ESC Volunteering with Care2Travel in Miercurea Ciuc

Time to say goodbye

I exactly remember stepping onto the airplane at Hamburg Airport on October 1, 2023, flying off to my biggest adventure yet. In what feels like a blink of an eye, I find myself writing my last post. Time has flown by and seven months later, on May 1, 2024, I’m having my final day here in this city. A city which has become my place to be. The city where I know every stone and every tree, the city I call home where my life resides.

This chapter starts with the best roommate, beyond what I could have ever dreamed of. From day one, at Quiz Night in Café Palermo with an Aperol Spritz each, we’ve been an unbeatable duo. Okay, we did come in last place by a mile at the first Quiz Night but that was mainly due to a coat rack blocking our view of the screen and perhaps our equally poor English skills.

Looking back, I can say Candice is my biggest win. She’s more than just my roommate or teammate; she’s become my better half and best friend. But it’s not just her that made this time here so special. I believe the magic of a volunteer project lies in all the diverse people you get to meet. All those once-strangers have become my dearest friends. Despite seeming so different from the outside, we were a team. Together against the world. Cooking, celebrating, playing games, singing karaoke, playing foosball, billiards, traveling, working and living. And so much more chatting, laughing and dancing! I’ve been on the floor laughing, we’ve told stories for hours into the night, composed our own songs and practiced dance choreographies. It´s hard to imagine not to see you daily anymore. I’ll miss you all!

In various group configurations, we’ve traveled a lot. Motivated and curious, I wanted to explore every corner of this country. I was enchanted by Romania’s beautiful, untouched nature and its many diverse cities. Cluj Napoca is my favorite city and since my first big trip there was my absolute favorite moment, I went there a second time. The pasta bar across from the Jewish museum is probably the best restaurant I’ve ever been to, so I ate the same lasagna there five times in five days. Sibiu was doubly interesting to me because of its German past and turned out to be pure life. In Sighișoara, every man looks like Dracula, Brașov is my parents’ favorite city, who visited me at the end of my stay here – with one exception, I only visited Brașov’s train station, which, in contrast, can only be described as partially beautiful, like Bukarest, which, although it has its beautiful sides, especially after a cozy night in my own hotel room and subsequent Nutella waffles for breakfast, is too big, too crowded and too gray for my taste. In contrast in Timișoara it is very silent and in the beautiful old town, you quickly feel underdressed compared to all the elegantly dressed people in boots, coats, and hats. Sinaia has the best skiing area, and while hiking, my companions had to learn to wait for me. A team is only as fast as its weakest member or how was that saying? Well, when reaching the last hill, everyone else had already settled in the hut above. During my time here, I was often compared to the speed of a sloth… I left Romania for a week to make a detour to Istanbul, an adventurous bus ride with a 7-hour delay, a non-existent hotel room and Tom’s icy determination to find the best designer bargains in the winding basements made those days an adventure too.

Between all my city trips and nature explorations, where I warmly recommend the Csíksomlyó Mountain visible from my room window and the Saint Anna Lake for meeting bears, my main activity here was my volunteer project. A daily schedule with my five after-school clubs always provided a solid structure. I’ve grown fond of all these different children. Okay, I have to admit, I had favorites. The third group in Csicsó undoubtedly ranks at the top, I had the most fun in Bánkfalva and my heart belongs to Csatószeg and Szilat from Delne. Thank you for letting me accompany you all! I hope you all grow up to be the strongest, smartest and most beautiful people. From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the best!

I’ve also evolved, not only did Candice and I win the Quiz Night three times thanks to our skill of putting together the best team, my English has developed from clicking sounds and appropriately wild gestures to real conversations but I’ve also learned a new sense of belonging. It doesn’t matter where you come from, how you grew up or how old you are, we all have the same thoughts, feelings, dreams, wishes, needs and interests. We are much more alike than I thought, we need each other and should work together to make this world a better place. People should listen to each other more, take care of each other, learn from each other, protect our earth and above all not forget themselves.

I’m more than grateful for all the small and big conversations I’ve had with all these beautiful people here. I got to share so much of myself, listen to stories and inspiring words from others, get to know their cultures and new perspectives. I feel strengthened in myself now and realize that I am part of this worldly society.

For me, it’s time to close this chapter. A time that nobody else can understand or repeat. That was my adventure, my life, my secret and will forever be only my memory. I hope I could give you at least a little insight and if you get the chance for an adventure like this, then please take it! I’m going home with a heart full of love, countless moments and the best and most beautiful friends spread out all over the world. It’s not a goodbye, it’s a see you later.

