November 18-23

The Latvia's Independence Day is on November 18. This day is grandly celebrated in Latvia. The concert was held in the open air and in the concert hall “Gors”. EVS volunteers also celebrated Latvia’s Independence day with Latvians.

During this week we were preparing for a festival called "Popiela'' .. We were working on the topic of popiela. At the same time we were working children  in JACis. We were teaching them Geography, chess, English and Spanish languages.

On November 22, we went to the training in Kegum. We were there for 4 days, but I'll never forget it. Kegum is a very beautiful place, UMURI has a lot of beautiful views. I wanted to enjoy the beautiful views during the whole training.

On trainingI met other volunteers. Among them was a Georgian, Anna. The trainers were very punctual and creative :) During the training, they were a little bit strict. They taught us a variety of activities and Energizers. In the evening, The trainers were very friendly and they had a good time with us.

Participants made a presentation about their countries. After the presentation we asked simple questions to listeners and  we also did a language twister in our own language :):):) It was very funny :)

Moreover, during the training we  have prepared a traditional food.

Previous week in JACis until the Latvian Independence Day

JACis empezó la semana memorizando.... ¡Si! Un juego de memoria hecho a mano con formas geométricas dibujadas, sirvió para pasar un rato entretenido entre los niños. Fue un juego útil porque en cada carta estaba escrito el nombre en Inglés y en Español. Así, además de recordar la posición de la carta, ellos tenían que intentar leer la palabra en dos diferentes idiomas.

JACis started memorizing this week... Yes! Handmade memory game with drawn geometric shapes was used for spent a good time between children. It was an useful game because on each card it was writen the shape's name in English and on the other card the name in Spanish. So, moreover to remember the position of the card, they had to try to read the word in two different languages.

El martes fue una tarde realmente interesante y cultural porque recibimos la visita de dos mujeres que trabajan en la biblioteca de Rēzekne. La actividad fue sobre la arquitectura de Rēzekne, ellas nos explicaron muchas cosas sobre ello con ayuda de antiguos documentos y fotografías.

 

On Tuesday it was a really interesting and cultural afternoon because we were visited by two ladies who work in Rēzekne library. The activity was about Rēzekne's Architecture, they were talking about a lot of things with the help of old documents and photographies.

Los niños se lo pasaron muy bien y aprendieron cosas nuevas sobre su ciudad, incluso hubo preguntas con regalos como recompensa :D

 

Children had fun and learned new things about the city, even there were questions with gifts as a reward :D

El 14 de Noviembre visitamos la Iglesia Ortodoxa de San Eufrosinia en Kārsava (Letonia). Fue una excursión educativa organizada por el cura Ortodoxo, padre Aleksij. Fuimos un grupo formado por amigos de JACis, voluntarios locales, voluntarios SVE, dos estudiantes de Alemania y otra estudiante de Rumania, y otros jóvenes y gente de Rēzekne.

On 14th November, we were visiting the St. Eufrosinia Orthodox Church in Kārsava (Latvia). It was an educational excursion organized by Orthodox priest father Aleksij. We were a group of JACis friends, local volunteers, EVS volunteers, two students from Germany and one from Romania, and other youngsters and people from Rēzekne.

Read more! There are more pictures and interesting activities!!!

Activities in JACis from 4-10 November

On November 4, Via, Katia and Agita  arranged a very good evening called "Welcome party" for me in “JACis”. I was very glad when they were singing and dancing and said “GAMARJOBA”. They made a present for me. It was a very nice battery with logo of "JACis". After that, we had a pizza party. I will never forget this event. I would like to thank everyone for this wonderful evening.

During the week I taught children to play chess, because it is very good game for brain. I have a good pupils.

Pilar and Prokop are my friends and EVS volunteers as I am. They are very interesting people. Pilar is from Spain. She teaches Spanish and knitting to children. She knows very delicious food recipes.

Prokop is our enegizer. ☺Prokop is from Slovakia. He teaches English to children. He has a lot of creative ideas. 

Prokop, Pilar and me planned the presentation about us and about our countries. On November 2, we made a presentation at Rezeknes Secondary school N2. Children were very pleased with our presentations. In my group, the children wrote their name, because we had to learn our names. After that I showed them Georgia's sightseeing (by photo) on the map. At the end, we played chess.
Also,  in Prokop’s group, the children played charadses. And Pilar taught children several recipes of Spaninish dish.Pilar also taught children how to make a handmade bracelet and then they were making it.

This was my first official lesson at school and I was very nervous, but everything was well.

