Month: May 2020

My name is Aigly, I come from Greece and I am a volunteer for FITT.
I arrived here at 6th of February, very happy for my new city but also a bit stressed because of the big change. I was finally getting the chance to live in this beautiful city! Having been here before many time, I already was in love with this unique vibe that Timisoara has.
But also I was so excited to work on the project that I am volunteering for! It has to do with youth work and is connected to volunteering work I had previously done here, in Timisoara, in the summer of 2019.

I moved to Romania 3 months ago, but spent over 2 of them in isolation.

But then, covid-19 came, and with it, lockdown, isolation and all the turmoil that followed these. My quarantine started on the 10th of March. Having spent 7 weeks in self-isolation, and 2 weeks in actual quarantine for safety reasons, before the state of emergency started in Romania, it all adds up to more than 2 months of not going out.
Take a moment to imagine moving to a city in a foreign country. This is usually a scary and ground-shaking experience on its own. Now add almost immediately being forced to stay inside, before having the chance to explore your new city or the opportunity to feel like you are part of it, without speaking the language or being with your family.

Ever since I moved, I have done a lot of things to cultivate myself.
I have been learning how to play the guitar on my own and I practiced ceramics. I started taking more seriously some hobbies of mine, like photography and poetry to mention a few, and even started working on art projects with my roommate.
I read “Blindness” by Saramago, a great book (which I recommend to everyone, by the way, especially during the times of Corona) and I started an informational book about photography.
I also started 2 online courses on edX, one about learning and one about justice, and I started learning the Romanian language.
I finished some great series and watched a few amazing movies, and started watching Romanian cinema, which I fell in love with! All in all, they made me think a lot, they broadened my mind, pleased my aesthetics and confronted my emotions.
Finally, I introduced working out in my daily routine.
These are not all, but they are what took up most of my free time. Along with these, I also had to work for the project that I came here for. Mostly it was in the form of seminars and workshops to prepare myself for the work in the youth centers.

Most of these things though happened during the weeks that I have been in isolation. Not being able to go outside has forced me to look inside for growth, fun, development and feeling content.

I could whine and complain. And sure I did at first, and that is fine!

Or I could get over it and make use of this peculiar yet still unique situation.

It was hard at first, especially considering I am not in my home country while going through this crisis. But I like to think that great difficulties like this always give a great chance for change. Spending so long inside a house, that I barely felt like my own at the time, forced me to change my habits and adapt to a situation that I didn’t sign up for (or any of us, for that matter!).
I could whine and complain.
And sure I did at first, and that is fine! Allowing yourself to feel some weakness is always important, and this definitely was a situation that invited one to lose control of the positive impact one’s actions have upon themselves.
Or I could get over it and make use of this peculiar yet still unique situation. Isolation and lack of social contact forces one to stay on their own, confront their thoughts, and value their priorities better, with the fresh look of having lost what they previously took for granted.
The second option is what I chose and still am choosing to do. And I am glad.
In the end, there is no bad without good, and no good without bad. At the same time, unfortunate events are unavoidable and there is nothing we can do to gain control over them. Which side we choose to pay attention to the most, though, is completely up to us.

“Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.”

― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Let’s start our journey from the beginning ․

February 28․ Yerevan Night 4:20․ From Armenia to Timisoara Arus Sukiasyan 24 yeard old

Taking my 23 kg suitcase, I continued my way into the airport, the road seemed shorter ․․ a breath and a sip of water. I couldn’t say goodbye to my favorite Yerevan streets , but I left on the condition that I would return ․ Well let’s get to our days. It’s a little bit risky to go back where you were happy, in my opinion, if you have ever been madly happy somewhere on the planet, then you should perpetuate that period even from distances away. Going back to our days, February 29, 2020: I am in my room,in Timisoara ․․ Well, new things , new people, and new moments: so for me they are the key of life for new beginnings and that’s exactly my secret to adapting everything easily and living positively . I was carefree or fearless for a week, after the virus began to grow and grow, and the 14 days of isolation caused confusion inside me, 14 days without walking and 14 days without an air which is given naturally. In those days, we were counting the days until the end of the global epidemic, and we had to stay at home. Our new isolation began, but in this case we were able to go supermarket and  every 15 days I made my way to the famous Lidle ․ ․․

Too often we were telling “ I don’t have time” . But then we had time and we were free to manage it ․․ I tried to use this whole process as effectively as possible. I started to study graphic design, read and discover new worlds that were in the shadows. We had days full of lessons, we had photo shoots and interesting conversations. We had a powerful and emotional photo-shoots with Aigly․․ Well, I took a photo of her, and she took it of me , so we managed to work together ․․ we just felt the moment, we felt the details or we lived them.

