Wednesday 29 January 2014

One eventful week :) (20-24th of January)

The week begun with the National day of hugging (21 of January; Tusday) which of course we celebrated in JACis. The day was prepared entirely from the volunteers.
Our original idea was to go out on the streets giving 'Free hugs' to the Rezekne people. Unfortunately the Latvian winter has arrived and it was too cold to carry out this idea outside.


Instead we settled for different kinds of games we can play with the JACis kids inside. All fo them of course involved hugging which was the main idea.


 We  believe that the kids had a lot of fun, so much that in one point they started getting to excited - giving warm hugs to everybody in sight.

 We played "Who can hug the person faster", a variation of hide-and-seek and in the end danced to Makarena (completely unrelated game but still very fun for everybody).
The culmination of all games was a game in which the kids had to find a hidden box full of sweets while constantly hugging each other and searching for clues. In some cases the clues were the volunteers themselfs for which they all received a gigantic group hug.







To end it all we finished with the ultimate Group hug, taught personally by Prokop himself. Can you see everybody on the picture?



But the Hugging day was not the only event we had this week. In Wednesday we were up and ready for yet another celebration, this time orginized completely by JACis: The orange evening.
The evening was thought and leaded by Pilar who is from Spain and knows a thing or two about oranges. Here's what she says about the event - her motication and the outcome of the idea.
 "When Vija told me about preparing the "Orange Party", I was happy because for me was a really great idea! Spain is an important producer of oranges, so I prepared a presentation with information about the orange tree: history,  in what Spanish region are located, curiosities, etc. It was funny to prepare the activities, I was finding information about it and now I know more things about the oranges in my country, for example that there are more than 30.000 orange trees in the Seville centre  :))) .Moreover, we bought oranges and sweets like a presents. Vija and the others volunteers helped to me a lot with the activities and with the translation, thank you very much to Lyudmila specially :D
Children were a little distracted during the presentation, but nevertheless, they got good punctuation in the quiz. And they were active with games that we prepared."
We all sure loved the Orange evening. It inspired us with ideas what we, the other volunteers, can show from our own contries.




The week sure was busy because on Thursday we - the international volunteers along with two local ones (Dima and Tatjana) went to the other youth center in Rezekne - Zeimus  to work with disabled children/ yongsters. It was a memorable day for us because even if a little bit scared at first we soon managed to engaged ourself in playing with them and helping them with the different activities.


But all of that wasn't the end. On top of all On Friday - the end of the week, was the begining of two new activities in JACis.
The first one was lead by Prokop who started a project with the kids of making feedboxes for the birds during the winder in the near park Rajne. He begun the activities by going out in the park with several kids to look for birds during the ocld winter day and trees which branches are good enough to held a feedbox. The kids showed great enthusiasm in counting birds and trees and it could be said that the first part of the project "Let's feed the birds" was successful.





On Friday again  for the first time started the Movie evenings. It was a rather small event but good enough for the first time and gave us, or Lyudmila who was leading it, hope that it can get better and bigger.

The movie that we watched was Billy Eliot - the story of a young lad who wants to do ballet.

It's a storry about prejudices, stereotypes and ultimately about dreams and how you can persue them no matter what. Give it try if you still haven't seen it.



Monday 20 January 2014

Thanks Day and more activities! (13-17th of January)

El día 11 de Enero fue el "dia de dar las Gracias". En JACis lo celebramos el día 13 de Enero.
Preparamos una serie de actividades relacionadas con este día y con la palabra más importante "gracias". ¡En total reunimos cómo decir gracias en 40 idiomas!


On 11st of January was the "Thanks Day". So, we celebrated that day on 13rd of January in JACis. We organized activities related with this special day and with the most important word "Thanks". We recollect how to say thank you in 40 languages!!
Hicimos un árbol con los grupos de familia lingüística y ayudamos a los niños a colocar las tarjetas (con bandera del país y cómo se dice gracias en el mismo) en el lugar correcto. 

We made a tree with the language family groups and we help to children to put the cards (with the country flag and how to say thanks) in the correct place.
Después, los niños y otros jóvenes (estudiantes ERASMUS de Rumania, Turquía y Francia) pintaron algunas banderas y luego para conseguir una porción de los deliciosos bizcochos que cocinamos Prokop y yo, tenían que decir gracias en el idioma del país al que correspondía la bandera.
 
Then, children and young people (ERASMUS students from Romania, Turkey and France), they painted some flags to get a portion of delicious cakes that we cooked, they had to say thank you in the language of the corresponding country flag.

Además, preparamos un juego de memoria con las banderas de los países por un lado, y por otro lado cómo se dice gracias en el país correspondiente. Fue una actividad muy divertida, felicidades Daniela (con jersey naranja) por ser la ganadora :)))
 
Moreover, we prepared a memory game with the flags of the countries and in others cards how to say thanks in diferent languages. It was a fun activity, congratulations Daniela (orange jersey) to be the winner :)))

 
Durante la semana  hemos estado recopilando información acerca del nuevo programa ERASMUS+ para actualizar el stand que hay en JACis. Como ya sabeis, el programa Juventud en Acción finalizó en 2013, y ahora hay un nuevo programa que engloba todas las acciones.
 
