September was my last month here

 

At the beginning of the month, we continued the craft workshop to give our creations to the dog shelter. This was my last time to help at the dog shelter. Realizing that the last time we do something, our habits set up in Romania will disappear little by little to create others in other cities and country. We had the opportunity to conduct activities in foster homes, it was very interesting, I realized how they work. I was able to lead activities with the children, adapt our games according to their desire, try to involve everyone. During the project I was able to evolve, to realize my limits, my tolerance, to get out of my comfort zone, to overcome the challenges I faced.

Mulțumesc frumos, România

 This is my last month in my project, after 10 months in Baia Mare I feel lucky to have had this opportunity, to live in a country different from mine, to know the Romanian culture, to see snow so many times, to live with volunteers from different parts of Europe, to have the possibility to work in different activities and to be able to develop myself personally.

I am happy to have participated in a project in Romania, to have done different activities new to me such as teaching English through games which encouraged me to try to be more and more creative when creating new activities.

Giving talks about the importance of water and its pollution and having debates with high school students about different topics was very rewarding for me because of all that I have learned both from the students and about myself.

I feel at home!

 

We started this month with 2 weeks of quarantine because Gönül had the Covid. These 2 weeks stuck in the apartment seemed long, the evenings and weekends seemed endless. We continued our online work with the children and teenagers. Once we were free, we started our awareness campaign on the value of water. We started our presentations on March 22, the World Water Day. We made many presentations for 2 weeks. We tried to make young people aware of the importance of water and its pollution which is harmful to the planet. Being able to meet many students from Baia Mare and the surroundings was for me an enriching experience even if sometimes the online meetings are not always easy, the students were involved and curious during this awareness campaign.

Discovering new skills

 

We started the month of March having to do two weeks of quarantine, because, unfortunately, Gönül was infected with Covid. Althoug, sometimes, not be able to leave the house made me a little sad, but having activities to plan and prepare for made it easier. It was also fun to do the quarantine with friends instead of being with my family.  During the months of March and

April, Manon and I carried out the Educational Campaign "Valuing Water". This campaign has given me the opportunity to learn more about water pollution, to learn how to use different online tools to create videos and make presentations, as well as, it has been a challenge for me to do the different talks in schools. I like to make talks and I feel comfortable doing them in Spanish and Portuguese because they are languages that I control, but to make these talks even if it was not a very complex topic has been a challenge for me because I don’t have a high English level, so it is more difficult for me to express myself and make myself understood properly.

 

This was my goal: to get out of my comfort zone

 

When I learned that I was taken on a volunteer mission in Romania, I was first very happy and then worried about going to a country I did not know at all. This was my goal: to get out of my comfort zone, to discover new people, cultures, new landscapes. When I landed in Cluj, I felt serene, arriving in Baia Mare everyone was very welcoming, I was able to meet other very nice volunteers too.

It has been 1 month now that I've been here, I could meet the children during the online classes, (because of the Covid the schools are closed) we talked about Christmas and the different traditions during the end of the year celebrations. I cannot wait for the schools to reopen so I can meet the children.

11 weeks of Online Volunteering – dealing with COVID-19

We started the online volunteering on 17th March, eleven weeks ago. Neither of us thought it actually could bound us with the kids this deeply. We have prepared our activities every Monday, to become more efficient and raise awareness of the children and their capabilities. Afterwards, we had activities every Thursday and Friday. Due to differences in activities and not boring the children, we planned them according to demand, and we did two activities each day, respectively. It was also essential to provide their activities in order to create an interactive way of learning. 29th May is the International Day of UN Peacekeepers. Therefore, for the 11th week, we decided to have activities related to peace.

Erasmus in time of coronavirus

I don’t know what to write. I don t think any other volunteer lived a similar situation and I hope

noone lives this in the future.

Everywhere is Corona, on social media, TV,on the street you only hear  about corona and this is the new world wide trending.

One country after another fall down and no difference between first or third world countries

no difference between religions mosque church synagogue every place of pray is empty no differences of  colors no border can save anyone we survive together or we vanish together.

Humanity and environment are taking their revenge for what we did to them for decades.

For me the worst is to stay at home waiting for the unknown.

Luck of responsibility and the unconscious of many people make the scenario of the virus going 

worst and worst

What happened in Italy should be a lesson for everybody.

Refreshing and thinking more about yourself time – the Midterm Evaluation!