While reading all this, maybe everything will seem smooth and beautiful, but not! We had ups and downs, we had days without mood, days where we have been isolated, days where we have lived and days where we have hugged. Oh, talking about hugs , I just would say that if there was a hug contest, I would have already found my winner ․ Serbia is with us, yes – yes, you understood that’s my Milica correctly ․․
By the way, my favorite phrase in Serbian is “ok tebra” ․ I also learned this in the summer ․

Unlike Serbian, I don’t know Arabic, but we have Rachad and Ali with us. I remembered Rachad in quarantine for 14 days, when he was always thinking about going out , he is crazy , our dear crazy ․․

Ali doesn’t give his place to anyone in ․․ The master of the kitchen and the grandfather of our house knows how to cook all the secrets of delicious food and share the food.

I share my culture and language with Alisa who is the only one from Armenia with me , she is the youngest in our house ․․ who understands a lot even she is young and I don’t know why but she loves monkeys.

Of course, I didn’t forget about Marietta, she is from Greece. Marietta doesn’t like color yellow, but she loves cheese ․

Katya is also a fan of my favorite color. We have to work in the same Youth Center and unlike the rest of the team we have the opportunity to work together online. She is a kind of person, an extraordinary person .

Starting to summarize my 70 days and 70 moments, I want to say that you will come out of any difficulty and winner of the desired situation, if you notice the positive and live with the positive. I had a beautiful and meaningful birthday, I celebrated 24 here in my favorite city, but not in her arms, but closed ․ Well, we decided to celebrate the birthday of all of us together, after the virus, outside.

After 2 and half months, I finally found myself in the center of the city, and after taking a few steps, I began to remember the beautiful and bright days of summer ․․ summer energy and the days I lived here

If you will get an opportunity to be in this city, just be sure this will give you huge love and happiness.

arusvenera . Timisoara 19.05.2020

Hello everyone!

My name is Katsia, I am 21 y.o. and coming from Belarus. Almost a year ago I obtained my bachelor degree and a feeling of not knowing what to do with my life. Somehow this feeling has led me to Romania, where I became a part of the ESC project “Youth centers UP”. During that project I managed not only get to know the beautiful city of Timisoara but also to contribute to the local community by helping to build a youth center in one of the neighborhoods. You can find out more about it, if you scroll down and read about Kamate team.

After the project was over, I felt so much connection and attachment to the place, as if I left a part of myself here. I just could not say no to the opportunity to spend a year here, doing what I really enjoy.

Despite all the troubles coming along with the formalities, I found a way to arrive in this charming city and pursue my passion. It is hard to imagine all excitement that I had about upcoming events and activities. I met (some not really) new people who were full of ideas and energy. Together with the FITT team we took a tour around the building of the youth house and even paid a visit to each of the brand new youth centers.

All the excitement had to stop when the pandemic crisis started. At first, everything was suspended. At second, those things which were not cancelled, had to move to the virtual dimension, where it is hard to build a team, make an impact on the community and simply have fun. At third, our lovely Timisoara was not available for us anymore and the most beautiful season of the year passed without even being captured.

Finally, the state of emergency is over, and we can enjoy again some things that we did not have. Some of the things are probably lost forever(?) but it is not necessarily negative changes. Slowly, we are getting our excitement and motivation back. There is still a lot to come. All we need is love just some hope, in order to adapt to the constantly changing situation more quickly and some warmth in our hearts, in order to help ourselves, each other and (even) the local community.

Do not give up on hope, maybe altogether we can fight the crisis with the power of our minds.

