Working at MoE..

Sixth day in Coventry.

It's been almost a week since I moved to UK.

After a very quiet weekend during which I tried to recharge myself (as I had been awake for several hours on my way back from Macedonia..let's say 2 days in a row again!), Monday came and I started enjoying MoE!

First of all..where am I staying at the moment? I am living with two nice young men, Cyprian from Kenya, and Mark from a lovely place not too far from Coventry whose name I cannot remember..actually I could try but I think I would be wrong with its spelling so..never mind, I will ask him later!

Cyprian is a student of Maths at Coventry University and he's having his last exam for this academic year right tomorrow; Mark is employed at MoE, he deals with interreligious dialogue since he has studied something I found really interesting: theology!

I have already asked him something about his studies as I think they are really really interesting. I do think so as I am having the chance, whenever I join a TC, to get to know people who have different religious belief and little by little I am discovering some aspects related to other religions I didn't expect! Like when I got to know my room-mate from Kosovo at my first TC in Stip..she is muslim and thanks to her I got a very instructive insight on her religion.

Moreover, we are sharing a flat, everybody has their own single room and then we share kitchen, living room and bathroom.

Asha House (that's how everybody calls it here) is just next door with MoE office so..I can get up calm and quiet every morning since I do not have to hurry cuz of the traffic or anything else!

In the office there are several people working..the ones whom I am mainly in touch with are Kath, who deals with administrative and financial issues of the organization and Sanil, who is just next to me in the office and deals with some local and international projects for MoE.

My role at the moment is to help Jarek and Max with their projects, so for instance, I am following the confirmations for the participation at the "Europe for Citizens" Conference due at the end of the month here in Coventry, or taking care of the evaluations about a PBA held in Armenia last month.

I like being here, I am experiencing something totally different from Croatia. This is a real office while at Cnc I was in a Youth Club.

Whenever I stop and I start reflecting about these last months, actually since I left Italy and all these experiences I have been doing, I am so glad I am having such a great chance to get to know so many things! And even though we have been quite unlucky with our EVS, I feel it's ok like this as..who thought I would have had the possibility to spend a month in England while I was volunteering in Croatia??? and what about the beautiful and so useful TCs I participated in in Stip?!!

Whatever happens from now further I think it won't be more surprising than what has already occured! Anyway there's always something interesting to learn, anywhere at anytime! That's my philosophy! ;-)

And that's why I have not given up yet! ;-)

Of course I must thank some people..first of all my trainers from my first TC in Stip, Andrijana let me participated once again to her training; Max and Jarek who helped me at the beginning and also right now while I am staying in Coventry; in general lots of people I got to know in these months as I had many deep talks with some new friends, which gave me enough obstinacy to go on even though I was facing lots of problems with my EVS..and of course the person who is actually responsible for all our "EVS troubles"!! Honestly I am not truly thank him as he has put our motivation very low, but at the same time because of that I found some alternatives and I got other chances..so all in all..a little and different "thanks" to him too!! ;-)

Today it's cloudy, but it's the first time since I have been in England..I also got some tan on Sunday!

What else would I ask for? There's also a nice weather in the most rainy country of Europe!!!

I am only waiting for Andrijana to join me in Coventry and then the cherry will be on the top of the cake!!! :-P

II TC in Stip..report from Coventry

I am officially in England! To be more precise I am writing from Coventry where MoE has its main office.

After a beautiful week spent once again in Stip, Macedonia for a TC, I have set in Coventry in order to help Jarek, one of my trainers I got to know at the first TC I have been to in Stip, in organizing a Conference about European Citizenship which is taking place in Coventry at the end of the month.

So..I will try to explain what happened as much clearly as I can..

After my documents from Italy arrived in Osijek I sent them to Brussels and then I was ready to leave for Macedonia, in order to join a training about Intercultural learning.

First I left Osijek to reach Zagreb where I took a flight for London..it sounds quite funny but I spent only Friday night in Coventry to meet Max, another of my trainers, get to know some people whom I would work with back from Macedonia and then, at 3.30 am on Saturday I went back to London to take another flight for Skopje!

Finally, after 2 days around Europe, I reached Stip and a beautiful week working on intercultural learning started!

At first I was a little bit worried cuz people looked quite shy and unexperienced but after a couple of days, even though the group was not like the one I found in April, we started having a very good time!

It's been an interesting chance to debunk some stereotypes..for example I got to know two interesting guys from Lithuania..we in Italy usually have the stereotype for people from the northern countries to be very cold and detached..but they weren't! I really had a great time with them and I felt like being with some of my closest Italian friends!

But the best thing in Stip, what really made the TC different was my favourite trainer ever..Max!!!! he is such a great person! he is from Poland but works and study in England. I got to know him last time I was in Macedonia and we soon got along very well! I have already talked about him some posts ago, but I cannot avoid adding some other nice things!

