Tree planting day!

Today we planted trees on the school's yard.

 We planted trees as a message of climate change.

The International tree planting event was 25. till 27. of October.

Finnish day!

Finnish day

On Finnish day we made some finnish traditional dishes and sweets. We made karelian ricepies with eggbutter, blueberry pie and apple pie with ice cream.

The day before today we teached finnish at Suncokret. Just the basics: alphabet and greetings!

Hello from Croatia!

We've been in Vrginmost almost four weeks. This is a little town, about 80 km south from Zagreb.

Our temporary  home here in Croatia is a big green house. We also have another smaller house in our yard where the turkish volunteers are staying at the moment.

When in work we play with children different kinds

of games and make art such as paint, knit, sew and draw.

“Armenian Special Edition”

Last Thursday, 03.10.2019  was really important and memorable day for me. That was sprecial day  not only for me but for all the armenians who came to participate. And the Event was called

 ''Armenian Speial Edition''. 

This Armenin event was organised in Multi-Culti and it was sponsored by them. 

This was not an ordinary event. I've tried to organize it in a different way, without any formalities. 

We had a special guest, DJ Moris. Armenian DJ living and working in Fnland, and he made the event even more attractive, playing armenian music during that few hours. And all our guests were dancing and having fun with us.

The aim of this event was to represent Armenian art, culture and of course Armenian hospitaliy,  and I think it succeed. During the event I had a little presentation about Armenia, its histoy, cuisine, art and the culture. 

Some Armenian national dishes were served, like dolma, baklava and other sweets, 
made with love (by me😚).

 So that finnish people could feel the taste of Armenia. 
And for me it was pride and success to have so many guests. We had more than 30 guests during that evening and not only armenians or finnish people, but from Romania, Honduras, Iran, Afganstan and ect. 

This was perfect and unforgettable day for me, and I'll remember this day forever, and I hope that those who were participating will also remember this event and some things about Armenia.

#YOUTHere  ESC  EUsolidaritycorps  ESCvolunteer Dusya Armenia Finland volunteer

About goals during volunteering period

Hi everyone, it is already 2 months i am in Lahti. Everything is still wonderful and hope will be in the future. Today i decided to speak about my goals which of them i am going to achieve during my volunteering period. First one i would like to underline is speaking English fluently. I very appreciate this skill and consider it is important in communications with foreigners, in learning process and etc. Living abroad helps me to practise my English and i try to improve it by reading, listening and speaking with other people.  One year ago i was shy to speak English, but now i notice a huge improvement and by the time i come back to Armenia it will be much better than now.

Second point I want to speak about is travelling. I have always liked travelling and since childhood I have travelled with my family all over Armenia and Artsakh. I have been several times in Georgia and Russia as well. And during my staying here have been in Helsinki, Porvoo, Isoranta, Tuusula and I am planing visit Turku, Tampere, Kokkola, Inari. Nature in Finland is wonderful, air is fresh, wether is cold that helps to be healthy. I am not sure yet that I am ready for it but in winter time I am going to swim in ice cold water. I think it is one of the indivisible parts of Finnish winter tourism. And if i have opportunity I of course will try to travel to another European country and will share my impressions with you. At least I will visit Tallin and have cruie experience.

Thanks for reading, wait for my next posts soon.

Hard and long travelling - How to get to Vrginmost from Lahti

Four bus rides and two flights.

We started from the travel centre in Lahti at 3.30 am with the bus to the airport and arrived in Vrginmost at 18.25pm. That was the hard and long part of our journey.
But with a lot of positive spirit and a good attitude we had a nice day.

       

      Happy travellers at the airport in                     Frankfurt 

The day consisted of a lot of waiting in different surroundings like airports and bus stations.

When we arrived Zagreb it felt like we had travelled back to summer time, with at least 27 degrees Celsius. So quite a change from autumnish weather in Lahti.

In Karlovac we strengthen our immune system with some tasty lemonish water. And we were looking forward for our last bus ride. The mood was still incredible super good.

Finally after 50 minutes bus ride through amazing landscapes we finally arrived to Vrginmost and lovely Maja was at the bus station greeting us with warm hugs.

After a short trip with the car we had a pit stop at our accommodations. Info about rooms, toilets, kitchen and garden were given.

At this point all of us was extremely hungry so off we went to the only local restaurant.

Finally proper food with the best company.  And yes we did eat local food.

During our time at the restaurant we were joined by the big boss of the organisation Predrag and the wonderful Anja. We also met the other volunteers during our dinner as they came by on their way back to the accommodation from Suncokret.

After a day filled with travelling and waiting we were all three ready to find our beds, go to sleep and be ready for the next day.

Meeting of Armenian and Finnish volunteers 

Last friday was full of good vibes and emotions. We had nice day in Isoranta camping area with two finnish volunteers, Oona and Krista: two bright individualities who are already in Croatia for ESC short period volunteering. 

This meeting was organised by Lahti City Youth Services, which is the sending organisation for them, and the main goal of the meeting was pre-departure training for Krista and Oona.

During this training they got some advices from trainers, they spoke about their expectanions and goals, and they have drawn U Curve (scheme which is showing how most people experience Life in a foreign country), which emotionally helps to understand where you are .

And why were Armenians there????????? 😉

The main idea of our being in Isoranta for this 

meeting-training was to share our experience and emotions with them. We talked about volunteering  from different angles.We tried to give them some ''advices'' that can be helpful. We talked about living alone in a foreign country, that it can be new, strange or shocking for them. We told them all the things that we have experienced while being in Lahti for this two months. 

And I hope that they will enjoy their time in Croatia the way we do in Finland. 

Let's wish them good luck!!!

#youthere #escvolunteers