As you have been
reading for the past months, being an EVS Volunteer in Public Achievement is a
good opportunity for being involved in many different and wonderful activities.
Bad news is that
we cannot stay forever (well, we’ll try to find a way) and new volunteers will
replace us in September (as we said, nothing is set in stone)
Good news for
you thou, if you happens to be between 18-30 yrs, because it means that you
might be the next lucky chosen to spend a year in this amazing organization.
With that said, we just want to remind you that the selection process is now
opened for those who want to embrace this experience and get their voices heard
in another country.
If you follow
the link, you will find all the information to apply for a placement as an EVS
Volunteer in Public Achievement. There are two vacancies available, one within
the Away from violence project and the other within the WIMPS project.
Don’t forget
that the deadline is Monday 24th of February! So you still have a couple
of weeks of consideration before you decide if you want to apply to become the
next super EVS volunteer at Public Achievement or stay at home!
P.s. For your
interest: we are irreplaceable, so you will have a hard time keeping up the
good work that we have left. With that said; we wish you good luck!
Well it has been
six months since I landed in Northern Ireland. I didn’t realize how fast time has
gone by. Now I am midway through my EVS experience. Wow! On my EVS training I
had the chance to reflect on many of the experiences I have had over the last
six months. I was
delighted to spend other three days with my 18 volunteer friends from all
around Europe (such a pity that my dearest Emelie was in Sweden for a wedding,
we all missed her a lot, and I cried every night, so sad…).
We all went to Cultra, a small village twenty
minutes away from the city of Belfast, where you can experience the life as it
was during the 1920s. You can find people on the street dressed in time typical
clothes or you can even go to a lovely wee cinema to enjoy a silent film. There
was a piano there and María delighted us with a concert, but the piano was out
of tune, so we all ended hating her!
So what did I do during these three days?
Complaining a lot about Public Achievement and all the people I work with ;) I
actually spent a lot of time thinking about my experience and all the work I’ve
done within this organisation and I shared my experiences with the rest of the
group. It is so good this feedback because we all can learn from each other; different
opinions and experiences can make you think about some issues that you never
realized before.
During the on arrival training we all wrote a
letter to ourselves and we opened it the last day of this training. I could
remember most of it, but not completely, and reading what I wrote to myself five
months ago wasn’t as pleasant as I expected. I’m still stocked and struggling
with many aspects that don’t work properly with me. But I promise that I’m
working on it!
But not everything was hard work!!! We had lot
of time to chill out together and to play many games. “The wolf” became our
favourite in the first training so we spent some time playing it during these
few days, although we were not as passionate as some months ago. It’s amazing
seeing how good we get on all together! We are a big group with very different
and strong personalities, but we are just amazing! LOL
One of the best activities we enjoyed during
these few days was the Lingo. We learnt from a professional English teacher
about different words, expressions and pronunciation of the slang in NI. As we
all are foreign people, we made fun of it. I think the funniest moment was when
we repeated those impossible dialogues full of expressions that made no sense.
As we were experiencing life during the last
century, we went to different workshops. We learnt how to bake our own soda
bread using the traditional techniques, we observed how the basket making
worked and we got a chance to meet a girl who was learning how to use a machine
to weave linen. You need a ten years training to learn that job, isn’t that
insane?
The last night in the village, a man came to
teach us some Irish dancing.We
had an amazing time dancing all together as a group. I have to apologize to all
my dancing partners, as I put too much energy on it and some of them nearly
lost some of their limbs! I have to confess that I didn’t stay to the end,
being two hours dancing my feet off was little too much for an old man like
myself.
After
three days of early mornings and late nights we all had to say goodbye and go back
to our homes. It was a very good opportunity to hang out with other people in
the same situation as yours and we could spend those days exchanging
experiences and gossiping a bit ;)
Thanks for everything my friends! And thanks to
Lisa, Connor and Mary for putting so much effort into this!
It all started the 31st of October.
A group of exhausted young adults, some of them had been up since 4am, from
England came to Northern Ireland to take part in an exchange that would help
them to get a better understanding of how politics work here and to discuss
many issues around identity. IDENTITY!!! My biggest issue by far! I would love
to take part in this - I thought - and I was so glad when I was asked to
participate.
