VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 1 1. 1. Plus Secret last page 2. VIP Secrets of volunteers Radio shows at e-volutionradio.com HUGS ONLINE Tuesday at 6 pm STORY TIME Thursday at 2 pm CEI Volunteer
VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 2 Olá Stara Zagora! by Andreia It s been just a few days since I ve landed in Sofia to start this exciting new adventure as an EVS volunteer in Stara Zagora. After a quite long day, since it took me almost 24h between flights, bus and waiting time, finally I reach this sunny town of Bulgaria. Coming from a little village near the coast of Portugal with the amazing 15 degrees and sunny skies of the last months, when I reached Sofia I got a little temperature shock when my bones felt the -3 degrees and the snow outside of the airport. But gladly Stara Zagora is quite warmly which allows me to enjoy the city streets and green parks when the sun is on the horizon. The reception from the CEI team couldn t be better, everyone were really nice and even the two cats in the office were ready to play as soon as we met. While walking around the city I enjoy observing everything, from the people around to the services, shops, and the numerous Cyrillic words and phrases that I m incapable o reading (for now). Observing closely, I can find a different and unique thing almost every day, from the coffee machines outside in the streets or parks, the obituaries on the post lights or in the house gates, the horse carriages transporting people or grass in the gipsy area, the head movement meaning no where I would see a yes, to the ladies selling little knitted socks and gloves on the side off the roads all new experiences that I haven t seen in another country before. But between difference we can always find similarities, and the sympathy of the sellers in the green market, the children in the school or the beautiful sunrise that wake me up on the room window every morning definitely will make me feel like home, on the next months. I m very excited and ready to embrace what s there to come in the project and to explore the cultural and natural wonders of this country..
VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 3 My first impression (of Bulgarian cuisine) By Kinga Upon arriving in the town I had a really peculiar feeling that I ve seen this before. Which was actually right because when I applied for a volunteering project in Stara Zagora I happened to type the city s name into the wondrous wonder-machine that we call Google and I looked at the so called Street view where I could have a virtual walk around the city. That is probably the reason why the sight of Stara Zagora might have been familiar for me. But there are quite a few other things that I ve found to be eerily similar to the city where I live, Pécs. Pécs is the 5th largest city in Hungary with a (not so) staggering population of 145 000 people. Stara Zagora is the 6th largest city in Bulgaria with an (also not so) staggering population of 140 000. Both cities lay at the foot of a mountain, the elevation of both cities is around the same Pécs 177m, Stara Zagora 197m both cities have a university remains from the roman empire and lots of places to eat kebab. But there is one significant difference. You see, I ve been living in Pécs for 17 years now, and I have the habit of walking around in the city without any aim just for the fun of walking. However after all these time getting to know the city I can still easily get lost in the jungle of steep roads twisting and turning around the side of the hills. Here in Stara Zagora, I think I d have to be spinning for 1 hour straight in order to get so confused to get lost. I start to walk from one street and as most of them are very straight I have no problem of getting where I want to be as long as I start walking in the right direction. Which is also easy to decide since if you are going
VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 4 upwards then it is north and if you are going down the hill that is in the direction of the (geographical) South Pole the magnetic poles are always changing so there is no point in trying to orient yourself according to them. One thing that really just put the whole experience I ll try and get over the trauma of trying the Shkembe soup which I m sure of is a really nice soup and the problem is with me. to the creepily strange side is the weather. It might be just a coincidence but the weather at the time of writing the article was the exact same in Pécs as in Stara Zagora of course considering the one hour time zone shift. Of course you should not take anything I ve said literally (except for paragraph 1,2,3,4 and 5) because I like to joke around just to entertain myself. Anyhow, I really like this city and I m looking forward to what kind of amazing experiences might be lurking in the dark and dodgy alleyways or what breathtakingly unique sights may embrace me from shadowed corners. I ll be back with more useless reviews of the city s wonders next time and in the meantime
VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 5 Heaven on Earth by Vika In my previous newsletter articles I wrote about my experiences on the project. I wrote about travelling and how it is to learn Bulgarian language and use it in everyday life, about our volunteering in schools. However, today I want to tell you about one activity that doesn t get that much attention, even though we re engaged in it almost every day. And this activity is scanning books in the library. For many people it might sound strange. Because what can be said about scanning books in the library? It is just that scanning. The activity itself may even sound boring. But not for me I know that not everyone will share my opinion about scanning, but it is alright. After all, everybody is different and has their own preferences. You see, books are my passion. There is countless amount of them I have read in my whole life and I do consider them one of the biggest treasures people ever had. That s why to spend two hours scanning books in the library for me is like Heaven on Earth. However, the books we are scanning are very special. Why? Because they are very old. Not forty, sixty or even eighty, but more than one hundred years old. Sometimes