17. august Tänane päev oli pühendatud eesti keele õppele. Hommikul õppisime erinevaid värve tundma läbi "Haned-luiged, tulge koju" mängule analoogselt. Veel said nad osa punamütsikese mängust. Kuna mina otseselt keele grupis ei olnud, ei pidanud ma nende mängudega tegelema. Küll aga aitasin Seiklejate Vennaskonna Facebooki lehele otseülekannet salvestada. Videost on näha kui väga ma üritan kõiki vajalikke andmeid oma ajust meelde tuletada. Hiljem moodustati 2 gruppi, olid keeles edasijõudnud ja algajad. Algajad tutvusid eesti tähtede hääldusega ja tegid etteütlust. Edasijõudnud õppisid uudissõnu ja mängisid poomismängu. Pärastlõunal suundusime matkale Kuradisaarele. Tegemist on väga laheda saarega, kuhu saab jala kõndida kui leiad õige koha. Meil oli algul selle koha leidmisega raskusi, aga leidsime õige raja ja alustasime kivist, valusat ja libedat teed saarele. Ma jätsin oma plätud jalga ja mu tee polnud nii valulik, aga libe oli küll. Saar ise oli oma üksinduses väga lummav. Kõndisime saare teise küljes asuvasse randa, ka seal oli äärmiselt kivine. Sain selleaastase esimese/viimase ujumise Soome lahes kirja. Saabusime saarele päikesega, aga lahkusime äikesepilvede ähvardaval jälitamisel. Kui olime oma ööbimiskohas tagasi, muutuski ilm äärmiselt kehvaks. Retk väsitas meid ikka korralikult ära ning õhtul võtsime vabalt: sõime veel allesjäänud magusaid tooteid kogu maailmast ning mängisime lauamänge. 18. august Pärast hommikusööki jätsime õdusa keskkonnaga hüvasti. Javier jättis proua Agnesega hüvasti, meil kõigil oli bussiaknast seda rõõm vaadata. Lõunatasime Taevaskoja Turismi- ja Puhkekeskuses. Maja oli ehituselt äärmiselt sarnane Mammaste spordikeskusele. Mingi valdav ehitustiil Põlvamaal vist. Kõht täis, ootas meid aktiivne liigutamine - kanuusõit ja sellele järgnev matk. Olin ühes kanuus koos Annelii ja Eva-Lottaga. Olin seekord paadi silmadeks. Alguses ei tulnud meie aerutamine just kõige paremini välja, aga kui meil hakkas kõik sujuma, siis polnud teisi kanuusid silmapiiril. Koos teiste ilmumisega, tekkis ka pinge ja me jäime mitmeid kordi kivide vahele kinni. Ühe korra pidin ma lausa kanuust välja ronima ja meid taas õigele suunale pöörama. Kuigi üksinduses sujus kõik enam-vähem komplikatsioonideta, siis koos teistega oli palju lõbusam. Andrew ja Dmitrii olid juba veemõnusid tunda saanud ja olid lahkesti nõus ka meid märjaks pritsima. Meie kanuu jäi siiski pinnale ja pääsesime kuiva jalaga paadist välja. Põlvamaa hajaasustus loob ideaalse pinnase ära eksimiseks. Kuna kanuujuhendajad ei andnud meili mingeid juhiseid, püüdsime navigatsioonisüsteemide abil õige suuna leida. Kui juba tundus, et leidsime matkaraja ja kõik sujub, siis mingist hetkest kadusid märgid ja teed ei viinud mitte kuhugi. Ühel hetkel väljusime metsast Maarja küla juures. Sealt hakkasime lihtsalt mööda teed tagasi oma majutuskohani liikuma ja jätsime Suure Taevaskoja külastuse ära. Seda enam, et kanuutades nägime sarnaseid liivakivipaljandeid. Kuid sportlik päev ei saanud õhtusöögiga veel punkti. Kohale olid tulnud kaks rahvatantsutreenerit. Nende vahendusel tantsisime tunni aja jooksul jalad villi. Tegelikult midagi hirmsalt keerulist ei olnud, aga valdavast osast tantsudest ei olnud ma kunagi varem midagi kuulnud. Ka see tants ja trall sai otseülekandega jäädvustatud. Õhtul võtsin asja rahulikult. Öiste jutuajamiste asemel soovisin oma soojas toakeses ennast korralikult välja puhata. 19. august Hommikusöök Põlvamaal, kiire keeleõpe bussi oodates, lühike sõit ja peagi olimegi tudengilinnas Tartus. Meie majutuskohaks sai Hektori hostel. See on justkui segu korterist, ühiselamust ja hostelist. Pärast asjade ära viimist, suundusime Tartu õppimisvõimalustega tutvuma. Tartu Ülikoolis pandi meid ühe pika laua taha istuma ja tutvustati Tartu Ülikooli õppimisvõimalusi inglise keelsetel suundadel. Õnneks mõjusid kõik need ülikoolijutud mulle immuunselt. Olin umbes kuu varem oma valitud erialale sisse saanud ja minu haridustee jätkus Eesti Kunstiakadeemias. Pärast lõunasööki Big Benis ja Londoni tunnetust oli sisuliselt vaba aeg. Suurem osa grupist suundus Uku tuurile. Meie Kristi ja Eliisa aga läksime Tartu kristallipoode avastama. Ostsin endale amuleti, mille pidin ka kohe kaela panema, muidugi ei saanud ma järgmisel päeval seda enam ära ja nii ma kandsin seda pea viis kuud järjest. Pärast väikest shopingut suundusime tagasi Hektorisse, et homse bussisõidu pirukad meie toa külmkappi ära pakkida. Osad saiakesed sõitsid koos meiega ka otse Eesti Rahva Muuseumisse, kus me need näljastele välja jagasime :D Muuseumi külastus toimus koos giidi ekskursiooniga ja meil kulus kõige avastamiseks tundel. Soome-Ugri näitus oli päris tore, need valgus ja heliefektid seal olid muljetavaldavad. Õhtul ootas meid eriline õhtusöök Apraadirestos. Legendaarne külm sinihallitusjuustukook tõstis kõigi tuju. Õnneks asus paik täpselt meie majutuskoha kõrval. Uhke õhtusöögi tarbeks oli võimalus oma litritega kleit välja otsida ja platvormid jalga panna. Kuna oli siiski laupäeva õhtu, tutvusime hiljem ka Tartu ööeluga. 20. august
Hommikusöögiks pidime minema vanalinna, et einestada Rüütli tänava kohvikus. Hommikul olid kõiki veidi vaiksevõitu, aga oli ka sündmusterohke öö, niiet veidi rahu ja vaikust kulus ära. Hiljem kohtusime Pauli venna Hansuga, kes osales projektis eelmine aasta ja elab nüüdseks õpingute tõttu Eestis. Tema lugu pidi teisi inspireerima Eestisse tagasi kolima. Eesti taasiseseisvumispäeval ei toimunud Tartus mitte ühtegi avalikule publikumikule suunatud üritust, täiesti uskumatu. Aga vähemalt õnnestus meil AHHAA teaduskeskust külastada. Trehvasin seal isegi oma endist eesti keele õpetajat, ta oli perega meeleolukat päeva veetma tulnud. Kogu keskus pakkus endiselt toredaid elamusi. Teadusteater jättis aga eriti võimsa mulje. Kutt, kes seda läbi viis oli väga kelmikas ja šarmantne. Väliseestlaste põhjus Eestisse elama kolida ;) Õhtu lõppes õnnistatult, me sõime Taverna Pizzerias. Õhtul valmistusime oma korteri neidudega, et minna Yasmiini tema sünnipäeva puhul õnnitlema. Üllatasime teda kohe pärast südaööd.
