My evs story

Since long time, i would like to write something about evs. Now i have time to write,this article is about my opinions about my life’s unforgettable experince: Evs.

Why did i want to be a volunteer?

I have known something about evs, before i came here.What is evs, how can i choose project, what do volunteers do etc. Almost everybody was saying good things about that, then i started to research some projects. It was so hard to me, on website there were lots of projects, i didn’t decide which project could be good for me, how many times and which contry i prefer more.

To be a volunteer in another contry and work with somebody sounds good but it would be difficult or boring for me. So, it is really necessary to be courage and real volunteer. Then i decided to be a volunteer in France, it was so easy to find some projects for me, 3 host organisations said me yes but i had changed my idea. Because those projects aren’t suitable for me. Yes maybe, it would be very good to be in France and improve my french. Because i was studying french teaching. But I wanted to choose another way for evs. Before i began to study french, i had wanted to study something about art. First of all, theatre was my passion, since i was 14 years old, i have acted some private theatres as an actor. Then i was interested in cinema, i shoted some short movies with my friends.I have played the piano for 2 years. So until my this age, i was interested in art so to be a volunteer in art and culture projects,it was exactly for me.

Then i found this project, the whole project was so nice,different and interesting for me, to be in nord of Spain and to do a documentary with other volunteers! For these reasons, I immediately sended my motivation letter and cv, to be accepted by projects normally so difficult, but everything happened suddenly for me,and i received more questions to answer from oficina jove and then they sended me accepted mail, after that everything started, there were some problems about my sending organisations but then i found another organisation, Oficina Jove applied to me on 1th of february, then National Agence said yes, but i had another problem about my university, so it took time to came here but it wasn’t problem, my mentor was Ruth, she was so kind and exciting about me. I also was so exciting.

My life was good in Turkey, i was living in Eskisehir with my friends and I was going to university. But I have wanted to do something for my art passion. So this project was exactly written for me

Adios Eva !

       Firstly Kim has gone, now Eva is going, because she has already finished her evs, Anymore, i will work and live alone. Since i came here, i spent  lots of times with them As you know, kim had gone to her contry on 8th of august, now, eva is going to Hungary on 6th of november. So… What will i do without them?

            I don’t know who is reading our blog but if somebody read this, they can know what we did together. Do you want to memorize again?

What did i do with Kim and Eva ?

First month (July)

I had arrived in La Seu on 1th of July. Kim, Eva and Nuri picked me up from Barcelona Airport. Then in my first week, i went to Malaga for my arrival training.

After that they said me that we didn’t have a camera to do a documentary because it had broken before. Fortunately i had brought my personal video camera so we were going to film with it ! They didn’t have enough videos for a documentary,just 5 or 10 videos from Tremantinaires Festival.

Before we started to film something, they showed me around of La Seu, because i had to know where is hospital, library, police office, post office etc.

Then, on 23th of July we climbed the Cadi and filmed Cadi, Molina and Parc Natural Cadi. It was amazing, kim had written how it was in her post. After that we were responsible in Arseguel Accordion Festival on 30th-31th of July. Can you remember? I have posted about it. 

Second month (August) 
Before kim leaved from La Seu, we had tried to go somewhere to spend more time,get to know this region’s life and have fun. We went to Coll de Nargo, Andorra and Oliana. Our trips were so funny.We had gone to Oliana by hitchike ! (it was my first experince in Spain, I can’t say i have more experience in Turkey also, i was new to it ) As you read Eva’s post, nothing happened . 

Then we interviewed to some people for documentary about Cataluna, pyreenes, catalan cuisine, music, festivals etc.

Kim had talked to somebody, because my spanish wasn’t as good as to talk, eva’s too.But we wrate the questions together.

Then we said good bye to Kim, we spent really good time.

It was summer time and there aren’t many people in La Seu, so i decided to go to Barcelona for a holiday , i also went to Gracias Festival in there. I liked Barcelona very much.