And one last time I want to ask: What time is it?

It´s time to say goodbye.

~ Gesine

full of love

Hi, I would like to share some very nice stories with you, that have happened to me in the last weeks and days, both with the volunteers and the children.

As before, we did the same things in the office (preparing for activities, attending language classes, weekly evaluations, etc.) and the same way we went to the foster homes. But what was the difference between March and April? The fact that there were a lot of activities to go to, which I am very grateful for.

Let’s get started. At the beginning of the month, Rebecca, Paula and I went to Budapest, a trip we had planned maybe in October or November. This trip started because Rebecca and I wanted to go to a concert, more precisely to the 5th birthday concert of Carson Coma at the MVM Dome. So this trip turned into a whole weekend, as they hadn’t been to Budapest before and wanted to see the sights. We arranged the itinerary so that I didn’t go with them to the places I had been to several times before, so I had time to meet with some friends and then rejoin them. It was nice to get out and relax a bit.

Afterwards, when we arrived home, although I still had the day off, I attended the first Campfire Talk organised by Africa and Gus in the garden. I really enjoyed the whole thing, as Gus just talked about a few things and afterwards we had a small talk about the topic (gardening) and we made our own hotdogs and marshmallows.

But alongside these, we also had to prepare two special English clubs on democracy and elections. I especially liked the second one better as we all had to write a persuasive text and read it out loud and had to vote for the new mayor of Csíkszereda.

In mid-April we started to go on excursions again, as we hadn’t done any excursions in our first weeks, so we did them before Paula left. On the first day, we visited Parajd and its surroundings, where I’ve been a lot and there weren’t really any new things for me, except that the salt mine is a bit more crowded and has various new things since I had been there (about 10+ years ago). On this day we also went to Sighisoara which is quite close to the village where I live, so at the end of the day we visited my parents and had a coffee. On Friday we went to Red Lake, but before that, we visited Lázár Castle where I had never been before. It’s in a pretty dilapidated state, but the view was very nice. Maybe it was the day I got to see more new things and see places I had already visited with different eyes.

The week after that was a busy one, but perhaps one of the most emotional, as we visited two schools. On the first day of the week we visited the Márton Áron school where we took part in a living library event, which meant that each volunteer was surrounded by several students and we sat down and talked about volunteering, experiences and also took time to talk about things that the students had suggested and asked about. The next day we had the chance to look at a different event, as the volunteers of the organization organized a clothes exchange event and we took clothes there, as well as the people who came there. The clothes that were left will be donated to the disadvantaged people. As I said, we were in two schools during the week, and on the last days of the week, we were in the other school in Csíkszentsimon twice. On both days we met with different classes. On the first day, we met with 12-13 year olds, and on the second day we met with 14-15 year olds and gave them a little presentation about volunteering and then we continued with a green activity. These two days were surprising for me because, in a village school, the children were much more interested, asked a lot of questions, and even collected signatures from us.

In the last days of the month, we had another farewell series as four of our ESC volunteers went home – Alex, Candice, Gesine, and Paula. It was difficult parting from each of them, but we didn’t say goodbye forever.

However, I will say goodbye to you now and see you in the next blog post.

-Nóra-

The Green Extension of the Activity Booklet has arrived!

We are happy to announce that the Green Extension of the Activity Booklet for our first European Solidarity Corps volunteering activity in the 1st year of our Quality Label, with the project number 2022-1-RO01-ESC51-VTJ-000067991, titled “Activities for Disadvantaged Children in Foster Care Homes” is finally finished!

Our volunteers Dorottya Deák from Hungary, Cristina Alcivar Avila from Spain, Lucie Taillard from France and Paula Katharina Brennecke from Germany created the Green Extension throughout their ESC Volunteering activity. All the hard work payed off – congrats to them!

It contains lots of green activities which you can play with kids to raise awarness for the environment. These games were all tested and approved by our volunteers.

The content of this booklet does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. The responsibility for the information and views expressed in the booklet rests entirely with the author(s).

On the link below you can access the Green Extension of the Activity Booklet:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OBoC1i9IQFhlpKYbIDW3z4xC8ItF4Ek9/view?usp=sharing

Results of the “Activities for Disadvantaged Children in Foster Care Homes“ project

Our first European Solidarity Corps 🇪🇺 volunteering activity in the 1st year of our Quality Label, with the project number 2022-1-RO01-ESC51-VTJ-000067991, titled “Activities for Disadvantaged Children in Foster Care Homes” has come to an end.🤝🙏

The project is funded by the EU🇪🇺 through the European Commission.