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Usually I write about my international projects in English but this time I decided to not use my broken English. It would be embarrasing for native speaker noticing my mistakes. So, those three post are in Estonian. Take it as a challange or as an opportunity to communicate with your Estonian relatives and friends. Also, Google Translator might help. 13. august Minu teekond Villardisse kulges vahepeatusega elektroonikapoodi. Ülikool polnud enam kaugel ja oli vaja soetada uuemat tehnikat. Isa tõi mind otse maja juurde ja see oli vajalik, sest seekord olin tulnud projekti suure reisikohvriga. Asi polnud soovis kogu oma garderoob kaasa pakkida, lihtsalt ma olin valmis võimalusega magama täispuhutaval madratsil ja seetõttu võtsin magamiskoti kaasa. Koha peal siiski selgus, et voodeid on piisav arv ja keegi põrandal magama ei pea. Ülemisele korrusele oli juba hulganisti Eesti korraldajaid kokku tulnud kui ma kohale jõudsin. Arutasime läbi järgmiste päevade ajakava ja korralduslikud küsimused. Samal ajal kostitasin kohalolijaid oma aia hernestega. Uku suur toiduhuvi hakkas koheselt välja paistma ja peagi olime olukorras, kus herneste asemel oli kolm suurt pitsat. Kuna need maitsesid liiga hästi, siis loomulikult suutsin ma üle süüa. Pärast söögiorgiat jagunesime kahte gruppi, et arutada keeleõpet ja projekti sissejuhatust/kokkuvõtet. Mina olin viimases grupis. Kuna liitusin Eesti tiimiga asendusliikmena, siis polnud mulle paari päevaga ikka kohale jõudnud, et ma ka reaalselt teen seal kaasa. Igatahes jagasime Kadri, Uku ja Neidiga erinevaid seltskonna ja tutvumismänge ning tegime plaani, kuidas homne päev edukalt ära korraldada. Osalejaid muudkui saabus ja vaheldava eduvaga käisime uksi avamas, et nad saaksid oma pagasi ära panna. Kella kuue paiku pidasime korterikoosoleku, et üksteisega paremini tuttavaks saada. Igas korteris oli kokku 10 inimest, aga millegi pärast oli meie vestlusringis vaid 8 inimest. Karmen läks koju, aga üks väliseestlane oli maja peale kadunud. Millegi pärast tõmbas 3. korrus inimesi nagu magnetiga. Oma osa mängisid ka latinode sõprussuhted. Õnneks jõudis Cristofer peale mõningasi otsinguhüüdeid siiski õigesse korterisse. Peagi asusime esimesele ühisele õhtusöögile. Meid võõrustati pannkoogirestoranis Kompressor. Pärast pitsasid oli selline eine tõsiselt liiast. Ma üldiselt austan toitu ja söön alati mulle määratud portsjoni ära, aga seekord oli see kõik liiast. Kuidagi juhtus nii, et sattusin hispaania keelt kõnelejatega ühte lauda. See oli esimene võimalus tutvuda osalejate eesti keele oskusega. Kahjuks teadsid nad vaid üksikuid sõnu, aga oli väga südantsoojendav neid sõnu praktikas kuulata. Mul oli kaasas märkmik ja nad isegi kirjutasid eesti keeles neid sõnu. Tutvustasin toidulaual nähtavaid esemeid ja toite eesti keelsete terminitega. Läbi vanalinna tagasi koju jalutades said osalejad juba põgusa ülevaate vanalinnast. Õhtul toimus esimene tutvumisõhtu eesti keelse sõnamänguga, kus pidi omadussõnaga ruumis viibijat iseloomustama. Kuna restoranis ei olnud võimalik kõigiga kohtuda, siis see andis väga hea ülevaate osalejate keeleoskusest. Ma olin äärmiselt üllatunud kui Katariina tõlkis kaartidel olevaid sõnu ilma raskusteta. Need, kes suutsid reisiväsimusle vaatamata hiliste õhtutundidele ärkvel olla, võisid näha Javieri ja Cristoferi metsikut latino-tantsu. 14. august Kuna meie majutus oli korterites ja nö peredes, siis sellega kaasnes ka ühine hommikusöök. Igaüks valmistas enale meelepäraseid roogi. Valikut oli palju, ka eestlastele omast putru, aga millegipärast ei keetnud mitte keegi omale putru. Pärast hommikusööki suundusime Kristiine Noortekeskusesse, kus toimus meie tutvumisüritus. Kordasime ringis üksteise nimesid koos omadussõnadega. Mina olin ringis viimane, seega mina sain selle au oma mälu täiel määral rakendada. Ütleme nii, et 95% täpsusega said kõik nimed nimetatud. Lisaks nimedele rääkisime ka projekti päevakava põgusalt läbi ning panime kirja oma ootused, lootused jne. Jagasime ka välja blogi kirjutamise kuupäevad. Blogi saab lugeda siit. Nimelt pidi iga päeva kohta kokkuvõtte tegema 2 väliseestlast ja neile oli abiks üks kohalik osaleja. Kui tutvumisüritus oli lõppenud, seadsime sammud lõunasöögikohta Kohalik Kohvik. Tegemist on väga hipster kohaga. Nõud on pärit taaskasutusest ja seetõttu erineva kuju ja värviga. Eriti tähelepanuväärseks teeb koha see, et seal töötas teenindajana üks noor noormees :) Pärast täis kõhtu asusime kohe kaloreid põletama. Suundusime Nõmme seiklusparki. Kuna see asub Karmenile tuttavas rajoonis, siis juhendas ta meid Mustamäelt otse spordikompleksini. Kuna me liikusime vajalikesse kohtadesse korterite kaupa, siis ei jõudnud me enamjaolt üheaegselt kohale. Ega ühistranspordile mõjukski koormavalt kui me kogu grupiga peale lendaks. Meie korter oli juba varakult platsis, nautisime päikesepaistet ja telesaadete salvestusi. Lapsepõlves sai mitmelgi korral Nõmme Seiklusrajal klassivendade sünnipäeval käia. Seetõttu oli rada mulle üsnagi tuttav, kuigi kümne aastaga on ka uusi takistusi tekkinud :D Tagasi kodus korraldasime esimese saunaõhtu ja iga korteri ülesanne oli eesti toitude jaoks menüü koostamine. Meie kui päriseestlased tohtisime neid vaid nõustada. Kogu valikuvabadus kuulus aga neile. Kuna Cristoferil oli olemas eesti kokaraamat, valisid nad sealt välja kamavahu retsepti. Osadel inimestel jätkus pärast seiklusrohket päeva veel jõudu ka linna ööeluga tutvumiseks. 15. august Lisaks sellele, et tassisin kodust herneid, võtsin kaasa ka suvikõrvitsa. Suvi lihtsalt kulges nii, et ma ei saanud väga palju aega kodus veeta, aga soov oma aia saadusi süüa oli suur. Tegin sel hommikul suvikõrvitsa-muna hõrgutise. Andrew oli minuga ühel lainel ja soosis igati mu hommikust vaaritamist. Nagu tavaks oli saanud, pühendasime aega hommikusele mitte-formaalsele eesti keele õppele. Hommikul ootas meid Suvi ema korraldatud tuur Tallinna vanalinnas. Saime endale kuularid ja kõndisime mööda vanalinna nagu õiged turistid kunagi. Vanalinnas ruttasime kohe edasi Mustamäele. Me külastasime innovatsioonikeskust Mektory. Kõige põnevam oli sealne ventilatsioonituba. Rääkiv mannekeen ja diskotuled muutis ruumi äärmiselt huvitavaks. Ekskursioon lõppes Tallinna Tehnikaülikooli tutvustusega. Olen viimase aasta jooksul juba mitmeid kordi Mektorys käinud ja mulle ei pakkunud see enam pinget, aga rahvuskaaslastega grupikalli teha oli südantsoojendav. Pärastlõunal suundusime Garage 48 kontorisse. Seda kohta polnud üldse kerge üles leida, aga peale mitmeid majatiire, me kohale siiski jõudsime. Saime jalga sussid ja tegime tutvust mööda kontorit ringi liikuva koeraga. Kontoris oli väga mõnus töökeskkond, sest kes ei sooviks konverentsil kiikudes osaleda. Kuna naasime Telliskivi Loomelinnakust ja teele jäi vast-valminud Balti Jaama Turg, siis soovitasime projekti liikmetel seda külastada. Nad olid vaimustuses sealsetest värsketest saadustest, mida lettidel müüdi. Kui kõik olid korterisse tagasi jõudnud hakkasime Eesti toidu õhtu roogasid valmistama. Meie korter valmistas kotlette, kurgi-tomati kooresalati ja kamavahu. Lisaks Eesti toitudele, täitus ülemises korteris üks laud snäkkidega üle kogu maailma. See oli täielik söögiorgia ja magusa üledoos. Õhtu lõppes seal, kus see hommikul algas – vanalinnas. 16. august
