Video project

Hey noOR-volunteers,

some information about the video project:

What?:	We decided to make a video about OUR EVS! This project is not just for Noémie, Nano and me. So please let us know who wanna join us until the 30th of November!!!
How?:	We wanna do a movie about our EVS life. For us is clear that it cannot be a real profession movie but we wanna try our best ;). That means each participant has to shot parts of her/his EVS time. This can be special moments or the usual life in Estonia (work and free time). In the end we will bring all shots in a nice and interesting way together. Everybody is free in doing her/his shots. It can be with or without explanations. Most of us have an own camera which should be use for that.
Why?:	-          for fun -          to do something together -          to have a memory on our EVS time -          for newcomers
For whom?:	participants: noOR volunteers audience: everybody (that means for old and new volunteers; for sending, hosting and co-organisations; for families, friends, people who are just interested in and ofc for ourselves)
When?:	-          Start: December 2011 -          first meeting with all participants between 1. - 4. December 2011 in Tallinn -          shooting from December 2011 until February 2012 -          cutting and editing March 2012 -          Final: end of March 2012

So guys, don´t forget to contact us!!!

Have a great time!

Denise

performance project

Hi guys!
Hope you are all doing well!

So, in name of the performance group, We want to share with you what we discuss about this new project.

We want to start very soon to create a performance for which we still don't have a theme. Our idea is to get to know who wants to participate and find a date to have a big meeting - brainstorm - workshop. This means in this date we will be together for some hours sharing theatre exercises to get to now each other and to find the lines of our performance. The proccess will be probably that we arrive, we do maybe some ice-breaker games just to warm-up; after we brain-storm about a theme and we decide this; and then we start improvisating all together about this theme. At the end, hopefully we will have a lot of material to start working at.
For this first meeting everybody should participate the same way, everybody share ideas and exercises from his/her own country and experiences, and everybody improvise in a relaxed way. For the meetings after this one, we will have already different roles, some will act, some will find clothes, some will produce and find the places where to present our performance, etc.. So, we need to know what exacly each one of you would like to do, which kind of contribution.
The only thing we know already more concrete is that we would like to make a performance for adults as most of us are used to work with children and we would like to do something different and in this way more challenging.
Let us know your opinions, suggestions, wishes and disponibility for the first meeting!:) Keep in mind that it would be great to have the first meeting in this 30 days counting from today on. So, first meeting before christmas!!
Other thing, please speak with the volunteers you know from other organisations and put here in the blog the names and contacts of who wants to participate, as soon as possible!

Greatings,
Coordenators of performance group - Salomé, Helena and Inês

local project: competition in youth centres

okay, I will do the beginning, as I will forget it when I don't post it right now into the blog ;)

what? fotography or video competition about a specific theme

how? youngsters in youth centres can do it on there own or better in small groups and send it in, we will have to promote it in the youth centres we work in, but also inform other youth centres where no volunteer works. At the end we want to have a event, where we have an exhibition of the works, give prizes to the winners and have a little party together

for whom? youngsters who come to youth centres

why? to connect the youth centres, have some fun and a reason to do something else in the youth centre, motivate youngsters to use their creativity

when? 2012?


have a nice week, kathrin

Germany meets Estonia by Lena

Thinking in german, speaking in english & estonian surrounds you I am sitting here at the “office” of the Youth Centre of Keila. Kristi is sitting on her chair and does some work at the PC. Triin just left the room for a moment. She had the great idea and a task for me: to write something about my first impressions and about the Youth Centre. 

So, I decided to begin right now with “my story”:

It is cloudy outside. But there is no big difference between the actual weather here in Estonia and in Germany. When I arrived in Tallinn 10 days ago the sun was shining the whole day and the people were smiling everywhere you went. It seems like they just enjoyed the last sunny days before the winter would come quickly and would stay for some long months. I came into a flat, where some other volunteers were waiting... waiting on something... no one of us exactly knew, on what he or she was waiting. But the girls that were in the flat could already settle in the rooms, in which they are going to stay the whole months. In contrast I did not really know what to do. It was not my flat; I just...

