Activity

Recently I've taken up jogging with my mum.
I was convinced that it's going to be really dull and tiring but it turned out that this activity is great!
Me and my mum started with short distances but now we can run abot 8 kilometres without even stopping which is a huge achievement, at least in my opinion.
Jogging makes me feel really relaxed and free. I've got some time to think, listen to music or have just a small talk with my mum.
I've learned that self-discipline is really important when it comes to any sport, especially jogging, because the more I push myself to run - the more I actually CAN run without feeling that tired.
Here is the track from yesterday. My dad gave me a watch that monitors my heart rate, speed, burned calories and other important things.

Creativity & Activity

Gospel workshop again!
This time it was so different than the last time.
Whole event was conducted by Brian Fentress - American vocalist and composer who used to live in Poland a couple years ago. He's such a cheerful person.

Workshop took part from 2nd to 4th of February in Chorzów Batory. It was all organized by freshmen from high school in Chorzów in the context of competition called "Zwolnieni z Teorii".
A choir was way smaller than I expected - only about 50 people.
Also the way Brian conducted this workshop was totally different than the way Ken Burton did it. We were dancing, shouting and losing our minds while singing.

Also our concert was a completed performance. Lights, music, scene decor, choreography. Everything was really professional and all teed up. I developed not only my singing skills but also my dance, scene moves and intimacy with the audience. I became more open minded for other cultures and different opinions about gospel music. Also it was all about having fun and meeting new people. Brian invited me to the next workshop in June in Katowice and I'll go for sure.

I'm attaching a short video with Brian's, my and my friends' interview about this event - CLICK HERE

Service

Yesterday I was collecting money for Polish charity called "Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy". This charity is collecting during whole year but once a year there is a final of this action. It was 24th time this final took place. WOŚP and its volunteers are collecting for sick children and old people. This year I decided that I want to be a part of this venture. So I joined it!
 Me an my friend Ania cut out heart shaped WOŚP stickers, grabbed our cans, IDs and went to shopping centre in Katowice. We were standing there for about 5 hours and we met loads of amazing and nice people. Especially one man made my heart warmed. It was an old, poor man who came to throw a lot of pennies to our can. He kept them in a small leaflet and decided to divide it into two parts so both of us will get the same amount of money. HE said he has been collecting these pennies for the whole year just to give them to WOŚP. It was beautiful because he wasn't rich but was supporting people who have even less than him. All in all I collected about 350,00 PLN and I'm quite proud about it. It was great to became a part of something bigger and help somebody. I remember when I was a small child I had to spend a long time in the hospital and almost everything was covered with those red heart shaped stickers, which means it was bought by WOŚP from money they collected. It's amazing how much this charity can do. I hope money I've collected will help someone in the future because that's the one and only reason why I decided to join this event.

Service

Today was such a good day at the shelter. Literally can't stop smiling! :)
While I was feeding animals, I heard a car rolling down the driveway. It was a man who came to adopt one of the dogs. He took a look at the cages and picked one. Shelter's owner opened the cage and the man went in. The dog inside was so happy that he started jumping all over this man. It was such a beautiful scene - seeing so much joy. The man decided to take him for a walk and I had to go with him. He went to his car, opened the door and a small head showed up. It was another dog! Turned out, this dog was deaf and felt a little bit lonely so this man decided to give him a friend. The dogs approached each other and started sniffing. They became friends in a second and started playing and running around. The man decided to adopt this dog. He went to our office to complete all formalities. And that was the time I noticed it. I noticed how happy this dog was just because he went for a walk or had a chance to meet another dog. His eyes were shining and he couldn't stop frisking and he didn't even know about new life in front of him. He was just happy because he could go out instead of sitting in the cage how he used to.
I've learned how important it is to enjoy little things in our lives because maybe one day we will understand how big these things really were.

Creativity

A couple days ago I took part in the gospel workshop with Ken Burton in Katowice.
Ken Burton is a composer, conductor, vocalist, instrumentalist and a teacher. He's from London and that's where he went to an university. He regularly perform in front of Queen Elizabeth II.
He's such a big authority for me and that's why I was so glad because of having an opportunity to work and perform with him.

In just 3 days; from about 200 random people and strangers we became a powerful gospel choir and what's more important - friends. Ken is not only a talented musician but also a great speaker. His words gave us so much power that hard work became nothing else but fun.
3rd and 4th of January were exhausting. We had about 10 hours of rehearsals every day. On 5th of January we were ready and well prepared for a performance in the Lutheran Church in Chorzów. That day was really nervous but when our concert started - there was no fear; only grace and happiness. It was an amazing experience because we all created something marvelous in only 3 days!

I've learned how to work in a huge group of people and how important it is to understand the message of the song to sing it good enough and deliver its contest to the audience. Understanding the lyrics - that's what made our performance one of a kind and unique.

Service

Katowice Model United Nations took place from 3rd of December to 5th of December.
Young people from our country (but not only) came to Katowice to take part in this event as delegates. There's this rule that during debates delegates can't comunicate with anyone by texting, calling or even sending emails. The only way they can do it is by "sending" special cards which are delivered by pages. Pages are people who decided to volunteer at this event and I was one of them. Not only passing notes belonged to my duties. I also had to help in giving out lunches, cleaning rooms and taking care of delegates. Being a page was definitely exhausting. My feet hurt from running to and fro with notes and delegates couldn't stop sending them. But I'm glad that I took part in this event. It was a great experience. I met a bunch of really nice people and I found out that this job was very stisfying. I was proud of myself being responsible for so many things. And also I prepared myself for next KatMun in which I would like to take part as delegate.

Service

I've never thought that working in animal shelter would be so hard.
I was certain that it's all about stroking dogs and feeding them. I was so wrong.
Watching those poor animals sitting in cold cages and seeing their pain and fear makes you feel really uncomfortable and depressed.
You have to prepare a lot of food and then give it to dogs. It's not that easy. They're all hungry so they start fighting for food. You  have to stay calm no matter what.
After feeding them it's time to clean cages, bear dogs with wounds and give pills to sick ones.
Finally, when you're done with all that depressing work - you've got some time to have fun. Playing with those small creatures is one of the best things in the world. They all are so grateful and at the end of the day you feel that you've made them at least just a little bit happier. It's surprising how powerful that feeling can be. It makes me want to wake up every Sunday and work really really hard just to help them. I feel that those dogs aremy real friends because I'm dealing with them knowing that I won't get anything except their love and grace.