After that I worked at Festa Major in La Seu. I tried to inform about AIDS with two responsible people near the concert area.

However Nuri found me one teacher who teach me Spanish.She was english teacher, normally in a high school. So I started to learn spanish in two hours per week.

Third month (September)

Eva was so good cooker, at home, i was tying to know how to cook when she was cooking. However we were talking about our contries, cultures, friends,families, many subjects…

Of course about documentary too. She was knowing more stuffs than me about Cataluna, Spanish, La Seu. She shared her experinces with me. Thanks to her, i could have friends and more informations about this region.

At the same time, we were trying to film people’s life in here. They sometimes angried of us because they never wanted to film to their life.So i can say next volunteers to be careful about that.!

We filmed Parc Del Segre, Valira, Catedral of La Seu, Library of Sant Agusti, in every saturday and Tuesday La Seu’s market, Museu Sant Ermengol, in every Sunday sardana dance, i mean  we filmed everything…   

Then we went  to Malaga together for our mid-term training.I had written something about that training in my post.

After that training, in here, we started to learn catalan in school.

Forth Month (October)

That month was difficult for us, because we wanted to finish a documentary. We had many videos, but we had to continue to film with our narrator, Anais. Because we had decided a narrator, it would be eassier for us. But it wasn’t easy. Anais was busy enough.

Almost every week we had to film to her, then we were going to start editing.

On 8th,9th of October we had to be in Coll de Nargo for champion festival, and also, on 15th,16th of October in La Fira de Sant Ermengol.

Eva was also very busy, it was her last  month and she had lots of stuffs to do, for example, she should fill youth-pass.

Last week of October, we spent our time for presantation about evs and our contry, we were in a high school for it.

And she also organised week of cinema in library with hungarien movies,I liked it. 

October was so tiring for us.

Now and result:

Eva has already gone to her contry. I have 70 gb videos and I should editing alone. Sounds good ha? J

I miss my friends, see you kim and eva .

an english song from Turkish music group to Barcelona

Mazhar-Fuat-Özkan (commonly referred to as MFÖ) is a Turkish band. The names of the band's singers are Mazhar Alanson, Fuat Güner and Özkan Uğur.
The trio represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest twice; in 1985 in Gothenburg, Sweden they came 14th with Didai Didai Dai, and in 1988 in Dublin, Ireland, performing the song Sufi to finish in 15th place.

presentation

Last week, Eva and I were in a high school to talk about evs and our contries. Before i went there, i was nervous enough about that, because it was going to be my first spanish presentation. For this, we preapered and wrate something on power point. For me, it took almost 5 days to write something about Turkey. As you know, turkey is so big and it has lots of cities like Spain.

There were about 40 studients in there, they were so interested in Evs, Hungary and Turkey. They even asked some questions about them.

Fistly we talked about European Volunteer Service (Evs). What is Evs? What should they do to be a volunteer? How can they choose a project on website.?

Then we talked about our contries. So now, i also want to share with you some informationes about Turkey. 

Where is Turkey?

Turkey, known officially as the Republic of Turkey, is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria  to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan  (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus  and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.

Which language do we speak?
Yes, turkish since republic of turkey was founded, 1923. 

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with an ancient cultural heritage. 

Do you know Mustafa Kemal Ataturk? 
Atatürk was a military officer during World War I. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, he led the Turkish national movement in the Turkish War of Independence. Having established a provisional government in Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies. His military campaigns gained Turkey independence. Atatürk then embarked upon a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms, seeking to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern, westernized and secular nation-state. The principles of Atatürk's reforms, upon which modern Turkey was established, are referred to as Kemalism.

Ataturk

Ankara
Ankara, is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul.

 Istanbul 

Istanbul is the most important city in Turkey even in the world. Because it is one city in the world, between two continents. It is between Asia and Europe. It was always capital in history. it was used as a capital by Byzantium Empire and Ottoman Empire. 

