"Waterloo, could not escape if I wanted to"

It was the first day, when I got to wear shorts (!!!) in Narva. Summer is finally arrived, but with this beloved season something for me has come to an end. Yes, you may guessed right, my EVS is over in 13 days.

I finished my work in the kindergarten about 4 weeks ago, but I decided to stay a bit longer, as on the official paper it was still allowed for me, almost fulfilling my 10 month in Estonia. Last weekend I came home from a visit in the southern part of the country, and as I got off the bus and walked home, passed by my old workplace. Suddenly I felt that all what happened there, is already deeply buried in the past. IT just seemed such a long time ago, when I was walking around in the garden in pretty clothes, hands full with presents from kids, colleagues, parents and just could not leave the place. 

 

 

 

 For a moment I had the strange impression that this time disappeared form my life, like it never happened at all. I don't want to phrase my words to misty, but maybe you understand, if you did something for a long time and there comes a cut and its all over, your every day life turns upside down. So today I visited this дом родной ( dear place) for the last –last time. Had a short but nice talk with my director, then the nanny came, with whom we worked in the same group. After I met with the person I learn the most from and whose wonderful personality and admirable approach to her profession will be missed the most, my other co-worker from the group. Quick hugs, followed by fast steps, leave as soon as I can and put only my red sunglasses and hold my head up, not paying attention for the heart that bumps too fast and the eyes that are trying to burst out in a river. While having th s emotional moment, I followed unknown roads towards Vita Tiim. I passed by a small, white building ( KIOSK), where you can find delicious pastry food and next to it old ladies are selling jam, fish, fruits etc. I bump into a house that looks like most of the high buildings in Narva ( brick red, the painting is coming off a little, but I like it this way). Clothes are drying on blue iron stands ( just like at my mother's home town in Hungary, in the 1960s as she said). I find the picture beautiful and grab my camera to burn it into my phone ( and my memory). In front of the building women from the elderly ages are sitting on a bench and discussing something. Every time I see these little every day scenes, I want to capture the moment, but I am not willing to get too close, which according to  Robert Capa, might be not the best choice. He said: "If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough.". So I sneak behind a tree and try to make some shots, than I walk away. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the road again, going home. From the corner of my eye, I see a little girl, and soon I think I hear my name. For a second I am sure I was pretending, but in the other moment she is running to my arms, really yelling: Fruzsina. She hugs me and smiles. One of "my kid" from the group I spent the most time with. I ask how is summer, if she is all right, than I say good bye and we depart.

I will depart soon, my dear Narva, but don't you worry! I could not forget you even if I wanted to!!

Our EVS Video!

Russia

Hello,
it's me - Eva :) In this month - may - I made one of my biggest and most exciting journeys during my EVS. We went to Russia, the neighbour on the other side of the Narva river. We, that's Klara (my flatmate), Azéma (a volunteer from France) and me. We took a bus on a Saturday morning and the first stop (after 5 mins) was the border station in Estonia, then we drove over THE bridge, and then again a controll station in Russia. Everything was okay, but still I was really excited. The border to Russia felt always so big to me but then we just crossed it.
After 2 hours we arrived in St. Petersburg. On the first day we did a Free-Walking-Tour (recommend it) and visited some of the churches in this beautiful city. Then we went to our hostel "Simple Hostel" (recommend it), which was basically in the city centre. On the next day we visited the Mariinsky Theatre and watched the ballet "Romeo and Juliet", it was amazing! On the following days we went to Peterhof,with the beautiful palace and a lot of trick fountains, the Hermitage museum, where I spent 5 hours and of course to some beautiful metro stations. A lot of things in such a short time!
In the evening of Wednesday we took a night train to Moscow. When we arrived there, the weather was not as good as it was in St. Petersburg, it was raining. But nevertheless, we used the 3 days we had in this metropole. We saw the Lenin-Mausoleum, the State Historical Museum, the Gorki-Park, the Museum of the Great Patriotic War (2nd WW), the Kremlin, the St.Basil's Cathedral (recommend it to go inside) and additionally many more things during the Free-Walking-Tour (recommend it). As you can see, there is a lot to see in this city. But there is also a lot to experience: we experienced the Helpfulness of the Russians, typical russian cuisine,...
It is difficult to put this all into words, for me it was an interesting trip to a country, whose culture and people I could already got to know in Narva in Estonia, but still it is a different thing, when you really visit the country.
Ok, now just some photos which I took during my trip through Russia, enjoy!

Eva

It looks like I am the last one to make a first entry on this Blog. My name is Klara and I am from a little town in Germany not far from Stuttgart.

Last year I graduated from school and wanted do do and see something else than Germany and the everyday life I was used to. So I decided to go abroad for an EVS project. I chose this and not one of the hundred other programs we have in Germany because it allowed me to take part even though I was only 17 years old.

So I ended up here in Narva because I wanted to learn Russian, experience a proper winter with -30°C and know what it is like when the sun never really sets.

The winter has passed, the long days are to come and my Russian is a whole other topic...