It was him who helped me in finding this place while I am waiting for my new resident permit for Croatia, so that I won't waste my time in Italy but I will have the chance to see how MoE works, to experience life in Coventry and help Jarek with this interesting Conference about Europe for Citizens.

So..thank you very much Max!!!!

As regards the training on a whole, as I said at the beginning, even though people were less creative and active than at the previous TC, we had interesting activities.

Starting from the Intercultural evening as usual, where anybody has the chance to get to know some unknown aspects of any country which participates in the TC but above all to taste some food! And this time I was representing Italy with some sopressa and grana cheese from Padova!

It was really nice! Although my table was still poor compared to others I was happy to have taken with me something from Italy..just in case I thought..and it worked!!!

Moreover moving to the real activities related with our TC , I really enjoyed once again going around Stip in order to fulfill some tasks while getting to know the town and its population, or when we did an interesting game called "Step forward".

In this game we got a small piece of paper where it was written who we were (for instance I was an homosexual teacher who was teaching in a Primary School). We were altogether standing in a line and we had to make a "step forward" whenever we could answer "yes" to some questions our facilitators made to us. In this way we had the chance both to experience how other people feel in our society, cuz of some formal and informal rules, prejudices and stereotypes, and also discuss this experience in two small groups at the end of the game.

I really liked it!

So all in all I had a good time. I always love to participate to this kind of activities cuz it's a way to study and get information about topics and problems we face in our life and in our society at the present time and also cuz it's a fantastic way to get to know new people and their cultures! And, believe me, it's never enough! I have been only to 4 TC and everytime they were different from one another.

I also do like to participate as I would like to become a trainer in the future..I think it's a role which could be suitable for me! (Even though when we had the chance to organize our own workshop in small groups we were quite ridiculous..ops! ok, ok, I still have a lot and a lot to learn!!!).

How things can change so suddenly...

It's been a week and something more since I came back from Padova to Osijek..
I was very happy and full of energy as I had traveled with a friend of mine who stayed at me for some days, then I knew that in a few days I was meeting Magdalena and Madara in Belgrade to take a flight for Albania and go to a TC..so all in all, I was very enthusiastic despite of our problems with the resident permit!

But as soon as I went to Cnc I got very bad news again! The resident permit was not enough maybe..Danijela informed me that Bruxelles had never received my part III and project agreement so..they still didn't know who I was!!!
great, fantastic! I was really going to cry..
Thanks to somebody's lack of responsibility I couldn't join the TC in Albania cuz I had to wait in Osijek for those documents from Italy in order to sign and send them to Bruxelles.

I am having really horrible days..a lot of stress cuz we have to wait for the Embassies to give us the new resident permit, I am still worried about my position as EVS for Bruxelles and also we don't know if we can stay in the house where we have been living since the beginning cuz the owner's old parents are moving back there..

So the situation right now is as follows: Madara and Magdalena are still in Albania..they are leaving tomorrow very early in the morning; then Madara will fly back to Latvia and Magdalena will probably go home to Austria, even though she wanted to find another solution while waiting for being allowed to come back to Osijek.
At first we thought to go to Bulgaria for a sort of join project in partnership with Cnc, but then I found another chance for myself so Magdalena was not sure with going to Bulgaria anymore.
Finally as regard myself, I succeeded in having a place for May in another partner organization with Cnc in London!
As soon as I realized we were going to stay away from Croatia for the whole May I tried to find another option instead of going back to Italy so I asked Danijela if I could apply for going to work with that organization in order to get to know something more about youth works and especially minorities, as it's the main topic people deal with in that organization (MoE - Minorities of Europe). She said ok and luckily in MoE they accepted me so..in three days I am leaving for London!!!

I hope I won't have any other bad news for the next three months at least..I cannot bear them anymore!!!

I also hope everything will be ok cuz we were so motivated with this project and now our feelings and mood are so low..

Anyway I want to be positive once again (although it's such a difficult role to play right now) and enjoy the next experiences I am going to have!

still waiting..

I am still at home..nothing new about our resident permit..
I am really anxious to know if Brussels succeded in contacting Croatian Embassies and Consolate in our countries so that they will understand the situation..


We want to come back and finish our EVS!!!

At the moment Magdalena is in Serbia, Fruska Gora, for a TC. Next week Madara and I will go to Belgrade and altogether we will fly to Tirana for another TC due in Durres..
I cannot wait for that, as I have very good memories of my last TC in Stip! But I really hope we will get to know something about our future..after Albania..what next if we cannot still enter Croatia?!

Training in Stip: what we have done

On 3rd April, at 10 o'clock in the morning, the TC about "Minorities, Integration, Inclusion - Promoting Minority Youth Empowerment in Europe" started.