Between the 15th of September 2022 and the 3rd of May 2024 Care2Travel Association hosted 4 European Solidarity Corps volunteers from the European Union who worked with children in foster care homes to try and help them develop themselves and to teach them English through non-formal learning activites. 🎉📣✅🆒

The main focus of this volunteering activity was on the environmental protection. 🌍🌲♻️💚

Our volunteers Dorottya Déak from Hungary 🇭🇺, Cristina Alcivar Avila from Spain 🇪🇦, Lucie Taillard from France 🇨🇵 and Paula Katharina Brennecke from Germany 🇩🇪 have organized and participated in numerous programs to reach their goals. 💪🦸‍♀️

Here we list their achievements, which they reached by their dedication and work and can be proud of. 🙂😍

The results of the “Activities for Disadvantaged Children in Foster Care Homes” ESC volunteering activity are the following: 💚

travelling to VARNA & BUDAPEST!

Hello dears, Rebecca here! You have to know that I am naturally a curious person, and since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to do much, see, and come across something new. I deeply envied my friends that could do experiences abroad and had seen so much, lived everything I never did. I used to be so press about it now that I think about it. Anyway, it’s with a light heart that I say that those days are behind, and I’m finally quenching my thirst of discovering and breathing new air. Living abroad and visiting the country I’m living in gives peace to my soul.

But I’m even more grateful because in this past month I had the opportunity to visit two new countries. Two new countries in two weeks, the Rebecca of the past would have been GREEN with envy; I know she’d be so jealous right now. This Easter me, Paula, Alex and Ashley decided to spend the vacation in Bulgaria, Varna, so let me tell you a bit about that.

Step one was waking up in the morning, saying goodbye to Greta and Valentina, who were going back home, crying my eyes out, and finding out that our first flixbus was three hours late and it wouldn’t have arrived in time for us to take the second one. So, we took the train. Arrived to Bucharest in the evening, we got on board of a flixbus that was as the size of a minivan, and prepared ourselves to spend the night there. We arrived in Varna in the early morning, around 4 am, and walked to our accommodation. I knew from the moment we step out of the bus that I liked the city: almost no cars around during night, clean streets, the smell of the sea in the air. All of a sudden, spring hit me. And I was right, Varna was the pretties city: big parks, the sea, the walkable streets with ice cream parlors, coffee bars, people playing music and selling art. Nice people who helped us out, tourists, foreign students who study at the international universities. It felt fresh. I felt so stupid at first, because I had no idea that Bulgarian used the cyrillic alphabet, I found out only when reading the signs on the supermarkets. Also I realized I didn’t even know how to say “hi” in Bulgarian, but it didn’t feel that important, because people were nice anyway and used to not well informed people like me. I felt so grateful all of a sudden for the people I was surrounded by, my friends, and being able to spend time with them at the beach, on Easter, creating a memory that will warm me up one day. With perfect weather, we saw the city, the sea, the stone forest, and that was pretty much it. In the evening we watched movies, on the couch, while eating our dinner; it felt so good. We didn’t stay there much, just three days, but I’ll come back and see what we didn’t see, I feel it. These were kind days, I’m grateful.

Then we came back to Romania, worked a couple of days, and prepared our bags again: me, Paula and Nóra had a concert in Budapest to attend.

We took the night train, invested those 10 euros that separated us from the sleeping coaches, and had the time of our lives by just having a decent night of sleep on a train.

Budapest was so vast and various man, so many people from around the world, everyone speaking English, so many things to see and do. I loved Buda, the hill, walking all the way up to the Liberty statue, the Danube, Margaret Island. Everywhere there was a different restaurant, I would have stopped to eat in each one of them. The second night we went to the MVM Dome and finally we were surrounded exclusively by Hungarians and no one else: it was time for our concert. The band was Carson Coma, which I discovered before leaving Italy, when I was looking for a fun way to learn Hungarian. The lead singer is half Italian and they have a couple of songs in Italian (which no one cares about), so I felt a sort of connection. The concert was great, the people around us were cool and I felt comfortable. At one point I sort of disconnected and wondered how the hell I ended up in that situation, surrounded by Hungarians, in a city I had never been in before, listening to songs I didn’t even understand the lyrics of. It’s strange where the wind takes you sometimes. Then they played the song I listened to on repeat before and while leaving for Romania and I felt sentimental for a second. I remember I had literally no idea of what to expect, and had no idea at all of what was waiting for me.

