Updated on November 20, 2016
We arrive at schools
I am not very easy going, especially with children. My horrifying experience has been either me holding a crying baby who, in fact, before probably had a great day but now in my hands has the worst day of his life. Or children saying „No, no. I will play with anyone just not with Elza.” And I cannot blame them since most of the time children remind me aliens or if I see a child I slowly walk away. So normally, understanding that November is going to be the month of going to schools to hold presentations for the children I felt paralyzed.
„But Mimi! I am not the children type! You know that I am not fun! You want that me and Radek are in the same team? Two of the most boring and calm people? Yes, sure. We can do games of silence. For example, what kinds of sounds make a jellyfish? And do it for 20 minutes!”
However, what starts as a horror ends into me finally opening my eyes and seeing what this is all about. The only way how we can save this god damn world is if we surround children with people who care and respect the environment and choose environmentally friendly options. Maybe their families will not agree but it is important that the children do. That they are educated and have an opened mind and a possibility to choose. In fact, during one presentation I recall my childhood with my mom who always said to me to never throw garbage on the ground because it hurts the nature. And as a child I would feel no shame or I would never see something wrong with being a „environmentalist” or „vegan” or whatever. For this reason it finally clicked me. Why we are doing this. Why it is important. And that it is not just 40 minutes of presentation and then 40 minutes of some games. These children really wait for the classes and I do not know if we are just very entertaining or all of the children in Italy are like this, but they are extremely well educated, motivated and interested in learning more.
So far we have held classes about the park, about rock, about sandy bottom, rocky bottom, water column and fishing. In the first class we talked about the park. About all of the zones and the restrictions. Then we did presentations about rocky bottom and all the algae and animals that live on them and inside of them, like Datteri, that often are being illegally fished. Because they live inside of the rocks fisherman cut the rocks and destroy the rich bio construction, or simply saying, they kill animals that live on the rocks, just to get Datteri that bring a lot of money.
We also did presentations about sandy bottom – about sea grass Posidonia and its importance since it is the source of oxygen and also a place for many fishes to hide, lay eggs and to feed, and with anchoring it is being destroyed in a few seconds. Also we talked about the water column. Nektons – animals that can swim and those who are moved by the currents – planktons.
Maybe this is very naive but I think that in the end of the day, most of the people do not do the harm intentionally, but because they have a lack of knowledge and this is something that we have a chance to change.
Updated on November 16, 2016
The farewell is coming…
I have bought my flight ticket for returning to Spain. It feels like just yesterday I got here and had to write my first impressions about Italy… I’ve lived in quite many places and every time I have to move to somewhere else I need to say my goodbyes… I’ve done it so many times already, but somehow, it is aIways hard! I still haven’t found the way to make farewells easy…
I am going to be the first one returning back home… I know (because I have been there on previous occasions) that staying until the last day and seeing how everyone else leaves is even worse than being the first one going.
I get back to Spain for Christmas. My sister lives in Norway and she is coming home for just a few days. That is the reason why I want to be there. Also, I am looking forward to meeting up with my friends, especially those who live far away and just get back to my hometown for Christmas time. I will be of course really happy to see again family and friends. But I can’t (and I don’t want to) think that by getting back home I won’t live anymore in a house with a huge anchor at the door (anchoring is amazing!), that hitchhiking will stop being the regular transport for me, that to get home I won’t have to walk through orchirds and lemon trees from which from time to time you “can” take some lemons…. It’s hard to think that the first thing I will see when I get out from home won’t be the Mediterranean anymore or that I won’t sleep listening to the waves just 3 meters away from my bed…
Still, which will be obviously the most difficult part will be to say goodbye to the people with whom I have shared so many things, mainly laughs, during the last months! I am going to miss you so much that I prefer just to think about meeting up again soon, in Tunisia!
Every time you are happy somewhere time flies so fast you cannot believe it…. When I look back it seems just crazy how many things we have done during these months! We’ve been so busy thinking new games, or about Ieranto, turtles, cleaning beaches, diving, doing some nice trip, going trekking, kayaking or to the office… (I guess you can picture how hard it has been to live here…). We have kept ourselves so busy that I think we haven’t realized yet all the things we have done and learnt.
Now, looking back I can’t help to smile and to hope for the coming years to be as good as the one I have spent here.
It is pretty clear to me that, even if the time I’ve got before I get back home is not much, I have to make the best out of my last month here! I need to enjoy as much as possible being with all of you and part of this great project.
Anybody, any advice on how to continue with your life after project MARE?