Hommik kulges nagu tavaliselt – hommikusöök ja keeleõpe. Ainult et seekord oli sebimist rohkem, sest oma kohvrid tuli pakkida ning alumisse korterisse jätta. Ise läksime parlamendihoonega tutvuma. Meile tehti ringkäik tavapärastes ruumides ja hiljem oli küsimustevoor. Toompealt suundusime all-linna ja ronisime Oleviste kiriku tippu. Sealt avanes imeline vaade hallile Tallinnale. Annelii võitles oma kõrgusekartusega, aga vaatamata kõigele oli tal piisavalt julgust siiski kirikutornist alla vaadata. Lõunatasime uues söögikohas Põhja-Tallinna piirimail. Pärastlõunal suundusime kogu seltskonnaga Lahemaa rahvuspargi suunas. Pärast umbes tunniajast sõitu peatusime metsaveerel, et alustada matka rabasse. Kõigepealt korjasime aga mustikaid, kõigi ürgne korilane andis endast märku. Mööda laudteed kulges meie tee ümbritsetud mülgastest. Vaatetornis tegime grupifotosid ja nautisime lihtsalt kaunist vaadet. Muidugi eksisime me rabas tagasiteel ära. Mitte küll nii drastiliselt, et oleksime päästeteenistuse abi vaja, aga me kõndisime mööda tuldud teed tagasi ning buss pidi tagasi sõitma. Õhtuks jõudsime Laane pansionisse ja õhtustasime seal. Meile pakuti väga kodust toitu ja lahked võõrustajad võitsid paljude südamed. Jõudsime ka mere ääres ära käia, aga vesi oli äärmiselt külm. Õhtut aitas meeldivamaks muuta õige puuküttega saun. Kahjuks tünnisaun ei toiminud, aga tore oli siiski. Veelgi enam, oli Suvi sünnipäev. Kuigi talle ei meeldi oma sünnipäeva tähistada, olen veendunud, et see sünnipäev jääb talle meelde. 13 of November On Monday we were concentrated to European Voluntary Service. Then we had a guest speaker from The Netherlands. She shared her story how she had lived through difficult period of her life. Then she taught us how to make a diary just out of paper. The outcome of our origami work was a gratitude journal where we wrote down some important aspects for us. Then we wrote down different things that we are grateful for on a big paper and passed the sheet of paper. Some sentences were really inspiring and it was cute that people were grateful for their presence in this project and our amazing company. But there was funny sentences as well, it is just adorable that Tibi is grateful for Jesus aka Oskar. Yeah, we had a Jesus with us in the project, an Estonian guy reminded Jesus Christ. It went viral really quickly and I guess Oskar didn't mind that everyone called him Jesus. Later on Buket and our guest speaker (unfortunately I don't remember her name) shared their EVS experience with us. On previous days we also heard Michal and Daniela stories. I realised how important is to have a video of your project, then it is easier to show the environment and activities that you had there. After lunch we had an activity with another guest speaker as well. This time a person from Mladiinfo. Petra held her session in a new room downstairs. We carried all the chairs there and played an active game there. We were standing randomly on the chairs and then we had to make an alphabetical order out of our names without talking. It was a challenge to not fall down from a chair and communicate with our body language. Second round was with our date of birth. After energizer we watched a video about Obama's speech. We analyzed it and Petra made a quick overview of elevator pitch. We also got a task to make a play out of different topics and present it in a different genre. It was a task to express yourself a creative way. I hoped to meet with Adrian (a guy who participated in Estonian youth exchange and lives in Bratislava), he promised at first visit me in Modra, but I received information that he felt sick and maybe we can meet when I visit Bratislava. We ended our Monday with Romanian, Lithuanian and Estonian intercultural evening. We were ready with preparation because we had thought everything throw in Estonia already. In the presentation we made fun of ourself, you know Estonian ironic humor. Romanians used the same way, they showed us impossible situations that had happened in Romania. Lithuanians made a quiz about their culture, they also included Estonians with our national dish kama. Best part of Lithuanian presentation was historical timeline in their songs progress. Kornelija and Šarūnė sang so beautifully that it bough tears to the audience. After presentation we started with tasting local goods. We brought candies, chocolate, kama and black bread with us. Moreover, brochures about Estonia. It was cute to see that people were really interested in our culture and nature. I suppose that everyone liked Estonian sweets and Vana Tallin is a real reason to visit Estonia. For Michal our night was most meaningful. I know the feeling when you see familiar things from your times in this country. Romanians brought a sausage which was a good combination with Estonian and Lithuanian bread. By the way, for foreigners it tasted sweet, which was a surprise for me. Romanians also bought home made wine and their type of rakia with them. And Lithuanians offered variety of cheese. I guess I am addicted to cheese after the project because they all tasted so good, the international evening ones and local Slovak ones. Lithuanians offered also blackcurrant wine, we have same type of wines because in our climate it is expensive to grow grapes. 