The last day we went to the thermal baths, and I imagined how it was going there in the middle of the winter, in the ‘30s, spending all the day there. I allowed myself to not do or think about anything, and rest, look at the blue mosaics on the walls.

On the train back home we met a woman who was also going back to Csíkszereda and that lives near our apartment. She was really kind and nice, it was a pleasure sharing a train ride together. On the train I watched two movies, one after the other, had a good sleep and admired the landscape. And then we arrived, and it was the end of it.

No moment in life can be perfect, and even those moments that are supposed to be the good ones end up being hard, sad and confused; but one day I’ll cherish being young, independent and free, and I’ll be glad I lived this life. (And with this Walt Whitman wannabe phrase I leave you).

With much love, see you in the next blog!

-Rebecca

Goodbye Romania

Hello everyone! Now it’s time, my last days in Romania are here. In my last blog post, I would like to give you an overview of my past eight months here in Romania.

September: At the beginning of September last year, I had to say goodbye to my parents. For me as a person who usually has a lot of homesickness, of course, it was not easy, but still I had an exciting feeling in my stomach. I was curious about what the next few months would bring. After I had survived the long journey by bus and train and was warmly welcomed, the next weeks were marked by countless new experiences: we had our introductory week, a city tour, our online On-Arrival Training, we met the children from the foster care homes for the first time and we spent a weekend in Brasov, where I also saw bears for the first and only time. September was still a sunny month and almost every night we did a movie night with all the volunteers.

October: From the beginning of October we went regularly to the foster care homes. We were very motivated, but to be honest, it was also the first challenge for me. Because even though I was told before that it would not always be easy to communicate with the children because of the language barrier, I underestimated it. But these moments have taught me that you have to give it time. I had to give myself time to learn how to communicate best with the children and at the same time, give the children time to adapt to us, the new volunteers. In October, we also went three times to the hill Somlyo and enjoyed the autumn in Romania and the colorful trees. Apart from that, we went to a harvest ball where we got to know the szekler culture better, I attended my first hockey game in my life and in mid-October the last ESC volunteers arrived, and since then I have shared my room with Africa, who became my new roommate for the next 7 months. In October, we also planned a green activity for a high school class. I have to say that at the beginning, I was very nervous because it is not easy for me to speak in front of many people, but together with all the volunteers, we managed to do it.

November: In November, the days became noticeably shorter and the weather more grey. With the children we did litter pickings and I found my routine in my work and my free time. We also had two team building activities, went ice skating and especially Greta and I slowly got into the Christmas mood with baking cookies, watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music. One of the highlights of my whole time was the hike to the Lonely Rock in November. We slept on top of the mountain in a cabin and the next morning, when we woke up suddenly there was snow as far as the eye could see, which was unbelievable. At the end of November, Rebecca, Alex, Greta and I went to Bucharest, did some sightseeing in the capital and spent an evening in the therme.

December: In December we continued with our travels. We traveled to Cluj and Sibiu and visited the Christmas markets and the excited anticipation of Christmas increased. We also did Christmas activities with the children and then on December 22nd, I got back on the Flixbus because I met my family in Vienna for Christmas. I was very happy to see them again and then I celebrated New Year’s Eve at home in Germany, before taking the bus back to Romania at the beginning of January.

January: Well, then came January, which for me was by far the most challenging month. It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to my family again, in Romania it was cold and dark, and so I felt homesick, just before the Mid-Term Evaluation in Bucharest. Of course, it wasn’t a nice feeling, but I knew that this moment would come one day. It helped me a lot to talk about it with my family, my mentor and friends, and the Mid-Term Evaluation also helped me get new energy and motivation. Nevertheless, there were also beautiful moments, so arrived at our accommodation two new short-term volunteers, who were actually staying several months and with whom we would then spend a lot of time and grow closely together.

February: In February, finally the sun was shining more often again. At the beginning of the month there was also Farsang and we were invited by the children to a carnival of the Foster Care Homes. It was a very nice experience and even though I did not understand much, I enjoyed the performances of the children. With the other volunteers, I also helped to take apart a playground and I have definitely learned some new skills because of that. With the other volunteers we also regularly did yoga together in the evenings and at that time it really felt like we were a small family. Then I went to the Black Sea alone for a weekend. Even though the weather was quite grey, it was a very cool experience and I even enjoyed traveling alone. After that, I also went to the Wednesday house alone for the first time without my teammates Nóra and Rebecca and it went very well and I was very proud of myself afterwards.

