Week 19: 10th May – 16th May

Personal and Cultural Development

This week has been so eventful, and it hasn’t been spent in Finland. In fact, I have been travelling in Poland for six days, through Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, Gdańsk, Hel and Sopot. Before leaving Turku, there were still no leaves on the trees, so when we arrived in Warsaw I was ecstatic to see all the greenery! I had forgotten what summer looked like and I’m appreciating the simple things in life much more now. In Warsaw, we visited the highest building in Poland, the culture tower, a present from Stalin, showing off impressive views. The city was surprisingly beautiful and romantic, despite everything being destroyed in the war. I expected it to seem full of pain and suffering but it has been rebuilt to create something of a honeymoon destination. The old town has been magnificently restored to look like it did before the war; it was so picturesque, it almost felt like a backdrop to a scene in a romantic movie. At times, it was hard to believe we were in Poland; it felt like Spain sitting outside on a terrace in the centre of the old town, eating good (cheap!) food, the boys drinking a litre of beer each, us girls drinking cocktails.

Krakow was another fascinating Polish city, full of churches – twenty-five to be exact just in the centre. I was in my element as usual, as I just adore the mystical feel churches bring to an area like that. During our stay in Krakow we took the opportunity to visit Auschwitz concentration camp; this was an experience that has been etched into my mind forever. It was a dull and rainy morning, weather that seemed fitting for the day that lay ahead, but nothing could have prepared me for what was to come. We were given a guided tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau, with detail on the reality that happened there. From this, I learnt a lot. If there was any doubt before about the level of human cruelty that existed there, seeing was believing. The truth of the past was horribly real right before my eyes. Before going to the concentration camp everybody was joking and laughing, but once there, all that was to be heard were the raindrops.

The tour began at the gates that prisoners walked through, above which was the phrase ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (‘Work sets you free’), giving the victims false hope. Before the war, the camp buildings housed the Polish army, but now it is seen as probably the worst place that has existed in Europe. Slave labour was abused, with doctors selecting those fit for work immediately upon arrival to the camp. A snap decision was made on the level of physical fitness; 25% were deemed fit enough, the rest – the elderly, pregnant women, children, the sick and disabled – were led to the gas chambers. The gas chambers were constructed underground so that they were concealed. Victims being led there were promised a bath or admission to another camp. Dummy showers were even fixed to the ceiling to deceive them. After gassed, corpses were stripped of gold teeth, earrings, rings, etc.

They were ordered to undress first and even told to remember the number of the hook where they had left their clothes – malevolent and cruel doesn’t even describe the false hope these people were given. We were told that screaming could be heard from the gas chambers, but within thirty minutes there was silence. This will become a hard-hitting, long-lasting memory for me, as we were taken to  the first gas chamber to be tested for mass killings that became used as part of daily routine. It is now a place of silence to respect those that lost their lives there. The worst realisation was that because that was the first chamber to be used, it was in fact the smallest, so to imagine not hundreds but thousands of people mass murdered in such a way, I can’t fathom it at all. To think that Auschwitz is the largest cemetery in the history of mankind with no graves, only ashes, is beyond my comprehension. Even worse, it was considered lucky for ashes even to remain, nothing was wasted, the ashes of burned bodies was used as fertiliser.

On top of this, personally the most shocking parts included seeing the actual living conditions people were put through, the photographs of the children tortured and killed there, and worst of all the human hair cut off shown in a huge pile in the museum. It was also heartbreaking to see the suitcases of the deceased, most of which had the hometown and date of birth of those they belonged to, some of which were children’s of two or three years old. The word Holocaust now has a deeper form of meaning and horrendous realism to me. All the pictures I took were in black and white, because I didn’t feel that colour would really portray the injustice and atmosphere radiating from the camp. I think everyone will take away some scar in their minds, and feel lucky for what we have today.

 

Despite the place of tragedy and torture that we had just seen, Poland offered an upbeat and courteous way of life back in Krakow and the remaining Polish towns we visited. It seems chivalry isn’t dead in Poland, since, for example in restaurants, menus are given first to ladies then to men. The train journeys from Warsaw to Krakow (3 ½ hours) and Krakow to Gdańsk (12 hours) allowed us to discover the landscape of the country. It reminded me very much of home, but, as Matti said, ‘it looks like the whole country is a big field,’ it is all flat with no mountains to be seen – beautiful nonetheless. Gdańsk actually turned out to be my favourite place, probably because it oozed charm and, of course, it dazzled me with water as it is at the North coast of Poland.

 

We were advised by the staff of our hostel to explore the old town of Gdańsk, take a ferry to the peninsula, another ferry from the peninsula to Sopot where there is a buzzing atmosphere with plenty of restaurants, etc., and a train back to Gdańsk. And that’s exactly what we did!

We went to the ticket office to buy ferry tickets and Matti dramatically declares to the ticket lady, ‘One way ticket to HELL!!!’ I turn to him, mortified, only to realise that that’s exactly what we were asking for, just not so dramatically! The peninsula we were going to is named Hel. When we made it there after the hilarity of the situation had passed, to call it Hel was a complete mismatch! It resembled paradise more than an image of hell. There was a great beach where we decided it would be appropriate to eat ice cream. Somehow, instead, we ended up with fresh fish – an unusual choice, but it has to be said, the fish meat was beautifully tender and succulent. The whole day was just fantastic, and ended the trip on a high.

Professional Development

Having spent most of the week in Poland, obviously not much happened in my professional life. Having said that, I did finish my school experience the day before I left, teaching three lessons on Monday: maths, history and ethics. I was actually sad that I was leaving, but excited about finishing my practice with an ethics lesson, as I had been so impressed with the subject since I found out about it and had been observing it in Finland. My lesson was on vegetarianism, and it actually turned out not to be the highlight of my final teaching day. Rather, it was the history lesson that I was dreading somewhat. History really isn’t my strong point and I had been given a specific lesson to teach on Roman Legions, something I knew nothing about. The activity that the lesson involved initially baffled me, so I tested it on Matti, Travis and Thomas before planning it. It required group work, deciding how to budget and organise the Roman Army to invade Britain. The boys completed the task, although they were confused by it too, giving me enough insight to enable me to understand how to use it in my lesson. In retrospect, I actually think testing it on my friends first allowed me to teach a better lesson, because I had dissected the knowledge and learning required for such a task. Needless-to-say, the 10/11 year old pupils seemed to understand and enjoy it better than the 21/22 year olds, two of which have had experience in the army!

Interestingly, I met a girl from Holland on a train in Poland that I began a really intriguing conversation with about Steiner education – something I have studied and she had been educated in. It was just such a shame that we only discovered this common area of interest and began such an interesting conversation as the train journey came to an end!

That brings to an end my professional development here in Finland. I have gained so much that I havn't even thought to include in this blog, so I hope my final reflection upon my return to NI will capture the true essence of this experience.