My November in Viljandi by Denisa
Tere sõbrad!
My second month started kinda untraditionally – we were invited to celebrate Sakala centre’s 72nd birthday! On that evening, Sakala centre was filled with laughter, music to dance to and it could be considered as another event for us, to bond like a team. A few days later, on 7th of November Estonians were celebrating Father’s day.
During that week, I have seen multiple young people preparing hand-made cards for their dads or thinking what easy recipe they can try to cook or bake in honour of their fathers. Since it being important and family-focused holiday in Estonia, youth centre organized its own Father’s day café in Sakala centre. A few days in advance, I helped kids a bit in kitchen, while they were preparing sweet snacks, which were supposed to be sold at café – from pizza rolls to cake pops!
As the half of the month was approaching, me and my „co-volunteer“ organized our third own event. This time we came up with quiz consisting of 10 categhories, for example clothing brands, famous people or even Estonian towns. Inspite of the fact that we had some technical difficulties, at the end we handled it and the group of kids, which participated turned out to be more competitive than I thought before! Surprisingly, they knew more about sports or actors/actresses than about Estonian towns. The winner won bag full of candies. F
rom 16th November till 19th November our on-arrival training took place in second biggest town in Estonia – Tartu. It was unique opportunity, where we could share issues, that we come across as total foreigners living in foreign country with people, who are in totally same situation. We played fun games, discussed and went out with other volunteers.
On 18th even our mentors came, so that day was so-called full-house for hotel, where we stayed. Of course, after shops stopped selling Halloween decorations, they automatically moved to Christmas, not just in displays in shops, but also in our minds. One or two times, I sat down with few kids in seminary room, turned on Christmas music and we made couple of our very own Christmas decorations for youth centre. I have to think of Christmas-themed event soon!
My November in Viljandi by Ilia
Hi, Ilia here! November was a pretty nice month for me as a volunteer. The biggest activity we organized was a game called “Guess It.” Young people joined in, and it turned out to be super fun. We all learned a bunch about different cultures and famous people, and of course we had a prize for the winner plus candy for everyone, which made it even better.
We also went to the Sakala Center birthday party, where we enjoyed a concert and took some really nice pictures together with coworkers. I also took part in the On-Arrival Training in Tartu, where we spent four days meeting other volunteers, sharing experiences, and just enjoying the time together.
Another important moment was my tutor day, where my tutor and I talked about some agreements and made plans for the future. During the month, I helped kids decorate Father’s Day price tags. And also we made some Christmas decorations together with the kids, definitely a really nice experience.
Lastly, at the end of the month, I went with other volunteers to Oslo for a weekend trip to explore Scandinavia a bit more. It was a really cool experience as well! Excited for next month and all the new activities to come. Bye!