During the week we have been compiled information about the new program "ERASMUS +" to update the stand in Jacis. As you know, the program "Youth in Action" ended in 2013, and now there is a new program that encompasses all actions (2014 - 2020).


¡El 14 de Enero, empezaron clases de piano en JACis ! Si, los niños que quieran aprender a tocar el piano, pueden aprender gracias a Lydmila :)))
 
On 14th January, the piano lessons started in JACis!! Yes, children who wants to learn to play the piano, they can learn thanks to Lydmila :)))
Y no os olvidéis de que en JACis podeis venir a clases de Español, Inglés, ajedrez.... ¡Y muchas actividades más!
 
And, don't forget that you can come to JACis to Spanish, English and chess lessons.... And more activities!
 

Monday 13 January 2014

Thank you! Paldies! Спасибо!



Dear Volunteers of Youth Open Center "JACis"
Pilar, Prokop, Giorgi and Lyudmila!
On the International "Thank you" Day we want to say “THANK YOU!’’.
Thank you for choosing our center for the volunteering!
Thank you that you have become a team that can actively work!
Thank you for your creativity, ingenuity, inventiveness, understanding, patience!
Thank you, Pilar, for the wonderful blog about us!
Thank you, Prokop, for new and interesting ideas in the center!
Thank you, Giorgi, for math classes and chess activities!
Thank you, Lyudmila, for your sincere friendship with kids in the center!
What is more, Thank you that you love our center, our city and our country!

Dārgie Jauniešu Atvērta Centra „JACis” brīvprātīgie
Pilar, Prokop, Giorgi un Lyudmila!
Starptautiskajā "Paldies’’ dienā mēs vēlētos jums pateikties!
Paldies, ka izvēlējāties mūsu centru brīvprātīgajam darbam!
Paldies par to, ka jūs esat kļuvusi par vienu komandu, kura var aktīvi darboties!
Paldies par jūsu radošumu, atjautību, izpratni, pacietību!
Paldies, Pilar, par brīnišķīgo blogu par mums!
Paldies, Prokop, par jaunam un interesantam idejām jauniešu centrā!
Paldies, Giorgi, par matemātikas uzdevumiem un šaha aktivitātēm!
Paldies, Lyudmila, par tavu sirsnīgu draudzību ar jaunākiem bērniem no centra!
Paldies par to, ka jums patīk mūsu centrs , mūsu pilsēta un mūsu valsts!

Дорогие волонтеры Молодежного Открытого Центра "JACis"
Пилар, Прокоп, Гиорги и Людмила!
В Международный день "Спасибо" хотим поблагодарить вас!
Спасибо, что вы выбрали наш центр для работы волонтером!
Спасибо за то, что вы уже стали командой, которая может активно работать!
Спасибо за вашу креативность, выдумку, изобратательность, понимание, терпение,
Спасибо, Пилар, за прекрасный блог о проекте!
Спасибо, Прокоп, за новые интересные идеи в работе центра!
Спасибо, Гиорги, за математические задачки и шахматы!
Спасибо, Людмила, за твою искреннюю дружбу с младшими ребятами из центра!
Спасибо еще за то, что вы любите наш центр, наш город и нашу страну!

Back to work! (6-10th of January 2014)

After a wonderful 2 weeks of holiday, Monday 6th of January marks our return back to JACis as we resume our work after the Christmas period. And since the year 2014 brings a lot of changes to Latvia, we decided to get the boring tasks off the table in the first place and started out the new year dealing with our accounting and bills. Nothing can lift your spirits higher than dealing with boring administrative work full of numbers. At least others had a great time, making tiny little hats with Pilar =.)





Monday was not only our first day back at work, but also the first day we got to meet a new volunteer in Rezekne. Her name is Karina, she is from Poland and she will work at the Polish gymnasium. Nevertheless we threw her a little welcome party in JACis and immediately introduced to the new hit in JACis, card game Saboteur. Welcome to Rezekne, Karina!



Tuesday 7th of January is THE day for big part of Rezekne population. And when it comes to orthodox Christmas, there are never enough fireworks. That is why on Tuesday evening we went to see the fireworks prepared by the orthodox church after the Christmas ceremony in Rezekne Orthodox church. What a show!




Thursday was the bussiest day of this week. Firstly we visited the polish gymnasium in Rezekne to deliver a presentation on EVS and activities in JACis to the group of local 10. graders. This was our second visit of the school and I have to admit it went much better than last time. This Lyudmila was there with us as well so team JACis presented ourselves in full power.










On Thursday evening JACis go visitors. Three girls from Rezekne HEI came to present their project and ask JACis for help. Their project is a part of competition and at the end of it projects with most votes will get the funding.