 

...to be continued HERE!

what's up?

1. Sitting at my desk in my colourful flat :)
2. Waiting that I will be picked up by my neighbours to make a little trip to their house in the countryside!
3. It's really colourful, and it's my little place, I can look out of the window, see the blue sky and watching the children playing on the playground, loughing and just enjoying life :D
4. It's very cold inside here as the heating isn't working yet :(
 that's why I want to go outside into the sun!!
5. when I was in sauna with estonian youth workers on a trip in southern estonia, they asked me how we call it in german when you throw the water on the hot stones, but I could't answer this question as I go never to sauna. The next question was: " How do you wash in Germany?"

Alive in Tallinn...

Hello dear ladies and gentlemen, my fellow volunteers, honorable mentors, tutors and coordinators,

My name is Thomas Pinakas and I come originally from the city of Thessaloniki, region of Makedonia in Northern Greece. I reside in Tallinn in the legendary neighborhood of Mustamäe, a neighborhood which according to rumours has produced heroes, great politicians and famous artists.

I am currently working as a volunteer at Käo Päevakeskus in Tallinn, a centre for young adults and children with people with mental disabilities. The phasma of the main activities of the centre consists of Vocational education, Day care service, Social rehabilitation service, Counselling, Short term care.

I am really excited to be in Estonia since it is a country with an unparallel beauty, history and culture. Moreover, the organization I am working for gives me an additional motivation due to its harmonical and modern way of function.Until now almost all function with harmony and creativity and I am sure that in the same way we will continue...

I hope that great moments are coming for all of us and I am ready and eager to taste the real essence of these moments...so my fellow comrades enjoy every moment with passion, emotions but also logic.

For more information about me, my past, my present, my future or my experiences, please feel free to find me in my office, my appartment or during the parties!

What's up?

1. I am sitting at the "Office" of the Youth Centre with other Youth Workers. I just finished the first part of the “story” I wanted to write about the first impressions…

2. I am often downstairs, where the youngsters and the children are hanging around, play Ping Pong or Billiard…, but they will come a little bit later. That's why I am still upstairs. 


3. I like being here, because I get to know the youth workers. I get to know the work here in the youth centre. Sometimes I also like just to watch at the people here, and getting to know the “way of life and the way of thinking”. General in Estonia: The landscape, the language (even if it is difficult), I experience much new things

4. I don’t like, that the people sometimes only speak in Estonian, so I don’t understand so much, and I cannot follow the conversations (but it is also good, because I HAVE TO LEARN), I don’t like the travelling to Tallinn every Tuesday and Thursday for the language course, the times of the trains do not fit with the times with the course, I am more travelling then being in language class, Furthermore I don’t like just sitting around and just have a look at the people, but I think, this is a very important part of “settling in” in and getting to know the new surrounding here, so it is necessary as well. J

5. It was funny for me, when I just sat here, and the children were running and screaming around (very crazy) and I asked: What are the saying or doing? “They are playing school!” 

kai's: what's-up and where

1 where exactly am i, when i answer this question?
at noOR's office, listening the echo of my keypad, as there room is still very much empty:)

2 why am i here?
am preparing my work for october, cause i want to visit all our volunteers at their workplace then!

3 what do i like about being here?
that i can discuss things with myself out loud without getting weird looks from people, also it is warm here, i have radiator right next to my seat!! very important!

4 what do i don't like about being here?
am a bit afraid that everytime i go to bathroom, i lock myself out of the office and will have to go and ask a key from the scary owner...true! :)

5 what was the last thing that really made ma laugh?
it's the photo cruising around FB:)

6.....i love music and my latest discovery or smthing that haunted me afterwords was this:

lana del rey - blue jeans

that's my whereabouts!

what about yours?

what's-up-and-where-and...

hi all,
it has been a month for our EVS newbies, so i think it's a good time to gather your first impressions. here's a list of questions that are waiting to be answered and the last one, the 6th question is for you to come up.

let us know how' you doin' all over Estonia?

