My April by Denisa

April was definitely month, when I felt that spring/summer is coming for the first time…and also thought that my volunteering service is slowly, but surely coming to an end (since I am past my mid-term as well) is more present now. At the beginning of April, the youth centre had a special visitor – ESC volunteer from smaller youth centre in Jõgeva. Even though the whole idea was to “shadow” our work and daily duties in youth centre, it was more about just spending quality time together. But of course, we also had a “tour” through youth centre and supervised the hobby horsing class together. Fortunately, it was one of the busier days, so it was easier to present the youth centre during such lively day! Other out of order event that took place this month was youth party in Sakala centre. According to the plan, there were two DJ sets and highlight of the evening was singer Säm. I was kinda surprised that he came just for really short period of time though and didn’t stick for longer even after the concert to take photos with kids and give autographs. Especially because of conversations that I had with couple of kids, who were a bit sad for this reason. Since every month is an individual activity awaited from me, in April I went for European-Union-countries-themed Kahoot quiz. I made 30 questions concerning whatever – flags, national dishes, famous buildings or questions like which country is known as “land of roses” etc. Shortly before the event, I was concerned, but eight kids showed up last minute and were even competitive! The last event that comes to my mind when I think of month of April was helping to decorate venue, where non-stop dance marathon took place (sweet community event, organised by dance teacher from university, where mostly students from university participated). No kidding I got broom that was taller than me!

My April by Ilia

April was a really enjoyable and refreshing month for me. I could already feel the arrival of spring, and the warmer weather in Estonia made everything feel more positive and lively. My month started with a trip to Stockholm, Sweden, together with my Spanish friend. We spent three days exploring the city, and it was a wonderful experience. It was great to travel, discover a new place, and enjoy the atmosphere of Stockholm. Back at the youth center, we organized and participated in a treasure hunt activity around Viljandi. The game involved visiting different locations in the city and answering questions. As volunteers, we also made sure that all QR codes were correctly placed. It was both fun and engaging, and it gave us a chance to explore Viljandi in a more interactive way. Another activity we held was a TV show screening for the young people. We watched the comedy series The Middle, which the kids really enjoyed. They were very engaged and expressed interest in continuing the series. In the middle of April, we celebrated European Youth Week, during which I organized three different events. The first was a movie night where we watched Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, which fit perfectly with the theme of European culture. I also organized a memory card game competition, which was both fun and interactive. Lastly, I hosted a cooking event where we prepared Turkish-Georgian style chicken wraps (kebabs). This was especially meaningful, as I explained the cultural background of the dish, including its connection to post-Easter traditions in Georgia. It was both educational and enjoyable for the participants. Towards the end of the month, we also took part in a non-stop dance event. Together with Gert, Merlin, and Denisa, we helped organize and decorate the space. It was my first time being involved in such an event, and it was a really nice experience to see how everything comes together. Overall, April was a very positive month for me. With the arrival of spring, better weather, and many engaging activities, I truly enjoyed this period. I’m looking forward to the next few months and hope they will be just as enjoyable and fulfilling.

My March by Denisa

March was month, when several quite important things happened. Firstly, it was month of my mid-term, secondly, at the end of March, there is Easter (even though, as I have just witnessed, Estonians are not so passionate about it) and thirdly, it is month, when it is my birthday as well.😃 Naturally, this month I had to come up with my own event for youngsters. Since I found out “cooking classes” are the most comfortable for me – youngsters pretty much always show interest, because eating is involved, I repeated this activity again. My initial thought was to bake traditional Slovak Easter pastry, but I dismissed it in my head immediately, because of my poor baking skills. I came to conclusion that I wouldn’t ruin anything with brownie. To make it more Easter-ish, my idea was to put some mini chocolate Easter eggs on top, but at the end, we decided just to put some M&Ms on the top, since all of these colours looked bold on brown cake, while brown chocolate eggs wouldn’t stand out on brown chocolate cake. Moving on to the next thing that happened in March, there was my mid-term. It lasted for three days and my mid-term, unlike on-arrival, took place in cabin in forest close to Türi. In many ways, it was quite similar to on-arrival like the activities, games, music that we listened to, sharing-experience circles etc., but this time it was way more chill overall. Even name indicates it, on-arrival was actual training, whereas mid-term was more like chill get together. The highlight for me personally was canoe trip. It took me and my “canoe-partner” quite some time to figure out how to move the canoe straightforward without going from side to side and crashing into rocks or bushes. Except all of these accidents, we really enjoyed the views and nature surrounding us. Let’s see what April brings us!