But besides all of that I got the chance to travel a lot! Estonia is great because nothing is really far away, yet there are many exciting things to do and see. So I have been to the highest mountain in Estonia - which could also be named the biggest joke of a mountain - spend some days in an old German nobles manor right next to a beer brewery, seen meteorite craters, a lovely toy museum, the Christmas market in Tallinn, went canoeing on a river in Soomaa national park while the sun was out for the first time of the year, walked along the shore of the Baltic Sea with frozen puddles on the beach and so many more things and even more are to come!

Another great thing about a small country is that also the neighbouring countries are quite close. Latvia and Lithuania - countries none of my friends have ever been to, Finland, Sweden and of course: Russia! The one country that always seemed so big and far away to me is just right across the river from where I am living right now!

Here are just some impressions of where I have been and what I have seen so far - Enjoy!

Narva-Joesuu

Tallinn

Riga

Hill of Crosses

Vilnius

Mid-Term Training

Hello,
my name is Eva (19) and I am a volunteer from Germany. I work in VitaTiim and lead the English Language Cafés for youngsters and kids, the German Language Café and other things.

Today I want to write about my Mid-Term Training. It was in Leppoja, ca. 1,5 hours from Tallinn, in the middle of the forest. We, that's our two trainers, me and 10 other volunteers, arrived at the place after a long drive through the forest. There were two wooden houses. One, where we had the training and the meals and one other house, just for us volunteers. We also had our own sauna!
On the first evening we just played some games to get to know each other and, of course, we went to the sauna. We almost used this sauna every evening and every morning.

On the next day, friday, we analysed our projects: if we achieved any of the goals we wrote down in the beginning, if we had problems and what we still want to do in the last months of our EVS. For me was it really good to talk about my project, because that's how you can see what you learned and what you developed so far. And this is mainly about the 8-key-competences:
1. Digital competence
2. Interpersonal, intercultural and social competences and civic competence
3. Cultural expression
4. Entrepreneurship
5. Communication in the mother tongue
6. Communication in foreign languages
7. Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology
8. Learning to learn
To be honest, in the beginning I also couldn't imagine what this actually means. But now, after 6 months, I really know what does it mean to develop the "ability to turn ideas into action" (Entrepreneurship) or to learn something about "how to organise your own learning" (Learning to learn).
In the afternoon, we went outside for a ski-trip in the forest. I thought it would be normal cross-country-skiing, but we went really through the trees, on "trails" where nobody went before. It was difficult sometimes but it was really beautiful and relaxing to be in the nature.
After this we made "Viltimine"- felting. I made a heart and two ugly sheeps.

The next day (saturday) we talked about the youth pass, what every volunteer can get in the end of the EVS, if they fill in what they learned during the project.
In the afternoon we had the topic "our problems". Yes, I know it sounds really negative, but for me it was good to talk about the difficulties and to get some opinions from the others. We talked a lot about difficulties and challenges and how to solve them, and this was really helpful.
Ok, and now I will tell you something what people, who know me, won't believe. After this we went to the traditional estonian smoke sauna. Yes, me too and after it we didn't cool down in the snow, no, we went into the lake. The boys made a hole before in the ice and then we went into the freezing cold water for a few seconds (I was screaming the whole time) but then, when you are back in the sauna, you feel awesome. Seriously, it's such a great feeling! This was a really nice experience and I am proud that I made it :D

And on the next day we already went back home :(  It was really...sad because you get to know the other volunteers and you are one group and I wanted to spend more time together with them.
That's the great thing about this trainings (On-arrival-Training, Mid-Term-Training) : you meet so many great people, you spend an awesome time together and create unforgettable memories. Ok, this sounds kitschy but it's true. These trainings were such an important part of my EVS. They gave me so much motivation, energy, friends and memories which I will never forget.

ski-trip in the forest

Daniele Fissa

Hello, today it's my first time I'm writing a blog. First of all today I'm sick, in the last few days the weather was windy and cold, and now I'm at home and I have a cold, sore throat, headache etcc..

Anyway, I'd like to talk about something positive and not about my health.

I would start to tell something about my mid-term training. At the beginning of march, Eva, Klara, Miguel, Teresa and me went near Tallin, in a place called Harju, as I said before it is near Tallin but in the middle of the forest where there is nothing, just some isolate houses, our "farm" and the forest.

We spent about three days in this place, and during that time we talked about about our Evs project, our goals for our Evs, and we played some funny games. One day we went for a hike in the forest an some branches striked my eyes and it was very painful!

This trip was tiring but at the end I felt very good, because I tryed a very close contact with the nature, where the silence and the animals are the only owners of this habitat.

Moreover, during this training I met amazing people, and I hope to meet them again in Estonia during my future travels.

After some days, Vitatiim organised the "karaoke evening". I like very much singing even if I'm very tone-deaf!!

Here I sing in Italian and to me it's an apportunity to promote Italian culture and songs.

In Narva (as in Italy) my favourite hobby is watching football. And it's very good if someone watches with me. When I watched football with my flatmate, Inter (the team I support) always lost, so now I don't know hot to tell her she's not welcome when Inter's playing!!

