EVS Rustavi: US!

Libuše - Czech Republic

Youth exchange "Free as a bird"

Dear reader!

Have you heard what happened in Rustavi during the second week of June 7^th till 15^th june 2012)?  In the new Scout centre of Rustavi was held the Youth Exchange “Free as a bird” supported by the Youth in Action Programme and organized by Georgian youth for Europe & unesco initiatives centre. 26 people from 6 different countries Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Poland, Russia and Slovakia came to Rustavi to talk about very actual issues: immigration and freedom symbolized by birds. They spent beautiful 8 days, did a lot of interesting activities, discovered new cultures and learned a lot about Georgia and each other.

Just after the arrival in Rustavi they tasted “khinkali” and “khachapuri” and immediately fell in love with georgian cuisine. Georgian participants as great hosts prepared for their new european friends Georgian national evening, where they tasted georgian red & white wine, heard and watch georgian national songs and dances. It was also a great opportunity to get to know more each other and talk about immigration and birds in their countries. The second day they got deeper into the problems of immigration of people and after that had a lot of fun during “night of passion”, when everyone showed his/her own passion.

New sunny day started with city game prepared by long-term EVS volunteers. The aim of this game was to get to know better Rustavi in an adventurous way.  They were divided into 5 teams and got several tasks. They learned how to buy “alu bali” in bazaar, met the theatre director, who told them more about the history of Rustavi, made funny pictures with locals in park and compared the prices of “marshrutka” to Tbilisi. They found Rustavi very interesting place full of hidden secrets.

Slightly tired from hot weather, but fully motivated, we started to make proposals for the main outcome of the project in three different groups: video, photo and postcard. How to express our understanding of freedom and immigrations issues? Where should be the limits of the freedom? Is a bird really free? By the end of the looked everything more clear to us and we were ready to start working on it.

To see more interesting places of Georgia, the organizers took participants to David Gareji monastery, which included bird watching and the visit of Bodbe and Signaghi. The weather was very warm, but everyone was very impressed by the rich Georgian history and beautiful landscape.

After the excursion they started to work hard in their groups. All were very enthusiast about the topic. The main idea was to define where should be the limits of our freedom. As a bird respecting weather conditions and nature. To make a break all participants received a trash bag and went to the streets. They found it as a good way to show local people that they should care more about the environment.

To show their final work during the project and also officially open new Scout centre organizers invited locals and TV from Rustavi. It was very pleasant evening as for visitors so for participants, because they could defend their ideas and talk more about the issue directly with people.

When it came to say good bye everyone realized that everything was great and so wonderful and that it will be hard to come back home. They go we stay, but somehow they stay as well. How? Maybe we are living far from each other, but our friendship stay in our minds. 

Bonus video ;)                                                                                                            Tomáš

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJCoFG7RihU&feature=player_embedded

Trip to Borjomi

Gamarjoba!
This weekend we welcomed a new long- term volunteer from France. Her name is Floriane. We also welcomed Mariana, from Slovakia. She is a scout and will stay for one month. On Friday morning we all woke up early to go to Borjomi. Mariana and Floriane had their first Georgian meal- khachapuri and Georgian beer in a cafe in Borjomi.

On Friday night we camped by a river in Borjomi, then went to the national park on Saturday morning. We climbed up over 2000 metres. It was tiring, but a lot of fun! We met five Latvians and one Estonian at the top and slept in a wooden cabin that night. It was really cold!

On Sunday morning we climbed down and went back to Rustavi. That night we watched football in Meria. It was the final between Spain and Italy. Spain won! Viva la España!

And now, I must go because I have a Georgian lesson.

Goodbye!

- Aoife

Traditional Food

Hey! Today we invited some of our English conversation club to our flat to share some traditional Slovak and Czech food with us. Libuse made some Czech soup called "cesnecka" and pancakes called "branboraky". They tasted very good : ) We drank some beer and Tomas also gave a very interesting presentation about Slovakia and different traditions there. Tomorrow we will go to Mtskheta. See you soon!

 

- Aoife 

                                 

Hey!

It's been too long since someone has posted on this, and a lot has happened recently. We have been busy with different things happening lately. Firstly, GYE hosted a youth exchange in the newly built scout centre. Four different groups from Georgia, Estonia, Russia and Poland took part. Siu Siu loved all the attention and food during the youth exchange! The topic of it was "migration", with bird- watching also included. We organised a city game last Saturday, where the participants had to use a map to find different stations and birds around Rustavi, then give a presentation afterwards.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Albin and Emelie, who left for Sweden on Wednesday. But, we welcomed lots of new volunteers! Tomas, from Slovakia, will stay for 8 months and, Libuse, from Czech Republic will stay for 1 year. We also have four short- term volunteers from Lithuania staying for 1 month. Their names are Julija, Tomas, Romualdas and Kazimieras.

On Tuesday we went for a picnic with English Conversation Club. We had a really good time swimming and playing different games. Here we all are at Sioni.

    -Aoife