Language Exchange Meeting in Sopot

In Sopot going out is quite easy. It even more exciting when you have a sketchbook and another sketcher with you.

Every Thursday in Instytut Spraw Wszelakich in Sopot there are language exchange aka. Couchsurfing events. The idea is quite well known.
1. Couchsurfing events gather members of the website www.couchsurfing.org  from here or visitors meet together for chip-chap
2. Language Exchange usually gathers people who want to practice foreign language.

In short. These people want to talk! In Sopot this is 2 in 1 event, but still not perfect. If you travels, you may know these kind of events from other cities. I happen to participate already in Łódź, Poznań, Berlin and Cologne or various cities where I traveled to.

My experience with CouchSurfing lasts for good 7 years already, so no wonder that I was looking forward to check out how these meetings look in Tricity. If you are new in town, that is often the place where you can find friends and insight into the city, that you are going to make your own.

Are we the same group? Really?

I must admit. I was disappointed for couple of reasons.

1. Too loud. Dear DJ - you were great! I have heard Bookashade couple of years ago, and it was there that night! I loved it! Nonetheless, how you can talk when it's loud?

2. Unfamiliar space - tables do not support conversations, because you cannot change your place. The puffs, however, were arranged like for some couples. And why couchsurfers come to these events? To talk, to sit with other people, to move their places in order to talk with one or the other person (not the same one for all the time). Well...impossible there.

3. Expensive. The most expensive beer I have had in Tricity! (8 zł for draught beer plus 1zl  if you want a juice). No discount at the bar. In all cities, organisers ensure discount at least for one brand of the beer. They give it even in Belgrade in Serbia (greets for that wonderful community in Belgrade. Felt like home there from the very first time)! Well, this is the case in Instytut Spraw Wszelakich. I have asked myself couple of times, why this event is in there, actually? In Poznan some years ago, I happened to organise several events like that and for people prices and loudness were the important qualities of the place.
- You want to earn on us? Well, give something in exchange!

4. No community. There were actually two separate groups that did not know that had join the very same meeting! There was even no paper or no hint at the bar  - Language Exchange people are sitting over there.  We put our own paper, but the idea is to recognise each other easily. Nothing like that there.

Probably my experience from Łódź Language Exchange Club is simply too amazing. If you happen to be in Łódź, do not omit Thursdays at 20:00 in Szósta Dzielnica. Wonderful people who are so easy to make friends with. I love also the idea, that everyone gets a sticker where s/he can put name and the spoken languages in it. Thanks to that, I met so many fantastic people including two wonderful boys from Ukraine who has been teaching me the whole month Russian in exchange for English! Once I got even a copy of Sigmund Freud's analysis with request for help for translation! Beautiful event if you are linguist (if you come to such events, you probably enjoy languages at least a bit).

I don't want to be only critical - so let us make it a bit more constructive.

Music was cool!

People who came were great!


I sketched a lot (loved red lights!)

Let's meet more often and get on well better!!!

I was quite happy to welcome for the second time that girl with a sketchbook (here more about that). Of course we had no choice than sketch! DJ  was a good subject - expressive characteristic hair and barely moving - perfect model! Niuta's version was really nice (I forgot to take picture, sorry). As for me - this is only this week when I started to try more often with drawing people. Very challenging, particularly if you sketched cathedrals and bridges, like me! For these reason sketching together with Niuta was very pleasant. She kept encouraging me to take those challenges - no wonder that there were couple of sketches from that evening that I can present.

DJ Ertel - my first sketch that night

Another challenge was time - Niuta's portrays are very quick. Less than 10 minutes each! Although we used different tools (crayons vs. ink), I did my best to keep up that pace. Crazy really, but also inspirational!. I usually give myself minimum 30-45 minutes for a sketch as  I love to make it slow and think about each line!


To sum up, event was really nice and I  hope it will continue to happen here or anywhere else.
If you were interested to join us, go to Couchsurfing Tricity group (www.couchsurfing.org) or join facebook group Language Exchange Trójmiasto- there are the most updated information.

Below some more sketches of me and Niuta!
Enjoy!

My sketch of Niuta while sketching

Niuta's portray of Leonardo from Brasil. Mobile phote, sorry for poor quality

In the end I got another portray of myself, sketched in my sketchbook. Thank you! :)

Sketch for Christmas!

© thatgirlwithasketchbook. Christmas Market in Gdańsk

Dear friends!

Winter holiday has come unexpectedly. Again. Behind the window, autumn screams for attention, whereas everyone keeps dreaming about flocks of snow and making snowmen (or maybe its only me?). Whether we celebrate Christmas or any other *mas, the simple fact there is some time off is undisputable.

Therefore, I wish to all of you that you use this time in the way that makes you and your beloved happy! Stop complaining, don't be angry, release your stress and bring out all the good and joy you have inside. Share the good vibes with the people you care about. This is what we celebrate for.

In order to not pay a lip service, I would love to share with you my xmas comic. My friends are usually aware of this little hobby of mine, in that I am laughing out their malignant character features or ludicrous life experience they had. Last year my best friends where surprised with their personal strips of cartoon. Although this year girls are everywhere else but in Poland, I refuse to give up the tradition and present you one with Polish traditions in the background.