March: March was probably my best month. The weather was very good, we spent a lot of time outside with the children and made campfires with the volunteers. In March, we also traveled a lot. We traveled to the west of Romania and visited the cities of Arad, Oradea and Timisoara, we rented a van and again experienced snow at Lake Balea and we went to the Black Sea in Bulgaria. Apart from that, I visited the local dog shelter a few times and spent time with the incredibly cute puppies, made the final preparations for my intercultural night and then, at the end of March it was time for one of the hardest goodbyes so far, because Greta’s project was over and even though it was a very sad farewell, it was still a beautiful moment, because I think we all noticed what amazing memories we created together.

April: At the beginning of April, I had my Intercultural Night. Of course, I was a little nervous before my presentation, but it was a great experience to be able to talk about my home and I was very happy to see many of the children from the foster care homes in the audience. Right after that, Nóra, Rebecca and I went on with the night train to Budapest. We spent some nice days there, I got a sunburn and we even went to a concert of a Hungarian band. At the end of April we also went tree planting and Care2Travel organized a tour for us where we were able to travel to some nice places close to Miercurea-Ciuc. Now our accommodation is noticeably more empty and I’m doing my final preparations.

It’s hard to describe my feelings right now, because, of course, I’m incredibly happy to see my family and friends again, but I’m sure I’ll miss this time. Coming here was one of the best decisions of my life and I am very happy to have met all the people here and I will miss the kids, the other volunteers, the Care2Travel staff, the city, Lizzie, the cats and just in general the life here. I am very thankful for having the opportunity to come here and for all the people I have met here, because everyone has been able to inspire me in a different way. In the last eight months I have gained a lot of experience in working with children, I have become more independent as I have lived alone without my parents for the first time, I have learned basic Hungarian words, learned how to work in a team and gained experience with social media. Even though there were some challenges I don’t want to miss a single moment of the past months and I’m sure someday I’ll come back.

Thank you and goodbye!

– Paula

New challenges

This month has been full of new activities and new personal challenges, with the arrival of spring and new volunteers, new ideas have also arrived. We have started a new project on forms of organic farming. Gus, a volunteer who works in greenhouses in Kentucky, came up with the idea of teaching the community some agriculture. I suggested teaching him ways to grow organically without the use of pesticides and he thought it was a good idea, so we started working on it, we decided to call it “campfire talks”.

Due to the fact that we wanted to make an informal event and not a merely informative class that you could find in any school or university, we came up with the idea of giving the information accompanied by a bonfire and some typical American food, to make it more enjoyable and promote the interest of the community.

The first event we had went very well, Gus was able to perfectly communicate his ideas to the community and they showed interest. Also, the atmosphere at the bonfire was very pleasant and I think overall it was a great contribution to the community.

Last week we tried to do another one, but it was raining a lot, so we decided to move it to the greenhouse, due to the weather conditions practically no one came, so we had to adapt the plan we had of planting some seeds to doing a small talk, since the attendees this time were not the same as the last one. I’m not going to deny that it was a bit disappointing, but one of the things I’m learning in volunteering is to know how to adjust expectations to reality and try not to get demotivated if people don’t show interest in the work and events I organize.

It also happened at this month’s art and mental health workshop, only one person came after having put a lot of hours of work and energy into the event, so we were forced to cancel it. Despite this, I don’t let this fact discourage me from continuing to do what I like and I trust that the next one will go better.

Because I have the theme of the environment in my project, together with Alexandra and Greta we had the idea of organizing a clothing exchange event. I collected a lot of clothes from the volunteers and people of the organization for the event. I was very excited because more than 100 people showed their interest in this event on Facebook and normally we don’t usually have that much reach. On the day of the event I was a little stressed and expectant about what could happen. In the end not too many people came, much less than expected, but I am still satisfied because the people who came were quite active and we got more clothes to exchange and to donate to people who may need them.

Sometimes on a day-to-day basis it’s hard to see the impact you can be making to the community, but when you look back, with all the small actions you can see progress and that’s one of the most valuable things this experience is giving me.

-Africa

5 different After School Clubs – 150 different kids

To understand our daily work, let’s first explain the purpose of our volunteer service. In our project we’re involved in five different After School Clubs and schools in the surrounding villages with over 150 children. These kids come from various backgrounds with different strengths, weaknesses, ages, English skills and behaviors. Our main task is to plan, organize and facilitate diverse After School Club activities for these partially disadvantaged children. We aim to take care and teach the children with a focus on non-formal activities, imparting life skills, offering emotional support, teaching teamwork and cooperation and introducing topics like democracy and human rights in a child-friendly manner.

