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.

Midsummer

 

Another great month is passed. The time here goes so fast. I remember my first day here like yesterday. Only problem is the heat. It is so hot. We go to dog shelter twice a week and sometimes heat causing us some problems. One time the caregiver had to send us home because of the heat. Even though heat is bothering us, we are still enjoying time we spent with the dogs. Every time, we go there, we are getting closer with the dogs. When you get closer with a dog, it loves you more and more. Honestly, I prefer to be loved by dogs than people any day. The activities with the dogs are therapeutic. Also, some of the dogs are adopted this month. Mostly I am happy about it, but sometimes I am missing them.

Time flies...

 

At the beginning of the month, we finished the activities at the high school. Some groups were easier than others, the language barrier is still present when the students do not understand and speak enough English. With this obstacle I was able to learn to adapt and create simple activities to be able to communicate easily with them.

The dog shelter remains a weekly activity, I love going there and seeing the puppies growing up, some dogs let themselves be approached more, they become little by little more sociable. Even if seeing them at the shelter makes me feel a little sorry.

I consider this to be the beginning of a turning point

 During this month we have had Mid term evaluation, for volunteers who are doing a long term volunteering in the middle of their project to reflect on our experiences in Romania, our motivation, the problems we have encountered and how to face the end of the project and the return home. It is interesting to have this kind of activities during the project because, on the one hand, it allows you to get in touch with volunteers living in different parts of Romania, to get to know different projects and to reflect together on our experiences. It is a pity that for Covid-19 it cannot be done in person because it loses a bit of charm in the online modality but even so it continues to be enriching.

It was a nice month

 

It was a nice month. I really like the school in Oarța de Jos. The road to go there is little bit tricky but when I go to the school teach and socialize with the kids I feel alright instantly. We formed a 3 group of 5 students and try to answer as much as questions we can. It was a cute competition. Students were so happy. Also, we were happy too. Same week we also went to the dog shelter. We wanted to take pictures of dogs, to make posters. It was hard to take nice pictures of them because they are so energetic, and they don’t pose for camera. We also clean their cages and play games with them as usual. It is very soulful act. Next week, we went to the Oarța de Jos again. This time we had more time and we went out to the fields to have an activity there. We played lots of games together and had fun. I was making them play the games I learned in Turkey when I was children. Then we played the games of Marco’s. 

Let's start the Summer

At the end of this month the classes end for the youngest children we work with, so to close the course with them and say goodbye we had a picnic with the whole class in the countryside. We continue going to school, this month has been a little complicated for me because the classes we have gone to many of them did not speak English so communication became a little more complicated so to make it easier we did several games with them in which they participated and were more encouraged to interact with us.

We continued to offer our help at the Dog shelter. It is one of the best activities of the week as we play with the dogs, brush them and help with the cleaning.

This month went by again at an incredible speed

 

This month went by again at an incredible speed! I had the opportunity to have 1 week of vacation, so I went alone to Bucharest. This week was incredible, I met lovely, interesting, and surprising people! The city is huge, very pretty, the architecture is different from Baia Mare. Traveling alone allowed me to go beyond the limits of my comfort zone, to go on an adventure without plans, without great expectations, I was pleasantly surprised! We were finally able to go to school and high school to do activities in English, the preparation of the activities is always interesting, and having to adapt to the students during the activities is surprising. Interacting with the students in "real life" makes my project meaningful, even though the online activities are interesting being able to go into the classrooms and talk to the students is a great opportunity during this pandemic!

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.

 

Here comes the sun!

 

I have been here for three months now and everything is going great. I feel at home and I hope this feeling will last! At the beginning of the month, we went on a little hike, with my roommates and my coordinator, we were able to enjoy the nature and have a good time all together. This month we had our arrival training, this training was online, we were able to meet many volunteers living all over Romania, some volunteers are in Baia Mare. We were lucky enough to meet them and show them around the city, get to know each other during a dinner.  The classes with the children are still online, I am impatient to meet them. As time goes by, I feel I understand them more and more, seeing their evolution with their participation in English activities even if sometimes being behind the computer can be demotivating.

Romanian is still difficult for me

 

We did activities with children of different classes and levels. Games with the vocabulary of colors, the days of the week, animals ... They also taught us a bit of Romanian. Romanian is still difficult for me to understand. I had meet the students from the online classes and play in the snow with them which was fun. We had a meal together with the coordinators which was nice and the menu very tasty. The personal development classes are generating more confidence and help for me.

Little by little I am feeling more and more at home

 

This month we continued with the online classes due to the restrictions, although we were able to visit the town and the school where we are going to carry out part of the project. I really enjoyed being able to see the classrooms and start thinking about the activities we could do there.  It was very nice to be able to see the town snowed in and to go hiking in the snow. For someone who has lived all her life in Madrid, being able to have so much snow nearby is really exciting.  

Enjoy every moment.

 

This month went by so fast; I feel like it only lasted a week, it is now 2 months since I arrived in Romania. It may seem long but for me it is as if I arrived 2 weeks ago, I have done so many things during these 2 months. We finally had snow, we were like children, we made snowmen and snowball fights. To be honest, snow is beautiful when you stay at home warm. We welcomed a new Turkish volunteer in the apartment, after her forties we took a tour of the city together and had a good time together. New volunteers arrive regularly, and we meet them with pleasure to discover new cultures, to share moments, to laugh together.

How did Romania change me as a person?

Volunteering is about giving your time and skills, for the benefit of others, the local community and very importantly yourself. You can learn new skills, build confidence, make new friends, or simply take pleasure in being a part of something or supporting a cause that you believe in. It is a dialectical relationship and transforms while interacting on both sides. The aspect of life that we never had a chance to learn before, or already forgotten how to learn is taught us by the children. Having expectations is not an obstacle on the way of happiness making a smile on a child dispels all the expectations. It helps you how to have fewer expectations from life and live in the present. 

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.

First days in Baia Mare

The week before I came to Baia Mare, I was so anxious because I didn´t know which experiences were waiting for me. When I arrived to my new home I was tired and there were a lot of people in the kitchen that impressed me. First days I met so many people and I started making new friends like Tânia and Alejandro- Tania is in the same project as me and lives with me. In the house we are 7 people from different countries and cultures.

The first day of school I felt so nervous because I didn´t know how the children were going to react when they meet me. However, when I arrived everyone welcomed me very warmly and they asked me my name and how I was which made me very happy.