Katsia

Hello! My name is Milica and I’m 22 years old girl coming from Serbia. Some time ago, I’ve decided that I’ll try going to the ” half-blind date.” That seemed like something new I could really try at this age. I have planned to spend some nice time in one beautiful, neighborhood country-Romania. Our initial date was in the summer and I kinda felt in love with what I have seen. But how it usually goes, there comes the time to say goodbye and I couldn’t know more than just a shallow I’ve been presented to. How I’ve been very devoted to making the tangle of the story a bit more delightful and wide, my final decision was going back to persuade this place that I’m really for it. I made the first step boldly and sure that this time it will work. But again, how it usually goes, there is some ”but” waiting for you on the next corner. My ”but” was deceit I’ve been now part of. The partner I was supposed to go for a date to, turn out being someone I have never even met before. I suppose that’s the beauty of the blind dates in general. You can never know. So, this time, I ended up being with a haughty and conceited partner, named Covid-19.
After several monitions given in order to push me away, eventually and sudden, I was in 14-days quarantine.
Someone would say, this date was really another dimension of disaster, but not me. I’m not the person who would give up on something so fast. That suspense was in one hand making me rethink my visit, but on the other made me rethink my staying in Serbia. While dealing with something unique and not often seemed, I have decided to share a few things you can learn even from the bad partners and dates.

1. Be aware of your value and add some in the process.

2. Even if the main dish is not what you have expected to be, there is always a dessert.

3. There is always a place and time for learning new things even if the factors at first are looking just like limitations.

While integrating the fact that we can all make some wrong decisions, I’ve realized there is nothing as wrong or right, there is just you making a relation firstly with yourself and using every moment offered.

Never imagine something will happen like this…. good and bad at the same time .

I am Alisa who is an international volunteer in Romania . I had the opportunity and used it , but unfortunately I did it when COVID19 started . For the first days I was thinking that okey, everything damaged and everything is going to be awful . I was wrong ….

Today I decided to share the skills and an experience that I got until now.

When we were in quarantine which was awful for the beginning , because we couldn’t go out or do something just for passing the day ,but this was only the beginning . A few days after we started enjoy it.Because the situation started to teach a lot of things an experience that I am sure we were not allow to get in other case.

Let’s bring you some examples. During this days I started to appreciate what I have , such as the communication with friends, before I didn’t have time to communicate with them a lot ,and really I understood that not only they need it to communicate with me but also me need and too much .

Another experience which is mostly connected not only my personality but also with FITT as well it’s that now somehow I have ideas that I can use not only for Youth Centers but also for my next ideas and steps as well.

Now somehow I know what are the good ways to facilitate ,what are the skills that need facilitatter and I have some knowledge about human rights and I know how can we make influence to others as well not only recognize their rights but also study to respect others as well.

During this days I studied to control the time more easily .Which is again a big achievement for me .

After all this again want to mention the fact of having fun ,even celebrating birthdays in quarantine makes us enjoy every single moment of volunteering.

Nothing can not stop us to do our steps….

Being a part these past few months of an esc project was probably the worst time that I have ever spend in any country ever. My name is Marietta, and currently I am working on a project for FITT, I am a political scientist and I am doing my masters in Diplomatic and International Relations, I am from one of the most beautiful cities in Greece, Volos. I always have really high expectations and most of the time I end up getting disappointed and this is what happened with the past two months here in Timisoara.

The first couple of days here where amazing we were going out to parties, to really nice coffee places the project was starting to seem like it was going to be amazing. Almost all of the volunteers arrived and we were little by little started to form a team. Then Corona started and with that we were made to stay in our home 2 weeks before the rest of Romania, which means more or less we have been closed inside our home for more than two months.

This situation created a difficulty in actually working for the project. Everything turned to the virtual world which I do not appreciate and the only thing I could do was plan and micromanage every little detail of the activities that I want to do in my youth center when this situation will finish.

Leaving the difficulties aside though and the horrible mental state that this virus has created I have to recognize that part of the organization that hosts me here in Timisoara tried to help out and create for the team a program that will have us at least a little bit involved.

Now the past week we started again to plan more actively for our youth centers and for the first time in months the reason for which we are here is seemed to be actualized. I am really excited to go and fix the garden from my youth center and I was informed that in the next few days I will have a floor which I have been waiting for since last summer.

So everything has been moving forward little by little and after every storm should always be a rainbow, hopefully there is going to be a rainbow in our situation. This is only the first of many posts. Stay tuned and always safe.