Moi!

Name: Markus
Age: 23

Why i'm going to Slvoenia?
To see new places and to meet new people.

What are you expecting for your time in foreign country?
Interesting experiences and good times

Is there something you find exiting?
Slovenias beautiful nature.

What are your hobbies? What kind of stuff are you interested in?
I play guitar and videogames and every now and then I workout. I'm interested in music and the mighty endless universe. 

What is the most important thing you're gonna stow with you?
Headphones.

What would you like to tell about your homeland to people you'll meet in your destination?
It's a gold and a dark place where you have to fight polarbears and eat mämmi.
No really, Finland is a beautiful country full of lakes, forests, flat buildings and great people!

What you wish for your future? What is your dream?
I'd like to travel and see the world.

Finland

Harri

Age: 25

Why I'm going to Slovenia? I'm going to Slovenia so I could see a new culture I could get new experiences and I could learning something new and be to use the English language.


What are you expecting for your time in foreign country? Meet new people seeing new places and learn to work with children and young people.


Is there something you find exiting? I belive that everything is going to be a bit exciting because everything is little new.

What are your hobbies? What kind of stuff are you interested in? Going to gym and jogging and also i like watch movies.

What is the most important thing you're going to stow with you? Mobile phone positive and open mindset and of course clothes :)


What would you like to tell about your homeland to people you'll meet in destination?  Finland is safe country to live in. We celebrated in mid-summer celebration named juhannus when the sun does not set.


What you wish for your future? I would like to get a job or go to school.



What is your dream? Sometimes buy own house to start a family and get a good job.

Hello

Sanna

Age: 22

Why I'm going to Slovenia?
I want to get new experiences and new friends.
What are you expecting for your time in foreign country?
I want to practise my english and to learn something about a new culture.
Is there something that you find exciting?
New culture and new people.
What are your hobbies? What kind of stuff are you interested in?
My hobbies are cycling and walking and I'm interested in to listen to music and to make handicrafts.
What is the most important thing you're going to stow with you?
Happy mindset and my phone.
What would you like to tell about your homeland to people you'll meet in your destination?
We have a beautiful nature here.
What you wish for your future? What is your dream?
I wish that I would get to some school.

Christmas regards and update what's happening in year 2017

Hi!

Before Christmas break some update :)

Linnea ended her period here in Ohjaamo Lahti last week. Thank you Linnea for the work that you did here! Everything went well from our point of view and we hope that you enjoyed your time here. Hopefully we will hear from you later on.

Before we all calm down for the holidays, we have been busy making the preparations for the period when Sanna, Markus and Harri are leaving to Slovenia for two months in the beginning of January. You can read their presentations blog posts soon!

Us coordinators have been doing interviews for the last period when our youngters from Finland are heading to Slovenia. So next year you will hear who are those two volunteers who are going to Slovenia in the beginning of March. 

Later on in the spring we are having our last volunteers in this project from Ireland to here in Lahti, Finland. Can't wait!

And also, Anna has done a great job as being the head blogger. From beginning of next year, I will start doing the blog job. Thank you Anna for the awesome ground work that you have done, it's easy for me to continue :)

Here we go again!-team wishes you all a Merry Christmas and all the best for the year 2017! Luckily the project isn't over yet :) Stay tuned for the awesome EVS-experiences which are coming next year!

Terhi, Coordinator

My "first" Finnish week

Moi!

As I mentioned in the last blog post I traveled to my relatives in the northern Finland and Sweden. It was a wonderful trip and I am so happy that I had the opportunity to go and visit my relatives :) Nine hours in the bus was very long but so worth it!




On Wednesday it was time to work again, so I continued with the PowerPoints and soon I will be done with them as well, hopefully on Monday because I don't have much time left.
I'll go back home next week's Friday, so exactly one week. About going home I have some mixed emotions, on the one hand I miss my friends and family and I wanna see them again and my own home and city but on the other hand I feel like my time here has gone by really fast and I would like one or two more weeks.

