{"id":1568,"date":"2026-01-01T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=1568"},"modified":"2026-01-28T23:26:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:26:46","slug":"polonca-belgium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=1568","title":{"rendered":"POLONCA (BELGUIM)\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized has-custom-border aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"604\" height=\"754\" src=\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2026-01-28-230138.png\" alt=\"Polonca\" class=\"wp-image-1574\" style=\"border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;width:300px;height:300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2026-01-28-230138.png 604w, https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2026-01-28-230138-240x300.png 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">POLONCA (BELGUIM)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\">VOLUNTEERING FROM FEBRUARY 2025 TO APRIL 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Teaching is hard work. Being an example, a mentor, a leader, a safe space\u2014it\u2019s all hard work.<br>I\u2019ve learned to prepare better, to understand where my students come from, to figure out how<br>to pass on even a little bit of knowledge in a way that sticks. I\u2019ve learned to balance discipline<br>with passion. And I\u2019ve learned that, well\u2026 I\u2019m not great at everything. But more than anything,<br>I\u2019ve learned about attachment. That almost-instant connection. That gut feeling that pulls us<br>together, even across different languages and experiences. Until. Until one of them disappears<br>overnight.<br>And then comes the void. Managing the void. Sitting with it. Processing it. Moving on. But here\u2019s<br>the thing\u2014I love it. The chaos, the unpredictability, the emotional rollercoaster of it all. The rush<br>of making a breakthrough, the frustration of feeling like I\u2019m failing, when half of my class fails<br>their test, the sheer absurdity of trying to teach the days of the week (in the right order) for the<br>27th time. It\u2019s raw, it\u2019s real, it\u2019s exhausting, and it\u2019s everything.<br>I had a gazillion of doubts when I first thought of doing this, going there. So many reasons that<br>sounded like excuses. Today, as I reflect, all I can think of is: Just Do It.<br>I came to teach life skills and English. But I\u2019m the one learning. And the lessons are so much<br>bigger than language. Do. Go. Be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffb<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POLONCA (BELGUIM) VOLUNTEERING FROM FEBRUARY 2025 TO APRIL 2025 Teaching is hard work. Being an example, a mentor, a leader, a safe space\u2014it\u2019s all hard work.I\u2019ve learned to prepare better, to understand where my students come from, to figure out howto pass on even a little bit of knowledge in a way that sticks. I\u2019ve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teachers"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2026-01-28-230138.png","author_info":{"display_name":"juliandeblock@gmail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?author=1"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>POLONCA (BELGUIM)\u00a0 - Habibi Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=1568\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"POLONCA (BELGUIM)\u00a0 - Habibi Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"POLONCA (BELGUIM) VOLUNTEERING FROM FEBRUARY 2025 TO APRIL 2025 Teaching is hard work. Being an example, a mentor, a leader, a safe space\u2014it\u2019s all hard work.I\u2019ve learned to prepare better, to understand where my students come from, to figure out howto pass on even a little bit of knowledge in a way that sticks. 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