Colorful Places, People and Moments

Hi everybody!

This month was a combination of everything. Sometimes we cried, we laughed, we traveled, we learned.

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First, I will tell the worst one then I will continue with good stories. Beginning of the March, we learned Zsuzsi will finish the project. There wasn’t any problem, it was just about her life. To accept this sad new was quite hard for me. We lost one part of our family, but everything was for her. So we decided to have a good time in our last days together. While she was going, we organized a goodbye party for her. It was with tears but anyway we will be a family always. I’ve already missed her. But I am sure we will see each other as soon as possible.

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Now let’s talk about the project. We continued to play board game at primary school. Sometimes we had some misunderstanding, but generally, it was ok. We saw that the students liked and enjoyed it, that was the most important thing for us.

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As every month, we met with participants on Thursdays for the English Club. This club is not good only to practice English but also to share our cultures and differences. Every week I learn new things about this region or Romania.

Except these, we had a different project for this time. We prepared the magazine about EVS, us and our projects. This Sulisokk will be full of the answer for all kind of questions about EVS world. Also, we added interesting interviews in it. You can get inspired by them, don’t forget to read it.

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One of the important events for this month was the Mid Term Evaluation Meeting. We spent three days with eighty other volunteers and trainers from all over Europe. Before the MTE meeting, everybody has questions about how to fill the youth-pass. But we realized what we learned and how we can describe these as eight key competencies. Also, we got information about where can we use the youth-pass after EVS life. We talked, laughed and drank together with the people that share the same EVS fate with us.

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The last and best part is traveling. We visited a lot of places this month. Some of them were new for us, some of them were the same which we visited before. Targu Mures, Sighisoara, Sibiu, and Brasov were the places we visited a few times, and this time we went to show them to our friends.

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Sovata, Lake Sfanta Ana and Marefalva were such beautiful natural places which we saw the first time. Also, after the Midterm Meeting, we went to Peles Castle. So far this castle my favorite castle in Romania. It is incredible with magnificent architecture and decoration.

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And the other incredible place was Salina Turda, which we went with our friends from Slovakia and Poland. It was scary deep and gorgeous with the lights, boots inside the lake,ferris wheel, mini golf, bowling. Surely it is one of the must-visit places in Romania.

Hello dear readers

I am going to tell you about my February vibes. First of all, we started this month with one week holiday because we finished the boardgame earlier than the deadline date. That week was a really good opportunity to create new habits. I decided to start to go to the gym because I need something to do more than our project. I have been here around six months and started to be a little bit homesick.  So I think new habits could help with that too.

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In three weeks, we went three schools, twenty-three classes…It means that our game is working very well, students and teachers like the board game. We like to work with them and we met a lot of new people but also we played the same game twenty-three times and we are bored a little bit. Anyway we proud of ourselves about the board game, we worked a lot on it but worth it.

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In the first week our school was Orban Balazs. We’ve played our game with nine different classes but I definitely can’t forget any of them. They were only fifth graders and I was surprised about their English level. Almost all student understood the game and answer correctly. Also, I can’t forget one student who is half Turkish half Hungarian. He suddenly started to speak in Turkish with me and I was shocked. That will be a nice memory for me.

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The second school was Reformatus Kollegium. In this school students were intelligent too. Besides, we worked with four different teachers and all of them were great and helpful. Actually, we prepared this game for primary school but we tried with high school students too. English teachers offered us to play with high school students, even for them it was interesting.

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The last school of this month was Benedek Elek Pedagogical School. Also, English teachers were great again, they helped us too much. And the students have interested in us and our game. They felt the competition during the game. We gave a grass man to every winner group as a gift. It is connected with our game also it is a funny and good memory for them. At the end of this three weeks I could say that students English level is really good and more then what I expected. Furthermore, they are so lucky because of their teachers.

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In addition to that, we continue the English Club. Every Thursday we are meeting at UFF office and doing our activities. Also, we have new members this month. Our favorite activity is playing Taboo now. We have cozy and enjoyable time with participants.