1 where exactly am i, when i answer this question?
2 why am i here?
3 what do i like about being here?
4 what do i don't like about being here?
5 what was the last thing that really made ma laugh?
6 ....

can't wait to read you lines! ps if you can make photos of your place then, please,  add some photos!

cheers,
kai

EVS invasion coming soon!!

Tere all!

It was lovely reading your posts and I can't wait to meet you all!

I am Diana, a 21-year-old Romanian who can't wait to escape the insanely hot Romanian summer in order to freeze in Estonia together with you all wonderful people! :D

Right now I live in Bucharest, where I've studied History and worked for the last three years, but my feet are aching to go somewhere far away. In Tallinn I will work with young people with disabilities, which is what I would like to do in the future, so I'm really enthusiastic about the project and I hope to learn loads from it.

I think we're all in for a wonderful and life-changing experience - and everything I've read about Estonia so far confirms it: that Tallinn is cultural capital this year, that Estonian grammar has 14 cases :)) and that winter looks like Santa Claus's land over there!

Really looking forward to be there and to start a meaningful year working as a volunteer, taking in and sharing as much culture as possible!

See you very very soon!
Diana

Hi! :)

Hi!

My name is Kamila, but my friends call me Lemur ;)  I’m  25 years old and I’m from Poland. I live in Kraków – it’s one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in Poland.

I’ve just finished my studies, so I decided that this is a good time for a change and trying something new.  I’ve never been in Estonia, so just like you – I’m very excited.

Of course I’m a little bit scared (ok, maybe not just a little; ) ) but I hope it’ll be ok and I’ll improve my English… and learn Estonian. 

During my study, I worked with mentally and physically disabled people – both with children, youth and adults. Sometimes it was really hard, but it gave me a lot of satisfaction. I’m particularly interested in art therapy and outsider art.

What else? I like sailing and tacking. I love traveling, meeting new people and getting to know the other cultures.

 I’m glad that I come to  Tallinn and I hope we will spend great time together. See you soon!

p.s. Noemie, cinema-club sounds great!

Best wishes!

K.

Do dare to Live Curious!

Instead of National Geographic logo, imagine your EVS logo ;)

if you are, you breath
if you breath, you talk
if you talk, you ask
if you ask, you think
if you think, you search
if you search, you experience
if you experience, you understand
if you understand, you know
and if you want to know more…
you are alive!

Hello!!

Hello!

My name is Aroa, I’m 23 years old and I’m come from a little village in the east of Spain.

I’m teacher for kids and I love them. For this reason, the last year I was in London like an au-pair in a Spanish family, so my English is basic.

I’m happily with this experience, so I want more! And for this I decided to do an EVS.

But… Why Estonia? Because here there is a great project with children and I think this is a unknown country for me and I really want to know it and its customs.

Other causes why I decided to do an EVS is because I love helping kids and I love travelling, so I want to know all this area and the neighboring countries.

See you in 9 days!!

Have a nice time!!

xxx

hello everybody!

My name is Kathrin and I come from a very little village of about 100 inhabitants in the south of Germany. This summer I finished school and now I am looking forward to come to Estonia, to meet you and discover the country and culture together:)

I will stay in Haljala, a village 80 km east of Tallinn. There I will work with the the children and youth of the community in the youth center and other institutions like kindergarten. Though I don't know exactly what is expecting me there, I am really excited and motivated as I like working together with other young people and children. I enjoy playing group or table games, doing handicrafts or simply cooking or baking together. Here in Germany I lead a youth group where we had activities like that and little excursions to the swimming pool or cities in the surroundings.