We spent three amazing days together having
many discussions and different tours; I have to say that I went for my fourth
bus tour since I was living in Belfast!!!... But I enjoyed it very much! We
went to Stormont, for those readers who are not from here and they don’t have a
clue of what that is; Stormont is the Parliament of Northern Ireland, such a
gorgeous building!!! But my highlight tour was undoubtedly the ghost tour.
Ghost tour? Yes, I know it sounds a bit strange, but it was Halloween and that
trip was just amazing! A scary dressed girl guided us all around the dark and
narrow streets in Belfast city centre, such a brilliant time! As a funny story,
the same girl was our guide the next day for the bus tour, nobody realized at first!
Apparently that same girl was the waitress that night in a local pub where some
people went for some drinks, but I don’t know how true that story is as I did
not witness this so can not confirm ;) If it were true, it would be impossible to
be more hard working than her!
But my favourite session was about sharing a
song that represented us in any way. I could listen to many different tunes,
some of them related to the roots and others related to something on their
daily lives, but all of them had something in common, IDENTITY! When I had to
choose mine I didn’t have to think even for a second, I knew it immediately,
“Nau” of “Luar na Lubre”. My country is Galicia, my nation is Galicia, my heart
belongs to Galicia. I explained to them about the idea of Spain as a country made
of many different identities together, where the Government doesn’t even give a
chance to discuss about the future, to discuss if we want to go together in
this ship or if some areas would prefer to travel independently to a better
future… Everybody was shocked about the fact that in the northwest of Spain we
were Celtics, and that the song I shared with them was so “irish”. Yes, in
Galicia we don’t do flamenco and we are not all the time eating paella and
attending bullfights!
Ship of the wind, ship of men who row in the immensity.
We are people from Galicia where land kisses the sea.
Ship of dreams, ship of hopes, ship of infinite caprice.
Who forgets his roots, loses his identity.
This part of the exchange came to an end
creating a net; and everybody got a chance to thank the other participants. We
built a lasting relationship, and the good thing is that we will meet in
England again!!!!
The second part of the exchange started at 4am,
when my alarm rang and I jumped out of bed. I was tired and sleepy, but looking
forward to it!!! I knew it was going to be a long trip to Westminster, our
first stop in London! I tried to get some sleep on the plane, but certain
people didn’t make this part possible; ehem, ehem…
I am not going deeper with this part of the
exchange as Emelie already explains everything in her post. But I would like to
say that I had an amazing time in London. I enjoyed the city so much and I loved
the fact that I could visit that massive place from a completely different
point of view than my first trip as a tourist. Having this alternative tour of
London around Brick Lane and getting the chance to discover all the street art
in the area just made my day, and once again, all that talent placed on a
picture is so related with the issue of identity!!! Some people may say I am
obsessed with that, I prefer calling it being passionate, with coherence and
strength!
My favourite session in London was when we
shared a symbol, something that represented us in many ways. It was great
hearing about other people’s interests, from memories to feelings or things to
fight for, I loved the fact that everybody was so passionate about many aspects
of their lives! Once again, I took this opportunity to explain to the crew
about my identity as a Galician person. My symbol was actually a person,
Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez
Castelao, one of the biggest
representatives within the Galician Nationalist Movement. My intention is not
to bore anybody, so I invite you to “google” him and
discover one of the most inspirational people in history.
(Sketch made by Castelao)
- You are a Galician
- And you are a stupid
Time to pack. Come back to the airport and return
to Belfast. I want to come back, I definitely want to come back; as a visitor,
as an inhabitant, who knows… I want to come back to London as me, Luís, to keep
on growing my identity…
I hope you have enjoyed the reading as much as
I enjoyed the experience :)
At home in the "wee” town again after
spending the whole weekend in London with a lot of fantastic people.
Concentrating on building relationship, sharing our experiences and gaining a
deeper understanding of lives in different countries. Amazing! The whole
trip was an incredible experience. Both Luís and I have been to London before,
but to experience the city from a more local perspective was something else.
Avoiding the tourist trail and see the "genuine” London has made me even
surer that this town will be of importance for me in the future.
