FROschTOsch

by Julita Kowalów, Karolina Krukowska, Magdalena Mańkowska, Katarzyna Sielaczek (LOG)

Sport is one of the most famous way of spending free time in our school. It’s very important for young people’s health and mental condition.

Our students take part in many competitions and they attend many extra ordinary lessons after school. They devote their time for improving their sport skills. Also our teachers commit themselves to training pupils.

We have 3 school representations: volleyball team, football team and basketball team. They achieve many successes in regional competitions. Our biggest achievement is the fact that we have been champions in our region for 7 years in volleyball and basketball as well.

We are proud of our sportsmen and we wish them more and more success.

by Julita Kowalów, Karolina Krukowska, Magdalena Mańkowska, Katarzyna Sielaczek (LOG)

Euro 2012 is  organised in Poland for the first time. As we all know it’s associated with many changes and improvements in our country’s infrastructure.  It’s  a great opportunity to promote our country in the world. It is  also a great entertainment for football supporters.

The sports stadiums are being built in Gdańsk, Warsaw, Poznań and Wrocław. These buildings were designed not only for sports competitions but for other kind of entertainment like concerts or shows. We also started to renovate our railway stations and airports. For example we built a new terminal in Łódź and we are building many motorways.

Euro 2012 is a chance to cooperate with neighbouring countries mainly  Ukraine. Poland and Ukraine are planning to organize  the final together. During the sport event in our country there will be about 3500 journalists who will be reporting championship for millions of people all over the world. Communication network area’s preparation are connected with cooperation with Ukraine, therefore it is a task  which must be mastered together.

On the other hand, it is a big responsibility to cope with such a duty. There are some complications with infrastructure. There are some delays, the motorways may not be built in time. Chinese consortium which is building motorways in Poland doesn’t  pay Polish subcontractors on time so they went on strike. Problems are also appearing in roads’ investments and building of National Stadium. The disparity between official work plan  and actual situation is 16 per cent. But authorities think that these problems won’t disturb in completing the task on time.

There are 361 days left to the Europe Championship and despite of some complications we hope that everything will be successful.

by Dominika Lewandowska, class IIE (LOG)

On November 17, 2010 twelve girls in the care of Mrs. Ambroziak and Mr. Bigielmajer set off to “conquer” Britain. After the excitement of air travel we were accommodated in a youth hostel in the charming town of Kington. On Thursday morning we went to our partner school – Lady Hawkins’ School, where we took part in journalistic workshops conducted by the newspaper editor of the “Hereford Times”. Later we were shown around the school buildings and met “Mr Luke” – our countryman, who is a math teacher in Kington. That day was ended with a delicious dinner at the bowling alley integration.

On Friday we went with our German and British friends for an interactive museum of science “Thinktank” in Birmingham. We felt that physics or chemistry might not be so terrible. At the end of this visit to the museum we watched a short projection in the planetarium, then, to our delight, we could have done Christmas shopping at the market and at the mall. The next day, it was time for the joint development project in the partner school. The projects were a great opportunity to talk with German and British students about their country’s culture and leisure activities. Then we went to the film ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows “- in English, of course, but it was not an obstacle to the flooding in the magical world of Harry.

During the trip we visited the museum in St Fagans, Cardiff. In a nice way we could trace the history of Wales, see the buildings in which people lived for centuries. A circular building designed … to cockfights induced a smile on the face because we could make out what it was designed for. Despite the fatigue, we had enough force during shopping in the centre of Cardiff.

On Monday, we saw a Welsh coal mine. We were horrified at the information that in the nineteenth century in that mine eight-year-old children worked for several hours a day, six days a week in total darkness … For a brief moment we visited Hay-on-Wye – the town of books, where antique shops, book shops and shelves full of books can be found every few meters. The culmination of the day was a farewell dinner at Burton’s.

On the return trip we were recollecting that unforgettable adventure, and we were also thinking about our home country. We will remember for a long time great evenings spent with our German friend and with good music. Also we will never forget “wholesale” buying tea at the local supermarket, the taste of fish and chips and our various linguistic slips which sometimes led to funny misunderstandings. It was a pleasure to use in practice English. Although the “country of Harry Potter” is really beautiful it is always nice to return to our homeland, and also our national … pork chop!

by Marta Lewandowska and Małgorzata Leonarcik (LOG)

School is really important in every youth’s life. Education determines our future career – our job, our status, our satisfaction. This is why deciding on our path is such a serious matter. In every field, we need different qualifications. School can help us develop our abilities.