14 of November In the morning we discussed what is learning for us. We used Dixit cards to open this topic. We picked a card that symbolizes learning for us and then described the card to others. And because of good weather we went outside to play ninja game. Spanish guys are really good at that game because Pablo and Sergio were the last two people in the game. After fun we were divided into four groups to start preparing a presentation about EVS/YE. I was in EVS group and we talked about national volunteering as well. Because there are so many opportunities to work for your community. We decided to introduce ourselves in our own language to present our culture a bit. Then we wanted to ask from them what problems they can see in their community. Our aim was to make them thinking about that actually they have the power to solve those problems. And finally we had a plan to present the voluntary work experience we had. Best way was to show pictures. Our team-work was smooth and before lunch we were already ready. After lunch we went hiking in the mountains near by. It was a great autumn walk and talk session. I have never hiked in autumn time. During my EVS it was so common to wander around and also when I arrived back to Estonia. Mountains weren't too high but it was still better than in Estonia because we don't have mountains at all. It was a time to discover around, talk with others and concentrate to your own wellness. It was inspiring to hear Rada's story that she started running in the morning because of this project. In every morning we had an opportunity to go running or meditate. It is nice that we had those extra morning activities, though I didn't participate on them. While walking in the forest Jirka said an apposite fact. We have got more time because we sleep less than usual. So, actually the week has been longer. It really makes sense, you have about 4-5 hours more time to socialize. In the evening we had a Spanish and Czech intercultural night. Spanish people went to the shop with huge bags hours earlier. And they cooked hours in the kitchen. Their presentation was interactive. They showed us how people from different regions act, they sang and read a poem for us and they guided us to impersonate bulls. We were running of the bulls to imitate San Fermin. It was definitely the best activity we have had. It was such an out of box thinking. And of course, we enjoyed their culture while drinking sangria. Czech people tried to challenge us with tongue twisters. It was kind of impossible to spell those sentences. After presentations we got to know more about Czech beer culture. And Kofola, it is still not sure what kind of origins this beverage has because it was invented in Czechoslovakia. So, both Slovaks and Czechs think it is their one. Spanish people offered a tomato sauce and a pie they prepared before. And night ended with Spanish songs, as usual... 15 of November After breakfast we caught a bus to Modra centre. After driving about 10 minutes we reached the destination. The high school looked like an average one in Estonia. At least from outside. Students weren't too excited to see us, but this is normal reaction for European youth. You can see tourists in every big city and while you are travelling you meet many foreign people. I was kind of nervous before our presentation. It was weird because I have done it before as well but then in Estonian. Our first class session was great. Students were pretty talkative . . . I have seen Estonian pupils, so, yeah Slovak youth were pretty great ones. This class in general was more active than the second one. There was no teacher in the classroom which made atmosphere more free. Our second class was more modest and it was harder to make them talk. In general it was an encouraging experience to have those presentations in Modra school. It was educative for both sides, for us and for students. After school session half of our group went to Bratislava and half of the people stayed in Modra. It was a sunny day once again, a great day to discover the capital city. First of all we went to the castle. From there it was a beautiful view to Danube river and to the city in general. We went to the castle garden, it was kind of impossible to stay in the shadow. Even though it was sunny, it was very cold. From there we headed directly to old down. We visited St Martin's cathedral. It was a disappointment from me, it looked so similar to Tallinn's churches. And I have spent already too much time there and have seen so many similar things. But at least stained glass was more powerful than in Estonia. Then we walked on the defensive wall and had a free time in the old town afterwards. I had many deja vu moments while walking there. It was an anxious feeling. I really felt that I am in Tallinn, but this wasn't the place where I wanted to be at that moment. I found a big shopping mall and bought 1,5 kg sweets for my family and friends. The main reason was the cheap price 😆 After compulsory souvenir shopping and I even visited one more church. In the main square they prepared for Christmas market. I couldn't meet with Adrian even this time, his health had gone even worse and he couldn't leave the dormitory at all. It was a pity, but that how life goes. I have been in the same situation when I couldn't meet with my Turkish guest because of my health conditions 🤒 We needed to meet in the square but we were missing Kertu and Mari-Liis, after minutes of confusioness we found them and went to the bus stop. It was a traffic jam period and we missed one bus while searching for lost Estonians and another buss took its time. And when it finally appeared it was totally packed. Somehow we press ourselves into the bus and when it was our stop, we just ran to the Modra bus. It was just matter of minutes but we made it. Thanks to us even two local ladies made it to the bus. We arrived about an hour before dinner, so, perfect timing. It was worth of running to the bus. I used this time to pack my stuff, it was hard to leave the place. I was so used to my cosy room and quiet environment. On the last dinner they offered a pumpkin puree soup, I call it a voluntary soup now. Last/first time I ate it I worked as a volunteer in Tallinn Freedom square where I stuck balloons. After hard work they offered this delicious meal. But before farewell party we had a Slovakian and Greek international evening. We were already into a Slovak culture all this week long but they showed us some more informative videos and taught us how to dance grazy polka. Greek people introduced their culture via presentation and of course we danced their traditional dances. Greek people made tzatziki and offered muesli. It was the same good one I bought from Cyprus. After gastronomy experience we had a last party together. Last oriental dances with Vaso and last opportunity to sing in Spanish. Many people went to sleep quite early but people who were still awake started to play a dangerous game. You suffer if you are in the game and you suffer if you are outside of game. Hhaha, actually the situation wasn't so mad, it was rather funny. 