As usual, the first day was mainly focused on those activities which allow participants to get to know each other and to create the right confidence to share experiences and reflections.

We made some games I had already done in Sarajevo at the on-arrival training for EVS.

One of my favourites is the one where you put all the chairs in two circles, one in the middle and the other one around the first. The chairs look at each other and every people have the chance to talk to one of the participants for a couple of minutes about a specific topic which has been decided by the trainers.

Then everybody must change sit, moving at his/her left or right side, so that everybody meets someone else. In this way you can learn something about almost everybody and it can be the right input to get curious about someone and to get to know him/her better later on, at the coffee break for example!

In the afternoon we went around the city for a sort of "treasure hunt", we were divided into groups and we had to fulfill some tasks..like to take a picture with 6 Macedonians or to do something helpful for the local community!!!

After dinner we had the Intercultural Evening, we presented our countries thanks to some traditional drinks and food.

As I was representing the CnC, I had to present Croatia!! But unluckily I didn't have a lot for people to taste since part of the food and materials remained in Magdalena's luggage when we left at the bus station..

:-(

But never mind! There was so much food (and drinks!) that people didn't miss too much the Croatian one I bet!

The next days we had the NGO fair, where we presented our organization..I was happy with my presentation of Cnc..I wrote a nice flipchart about it and then I explained everything!

Of course during the second day the real activities started! We had a PPP on migration, then some social works, other PPPs, workshops, swapping cultures initiative as a mean of social inclusion and finally projects development.

The presentation I liked more was the one about Macedonia and its minorities as it's been very clear and I had the chance to get an insight in that issue. For instance, I really didn't know about the tough and critic issue Macedonians had with Albanians..it was very interesting. We also watched a Macedonian movie in the night about that, called "Before the rain". It was quite cruel but I liked it cuz we could see how people lived in the countryside, how much they feel the differences between Muslims and Orthodoxes, and so on.

I would like to describe the whole TC in details but I really guess it's going to be too much for the readers so I think to move to the emotional side of it!

Once again this experience gave me the opportunity to get to know interesting people..but it's not only about it! I really felt the group was great! we got close to each other very easily and very quickly! It was in a way similar to the atmosphere at the CMS (and definitely the opposite of the on-arrival training in Sarajevo..) but as long as the group was even more omogeneous I felt the harmony was even stronger!

We spent lots of time (out of the TC hours) talking about our experiences in the youth field, for example I got to know an ex volunteer from Turkey, who participated in the EVS in Portugal..we shared our feelings about it and I really appreciated his advice!

I had a great time, I cannot find the right words to explain that (this is the limit of English..as it's not my mother tongue of course!)

I also met two guys form Sardinia..at first I wasn't very excited..it's always risky to meet other Italians abroad..so many times it happened that I found they were very spoiled and posh..

But this time I got a nice surprise..actually the surprise was for both sides! Mine and theirs..as they had the same fear about me!

We spent a great time together, at the traditional dinner and the night after!

I want to mention also the trainers..Andrijana from Macedonia and two crazy Polish guys from England..Max and Jarek! well done everybody!
Thanks for these beautiful days and thanks for all those funny, useful, interesting activities we did altogether!

Training in Stip: the travel

On 2nd April Magdalena and I were finally leaving Osijek to join the training about "Minorities" in Stip, Macedonia, held by P.E.L. and MoE (Macedonian and English NGOs).

After lots of changes we had decided to go by bus, first from Osijek to Belgrade, then from Belgrade to Skopje and finally to Stip.

Magdalena had come back from Austria with a big big cold, she couldn't almost speak cuz she had very low voice, anyway at 5.30 in the morning we got up to catch the bus at 7 o'clock.

But as soon as we arrived at the bus station she changed her mind.

She felt very very bad and even though she didn't want to let me go by my own, as the time was running out, I reassured her about me, being alone around the Balkans, and wished her to get well soon, finally I jumped on the bus cuz it was almost leaving!

So a new adventure was starting..actually I must admit I was a little bit worried cuz in Belgrade I knew I had to change bus station to take the second bus, but above all, I knew I had only 20 minutes to change place, money and buy the ticket in order to catch that bus which would have let me be in Skopje on time to take the last bus for Stip.

I really had to fight against time..and, as everybody knows, most of times the winner is it!

So on the way from Osijek to Belgrade I was feeling like a storm in my soul, full of different emotions: fear not to be on time, curiousity about new places I was going to pass through, excitement for the training but also suspiciousness as you can never know, before you start it, if you will find a nice working group and you will have a good time; moreover I felt angry with Magdalena's cold which didn't enable her to come with me, happy to see again some people I had already met to the CMS in Osijek, and so on!

During the first part of my travel I could pass through Vukovar, which is very closed to the border with Serbia. I was talking about it with a friend of mine in Osijek..I knew it was destroyed during the war and Magdalena, Madara and I really wanted to visit it.