Seven extremely tired people met outside
the PA office at 5:00 in the morning. Perhaps not the most excited crowd of
people, but given how unholy early we had to wake up, I still think we kept the
spirits up. An agile approach to Gatwick and we didn’t die (the only time I
pray is when I fly). Met up with Rose and the other participants from
Southampton and Leicester. We started the weekend with a visit to Westminster
where we listened to an interesting introduction of the Parliament and visited
the House of Commons where a " lively " (not) debate was going on. After that we carried our bags
directly to SHM 's office. Once there, had a visit from two passionate people
representing the organization Fully Focused, who focus on trying to change
people's perceptions through film - change at the grassroots level driven by
young people in London. So interesting to hear about that sort of project and
it probably got us all to draw parallels to WIMPS and how we could develop it
further. The long day ended with a Vietnamese dinner, which gave the only vegan
in the group (me) a lot of options. I took rice noodles and tofu, and I still
hold my view that the Asian cuisines offering the best food. That's something
I like the most about visiting a larger city – that there are so many options. You do
not have to strain a lot to make a vegan pleased, because the options are so
numerous. Another thing I love about big cities is the diversity of people.
Staring at people from a café might be the best thing ever. Here’s everyone
allowed to be who they are. Sadly, that will never be the case for
smaller towns.
Saturday. Woke up after 9 hours of sleep
(you can’t accuse me of being a party animal). Started off with some icebreakers
at the office, a good way to learn about the other participants. Got a visit
from a person who represented the Independent Police Complaints Commission, talked
about the different policing problems in London. Very rewarding. After this we
went to a ping-pong place where you could rent a ping-pong table and just play
for fun, a perfect place to hang out with friends. Listen up Belfast; we need a
place like that! After this we took a walk to St. Paul’s cathedral and the
Millennium Bridge. It always strikes me how fickle London as a city is. New
mixed with old. We walked back to the office and I regret forgetting my
trainers at home cause my feet were killing me. We shared our identity symbols
back at the office (I brought a feminism symbol, surprise!). The evening
finished with some food and a few drinks at a pub. I was in bed before 10pm and
have once again proved that I have the same day rhythm as my granny.
Last day, woke up refreshed but with a bit
of separation anxiety. Went to Brick Lane in east London to do an alternative
walking tour. Didn’t really have any expectations before, but it turned out to
be one of the best walking tours ever (my mother is a history teacher so I have
done numerous of castle tours, put differently: I know what I’m talking about).
A young articulate man from the area took us around in what is usually called
Banglatown and showed us all the amazing street art the area have to offer. All the
paintings were so well done and as the guide himself described it: "
Street Art breaks down the barriers of age, race, gender and ethnicity ".
I love this part of London; the different cultures so naturally build into each
other in a peaceful manner. There is no competition on who has the most right
to be there, instead here is everyone allowed to be what they are – nothing
more or less. After the amazing tour and some amazing Moroccan stew at the food
market, it was time to say goodbye to our friends in London.
Thanks Rose and SHM Political Academy for
your hospitality and for showing us London from inside. Thanks Sian for taking
us with you, and for organizing the accommodation and flights. Thanks to all of
the amazing participants from England and Northern Ireland that so openly
shared experiences and knew how to have fun. Thanks Public Achievement! Last,
but not least, a big thanks to myself as well, for being such an amazing
participant. Well done, Emelie. I will carry this trip with me for a long time.
I wrote this text for my sending
organization in November. Here you can read about my first two months in
Belfast, enjoy!
Time flies. It's what you say, huh? I have
now been living in my new hometown for more than two months, the National insurance
number has just arrived and I'm finally part of the system. I've learned the
shortcuts to work, what buses you should take, the opening hours of my local
supermarket etc. Everything starts to get into place in the new cognitive
schema I have forced my brain to create. I'm getting good at slang, using
habituated expressions like "what's the craic?" and "Dead on”, replaced
the word “little” with "wee". Mixing visits to cozy traditional pubs
with going to the cheap cinema (£3 on Tuesdays!). When I dream, I dream in English
and I have started to joke in my new language. Let me explain the latter a
little bit further.
Swedes are among the people on earth who
like to think of themselves as articulate in English, even though it is not considered
as a second language. This could very much be true; mostly thanks to the
influence of American culture and the fact that English has a high status in
our society. I came to the green island with an understanding that I speak very
good English for not having used it in my everyday life before. I hear this all
the time. But can I really express my personality fully in my second language.
This may not be entirely true. I have an advanced level of English, sometimes I
throw myself with too formal terms in the wrong context due to all academic
books I have been forced to read throughout university. I feel comfortable in
my speech and I like to explore new concepts and words that are constantly
given to me. But this is not the case for the humor. The irony that I use as a
guiding principle in everyday conversations, the snappy comments that have
become my way of being (note: I do not think I'm a real comedian) aren’t quite
as smooth in the English language. We all uses humor in different ways and it
defines us all in one-way or another. The person I am will then be different
depending on which language I use. I feel that it has started to come off now.
