Projekti "Muudame noortega töö nähtavaks" toetab SA Archimedese noorteagentuur Euroopa Solidaarsuskorpuse programmist.
… and grill yourself in a sauna, that’s what I did this month. Even though pandemic circumstances I had the chance to participate in several events related to Estonian holidays and to get to know more of the traditions 😊 (Spoiler alert: I consumed a lot of vastlakukkel 😂) Also I organized a little public event on my own (with Matviy): A treasure hunt. Well let’s say, next time we’ll do it better 😅. The execution process made me even cry. Why?
To make it clear, the planning drove me a bit mental, but the three tears I lost on the preparation were rather caused by the physical pain of loosing a glove while hiding treasures in the middle of the night, running somewhere in the nowhere through a dark park. Oh, and not unimportant to notice: Of course, it had a lot of snow and -17 degrees 🙄. Not optimal for my fingers lol. Well, as you can see, I didn’t freeze them off, but all in all I really hope that it was more fun for the participants solving our weird riddles than for us preparing the stuff haha. But for the next time I don’t have to worry: The temperatures will be higher, for sure😅
As I was saying. A treasure hunt event was held in early February.
We had 8 towns, 35 bags of treasures, 1 month to work out, all kinds of maps and diagrams, a brain half-filled with everyday tasks, and a whole set of ideas that had undergone changes and edits. Not that all this was absolutely necessary for the project, but if you have already begun to collect a collection, then you need to approach the matter seriously.
I just arrived in Estonia a month ago. This is my first independent trip abroad. We say "the first pancake is lumpy." So I thought when I was going to leave and did not know what to pack with me.
So I thought when I was in quarantine and looking at the fireworks in isolation. So I thought when I didn’t know if I could cope with the tasks assigned to me during the project ... The feeling that I am a wild cat, which was first released from the cage into the wild. Here is Valga. Here's her youth center. Here is Lüllemae and her youth center. Here Hargla, Tsirkulina, Viljandi and this cat rushed wherever they looked.
For me, the new year started with the same problems as the last one. Corona and the associated quarantine. After spending the first few days of 2021 in Germany I flew back to Tallinn from the new airport in Berlin, where I got tested for COVID-19 free of charge. I’d like to talk about how beautiful the capital of Estonia is, but city exploration doesn’t come in handy with a suitcase and a tired body and mind after two days of traveling. When I finally arrived in Valga and was picked up from my tutor, I barely noticed the snowy landscape of the country that build up over the time I spent in Germany.
So there I was again...quarantined in Estonia in a small village, but this time it was quite cold outside, so I had no intention to go for a walk. As a result of this not being my first quarantine, I consider myself an expert of killing endless hours in solitude.
Let's have a brief look at what I have done as I approach the 3rd month of
my volunteering adventure in Estonia. If you want to volunteer in Estonia, thistime under certain headings to i will try to give inspire you.I will write about how I continue to have fun despitethe day-to-day cold weather.
Lihtsad Näoilmed Koomiksi Stiilis (Simple Face Expressions in Cartooon Style):
For me, volunteering means sharing something or a skill that I can do with people from different cultures and values and learning while teaching.
Tõrva Youth Center offers me an opportunity to use my skills and talents for children. One of them is that I can record my drawings, photos, and memories with children with a camera. I posted a video where I draw simple caricature facial expressions for kids to inspire. While editing the video, I had to learn a new program. Because the file of the videos was too big to edit on the phone. If you want to use it or need it, I recommend the "shotcut" program. You can easily learn the features that will be useful for you in just 2 days.
… that’s what January brought to me. Even if some events like the Rockklubi got cancelled thanks to our friend “C. “, I did definitely not lack of entertainment this month. Since the new year started with a lot of snow and two-digit minus degrees, I took advantage of the cold weather and discovered a new hobby. Furthermore, I got the chance to visit a few new places in Estonia, I had my on-arrival training and breaking news: I am not “home alone” anymore! Why this occurrence changed my eating habits drastically and what made me shiver this month, you will find out in this post 😉
But work things first…
After a fantastic start of 2021 in Pärnu, it was time to work again, so I continued helping in Valga Youthcenter. In the mid of January, it was finally the time to re-open Tsirguliina Youthcenter, which made me really happy, since I haven’t seen the youngsters for a long time. I have to admit that the first days were really calm, but after the arrival of our new PS4 the rooms where suddenly filled with curious kids and teenagers, eager to try out “Just Dance 2021” 😏.
The beginning of December is always the opening to a fabulous time of the year. That also applied to Estonia, Hargla and the Youth Center. While I had an advent calendar with sweet cookies or gingerbread when I was young, the youngsters in Hargla had a different activity focused around Christmas every day to up to the 24th this year. We obviously started with decorating the rooms on the first days but the most fun activities for the kids and me were when we made a traditional German advent wreath and birdseed cookies.
And while I thought for my whole life handcrafting a wreath is a pure display of skill, I again encountered the magics of the modern time. The World wide web. There are tons of people just eager to tell you how to do it. So some youngsters and I put on our jackets and got out into the snowy area in front of the youth center to gather some green. Thinking about this I’m sure a was just minutes away from my hands dying because of the freezing temperatures, while the kids with me started to open their jackets because it apparently was too warm for them…
