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November...
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Hi! :-)
My name is Elena. I live in Russia. And I am a volunteer of the GAIA project in Craiova. It is my first EVS project. I am worried how it will be, but I know it will be an interesting job with a lot of challenges for me. I think it is a great experience.
My trip started with a surprise! :-) When we arrived in Bucharest, our luggage (mine and Marina’s) were lost. The first day we were without our things. And now we know how important to collect hand luggage so as not to feel discomfort in this situation. :-)
Anyway we have a great time in this week. We met each other. We discussed about organization aspects, visited cinema in Mercur. It was a pleasant surprise that the films shown in Romania in the original with subtitles. It's great because I can learn English and enjoy the wonderful perfomance of Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of Doctor Strange.
Also we had “Craiova City Tour 2016”. It was awesome! We visited the most significant places of the city, tested the national cuisine and had lost between Auchans:-)
Also I wait to our working time…we have a great team and I am sure that everything will be ok. :-)
29.11.2016
December...
December is perhaps the most magical month of the year. This is the time when we tried to finish all unfinished business. And the same time this is the month which gave us an extraordinary sense of celebration. We are expecting miracles to come true on the News Year’s eve.
December this year was filled us with unbelievable encounters, emotions, events and beautiful places.
This month, I tired to hitch-hike for the first time! I had many doubts was about it and had to overcome internal struggle, but I had great company and a bit of luck, making this event the brightest one this month. We met wonderful people who were very nice to us and gave us lots of good advice by sharing their stories!
We visited Transylvania and the Carpathian mountains, with their enchanting and mysterious castles. I fell in love with the Peles castle, located near the resort town of Sinaia, which is one of the most beautiful castles in Romania. The most striking and impressive thing was the hand-painted stained glass from Switzerland. The internal wooden decorations amaze by their luxury and craftsmanship. The castle is surrounded by a marvelous forest, a walk in which leaves a lasting impression and desire to come back here more than once.
In the middle of the month we had the long-awaited Training On Arriving in Sibiu - it was amazing, interesting and informative event. We met with other volunteers in Romania and duting the process we have made many discoveries together. The only thing that really upset me was my cold from the second day of the training, which, unfortunately, did not allow me to enjoy the event!
But on Christmas Eve I want to talk about this bright holiday! I want to wish peace and tranquility in every home, kindness, understanding, prosperity, love, happiness, peace of mind, success in all endeavors, joy, good health and all the best! Lets us meet all expectations and fulfil the most cherished of dreams!
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Craciun fericit! Si la multi ani!
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23.12.2016
January...
This month was filled with working moments and a holiday mood.
We celebrate New year's holidays in mid-January in Russia. For example, Christmas is on 7th of January and Old New Year is on 14th of January. Usually, these holidays are celebrated with very close people. But this time, here In Romania, we decided to invite our guests to show them the traditions that we have in Russia.
We organized a party with national cuisine, divination and wishes. It was fun to watch as our friendss of different nationalities enthusiastically read the little notes with wishes. It was very cute. :-)
Also in January, we met the children from the Elena Farago school, I realized that I really missed them.
At the moment, my favourite part of the job is to teach children English.
It’s nice to see how the children are open to new information, to new people. They are happy to participate in everything we invite them to.
So far, we have formed the structure of the lesson: first, we repeat the theme of the previous lesson, then study something new, and at the end, we do something which involves movement, for example, a song or a game for the repeating the past material.
Most children, of course, like the last part of the lesson. They love to dance and sing English songs for children. I like to watch how happy they are.
Also, a very strong emotional event in January was the trip to the event in the penitentiary, organized by the Restart under the name Living Library.
The main purpose of this event was to read "books" - guys who are in the penitentiary, told us the story of their life. We allowed them to "read". Perhaps this will help them look differently at their background.
Next month we are waiting for new activities, new tasks and new preparations. I am worried a little bit about how I will manage my time so that everything will be ready. But I hope that it's only a matter of time until all this will be solved.
