September was my last month here

 

At the beginning of the month, we continued the craft workshop to give our creations to the dog shelter. This was my last time to help at the dog shelter. Realizing that the last time we do something, our habits set up in Romania will disappear little by little to create others in other cities and country. We had the opportunity to conduct activities in foster homes, it was very interesting, I realized how they work. I was able to lead activities with the children, adapt our games according to their desire, try to involve everyone. During the project I was able to evolve, to realize my limits, my tolerance, to get out of my comfort zone, to overcome the challenges I faced.

Mulțumesc frumos, România

 This is my last month in my project, after 10 months in Baia Mare I feel lucky to have had this opportunity, to live in a country different from mine, to know the Romanian culture, to see snow so many times, to live with volunteers from different parts of Europe, to have the possibility to work in different activities and to be able to develop myself personally.

I am happy to have participated in a project in Romania, to have done different activities new to me such as teaching English through games which encouraged me to try to be more and more creative when creating new activities.

Giving talks about the importance of water and its pollution and having debates with high school students about different topics was very rewarding for me because of all that I have learned both from the students and about myself.

Midsummer

 

Another great month is passed. The time here goes so fast. I remember my first day here like yesterday. Only problem is the heat. It is so hot. We go to dog shelter twice a week and sometimes heat causing us some problems. One time the caregiver had to send us home because of the heat. Even though heat is bothering us, we are still enjoying time we spent with the dogs. Every time, we go there, we are getting closer with the dogs. When you get closer with a dog, it loves you more and more. Honestly, I prefer to be loved by dogs than people any day. The activities with the dogs are therapeutic. Also, some of the dogs are adopted this month. Mostly I am happy about it, but sometimes I am missing them.

Time flies...

 

At the beginning of the month, we finished the activities at the high school. Some groups were easier than others, the language barrier is still present when the students do not understand and speak enough English. With this obstacle I was able to learn to adapt and create simple activities to be able to communicate easily with them.

The dog shelter remains a weekly activity, I love going there and seeing the puppies growing up, some dogs let themselves be approached more, they become little by little more sociable. Even if seeing them at the shelter makes me feel a little sorry.

I consider this to be the beginning of a turning point

 During this month we have had Mid term evaluation, for volunteers who are doing a long term volunteering in the middle of their project to reflect on our experiences in Romania, our motivation, the problems we have encountered and how to face the end of the project and the return home. It is interesting to have this kind of activities during the project because, on the one hand, it allows you to get in touch with volunteers living in different parts of Romania, to get to know different projects and to reflect together on our experiences. It is a pity that for Covid-19 it cannot be done in person because it loses a bit of charm in the online modality but even so it continues to be enriching.

It was a nice month

 

It was a nice month. I really like the school in Oarța de Jos. The road to go there is little bit tricky but when I go to the school teach and socialize with the kids I feel alright instantly. We formed a 3 group of 5 students and try to answer as much as questions we can. It was a cute competition. Students were so happy. Also, we were happy too. Same week we also went to the dog shelter. We wanted to take pictures of dogs, to make posters. It was hard to take nice pictures of them because they are so energetic, and they don’t pose for camera. We also clean their cages and play games with them as usual. It is very soulful act. Next week, we went to the Oarța de Jos again. This time we had more time and we went out to the fields to have an activity there. We played lots of games together and had fun. I was making them play the games I learned in Turkey when I was children. Then we played the games of Marco’s. 

Let's start the Summer

At the end of this month the classes end for the youngest children we work with, so to close the course with them and say goodbye we had a picnic with the whole class in the countryside. We continue going to school, this month has been a little complicated for me because the classes we have gone to many of them did not speak English so communication became a little more complicated so to make it easier we did several games with them in which they participated and were more encouraged to interact with us.

We continued to offer our help at the Dog shelter. It is one of the best activities of the week as we play with the dogs, brush them and help with the cleaning.