Kallid sõbrad!

Sorry for answering so late, I have been a little bit indisposed.
I have to say I didn't really think of the idea to "unwrap" the monument after wrapping it.
But indeed, I think it would represent our message in a better way.

So we have to think of a way how we promote this project.
As there is the International Day of Volunteering the 5th december it could be a good beginning.
And right now I just start to imagine a bit.
Maybe we can start with "Jakobson", the man on the 500 crown bill and publisher of the first Estonian newspaper "Sakala". As he is a man of good taste, his statue is situatet in the beautiful town of Viljandi ;D
You could all come hereand we could make art happening. Thus, we go to the statue, wrap it and "dress up" up as journalists. Everyone takes a notebook and a pen. We go to the people we see on the street and ask: "Have you seen Jakobson?" - "Kas te olete näinud Jakobsoni?"
And dependent on the answer we can talk further, yes - he is right there, do you know who he is? have you noticed him on the500 crown bill? are you going to miss something when the Euro is there? do you think Estonia is losing some of its heritage? etc.
We can prepare the questions together, as well the Estonian translation in case people don't understand. Someone can also be the photograph an dtake pictures. In the end we can tell every questioned person to come back at a set time to the still wrapped sculpture. Then we can unwrap it again infront of the probably not very big - but still - audience.
This idea sounds very romantic, maybe it is not going to work like this, but maybe it is.
We can collect the stories people tell us and meanwhile doing an art happening.
Perhaps this could also be a good first promoting event.

Okay, now I have to ask again, what do you think?
Hääd Gerdalt

Tere minu sõbrad ;)

Hello to all of you…

I really think that Gerdas Idea is very great! In my opinion it´s very important to show estonians that they still can keep their identity, eventhough they are a memeber of the european union. But I also think, that it won´t be possible that all of us travel to those special places. Especially in my place I don´t have good bus connections, even at the weekends. But if there are any places in the near of my village or not so far away I could also go there. I don´t know yet where all of those places are ;( Gerda you know? And if we will have all of those pictures, Gerda what are you going to do then? You want to publish them in a selfcreated paper, make a blog or website or how do you want to spread this project? 

I also thought about ways how we can promote the EVS and I got an Idea. I´m sure that there are a lot of youngsters in Estonia who have never heard something about this possibility going abroad and being a volunteer. So it would be nice to increase their awareness. All of us are widespread through Estonia and we also have different working fields (youth work, kindergarden, school, center for disabled people, orphanage and so on). My idea is to show the young people in Estonia how different an EVS can be. How can we do this? Well, I think first we can go to schools, youth centers or any other places were we can meet our target group (people between 18 and 25, right?) There we can make a short presentation what the EVS is about and then give them the possibility to visit us one day in our working place (I don´t think it will be very timeconsuming). First of all they can get to know the work (what are the tasks of an EV and how does it go). Furthermore they can also meet people from different nationalities (US;)) So I think it would be possible to get some visits during our EVS time. What do you think? So we just have to make a list of our work and working places, at what times we are working and so on. I´m also thinking about making a blog for that, so we can share at what days we can recieve visits and on what days we have no time. And also the interested youngsters can contact us there. There is only one, maybe big, problem: The youngsters have to pay their travel to those places on their own ;( Marco and Jutta do you think there would be a possibility to get some support?

So guys, what are you thinking about this idea? In my opinion this is a good chance to motivate the youngsters to be part of the EVS and also to increase their awareness about the european union and projects founded by the european union… Let me know about your opinions!!!

Head õhtut,

Marina

Tere kõigile!

As I have already proposed my idea of the "money-project", here there are the details. No, we are not going to rob a bank or counterfeit some Euros. Not this time.

You probably have noticed that Estonia is full of national monuments, things that stand for the national awaking, the identity. One of those is the "Eesti kroon", the money. 

Estonia, is indeed not a big country. It unites the smallest number of native speakers of a language in one of the smallest national territories. However, this wasn't a reason for not developing a cultural heritage, a national conciousness, an Estonian history. After years of difficulties Estonia got its own money in 1992 and the awareness of being something special has probably increased.
But now this stage of patriotism is over and a new European one will begin. Crown is going to become Euro and the countdown has started. Maybe some are looking forward to this event, maybe some are regarding it as a mistake, at least it is a big change. This is why this nation should of course keep in mind its history, but as well look forward to possibilities offered by the community of Europe.

Of course, we as volunteers can't interfere in political issues, at least just in a very limmited way. But we can show to Estonians, that their national identity is not going to vanish, because thery won't see Estonian faces on bank notes.
Each of the pictured persons has a monument somewhere in Estonia. My idea is it to visit these places and "wrap" the monument. Well, the idea is actually related to Christo, an artist I can recommend to google if you want to see something really great ;D
Anyway, our wrapping would be done with another purpose, not the artistical realization, but the sense behind is counting. We can wrap the these monuments, cover them, to show that the intelectual property is not going to disappear. Lydia Koidula is still going to be in people's head although she is not on the 100 crown bill anymore.
I am sure someone will notice.
It was even noticed, when Gwen and me wrappen Jakobson just for some minutes for the picture.

Tell me what you think of the idea.
I am open for critics.

Musi ja kalli,
Gerda

GIFTS FROM THE PREVIOUS VOLUNTEERS - VOLUME 3

Hey hey,

here is some pictures that Stephan (from Germany) did about his experience in Käo Center in Tallinn.

Think out of the box!!!

Best
Marco

GIFTS FROM THE PREVIOUS VOLUNTEERS - VOLUME 2

Helo guys,

here I am with the 2nd Volume of the gifts that you received from our past EVS!!!

This one was made by João for our friends in Ida-Virumaa

Enjoy!
Marco