Pay it forward

Soooo, yes, finally our blog is coming back on track. First of all – business. Otletfa is now Gergo, Anita and Danieles' responsibility, because the main person, who really worked here had left. So now, we are planning all sessions together. It means more work, but more experience too. And I think, we are doing a great job for now. For example, on Tuesday we prepared a game about violence. And it seems that guys really liked it, they were so into this, they discussed, thought more deeply than we could expected. That session was totally the best of all we had. On Thursday we had a movie evening. We watched “Pay it forward” directed by Mimi Leder. Who don’t know, it is a movie about the boys’ idea to change the world. He came up with an idea, that if he does something good to other three people, than those three people to other three people, the world may become a better place to live. So basically his idea looked like this:

So, we really liked it, and we started to think if it is possible. What if all of us would start that movement, maybe we would change something. Maybe we would make a difference for one person at least, and we think it would be an achievement already. So just stop and think about this for a minute. What could you do in order to change a world? What would you do? And do you even care about this? Do you care about the stuff what is happening not only around you, in your yard, but in the world in general. And it is ok, if you don’t. But still, one saying fits here perfectly: if you want to change the world, start from yourself. All in all, we are the start and the beginning. And everything is possible, we just need to start act, to do something. Less talking, more doing, you know. 

So If you think that you want to make a difference u should know that on 30 th of April, 2015, there will be an official Pay it Forward Day. On that day people are encouraged to do something good to others. It is a worldwide phenomenon. So don't hesitate to join it! Of course this kind of favors are like love - can be shown not only once per year :) For more info: http://payitforwardday.com/ or http://www.pifexperience.org/. 

Ok, other part of this blog will be with less philosophical views. As you may know, we are not only working here. We are having parties, getting to know more and more local people and trying to make friends with them. So on Thursday, we had the second guest in our beautiful apartment! It was Danieles’ boyfriend. We played Uno cards, laughed and talked a lot aaand we had tequila too. It was an evening for getting to know each other better. And I think it succeeded! I am sure that many evenings like this are waiting ahead!

Greetings!!!!

On arrival training

Budapest Budapest Budapest. Here we are! Our on arrival training started on Monday, November 10^th. We and two other volunteers from Szeged met on the train station at 8 in the morning, caught the train and…. finally we reached the capital city of Hungary. Anitas’ friend met us on the train station and showed us to the hotel we stayed all 5 days. The hotel was far from the city, so we were a bit disappointed. The training started at 13.30 just after the lunch. It was the “Get to know each other” day. The day was full of activities and games! And after that we were a bit exhausted…

On Tuesday, our trainers represented EVS. We talked about rights and responsibilities of mentors, volunteers, sending/ hosting organizations etc.  It wasn’t so useful because we already knew that stuff. I mean, we are volunteers here, so we should know where we are going and whet we are dealing with, right? But, the evening part was good – at first we represented our countries, after that we just stayed at the hotel, played some board games, socialized…

On Wednesday, we talked about youthpass.  And other half of the day we spent in the city center. We took a bus, and then we switched it to a boat. Anita was so excited because it was her first time J There we were surprised, because we went to a Choco house, where we were able to take a part in chocolate making process, we also get more knowledge about chocolate, about the species of cacao beans, and we tried to degustate a real chocolate by following the rules.  So we spent here 3 or 4 hours, but it was really interesting and useful. At least we know how the real chocolate looks like J After Choco house we went to a karaoke pub. And we totally ruled this place! We were singing so many songs, and we didn’t care that we are more screaming than singing J After an hour or so, the all pub was singing together, and dancing together, It was just unbelievable! So great that I cannot explain it in words J And other adventure happened… Get ready for the story: so as we lived out of the city center, our last bus had to leave 1.30 we went to bus station on time. But… surprise surprise we went to a wrong bus stop. A nice guy, just walked towards us and asked if we need a help. So twenty people couldn’t find the right station, but that guy – after a few rounds in both sides of the street, he found it. It was 2min away from the place we were. But of course it was too late. So, we were thinking, what we should do next? And then the same guy found the solution – we took other bus and walked for an hour or so between the houses in 2am. It was so hard to orientate where we are, so we decided to use GPS, or Google maps (luckily, some of the guys had Internet on their phone). And finally we reached our hotel. We were sooooo happy to see that building again! At 3am!