My March by Ilia

March was a really nice month for me in Estonia, especially because the weather was sunny more often than usual. At the beginning of the month, I went to Paide Gymnasium, where I participated in an event about the European Solidarity Corps. I met a lot of young people and shared my volunteering experience, which was really enjoyable. After that, we visited Karksi-Nuia Gymnasium and did a workshop with students. They created their own volunteering project ideas, which was fun and interesting to see. We also had a visit from other volunteers and their mentor in Viljandi. Together, we went to the Viljandi Museum. Even though I’ve been living here for a while, it was my first time visiting, and I really enjoyed learning more about the history of the city. We also walked around Viljandi and showed them the town. Another activity was spring cleaning at the youth center. Together with the kids, we cleaned the garden area and collected bottles for recycling. It felt good to make the place cleaner. In the middle of the month, I traveled to Vilnius with my friends—volunteers from Germany and Spain. We had a really great time together, and the city was very beautiful. At the end of the month, I organized an Easter event. We boiled and painted eggs, and the kids really enjoyed it. We also played the egg tapping game and ate the eggs together. I also shared Georgian Easter traditions, which made it more special. Overall, March was a good month with many nice activities. I’m looking forward to the next months and more good experiences in Estonia.

My February by Denisa

Even though February is the shortest among all of the months, there were definitely important occasions for youth centre, especially two – Valentine’s day (or as it was understood in youth centre – as a friendship day) and spring break. Before the actual Valentine’s day came, we spent some time making heart-shaped paper chains and thinking (and rethinking) what can be my own event dedicated to that day. Me and my colleague agreed on organizing Valentine’s day cooking class together. It wouldn’t be proper Valentine’s day without something sweet! In spite of the fact that my initial choice of recipe was lava cake (because what would be nicer than delicious warm chocolate cake with a bit of ice cream on top?!), truth was that it would be overly complicated for youngsters unfrtunately…so we ended up with hot cocoa, heart-shaped tiny cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip cookies. I was positively surprised how eager were youngsters to prepare them (they were looking forward to tasting and eating part!). Fortunately, we just divided the tasks among youngsters and they were very helpful. My other own event took place on the last day of spring break – I have already noticed that doing ,,short cooking classes” is a safe choice for me. This time I thought of smoothie-making event, since smoothies are in my opinion easy to make, sweet and healthy at the same time (what is pretty much needed by the sweet-tooth-driven younsters) and in order to actually teach them something new, we also made homemade granola the old-fashioned way – put the mixture of oat flakes, cinnamon and whatever seeds and nuts we were craving back then, into the oven. That is all! That is the end of February. I will see what will the upcoming March bring, since it is also the month of my mid-term training.

My February by Ilia

This month started on an emotional note. I found out that my Georgian friend, another volunteer from Pärnu, was going to return home earlier than planned. I went to Pärnu to say goodbye and helped her at the airport since she wasn’t feeling well. On my way back, I stayed a day in Riga and explored the city a bit. Visiting the library there was really nice. It was beautiful and peaceful. At the Youth Center, we organized a Valentine’s Day movie night in my movie club. We watched The Theory of Everything about Stephen Hawking and after the movie we talked about unconditional love. It was a meaningful discussion for the kids and for me. In the middle of the month, I had my midterm training near Viljandi. It lasted four days. I spent time with my close friend from Spain and met other volunteers. We talked about our plans for the Youth Center and had a three-hour hike in nature, including walking on a frozen lake, which I had never done before. We also had a team-building evening at Merlin’s house. It was really fun. We had a quiz with different topics, ate homemade pizzas and just enjoyed spending time together. It felt friendly and relaxed, and I enjoyed feeling closer to my colleagues. Finally, during the school holidays, i organized an intelligence quiz for the kids. It was fun and engaging, and the kids really enjoyed participating. Overall, this month was full of meaningful moments and activities. I feel grateful for all the experiences and the people I spent time with.