Istanbul anlatilmaz yasanir

Izmir (my hometown)
İzmir is a large metropolis  in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010,  making the city third most populous in Turkey. Izmir metropolitan area extends along the outlying waters of the Gulf of İzmir and inland to the north across Gediz River's delta, to the east along an alluvial plain created by several small streams and to a slightly more rugged terrain in the south. The ancient city was known as Smyrna, and the city was generally referred to as Smyrna in English translation until about 1930.

Virgin Mary´s home 

It´s in Selcuk/Turkey

Efes

Kapadokya

Agri Dagi (Ararat)

it looks like cadi:)

Truva/Canakkale 

 Nemrut Dagi  (Nemrud) /Adiyaman 

 Hasankeyf /Batman

South of Turkey :Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye, Antalya, Olympos,Datca, Dalyan..

 Turkey is a founding member of the United Nations (1945), the OECD (1961), the OIC  (1969), the OSCE (1973), the ECO (1985), the BSEC (1992) and the G-20 major economies (1999). On October 17, 2008, Turkey was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.Turkey's membership of the council effectively began on January 1, 2009.  Turkey had previously been a member of the U.N. Security Council in 1951–1952, 1954–1955 and 1961.Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the EEC since 1963.

           So as you understand, Turkey is big enough like Spain, sometimes it’s hard to remember somewhere’s name but it’s okey, i like very much my contry.

Vos espero a Turquia 

Sii, soy de Turquia!

     -De dónde eres?
     -Soy de Turquia.
     -De Turquia?
     -Si.    
     - De verdad?
     -...Si...
 
         Yes, when I say that I´m from Turkey, firstly people doesn´t belive me because of my face or my eyes. Because my eyes are slanting like chinese people´s :) It´s normal, my friends alwasy say me, I don´t look like turkish. But I´m turkish, It´s true:) There is nobody who is from Chine or Japon in my family. Only my grandmother´s mother was born in Greece, after they moved to Turkey, that´s all. But from Greece, not from Chine or Japon.
          If people belive me, luckily they believe generally, they begin to talk about Turkey in a good way. I haven´t meet anybody who has negatif idea about Turkey. Almost everybody likes it. This make me happy, surely.
          Here, in La Seu, there was a woman who was in my course, I said her that my nacionality, next lesson, she brought a handmade wallet that made in Turkey, she showed me it. And she said that "I like Turkey very much"
          In la Festa Major, i met one girl who has a sympathy about Turkey too. She visited lots of cities in Turkey.
          When I was in Sevilla, one old man who we asked the direction, he really helped us , then he asked me where I´m from, then he smiled and began to tell story in Turkey.
           In my arrival training, in Málaga, there was a one man who was from training team, he was knowing some turkish words, when he saw me, he was using them.. "Evet,Evet" , "Tamam"  yes yes, okey. It was really funny.
           However I sometimes find it hard to remember some turkish places or meals,really. When I was in Gracias Festival, in Barcelona. I met new people and they have been in Turkey too. One of them said me some cities in Turkey. Istanbul, Antalya, Bodrum, Capadocia.. and one place that he couldn´t remember what is it name. He tried to explain me, he said that there is a lake and there is a nice home, near the lake. But I couldn´t remember, unfourtanetly. I was really sad, he tried to explain me about half hour, but I couldn´t.
After that day, I asked one of my friends, he remembered immediately.It´s called Golcuk. I have never been in there. Turkey is big enough, it sometimes takes time to remember some places´s name.

Gölcük/ Bolu/ TURKEY

            And meals, turkish cuisine is large enough too:) In my last training, one of my volunteer friends who was from Greece, said me one meal that he liked very much., but he couldn´t remember what is it name and I couldn´t too. He tried to explain me,but I couldn´t. My mother will be angry me, sorry mama.:P
             Before I came here, I was thinking that I know everything about my country, but it´s likely that is impossible.