On Thursday, we talked about Erasmus+ program and all the possibilities. That was really useful, because get more new information about EU funded programs. And I think that a part of us will use something else too. And then people from National Agency came. They stayed all day with us. They talked about the role of National Agency, we were able to ask any questions.

On Friday, we had an evaluation day. We evaluated ourselves, the training, the work of our trainers. Of course we said goodbye to each other, promised to see again, to visit Budapest, Pecs and other cities in Hungary. We really made good contacts there, and now we have a bed to sleep in many parts of the country J isn’t it great? J

So in that training we learned many new non-formal education tools, we will be able to use in the future; we get more information about Erasmus+ programs, and about EVS itself; we met more volunteers from Germany, France, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, UK, and none from Lithuania, sadly.. These people came to the same country us we did, they took a risk and decided to use this amazing opportunity. And we met them here in Budapest, and hopefully, we will meet them again. 

Finally, we are four!

5^th week.

I will skip Monday cause nothing really interesting happened in that day. Just usual stuff, u know. So I will start with Tuesday this time. So, we had our language lessons, and after that we went to our beloved projects! Benita went to kindergarten, Anita and Daniele – to Otletfa. Here we had some stuff for youngters. We were analyzing The little prince. I am sure that most of u know what the little prince is, what kind of stories he is telling. So we took one part and analyzed it with the youngsters. Unfortunately, they weren’t so interested in that topic. Maybe they are still too young to understand, to see the bigger picture.

So, in order not to be caught by routine… Wednesday came. And this was a day, when finally all of us were together. Yes, u understood it correctly, the French girl, her name is Agathe, arrived! She arrived in the late evening. Gergo met her at the airport and drove her home. To our home, where will live 9 more months. We bought some wine to celebrate this occasion.

On Thursday all of us did different things. Benita went to kindergarten, Daniele and Anita to Otletfa (youth center), and Agatha met Reni (our mentor) for the first time. They were walking in the park next to our apartment, in downtown. Just showing around. In the same time in Otletfa girls were doing some tests with older youngsters, played basketball, table tennis. Kriszta had a wonderful program for that day – we played many games, which were based on artistic skills. We had to act without words and so on.

On the evening we decided to run from routine even further and faster. So we chose a pub Number One, and spend our evening here. It was the night for Erasmus students, but we fit here perfectly. We had so much fun – danced for a couple of hours! It was just amazing  We came home around 3 am.

So Friday wasn’t as easy as it may seem. All of us wanted just to stay at home, but… Duty calls! So we woke up, went to the office, had a short talk with Gergo and.. Anita and Benita went home, Daniele to kindergarten. What is more, on this day we had our first guest in our wonderful apartment! His name is Csaba, and he is Anitas’ friend  So when all of us were in the same place again (in the evening), we played some Uno, and talked a lot  On Saturday we went to have some fun to the downtown, and we succeeded! So, as you see, we really live an interesting life here!

Forth week

The forth week.

That week was short. We had some stuff to do in kindergartens and youth center and after Wednesday we were free. The long weekend came and passed so fast! It was raining almost every day. We wanted to go out, to go somewhere where we could find more people, but all our efforts went for nothing. We didn’t expect that city will be so empty. Pubs, bars, cafes, streets, parks – we couldn’t see more people than 10. But still, we had some fun with other EVS volunteers from Talentum organization.