Anyway, some days ago Luka and Miguel come to visit me, we ate together and after we watched the football game. Luka cooked some chicken (that was very tasty), and at the end I was very happy because Bayern Munchen won against juventus!!

Now, I'd like to talk about my flatmate. Somone could ask the reason why I should talk about her.

Let me explain better. I think she's genius and she had an amazing idea. She wrote an email to Astri cinema in Narva, asking a strange trade, I mean she asked to get a ticket for free to watch the " Russian ballet" and she would have written an article and some advertises on the local newspapers.

I think the reason I'm writing this, it's not about how getting a ticket for free, but I'd like to underline the idea she had. Here in Narva the other volunteers and me have our money for our needs, but sometimes these money are not enough for all our wishes, in order to achieve that we really wish, we need to be creative and find out some other ways in order to get them. You probably are wondering if she got this ticket. The answer is yes.

Yes, she got it. I'm very glad to know there are people in Narva as in the rest of world can understand our feelings, and our needs and especially they can appreciate these kind of ideas.

In these days I'm thinking to travel somewhere in Estonia, and also in May I will travell in Russia.

I feel excited about it, but sometime it's hard to find the cheapest way and at the same time it is also suitable for my plans. I'm still working on it!!

Now I need to relax because I wrote too much.. I'll write soon again in this blog..

best regards.

What a weekend! - First post from Fruzsi

Finaly I got the time and the inner inspiration to write about my life here, in Narva. By the way, I am Fruzsi, I work here in a kindergarden as an english teacher. But no more facts about me, lets just bring feelings, events and thoughts to to world of this blog.

I spent this weekend alone in town, because my flatmate was in his mid-term training, The truth is that you don't get a lot of time all by yourself, when living with another volunteer. But that's fine like that. You have a special experience after such a long time, that you can spend by yourself. I think when we are alone, truly we never are. You may have no company at home or a specific person to go to a program with, but you are all the time surrounded by others. The same happened with me during last weekend. On Saturday I cooked myself a meal, went to the shop before, washed the dishes, nothing special. But when you are alone, somehow you ( or at least me) start to think differently, you sense your surroundings differently, you just hear better your own thoughts. The more intersting event took place on Sunday. But before I let you know about it, I need to tell the story behind this Sunday morning.

A few month ago I went to sliding with my mentor to a big hill in the near forest. We met there one of her friend, who borrowed us her sledge and we had a lot of fun. Soon we met another friends of this friend. One of them – all of a sudden – started to sing in russian some beautiful folk-song. In a few seconds two other women joined her and they kept singing for 15 minutes. Later they perezented some dance too and got us involved as well. It was a remarkable happening, the power of the songs on the top of the snowy hill, and the sliding with this friend's sledge became so far the best memori of mine. It was completely unexpected and I was in the middle of culture- shock, where I could admire some traditional singing and the beauty of simple human nature.

Later on I found out that this women belong to a group, called Suprjadki (Супрядки ). They collect russian and estonian folk-songs and perform on different occasions. I liked them so much that I decided: I want to join them. I tried to make a contact with one of them, with no result. Time gone by, but I did not want to give up. I wrote to their official e-mail address, and soon I got an answer. I visited a concert in Rugodiv ( house of culture), where they also performed. At the end I had to call the leader, from whom I got the answer to my e-mail. I tolked to her on the phone in Russian, though in our letter we talked in English. She took me to back-stage and kept talking in Russian. Somehow I was abble to follow the main plot of her words, which said it would be very hard for me to join, because they have about 500 songs in thei repertoire, and they learn all of them only after listening, plus all is in old dialect. But I can try and meet them next time. I was so excited about this positive attitude, which did not close doors in front of me, but opened one. So at this Sunday I could visit their rehearsal, which was held in Narva castle. I went to the main desk of the museum, where a lady took me to the room, where I was supposed to meet the group. I had to go down in a narrow and dark stairs, and it seemed quite hopeless to find anybody donw there, where everything just got darker and darker. But I heard noise from the steps above, turned back and find the gate to the room. We had a small chat ( I love to say this, that I had a conversation with people,because it is soo cool to think I could make in in a foreign language. Usually I just laugh on myself when I think of therse few sentence talks as a real conversation, but then I need to admit it, they were real one, and I need to accept the fact, that somewhat I am abble to communicate in Russian and I shall be proud of myself). Later all the members arrived, I took part in the warp-up excercises, listened them to learn new songs incredibly fast, and at the end, when the male members arrived and gave flowers to the women, in the occasion of the following day, international women's day, I recived one too, from the leader, who gave me hers. I said a big thank you and sang a hungarian folk-song to them. They felt sorry I have to leave, but I had to prepare a cake for my mentor's birthday, join the celebration later on, and today another week has started, which who knows what will bring to the sky of Narva.

Ps.: I am sorry, if there is any spelling mistake, or some words does not make sense at all. But today I walked thorough the whole city twice. Once personal issue, the second time to help a dear friend. I also went to work, and after that I went to see a free movie screening at the library. I had a long day. A life of a voulunteer in Narva can be unexpectidly chaotic and happy. Don't miss the chance to read along, and find out more about us!

Thansk for your time, folks!

Fruzsi