When we decide on our school life, we also choose our leading subjects. That means we learn the subjects we need in our future job, e.g. Maths for engineers, Biology for doctors. However, when choosing a path, we are still very young and inexperienced. It is hard to make a proper decision. Youths are likely to change their mind as they learn new things and find their new passions and interests. It means that even if someone has been learning History diligently for 2 years, he can suddenly go on to learning Physics and taking a path of an engineer.

We conducted a survey at our school. We wanted to find out opinions of our schoolmates that chose different majors. The questions was their future job and their reason for picking it out. We think that the survey made many people think about their life.

The results of our work are quite interesting. We found out that people that chose Science as their main subject (and also Biology, Geography, etc.) are more likely to take jobs connected with it. People learn Biology and Chemistry because their plan for life is being a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist.

If one spends much time on Maths, he probably dreams about being an architect, a banker or a businessman. The reason for that can probably have something to do with a specific character of the subject. A student needs to think logically and to understand many rules and laws of the nature.

There’s a difference in regard to humanistic subjects. The subjects are rather not very specific and it may be the reason why students’ plans differ so much. It is quite common to find people who want to be psychologists, lawyers, journalists, but others prefer being geodesists and doctors! They don’t care that it’s difficult to take this path, while they aren’t used to learning Science. They want to fulfill their dreams no matter what. Maybe humanists are just such full of passions people that think with their heart and not their common sense…

We also asked about motivations of young people. Most of them chose… money. Maybe Poland is still a poor country and that’s the reason why every one dreams of being rich. Wealth can help fulfill all the dreams and aspirations. Isn’t that sad?

However, many people choose their job according to interests. When someone likes drawing, job of an architect is actually perfect for him. One can realize his potential and be satisfied in his life. We are also proud that some of our schoolmates just want to help others- that is the reason for being a doctor or a policeman. Other causes can be: a contact with people, traditions in family, travels and prestige.

However, it is also quite disappointing that not every one has a good reason for choosing a particular path. Life is sad when one doesn’t have a motivation. It is harder to achieve your goals, when you don’t feel like really achieving them. That is why, our young age can actually create a problem. We are still indecisive and we don’t know much about the world. We can dream, but we can’t be sure… And (for good or for bad) it is the most important time for us, when our future life is being determined.

Let’s take this challenge!

by Izabela Woznicka (LOG)

In October 2010 the second edition of the project created by the global association AIESEC Poland took place in our school. It is called ‘Enter Your Future’ and this project enables students from the whole world to take part in the international practice.

In Gostynin we had an opportunity to meet three students from Georgia, Indonesia and China. Together with my friends, I had a chance to participate in these lectures. They were mainly devoted to enterprising and how to work in groups effectively. Of course, all of them were in English. This language was the only way to communicate for all of us. Never have we taken part in such classes before. That’s why, at the beginning it was really hard to forget about Polish. Some students were also stressed, but it wasn’t necessary to feel this way because it turned out that our guests, who came to Gostynin, were very friendly and sociable. What’s more important, they were very patient while working with students. The culture differences weren’t a serious barrier for us. On the contrary, we were extremely interested in listening to girls talking about their home countries.

After we had introduced ourselves, we could focus on the main topic. We worked in groups all the time and we were supposed to both communicate and get on with. Our tasks were really exciting and we had to even take advantages of our art abilities. Moreover, our views were taken into consideration because of sharing information about small and huge enterprises. I was really amazed by one task. It was connected with creating an advertisement. We could advertise one chosen  product. Both the idea and the art work were really important. The winner group received a special prize for the best advertisement.

We were really keen on these practical classes and it wasn’t a waste of time for anyone. Good fun helped us improve the foreign language. In my opinion, a nice atmosphere is one of the most important things in effective learning. I think practical lessons make everyone learn English more fluently and they can give us more useful skills than typical lessons. That’s why I was so excited about my visit in England in November 2010.

by Dominika Lewandowska IIe (LOG)

I was born in a small mystery town called Gostynin, where maisonette castle was built on the hill which used to be densely crowned with wood. At present townsfolk have had the castle reconstructed, but spirit of old one is still present in many legends and memory of the oldest people living here…

The modest, wooden but really comfortable castle was overlooking the mingy village. Nowadays at the same place the sun’s radiance is given back by Kocioł Lake tract. In the stronghold a foreman with his beautiful young wife were living. Their peaceful existence was interrupted by Tatar’s breaking into Polish land. The foreman had to go fighting with the pagans, unfortunately he was taken captive. One day a young and handsome knight came to the castle. The forewoman was jaded, she hadn’t got any message about her husband and because of her loneliness she fell in love with the knight. A few months later  emissaries arrived to the castle. They were to take a ransome for the foreman’s life, but perfidious knight had them incarcerated and he said no word to the forewoman.  By-and-by a message was brought to the citadel telling about foreman’s death. Unfaithful wife and the knight got married. During pompous wedding the spirit of the foreman appeared and damned traitorous woman and sneaky knight. The castle with wedding’s guests caved in the ground and on its site Kocioł lake came into being. The sole relic of old castle was crucifix, which was sticking out the lake’s tract. One day a country woman was washing underclothes, she caught the crucifix and invoked. Just then the roob disappeared for ages, but during the full moon, they say, it emerges in the moonlight.

