with some Monty Python. There is no part of this that isn't very very funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5fGSBsfq8


Hope you are all well!
Jonny

To Kill A Bloggingbird

Here is an interesting phenomenon:

I currently have 11 mosquito bites on my left arm, but only 1 on my right arm. Why is this???!?!?

Is it some sort of global conspiracy that mosquitoes are targetting left-arms in order to cut down on the number of left-handed people? Does blood in the left arm taste better then blood in the right arm?

I would be more inclined to bite the right arm because mosquiot slapping would be less accurate with the available weaker left hand. Maybe they just like a challenge?

Jonny

Slumblog Millionairre

Hello!

I am back from SLOT festival. It was an amazing week! It is based in a HUGE abandoned and run-down monastry where they have a big main stage in the courtyard, lots of ehcoey empty rooms and an empty cathedral with live music, cafes, and art everywhere!

There are 120 different workshops that happen in 3 shifts in the morning and afternoon. These range through juggling, singing, painting, poetry, robot building, sword fighting, Irish dancing, ancient Greek, film etc.

Me and Luke did an English conversation workshop in the 1st shift which went very well. It was challenging to create a group dynamic where people felt confident enough to talk, but all the same it was very positive over the 4 days.

In the 3rd shift i went to Ballroom Dancing classes. i am NOT a good dancer but i wanted to try something new and I wanted to learn so that i could dance with Ruth when i get home (ah)!

So thanks to my poor trampled dance partner/translator, Julia, I am now fluent in the language of dance. Jive, salsa, rumba, cha-cha, and the English waltz. The whole experience was fairly harrowing but i had a good time!

In the evenings thay have live concerts on several stages. I spent a lot of time at the hardcore metal stage which was quality! ROCK!! I participated in my 1st brutally violent mosh pit and have my 1st mosh pit injury/trophy (a broken toenail-- dedicated to JoshB, Tim and Alex!).

Of course there was the traditional festival mud, bad bad toilets, no showers, and I have had most of the blood sucked out of my body by mosquitoes (Polish mozzies are like tigers with wings!!)

I have lots of other good stories but i can never think of them sitting at the computor!

Now we are back home at Luke's place in Olawa and teaching 4 nine yr olds English every morning. Kids are hard work. And the next few weeks will be spent catching up on some of the meaningful friendships we have made over the last few weeks! Im just about to head out to hang out my new friends Matteusz and Dawid-- we will probably play some pool, then kick a football around, and chat in broken English. If you are a praying person, these meaningful friendships would be good things to pray about.

I hope you are all well. Thanks for reading the whole long blog, its a long one!

Yours mosquito-bite-itchingly,
Jonny

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blog

Each blog will now be titled with a movie name but with the word "blog" in it. (e.g. the Blogfather part2, Ablogalypse Now, Eternal Sunshine of the Blogless Mind... you get the idea!

Suggestions very welcome...i have a few friends (they know who they are!) who love this stuff!

Much love,
Jonny

SLOT fest

Hello, quick post.

For the next week i will be at a large art and music festval called SLOT fest. It will be fantastic! Live music, art galleries, workshops, acrobatics, camping etc. Me and my Polish friend Luke are doing an english conversation workshop for 2hrs a day (which means we get in for free!) then the rest of the day is free just for us to enjoy!

Here is a link to the festival website if you are interested...
http://www.slot.art.pl/
If it is in Polish, click on the union jack in the top-right corner and it will appear in English.

Much love Jonny

Teaching

Hello!
It has been a busy week as expected, we met 4 Americans on Sunday who are living with us for the week. This is "super-awesome" and "kick-ass" and I am getting the urge to write "GO U.S. TEAM!! WOO! U-S-A, U-S-A!!"

Only joking, they are very cool and culturally aware of my sarcastic, off-beat British ways.

We have been teaching English to about 15 Polish kids aged 14-18. We do a morning and evening slot and have visited some local youth-clubs during the afternoons so its a pretty packed schedule. They are on their Summer holiday so we make it really fun with lots of games and fun. My personal favourite is a game where you have to put a pair of tights over your head and try and eat a banana through the material....messy AND educational!