After all these days we finally reached the day of the week – Sunday. On that date the Dartke people and us went to ballet “Karmina Burana”. The building, people – everything looked fantastic! I am not talking about performance, which was incredible! Dancers did they best! We really enjoyed our time there.

On Monday we had a really long day. We woke up before six, cached the tram, than train and went to Kecskemét. There we had a meeting with mentors and their mentees from Budapest. During the time when mentors had that meeting, we with a couple of volunteers and kids visited 3 museums. The first was – Musical instrument museum. They had like 2300 of them from all over the world. Kids really enjoyed the stories told by the worker, and interesting music he played. Oh, almost forgot! Anita showed us how to play with Romanian musical instrument!!! Impressive, right?

Second was – The animation museum. There we saw what cartoons are made from, and how much time animators spend in order to make a movie. They showed us many cartoons they created. It was really fun!

The third was – Nature museum. Here we saw many animals which are living in Hungary. On the second floor kids had a possibility to play - It was like interactive playground based for kids. But we played too, just for fun J

After that day we were so tiered! But even than we tried not to give up. We played some music by ourselves with other mentors. Where? In train station! We had so much fun there!

Tuesday. Hungarian and English lessons. Hungarian like always – too difficult  to remember. After that Daniele and Anita went to Otletfa. They prepared presentations about their countries, and they were willing to show them to the youngsters. But, unfortunately, nobody came. Except two volunteers. In the same time, somewhere in Szeged, Benita with Gergo and Barbie were planning sessions for kindergarten. They were working for hours and did a great job! Benita made lady birds for “Numbers” lesson. It looks great!

On Wednesday we were invited to Halloween party in other Dartke office. They prepared it really good, some kids were so scared! But, hey, it is Halloween! Benita had such a nice experience with one of the kids. The boy didn’t speak English or Hungarian, but she found the way to connect with him. Benita was so happy, when he took hand and asked her to go to the bathroom together, to wash his hands! Oh, she was thrilled! Good job!

Thursday – another Otletfa day. In the morning we had a planning session with Kriszta – we revised her ideas. And they are really great! You will know about them soon J We expected that some kids will come, and there were like 10 of them! We were so happy to see them all in one place! Kriszta showed pictures from their exchange program in Romania, she told many stories. After that, Anita did the test to some of the guys. We assisted her of course. And then the funny part came! We played “csocsó” ( for those, who don't know is table-football) and table tennis. Daniele played table tennis in pairs with guys. They were talking all the time about something and she couldn’t understand anything, but despite that she had so much fun!

Friday? Nothing really important J Usual stuff, you know.

So, in this week we had opportunity to see how the city looks on vacation celebration. It is empty. We had opportunity to see the beauty of the dance, to hear different sounds of the music, to know more about our loved and beloved cartoons! What is more, we had challenges, we tried to deal with. All in all, this week was colorful and fluffy (girls, you know what I am talking about), as never J

short week

Third weekend in Szeged was interesting in one aspect - we had a Beer festival here. It was smaller than we could expected – just a couple of tents, where you could have found beer, salted or sweet food to eat. Also, we witnessed a performance of traditional band. They were great! Even though Daniele didn‘t understand anything it sounded great! They were using special drums made from deer skin to create a music. Somehow all that singing and dancing remembered an Indians tribes from North Amerika and their dances calling for the rain or to glory something saint. The performance was really nice to watch, and music interesting to listen.

On Sunday we had an opportunity to see another event – bikers show. Maybe it was just the closing of the season, but still it was impressive - hundreds of bikers were riding all together. You could hear engines working and making somekind of music. I say music, because people who really like stuff like that would really enjoy that sound. For Daniele it was not a new thing, because they have events like this every year, suppose, but for other girls it was a big surprise! Neither Anita, nor Benita haven‘t seen so many bikes in one place before.

And here comes Monday. Benita went to Kindergarted for the first time! She really enjoyed it. All that kids were stearing at her with big rounded eyes, full of fascination! The same was to Daniele and Anita on Wednesday. The first time in Kindergartens - what can be better?

