When he says ‘Thank you’ is his parting message as he heads home, Lukasz Michalik isn’t telling the whole story about how he feels about this community.
That is, “I don’t want to go to Poland – I like this place,” he intimated last week, days before he and his 15 or so cohorts from Canada World Youth were scheduled to leave for the second half of their exchange – that one in Poland.
Like most of the CWY participants who’ve lived and volunteered in Slave Lake for the past three months or so, Lukasz says he hates to leave because he’s got “the best host family of all.” And then there’s the huge draw he feels from the Canadian Rockies that he visited two weeks ago.
“I’ve got to go back there,” he says with a determined smile, adding a pledge that some day he’ll climb them too.
At 18 he’ll have to write a final high school exam when he gets back to his home community of Sreprna Gora (“It means ‘silver heel’,” he says) and the university of Wrocoaw, in that city.
Much of his time in Slave Lake has been spent in front of a computer in the Town office, collating data from a study of youth and bullying in the community. At home computers are more a hobby, he says. But when he heads to university he’ll take computers as well as several sciences and maths for two years, then branch out into a specific subject.
He expects that’ll be computers. Then after Poland joins the European Union in May and he completes his education, he’ll be ready to travel to Western Europe to find a job.
Proficient in both English and French (He’s studied both for a dozen years), he says he could well end up in France some day. But it’s more than a volunteer ‘job’ on computers that has held his attention since he arrived in Slave Lake. It’s the people, he says, “and ever since we got to Canada – the big spaces.” “There’s lots of space, even between houses, that’s pretty new. And lots of trucks – we use regular cars.”
But the Rockies have a special attraction, too, he admits.
“I live in small mountains, but there are bigger ones that I always thought were huge.
“But when I got to the Rockies, it was indescribable. I can’t believe I was there; they were so beautiful and huge.
“I will go back there some day and spend two years hiking.” That’s a commitment, but since Lukasz is only 18 and doesn’t plan anything too far in advance, he can’t yet offer a specific date as to when he’ll return.
Just like his decision to get involved with Canada World Youth “was just crazy.
“One of the other (participants) is a school friend – it was totally crazy. She said ‘Tell me now, are you going or not?’
“I had one day to make a decision.”
It’s a decision he won’t ever regret.
He’ll remember the mountains (who could forget the Rockies), and the waves on Lesser Slave Lake. CWY participants planned to take kayaks across at the Narrows on the lake, but high winds eventually drove them back to shore.
“But I really liked the waves. We – one of the girls –and I were in a two-person kayak, and two of the guys gave up before we did.”

He’s not yet in a foreign land. But Canada World Youth participant Ian Duncombe says he’s experience some very large differences from his hometown in central Ontario.
Haliburton is much like Slave Lake that it’s in lake country – and it’s located deep in the forests. But that’s about where the similarities end, says Ian. Slave Lake hopes to build a name for itself in the world of tourism whereas Haliburton has already earned that claim to fame.
“Our population in the winter is between 3,000 and 4,000,” he says. But when summer and the ‘cottagers’ arrive, the numbers explode to about 10 times that number – or 40,000.
“It’s cottage country,” he says, with each of those perched on the shores of any one of hundreds of lakes in that dot central Ontario.
“But none of those are as big as (Lesser) Slave Lake,” he adds with a laugh.
Ian and his Polish exchange partner have spread their volunteer hours in several Slave Lake venues in the past few weeks, and from that experience Ian says he’s added some impressive points to his portfolio. Those include a certain expertise in constructing haunted houses – and writing ‘scripts’ for the ghosts and goblins in Halloween mansions that were “maybe too good.”
He also gained experience and “had a great time,” in changing bulbs and outfitting the community with lights in time for Light Up Slave Lake celebrations.
“That operation group is a really great crew!”
The University of Ottawa student says he was searching for an exchange when he ventured onto the Canada World Youth website and was delighted when he received a letter and an invitation to take part just days later. At the time he was two years into a degree in Sociology and Criminology and was looking for a break.
“But I didn’t want to be useless,” while he was taking that break. The chance to broaden his horizons through travel and volunteering in various communities was the perfect combination – and it even catered to his dream to work in international development. (“I change my mind every year or two,” he admits with a grin.) Ian says he comes by his yen for travel naturally, and is merely following in the footsteps of a younger sister who studied in Mexico, and an older one who has made Guatemala and India home for extended periods.
He’s confident that the experience that’ll see him and his 14 counterparts travel to a community in Poland early next month will be an exciting time, even if he’s only learned the most basic Polish phrases to get him through.
Total immersion will help him learn the language, he says, as will living the new culture 24/7. “I’m definitely stoked to go,” he admitted last week. At the same time, “I hope it won’t be as cold as Canadian winters,” he says, “but I do expect to see more tradition and tight-knit families. “
He was also surprised to learn he won’t have his regular job of doing dishes when he gets into his adoptive country, “because from what I’ve heard, in Poland the kitchen is the mother’s domain. And they’ll cook enough to keep you filled all day.”
The most exciting part of the experience, he says, is the fact that “we get to live in, not just look at” the host communities.