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31.01.2017
February...
And so, February has ended... It has been an intense month. We have had long preparations and discussions of the upcoming activites that we organized in the first place: Language Cafe, Workshop in ANCAAR and, of course, our long-awaited Event “a Healthy Breakfast”. Maybe not everything turned out as we would like, but we tried and put our heart into it. I would like to say a big thank you to all those who helped, participated and attended our event! Without you it wouldn't have worked!
Probably the strongest emotions I felt happened during the Workshop in ANCAAR. The guys from the center, finally, began to recognize us and rejoice in our presence!
It was nice to know that the children involved in the "game". They were happy every step of the way, as their play-dough creation was becoming more recognizable image of the animal. There was so much joy was in their eyes! They were proud of themselves and wanted more people to see their handiwork! It was awesome! I was really happy that day!
The other important event of February was getting the permition and the extension of our contract until July 2017
I remember this amazing moment on Christmas day when Madalina offered us to stay in Romania longer. It was so sudden and perfectly matched event! I involuntarily started to believe in miracles! :-)
Finally, we finished all the paper work and negotiation on this issue and now we can officially remain in Romania until July 2017, I Hope this extra time spent here will be useful to me and to the others. :-)
In the second half of February we went to Midterm in Brasov. I was very glad to visit this beautiful place again! It opened for me, as something new, but no less beautiful! I was also very pleased with the composition of the training, volunteers were presented from different parts of Europe. Many shared the difficulties they faced on the project and unwillingness to put up with this fact. I was very impressed with how eager the guys defended their position and their point of view affected the course of the events!
I understand that many do not understand what I mean, so I apologize in advance. But for me, it has influenced and left a mark in my heart, so I want it to stay here!
In the end I would like to say that February and winter have ended, and that means the best is yet to come. ;-) Craiova now has happy delightful weather, with temperatures around +20 °C in late February that for me, the Russian people, is nonsense! :-)
I formed the closest plan of action, which certainly helped midterm. So it remains only to act! ;-)
05.03.2017
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March...
March is associated for me the two most important events:
- preparing for the flash mob to the World Autism Awareness Day;
- a trip to Bucharest for get visa.
World Autism Awareness Day is the one of more important Event for our project. Long time preparation, discussions, night rehearsals. On the 2d of April our Event was done! And it was reallly nice! Hundreds of people came out to support us along with ANCAAR in promoting World Autism Awareness Day.
Thank you, one and all, for support and your smile!
Also, I would like to tell about a very important and informative question regarding getting a Schengen visa in Romania.
Initially, it seems that this is a very difficult question and get a Schengen visa outside their home country is impossible. But really, the main thing to remember is that to submit documents to the Embassy of the state where you want to go after obtaining permission to stay, and travel date must be no later than three months prior to your departure from Romania. (PS the last date may be adjusted depending on the Embassy. For example, to have a positive experience when in 2017 the Spanish Embassy issued the visa with the dates of trip less than three months).
And of course, you need to prepare all the documents list that is presented on the website of the Embassy. We asked our host organization about certificate from work. They wrote what we do in Romania, how long we are here and how much we get money per mounth and our funding in total over the project period. Our insurance Sigma is also suitable for tourist trips. Just don't forget to print it with the point about the Schengen area and information about coverage.
As for me, I decided to take a Schengen visa after the discovery of very cheap tickets to Belgium and Italy. For the Russian people tickets to these countries for 20 EUR in both directions seems a very good offer.
We have submitted documents to the Belgian Embassy in Bucharest and the next day we were given a Schengen visa C the duration of the trip!
Now I'm waiting for our big trip to Belgium, France and the Netherlands and hope it will be awesome!
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08.04.2017
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April..
April opens a series of journeys! And the first of them was Eurotour! Our plane was departing from Timisoara and we had to first get to the city by hitchhiking. The way took about 8 hours. 2 cars and completely different people who decided to help, but equally kind and helpful!