The five schools differ much from each other and even in the schools are significant differences between the groups. Therefore, our planning is individualized each day. We always need to consider the group size of the children, age differences, knowledge of English within the group, the duration of each class and the possibility of using a schoolyard.

During our morning preparation time we plan activities from various categories and topics. These categories include physical, mental, democracy-related, English and creative games/activities. Creative activities usually involve various crafting projects, which are in the cold winter often quite popular. It’s important to always prepare a sample to amke it easier for the kids to understand. We try to explain all activities as simply and visually as possible, using basic English words and gestures, sometimes you need to get creative. The activities vary between competitive games to stimulate ambition and the ability to perform under pressure, and team activities where they have to communicate and solve tasks together. We particularly enjoy planning activities around different themes such as seasons, holidays or personal interests what makes planning easier and the activities more relatable for the children. When we have a particularly good crafting idea or movement game, we usually use it for a whole week at each school.

On Tuesdays we have three different classes in one school. The first class is large with our youngest children, mostly girls, and almost none English skills. But they are very sweet and enjoy playing and most of all they love crafting activities. We avoid activities that need English explanations or English skills which also rules out most topics related to democracy. In this class our goal is to teach the children to concentrate and express their creativity, such as cutting things out and blowing up balloons. These are everyday skills that every child should learn. If we can teach them some basic English along the way, that’s a bonus. The second class is very similar. They are a bit older but their English is not much better with few exceptions. They are our largest group and by far the loudest. In such a large group it’s much more challenging to maintain attention when the children don’t understand your language and explanations. That´s why we try to be as simple and structured as possible. Most of the time we follow the same plan as for the previous class and only adjust a few activities according to age. In this class we act more as teachers and leaders than friends to get their respects and attention. Our last group is Gesine’s favorite group. These children are our oldest and their English is the best. The group is smaller and even if some of them don’t understand us, others can translate. Quickly we could notice how good and understandable communication strengthens the relationship between us and each of them, as it’s possible to have individual conversations with every child. We take advantage of this and always plan activities that integrate conversations and focus a lot on our democracy theme, thinking games and being a role model for them through the storys we tell and the opinions we represent. Our goal in this class is to improve their English and intensify our friendly relationship with them.

On Wednesdays we visit two schools. First we go to a very typical After School Club. The kids are from poor backgrounds and have differnt ages and minimum English skills. Our job is to help them with homework if needed and otherwise just play. Usually we bring toys like balls, frisbees, hula hoops or pool noodles. We play outside, sometimes in large groups and sometimes we take just two or three of them to give them seperate attention. Always we split up; Gesine goes out with the children after homework and plays soccer for at least one hour. Candice normally stays inside because the very young girls shouldn’t go outside in winter. Also we bring board games like “Crocodile” or Twister. As a crafting activity we print out coloring pages or similar games on paper. Our goal here is to give the children a good time, be a friend and support them in everything we can and also to impart knowledge for school, creativity and social interaction.

Then we continue to our second school of the day. There we have two classes at the same time in two different classrooms. The four of us always split up here and each pair alternates between the older or younger class each week. All the children here are very respectful, kind and motivated to work with us which makes our work much easier and more fun. When the weather is good we like to start with a game outside with everyone or go out for an activity in between. The class with the younger children is relatively large and their English skills are rather limited. But they are motivated in everything and we try to make the time as varied as possible. The class with the older children is smaller and some people´s English is really good so they can translate for the others. That’s why we plan many democracy activities and games related to learning English. Our goal is to show them the fun and confidence in speaking English through our activities.

On Thursdays we go to a school that sometimes pushes us to our limits. In this group are mostly girls of various ages with very limited English skills. One of the three boys is hyperactive and absolutely unable to concentrate and another is slow in everything. You constantly have to keep an eye on these two. Our biggest challenge in this group are the group dynamics. Even if we don’t understand their language, we notice from their tone, posture and general interaction how mean they are to each other. Small groups with leaders have formed in the large group which leads to exclusion in the class. Sometimes they also behave disrespectfully towards us what is mainly because the language barriers. Although there is a beautiful schoolyard that we often try to include for various games, we have to be careful that there are no disputes between the children. We try to plan fewer competitive activities and more games for teamwork. Even if in other schools it works the best to start with an activity where the children can release their energy, in this school the best plan is to make a nice craft with the children together. They love everything related to crafting and they also love singing from the heart so during it they calm down, can concentrate, have fun and also sing at the same time. Our goal with these children is to bring them joy, to do justice to the very different children and to bring peace to this group again and again.