Thursday I was at Martat, a cooking class with other youngsters from different workshops. the day before I was a bit nervous about going there because the class was in Finnish but I worried over nothing. The youngsters were really nice as well as the instructor Niina who even knew some Swedish but the main language was still Finnish :) First Niina gave us an introduction about Martat and about saving money and after that we started making the food and dessert. We were divided into smaller groups, some were two and two others were alone. It was fun and I'm glad that I went :)
 After that I went to my Finnish lesson and we went through some new stuff. Later I went for a coffee with my new friend, who is also taking the same Finnish lesson :)




Today Friday I have started writing in my Youthpass about my learning experiences, it can be a bit difficult to put words into it but I'm sure it will work out in the end :)


- Linnea

Sightseeing and my first hockey match

Hello!

This week has gone by really fast.. Last weekend I was visiting a friend in Helsinki, we saw and went to different tourist attractions. And just walked around and discovered the city :)

It is a beautiful city and I would like to go back there at summer time  :)

On Tuesday I went to my first hockey game with Lauri, his friend and his son. Pelicans (Lahti) vs. Kärpät  (Oulu). It was a fun new experience and it's not the same as watching it on Tv. Pelicans scored the first goal and after a while the score was 1-1, Kärpät won when they scored another goal during the extension period, Pelicans 1-2 Kärpät.

Thursday morning me and Susanna visited a Swedish school here in Lahti. The principal informed us/ me about the school and its history and after that she gave us a tour arond the building and introduced me to the pupils. It was a nice school:) And later that day we went to visit a 4H farm. Two of Susanna's clients are being there so I got the opportunity to come with and see some of the activities.

Today around lunch time I'm taking the bus to the northern Finland and Sweden where I'll be staying during this long weekend and visiting my relatives :) I'm really looking forward to seeing them :D but I'll have a looong busride ahead of me.. almost 8,5 hours.. I'm coming back to Lahti on the independence day 6.12

-Linnea

My first week and a half in Lahti

Hello, I have been here in Lahti for about one and a half week and it has gone really fast :) I really like to be here, everybody are so kind and nice :)
I arrived November 15th and my mentors Lauri and Vesa picked us up from the bus station. Then we went to the apartment to sign some papers and do talk and to get some information.

The second day contained more information, basically the first few days was informative. That day we walked around in the market square and then we made a quick visit at Ohjaamo, the place where I'll be work during my stay here in Finland.

Later that day me and Lasse, the Swedish coordinator,
 went for a walk to Sibelius Hall

This is Sibelius Hall from the inside

Thursday 17.11: first day at Ohjaamo. More information about what Ohjaamo is and what my work coaches, Riina and Susanna do. Then tour in Ohjaamo. At the office there is a turtle called Orbi :)
I don't have a picture of Orbi right now but i will take one and put it in the blog.

Friday Riina and I went to Multi-Culti to meet my finnish teachers, then to Tiimari to buy material for the window decorations for the FIS Nordic World Championships in feb/march 2017.


On Saturday me and Irene went to the market square to see Santa arrive in a helicopter. It was many families with kids there ofcourse.
Then after that we went for a Coffee and it was a nice day :)


Sunday I went with Susanna and her son to one of her sons schoolfair. We went through everything  then we watched a play, Snow white, played by 5th graders i think ,in  finnish ofcourse. It was nice to hear finnish and i understood pretty much everything :) then we went to one of the Cafes. It was really nice of Susanna to ask if I wanted to come with her and her son :)
The kids at that school do really creative stuff

Second week is almost over but it started on monday with a mentor meeting and work at Ohjaamo. I started doing Finnish flags that are supposed to be window decoration at Ohjaamo during the FIS Nordic World Championships.

On Tuesday I had my first finnish lesson here, it was fun and I'm excited for the up coming lessons because I already understand some finnish but I want to be able to and get the courage to also speak finnish. We'll see how it goes :)

The rest of the days i continued doing the flags and on Thursday I was finally done :)
I also started with my other task which is to translate powerpoints from English into Swedish.