Kocioł lake is frequent motive in Gostynin’s legends and the next tradition will be about it too. In the castle a prince was living, whose daughter married a plebeian in spite of her father objecting. The outraged prince killed the bridegroom while a priest was blessing newlyweds. The church, which had been situated on the hill, disappeared under the ground and now people can see there Kocioł lake.

Other legend says that before the ages, on the place where at present there is the Kocioł lake, was a sizeable town. Hard-working and opulent people were living there, however because of their vanity, they started sinnig against the Lord. The God punished sinners cruelly – the town caved in the abyss and from the hole surfaced the lake called Kocioł. The fishermen angling fishes there claimed they had been able to hear the voices and clang of a church’s bell during the Easter. It was said that a sinless girl who will be washing her clothes in the lake, may reverse the bad fortune and restore the town to the life, if she isn’t scared of a vision of it. Someday a young girl was washing her raiment in the Kocioł Lake and she felt she had touched something strange. The girl realized that had been a steeple, unfortunately she was shocked and a little bit frightened. The church had to stay in the darkness forever.

by Karolina Krukowska (LOG)

Catholic Church usually celebrates Easter in April. It is the springtime Christian festival, a very specific period of time for all the believers. The celebration of Easter is preceded by Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday. Palm twigs are indispensable accessories of the events of this day.  At Easter we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection,  and His victory over death and sin. On Saturday we go to church to consecrate Easter food, like bread, sausages, salt, pepper, and especially eggs. Egg is a symbol of new life. “Pisanki”  are eggs coloured by various colors , with decoration. They are decorated with wax and then soaked in dyes. Like the reason for decoration, people can resort to their imagination: flowers, plants, Jesus, bells, sheep of Easter, rabbits. These beautiful eggs will be a decoration of the table of Easter and it will be eaten next day,  during Sunday breakfast. It is a big ceremony.
Easter Sunday starts with the mass of resurrection. Then, breakfast will be celebrated by the family. Because it is breakfast, known as “holy”, which is the time of meeting with family in Poland during Easter. People wish one another “Happy Easter” (“Wesołego Alleluja” in Poland) and have an occasion to talk together, too. Often breakfast continues all day, because Poles likes much to remain at the table.
On Easter Monday, it is “Smigus-Dyngus” or “Lany Poniedziałek- Wet Monday”. This celebration is only in Poland. During all the day, it is allowed to throw water on others, same unknown! The best idea is thus to remain at home all the day, because during a short walk or  even going on foot to church, we are likely to be wet! And there is not the right to be annoyed. Obviously, one should not exaggerate with the quantity of water thrown on an unknown person. We should cultivate the tradition but without making people angry. Formerly, “Smigus-Dyngus” in the Polish culture was very  particular among the unmarried women and men: the men tried to put the biggest possible amount of water on the girls whom they liked, thus showing them their interest and their feelings! The more received water – the more the girl was loved. And the girls said “thank you” by offering more decorated eggs! It is a beautiful  tradition. Easter isn’t a huge celebration in Poland, but it is the happiest one and it is also the symbol of spring.

by AleksanderPodlewski (LOG)

A day at a Polish school starts at 8 a.m. We have about 7 – 8 lessons every day. Our school breaks are quite different from the ones in Germany. We have got one long break which takes 20 minutes and some shorter breaks between each lesson. There is  a shop in school and we can not eat lunch at school. We can eat some sandwiches or drink coffee.

Our school is smaller than Bettine-von-Arnim-Gesamtschule.  About 550 student attend our school.

All classroms contain computers with access to the Internet, projectors, TV-sets and equipment for transmitting sound. These electrical devices are really helpful in the lessons.

We are also able to listen to music  at breaks. There is a school blues band called ‘ Krzysiek Blues’. A group created by our favourit teacher – Krzysiek Kieres ( a lead guitarist and a singer ). Sometimes he plays his electric guitar during school breakes, which attracts a lot of students from our school.

We have got great teachers who are cheerful and funny. However it doesn’t mean they tell funny stories during all their lessons. They are always well prepared and can motivate their students successfully in a very attractive way. During classes we are provided with lots of  interesting movies, which arouse our enthusiams and broaden our imagination.

Hope, one day, you will be able to visit our school yourselves.