Every country is remembered by something special! For example, Holland for me is absolutely unforgettable gingerbread houses, an endless net of river canals, constantly hurrying cyclists and delightful tulips. The most vivid impression in France it is a stunning view of the Eiffel tower from the roof of the house where we were hosted by couchsurfer and Belgium is a fairy tale forest and handmade beer from financial consultant and the same time our couchsurfer in Brussels, who hopes someday to open small bar with diffrent kind of beers :-)
It was nice trip! :-)
A very memorable event of April was a collaboration with Tinerii 3D at the "Festivalum pentru Copii"! It was a very large-scale project which involved about 200 children. Our task was to help organize games and give gifts to children! It was a pleasure to work with the guys! I was on a team with a girl from Romania. We very quickly shared the duties and coped very well With work together!
We really enjoyed to work with volunteers from Tinerii 3D !
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05.05.2017
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May...
From the first days of work in ANCAAR, we wanted to do some awesome workshop, in which children could fully participate. And in May we finally made an excellent workshop on making brooches out of felt! Children helped to cut and glue details, and we drew eyes and mouths for birds and cats! ;-) In my opinion, it turned out very cool!
Furthermore, an important event for me was a trip to Montenegro on my birthday. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful nature is in this country. Endless chain of mountains, transparent Adriatic Sea and beautiful beaches.
The only difficulty that I faced when planning my trip to Montenegro is logistics. Unfortunately, there is no direct communication from Romania to Montenegro. To get to this beautiful country you need to cross the borders of Serbia.
In total, I needed to cross 2 borders, use the train and bus and about 30 hours of the road to be in the desired place! :-)
I was very worried that I'm going on this trip alone, but wibe-site "the CouchSurfing" came to my aid once again. I made a request to find people who would not mind spending time together simply by communicating and discovering new places. Very quickly, I found a few guys from Russia. First of our meeting was on my Birthday! From the first minute we started to talk like old friends! We had a fantastic time together, hanging out in the beautiful city, celebrating and having lots of fun! I will never forget those happy moments in our vacation that I shared with guys! I think that it was the best birthday which I had before and I am very grateful to the guys for this! :-) I really hope that in the future we'll meet again.
Returning to Romania, we began preparations for a very significant event for us - the Children's Day, which traditionally takes place on the 1st of June.
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31.05.2017
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June...
June was very busy! Feeling that this is the last month of our project, was making its own corrections!
As I wrote before, on June 1 we were waited for by a wonderful holiday - the day of protection of children. This time, three organizations were involved: we, CRES and Tinerii 3D. Children passed an exciting quest and a variety of games! Every child has found something interesting! It was really nice!
Also, we were waiting for an event called "International Global Village" in June. We represented our country with the help of dances, games, traditional painting and snacks for tea there. I was very pleased to represent my country and once again see how beautiful our culture is!
The most emotional moment of June was the last lesson in Elena Farago school. Children gave us flowers and homemade cards, where they wrote the most pleasant words in English! We played with them in different games and sang songs that they studied with us for these 8 months! It was very nice and sad at the same time that we are unlikely to ever see each other again!
And in this month I traveled a lot: Bulgaria, Macedonia Romania, Serbia, Croatia! Just an infinite number of beauty and wonderful people around!
Summarizing my EVS in Romania, I can say with confidence that it was amazing! I am incredibly grateful to the "Erasmus Plus" program, the hosting organization the "Explorator" and the sending organization "SFERA", for the opportunity to contribute to the development of society! Communication with children, both with ordinary and with disabilities, gave me great happiness! When the children recognize you and wait for a new lesson, they run to a meeting, smile and hug you tightly, you feel a huge flow of energy to do new things ! I will never forget this. :-) And those numerous trips, acquaintances, discoveries... All this would be impossible, but almost impossible without EVS!
Thank you!
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29.06.2017
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