16 of November We left Modra in the morning, fortunately not too early. Last breakfast was pretty quiet, not many people were up by that time. In this blue mood we left the panzion and went to the bus station. It was weird, when we walked out of the house and realized that we can speak in Estonian again, no need to translate your thoughts anymore. After arriving to Bratislava we took another bus to the bus station. We arrived other side of Danube but we had plenty of time, so, we enjoyed the time we spent by the riverside. Oh God, I have chilled in different spots and states of Danube so many times. Danube is like my friend who I visit in different countries and hang out with it 😁 Bus station under the bridge was pretty odd, probably if you arrive at first to this bus station the first impression is not the best one. Why do they even need more than one bus station, the main one is excellent and should serve all the bus lines. In Budapest we went to the city centre. I supposed to meet with my friend Arpad (a guy from an Estonian project who lives in Hungary) but I couldn't find the exact place where we should meet and then my phone gave up working and started uploading the system. So, it was impossible for me to take a contact with him. It was a faith that I couldn't visit my friends in their environment. Instead of meeting my friend, I discovered the area. They already had Christmas marked and the square was decorated with lights. I heard scary stories about Budapest metro conditions but I were lucky, two times I used it I got a decent train. I saw tiredness of Estonian participants faces. This condition after long travelling after a week full of activities was reasonable. In Hungarian airport it was a weird coincidence to fly with Finnish people. Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian are all Finno-Ugric languages, so, we heard languages that sounded like Estonian. In Helsinki airport Oskar thought to check out invalid life and tried wheelchair transportation. Tho, it wasn't nice act at all. I gave to my Estonian group members back envelopes with postcards of Slovak monuments from different places all over the country. In our pre-meeting I gave them a task to write down the expectation about the project. It is useful because if you write something down and believe in it usually happens. By the way, I haven't opened my envelope yet, for me the project isn't over yet. By faith we sat next to each other with Oskar in Helsinki-Tallinn flight. We discussed about funny safety card design. Figures were contradiction to physics rules. In Tallinn it was cold and my way to home was pretty slippery. Thank you Mladiinfo Slovensko, Kertu, Mari-Liis, Ester, Martina, Lucia, Šarūnė and Ema for great shots. Hopefully you don't mind that I used those visual materials for my blog. Thank you Seiklejate Vennaskond for being my sending organization. Check out their projects here. This time I had a really special task on the youth exchange. I was a group leader for a first time. Fun fact is that I was the youngest one in the Estonian team. We had a meeting with almost the whole group an evening before their departure to Budapest. Meeting was held in my really awesome university room. But in the same time, thanks to my awesome uni I couldn't start my journey a day earlier. So, I followed them on Friday. 10 of November My day started early in the moring when I went to the airport and had a quick flight to Helsinki. I guess Tln-Hel and Tln-Riga flights are the most pointless ones I have ever had. Thanks to different time zone I won an extra hour and arrived to Budapest still in the morning. I discovered the city centre and walked to the bus station. I met there with other Estonians who had already spent one day in that magnificent city. While waiting our Bratislava bus we had a great imagination about how the city got its name. We created a connection between Russian language. "Brat" "i" "Slava" (brother and Slava). In reality the name situation was more complicated. I have never travelled before being so sick as I was that time. Oskar comforted me and said that at least I have something to remember from that trip. But actually we were surprised how great the bus was. It was like travelling with Lux Express, media screen and hot drinks. Only weird thing was the travel assistant. In Estonia you have more independence during your trip, you can take drinks by yourself and don't need any assistant for that. Bus was on time but as a normal thing it made a random stop before Hungary-Slovakia border. Throwback to my Balkan trip in 2016 😆 For my surprise, because I had no imagination of Slovakia, Bratislava bus station was really modern. It was a good first impression of the country. There Buket already was waiting for us with Lithuanian team. Bus ride to Modra was interesting because it was dark and bus was packed. On the back of the bus I noticed three Spanish persons sitting, I was pretty sure that they are also from our project because it can't be just a coincidence that three foreigners are going randomly to Modra. And I was right, they were also from our project. Walking to our accommodation place was pretty confusing. In the dark walking uphill you try to understand what surrounds you but it is very complicated. I noticed many private houses with fancy gardens. And I need to mention Modra Harmonia bus station, in the dark it is creepy as hell 😬 When we arrived Chech people had been there for hours already. Then we had our first delicious dinner and played some name games on the training room. Training room seemed really cozy and kind of Estonian. In the false fact game I was pretty clever, I knew what to write down to bamboozle people. At the same time I am not the best guesser myself, didn't gain too many points. During the night all missing participants arrived as well. This time I shared my room with two Spanish girls 🇪🇸 11 of November In the morning we played some more name games and got information about our hosting organization Mladiinfo. We all received a Mladiinfo notebook to write up all ideas we get while the activities. We wrote down our expectations about the project and we improved our drawing skills by sketching people around us. The results were hilarious. It was a nice and sunny day outside and we had an activity toilet paper game outside. It was funny to see how ambitious some persons were, at least we got to know a lot of information about them. Everyone had a personal cup with a name label. One label reminded me a number and not only for me. Actually it was "Zois" instead of "2015" and we made so much fun out of it. Then, suddenly The Dress topic came up. And still, some people see black and blue, others white and cold. After years nothing has changed. After the tasty lunch we went to the shop. I like the variety of products they have there. My biggest problem in Bulgaria was lack of variety of goods. Village was small but still some people got lost and ended up in a vinery place where they tasted different types of local wine. In the afternoon our training room had changed a bit. Mattresses which were next to wall in the morning were now laid down. Of course people took an advantage of it and enjoyed resting there. But still we had to start with our activities. We were divided into our national groups to discuss about our culture. What is good, weird and bad in our community. I really liked how Ivanka made parallel