The last days in January had a really good training, the Euro desk. The training was for the local volunteers and for us as well. Who had the chance to learn about the eight key competences and team building. The day started from 09:00 until 18:00, in the early hours we started to play some games which were good to know each other better everybody had a partner and had to introduce, before that we had 10-15 minutes to talk to each other and talk about ourselves, after this we had to play the role of the partner. After the introductions every buddy had to think about one word and had to explain why that word was chosen, when the word had been described we had to stick the sticker paper on the flipchart. During the day we had a lot of tasks to do in which was the 8 key competences everybody had to write on a piece of paper what we know about this competences like digital, communication, mother tongue, foreign languages, mathematics, science and technology competencies, learning to learn, interpersonal and civic competences, and cultural competences.
After spending Christhmas at home with our family and friends most of us arrived back to Kaposvár on the 4th of January. After two week gap we were all glad to see each other and share our holiday stories. After a short catch up on Monday the 05th we went to Zrínyi with James, Mailin and Lisette. The students were very excited to see us all, they welcomed us with big hugs and loud questions. The German teacher invited us to Mailins class where they talked about the holidays and we watched New Years Eve concerts from André Rieu.
The following day because Banu was ill, I held the kids club for Dominik with Mael. We prepared a crossword puzzle to refresh the words he learned in 2014, than we played Dixit with Lisette and Ákos (local volunteer). Dominik was second. It was a nice lesson although we missed Bendi. On Wendsay I participated in a French class in Munkácsy Gimnázium which was held by one of our French volunteer. It was a begginer class, so it was suitable for my knowledge. I even learned a word.
First week: 7th-14th September.
In the first week of our volunteer work it was mostly getting to know each other and the city. On the 9th (Tuesday) we went to the office and started to introduce our selves, from where we come what hobbies we have.
After this we went out to a basket ball field and started to play name games. Because with playing and having fun we can learn much faster our fellow volunteers names. On the second training day we started the day with energizers. After we energized our selves we got back in to the office and started to play team games (8 key competences) and we had to describe the content. After this we had a task to draw Hungary, and put the known cities and place them in the correct places, after this we had to write traditional Hungarian food, and famous Hungarian personalities.
Soooo, yes, finally our blog is coming back on track. First of all – business. Otletfa is now Gergo, Anita and Danieles' responsibility, because the main person, who really worked here had left. So now, we are planning all sessions together. It means more work, but more experience too. And I think, we are doing a great job for now. For example, on Tuesday we prepared a game about violence. And it seems that guys really liked it, they were so into this, they discussed, thought more deeply than we could expected. That session was totally the best of all we had. On Thursday we had a movie evening. We watched "Pay it forward" directed by Mimi Leder. Who don't know, it is a movie about the boys' idea to change the world. He came up with an idea, that if he does something good to other three people, than those three people to other three people, the world may become a better place to live.
After the intense first month at Compass, October came with several new activityes. The last volunteer of our Ability Quest for the Future program arrived from England bringing a lot of joy and two hula hoops with her. The fist week we had our first meeting with the retirement club. We played bingo, where also the workers joined in. The next time (on the 14th of October), when we went we let Bathsheba make a hula hoop prezentation which was grately appreciated by the audiance. We had to ask Pista bácsi to provide musik on hes jitter. This was a nice example of generations working together.
Together with one of the Italian volunteers I attended to two English classes at Gyakorló high school. One of them was successful in terms of cooperation with the students. We both worked with groups helping them to use present perfect in a less formal way, in conversation.
In the second class we met a very sensitive girl, who started to cry several times durring the class. At first we both got intimidated, but we ended up finding a way to handle it. Edoardo was perfect „partner in crime".
5th week.
I will skip Monday cause nothing really interesting happened in that day. Just usual stuff, u know. So I will start with Tuesday this time. So, we had our language lessons, and after that we went to our beloved projects! Benita went to kindergarten, Anita and Daniele – to Otletfa. Here we had some stuff for youngters. We were analyzing The little prince. I am sure that most of u know what the little prince is, what kind of stories he is telling. So we took one part and analyzed it with the youngsters. Unfortunately, they weren't so interested in that topic. Maybe they are still too young to understand, to see the bigger picture.
The forth week.
That week was short. We had some stuff to do in kindergartens and youth center and after Wednesday we were free. The long weekend came and passed so fast! It was raining almost every day. We wanted to go out, to go somewhere where we could find more people, but all our efforts went for nothing. We didn't expect that city will be so empty. Pubs, bars, cafes, streets, parks – we couldn't see more people than 10. But still, we had some fun with other EVS volunteers from Talentum organization.
After all these days we finally reached the day of the week – Sunday. On that date the Dartke people and us went to ballet "Karmina Burana". The building, people – everything looked fantastic! I am not talking about performance, which was incredible! Dancers did they best! We really enjoyed our time there.