On november 8, Billiard Tournament ended in JACis, where I took 3rd place and I got a medal and a diploma. This competition was organized by Prokop Tepper and thanks to him.

On november 10, I participated in Chess tournament in Rezekne. It was very intersting and I enjoyed it very much. 

Autumn Holiday in JACis

28th October to 1st of November.... magic date that all of JACis has been preparing for throughout the whole month. Why? Quite simply the busiest time of the month, the holiday time. Schools are closed and where do many children go? to JACis of course.

Planning already began 2 weeks in advance, but no matter how well you plan, you can never get ready for this amount of children entering our little house. Yet the plan was clear: The main activity of the week was the pool  tournament, taking place throughout the whole week. I took up the challenge to organize it, with our local boys Edgars & Sandis helping me out. We actually made 2 separate tournaments- one for kids under 13 years of age, the other was open for anyone older. A total of 15 people participated. Preparing the poster, rules, diploma templates, planning the whole organization, all this was done before the holidays began. Now it was all about the game. On Thursday, we found the winner in the small group. Friday then gave us the winner in the big group. The tournament as such was a success, but we were lucky to plan it throughout the whole week as there were problems with some participants not showing up in JACis for a few days, therefore delaying the whole tournament.

Aside from the pool tournament, the holiday week was rich with crafts activities planned by Pilar. Be it crafting handmade notepads or cooking a yoghurt cake & making toppers to decorate it, all the activities were well appreciated by those who joined (especially cake baking =.P). In the end of the week Pilar together with children prepared a tree poster for our Sunday special event.

Read more! There are more pictures and interesting activities!!!

My On-arrival Training (11-15.10.2013) - Pilar

Todos los voluntarios de un SVE tienen una Formación a la llegada al comienzo  del mismo. En mi caso fue en el complejo "Puduri", Región de Keguma, cerca de Riga.
Realmente, compartí buenos momentos con voluntarios de Alemania, Turquía, Hungría, Georgia, Bielorusia, España y Austria. Y también con gente de Letonia, nuestros tutores.
En total fuimos 25 (15 voluntarios y 10 tutores) y 3 formadores (Baiba, Sintija y Valters). Además, el lugar donde tuvo lugar la formación era precioso :)

All EVS volunteers have an On-arrival Training at the beggining of their EVS. In my case, it was in the guest house “Puduri”, Ķeguma Region, near Riga.

Actually, I spent  a good time with volunteers from Germany, Turkey, Hungary, Georgia, Belarus, Spain and Austria. And Latvian people too, our mentors. In total we were 25 (15 volunteers and 10 mentors) and 3 trainers (Baiba, Sintija and Valters). Moreover, the place where the training took place was amazing :)

Durante cinco días, estuvimos desarrollando varias actividades relacionadas con nuestras expectativas, retos, nuevas ideas, más información sobre el "Youth Pass", cultura Letona, trabajo en equipo, etc. Para mí lo mejor de la formación fueron los formadores, ¡Realmente buenos comunicadores! Así que, he guardado todas sus palabras en mi memoria porque estoy segura de que serán realmente útiles durante mi voluntariado.
 

During five days, we were developing several activities related with our expectatives, challenges, new ideas, more information about the Youth Pass, Latvian culture, team building, etc. For me, the best thing during the training was the trainers, really good communicators! So, I have kept all their words in my memory because I am sure that will be really useful during my volunteering.
 

Personalmente, esta formación ha sido una fuente de inspiración que me ha servido para darme cuenta de que puedo dar mucho más de mi y ser capaz de organizarme para realizar muchas actividades durante mi proyecto, incluso desarrollar actividades que nunca habría pensado hacer. Tengo la suerte de ser voluntaria un proyecto EVS lleno de oportunidades e ideas. ¡Nuevos retos me están esperando! Y para ello cuento con el apoyo de todos los que forman parte de JACis y nuevas personas que voy conociendo.

¡¡Muchos pensamientos positivos en pocos días. Una  experiencia realmente enriquecedora!!

 

Personally, this training has been a great inspiring experience which helped me to realize that I am able to be more active and being able to organize myself to do many things in my project, even to develop activities that I had never thought to make. I am really lucky to be volunteer in an EVS project which is full of opportunities and ideas. New challenges are waiting for me! Moreover, I have the help of JACis's team and other people.
Many positive thoughts in a few days. A truly enriching experience!!