between this task and EVS experience afterwards. Because even your country habits might be odd and also different countries culture, so you should adopt different habits as a natural thing. At the same time we got information about different countries. Estonian and Greek culture might be really different but we have some similarities with Lithuanians. Then we discussed what non-formal organizations we have in our country and what values they have for youth. At first it was hard to write something down but in reality there were so many different types of organizations. We talked what reputation voluntary work in general has in our country. Finally, we tried to find values what we want to achieve and tried to figure out how we should do that. It was a Saturday night and the club was only 500 m away. So, we thought, why not to visit that place. It was surprising how normal the club was 😂 We even got an orange glowing armlet. Lighting was excellent but the music there was not my cup of tea. Kertu really enjoyed the music but when they started playing Slovak old songs even she was disappointed. 12 of November
Morning was gray like our mood. Most of the people were sleepy from the party but everyone participated actively in the activities. We had a harvesting circle, we looked back to a previous day and set the goals for the next days. Our missing participant from Romania arrived as well. Actually I didn't even know that we are missing a person because there was some kind of trouble with Romanian participants, they couldn't send 5 persons to the project. So, we only had two Romanians. But Tiberiu fit to our group smoothly. This morning the games we had were different from my previous experience which was nice because usually everything is familiar to me already and it might get boring. We used our actor skills to peek into unexpected situations you might face to. People were pretty modest but we still had nice situations. Then we played a number game to improve our group work and velocity. After kind of energizers we made groups to solve a problem they gave us. We got roles to protect our point of view but the same time find the compromise. At lunch we had a really plentiful meal again. This time I ate something familiar from Slovak cousine - potatoe pancakes (Zemiakove placky) - I have made those at home as well. The recipe is quite easy and the result tasty, I received the recipe from a youth exchange in Estonia where were Slovak participants. Great example of intercultural learning. But food in Penzion Na Luke in general was plentiful. Every lunch we had a soup + meal which is insane. Every day we also had fresh fruits and some bakery desserts. I guess I'll never have enough of Slovakian food, I ADORE this food there. On that day the dessert Buchty na Pare was great. Actually I guess that dessert has Polish origins. I guess I'll celebrate my birthday there and I don't care how all my Estonian family members and friends reach the place 🤣 this food orgasm is worth it! Because all the participants didn't fit into the main house, some people lived in the private house. The way to the house was adventerous, there was a creepy doll on the way. But house itself was great, made us (people in the main house) even a bit jealous. It was a funny phenomen in Slovakia, in every evening it was raining. Every evening it reminded us that it is autumn outside. At daytime there was even a sunshine and all the weather reminded me September weather in Estonia, it is hard to believe that was November there. Though, in the evening we had a living library session. The guy who talked about social business was really into the topic. He was very inspiring, Šarūnė got inspired the most I guess 😊 Dushan personal approach tore us out of the comfort zone and made us think about how we can reach our dreams. A guy from national agency talked us more about what criterions are important to apply for a project. A Macedonian guy David shared his experience he had when he did an EVS in Slovakia, by now he is really living there. So, EVS changed his life completely. Lucia told us about how to create a youth exchange through informal group. This evening we partied at home. Grazy dancing and at some point my scarf got a lot of attention. Guys loved that fluffy, warm and pink item. At least it was pretty useful while playing limbo (at least this how we call it in Estonia) 😀 18 of July The topic of the day was project development. We finished our booklets, set needs and objectives, defined problems. We focused on the needs for our chosen projects then the aims and objectives using the NAOMIE method. Erasmus+ aims and priorities are now understandable for all of us. Last intercultural evening: Italy, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco brought exotic flavours to our everyday Estonian cusine table. Almontaser used again his artistic skills and made henna paintings for us. We all were really excited and the line to henna painting was long. 19 of July We got to know the application form and inclusion dimension. It was intense work to fill in the application form. Luckily we had experienced grandmas who checked our progress and gave some advice. In our team everything went smoothly until Nefeli's computer gave up. We filled in the timetable what we want to achieve with our project and presented it. Our jury voted based on our presentation. Every team passed the Vardi National Agency. After hard project writing task we had a free evening just to relax. Secret friend game has gone wild. Participants worked hard to trump each other on the secret friend game. Balloons, hugs, flowers and much more... There were many secret envelopes with surprises. Some days even huge posters. I loved that game a lot. It was nice to make up new gifts for my secret friend and receive clever ones as well. I am really proud of my treasure hunt game. I left different hint all over the house. As I heard later Milda was pleased ☺ 20 of July Energizer Honey Bunny was easy until you had to go in the middle of the circle. We presented our ideas and made DEOR. We ended our morning session with making posters about how we are going to promote our experience in our organizations and how to include people with fewer opportunities also into those projects. We discussed with learning buddies how the project had been gone to fill in our youth pass. Net out of our thought. In the evening self evaluation and meeting expectations. valuation and farewell party. Secret friend ceremony. It was my best (and first) secret friend game ever. I was pretty certain that my secret friend is Kristi. I got hints that she/he must be Estonian because I received a magnet written on Estonian and even though my SF said that her Estonian frind helped her I was pretty sure it was just a trick. I also made a list of secret friends that others have. Because I had to handle many secret friend gifts. But Heleri bamboozled me. I was sure that her secret friend is Youssef because I gave him two times gifts from Heleri. She is a good player and have good friends that help her during the game. Anyway, I felt a great love and got amazing gifts. 21 of July Bus trip back to Tallinn. Emotional goodbye at the airport. But luckily some people decided to extend their vacation in Tallinn and stayed for some extra days. It was nice to host so many international people in my homeland.