My January by Denisa

This month has seemed to me as the shortest one, because of going home for Christmas. I am currently „regular supervisor“ at hobby horsing classes, but since hobby horsing classes themselves are initiative of local youngster, the only thing I have to provide for them is to help them with bringing the obstacles they usually use while galloping or water jug as refreshment. When it comes to open area, there are both busy and boring days. It is questionable, whether kids are coming because of the fact that it is so cold outside or this exact reason is the reason that they are not coming. Although not that much changed in the open area concerning our responsibilities, I got to know some kids way better and then it makes our daily chat way easier for me. January was month, when Ilia – the other volunteer was supposed to plan group activity for the team of the youth centre. He planned our own movie night, when we watched Georgian movie (the country, where he is from). I can say, that on behalf of whole youth centre staff, this movie literally opened our eyes and made us think more about this country, even though it is so far away from us and we do not know that much about it. In spite of the fact, that the movie itself was really sad one, all in all, it was nice bonding experience with sweet and salty snacks involved! Another such opportunity was staff trip to Rakvere, alongside with employees of Sakala centre. On that day, we visited brand new music centre dedicated to famous composer, visited local youth centre, museum, had lunch and later on dinner together and ended the day with theatre play in Rakvere’s theatre. As the days went by, time for my very own monthly activity for kids came. This time I took advice from my tutor, because on the monthly meeting one month before, she advised me, that it might be good idea to organise cooking class, where we would cook some simple dish, that youngsters can do by themselves at home, without the need of supervision of adults. I chose pasta with mushroom-ham-onion-sour cream and sweet snack as well – fake Raffaellos. Funny was, that I have not realised that mushrooms are kinda controversial for their age and we ended up doing two separate sauces – one with mushrooms and the other without them. Sweet snack went pretty well on the other hand! I am looking forward to the next month, since there are going to be couple of Valentine’s day related activities and I am hoping that the weather is going to be so sunny like so far but hopefully at least a bit warmer. See you next month!

My January by Ilia

The new year started in a very nice way. I celebrated New Year’s Eve in Tartu with another volunteer. After that, I returned to Viljandi and the new working year began.

During this month, we met with the people in Viljandi who are responsible for the integration of foreign residents. We had a very pleasant conversation where we talked about different opportunities in the city, such as activities, entertainment, and other possibilities for foreigners. It was a friendly and useful meeting.

We also had a team day where we talked about plans and activities for the year. We did a brainstorming activity and shared ideas for different months. It was interesting and helped us think together as a team. At the end of the day, we watched a Georgian movie called And Then We Danced. This was very important for me because my colleagues could learn more about Georgian culture through the movie. I also felt that this movie was a very good way to introduce my culture and background.

Another nice moment this month was the visit of our coordinator, Kärt, to the New Center. We talked about our work, the working environment, and different situations we experience. We had many open discussions. After that, we went to dinner at a very nice restaurant and enjoyed the evening together.

In the middle of the month, I also joined mobile work with Ellie. It was a very positive experience. I met someone who already knew me from the presentation we had given at viljandi Gymnasium. This made me feel appreciated, and we had a good conversation.

At the end of the month, we organized another movie night, this time with children. We watched a thriller movie, had snacks, and talked about the movie afterward. The movie night was enjoyable, and the discussion helped the children think more about the story and the characters.

Overall, this month was full of good experiences, teamwork, and meaningful moments, and it was a good start to the new year.

My December in Viljandi by Ilia

Hello, Ilia here. December was a really nice and festive month, full of Christmas spirit and meaningful activities. The month started with two days at school, where we visited Viljandi Gymnasium on the 3rd and 5th of December. During these visits, we gave presentations about volunteering and introduced the Erasmus+ volunteering program to the students. Since the 5th of December is International Volunteering Day, it was a perfect opportunity to show young people what possibilities volunteering can offer. We also shared our cultures and got to know the Viljandi community better.

Another highlight of the month was attending the Viljandi Christmas Market together with Ege and Merlin. It was a very nice experience, and I met many people from the local community. I also helped work with young people and took part in decorating the youth center, which made the atmosphere even more festive.

Later in the month, I traveled to Tallinn to meet other volunteers. We had a great event there with our organization and shared experiences together.
In the youth center we also organized a movie screening with my movie club, where we watched A Christmas Mystery, which was a lovely and cozy experience.

In the last days of the month, we participated in running a Billie Eilishthemed escape room. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to be part of such an interactive and engaging event to finish the month.

My December in Viljandi by Denisa

I must admit that December passed so quickly! As shops put their Christmas decorations on (even though they already did so after Halloween), I helped a bit too, to decorate our youth centre. I decorated two tiny Christmas trees and when other colleagues put fairy lights around windows, Christmas atmosphere in our workplace could begin!

Since there is former volunteer residing in Viljandi – currently working as a Estonian teacher in Viljandi Gümnaasium, she found an oppourtunity for me and my „co-volunteer“ to hold a presentation about our home countries and our cultures for students of upper classes in school mentioned above. We had to present for three groups, one on one day and other two, two days later. Fortunately, we got really nice feedback and questions from both students and teachers.