Aerial Yoga

 On Thursday evening I tried Aerial Yoga for the first time with Susanna. It was a lot of fun and relaxing. At first I was like 'what have I gotten myself into..' but it turned out to be a really good experience and I would like to try this at home in Gothenburg and bring my friends or my aunt who I think is in to Yoga :) so thanks Susanna :)

I have probably forgotten something but i feel that this text is very long now..

Until next week
Linnea

Meet Linnea- volunteer from Sweden

First name:

Linnea

Where am I now?
I am now in Lahti, Finland

Age
19

What am I expecting for my time in Finland?
I would like to improve my Finnish, this is a good experience for me that also can be used in the future.

Is there something that I find exciting?
To see a new part of Finland since I have only been in the northern Finland. To meet new people and learn new things.

What are my hobbies? what kind of stuff am I interested in?
I like to watch TV-series for example The Vampire Diaries and others, I like hanging with friends and I like to read.

What is the most important thing I am going to take with me?
An open mindset and my phone

What would I like tell about  Sweden to people I'll meet in Finland?
I don't really know but if anyone have questions I will try to answer them. I live in Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden.

What do I wish for my future? What is my dream?
I would like to study or work abroad in a warm country in the future.

Coordinators regards!

Hi everyone!

We coordinators just realized that our project Here we go again! is allmost in it's half way! Oh how the time flies :)

We have had three good periods; Allu and Juuso in Ireland, Teja and Denis here in Lahti and Mikko in Slovenia.

And in this week Lahti will have two volunteers from Sweden, Jacob and Linnea who will be working in Ohjaamo for a month. They are arriving tomorrow with their coach Lasse. Yay! Lasse will be with us for a couple of days, just like Vesa and Susanna were in Ireland. We all are looking forward meeting them, welcome to Lahti!

At the same time when we have planned in our EVS-team the Ohjaamo period, we have been looking for volunteers from Lahti to go on a two month period in Slovenia in the beginning of next year. We have founded three awesome dudes, you will hear about them later on. And in the to do-list for us, is still interview youngsters; two volunteers are going to Slovenia later on the spring. Luckily we have good candidates for this also :)

We had our EVS-team meeting a moment ago. There we planned the coming period here in Lahti, when the volunteers from Ireland are coming in spring. Team spirit - yes we have!

We coordinators have been doing the administrative side; booked flight tickets, updated the volunteers guide, checked the budget, send emails to Slovenia and Sweden etc. Also we spend a day doing the receipt rumba and updating the Mobility Tool+ which is an online tool for administrative work. We made it!

Kaisa with the receipts!

Terhi with the Mobility Tool+

Luckily the project isn't over yet! 

Terhi & Kaisa, coordinators

Feelings about returning home!

Hello guys!

It's been 3 weeks since I came1 back home from Finland. I have finally found some time to write this post. To be honest, I don't even know how to describe my feelings, because I've been too busy studying (you know - attending the faculty from the morning 'till evening, then studying etc.) that this is actually the first time when I sat down and started really processing things.

This has been an amazing experience for me! I've learned a lot of new things and gained a lot of new skills. I haven't really realised it until I had to aplly my knowledge about Finnish culture to my studying, until school-mates started asking questions "What were you doing? What did you learn? Would you like to go back?" It was very hard for me to adjust back to my "normal" life, because I got used of living in Finland and speaking English, I miss that :( .

I know I will defenitely come back to Finland! My goal is to study really hard and after two years go back to Finland, to study there-I hope I will make it! Country is amazing, people I've met are amazing (I still keep in touch with them). This was an amazing period of life for me, and I'm really thankfull to the EVS project and all people cooperating in it for giving me this oppurtunity.

Soooooo I hope you won't be angry but after a whole day of studying I want to catch one episode of Family guy (amazing TV-series by the way!).

At the end I would only like to say, that I wish to the other volunteers to have the best experience while living and working abroad, no mather in which country you are - just pull the best out of it, it's worth it! :)

Teja

Teja, Denis and the gang!