When we heard that other volunteers went to Bucharest, instead of Brasov; we were quite sad. Then when the place of the evaluation was announced, we were quite happy and feeling lucky. It will be held in a lovely historical city in Romania, Sinaia. We got on the way with the night train that goes through Bucharest. I got on the train with all the experiences and thoughts that I have been through in these 7 months in Romania, and cannot say that I was well motivated. Despite this, I was very demotivated. But I had the feeling that everything would be good, and I could have this time for myself and refresh again.

Erasmus+ at its best in Tunisia

  

E adevărat ce se spune: Erasmus+ deschide noi orizonturi! Privind în spate, nu cu multă vreme în urmă nici nu mi-aș fi imaginat că voi ajunge să petrec două luni în Tunisia. Totuși, pot spune că decizia de a părăsi Europa în favoarea caldelor meleaguri africane, tocmai când în România frigul își făcea apariția, a fost una dintre cele mai îndrăznețe și înțelepte decizii pe care le-am luat vreodată. Deoarece cred că un pic de context ar constitui un adaos favorabil în înțelegerea experienței mele, vă voi spune că la finalul verii eram o proaspăt absolventă de master, fără o direcție clară de viitor, și știam doar că vreau să fac ceva diferit. Aveam impresia că nu investisem suficient timp în a-mi înțelege proprile dorințe și aspirații și mă aflam într-un punct mort atâta vreme cât nu reușeam să mă cunosc mai bine. După cum mi-a dovedit experiența din Tunisia, aveam dreptate.

Multiculturalism – Loving, sharing, receiving and giving!

Multiculturalism is defined as how a society deals with cultural diversity, both at the national and the community level according to many sociologists. It is a heterogeneous society in which people coexist but retain at least some of the unique characteristics of their traditional culture. It is the key to achieving a high degree of cultural diversity. Diversity occurs when people of different races, nationalities, religions, ethnicities, and philosophies come together to form a community. A truly diverse society is one that recognizes and values the cultural differences in its people. I live in a flat with other 4 volunteers from Azerbaijan, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia. I would like to define us as a mixed salad bowl with different cultures and unique characteristics.

Multumesc pentru tot!

Enumerate all the things that this experience has given me is a difficult process. It’s been almost 11 remarkable months of adventures while living and discovering a different country. I had the chance to travel, to develop new language skills, to have new experiences and to meet amazing people.  

Most of this experience and memories are defined by the people I cross path with…The children and young people that welcomed me from the first day and since then always excepting us with a smile, hug or eager to tell us something. The coordinator, mentor and people involved in the project that supported me in everything during this time and that made the activities and this experience really enjoyable.

TYPS - Horse Assisted Education

In perioada 10-13.10.2019, a avut loc in Tarnobrzeg (Polonia) al doilea training inclus in cadrul proiectului Typs. In cadrul trainingului 12 lucratori de tineret din cadrul celor trei organizatii – Greentin, Ecocompartimos, Esteka (cate 4 din fiecare organizatie partenera) au invatat noi metode pe care sa le aplice in activitatile de tineret. Coordonatorul activitatii, Horse Assisted Education a fost Esteka.

Proiectul Typs a fost finantat prin intermediul programului Erasmus+

 W dniach 10-13.10.2019 r. W Tarnobrzegu (Polska) odbyło się drugie szkolenie w ramach projektu Typs. Podczas tego szkolenia 12 pracowników młodzieżowych (po 4 dla każdej organizacji) uczyło się nowych metod edukacji poza formalnej celem zastosowania ich w pracy z młodzieżą. Koordynatorem działania programu szkoleniowego metoda Horse Assisted Education było stowarzyszenie Esteka.

Projekt Typs został sfinansowany przez Program Erasmus +

First steps into emotional intelligence

October is the Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month and to start a journey to develop emotional intelligence, we should first understand the concept and its importance.

In simple terms, emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise and manage emotions, our own and from others, while, intellectual intelligence, measured by the IQ, refers to the ability to learn, understand and process information. There is no strict correlation between them, which means people can have high IQs and low emotional intelligence, vice versa and even high score in both or neither.

Reflection time!

I have to admit that this time, I had to resort to my calendar and photo gallery to recap everything that happened in these last 2 months. I had the impression that it was too much to be all during this period. But no, also for my surprise, all happen since last time I wrote.

Scheduled in my calendar were Paraglider, School summer activities, a reminder for my cat annual vaccine (and yes, she didn´t love it but it was taken care of), MythBusters events, Electric Castle Festival, Youth Exchange, more days of school summer activities, several cultural events, Volu-HUB workshop and a Road-trip in Romania. And a lot more of daily plans happen that didn’t even get to the calendar. So, I will try to resume all of this. Summer was a time in which we organized and participated in a lot of different activities, events and projects. 