Time lag with kisses

Yes, I know, there isn't any so called time lag between Spain and Hungary, but sometimes I feel that because of their way of life. Here people do lots of things in a different time or in a different way as in Hungary or in lots of other European countries. Now, I collected some, that are my favorites:  

Coffee-break, siesta, fiesta

Before I came here I knew, that people in Southern countries start the day later, but it was new for me that they finish it much later also (although, it's logical...:). Let's have a look at a timetable of an average day:

opening hours of a supermarket

After starting the day at 9.00,  it's necessary to have just a half an hour long coffee-break at about 10.30. :) Then at 14.00 it's time to finish work and have lunch, and after, it is siesta-time! That is good for having a rest because almost everything is closed. Here in La Seu – in my opinion, there are two supermarkets opened, so it's possible to do some shoppings, but nothing else: no post office, no banks, no specialized small shops etc. So life stops in siesta-time. Then, back to work at 16:30 until 19.00, or from 17.00 till 20.00o 21.00. But, after again: when you finish work, nothing is opened (only some supermarkets until 21.00). Complicated. I can’t even imagine how is those people's daily routine, who have children.
Just to see the difference, here is the Hungarian way: people usually start to work at 8:00 - in fact I don’t know if  I will ever be able to get used to this again, because in my case it meant that I had to woke up at 6.30, and it 's terrible, but the worst in winter... On the middle of the day at about 12.30 or 13.00 we can have a half an hour or an hour long lunch break, but not more, and people usually finish work between 17.00 - 18.00. (Of course everything depends on the type of  the workplace, but it's common enough.)

And another very strange thing for me: the free-days. Since I’m here I had so many free days in four months, like in a whole year in Hungary. Religious free-day, free-day for the Saint of the town, free days for the festival of  the town and of course national free-days for whole Spain. 

And the result? Well, maybe people say that it can be a strong reason of the Spanish economic problems, but I think in human life. Ok, I don’t have too much work experiences here, but what I see is different from home: people are NOT nervous all the time, and NOBODY is shouting with his/her colleagues (just because he/she was 10 minutes late)... 

Midnight is not late at all:

Another interesting fact is still in connection with the different life rhythm. Let's look some typical examples what you can see and hear if you are sitting on the terrace of a pub at midnight on the weekend: passing cars, people who are cycling, walking, walking with their dogs, drunk youngsters, laud music from a neighboring party or the tired neighbors who are shouting: silence, please (or in worse case it is not a "please").

But here you can hear and see one more thing: the noise of the children who are playing on the playground at midnight!

And if you prefer ice-cream instead of beer, don't worry: the ice-cream stands are still opened:) 

Eating habits

To be honest I prefer the Catalan cuisine instead of Hungarian. Much more vegetables, fruits, seafoods, and fortunately, a bit less sugar and fat. But if we just speak about foods, the difference is not that big. Hungary and Spain is not that far from each other, so most of the foods that exist at home are usually exist here and on the other way back.
The big difference is, again, yes, the time:  

Well, breakfast at about 8.00, that is normal, for me also. Coffee and maybe some extra food at about 10:30. Lunch: late enough, between 14.00 or 15.30 (for me it is between 13.00 - 14.30). It is all right, but the dinner time!

When I, the Hungarian finish work at 19.00,  I have dinner after, between 19.00 and 20.00. On the weekends it can be between 18.00 and 19.00 (as it is normal in my country). Honestly, I tried to change it, but i can’t. On the evening I usually go to run, and I can’t with full stomach and what even worse: I cannot sleep with full stomach. (Of course it is possible that I’m hungry later, and then I eat, but only a fruit or some vegetables, that's all.) But here people start to have dinner at about 21:30. (When I do have dinner between 18.00-20.00, they have a small tea: e.g. a croissant.) It is just a possible beginning, 22.00 or 23.00 is also normal. Well, it is ok, it's up to the culture. But, the big question for me: if they eat so late why are Catalans not fat? 