On Wednesday we had Teja's and Denis's farewell and good bye-party! They got their Youthpasses, we all got to enjoy some coffee and carrot cake in the luchcafeteria workshop. Emotional speeches were given and just hanging together for the last time, at least for now :)

Thank you some much for everyone involved in :) Teja and Denis we hope for you a nice and safe journey home and of course everything good for your future! Hopefully we will hear from you guys soon <3

Terhi, coordinator

First Impression and also something else

Okay so it has been a month now and there has been lots to do, see and experience

After the introduction to the apartment for few days we started to work with the practical things like repainting the fence and building a new warehouse for bikes and lawnmower 

also there has been lots of time to travel around Slovenia to see all kinds of things

working with practical things at mornigns and looking after children afternoon is not too hard but its still nice to have plenty of free time.

thats it for now i wiwll try to keep this blog updated as well as i can

What's happening? Regards from the coordinator!

Hi everyone! I thought that I could let you in to see whats happening in the "scenes" :)

As you know, we have had our first volunteers here in Lahti, Teja and Denis from Slovenia. Working with them has been awesome! Tomorrow we are doing things concerning coordinator role; checking receips from the traveling here, getting signatures to the participant list, they will give us feedback about the period and some other things as well.

In the same time Mikko is in Slovenia. We have been in touch with him by messages, checking up how is he doing there, what's the work been there like etc.

Also we have keeping contact with Slovenian workers Barbara and David by email. Just to let everybody in the same page and checking that everything is going as it's planned :)

AND! November is coming fast! So this means that the volunteers from Sweden are coming to Lahti at Ohjaamo :) We have been in contact with Anna in Sweden, sending different documents and agreements to her and of course planning together the period with our EVS-team! We are hoping to have a skype meeting with Anna and the volunteers before they arrive here.

So lots and lots of emails, WhatsApp messages, writing documents, doing things together and enjoying our work! I think it's refeshing to do work with international level. It might take a little bit of more time to write the emails and documents in english, but if the volunteers and youngsters have learning experiances, so do us workers! And it's been nice to notice how youngsters in the workshops speak english, take part in the conversations and help our volunteers to adjust living here in Lahti.

We had a attitude indicator with our younsters in Drama, Media and Interior desing workshops before Denis and Teja arrived. The goal of this indicator was to discuss about attitudes, prejudices and how do the volunteers see Finland and Lahti when they come here for the firts time.  We are having the second meeting with the younsters next week. It's also about giving an opportunity to the younsters tell and talk about what they have learned from internationalism and possible tell if have they learned something about themselves! We are doing these indicators in every period that happens in Lahti. So stay tuned, we will make a summary of it.

Can't wait the to see the next volunteers!

Terhi, coordinator 

Final post about my trip to Ireland

Hello guys!

It has been over a month since we came back to Finland from Ireland, and a lot have happened! I started in a new workshop and I try to make plans for future etc.

I really want to say thanks to all who've been included in this whole EVS project, especially Juuso, who've been with me all that time in Ireland. It was really nice to get to know you!

I was surprised how pretty easy it was to live an abroad. Well, yeah, there was a lots of people helping but I still survived on my own. And now my dream to live in Canada grew even bigger, because I know that I can survive an abroad alone. It was nice to notice that I understood English and even nicer that people understood me and said that I speak really good English. I thought that I suck at English because I don't use it in Finland that often, so it was like a really big surprise to me.

Overall my time in Ireland was awesome, even tough I cried some nights because wanted to be in Finland with people dear to me. But still, I didn't forget to enjoy my time in Ireland and get to know to local people. Irish people were so nice and I wanted to know them better, but one month was kinda short time there.

After we arrived back to Finland we had some meetups where we talked about how our time in Ireland went etc. It was really refreshing to let it all out, what bothered me and what I liked in Ireland. I hope next volunteers who go to Ireland have even better experience!