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Once and for all, I want to write about my trips. We went to some cities near Udvarhely. First, we went Targu Mureş, to feel that big city life feeling with a mall, cinema, and Mcdonalds. Then we had one girly weekend with Merci and Zsuzsi. We started the day in Ciuc with great coffee then we finished our day at Sfantu Gheorge with a tasty dinner. Also, we closed this month with one ice carnival and one birthday (Gökhans birthday) at Septimia.

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My favorite activity is to discover new places. So I am looking forward to spring to see many new cities in Romania. But  I can feel spring is coming soon for our EVS life…

EVS life now

 

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I already spent here 4 months and I have a lot of memories about my EVS life. I want to share them with you in this blog post.

Firstly I want to talk about how is going my project in kindergartens. We almost finished this semester and now I can say that we did a really good job. We went in 3 kindergartens and we tried to teach basic English to kids. It wasn’t easy for this age group but even if just a few children could learn something, it is our proud. We taught them the colors, numbers, vegetables, fruits, animals, weather conditions and so on. Of course, they can’t remember all of them but at least they met English at their very young age. It is a good start for the future. Otherwise, they met people who can’t speak their mother language like us and they contact us somehow. They tried and they really love us.

Next semester we will go to primary schools and we are preparing a board-game for them. After we finish I will write the details in my next blog writing.

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Also in these 2 months we had some trips.

First, we went to Balan “Lonely Stone”. Our friend lives there which we met him on the train when we were coming back from our on-arrival training. It was a little bit difficult hiking but it was fabulous. On the top of the stone we had an amazing view.

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Also, we had some interesting events at UFF. We were the jury for a music competition. We had a press conference and it was the first one for me, we talked about our project and our life. Then when I saw the article on the internet I was proud of myself.

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Another one was an UFF excursion to the Hargita. We were there with a lot of UFF member. It was a really enjoyable time with everyone. November was a really special month for me because of my birthday. Gokhan, Merci, and Zsuzsi made an amazing surprise for me with a present and a cake. Also in Hargita, everybody celebrated my birthday, this was one of the most special birthdays of mine.

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Another important event for me was Christmas because it was also a first for me. We celebrate the new year in Turkey but not Christmas. First, we started with ‘Santa Claus Day’. At age 24, I got my first gift from Santa Claus. Then we visited Christmas markets in a few cities. We had a tree and a Christmas calendar. I felt so lucky because I have housemates who showed me their culture in every way.

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After Christmas, we had the annual UFF meeting and after-party. We took a part in the meeting and talked about our project like every time. After that, there was a great music group performing their musician skills. It was an unforgettable evening for me.

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For New Year’s Eve our friend Damien came from France, it was our first real meeting because we met him on the internet and for 4 years we’ve seen each other just via Skype. We took him from Sibiu airport and spent 1 day there. Then we went Cluj, Sighisoara, Braşov and we came back to our city. We saw the Christmas markets in these cities they were awesome. We watched fireworks in our city with our champagne. Last year almost all my wishes happened and I hope this year it will be great too.

After a really big and relaxing holiday, we are on our work again. We are completing our board game and so far it went very nice. After we finish we will start to play with primary schools. I am looking forward to playing it with them. Moreover, we want to continue meeting for the English club. We need more motivated participants to keep it available for anyone who wants to improve their English speaking skills. So don’t hesitate and join our Facebook page or get some information from UFF.

I started the new year with a superb vibe. I feel at home thanks to my home mates, UFF family, and the lovely locals. For now, that’s all. See you on my next blog writing. I wish you great days.

SO FAR SO GOOD…

Hi everybody,

I want to tell you how my EVS life is going.

Day by day I can feel more comfortable in this city. It is getting be like my home. Sometimes I see someone who I met before on the street and that feeling is really meaningful for me. I can go to eat or shop alone and contact with people, sometimes in English sometimes I try to speak in Hungarian. So, for now, city life is easier than the beginning.

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For my Project, everything is going very well. First I thought it will be hard with kids because of the language. But my Hungarian friends help me with translation and the teachers help us with everything. By these ways, I can work with children easily and it makes me really happy. We trying to teach them English and they are really clever and brilliant. I can feel they obviously like our activities for that reason when I go to kindergartens I feel energetic and happy. I really love my job.