Later that month, as we agreed with colleagues at the beginning of the my project, for each month, each colleague has to organize one informal fun event, it was my turn this time. I just came up with an idea and fortunately I got a lot of support from my colleagues. The plan was to visit one of the bogs nearby and have a little hike together. We had pretty okay weather that day, made nice pictures and spent time together. On the same evening, I went to local restaurant, where we had Christmas dinner also with other people than current staff. Multiple courses were provided and even tiny Christmas gifts were handed, as we all participated in secret Santa.

At the end of same week, coordinator from coordinating organization planned Christmas hangout with other fellow volunteers. We did some Christmas handicrafts to decorate the hostel itself a bit, we went to the beach, saw Christmas market and just overall chatted about our experiences and issues that are happening to us since the last time that we saw each other.

During the last final week, before youth centre closed for Christmas break, I held my very own Christmas event. It can be described as a combo of Christmas-themed quiz and preparation of really quick and easy sweet snacks with no need to bake them. We prepared bananas dipped in melted chocolate and then freezed them for couple minutes in fridge, in order for them to be served rightaway and „fake“ cheesecake from crushed bits of butter biscuits, sweet curd and chocolate or frozen fruit on the top. December felt super busy, but super fast at the same time. I am looking forward for new month and its new challenges!

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. From 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!

My ESC Month in Viljandi – October Summary by Denisa 

My name is Denisa and currently I am a volunteer in VANT in Viljandi, southern Estonia. My and my „co-volunteer’s“ tasks during our working hours are both, to keep an eye on youngsters spending their free time in youth centre and if they are up to, to hang out with them, play games of their choice or just talk to them, what was their day like. Since we both as volunteers are considered members of VANT’s staff, we got a chance and space to organize an event of our own. The choice that we made for the first time, to test the waters as people say, was a movie night, which took place in seminary room. Beforehand the best idea, how to decide the film, which is going to be watched, was to start a poll on Instagram, where young people, who follow youth centre on social media could vote, which one of the three movies, we agreed on (based on small „internet research“ that we have done in advance – to find a suitable movie for age range we chose) they have found the best in their opinion. „Participants“ of such poll were movies Gifted, Wonder and Storm Boy. Storm Boy was the winner, so we brought chairs to make the seminary room cozier for the event, brought pop corn and fruit as refreshment and  essentially tried for the first time, what it is like to organize an event for children, even though it was just a few of them. Other event that took place and I was part of  was cooking class (I participated in cooking class of other volunteer as well, where we prepared Georgian national dish called Haçapuri). Since being Slovak means to be fed by mainly meat-,  potato- and sauerkraut-based food, I thought that youngsters would appreciate someting sweet way more, so I came up with Slovak recipe called Slivkové gule (Plum dumplings). Collectively, we prepared one dough, but then each kid formed dumplings filled with plum of their own. I presented my country a bit more to them, while working on a dough and we listened to Slovak today’s hits as well. Overall I reflect on my experience working in such youth centre as positive and enriching one, even though I have never tried such job before. I am looking forward to be part of new VANT’s events and see how this entire adventure broadens my horizon! 

My ESC Month in Viljandi – October Summary by Ilia 

My name is Ilia and October was my first full month at Viljandi Youth Center, and I am really happy about how it went. It was full of new experiences, fun moments, and chances to share my culture and learn new things. My first activity in the youth center was about my country, Georgia. I wanted to show other people where I come from and tell them more about my culture. I printed some pictures and information about Georgia and put them on our information board, so everyone could see them. I also translated everything into Estonian, so all young people could understand. There were photos, facts, and also information about our traditional food. I felt really proud to show a part of my country to others. Later, I joined a cooking class with Merlin, where we cooked Adjarian Khachapuri, a famous Georgian dish. It is bread with cheese and egg inside, and it was really delicious. The young people liked it a lot, and it made me happy to share something from my culture. It was also fun to cook together and talk about Georgian food. After that, I wanted to do an activity that connects to what I love, movies. Together with my co-volunteer Denisa, we organized a movie night. We watched Storm Boy, a really nice movie about friendship and caring for animals. The kids liked it, and we also talked about the message of the movie. It was nice to see that they enjoyed it and understood the meaning. When I look back, I feel very good about my first month at Viljandi Youth Center. I had the chance to show my culture, cook my traditional food, and organize my first activity. I met many great people and learned a lot from them. I feel proud of what I did and excited for the next months. I want to keep doing more activities, learn more about Estonian culture, and continue sharing my own culture with others.