On Fridays we always need the longest preparation time. In this After School Club we are there for three hours. The first hour and a half are with a large group of children of various ages which is then reduced to a small manageable group for the second half. All of them are individual and some need special attention but they all have one thing in common: they are full of energy. Therefore it´s important to structure these three hours precisely and always to have alternatives ready. Usually we start with a movement game outside so that all their energy can be let out. Then we always go inside to implement a crafting idea. In our experience this is the easiest for us because all children no matter which age or English skills can participate in this activity and it’s much easier for us to keep an eye on all the children. We put a lot of effort into finding something that both the youngest girls and the older boys will enjoy and that is possible for each. Sometimes it’s not easy which is why we plan alternatives for the older boys. Depending on the length of the crafting activity, we still have time for a small game together before the school bus arrives and most of the children leave. For the second half we plan many small activities because the concentration often doesn’t last for long. We try to provide a lot of variation with movement games, English tasks and creative games. In the end we never have more than ten children and their ability to focus is now very low. So we give them more freedom, either we play games with music, just dance, do activities like gymnastics, limbo or everyone paints together. We always print out coloring pages or similar games on paper for this purpose. Also in this group a positive group dynamic is a main goal for us. Our intention is to impart social skills and values to the children. For this it’s important that we volunteers participate in all the activities to demonstrate how to play fair and be a good loser.

As you can see every day, every preparation and every school is very different. Even more different are each of our children. They can’t all be compared to each other and precisely because they are so special, we have taken them to our hearts!

Gesine & Candice

Too good at goodbyes

Today we are less than four weeks away from the end of our project, four weeks away from the big departure and the big goodbyes. To imagine myself living without the others is just not possible anymore. It’s going to happen very quickly, and that thought is so sad that we avoid talking about it. But it won’t be new to us. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned here and practice, it’s saying goodbye.

For 7 months, we’ve had the opportunity to meet a large number of volunteers. It’s common that in the middle of a conversation, we learn that “a new volunteer is arriving next Monday” “Oh cool! How old?” “Girl or boy?” “For how long? Long term or short term?” “What project?” or even just arriving at the office one morning and oh, new faces! “Hey, nice to meet you, welcome, what’s your name?” And it’s as simple as that. Today we’ve seen faces, from high school students to retirees, coming from all corners of the United States, as well as from Australia, staying for a week or for 4 months. It’s crazy, we’re completely used to it now, it’s become normal for us. Making connections and becoming friends has never been so easy, a handshake, some random question like “Was the journey not too long?” and there you have a new friend with whom you’ll end up traveling and experiencing crazy adventures just a few days later. That’s the best part of being in Care2Travel, having the opportunity to meet so many people from all over the world, with so many different cultures, personalities, and future projects. With each conversation with a new person, a new world opens up, each of them is unique and leaves a considerable mark here on us after their visit.

However, the inevitable aspect of this adventure is having to say goodbye. Whether you spend a week or months with someone, it might be really difficult to say goodbye. We create connections, we get attached to someone, we get used to seeing them all the time, in just a few weeks sometimes they’re already part of your daily life, and then suddenly you have to continue without that person. So you learn. At first, it was the hardest, goodbyes were even more emotional. And then you get used to it more or less. For some, we manage to move on quickly, we have a good time here with them, good memories, and then during a last evening we say goodbye, it’s emotional, it’s intense, and then they leave and life continues here. Then for others, it’s more complicated, months later we still think about them, we talk about them almost every day, because on the one hand, they really marked our experience here and our memories, but mainly because we would give anything to have them here again. Ultimately, we think that we’ll see some of them again, or at least we’ll try, for others, we simply keep the good experience we had with them. But ultimately, we couldn’t be more grateful to have met them.

But some goodbyes are so hard that we can never say we are used to that. During the month of February, the first member of the After-School Clubs project left, Hubert. One less in the house, already creating a significant void. Then last week, in one weekend, we had four goodbyes to make, it was the hardest weekend since we’ve been here. Greta, one of our best friends here, left first, it was very difficult but also a beautiful moment full of emotions, everyone was gathered, crying but united and there for each other. It was tough but really intense and we’ll never forget this moment. We really miss her. Then the next day we also had to say goodbye to Marc and Valentina, two IVHQ volunteers very dear to our hearts, and to a friend we have here in the city who was moving away. A difficult weekend, but also one of the most intense, with lots of good-bye parties, a great opportunity to get together, lots of emotions and lots of love. So we started the following week tired, exhausted by all these emotions, but it wasn’t over, there was no rest for the goodbyes. Because in the middle of the week, the mom of the family we live with, who’s also been our mom since we’ve been here, and Minas were leaving. The same morning. A terrible day, we start crying at 7am, time for goodbyes, then we cry for half the day. Very nice.