14 of July It was a France independence day, definately more special day for Morgane than us. But weather smiled to us all, it was a sunny day at first. What is better than sharing love on a beautiful day with a hug game. But we also did serious job. Our topic in the morning was non-formal learning. Ufuk led us through non-formal learning aspects. We stuck labels outside on the wall to categorize formal, non-formal and informal learning. After that we had an Erasmus+ Kahoot quiz. Questions were about EVS but also about everything that was related with Erasmus+ programme. In the afternoon we had a World Cafe - my best part during the whole project. We had 4 different tables with different topics. We discussed our ideas while we were served by charming waitresses. The menu included list of delights. Because weather changed so quickly on that day, Michal said golden words "You can have 4 seasons in 1 minute". A day ended with Romanian, Bosnian & Herzegovinian, Greek, Lebanese, Portuguese intercultural evenings. Lidia surprised us with a puppet theater. The play that she made was so comic and informative. Every evening we had a dancing marathon. One song was totally epic, but it was catchy. 15 of July Morning started with reflecting walk with our learning buddy. Lidia introduced me a job shadowing opportunity which is also a part of Erasmus+ programme. Youthpass and 8 key competences are like a shoe and socks – they are always together. Each of 8 competences was an isolated island where we had to solve a task in a limited amount of time. For example we had to learn a new language, calculate or draw. I don't remember the exact date and topic but suddenly I was in a group with Bili and Vincenzo. So, we had an opportunity to talk about Bulgaria. Bulgaria was the connection point for us and it was nice to share emotions with people who understands you. In the afternoon we worked on the inclusion of youth with fewer opportunities. We tried to put ourselves into their situation in the groups. It is really hard for them to enjoy life as other do. Fortunetly, Erasmus+ is dedicated to them and ready to help, our job is just spread the information. In the evening we had an open space session. Four experienced members of our group led a session. Billy's session without any extra ressources was so simple but at the same time so funny. It is a good example of life that you don't need much to be happy. Intercultural evenings by Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Poland. Nika demonstrated her culture traditions by predicting future. All she needed was a candle and water. It was soo exciting. I wish that Estonians knew more about their traditions too. Because we have a rich history. 16 of July In the morning Ufuk introduced us main points of preparation on of EVS volunteers. Thanks to his highlights we made four different booklets on mentoring, support, preparation and guideline to fill in country booklet at home. It was an intense work we did those hours. After the lunch a lady from Viljandi came to talk with us about her experience with volunteers. Their organization is working with disabled people. She told that volunteers had got a great contact with their customers and also life here hasn't been too hard for them. In the evening we had a sauna night in the real sauna. This sauna house was located in the middle of the forest and there was a lake near by. I went with Nika to lake swimming at first and then to the warm sauna. I wasn't brave enough to go swimming after sitting in the sauna. Moroever, temperature outside was so low that our wooden houses weren't too warm. Thats why I enjoyed hot environment a lot. It was amusing seeing People from Middle East testing their limits. After the sauna we played some board games. On the objective game Kristi said she is a killer, she definately is a killer in Jungle Speed. You need to take care of her nails while playing this 😄 17 of July
We took off eralier than usual. Our way led us to Maarjaküla. Billy had been there already and was familiar with directors od the place. They made a tour for us and we talked with people who live there. Inhabitans have even their own garden, they are living in families and get all support they need. Taevaskoja visit was cancelled because of the rainy weather. On our way to Tartu we discussed with our learning buddy what we have learned already. In Tartu there was organized a meeting between our organizations and potential volunteers. Many youth visited our event to gain some more information about EVS and hosting organisations. It was surprising, usually young people are modest and don't want to take in this kind of events. We made another Facebook live to promote it. Aftre that we had a free time in Tartu. Because I was the local one I had to walk with them on the city. I wasn't familiar with the town at that time, so we just walked around in the old town and found a hipster shop. Afterwards we went to bigger shopping centers. It was a good opportunity to buy gifts to your secret friend. Evening ended with pizza night in Taverna. I love this place selection of pizzas. And then we had a long bus ride back to Vardi. Luckily I was chosen to be part in an EVS partnership building activity which took place 11.07-21.07 in Vardi, Estonia. EVS is a cherished topic for me. I couldn't imagine before that my EVS experience in Bulgaria would change my life so deeply. I became more active in social and political life in my community. I am really proud that I took the risk and moved to a strange land. Now my mission is to help future volunteers in their path. That's why I participated in that mobility of youth workers, to learn new methods how to promote EVS. 11 of July Before the official start to our project I had a task to check everyone's presence before departure by bus from Tallinn. For my surprise they all were in our meeting place before me. And you know, Estonians are always earlier in the appointment, so it really was a delighted surprise for me. I think that participants at that point had already adopted the Estonian culture. At least it made my life so much easier and our journey to Kivi Turismitalu started without problems. I shared Estonian candies with everybody because it is so important to show the best part of Estonia to foreigners, our sweet factory Kalev's products are good examples. In the bus Ibrahim came to talk with me which was nice because I was sitting alone and reading a book. From that point I started to communicate with other participants more openly. When we arrived to Vardi our supporting team was already waiting for us. Actually Heleri gave us a biggest surprise during that project, she was pregnant. Obviously she was carrying a baby last time when I saw her in spring as well, but then I couldn't suspect anything. So, we had an extra participant in this project as well 😊 We were divided into rooms, my roommates were Lidia from Portugal and Nefeli from Greece. In that evening we discovered amazing nature around our house with Lidia, so many small froggies and a precipitous cat. Later we made social games to get to know each other more. It was a good start for a project. 