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LA MANCHA workshop ROMANIA-POLAND The graduating class of March 2006, just return form their La Mancha Lifestep . The facilitators , Dave Stuben, Alex Bitz, Kori Kuuana and Mike Zielaskovski shared that the 19 students were excellent in their academic work on Romanian history and culture and the history and significance of the Holocaust . Also they were fully immersed in spending time with orphans , working with the villagers and visiting with their High School friends .
" For me, La Mancha started out kind of slow but by the second day, I was really into it. The village in Romania changed my view on things. I really saw what contentment with what you have and hard work meant. My host, Maria, or “Mama Romania” as the girls liked to call her, was so warm and inviting. She was also very helpful with everything. Staying with my high school host was very fun as well. Andra showed me around Ploiesti and shared a lot about her life with me. I made a friend in a foreign country, which was really cool for me. It was also humbling to be the foreigner and have my accent made fun of instead of the other way around. Poland was a totally different experience from Romania. Everything was great there. From the kabobs to the magnificent churches, my view on the simple things in life grew even more. The most impacting experience I have been through was seeing Auschwitz. Words can’t even begin to describe what it was like to stand on a road that greatly impacted the world and a heritage. The presence that the barracks and the crematoriums contained was without a doubt the most eerie yet peaceful feeling I have ever felt. Nothing comes close to that experience. All in all, La Mancha was pretty life-changing and hugely humbling. I enjoyed the trip very much. " Veronica F.
"My La Mancha experience is indescribable in words. Every part of the trip was impactful for me. I like looking at things from different perspectives and, in one way, I thought it was so interesting stopping time in my head and realizing I was in Ploiesti, Romania sitting with a group of teenage girls in a pizza parlor laughing. Then you think about back in America how many teenage girls are in a pizza parlor laughing together. It was a beautiful moment in life. No one stops to think outside their world. Going to Auschwitz was especially impactful because I am Jewish and I have a relative who escaped Auschwitz. While I was sitting on a Bridge on a solo in Auschwitz, I could hear dogs barking and trains stopping, and I got chills, and I just imagined myself in those striped uniforms. Auschwitz was a sad day for me and it was humbling not to take life for granted. I am so lucky even to be in America. At times, though La Mancha was pretty frustrating. We visited an old Temple in the Jewish Quarter of Krakow and had to pay to enter. Once inside they did not supply any scriptures and there was a TV playing. It was frustrating that generally in poorer parts of Europe they expect Americans to come and want to see places like that, so we pay, and it’s sacrilege, but it’s also our fault that we, as Americans, are selfish with our money. All of this made me want to voice some opinions in the world that maybe I would consider after college. La Mancha gave me a view on the world that was bigger than my own. In the big picture of my life, the experience has motivated me to study, possibly in college, more about the world’s system. Maybe there will be more travel in my future." Lauren H.
Taking a moment to reflect. Auschwitz, Poland 2006
For more pictures from WINTER 2006 click here
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