© thatgirlwithasketchbook. Gdańsk, Długi Targ.

However, firstly, take a notice of Polish basics: the celebration starts here with the occurrence of the first star on the 24th of December. After that the whole family can start a festive dinner where 12th dishes on the table is traditionally served.
We eat barszcz (soup, a must!), several sorts of herrings and certainly a Karp (carp, a freshwater fish). As a vegan, you shall not be surprised of the point of this sketch. Wigilia bez karpia, or a Christmas Eve without a carp is something I support since years, due to the terrible conditions that this fish must faced in the markets and stores. I encourage you  - show some love to the people, but also to animals!

Have a happy winter holiday!

that girl with a sketchbook



 

 

November means #home, #autumn and #Poland.

Happy Independence Day! Although half of Poland is celebrating today getting independence that we got after 123 year in 1918, the rest simply enjoy day off and cherish the beautiful "Polish Golden Autumn" that traditionally got a range of another season here. After couple of months of travelling here and there, I cherish it too in my family home in Łanięta.

This part of the year is one of my favourite (apart from spring) for visiting my parents. The park behind my house is full of colours and enchants everyone with its beauty.
Isn't this peaceful area just brilliant for sketching?

This time  in size a bit bigger than A4. This needs time.
 
And I had the whole long weekend. Nonetheless, I started in a rather lazy way and took my time. . Last couple of weeks were pretty eventful in my life and I really dreamt about some boring state of doing nothing, if you happen to know what I mean.
 

 

 

Outdoor sketch is already challenging in autumn. After 2h of sketching without gloves,
 the green tea is everything what you dream about!

 

 

 

 

Already in Slovenja, in September, I was quite frustrated about my inability to reflect the texture of trees. Although, in my opinion, these attempts from above are still not perfect, they are way better than those from September in Ljubljana (click).

 

Since that first try, drawing trees became my small idee fix that I constantly struggle with and hope that one day I will reach perfection. Nothing else than a tree gives you such a variety of possible textures, lines and shadows! Not to forget, there is no tree that looks the same.

 

 





Sometimes I feel like a little girl in a candy shop.

This happened when I got my first real aquarelle (water colour) set last week in Gdańsk. In the store, a nice lady recommended me a Russian brand called Ленинград (Leningrad) with a very good quality pigment.You can get those as a set or buy just some cubics of colour (what I should have done. For autumn colours, you need maybe 5-6 colours in total!).

However, as a watercolour beginner, I was more than excited to try those out. A night walk through the attic helped me to find a old drawer full of my child's sketches and old painting brushes, that lost on their quality over years of waiting for my inspirations. Not discouraged by that, I burnt the midnight oil and have tried different shades of green, yellow and umbra on my ink sketch.

Just like a girl with a candy.

What is this castle?

Zameczek w Łaniętach

During my 15 years of living in the village called Łanięta (read: wha-nyee-ta) - nearby Kutno - I had always a reminiscence of that castle being a ruined place to play. No doors, no windows, destroyed entrances and brick visible from behind the shabby walls. I was forbidden to go there. Some drinking local post-communistic icons used to hide their addiction in the bottles of cheap wine and in the bushes next to that Little Castle (Zameczek) .

A boy from my neighbourhood told me once a story about dragon that lived there in the dungeon, just under the part of the Little Castle that is clearly visible on my picture on the left. I was maybe six, he might have been eight and, admittedly, he wanted to impress me. Instead, I was scared of the dragons even more.

When I got older the "Lttle castle" became a shelter for juvenile romantic lovers who looked for secret place to steal girls some kisses after school or hide a bottle of  their first beers. Of course, at that moment I was also forbidden to go there. In the end, the teachers got to know about the secret tryst place and punished a group of boys and girls from my class for doing truancy over there. A good girl like me should not go there, although the Little Castle is still clearly visible from my room's window and stayed here like a forbidden fruit, surrounded by a wild forest.

 

Now, the castle is made prettier, and there is no forest. After its service as a shop, it became a local culture centre that offers space for children and youngsters after school who would rather do some workshops than kissing over there. They publish there a small local newspaper and organise some bigger events like the one after harvest in the middle of the park. Thanks to EU fonds, the historical park has been renovated, planted with new trees, equipped with park paths and benches. The charm and magic of a wild bushes and castle with a sleeping dragon under earth disappeared. Instead, we got a yellowish public building with a wizardry architecture that still want to resemble some fairy tales.

The table next to it tells the story about the Little "romantic" Castle that was built probably in the middle of 19th century as a part of the whole complex of palace and park with plenty of very old trees that we call now "monuments of nature". They witnessed the story of political changes throughout the centuries.

Nonetheless, I choose to think that somewhere, in that earthed dungeon, lies a corpus of one of the last dragons that used to hide its presence there -  from the world. Maybe it is not there any more. Maybe it has moved to the old bunker that, as the legend says, covers the secret path to the church. In the end little do we know about dragon's habits... :-).


Enjoy the beautiful day of having peace back!