12 of July We started another day with more name games and teamwork activities. We had to do mission impossible with lots of tasks. Even though they seemed pretty hard ones, we managed to do almost all of them. There were also task to put a lot of T-shirts and socks on you. I don't know why but I agreed to take this task. I swear that this sock task seemed impossible, but at final I handled it, 30 socks and no blood running in my veins anymore. My personal favourite task was the one when guys had to polish their nails. Vincenzo looked really fancy. We got a lot of visual materials about our daily program and project aims. Kristjan and Helen made an informative timetable for us. We made blog, reflection and feedback groups. All those groups in general helped us to develop the project itself. In the afternoon we made a poster about our organization and we introduced it to others. It was a really special project because it included so many different countries. I am pretty sure that I have never met people from Jordan or Lebanon before. Project countries were Portugal, Romania, Spain, Morocco, Jordan, Ukraine, Georgia, Greece, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia and United Kingdom (Wales). I am so glad that this project gave me an opportunity to met all this people. It was a really good foundation to a project building networking. In the first evening we had already intercultural nights: Estonia, France, Egypt and Wales. I went to a local shop to buy needed products for this evening. Our way to shop was really funny, we went with bigger group and they all wanted to take pictures surrounded by Estonian nature. Because there wasn't a special road for pedestrians we had to walk on the main road. But it wasn't a problem because there wasn't too many cars. Because people had an opportunity to eat Estonian food every day I struggled what to prepare for them. But I offered some more candies, kvass, Vana Tallinn and kama. I taught them useful Estonian words and phrases and demonstrated how to dance Kaerajaan. Billy's presentation about Wales was nice, he really knows how to make fun. France sweets tasted good as always and I was positively surprised when I tasted Ibrahim's banana dessert. It was so delicious that I couldn't stop eating it. In that evening group of Polish people arrived as well. They came here by car which sounds like an insane act. 13 of July
On Thursday we had even bigger mission impossible task. We went canoeing. It was totally insane, I was scared and most of all Taline, she was totally frightened. Two more Estonians joined us. Fun fact is that I knew Uku before thanks to his blog. So, Uku and Kadri wasn't completely strangers for me. And they both were friends of Helen. On our way to the canoeing start point we passed by a village where is my summer cottage. I was so happy because this region is my second home. But back to the canoe trip. We got instructions and headed into water. Navesti river wasn't too difficult but still, for beginners, it is still a task. At first it took time to get used to how to lead that boat. And I kind of hate nature, actually people. If branches are in the river why they don't clean them. I know it sounds ridiculous when you are on the shore but you have a new perspective on the river. Next Clean Up day I probably organize an event to clean Estonian rivers 🤣 On the other hand, all those natural obstacles make the canoe trip interesting. We got stuck with Almontaser and Nika for several times but those moments make you communicate with each other more. Distance was quite long if you have no idea of time and the distance you have passed through already. It was cloudy and at some point chilliness hit us. I sang in Estonian to calm down all those Estonian fairies and other creatures who live in the forest. Everyone in my canoe contributed and fairies heard pretty multilingual performances. I don't know did it help or not, but at least we finished our journey without getting wet. Tho, water was quite deep on some points. It was such a relief to walk on the land again. It is uncomfortable to be immobile on the same position about 2 hours. We were lucky, but Billy's, Morgan's and Eugenia's canoe tipped over. They were soaking wet and even though that we didn't have direct contact with river water, nature's wish was to make everybody wet. It started raining and our way back to the bus was pretty quick. We planned to have a picnic at riverside but because of the weather we ate our wraps in the bus. Pretty rational decision and quite Estonian. Just eating without any extra activities while enjoying the nature from the window. While we were eating Youssef showed us funny videos they made during their canoe trip. It was such a pity that nobody from our canoe didn't bring a phone or a camera to capture this adventure. But no reason to be sorry actually, others got amazing shots and it is a risky business after all. After bus-picnic we headed to Soomaa wetland. Rain was even heavier and most of the people didn't want to join to this walk and talk activity we had planned. We tried to reach the observation tower. We just followed one path and hoped to see the building, but nothing. So, we turned around and walked back while enjoying Estonian wonderful summer-shower. Back at our accommodation place, we ate kringel and enjoyed hot coffee and tea. Moreover, warm sauna was waiting for us. Uhh, this sauna experience was so needed. All middle-east guys visited sauna for the first time, it is such a pleasure to introduce your culture to foreigners. I guess they kind of liked sauna. We also have another blog about our project as well. |
AuthorMy connection with Erasmus+ projects. Youth exchanges and training courses. Archives
January 2020
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