She doesn’t know how, and she doesn’t know when. But one thing Daria Jawor does know is that she’ll return to Canada, the sooner the better. In short, she likes everything she sees in this country – especially the drivers who actually stop for her when she wants to cross the street.
“It was strange, because they don’t stop (for pedestrians) in Poland.”
And then there were the Rocky Mountains.
“In Poland I live just two hours from the mountains and I spend all my holidays in the mountains. But this is the first time in my life that I’ve seen mountains like (the Rockies) – very big and very beautiful.”
Her hometown of Olbrachcice has a population of just 3,000 people. But the teen says she’s shocked that there are always more people on the street there than she ever sees on Slave Lake streets.
“It’s strange. Saturdays in Poland there is lots of people on the streets, and here not at all.” Pedestrian traffic is not quite as heavy in her hometown as it was on Slave Lake’s streets during the Santa Claus parade, she says, “but almost like that.
Daria spent the past three months volunteering her time to work with kindergarten and pre-school students at St. Mary of the Lake Roman Catholic Separate School in Slave Lake. And that was where she noticed striking differences between Canada and her native Poland.
“Here there is more play and more colour” as students begin to learn their ABCs, she says. “In Poland they have to learn this, this and this,” she says, striking her hand vertically on her opposite palm. “I think it’s better for kids in the middle – to learn with play. They learn a lot that way. And in French Immersion, they sing songs in French and learn.
“And the teachers here are not as strict. In Poland they scare you, and here they’re more like normal people.”
When she began working at the school Daria was surprised so many people spoke French.
“Before the trip I thought people only spoke French in Quebec, but here I see it more.” There are several French Immersion classes at St. Mary’s, and so both French and English are commonly used.
“And some people speak only in French.”
She was terribly sad that Thursday was her last day at the school, and was especially upset because the students “had just learned my name.
“Before they didn’t know what to call me, but finally were all saying ‘Daria’ when I went to the room.”
But as attached as she was to the youngsters, the 19-year-old insists she wouldn’t dream of being a teacher.
“I wanted to work with little kids, but I don’t want to be a teacher.
“I don’t have enough patience.”
Perhaps she won’t be a teacher, but Daria says she’d love to get a job – hopefully some day in Canada.
“I want to start my own life, maybe in Canada, but definitely not in Poland. I don’t see any future for me in Poland. Here they have no problems with jobs, but in Poland we work hard for not a lot of money.
“Here I talked to someone and he told me if I came back, for sure I’d have work. And I’ve heard they have good jobs. In Poland it’s hard, even if you’ve just finished a good university.”
Asked if she had one message for Slave Lake, Daria didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll be back,” she promised. “I like Canada. And some day I’d like to see all of Canada.”

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