Let’s follow an empty houses…

One of the biggest New Year resolutions for us was to travel more during our stay in Georgia (we must admit that winter time makes as a little bit lazy ;). Our first travel destination was Telavi in the east part of Georgia. Kriska and Sophie (2 new EVS in Rustavi working for SiQA organization) decided to join us.  Kara –their lovely mentor offered us to be our driver and guide. Thanks to that we were able to see much more then only Televi old town.  The trip was full of gooood music, fog (also a cigarette fog in the car) and bad smell of old reheated Khaczapuri (my fault, my fault, and so on..)

First place on our list (okay, it appears on our list by accident) was ruins of Ujarma Castel.  Some small climbing, some running..

After that we achieved a major (but not the best) point in our trip – Telavi. And in the castle "Korchibashishvilebis Tsikhe" some short but really nice love story just began…young, but really handsome boy follow our every step, showing a secret (unfortunately not open) doors. He also told us an illustrated (by a famous pictures on the walls) story about him, our Sophie (- his future wife and their beautiful child). Unfortunately he escaped as soon as he joined us…

The next and the best destination was Cinandali where we could find one of the most beautiful plant of wine in Georgia. Garden with a lot of different kind of all-time green trees. This view caused that the soul of real Tarzan (Spider-man?) came out of some of us!

…and some us decided to cheer up the broken <3 with the best wine ever…

And the best kiss ever ;)….

And best dogs ever <3

But every of us must agreed that the Telavi is a city full of Empty Houses and that was the biggest attraction for US <3.

In the next chapter you will see why…

  

 Agnieszka (Text),

Yoann, your apprentice journalist (Pictures).

Christmas in Sweden

Arrived to Sweden 20th of December after a long trip from Tbilisi - Riga - Stockholm - Gothenburg and then finally Vänersborg. It was really nice to meet all family and friends again after 6 months in Georgia.

Here is a picture of my family during christmas:

Beacause of the economic crisis we only invited 200 guests this year:

It feels nice to be back in Georgia!

EVS and young people from Rustavi

The 11 of December, volunteers received some young people from Rustavi to have activities. It was  a very nice day for all.

The entire group (without me because I took the photo)

Twister's game



We share a meal together : lentil soup !



Preparation of a flag cookie

cookies club

Artistic creations



Yoann, your apprentice journalist.

Agnieszka and Adam in Signagi

What is OAT?

Info pack says: “The main objective of the on-arrival training is to introduce the volunteers to the host country, preparing them for the service period and the EVS experience. On-arrival training helps the volunteers adapt to cultural and personal challenges. It allows volunteers to get to know each other and to build a network. Volunteers should also receive guidance on conflict prevention and crisis management.”

That’s the theory:)

 

It’s very funny, that training which should prepare us for volunteering in Georgia, happens almost 2 months after our arrival :)  Some of the volunteers arrived to Georgia earlier, some later, organizers from Salto has to find out the date which suite for everybody, so I think  the golden mean was achieved.

23^rd-27^th of November – during those days we’ve met in Sighnaghi, in a cozy Old Signagi Hotel. 25 volunteers from Poland, Romania, France, Lithuania, Germany and Italy had a chance to exchange experiences, meet each other and tell stories about their adventures in hosting countries- Georgia and Azerbaijan. Our trainers- Giorgi, big Giorgi, Anna and Tomek put a lot of energy to make it more attractive and fun and the same time. They make a great job!

Signagi is really charming at night

As you can guess, during every-day program, most of the time (except coffee and lunch brakers) we spent on the workshops, learning more about EVS, about ourselves and Georgia. Then, the nights should be used for relax and having a rest, but of course we use this time for integration process :)

Everything what’s good, terminates fast… faster then we could expect :)

with locals:)

With all the people we exchange contacts so hopefully there’s gonna be a chance to visit and meet each other again. Some of them are coming to Rustavi in forthcoming weekend, we can’t wait to meet them!!! :) 
              Adam

Promotion of EVS at University Ilia States

On the 2 of December, Agnieszka, Emelie, Adam, Albin, Misha, Lekso and me, we were in Tbilisi at the Ilia States University for promoting EVS.

Lekso talked in Georgian for introduce the European program : Youth in Action.

The 2^nd point is for EVS and he talked more longer of it.

After this presentation, the students spoke with us for more precisions or just meet some concrete real European Volunteers.

Yoann, your apprentice journalist.