Friday, 5 September 2014
Friday, 21 March 2014
I Came, I Saw, I Conquered
I don’t know how to begin this story,
but it is one worth telling. I want to get you in the right mood, but let’s
just start from the very beginning:
From the day I was born I have been
fascinated by heights. Always looked up to the sky and saying to myself “I want
to be up there”. Never been afraid of climbing the highest trees or putting
myself in danger – just to feel the fresh air up in the treetops. I have always
had the eager to climb mountains. High Mountains. This was one of the reasons I
wanted to come here to Northern Ireland – the land of Mountains. I had heard
way back home stories about the Mourne Mountains and Slieve Donard – the giant
peak. I actually choose this place in the world before the chance of going to
Nepal and the Himalaya mountains to live with the Sherpas. Due to my hard work
here in Belfast, my climbing dreams have been put on a hold and I’d spend the
autumn looking dreamlike at the big mountains surrounding Belfast from my windowsill; but
one day when winter started to turn to spring I said (once again, aloud to
myself) “Enough is enough, let’s climb a mountain”.
 |
| Photo by Samuel Henning. The first part of the climb. |
It was a normal day, not too sunny, but
not too rainy. I woke up early enough to have time to do something with the day
and not just end up staying in bed watching “The Vampire Diaries” as normal. I
said to myself (this is totally normal): “Let us seize the
moment and let us not waste it today with just words and no action”. This day was the day; I was about to climb CAVEHILL. Don’t you be frightened of the word ’hill’ cause this is
just a humble name given by someone who didn’t want to reveal the truth to the
rest of the world of its gigantic size.
I started my journey
from base camp with my small expedition of viking friends whom I had called in
just for this special moment. I had heard before from working collegues
(Bronagh, thanks for telling the truth) that it is going to be a tough journey
on our way to the top. We need to have courage and don’t loose the hope, but
keep in mind that this was something that I had been preparing for a very long
time, so I wasn’t about to give up that easily. We started off with fully
packed packbags and a detailed map of all the routes you could take to the top;
some more dangerous than others. It was a hard choice – should we take the
green, blue or red track. We choosed the green one, the longest and the
hardest.
 |
| My cicerons Sam and Louise, all the way from Sweden. |
At the beginning it was a pleasent walk.
We started off telling old hiking stories (don’t want to tell you too much, but
it includes a wolf pack and a sausage) and had a good laugh. What we didn’t
expect was the dramatical weather change. From being such a good day, it
started off being really windy and as we came higher up on the mountain we
started to struggle more and more with the wind. I was afraid, I have to admit,
but ”Skam den som ger sig” as we say in Sweden (translated ‘shame on she who gives up’) and I took one meter at a time with the
help from my stave.
The wind came and
the wind left and after a couple of hours we could finally see the top of the
mountain – McArt’s Fort. At this point I was so tired that I begun to cry of
exhausting and happiness. My friend Sam (yes, as in the Lord of the Rings)
helped me up on my legs again and gave me some strenght to carry on.
 |
| Photo by Samuel Henning. The calm before the storm. |
All of a sudden it
started to rain. But not a normal rain. No, this was like the Niagara falls. I
lost track of time and space, but most of all I lost my cicerones. I walked and
walked without seeing anything cause of all the rain, suddenly I boomed into a
large figure. I was afraid. Could it be Finn McCool? No, but it was definitely
a man. With muscules. I could see his face now. I recognised it. It looked
exactly like Channing Tatum. Weird, but true. And he lifted me up, carried me
to the top and then disappeared. The rain had stopped and I found my friends
sitting beside me. They were worried. I asked them if they had seen ”The tall
musculous half naked man that looked just like Channing Tatum”. They hadn’t. Too bad, but they believed my story.
And we had now entered the top. And we were stunned by the view. And this
moment was a perfect time for me to proclaim the famous words: 'I came, I saw, I conquered’
 |
| Photo by Samuel Henning. "I came, I saw, I conquered" |
Even though the trip
had been a hard one, struggling with wind and rain, it was all worth it for the
view. To see Belfast from above was a real pleasure and a memory I will bring
with me for a long time. We couldn’t stay for too long because of the lack of
oxygen. A choice we had made to climb without oxygen masks. The way down was
easier. After 20 hours we were safe on the ground again.
 |
| Photo by Samuel Henning. The giant peak - McArt's Fort |
And this was my
story of the journey up to Cavehill. It was not an easy one to tell, but it was
neccessary. This might be told by my children to their children, and their
children will be telling the story to their children. And this might be going
on in eternity. And I will not be here then; but my story will be told. The
story of how a very brave Swedish girl climbed the gigantic mountain of
Belfast, with her friends, to show the world that even small people can make a
different and that their stories need to be told as well.
Friday, 7 March 2014
Discovering Nottingham
 |
| Picture by Lena Borovkova |
I’m back from some busy days in Nottingham. Although I didn’t spend my time in Sherwood Forest with Robin Hood and his Merry men I did have some merry times on my midterm evaluation training alongside EVS volunteers across England. Starting off Monday morning with a flight to East Midland Airport I was welcomed by the first day of spring for this year. Indeed a pleasant surprise! Once at the hotel I found out that I had my own room with an en-suite bathroom, a good start of the day! Spending the afternoon getting to know the other participants and starting to reflect on our experiences of being volunteers in the UK.
I was surprise how
little they knew about Northern Ireland and I felt the need to try to explain
the situation in a manageable way. Even thou I have spent the last 6 months learning
about the conflict, it is still hard to truly understand the nature of the
events. Republicans? Unionist? Nationalist? Loyalist? Religion? Politics? UK?
Ireland? Culture? There is no easy way to describe it, therefor there is no
easy way to understand it. I was happy that they really wanted to hear about
life in Belfast and how different our experiences of volunteering in the UK
really are.
 |
| Picture by Lena Borovkova |
We spent the next
couple of days investigating future opportunities, talked about the youth pass,
shared stories from our projects and exchanged experiences. Learning about
slang in England was also an interesting one. Didn’t know that the words were
so different from Northern Ireland. On the other hand I got the opportunity to
show off with exotic expressions like “Dead on” and “Now you’re on the pigs
back”. We had a lot of craic, even if I had to teach them what that is. We also had a jolly good time
doing treasure hunt exploring the picturesque town which included missions like
“Take a picture with Robin Hood” and “Take a picture when a person is serenade
you with an instrument”. Guess who was in the winning team?
 |
| Picture by Lena Borovkova |
Time passed fast as
always and late Wednesday evening I was back on the island again, after
spending two hours waiting on the delayed flight. The past couple of days have
been really interesting ones. Not only because of the opportunity to meet new
people or exchange different experiences, but also because I have really got
the opportunity to reflect on my experience this past couple of months. Thank
you new friends in England and thank you Bob for being an awesome trainer! Hope
to see you all in Belfast this summer!
Emelie
Monday, 24 February 2014
EVS (EUROPEAN VALENTINE'S SKETCH)
It's busy days in Public Achievement! Last week the staff had some camera training where we ended up creating this amusing movie. The theme was "Valentine's Day"and our team (Debs, Bronagh, Emelie and Luís) decided to tell the real story between us, the EVS volunteers. Or maybe a reverse one...
We hope that you enjoy it :)
Emelie and Luís
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Public Achievement is looking for new EVS Volunteers
Dear readers,
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!
Yours truly,
Luís & Emelie
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
Three Days With My Volunteer Friends
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!
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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!
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Causeway Exchange: A Great Opportunity To Discuss About Identity
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!
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 :)
Luís
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