But I have much more interests, I really like swimming, if anywhere is a swimming pool, little lake or stream or the sea, I am in :) In my freetime I love doing creative and practical things like sewing, painting, handicrafts,... I also do a little bit music, I play the flute and I enjoy listening to music, but don't ask me which music as I mostly can't remember.

I am looking forward to see you soon and getting to know your storis.

lots of greetings from Germany, Kathrin

14 days left :-)

Hey everybody!! :-)

My name is Lena-Marie, I'm from germany and I'm 19 years old.

I live in Iserlohn (about 100.000 inhabitants). I'm doing the EVS because I didn't really know, what I want to do after the school. Studying? Yes! But what???  But I was sure, firstly I want to do something new, to get to know a new culture, new people, to be social active and to develop myself.
Actually I have a lot of interests. For example playing the piano and violin, singing, playing at a theatre group and be active with children and much more. And after informing about the different project, I suddenly knew, that EVS is what I really want to do!!

Well, I will be staying in Keila at the local youth centre. Keila is a little sweet town (I think so), 25 km away from Tallinn. I am very happy about the project, becuse it fits perfectly with my hobbies, like singing, playing instruments, cooking, spending time with children and youngsters.

Here in germany, I worked as a "language-scout". My task were integrating children with migrationbackground into the german language and culture. It made al lot of fun to me!!! I cannot exactly imagine what I will be doing at the youth centre, but I really hope that I have the chance to convey a little bit of the german culture and language to the children and youngsters in Estonia.

I am happy that we will meet after arriving in Estonia. That calms me a little bit down, because I know that I'm not alone with the new surrounding. I'm sure that we will have a great time and I hope that maybe we can discover Estonia together?! :-)
And furthermore I cannot wait to hear something about you and your projects.

The best greetings from sunny germany!! ;-)

Lena

Looking forward to meeting you

Ma name is Noemie, I am from France and I am 25 years old. And as lot of french people, my english is bad, but i am realy motivated to improve it (my estonian too !). Right now, i am the only volunteer in Tallinn, and i am waiting for you with impatience. I am volunteer in Kinobuss. This august we will trip in all estonia to make a film. The principle is every body are participating.
I will be very glad to creat with you a cinema-club, we could discover estonian cinema, if you are interrested. Cinema estonian is known for his documentaries and animated film. 
Kinobuss and i plan to organise animated-film-workshop with children in september. 

That is amazing here, in Estonia, the sunset is so late in summer.

Have a nive summer in your country. See you soon.

Noemie

Welcome to Estonia!

Hey everybody,

my name is Denise. I am 29 years old and I am from Germany. My volunteer service already started in April 2011 and I will stay for one year in this beautiful Estonia. So I had the pleasure to met the “old” volunteers and I will get to know you – the “new” volunteers :). My working place is the Youth Centre in Maidla. I hope you will see it one time! I love to do this work with the children and youngster. We have a lot of activities for example: handicraft work, dancing, singing, knitting, cooking, drawing, playing games and have a lot of fun. Beside that I give german and  sport lessons one time per week. We also arrange a lot of events. So we had a big youth exchange with more than 40 youngsters from four countries for a whole week in our small village. By the way it was the best youth exchange ever ;).

 

The life as an EVS volunteer was a complete change for myself and I am enjoying every day :). For me means EVS: travel a lot, to get to know new interesting people, new friends, other countries, different cultures, to learn a new language: Estonian!, to improve my English knowledge, adventure, new challenges, to develop myself, to broaden my horizon, to be initiative, to make new experience, to have meetings and a lot of fun!!!

Certainly I am missing my family and friends but the positive facts are predominant. And I know that I have just this one chance and I am learning so much and nobody can take this!! 

I wish you all the best for your volunteer time and I hope we will meet us soon. We are waiting for you! Take care!

Denise :)

Tere! I'm Inês!

Tere everyone!