Updated on November 14, 2016
Latvia vs Italy
I wake up. I go for a swim in a sea, in the beginning of November. Then, I put on my mini dress and a light jacket and a few seconds later I receive messages from my friends in Latvia. All of these pictures consist of snowdrifts and faces of people half wrapped in scarves and hats. They are beautiful, but while I am watching them poorly dressed they seem like something very far, far away in the North Pole. However, a bigger difference is the fact that Italians do not agree with me. With +15 degrees outside they are dressed as if it is just as cold here as in Latvia. In fact, one guy even offers me his jacket asking if I am really not cold. But that is the point. Italians say what they think and what they want and they have absolutely no problem throwing all of their thoughts and emotions outside. While in Latvia usually you cannot talk with the bus driver here they drive the crazy meandering roads with an amazing professionalism while at the same time they try to get your mobile phone number or invite for a coffee. Even if it means that they have to use Google translate because the only common word between Italian and Latvian is “Ciao”. Speaking about language, there is absolutely nothing common between Italian and Latvian. If my dear Spanish volunteer Nuria can get away with guessing some words that often are similar to Italian then I have absolutely no chance to get away with it. Here are some examples:
What about the differences in the environment. The first time I did snorkeling I saw the cliffs under the water with such an intense clarity that I thought, it cannot be real, and someone is playing a joke on me, putting a photo or a painting under my mask. But that is the point; there are no cliffs in Latvia.All I have ever seen is sand. A lot of sand. A never ending amount of soft, white sand and then twenty minutes of going into the sea until it finally rise on the level of your chest.
Everything is flat. The only mountains that I pass in my city are the stairs that lead to my apartment. So it is a challenge. Living here, with mountains all around and going up the steep roads just to buy some food. Because of this I also have learned how to restrict myself and not eat all of the food in one day because in Italy it is not like in Latvia, that from 8:30 until 22:00 without any break you can buy any food you like. Italians like their time of resting and they do it for a very long time. So do I like to experience these cultural differences? Not when I get all the way up to the center for chocolate and then I see that all shops are closed for the very long lunch break. However, for sure it is very nice to show off my brown skin and blue skies in the middle of dozens of snow pictures!
Updated on November 15, 2016
My trip to Rome
While the sea cools, faraway places call our volunteer Radek and boiling blood brings him into the arms of Rome. Six days in six points.
The first whole day we walked around historical center with il Colosseo, i Fori Imperiali, l´Arco di Costantino, il Vittoriano, Piazza del Campidoglio e i Musei Capitolini. We did not find time for Star Wars exhibition.
I lived with three girls and all the evenings we avidly played cards (Scala 40, Macchiavelli, Burraco, Black Jack…).
During week I also had chance to participate on some courses of Universitá La Sapienza. The top was lesson about an aestetics according Kant. After that lesson I visited Il Museo dell´arte classica inside of university. In the evening we baked lasagne and also made tiramisu because we needed a sugar for our concentration.
Another evening we enjoyed busking – sprayers, painters, caricaturists, musicians but also sellers of wooden statues from Africa, dealers of blankets and giraffes and necklaces for good luck and kitschy souvenirs everywhere. Fortunately, during way to the Pantheon we did not drown in a flood of goods and we paid tribute to Neptune in the Fontana di Trevi.
The Vatican is not only full of empty chairs and hidden beggars beneath columns, but there you can also meet a group of nuns. Six nuns equals six mobile phones. God bless countless selfies.
In Rome I was accomodated thanks to friends who I had met like FAI volunteers in the Bay of Ieranto. It was nice with them to visit natural complex Villa Gregoriana which is cared by FAI.
Updated on November 28, 2016
SVEntoliamo la stessa bandiera
After 6 months of my EVS, I learned many things from this experience, I discovered many new places, i learned a new language, I saw a new culture, and everyday I’m discovering and learning.
thanks to the contacts that I had it from my EVS project, I was invited with my organization to participate in one of the events organized for the celebration with 20 years of the European voluntary service, this manifestation organized by” Torre Dei Giovani”, this association works in the field of cultural exchange between youths of Europe, and north of Africa, the topic of this event is the importance of the EVS experience, and the influences of this opportunity on the persons who participate.
SVEntoliamo la stessa bandiera, is the name of this event, we spoke about our project, we presented our activities, and we showed the importance of this opportunity for youths, in this meeting I spoke about my experience in this 6 months, the places that I visited it, the way that I adopted it to integrate in the Italian culture, and the place where I live, and my relations with Italians.
In my opinion, the most important part of this type of experiences, is the integration in the society where you do your EVS project.
Also, I had the occasion to meet my friends from “Torre Dei Giovani”, and we spoke about our plans in the future.
i thinks that this experience is the best experience in my life, I invite all youths to participate in one of EVS projects, if you want to know more about EVS projects, here is some links who can help you.
