3rd to 7th of May Tour of European Year of Volunteering

Time is realtive, it is March, but we work for May. Yesterday was March and I worked on things happened in December...so, don't sit and relax thinking that you'll always have tomorrow, because time is relative!

This will be the space for you to let us know how would you like to participate in teh Tour of European Year of Volunteering happening in May, as suggested in the e-mail we have at the moment these proposals:
- Pecha Kucha Sessions
- Games, WorkShops

Even though it is all on the bases of volunteering, I do hope on your active participation and contribution!!

In case you have ideas of your own what to make, this is the space for that.
Please keep the discussion alive till 25th of March.

Thanks guys and see you around...ps don't forget to enjoy the spring!

What Was On The Plate?

There's a little game via e-mails where people share easy-to-make recipes...am collecting the ones i receive here. Also will encourage the good practice of sharing the receipts with my friends who participate in the game to contribute in comments the ideas they get...i know Viktoria you also need pictures, so everybody who actually try something out could make a photo and add it to their comment or a link to the photo (am not sure whether it is possible to actually add one in the comments).

So,What Was On The Plate?

PLAN A

February's dead line

Hello,

It's the second of February, which means that we all have perfect ideas for our fair tables. Doesn't it? (Well, my plans for my Finnish table are anything but ready.)

What I'd like you to do now is to share your ideas, so that us, who have found it more difficult to think up what to do, may get inspiration from your great ideas. If we all have had equal problems - it's good to know too, then we can support each other. :)

About other activities than the fair, please let me know your games, sports, movies etc. Please tell also if there is nothing you can share! If sharing ideas in this blog turns out to be impossible, we just have to take some time in Viljandi for this subject (or organize a brand new meeting?).

I'm happy that I found a group of local teens to prepare some activities and performances for the happening, and I think this group can take care of the schedule and other similar stuff too. I meet with this group every week, with you all only twice (?) before The Event.

And. Forget what I wrote about me talking about your countries with the Group, it was a bad idea. :/ But be prepared! The youngsters will soon ask you something... :)

henna

Outsanding, Incredible and simply WOW!

Dear All,
am absolutely thrilled to read your plans and ideas for upcoming local events. Can't wait to have the first Disko in Tudulinna (and of course sports and games and.etc. ;)). Viktoria, creative cooking is what i need in my life, so am anxiously looking forward for the first receipts, delicious idea! Marina, i've heard about Maidlas' legendary volunteers who make local community really vibrant, my dream is to visit you guys and i'll make it ture this spring!
Also, DGG, our newborn performance group with the slogan "First Estonia then the World", looking forward to see the debut! Table games, love them, especially when they take me to countries I've never been before. Gwenaelle, i want to visit France!

"EVS on Wheels" is something really cool that Livia, Renata and Andrea are planning to have in schools in Tallinn and around Estonia, to spread the idea of EVS as a good practice for youth!

Thanks for making the spring really something to look forward to!
Good luck and keep the ideas growing - sharing is caring!

Greetings to All,
kai

New project idea: "Volunteer's cookbook"

Dear all !


unfortuantely I could not be at our last evealuation meeting as well.

Nevertheless i tried to catch up with what you talked about at the meeting, and must say that i really like the ideas you all came up with !


Some weeks ago I also had an idea, that might be something we all could contribute to and make to some sort of groupproject.

Just read through the description of my idea of a "Volunteer's cookbook" and then comment, add or change.

Be creative =)


Idea: to create a cookbook that is helping volunteers.



Many volunteers are quite young and might have never lived totally on their own before. Living alone might be an exciting experience, but also brings many difficulties with it. For example cooking.



This is where the cookbook should support and assist the volunteers.



This could include easy and basic recipes which everyone should be able to make.

Also recipes for the first days, where you might not have so many groceries at home (only the basic things eggs, milk …).



As well as cheap recipes, because as everyone probably knows, volunteers are always short on money!

Furthermore there could be international recipes from all over Europe be presented, which each volunteer can contribute to this book. These recipes could be useful to bring a bigger variety in the dishes.



Another chapter with tradition Estonian recipes can be made as well so everyone can impress the friends and families back in their home country.



To these recipes the author could add a small story or funny incident he or her connects to this dish, as well as the approximate price of every dish.



Another thing that might be useful for the new cooks might be to write where the cheapest products can be found (lists of supermarkets, discount cards and insider tips)



If someone has another great idea, this cookbook can always be extended!



After the ‘first generation’ of volunteers has contributed to the cookbook, it can be passed on to the new volunteers year by year as part of the staring kid. (either printed, or digital)



Now I would like to hear your response to this idea, and maybe we can make this project together =)



Be creative and let your ideas speak!

Some ideas...

Hello to all of you…

I haven´t been at the meetings (I´m sorry, but some bacteriums or virus was coming between), but I was reading this post through and I really like the ideas, well done!

I would really like to help you and also to represent my country! 

Ad music: Of course I can recommend some funny music from austria like falco, EAV, STS, Hubert von Goisan and so on. So I think we should select the music and fix some date until we bring it with us to the meetings and someone saves it.

Ad olympic games: very famous sport in austria is skiing (downhill), ski jumping, tennis but it´s difficult to implement it and to make a competition, because we need ski´s and a big hill ;). What is very funny, but not a real kind of sport is to sled downhill. So henna I don´t know, maybe you have a hill in tudulinna where we can sled downhill. It´s very funny and we can also make a competition out of it. Oh but now I just remember, in May there will be no snow anymore, I have to think about something different ;) 

Ad Children games: oh we have a lot of games. But what is very funny, you can make it inside without needing equipment is silent post (direct translated, I don´t know if there is a special english word for this game). It´s for children between 4-10 and 4-20 persons can play. All the kids are sitting in a circle and one starts to whisper a word in the ear of the kid next to him or her and so on. The last kid in the circle has to say what it understood. Maybe you know this game. It´s very funny and sometimes the words during the game chance in a very funny way. When I was a child I was playing it very often.