we happen to scan even two hundred years old bo these books to be accessible in electronic version. Here We volunteers come to help in such time-consuming and routine work, but at the same time very relaxing and interesting one. I know that some volunteers even tried to keep up the competition in who scans more pages. As you see scanning can be even fun! I was not one of them but only because I liked to spend some time on studying the book itself. I was always curious to open an old Bulgarian book and figure out whether I can read it or not. The same was with books in Russian language, because modern Russian language is different from the one in which people spoke one hundred years ago. Once I was very excited because I had a chance to scan a book published in Ukrainian city Odessa in a distant 1841. That was the highlight of all my scanning sessions. It is very difficult to express what I feel every time I scan books in the library. Every single book is like the whole new world to me and I try to imagine to whom it belonged before, who read it for the first time, what they thought about it and what this exact book meant for its reader I s never to late to start. oks. Can you just imagine it?! The reason we scan the books is because the library wants
VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 6 Lifelong+learning=Sofia training by Kata means understandable, socially sensitive and helpful. We learned, that what kind of person we That s right it with learning and develop ourselves. Erasmus + arranged for all volunteers in Sofia the purpose of which, that we who living in Bulgaria in different place and we participate different kinds of program we get to know each other. Besides that, for us lectures have been held on topics that have not been discussed so far (insurance) The first day we could meet each other and everybody showed that own program for the other. By the way, I was interested to see that what kind of project run in Sofia. That s why those had two groups Arrival and Midterm, because there was some people who staying here long time ago, but others just arrived. Midturn group helped for trainers they could know what kind of opportunity after EVS, and they summed up what they had done so far. I was in the arrival and we had for schedule day by day, because our trainers prepared for us a lot of activities.i didn t feel anytime, that I am bored. are actually and what is our strength and weakness and those how to improve. Moreover, we talked about conflict management. In my opinion it is very useful for everyone, because if I have a problem with someone it is not solution behavior that just my reply is passive or aggressive. I ve heard about assertive communication before, but still difficult for me how to deal this in a suddenly situation in the practice. On Thursday we had to form mixed groups and task was we should spend afternoon together. We went to Christmas Market and hung around in the city center. That was late afternoon the city quite dark, so I promised myself I am going to Sofia again, because very beautiful city and it is wort visiting many times. The last day we had to prepare a newsletter myself. What will happen in six months time? You will became a friend with other volunteers? You will travel a lot? Or you will be find the love? Next day we wrote personality test and it was also very interesting, because I never heard about kind of personality test wich one person symbolizes one animal (lion-dominant, elephantpunctual, monkey-influential). I am a dolphin Delphin
VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 7 Radio shows- unexpected but great by Leva One sure, you will be able to draw line yourself, because everyone has goal and this practise good, that you be able to keep the focus in your life. Applying to a volunteering project to work with kids I never would have imagined I would be participating in a radio show. On the contrary, if I knew there would be one I would have had a much harder time deciding that I want to participate. Ever since I was in school I always had a problem speaking in public so even a radio would have scared me. However I did not know and in a way I am glad. I got an opportunity to step over my fears. When I was getting ready for the first radio show I was scared, almost terrified actually. However being a part of it made me more open to the idea of speaking in a radio. unexpected facts about my country Lithuania. Apparently we are a lot higher on the list of most gender exual countries than I would have guessed. We also talked about traditions, fashion as well as Christmas and New Year celebrations in our countries comparing and discovering similarities and differences. I learned about some interesting traditions and celebrations that I have never heard about as well as discovered a lot of similarities. Just very recently two new volunteers joined us and are participating in the radio shows. They have some new ideas what to change and how to improve the shows. Therefore I hope to learn even more and have a great time doing so. Having this opportunity I even got a chance to try and host a few radio shows. I might not be very good at it and even after doing it for a while I still feel nervous every time, but I believe it helps me to get somewhat used to talking publicly. On the other hand while talking in the radio I get a chance to share my opinion as well as the knowledge about my country not to mention learn about other countries and discuss certain topics with other volunteers. During the time I have already stayed here we already talked about topics such as world war II as well as social work and gender equality which expanded my knowledge outside the borders of my own country. For example talking about World War II I learned that the war brought some good to the people of Iceland. I also discovered some
VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 8 CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN INITIATIVES HAS OPENED ITS NEW OFFICE AT 106 HRISTO BOTEV STR, FLOOR 2, OFFICE 7. Andreia (28) She has already been to India
VIP SECRETS OF VOLUNTEERS #29 9 Kinga (21) She loves capoeira Kata (25) Are you hungry? Kata cooks for you Vika (24) kid s time. Why not? Leva (21) don t hesitate ask about Anime