I want to tell you about the last week of February. As always, it was very interesting and busy week in JACis. 

On Monday, Lucy made ​​a very interesting presentation. it was about traditions of  winter farewell and prepare for the Easter Lent in Bulgaria. I really liked their costumes and dances. I think for those who see this carnival, it is going to be enjoyable. It should be noted that only men take part in the carnival.

As mentioned above, the second part of the carnival is about fasting. It was very interesting for me, because I am an Orthodox too and I have found differences  between our traditions - they baked pancakes and organize event during the last week of fasting. after presentation was viktorina for young people.

Of course, we made pancakes in JACis too. It was very funny and interesting, because young people and children were involved in making pancakes. Many of us made ​​the first pancake.

Later, Erasmus students and other volunteers joined us and arranged the pancake party .

Also, Lucy taught us how to make a traditional Bulgarian Toys.

The next day we were preparing to go to school to hold lessons. We taught some classes at the same time in JACis.

Aleksandrs Tolopilo  is - one rezekne a good people and a professional photographer. He gave us a lesson in professional photography in JACis.

Over the weekend, we went to the 3rd secondary school. Although I have organized many lessons at school, I still feel nervous but as soon as I enter the classroom my nervousness disappears. I completly feel free and enjoy myself during the whole lesson.

This is a very interesting and fun. I think that pupils really like lessons, which is full of Energizer and fun activities. Traditionally, at the end of the lesson we gave the students JACis' calendar, which is full of fun images and our activities.

Jaunā 2014.gada brīvprātīgo jauniešu apsveikums.

Come back to Latvia (17-21st of February)

¡¡Ya estoy de vuelta en Rezekne!! He estado dos semanas en España, de vacaciones :))))

I came back to Rezekne again!! I spent two weeks in Spain, holidays :))))

El 17 de Febrero, visitamos la escuela Secundaria en Dricanu. Presentamos nuestras actividades ante un grupo de 25 jóvenes, de entre 17-19 años, muy activos.
 

On 17th of February, we visited Dricanu Secondary school. We presented our activities to 25 youngsters, between 17-19 years old, very active.


Juegos para romper el hielo, actividades para presentar brevemente nuestro países España, Bulgaria, Eslovaquia y Georgia; y actividades relacionadas con actividades que desarrollamos en JACis.

Ice-breaking games, activities to present briefly our countries Spain, Bulgary, Slovakia and Georgia; and activities related with activities which we are doing in JACis.

El miércoles 19 de Febrero, celebramos en JACis el "Día Internacional de las ballenas". Prokop preparó la actividad , primero hizo una presentación sobre estos animales con algunos vídeos y para finalizar, un test para comprobar cuánto habían aprendido los niños.

On Wednesday, on 19th of February, we celebrated in JACis the "International Whale Day". Prokop prepared the activity, firstly he started with a presentation about these animals with some videos and at the final, a quiz to check how much children had learned.

El día 20, visitamos la escuela secundaria número 3. Esta vez estuvimos realizando actividades con niños con edades entre 12-13 años. Algunas actividades fueron jugar a juegos de grupo y lógica, y actividad para dibujar sobre sus aficiones. Ellos estuvieron muy felices :))

On 20th, we visited the Secondary school number 3. This time, we were doing activities with children with ages between 12-13 years old. Some activities were playing group and logic games, and drawing activity about their hobbies. They were really happy :))

El último día de la semana fue muy interesante, el día 21 de Febrero se celebraba el Día internacional de la Lengua Materna, así que voluntarios EVS y algunos estudiantes Erasmus participamos en una actividad organizada por la biblioteca de Rezekne.

El evento consistío en leer un mismo poema en diferentes idiomas. El poema era "El botón" y fue leído en Español, Inglés, Letón, Ruso, Georgiano, Alemán, Armenio, Turco, Polaco y Búlgaro. Y también, el poema fue leído en Latgalo, gracias a la traducción de las mujeres de la biblioteca.

The last day of the week was very interesting, on 21st of February was celebrated the International Mother Language Day, so EVS volunteers and some Erasmus students participated in the activity organized by Rezekne's Library.

The event consisted of reading the same poem in different languages. The poem was "The bottom" and it was read in Spanish, English, Latvian, Russian, Georgian, German, Armenian, Turkish, Polish and Bulgarian. And also, the poem was read in Latgalian, thanks to the translation for the ladies of the library :))

Además de leer el poema, el evento comenzó con una actividad en grupo para conocernos mejor y después hubo una presentación muy interesante acerca de información y curiosidades de algunos idiomas. ¡Fue un día muy bonito!