We have made good freinds with the people who are coming, and have had some good meaningful conversations with them.

I taught a lesson on British slang yesterday. I wrote words such as "bloke", "taking the mickey", "you jammy dodger" and "cheery-o" on the board and they had to try and guess what the word meant. My favourite reply was: "a bloke is someone who plays cricket!" There is now a small community of Polish youth who say "cheery-o" when they say goodbye to each other!

The teaching ends on Saturday night then me and Luke go to SLOT festival (a music and art festival) on Sunday to camp for a week.

I am ok. Pretty tired. Missing beautiful Ruth. But having a good time.

There are crazy storms every day here at lest twice a day. So it is mega-hot, then the thunder rolls in and it absolutely hammers it down for about 1/2 hr, then drizzles for a few hours ,then clears up again. Some locals are worried about flooding!

Hope you are all well, love reading your comments so post away! I think you need to sighn up 1st ,or if you have a goooglemail account you can do it that way.

Much loving
Jonny

Hospitality

Hello!
I have just been shamed by a middle aged Polish lady!

Me and Luke visited a family he knows to borrow a guitar for me to play at the English class next week. They live in a very small 3-room flat in a huge estate of Communst-built tower blocks. After shaking hands with the family we were sat down and given apples, chocolate sweets, home-made raisin cake, vegetable stew, and green tea (in that order)! And this wasn't us staying for a meal, this was just a mid-afternoon snack!! What a feast! What hospitality!

If you are silly/brave enough to have been to my house in Leicester you would be lucky to get a cup o cheap tea in a dirty mug, and if you were VERY lucky you might get milk and sugar to go in it!! What hospitality?

So my 1st Che Guevara-esque life changing travel experience in Poland is to vow to keep a stash of custard creams and tea to give to anyone who visits me, and to make them feel welcome. Revolution in the air!!





So far it has been a very chilled-out trip with loads of time just to read, study, and chat with Luke (who is very cool by the way!) But we start to get busy tommorow as we are joined by an American team, and the kids English classes start on Monday. It will be a challenge but a lot of fun!


Also, Polish take-away pizza is better than English take-away pizza. Oooooh contraversial!

Much love, Jonny

Exciting news!: Polish ice-cream is better than English ice-cream!

Thats all i have to say really. I'm not even sorry. I just wanted you to know!




Me and Luke are preparing for a week of Youth events starting on Monday, based around teaching English conversation and building friendships. I will be leading an English slang workshop... could do with a spot of help! So far I have got:

'cor blimey!
'aas ya father?
'aas it going ol' pal?
Don't get ya' knickers in a twist
Not half mate, not half!
Well blow me down!
Hang about!

Any other suggestions?....

Much love, Jonny

Poles cheer and give a round of applause when the plane lands. ...you wouldn't see THAT sort of thing in England! Gosh no!

Hello from Poland! My name is Jonny, i will be your blogger. Pretentious travel writing is the future!!

As part of my apprenticeship year with the Navigators I have gone on a Summer trip to Wroclaw in Poland. I am staying with a Polish pastor called Luke Klykow who helps run an English language school, a church, and lots of youth programmes. He is looking after me ,and we will work together over the next 6 weeks.

Ernesto Guevara famously set out on a journey with a close friend around south america. His experiences and discoveries on that trip shaped his thoughts and convictions about the need for a social revolution for the under-represented lower classes. I don't particularly want to stage violent revolution, be captured and killed by the CIA and become an iconic anti-establishment figure. But the point is that new places, people, and experiences can change you. I want to return wiser, more faithful, more grateful, and with greater purpose.


So...its raining here in Olowa (near Wroclaw). I thought you should all know that.


Over the next 6 weeks i will be...
- Teaching english conversation at a week-long kids event in town
- Going to a Polish arts and music festival to do some more english conv classes
- Visiting a homeless people outreach in Wroclaw
- Going travelling up to Krakow and Rapka for some space to pray about the future.

Any prayers or encoragement or blog-heckling is welcome!
Lots of love
Jonny