English
My name is Jessica. I am an artist, musician and children’s book writer, currently living on a farm in Poland. Since I am quite stuck to the farm during summer time (and because I’m not quite tough enough to face the sub zero temperatures of Polish wintertime) I have enjoyed taking the opportunity to explore a bit more of Europe this winter through ‘Work Away’. Landsberg has been my final, longest and most memorable stop of the winter. I have been here just over 2 months and in that time I have met so many incredible people and formed memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
A lot of my time in the office has been spent working towards the ‘Wolf Durmashkin Composition Award’ and Jewish-German festival in May. Through this, I have encountered amazing people and stories, often devastating and inspiring in equal measure, that have changed my perception of the world.
When I have not been proof reading Wolfgang’s emails for any potentially offensive ‘German-ness’ and cooking meals with more vegetables that anyone else wants to eat, I have enjoyed freestyle dance parties in the office, karaoke nights, chaotic Arabic circle dancing, dinner parties of people I’d never met before who welcomed me like an old friend (and fed me lots of cake!), ‘Wolfgang tours’ of the city where each small detail has its own story and, most of all, having the opportunity to meet (and make lasting friendships with) many wonderful people from all over the world.
For a small German town, Landsberg has an incredibly rich history and diverse population. I am now almost embarrassed to think of what I imaged ‘working with refugees’ to entail before I came here. The young people I have met in Landsberg have drastically changed many preconceptions I didn’t even realize I had and the ‘charity work’ I had imagined, in reality has been incredible moments of shared fun, laughter and genuine friendship, for which I am so grateful.
A big thank you to everyone who has helped make my stay here such a memorable and enjoyable one. I hope I will see each other again some day.
Jessica xxxx