Last saturday I did something I never thought I would do. Not for heavy political or philosophical reasons, but just – it wasn’t necessary. But last saturday, seeing all the police, it was. So I walked in the Gay Parade.
Judith carrying the flag
Colourfull
Police looking like Ninja Turtles
My sending organisation asked me for a small article about my EVS in Romania for their magazine Time Out. This is what I wrote:
Pe bune? Da, eu sunt EVS în Romania
The first question any Romanian askes you when he finds out you are a foreigner: ‘so, do you like Romania?’ immediately followed by an incredible ‘but why?’ when you answer yes. Romanians in general are not that confindent when it comes their own country.
Ladies I just met in the bus assure me that not every Romanian is a gipsy. High school kids admit with some shame that yes, they pay some extra money here and there in order to be helped in a hospital. The Romanian volunteers I work with complain like no other about the killing traffic in Bucharest but get in the car anyway. My coordinator advised me the very first day never to ask why – ‘because this Romania. Things just happen here. Or don’t’.
But of course I ask a lot of why’s. I want to learn more about this country I like and have been living in for four months now. True, Romania has a lot of serious issues they have to deal with. But they have also so many wonderful things that deserve to be known. The wonderful mountains for example where even in a short hike, you meet shepherds with their sheep on the way to the meadows. The hospitality of the people and the easiness with which you get invited in. The market where you can find everything you possibly could need and where picking the best banana is a form of art.
My EVS is of course not only about wandering off in the country, but also about working. My sending organisation is not that organised, but for me that is a bit of a bonus: this way I have to opportunity to stray a bit and help out at other projects too. Every week, I learn new stuff. When I left Holland I would have never thought that I would facilitating theatre clubs, that I would organize workshops, that I learned how to do a street animation, that I would camp and climb in the mountains.
At the moment my EVS is halfway. But I am already making plans to come back to Romania when my EVS is finished – I have some more why’s I want to see answered!
A sunny saturday afternoon in the park round the corner. One game, seven men – who says that playing chess isn’t a teamsport!
Park
Friends
Backgammon
Last weekend I spent in Iasi. 7 hours of train to get there, 7 hours of train to get back. But it was worth it!
The train cuts through Romania – I couldn’t stop looking outside. There are shepherds with their sheep and dog in the fields. There are farmers travelling with horse and carriage. There are deserted factories – completely stripped and left to be. There is laundry everywhere. Even in places where you are seriously wondering how and where the people live. There are houses which seem to exist from all materials that where leftover: random pipes connected with homemade roofs, strings, wooden planks and plastic.
Iasi itzelf is a pretty city, although it seems that – like the rest of Romania – it is permantly under construction.
We met with the IMPACT leaders on saturday. The meeting was in Romanian, and although I don’t understand that much Romanian, you could tell everybody was happy to be there. Projects were presented with pride, gifts made in the IMPACT clubs where passed around with joy. There was even one club brave enough to play a puppet show for us!
They were also happy see me. When asked who wanted an EVS volunteer, everybody wanted one in their clubs. So hopefully some of the next batch of EVS coming to FNO will go to Iasi. I think that they will have the time of their lives in Moldova!
Puppet show
Homemode hand puppet
Martisoara made in the IMPACT clubs
Origami made in IMPACT
Gift from the IMPACT club
10 things to have in mind when choosing to be an EVS
I don´t really remember what was going on my mind when I choose to come… I didn´t had much time to thing, but the right choice is to come 😉
1. Open you mind, prepare your mind to going to different cultures and living situations that you aren´t used, get ready;
2. Enjoy the differences, don´t think that you are the best, respect others, don´t try to change other’s cultures, in Rome, be roman… and if you meet a tradition you think you can´t support, then do not participate;
3. Search for information about the country, project and host organization, don´t search to much, you need space for surprises;
4. It´s an opportunity to learn a lot about many things, don´t forget to teach something too;
5. Sometimes it is difficult to live with your own family… Remember that you will live with very different people, both in mindsets, culture, way of living… Be prepared;
6. Not everything is good, you will be too far from home, difficulties will come, try to predict and imagine several ways to solve them;
7. Think the most important things you have to solve, while you be out of home and find someone to represent you or replace in your responsibilities (school, pets, plants, work, documents, services…);
8. Do you know yourself? Get ready to change;
9. Find out how to keep in touch with friends and family;
10. If you miss home, what will you do…?
10 things to keep in mind when starting an EVS…. I am stirring the question in my mind now for a couple of days and to be honest: it is a bloody difficult one. But let me try anyway. Here is, in random order, Jantine’s Great Advice Top Ten:
First, it is true what everybody says: you can buy whatever you need on location. So, especially for the ladies among us, don’t get your knickers in a twist because you don’t know what to pack and want to pack everything…. So please don’t stuff your suitcase with soap and tissues, but only take things that really matter to you.
Second, be open minded. It is not like home. If is it was, why would you go to another country in the first place?
Third, introduce mass mails or keep a blog. The home front wants to know everything: what kind of work you do, what you can buy in the supermarket, with whom you share the appartement… Keep everybody happy and save yourself some stress.
Fourth, phone home.
Fifth, go with the flow. You are in another country, you are with other people… It might not be like you are used to, but at least try. It is my experience that the greatest fun comes most unexpected.
Sixth, do some research before you leave. Read a book, google, try to meet up with a native for a chat. It can help to put some of the unusual things you will come across in perspective when you arrive.
Seventh, pay attention to where you are going! Figure out the subway system, make sure you know which bus to take home, always carry your address on you. Mastering the city doesn’t only make you feel more at home, but it is always useful to know how to get to your bed in the evening…
Eighth, take a small dictionary with you. From looking up words you actually need, you learn the most.
Ninth, be prepared to get to know yourself. New situations require a new you – you most certainly will discover some traits of your personality you never knew you had. And although new you’s can be sometimes scary, it is good to know that everybody meets a new you on an EVS.
Tenth, make sure that you know how to say ‘f#@k off’ in the native language. Always useful.
IMPACT Poster
This week we visited a high school in Bucharest to give a presentation about the IMPACT programme. An auditorium full of students listend attentively to our talk, and more than 40 signed up! So, now we have to decide on the date of the first IMPACT club meeting and then see how many of them are joining… I look forward to it!
The sun is shining, the sky is a radiant blue: spring is definitely in the air!
Bucharest
Bucharest
Each month I get 600 lei to live from. I pay the groceries, the drinks in the club, the pastries on the street from this money. Every leu I spend, has to be accounted for in the form of a receipt, amounting at the end of the month to 600 lei. This receipt has to be stamped to be valid, and thus I introduce the dreaded concept of the bon cu stampila. Because not everywhere you get a receipt, let alone that the lady who sells vegetables on the market has a stamp nearby. So basically, you spend more than that you can get receipts.
That is why we go ‘hunting’ – with each trip to the supermarket, we secretly search the trash for receipts we can get stamped. The outcomes are newsworthy: big finds (50 lei! 60 lei!) are celebrated, the small ones are shared. The supermarket nearby already knows us and has the stamp next to the cash desk.
Last week I completed my first conversation in Romanian. Granted, I only ordered a cup of tea and the lady asked which flavour I would like – it was not like we were discussing the world wide economical crisis or how to apply Nietzsche into daily life. But still: I feel proud. I completed a whole transaction in Romanian. On the streets, I come to understand more and more bits and pieces of conversations. I pick up some useful phrases here and there. I even feel comfortable in the metro while the lady announces the next station. I don’t have to check the map or count the number of stops – in a way, it already feels like I am home a bit.
EVS in New Horizons Foundation Romania 