On Tuesday, Anita and Daniele went to Ötletfa again. Kriszta was prepared some activities for the youngsters. At first we played „a silent actor“ game, where you have to act something without using any words, and others have to guess. Some of the youngsters were more brave than others, but we think, that everyone had fun! There are some moments:

After that, we saw a short video about translating stuff. Than we talked about all that: we shared the feelings, ideas about what we just experienced. The aim of that was to make understand each other better and to make ourselves more comfortable in that group. It was useful because considering that not of participants speak Hungarian (Daniele and Benita, who was in the kindergarted this time), we will have to learn to express ourselves, our thoughts in other way, without speaking. And others will have to learn to understand that. What is more, we may have some stereotypes about each other, about our cultures etc. even though we don‘t know each other personally. And these tasks were like introduction into our 10 months journey in Szeged. Breaking stereotypes and touching each others lives, to give something and to get something back is our main task and ours biggest treasure which we will bring with us till the end of our days. We are building a bridge between different cultures and we enjoy it!

the beginning

„I believe it, if I see it”.... it started like this. It is known, that Szeged is one of the most beautiful city in Hungary. We couldn't believe it, till we saw it for the first time. Anita arrived here first, on the 2nd October in the early morning, after her Danielé arrived on Friday, and than Benita on Sunday. And the journey started on Monday: we were in the city center to see the famous places with our mentor, Reni. After a big walk, we had our first lunch together, and a coffee. In the afternoon we were invited to the office, to get to know the workmates, the office and to introduce ourselfs. It was a positive experience to met those kind people. Because Gábor had his Birthday, they celebrate, so we ate cake. After all, we went home to have a rest, and we agreed that Szeged is a really beautiful city. It worth to visit!
The first of our days here were about to know the projects we can be involved in, about the responsabilities, about the EVS, Youthpass, aims, etc. On Friday, we had a small office party together with both DARTKE office workers, which was a good opportunity to know each other better. Because we started our first language lessons, we had a lot to study for the weekend, but I think we can say that we failed. The weather was soooo perfect to be outside from the house, so we were in the city center again. We made some pictures together, we tried the Jalapeno's food, which -I think- became our favorite eating place! If you come here, you should try the food from there!
We met Susan and Bea, other EVS volunteers in Szeged, on the Talentum association. We had a very great day together!
Our second week here, was a little bit longer, maybe because it was raining, or maybe because we were in Hódmezővásárhely to the Ötletfa for three days. Ötletfa is one of the projects we can choose to be involved in. Kriszta -who is responsible for Ötletfa- presented us the residence, the youngsters from there, the goals etc. We had the opportunity to know the guys: we played, we talked, we worked and laughed together.
At the end of the week, we were in the city center to a festival called Beer festival. It was nice to visit and to be there.
Danielé and Benita had their first lángos and paprikáskrumpli, and we had the possibility to try the Lithuanian strong drink, brought by Danielé. All of these are soooo gooooood!
By the way, we consider us good teamworkers, so we hope that we can make some long-term friendships here! We have 10 months to this. Danielé and Benita already booked their flight ticket for the Xmas holidays.
A few words about our flat: we live in an apartment with three big rooms, a huge kitchen, bathroom, garden, where we have a dog. Unfortunetly he is a legend, because we can't see him, and we have never seen him in two weeks! We have a special alarm in every morning before 7 o'clock, thanks to the workers in front of our house. The internet is so interesting, because when it works, everything is perfect, but most of the time, it is not working which is not so good for us. And the storm is much more different here, than at home!

Danielé, Benita and Anita

meeting other EVS volunteers in Szeged

playing some games with youngsters in Ötletfa

From the bridge made by Anita!

our first work day in the office at DARTKE

hard work

having fun

welcoming party

hard work 2

home made paprikáskrumpli for the first time

decorating our new Home