The unforgettable kisses: 

I'm sorry, it is something that I really hate and I can not get used to that. But yes, it is a cultural difference, there is nothing to do against it. I know that the forms of greetings are really different all over the world and even all over Europe. There are cultures where everybody kiss anybody else, even boys each other, or cultures where people neither kiss on the cheek each other nor shake hands. 

The Hungarian way is on the middle: if we are introduced to somebody, we shake hands, very rarely if I’m introduced to a close friend of my close friend, it's possible to give kiss on the cheek, but I prefer not to do it with a stranger. Boys shake hands, boys and girls shake hands and/or give two kisses, girls and girls shake hands and/or give two kisses. (Hmmm, it seems quiet complicated.:) And later if we have a good relationship with somebody we automatically give two kisses on the cheek. 

But here…

No handshaking, just kisses for the first time. In this way I managed to kiss lots of people: in offices like Consell Comarcal of La Seu d'Urgell (the local administration and government organ), the  editor-boy in Pirineus TV, and - my favorite - once I managed to kiss a major:). 

I'm afraid all of my „partners” felt that I’m not on a friendly terms with this habit, for this reason, often I can’t find the right side to start the procedure, step too close and step to their feet or because of it I loose my balance and almost tumble down, but definitely become totally ridiculous...

So, these are my favorites, but I found some new almost every day, and don't worry I'm going to share them.

Molina/Malaga (Mid-Term Training) 13-16 Septembre

      I was really excited about this training, Because I was going to meet my friends who are from my last training in Malaga. We could talk what we are feeling after 2 and a half months about our project. I really wanted to know what they are thinking and feeling now. First of all, I missed them, surely.
      Eva and me got in train to go to training and then Eva realized that her friends who are from her last training in Camaruga. So I thought that this training could be very crowded. After 4 hours, we arrived to Malaga train station. Everybody come to meet in there and finally we had meet again! Unfourtanetly some friends wasn´t going to be in this training.Then we went to Molina and the hostel that we will stay.
      There were about 70 volunteers who were from almost every contry in  Europe.After dinner, we had to be in meeting-room. And in there, we meet with training team. They presented theirselves to us.
       Next day, we started to training at 9.30, after breakfast. There were 5 groups, each group had own trainer. In my opinion . it wasn´t good idea because each person could know and spend time with volunteers who are in same group. So, for example, in my groupe there were 15 persones, I talked and shared my ideas just with them.
       Anyway, fisrtly we started to talk about our project. And we played some games for get to know each other. Our trainer encouraged us to talk about our problems and everybody started to talkwhat they don´t like or they don´t have in their project. In my groupe, almost everybody was content to their evs, of course they had some problems about pocket money, food, flatmate,project but although they were happy.
        If it is necessary to be honest , I said my one problem that is spanish course. As I saw in this training, my spanish was bad, it was really hard to understand them.
        At night, there was cultural night. Volunteers presented culturel of region that they live in Spain. There were 22 volunteers from Catalunya. We showed the other volunteers Sardana Dance and Human Tower. However we wrate some sentences to show them what are te differents between Catalan and Spanish. And we watched other volunteers´s presentation. Galicia, Andalucia, Madrid, Castella y Leon, Canarias... I t was really funny. In that way, we could understand better each other.

         Second day, our trainer gave us some informations how can we fill in our Youthpass and he told us what should we do for it. And he gaved us contact of National Agence, if it can be necessary. And we created the photo of our project. What do we feel? Why do we like or not our project?.... It was really good opportunity to realize that.
        At night, there was a creative night like costume night. Everybody weared colorful costume and we danced a lot. It was great, And we wathced some videos that training team preapered us. Ther were about volunterism, of course.
        I really liked this training, we learned and realized a lot of things about evs. And they listened our problems and feelings. However they wanted to know what can we offer for next volunteer and next training.
        In my opinion, with this kind of trainings, we can get to know new friends. For me, one best thing, because in this way, I can learn, their culture and their think of way.., sure, it´s impossible to know everything about them, but, it can be enough to have general ideas.