Okay I'm pretty clumsy to write blogs, because it's not really my thing (I love to write and have few novels of my own, but writing a blog text is really different thing), but I hope that you enjoyed reading my blog!

See you again! :)

Dublin was really beautiful city!

Drama workshop and daily exercises!

Whuuuhh...this week has been full of fysical exercises! Every morning our boot camp starts with one hour of training. I think we all will be in a good shape in summer 2020. Sweating continues! :D

Also these few weeks in drama has been full of dancing, performing, great convercations, improvising and the feel of good. It's been a wonderfull EVS- episode so far!

-Lauri

This is our lovely drama group. It is so nice that you can do everything with these guys! Love them all! 

Meet me halfway!

Hellou! :)

Sooo half of my journey is already over. What can I say about past two weeks? Well I was attending interior design workshop, where I've learned a lot of new things - I made my own apron, I was painting the walls, learned how to sew and a loooot more.

My very first apron :)

I've met a lot of great youngsters during my "journey", I've learned a lot about Finnish culture, differences between Slovenia and Finland. I'm kind of sad that my days in interior design workshop are over, but now I'm going to media, where again I will learn a lot of new things + I'm going to be neigbours with my previous workshop, yaaay :)

Gift from the youngsters working with me in interior design workshop :)

We've been also having Finnish lessons, went to Swimming and visited Naomi camp, where I've tried my skills in Frisbee-golf, enjoying the nature by the lake, and had a nice time drinking coffee by the open fire. Guess what - I went to yoga for the first time and actually realized that yoga aren't just "standing on the head" poses, but that is actually allowed to fall asleep - yep, you've heard that right.

Yoga instructor on the left, and Susanna on the right (Thanks to her I've tried yoga for the first time) :)

Finnish lessons :)

Lake at Naomi camp - At first I actually tought It was the sea haha :)

Well I think this is all for now. There is a lot going on, every day I learn something new, but let's leave it for another time, shall we? :)

Warm regards from cold Finland!

Teja

Still alive! :)

Hello!

We are still alive. We are veeeeeeery happy, both volunteers and mentors about our staying here and meeting each other. At the beginning we didn't know each other but now we have a great bond, We have the same interests, taste in music, movies and share the same values about life.

We all LOVE black humor. Thank God there is three more weeks left, because time goes reeeealy fast! 

Making weird faces with mentors (They are amazing by the way!) :p

We have eaten Finnish food (and luckily we're still alive), we went to the swimming pool, gym, we've learned some of the Finnish words (and we didn't break our tongue), some of them sounded like we were singing, and the others one sounded like we're going to throw up haha :) 

Our Finnish teachers Tanja and Kati :)

Traditional Finnish meal (Lauri is the "picture jumper") :)

Workshops are pretty awesome. Every day we are learning and experiencing new things, that we've never done before. Work coaches are amazing, they are very helpful and understanding!

You will hear from us soon, so that you'll know we're still alive!

Riina, Irene, Denis & Teja

Bon voyage, Teja & Denis!

Have a great journey and awesome learning experience in Lahti Youth Services and around the "perimeter"! 

Warm regards from me and my friend(s)!! :)

The appartment in Lahti

Hopefully all of the volunteers who are staying in Lahti feel like home here :) Thanks to all of the youngsters in the workshops and trainers! I think the place looks amazing :)

Here is a little sneak peak :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The EVS-appartment is almost ready and waiting for you guys!

Teja and Denis! You will be the first lucky ones who will be living in our new appartment in Sammonkatu :) Interrior decoration worksshop with the youngsters has been working last week and doing the painting jobs and making the appartment nice for you :) They will continue the work for couple of days this week to get the furnitures in! If I were you, I would like to live there, hih ;) We hope you like it what we have done with the place. And the best thing, see you two soon! Jia!

Some fresh paint!

Terhi, Coordinator

Hello from Slovenia!

Hey guys!