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This month we started an English club every Thursday. We had only 2 meetings. The first one was just about to know each other. I was so excited about that English club because we had the same club in Turkey and it was going well. I wanted to carry here something from there. Language is so important for everybody . Especially for youngsters because we need another language for everything in our life. For school, job, travel…of course, we are learning English in school but it is not enough because we should practice and use the languages, it is the best way to learn another language. This club is a really good opportunity for that. We met the participants they are so nice and the meeting was really friendly. I am sure other weeks it will be more interesting and funny.

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In addition this month I went to some good places in Romania. Firstly we decided to go to Red Lake. When we were going there we stopped at Zetelaki Lake. It was so nice, the lake was like a mirror and I can see the autumn colors everywhere. Then we reached the Red Lake we rented a boat. Before we went there, I saw some photos on the internet but it was much more beautiful than photos. The lake, inside the trees, autumn and ‘kürtőskalács’ was great. I tried kürtőskalács for the first time and it wasn’t a strange taste for me, I liked it.

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End of the month we should have solved our visa problem because we had a short-term visa but we needed to get a long-term one. For that reason, we went to Turkey. Our flight was from Cluj to İstanbul. Before and after our flight to Turkey and from Turkey we got a chance to spend time in this young and colorful city. Maybe Cluj-Napoca is my favorite city for living in Romania. It is so alive in every hour and peaceful. There was a big park in the city and people use that park all days. This is a really good opportunity in big cities. We went to Retro party in Cluj and when we heard one song from Turkish singer Tarkan we were so surprised with Gokhan. If you are living in another country, to hear or see something from your home country makes you proud.

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I spend two weeks in Turkey with my family and my friends.I guess one of the most missing part of Turkey for me is the food. So I did’t hesitate to eat whatever I want in that period. Also I had the opportunity to visit my favourite places. But after that relaxing holiday when I arrive my home in Szekelyudvahely again, I felt that I missed here even in 2 weeks. As I said in the beginning of my writing, this city is becoming my home quickly..

 

Introduction and the first month

 

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Hello everyone;

I am Esra Uz. I am from Turkey. I have been in this city for 1 month as an EVS volunteer.  After this 1 month, I can share my first impression of this city and my project.

When I first stepped into that city, I thought it is a really small city after mine. Then I discovered here and it really exceeds my expectations. The social life is very colorful and people are really friendly. I went to pubs and festival also a wedding here.I had so much fun and I met with nice people.

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After our first 2 days, we went to Varsag for English camp. We met with so many high school students and we spend 4 days together. We had a lot of exercises and games to practice English. We talked with them about our stories, ‘Who are we?’  and ‘Why did we come here?’. They were really interested about us and we became friends with them.

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Then I had on arrival training in Bucuresti. We were about 30 volunteers there who are from different cities in Romania. The trainers presented us details of the EVS program, our rights, and our responsibilities. I had 1 week with other volunteers. That was a great week with games, parties and wonderful people from different countries.

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After I came back to the city we went to Parajd with our colleagues for team building. There was a salt mine and it was very interesting for me. We played in the adventure park and enjoyed the salt pool with our colleagues. That was the first step to becoming a team.

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I had amazing trip in Romania for a week with my friends. We went to Sighisoara, Transfagarasan, Sibiu, Craiova and Brasov. I really liked the architecture in these historical cities. Also when I saw Transfagarasan, I believed that is the best road in the world. That trip was unforgettable for me.

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Thanks to EVS, you can learn the local language of another country. I have 2 different languages courses because I am living in the Hungarian region. For that reason, I have Romanian and Hungarian classes. Hungarian is easier for me. Because I think it’s little bit similar to Turkish. I hope that end of the year I will speak Hungarian fluently.

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My project is taking place in kindergartens and primary schools. This term I am working in kindergartens, I am playing with children and teaching them some basic English. They are really interested in us and they are so cute. Sometimes it is really hard to communicate with them because of language. I hope I will get used to it. Also, some children can speak a little bit English and I was really surprised about that. Other times I am working in the office jobs. This week we will have an English Club with young people. It will be a new project for us. I am looking forward to that meeting.

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For now, everything is going well. As I said these are more than what I expected. I believe it will continue like that.

 

Life is just a bowl of cherries :)