I think I have started to exchange the formal English with the informal
language of everyday life - the unexpected comments and the non-coercive chat.
This is very liberating. Not only for me but also for my new surrounding that
has the change to experience my amazing linguistic development. Okay, enough said
about language, otherwise I’ll just start talking about linguistic relativistic
theories. I don’t think you’re up
to hearing my view of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Otherwise, I am busy. Work is exciting and creative.
It feels as if I add something to the team. Working with domestic violence with
a group of young girls, they'll make a short film on the subject. Another group
is working with school issues versus cultural differences. In this case it’s about
language training for new citizens, the possibility of getting better food and
longer skirts. Very instructive. I have also been away on training with work in
their special "civic action model". My colleagues are fantastic;
dedicated and qualified in their fields.
I socialize a lot with other volunteers, all
from different parts of Europe. It not just feels like I'm learning a lot about
Northern Ireland, but also about several other European countries as well. Above
all, I learn from the crazy Spanish people who have become my closes friends
here. Frankly, It’s quite difficult to avoid them in this city because they are
all over the place. With the crises in Spain, more and more young people are
looking for overseas jobs. Many of them have master degrees, without the
possibility of getting a job back home. Sadly, but true. They are a lovely
bunch of colorful characters, open and energetic. Even though they over and
over again reinforces my stereotypical view of them. Where they lack in
language comprehension, they win in their warmth and joy. They like to complain
about the colorless food and that pubs close too early. They love to cook and
hang out as a family. And I like them more and more each time we meet. Thank
you Luis, Maria and Paula for making this experience so much better.
On the plus side: I found vegan baked goods
at the market this weekend. I am ecstatic!
On the minus side: That I bought expensive
rubber boots before coming here only because of the rumors that it is a rainy
country. Where is the rain now huh?
I remember the previous days before
starting the adventure for a whole year in Northern Ireland, more specifically
in the city of Belfast. I was completely anxious and my nerves were on the
edge. I remember myself sitting in the plane ready to start the adventure that
I will never forget.
I arrived in Belfast the first of August,
the last weeks of summer. Apparently it was the best summer for the last 40
years. I remember as well that during that first month it rained every single
day…
Days went really fast, a good thing, and
suddenly I was completely adapted to the place, the city, the people, and the
language… I started to meet new friends from very different backgrounds and
countries. I realized that almost everybody made efforts to make me feel
comfortable here and at the end of the first four months Belfast felt as a
“home” for me.
There is so much going on in this city
related with the culture and the arts. I suppose that an area that has been
punished so hard because of the conflict needs to express itself louder and
stronger! Belfast is a living city and once you get used to the different
timetables (the nightclubs usually closes at 2am!) and bomb scares, you can
live very well and feel safe.
Living in Northern Ireland helped me to get
a better overview of the conflict of the past and of today. I realized that the
conflict is much more than two religions confronted, the reality talks about
the politics and how two different points of view are living together. I
noticed that everybody wants to move on and they don’t want violence back
again, but it’s a difficult process and it’s been very hard to forget about the
past and face the future.
In the organization, Public Achievement,
everything goes great. It was quite easy to feel part of the team from the very
beginning and apart from some language issues that I struggle with every day I
can say that it is not difficult to evolve and progress on a daily basis. I
have many chances to get different trainings that help me to gain new valuable
skills.
It feels unbelievable that time goes so
fast and I cannot stop thinking about what is going to happen in July when I
finish this experience. But for every day it becomes clearer that after
experience what is going on in other countries I don’t feel ready to come back
to Spain, where the Government can’t offer anything to young adults.
We are Emelie and Luís, the new (well, 5 months now)
EVS Volunteers in Public Achievement. We are going to take over the blog that
Melissa and Aureliano started last year.
We
are from Sweden (Emelie) and Galicia (Luís) and this blog will be a good way
for us to share our opinions and experiences with you, all of our million readers.
In
this blog we will have a space to write about everything that is interesting
for us as volunteers within this organisation. And who knows - maybe some of
our colleagues or volunteer friends want to share some thoughts as well.
We
hope you enjoy reading it and find it useful, at least in some ways!
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