 

Baltic Caravan Tours: Latvia. Youth Organization JASMA (Riga)

El día 17 de Octubre siete voluntarios Letones y una voluntaria Francesa de la Organización juvenil en Riga JASMA visitaron Rēzekne dentro del proyecto "Gira Caravana Báltica: Letonia". El objetivo de este proyecto es visitar colegios y centros juveniles en varias ciudades de Letonia para desarrollar talleres y otras actividades con el propósito de atraer la atención de la gente joven a temas relacionados con la sostenibilidad ambiental. 

Mas información del proyecto: Página web y facebook.

On 17th of October 2013 seven Latvian and one French volunteer from JASMA Youth Organization in Rīga visited Rēzekne as part of the project Baltic Caravan Tours: Latvia. The aim of this project is to visit schools and youth centers in various Latvian cities in order to deliver workshops and other interactive activities with the purpose of attracting the attention of young people to environmental sustainability issues.

More information about the project: Website and facebook.

Jaunatnes Attīstības un Sadarbības Multikulturālā Apvienība

JASMA visitó JACis y los voluntarios organizaron divertidas, activas e interesantes actividades ("Energizer", juegos de improvisación, juego de mesa sobre ecología, información sobre voluntariado, etc). Fue una genial tarde en nuestro centro de juventud :))). Esperamos poder repetir pronto. ¡Pero la próxima vez esperamos poder ir a Riga para visitar a JASMA!!

JACis was visited by JASMA and the volunteers developed funny, active and interesting activities (Energizer, improvisation games, ecology board game, information about volunteering, etc). It was a great afternoon in our Youth Centre :))). I hope we will meet again soon. Next time we will try to travel to Riga to visit to JASMA!!

 

¡Muchas gracias por visitarnos! 

Thanks a lot for visiting us!

Read more! There are more pictures!

I am going on adventure!

It is Sunday evening, 29th of September and I am doing the last preparations before my departure. The first challenge: - To pack myself enough of everything to survive for 12 months away from my home, city, country- CHECK! All in all, more than 50 kg of baggage, I really wonder how I will be able to move it all by myself.

My bus was leaving at midnight , luckily my father offered to drop me at the bus station. Last hugs with my family and off I go towards new adventure- European Voluntary Service in Rezekne, Latvia. I am supposed to travel for almost 2 days with a first stop in Warsaw. I arrived there at around Monday noon. A little bit of confusion in subway but finally I managed to find the coordinates that a friend of mine gave me to drop my luggage so I can go for a walk around the city. It is my first time in capital of Poland and as an avid explorer, everything seems very interesting. My first steps lead me to Tourist Info Center where I was lucky enough to get the last piece of USE-IT Map of Warsaw for young travellers. After going through it I can finally say "Let the Warsaw sightseeing begin!"


Palace of Culture and Science,
most iconic Warsaw landmark.

My friend Julia met with me at the entrance to the old town and took me to her favourite pierogy restaurant. After I invited her for a wonderful apple cake with ice-cream in a tiny caffee in the old town that I found out thanks to USE-IT map.  We had lots of catching up to do. My bus to Vilnius/Riga was leaving at 23:00 so in the meantime she took me to a students bar in the basement of  the library of Warsaw University for a beer. Finally our time was up and I boarded my next coach, destination Vilnius. Thank you for a lovely time in Warsaw, Julia- mom! =.*

Upon arrival to Vilnius I had 1 hour to wait for another bus to take me to Riga. Once on the bus I amde a surprising discovery. The girl sitting next to me turned out to be from Slovakia, so I was happy to speak my mother tongue, probably for the last time this year. She was also on the way to Tallinn, where she was doing her Erasmus exchange. As soon as I got off the bus in Riga, my friend Jekaterina was waiting for me. We went for quick lunch and she made me a brief tour around the downtown Riga before dropping me off at the railway station. There the last part of my travel began. I was truly surprised that latvian trains look even worse than the ones in Slovakia. 

Upon arrival to Riga

Finally at 20:30 on Tuesday 1st of October, after 44:30 hours of travel I arrived to Rezekne!!! Both Jekaterina and Marek were already waithow nice of theming for me at the railway platform, picked me up and took me to my new apartment. There I was greeted by a little surprise party they threw for me, how nice of them it was. Everybody was there- Jekaterina  & Vilja (both workers in JACis) Marek (my new mentor) and Pilar (spanish EVS volunteer).

My camera surprising the surprise committee

Thank you all for such a warm welcoming in Rezekne, I can feel like home right from the beginning, looking forward to dedicate  year of my life to working with you =.)

Left to right: Marek, me, Jekaterina (Katja), Vilja, Pilar