The travel to Poland

              Hello! I’m Lavcho – the mascot of Hristo Yassenov Secondary school for the Comenius project. This time we’ll travel to Poland. I’m to be accompanied by Mrs. Tsvetelina Ovcharova and Mr. Ventsislav Valov.

      First we flew to Vienna. From there we changed the plane – a little old – to Krakow. We departed by bus to the town of Strumień, near Katowice, Southern Poland. Together with us were another 11 colleagues: Brian and Neil from Cheltenham, England; Laura and Cheluis (remember him – he was the "true" cardinal, with whom I had a photo in Zaragoza) in Spain;

and Gabby, Edit, Neli, Orsi, Orsi № 2, Rita and Rózhi from Budapest, Hungary. We stayed in "Willa Rufina" hotel – small but tidy.

       In Powstańców Ślaskich  Primary School welcomed us very warmly.

      The school principal and the deputy mayor brought greetings.

      The school choir "Canzonetta" winner of national and international awards, greeted us with songs in Polish and English. In the school hall students from 5th and 6th grades gave a cultural program dedicated to the 96th anniversary of the restoration of the independence of the Polish state - on 11.11.1918.

       Especially exciting was the performance of children with special educational needs.

       Young performers gave us a lesson in Polish dances: polonez and mazurek. Students from class 2 and 6 showed us their customs for Easter and Christmas. We were particularly impressed by cleanliness maintained in the school by all 240 children from 1 to 6 grade.

     The next day we had a trip to the nearby towns and Pszczyna and Bielsko Biala. We were greatly impressed by the baroque castle museum, one of the characteristic sights of  Pszczyna.

        Last night we attended a ceremonial dinner at the medieval restaurant in the Stronghold of Pszczyna Knights. The staff had prepared a trip back in time - a medieval setting, fashioned dances and games, even chivalrous duel with swords.
       At the end we said goodbye to our hosts. We all were sad, but promised to meet again in February 2015, when directors and project coordinators from the other 9 countries will come to visit Etropole.