Another game is called „room, kitchen, cabinet“. The players are standing in a row and one player, the speaker, is standing with the back to the others. The distance between those two parts depends on the space. The speaker starts to say the the phrase „room, kitchen, cabinet, behind the oven is standing  a bed“ (in german language it´s a rime). When the speaker is saying this the others have to go as quickly into the direction of the speaker. When he stopps he turns around and the other player have to stand still. If they just shake, they have to start again. Who is reaching the speaker at first is the next speaker. Uhhh it´s very difficult to explain it in english, but a funny game!

Just some thoughts, maybe you like the games ;)

Ad Fair: at this stop I would really like to make something. I will do already a presentation of austria in  the youth center in maidla, so maybe I can use that also for the older ones. The presentation includes some typical characteristics from austrian people and also a video of different dialects ;) and of course a lot of pictures. And for the smaller one, I think to make a tablegame on myself – the form could be the austrian country and it should be a simple game, I will think about it. And of course I can bring something sweet from austria like Manner (slices) etc. 

So thank you all for reading through this ;) let me know what you think about it!

Oh and maybe you read also my older post. I also want to make a happening in Maidla in the beginning of april, when the evaluation meeting will take place here. I was thinking about representing the different countries. So you can also use your preperation for tudulinna. You can make whatever you want (pictures, short presentation, drawing etc). oh and i would like to make a small buffet of international food .. what do you think about this ideas? You want to participate? Please let me know!!!

I hope it was not to much information , but it´s very difficult for myself to be precise ;)

Head õhtut,

Marina

The International Day in Tudulinna 14th of May 2011

So, on Saturday 14th of May there will be a Happening called International Day at Tudulinna Kultuurimaja.

The main target group of the happening are children of Tudulinna school (from age of 7 to 15), but I think that also other people in Tudulinna will be interested. So basically our doors are open for everybody, and we should offer both simple and a more advanced stuff (which also the oldest pupils need anyway).

So, what will happen then? On Saturday we had some ideas for the activities. These ideas are by no means ready, so please associate and critisise and continue these plans.

[I write very accurately now (also things that seem stupid to write out). But this way there will be as few misunderstandings as possible. After your comments I will write a plan with less information and send it to you.]

1) The Disco:
We will definitely have a disco for the kids. One 13-year-old girl told me today that they like discos with not much light and "the music that young people like". I think we can supply that :) . Anyway, it would be nice to have music from every country we represent.
- We need somebody to take care of the music (maybe Ludwig from Maarja Küla?).
- Your recommendations for the music?
- Maybe some refreshments?

2) Performances:
At least the DGG group will prepare a show. And maybe the local kids prepare something too. (I'm sure they will.)
- There's a nice stage at the Kultuurimaja and also PA equipment

3) "The Olympic Games":
The competing countries would of course be our countries, so we have to gather teams around ourselves. We just have to figure out a nice way of getting equal teams... for the sake of the children :).
The Games could be anything. Just anything. Actually, maybe you have some crazy sports in your home countries (we have for example the rubber boot throwing and many many more)!
- So please let me know your sports!

4) Children's Games
I have no idea if children play the same games in different countries, so it would be interesting to play the games you played in your childhood. Maybe we don't need this activity at all (it's quite near to the Olympics) but on the other hand it's good to have something on mind just in case that we suddenly have too much time with nothing to do.
- We could play games either in small groups or all together (for example Estonians vs. foreigners)
- I think it's not a big trouble if each of us has one or two games in mind.

5) The Fair:
This is where your efford is needed!
Each country that we are from will have one table. Children and the other people will have one hour time to visit the tables in free order. You can tell anything you wish about your country, but it should be interesting. :) For the smaller kids it would be nice to have some activities like face painting or table games. For the older pupils the most important thing around the table is you: you should courage them to speak English with all possible means! And of course there could be some facts too. And something to eat maybe?
- So think up something! :) Dead line is on the 1st of February.

6) Movies
Maybe we could have some short films. Either as a performance or then we could reserve one room as a movie theatre, where maybe three films run non-stop and people can visit there when they have time.
- Ideas?

7) The Fiest
Everybody brings something "small" to eat (at least the locals, we if possible). The food is collected in one place and then everybody can eat as long as there is stuff left.

What we should do is to create a schedule for the day (at what time we should start, how long each of the activities takes etc). But maybe that'll be easiest to do when we meet. We have four months time, so there actually is no hurry.

Did I forget something? Or was something unclear?

I think we can use far the same materials in Maidla (see Marina's plan).

In the end, I want to tell you, that me and my superiors :) decided today to change my hand-craft group into some kind of international group, and this group will be in charge of preparing this event from Tudulinna side. I hope this position will encourage the youngsters to use their language skills and be in touch with you (I will help them of course, but I really hope that they will take the initiative...). We'll see.

Anyway, because my group gathers 16 times before the Happening, we will definitely do other things than just plan it. Actually I think we'll have one meeting about all our countries already beforehand IF that's not a problem for you. Tell me now if you want to keep the privilege of talking about your country in Tudulinna! I still have time to change the plans (that I started to make today). But in principle there should be no fear of double information, and even if some repetition happens, in my group there will be only few of ALL 43 children of the school!

So if it's ok, I will sooner or later ask you to help me... as to recommend music/films from your country etc.

thanks, if you had the patience of reading this through :)

henna [who's really worried about the future co-opetation with her laptop's screen :( ]