Moreover of reading the poem, the event started with a group activity to know us better each other and then it had a presentation very interesting about information and curiosities of some languages. It was a really nice day!

http://rus.rezeknesbiblioteka.lv/index.php/2011-04-19-11-48-40/28-2011-03-30-12-41-39/396-pugovitsa

The St. Valentines Week (10-14th February)

The second week of February is always a very special time for me. Why? Well. not just because it is St. Valentine's Day, it is also my birthday... coincidentally the very same day as St. Valentine's. Yes, I was born on St. Valentine's.

Monday started off with a presentation and Quiz dedicated to the No.1 topic of the News- The Winter Olympic Games in Sochi 2014. Person in charge- Lyudmila, presented the history and all the disciplines of winter olympics and then followed the quiz. Needless to say we all learnt the difference between biathlon and cross-country or how totally different  luge, bobsled and skeleton are from one another.

On wednesday we got a special guest in JACis, as it was a career day and a young girl that is considering to work in the field of youth activities came to spend a few hours in JACis and see what it means to work or volunteer in a youth centre. Later that day followed a regular monthly Art therapy session.

Although St. Valentine's Day was officially on Friday, we finally decided that Thursday would be the right day to prepare an activity that became an inseparable part of JACis and has been around from the very beginning. Cat in the Bag, a game of its own sort, designed specifically to bring together boys and girls and perhaps spark some love every now and then. We have been preparing for it from the beginning of the week, putting together the list of participants etc. On Monday I even went around Rezekne and visited previously chosen local buinesses and institutions to go there and ask them for sponsorship for the Cat in the Bag. I call that a "Fundraising round". And it was quite a success as amongst others we got support in form of various prizes and tickets from institutions and businesses like Rositten Cafe, GORS, Silverscreen Cinema, JORIK,  Latgales restaurant, Restaurant Little Italy and almasalsa.lv

Also first time in history of playing Cat in the Bag in JACis, the participants were vastly international, a total of almost 20 people from all around Europe.  And it was GREAT!

And finally came the Friday. First thing upon my arrival to JACis that I noticed was the amount of hearts and baloont everywhere. Surprise birthday celeration! It really felt great and I even got a cake and some really nice presents. Almost made me cry =.)

Later in the afternoon we were all invited to JORIK for their St. Valentine's theatre performance and it was really great. Plus some of the people from the yesterdays game also came along with us. I can honestly say this was probably my best week in JACis so far, and the weekend party that followed made it the best birthday to date. Thank you everyone, you made me feel very special =.)

The week begun with the reward ceremony for the Chess tournament. The rewards were given by  Georgi himself. The first place went to Nikita. The second to Anrik, the third to Renars. There was one more additional price for Sasha.

 

The week continued in the same interesting manner as in Wednesday we went to Zeimus to see an exhibition made by Alyona – an Armenian volunteer who is working in the senior’s home in Rezekne. This was her final project – an exhibition of cartoon dolls made by her and the seniors with whom she’s working. It was really interesting for us, the JACis volunteers and in the same time maybe even gave us ideas for our own project.

What I personally really liked was that to each doll there was a quot from some famous person. All the quots were for the goodness in the man – how to find it and how to perseve it.

Thursday on the other hand was a day for Georgia as Georgi presented a presentation for his country explaining about its history and georgraphy and in the same time telling us interesting facts about Georgian culture. It was really informative as me myself didn’t know a lot of the things that he said. 

Once again I realized that beeing an EVS vlunteer means also getting to know not only the country you are working in but also the culture of the nationalities you are working with.

The week ended on a happy note as Friday was the day in which we had a lot of guests.

Firsty the woman who organized the Cherity Christmas market came to thank us for the coloboration and the postcards we made with the kids from JACi. We talked a lot about the meaning of the Cherity. She told us about one interesting conception from a book: It was about a girl who constantly lost important things in life – her family, the people she loved, her senses, even her leg. But she continued living happy for the things that were left. I think we all thought that it was the better way of living.  

Seondly in Friday was the welcoming party in JACis for the two new volunteers in Rezekne who will work in the theater Yorik – Nastq from Russia and Kike (Enrique) from Spain. Nastq love to dance and probably will work as an actress in the plays and Kike will help with the decors and managing the events. They were both really excited to start working.
On the other hand we all were happy to have two new volunteers and expect future coloborations with them and with the Yorik theater.