Halfway there

Ciao!

Can you believe it? Half of my project here in Poland has already gone by! The first day, three months felt like such a long time, but now it feels like I just blinked and was suddenly thrown forward in time, and I fear this second half will fly by even faster.

The kids love (and I really mean love) asking me to draw. Just for fun, I tried copying a drawing last week, and it caught the attention of one child… then another… and another… and suddenly, there was a whole line of kids waiting with drawing requests. I’ve never seen myself as artistic or truly able to draw, but the kids are starting to make me change my mind!

While I’m drawing, they’re always cheering me on with things like “Wow, beautiful!”, “Very good!”, and loads of encouraging phrases. And as soon as I finish their drawing and hand it over, their eyes light up, usually followed by a thank-you hug and a sprint toward the markers, eager to color it in right away.

Honestly, I never imagined that something as simple as sitting down with a pencil could bring so much happiness (not just to them, but to me too!) and it's moments like these that make me look forward to every single day with them, wondering what sweet surprise will come next.

There’s something absolutely fascinating about the energy kids have. I obviously can’t understand their long conversations, but there’s one word I do recognize because it’s the same for me: JUST DANCE. And you know what? They’re amazing at it! They know all the choreography by heart, you can really see how passionate they are, and how excited they get for dance time, ready to go wild to the beat of the music.

Just look at how much fun they’re having with Rasputin!

Spring is finally starting to truly show itself in nature, and we’re getting more and more beautiful days. What does that mean? More time at the playground! I saw a ribbon among all the toys they had and suddenly had a flashback: when I was little, I used to play this game (which I’m showing you in the video) where you follow a sequence of steps. I had so much fun teaching it to them! First I taught them the moves, and then I started saying the Italian words that go along with each part. That moment touched me for two reasons: first, because I love speaking in my native language, even if they don’t fully understand, it’s always a joy for me. And second, because I loved seeing them start repeating the sounds I made and understanding which word matched which movement. They are so smart!

We also had an event for “Konstytucja 3 maja,” the Constitution of May 3, 1791, a key document adopted by the Great Sejm for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. We got to watch a historical presentation, a short performance to make the history more interactive, a beautiful piano and violin recital, and to finish the event, a song sung by the children, take a look at them!

I think that’s everything I have to share for this blog, and to wrap it up, I want to share this video that honestly made me emotional. It all started so randomly: there was one little girl who kept repeating my name, and to play along, I did a little dance to go with it. But then other girls joined in, and suddenly I found myself with a little choir chanting my name to the tune of “Happy Birthday to You".

So tell me: how am I supposed to go home after something like that?