EVS Express

I organized a workshop about making the pinhole camera from an ordinary matchbox during the "ecological week" in the Aurel Vlaicu secondary school.

There was a moment when we met children to explain volunteering in general. We started from brainstorming the ideas. What a great surprise it was when the kids told us almost everything we wanted to say!

On Friday, 19th of February in Liceul Teoretic "Adam Müller Guttenbrunn" (also known as German high school) took place a handmade festival, where we organized also our own workshop with recycable materials. Recycling room appeared to be surprisingly popular and though spray paint and glitter glue isn't really typical example of recyclable, were most of materials paper products or collected freshly from Arad's nature. Sun was shining since morning and it was nearly 15 degrees outside, and kids had enough patience to mess with handicraft for hours inside, so I think they liked it.

This is newsletter of January of Triin, Mariangela, Sabine, Michele and Nicola. It's the first one and therefore consists of introducing ourselves, our previous thoughts and first impressions in Romania (and visibility elements). Next one will be published in the end of February with probably even more interesting articles. The January's one got printed in many copies, but if you manage to find us somehow to ask for a newsletter we still might not have an extra copy for you. If you're interested in reading newsletter on real paper, I can send you a pdf file and you can print it by yourself.

Since January I work in Arad community. New home, new flatmates and partners, new daily life.Here U can see a part of our working days...how we participate in rumanian lesson, fill home exercises, made mailbox, prepare informations for newsletter,some free time.

At school we making decorations for Christmas Muzic Event, also preparing theatre and sing the songs.

I love balconies.

Before coming to Arad to be a volunteer I spent one month in Barcelona, and all this time I slept outside in a huge balcony. More room, more air, rained really rarely.

In Arad, there is a balcony in our appartment, too. It´s OK, from inside at least. But there are so many interesting and beautiful balconies around Arad, everyone different, everyone with character. Some are very old and broken, but still one can see the fading beauty behind the cracks...like an old lady...who has a lot of wrinkles but is still possible to imagine how pretty she once was.

Some are modern, still with ornaments but more simple. Probably belonging to an appartment where lives a young couple, high salaries, no children.  

So I decided to collect the balconies. Well, not physically, with my photocamera. Some of them end up in an exhibition of Arad´s urban estetics.

This is a short overview about our first day at Kathy center - a day center for people with less opportunities, poor people, homeless people and so on. First day we spent mostly with kids, trying to understand what kind of people go there. We were also singing together, some songs in English, some in Romanian. Guitar was a total hit. But because of that I learned 2 important things in Romaneste: ai grija, incet (be careful, slowly/quietly). We also helped with some cleaning and organising the boxes.

Pictures from first week, when we arrived in Santana, met our local facilitator Cristina, and went to most important places in town.