Follow your heart 2
The second month passed very quickly. But the question remained: am I still following my heart? Yes, absolutely.
First of all, the fact I work at school doesn‘t mean I teach the students all the time. Because of my interest in youth policy and education, I am interested in comparing education systems in Lithuania and Slovenia. Hard to admit, but English was my least favorite subject at school. Therefore, not only that I learn Slovenian here, but I also improve my English. I was surprised that this school is celebrating Halloween. On Friday evening, just before the fall holiday, students gathered at the school and attended various workshops organized by the teachers. I helped organize a reading workshop. Think the reading workshop is uninteresting? You are wrong! Sensory path, special effects … All this made the reading workshop one of the best!
Cooking workshop.
What is more, once a week I work at the youth center. We are currently preparing for the awards “ZOSCARS 2019”. It will be a huge event in December. I am delighted to be able to meet young people and contribute to events at the youth center. This is how I improve my other skills! Also, there are some events which are organized by international volunteers. Three international volunteers in Zagorje decided to organize an event during autumn holidays for kids. We called it “Holidays in Europe”. Why? Because it was the holidays and we wanted to share something from our countries. I shared the food, because food shows cultures the best. We cooked virtinukai, we ate it with the special cream on top. I brought šakotis, grybukai, white cheese, fried cheese, a few types of homemade jam, homemade bread. It was an amazing experience, because I missed Lithuanian food so much!
Grybukai & šakotis
And what do I do outside of work?
Together with other volunteers we participated in the culinary festival called “Funšterc” in Hrastnik. We baked traditional dish of Zasavje region “krumpantoč” (potato pancakes). We were so happy, because our krumpantoč won the 2nd place.
In September I attended on-arrival training. Throughout the week, together with other foreign volunteers in Laško, we studied and deepened our knowledge of volunteering. This training was very important as we met other volunteers and made many new friends!
On-arrival training in Laško.
I also participated and volunteered in the international youth exchange project “Volunteers without borders” in Murska Sobota. There were 37 participants from 5 European countries: Slovenia, Romania, Estonia, Hungary and … LITHUANIA! Yes, I finally had the opportunity to speak in Lithuanian again. You know, I realized that language unites.
Lithuanian cultural evening.
On 24th of October together with my colleagues from MC (mladinski center = youth center) we participated in the festival “Streetstival” in Ljubljana.
Streestival 2019.
In Slovenia there is a great opportunity to travel. Slovenia is so small country, but it has everything… Till now I have already visited Škocjan caves, Piran and Tolminska Korita. Of course I have been to Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj. Of course, there is a chance to visit neighbor countries that aren‘t far away – Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. I have already spent one weekend in Zagreb – the capital of Croatia, but I have heard Zagreb is the best Christmas city, so I am pretty sure I will come back here.
Lake Bohinj.
Piran.
So what I can say after 2 months as ESC volunteer? I fell in love with Slovenia and I am really looking forward what other adventures will come in next 7 months.
Guste
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Projekti prostovoljstva v okviru Evropske solidarnostne enote mladim nudijo priložnosti za prostovoljsko delo. Odgovarjati morajo na pomembne potrebe družbe, prispevati h krepitvi skupnosti in ob tem prostovoljcem omogočati, da pridobivajo uporabne izkušnje, veščine in kompetence za svoj osebni, izobraževalni, socialni, državljanski in profesionalni razvoj, s čimer se izboljšuje njihova zaposljivost.
Več o programu Evropske solidarnostne enote (slo. ESE, ang. ESC, bivši EVS) si lahko preberete na povezavi: http://www.movit.si/ese/projekti-prostovoljstva/