La revedere, Baia Mare!

Yes, I am in Baia Mare for 8 months now and it is the end of my volunteer project. During these 8 months, I did and saw so many things I didn't expect before I came here! But for me, the best part of erasmus+ volunteering is meeting new people from all over Europe and living abroad. This is a great opportunity to discover Europe. When I arrived, I didn't imagine that I would have to speak so much English. I lived most of my EVS in an apartment of 8 people. None of my roommates spoke my mother tongue until the last month. The diversity of nationalities of the volunteers in my apartment and in Baia Mare has helped me a lot to learn English. I came with a very low level of English and I have progressed in this language with foreigners, like myself. It's easier it seems to me and it's also fun to be able to practice with different accents. Before coming here, I knew nothing about Romania and I made many discoveries. I will keep very good memories of my EVS in Romania and if I had to do it again, I would do it.

Efforts to listen, understand and tolerate - essential values in a world where multiculturalism is increasingly present

From 24^th of July to the 31^st of August we took part of a Youth Exchange in Nistru with  groups of young people from different countries. There we participated to the project « EqualityIsFor Everyone » with 24 youngs aged 13 to 21 from  Macedonian, Spanish, Romanian and Finnish.

Gathered around the theme of equality and equity, we spent seven days together. The program was full of interesting and original activities (creative workshops, debates, role plays , cultural evenings, etc.), in a fantastic atmosphere and rich in our cultural diversity. Young Europeans also visited symbolic place such as the Communist Memorial in Sighetu Marmatiei.

Typs from business area

In perioada 1-4.05.2019, a avut loc in Toledo (Spania) primul training inclus in cadrul proiectului Typs. In cadrul trainingului 12 lucratori de tineret din cadrul celor trei organizatii – Greentin, Ecocompartimos, Esteka (cate 4 din fiecare organizatie partenera) au invatat noi metode pe care sa le aplice in activitatile de tineret. Coordonatorul activitatii a fost Ecocompartimos, care a pregatit un training bazat pe metode folosite in managementul afacerilor.

Proiectul Typs a fost finantat prin intermediul programului Erasmus+

Del 1 al 4 de mayo de 2019, tuvo lugar la primera formación para trabajadores juveniles del proyecto TYPS en Toledo, España. En esta formación participaron 12 trabajadores juveniles, 4 de cada organización y tuvieron la oportunidad de aprender métodos no formales que podrán aplicar en los jóvenes con los que trabajan. La coordinadora de la actividad fue Ecocompartimos y la formación se enfocó en el área financiera y de negocios de una organización.

El proyecto TYPS está financiado por Erasmus+

In Bicaz and Oarta, we are now an integral part of the daily lives

 I am getting closer to half of my EVS and I have already seen a lot in Romania. Not only geographically but also personally within my project. Now we have a pretty full schedule and we are going to school on the village every Monday and Thursday as well as at the beginning but now we also go to high school on Tuesday and Wednesday. The high school is a way for us to carry out interactive and non-formal activities with students, since most of the time we have freedom to choose our activities. This allows us to share with students topics that are important to us and to try to open their minds to reflection. We are also investing in a project bringing together several local and international volunteers to promote voting in the upcoming European elections. After several weeks of preparation, the project is beginning to come to life through promotional events in academic institutions and soon public events. 

Non-verbal communication can connect more than you would expect

I am starting to believe that the time difference between Portugal and Romania is not only add or subtract 2 hours but changing the length of one hour, one day or the 3 months since I am here. Maybe it wasn’t my best rational conclusion, but it was the one I found to explain how the time is speeding in Baia Mare.  Updating you, the activities in the schools Bicaz and Oarta de Sus are going well, and the children are still very happy to see us. I think that the personalize handshake, inside jokes and the run to the door demonstrates that even in a sometimes-non-verbal communication you can connect more than you would expect.

Water for all!

World Water Day is on March 22^nd and is the day to bring light on the fact that right now, 2.1 billion people live without safe water at home.

To draw attention to the importance of water, we marked this day through a visit of the Firiza Dam.

We spent the day together with the students of Gimnaziale Oarta de Sus and Gimnaziale Bicaz School students learning about the installations of the Dam.

With the help of Sistemul de Gospodarire a Apelor Maramures we also have the opportunity to observe some organisms and perform analyzes of the water.

 Tânia Alves - volunteer- in the project BCV - Building communities through volunteering - funded by ERASMUS +