How are you doing? :) Sooooo, where to begin.. there are 5 days left until our arrival to Finland. My preparations for going abroad are almost finished (all of the formal things, getting new haircut ofcourse :D) , there is one more thing that is left- packing, this is the hardest thing, believe me. Right now I'm wearing t-shirt and shorts because is so warm here in Slovenia and right now I'm making the list of "what to take with me".. I defenitely won't forget sweater and jacket. You know that feeling when you think you've taken everything with you, but then you forget something? Yeah, me too, that is why I'm making that list. :)

I'm already counting the days until our arrival, I'm veeeeeeery excited to come to Finland again. I've already been there once and it was the most amazing experience I've ever had. I hope I will make a lot of new friendships and spread my horizons about the "unknown things".

 Challenge accepted! 

 See you all very soon, greetings from Slovenia :)

Teja

On-arrival training with Mikko and his group

Traditionally, when the weather is nice, I do on-arrival trainings outside, under the walnut tree at the entrance of the Vila. This tree became kind of our summer check-in place for workshops, evaluations and other meetings, but at the same time also a nice playing spot for the children and with its’ deep shade, the best place to chill-out during the hot days.

This time, the training was done with six volunteers: Mikko from Finland, Theo and Benjamin from France, Anka and Adrien from Romania and Youssef from Sardinia. 

The introduction started with a short get-to-know activity and a small challenge of how are we able to communicate without speaking. It’s hard, but possible. J After that, we went into the details of the volunteers hosting organization, it’s aims, goals and vision. It’s really empowering to share our learning processes with the volunteers and vice versa, and with the help of our volunteers’ new ideas, their fresh heads, hands and hearths being able to continue building a comfortable and safe place for experiental learning, for the local children and other curious souls. The intercultural dimension which volunteers bring, is an awesome value which can change also the people who are indirectly involved in our projects: by-passers, neighbours, parents etc.

Hey, what about volunteering? What does volunteering mean to us? Are volunteers able to do their job better that a professional? Where is the learning in this story? What are the volunteers’ rights, responsibilities and commitments in our local reality? Do we need to pay to be volunteers? These are just a few questions when we discuss about the background of the volunteering and at the same time open our way for the practicalities of every-day life in the Vila.

After the pre-departure trainings, all the flights and journeys to arrive in this small village “under the mountain”, it is time that the volunteers lift their anchors and start to sail. Like in all new oceans, it is important to set our compasses, astrolabes and other instruments to prepare for the storms that might come. But we can’t get ready for the storms, if we don’t know in which direction the winds blow, how the streams behave and what is behind the horizon. For these reasons, we continued the training by having a hike around the village.

First check point is usually at the memorial park behind the old manor, where we run an activity about our cultural backgrounds, what living in a community is about, which are the obstacles and challenges, coming along with these topics.

After giving the volunteers some time to adapt to the first “waves”, the first challenges come. Finding a way to our destination – the old Castle Kamen can be fun, but with a serious learning process behind it.

When the group arrived to the small crossroads in the forest, me as a coordinator (named “United Nonsense-UN” :) ) proposed to democratically vote for the path we should take. The first question was, whose votes count? Wait a second, what is the majority of voting? Then what? Are we voting for the path or for a person who should have the power to decide which path to take? Should we then elect a leader? Is that leader then an absolute leader or can he or she be a democratic leader? What is better – a bad democratically elected leader or a good dictator? And many many more... The group trusted the elected leader, the leader did everything not to become a tyrant, and they all accepted their actions with understanding and high awareness.

After continuing the walk to finally reach our destination, we ran into a place where ancient settlements used to be. Today, this place is a nice climbing area and perfect climax to use the climbing metaphor: stepping out of our comfort zones, accepting and dealing with new challenges, preparing for and using the proper routes to reach the goal, trusting yourself and the persons next to you in case you fall down, using not only the force but also the technique when dark days come and so on. Hopefully, one day we can actually try our climbing skills here :)

The last part of the training was held at the castle Kamen. Being tired from the hike, all the activities and so many new information, the only thing left was to come closer and congratulate each other for doing a great job!

However, the training doesn’t finish here… :)