I'm Inês, a portuguese volunteer in Maidla, a small village in Estonia. I will work for 9 months with youngsters in the Maidla's Youth Centre and I'm very excited about it. In Portugal I'm used to work with children as an animator but this will be diferent because, for start, the communication will be sometimes dificult - some kids can speak english, some don't, and I will try to take advantage of that, by learning estonian and improving my english also with their help. I'm glad I have a whole new culture to know and many new places to see, many new experiencies to enjoy. The cultural exchange is what interests me most of all in this evs experience.
I'm also an actress in Portugal and I did some children musicals and some other small plays. It is important for me to connect theatre and my job as an actress with some social work. That's why I usually work as a children animator and that's also why I worked in a Hospital, in a therapeutic theatre group with people who have mental illnesses for one year before I came to Estonia.
It is my first time out of Portugal alone so of course I'm a little bit afraid and I miss my family and friends, but I think in this situation we have to look at this experience like an unforgetable moment in our lifes that is almost for us, where we can learn things about ourselves and the world that we maybe wouldn't learn any other way.
I can say I am a friendly and kind person who is asking for new challenges and experiences! I hope we can all be together many times, travel together, go to some parties...who knows! Lets see what Estonia and we can bring to eachother ;)

Hello to everyone

I'm Geghetsik (Nano) Adamyan from Armenia. I'm 25. I live in Yerevan, is the capital of Armenia. Yerevan is a modern, colorful and hospitable city. I hope you have heard about Armenia. I live with my parents and my brothers.
I’m very happy that soon I'll be there, with you …
It's my first visit to Estonia, and I'm sure that all will turn out just perfect :)))
The first steps to be introducing myself, I can say that I'm a sincere, trustworthy, and friendly person, with great sense of responsibility, and I think it's very important in my future work. As I participate in different social projects, I communicate with people of different character which makes me more flexible and easy-going. I am always ready to help the people who need my help.
I started as a volunteer with different NGOs such as “National Union of Book Publishers” and “Women’s Rights Centre”, as a volunteer, who helping women who had problems, violence in family.
Nearly every summer for three months I was a volunteer in children’s sanatorium, we were organizing different games, were playing together with children, helping children in making choice for attending different clubs in sanatorium, like dancing club or reading club or singing one and etc.
I like very much the work with children. That love came to me when I became an aunt for the first time. I help my nephews to prepare their lessons with great pleasure; I play games with them and become a child while playing. They amuse me with their naive and limitless questions and I try to give satisfying answers. We don't realize that we learn many things from them without noticing it. We learn to love unselfishly, to rejoice completely and be happy with little things.
I’m so happy that I have this chance. I'm happy that I’ll meet with other volunteers, and I hope we will be friends. I'm sure I will spend wonderful time in Estonia
I'm looking forward to be there :)
If you would like more information about myself, I would happy to provide them :)
Thanks
See you soon :)
Geghetsik (Nano) Adamyan from Armenia

Welcome form Kai

I am Kai, EVS coordinator at Estonian Special Youth Work Organisation noOR and you will be seeing me around many times during your EVS experience. I have been in noOR for 3 years, started as a volunteer and now working full time. I have my own EVS experience behind me, in 2009 I spent 6 months in Republic of South Africa in one of Cape Town's black townships's called Langa. I worked at Siyaphambili Orphan Village that provided care and support to kids who are affected by HIV/Aids. It was an experience I would not change for anything and am now here to make everything that I can for you guys to have a wonderful year as well!

This blog Power of Seeds will be virtual record of your existence here in Estonia, so make most of it and use it to share information with each other, leave messages to us or just abuse it for random jibberish as we all have those moments when there is something bothering our mind, quite not sure what it is and wish that somebody could help us to make sens of it:)...in other words, feel free to be free!

Enough for me, space is yours!

See you all soon!!
Kai

2011/2012

Sooner then soon another cycle of volunteers are coming through European Voluntary Service program to spread their good will, original insights and fresh ideas. 

Estonian Special Youth Work Organisation is READY, 

Bring It On :)