If Candice, who was supposed to leave at the same time as Minas, managed to postpone her departure by a month, there is inevitably a day when it’s going to happen. In 4 weeks, we’ll have to say goodbye to everyone, the volunteers, the Care2Travel staff, and especially the host family with whom we live. But there’s something good about goodbyes: it’s a beautiful, emotional moment when we look back on the good times and say what’s on our hearts. But there’s one thing we haven’t yet learned enough about, and that’s saying goodbye to each other. The relationship we both have is very strong, and it’s hard to imagine that in 4 weeks’ time we’ll have to relearn how to live our daily lives, the big moments and the little ones, without each other.

Gesine & Candice

Romania viewed through my telescope

Hello, Rebecca here!

Now I feel like I’ve been in Romania for long enough to have a clear opinion of what kind of country it is and what it means to live here, so let’s talk about it for a bit.

At first, when I arrived here, I thought Romania was not that different of a country from the one I left, but with time I started understanding it more deeply and having a more complex image of it. So, here we go.

First of all, a big difference between Romania and Italy is the countryside. In Italy we have countryside, of course, but it’s not as wide and fascinating. If you take a car and start driving through Transylvania, this is what you’ll see: one single road in the middle of non-ending fields, mountains in the distance. Every once in a while you’ll see a horse-drawn wagon on the street, people sitting in it and carrying wood or something else. Then you pass through a village: houses on the side of the road, a church, few small shops. My question will always be: what came first, the road or the village? The egg or the chicken?

Anyway, you’re driving through this valleys, no factories, no towns, no buildings. It’s calm.

This village thing is really fascinated for me, it is such a small reality. People leave out of agriculture, farming; everyone knows everyone. People gossip about each other, but there’s a strong sense of community. Even though young people usually move out, to have more opportunities, people who grew up in a village sometimes stay there their whole life; they have space, they’re connected to nature.

It’s the big difference between life in the city and life in the small village that makes you wonder how can it all be the same country.

The dynamics of the cities are pretty much the same of the ones of the cities I’ve seen before. They are different one from the other, some of them are really beautiful, some of them are not that interesting and it feels like there’s not really anything to do or see. I have my favourite ones, of course, and if we want to drop names, here we go: Brașov, Sibiu and Oradea. There are other really cool and beautiful cities, but they are not my kind of cities, especially those that seam to be made for the cars and don’t really feel like a livable place. One of this places, for example, is Bucharest.

Trains and accommodations in Romania are way cheaper than in Italy, so it’s actually possible to visit other cities without having to sell your kidney. Many times the trains are really old and late, but it’s part of the adventure. Anyway, thanks to this, I and the other volunteers had the opportunity to visit much throughout these months.

One thing that I love is going back to a city I’ve already visited, to see it in a different light. If you see something under different circumstances, times and occasions, it becomes more real and true to you. It’s not two-dimensional anymore, and it takes on a different shape.

It’s when I go back to a place here in Romania that I feel that I’m not just passing from here, but I am actually living here.

Me, personally, I live in Harghita county, which is a region in the north-centre of Romania, known for its cold and for having the biggest Hungarian community in the country. For this reason, not only I got to know Romanians, but, also and mostly, Hungarians. I learnt more Hungarian than Romanian and got to know the Székelyek (Hungarians living in Romania), their culture and traditions very closely. They are a bit of strange people to me, because they can be cold and close towards others (a local friend of mine told me once that the cold weather makes people more cold), but once they get to know you they are warm and nice. Living in a small city, they are not used to foreigners, and when they meet someone from abroad, either they close theirselves to you, or they show interest and ask you how the hell you ended up there. You never know what kind of reaction you’re going to get, but in a few months you’ll start appreciating the surprised and curious people, and not care about the others.

You’ll be glad to hear that I don’t shit my pants anymore when ordering in a restaurant or trying to understand what the rapping cashier is trying to tell me. People (as all people around the world) can be rude to you as a foreigner, but for this reason is so sweet to encounter those who are kind and welcoming.

Romania is a cool and interesting country, this I have learnt. It has crazy beautiful landscapes, I’m going to miss so much the train rides here, the clean sky at night and the city where I live, Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda in Hungarian).