I think this kind of feeling is quite strange but very common among people..why should anybody like to visit a very damaged place? There's something which takes you there, to see with your own eyes and to feel or try to feel something..

So I had the chance to see it and I really thought that I won't go there anymore, only by force when travelling to Belgrade, cuz there's nothing to see..I mean, it was very painful to see still lots of debris and destroyed buildings..I don't want to imagine the situation during the war. It was very shocking.

Then I crossed the border..now I was travelling through Serbia!

At the beginning nothing had changed, the landscape was almost the same: lots of fields all around, sometime little villages and nothing else..but when I reached the first town I realised I was not in Croatia anymore.

We stopped for a ten minute-break in Sid. What a sad place! I was really impressed. Very old and ruined houses and shops and the people were so poor. I couldn't imagine such a difference with Croatia.

I felt like being in the '40s or around there.

I went to the toilet at the bus station..I skip what I found there cuz it wouldn't be very nice..but trust me, I am very adaptable, I don't usually care about toilets, meaning that if I need it I just don't look around and go! But this time I was very surprised for the lack of infrastructures..Of course I didn't expect to find the toilets you can have at the service areas on the high-way! But I didn't even think they had neither a sort of rope to flush the toilet (and this is the maximum I can tell you about it!)

Anyhow, I was very sorry for them, for people who live in such horrible conditions..(even though the worst had still to come).

Finally, after almost 4 hours, I reached Belgrade and, as I explained above, I had to start my race against time!

Luckily everything has gone fine! I met a nice young man who worked for the security at the bus station. He was very happy to help me (and he was the only one I met who could speak English!) so I took the chance!

At 11.20 the second part of my long long travel started.

This time the bus was very old and the sits were so narrow and close to each other! But I had a lot to do for distracting myself!! I took with me lots of magazines and a book, and of course I had my mp3 to listen to some music..

I decided to take the book..it's an Italian writer's..actually he is not a writer, he is an Italian vj, Fabio Volo. The book is about a reflection the protagonist makes on himself. He is almost 30 years old and he is the typical "Peter Pan", he doesn't want to grow up, become responsible, make strong choices such as to accept a new job, which would compell him to be busier and more responsible, to start a serious relationship in order to make a family and so on. It's written in a very funny way and all the things he says are really true, typical from these new generations of youngsters or young people who don't want to set, who feel chronically searching for something..

I almost read the whole book on my way to Skopje and I finished it on the way back, in Belgrade, while waiting for the bus for Osijek..

During the long journey to Skopje I also had the chance to practice my Croatian as I got to know a boy from Serbia who couldn't speak a lot of English so I mixed English with all I knew in Croatian/Serbian.

It took nearly 8 hours to arrive at the border with Macedonia. Actually all the things I took with me in order not to be bored wouldn't been enough but for Serbia really gripped my attention when we went through some towns/villages..

As I said before I was very impressed about the poverty all around..I didn't expect it was such a poor country. I had the impression it's even poorer than Bosnia..

I have been very glad to have this opportunity, to go across the Balkans cuz it's been very interesting. I thought these countries were more or less the same..but I can definitely say that that was a sterotype I had in my mind! Croatia is different from Serbia and Serbia from Bosnia and Macedonia!

I think it would have been a big pity to miss all of that for going by plane..

In fact, soon after we crossed the border with Macedonia, the lanscape changed once again. I felt like being in Greece this time..ok, buildings in Greece are different but the flora and the general landscape really reminded me of Greece, the Peloponnesus part.

The time was going fast and in the afternoon I realized I wouldn't be on time in Skopje for the last bus to Stip..sooooooooo..what could I do? I wrote an sms to Andrijana, one of the trainers, asking for someone to pick me up cuz I would arrive around 20-20.30.

Luckily she managed for me to call a taxi, so once in Skopje I found a nice and kind driver who took me to Stip.

The last part of the journey was the most comfortable one, I must admit it! I was finally relaxed in the car, the driver even offered me a cigarette and we also had a nice talk, again in English mixed to Croatian/Serbian/Macedonian as, just for you to know, they are almost the same!!!

It took 1 hour to arrive in Stip, but again I had a good chance to see the interland. It was dark of course, but I could see we were on the mountains, the sky was black but full of bright stars..what a magic! I must say that in the Balkans I am enjoying beautiful skies in the night! It's so dark that you can easily watch the stars and of course they look bigger and closer than in the sky above a city like Padova..

Around 21.30 I was finally at the Hotel Izgrev, I left my luggages in my room and went to get to know some of the participants at the training..

I was very tired, travelling since 7 in the morning with just a few and fast breaks, so I decided to go for a shower and then to bed..unaware of the beautiful days I was going to spend at the training in the beautiful country of Macedonia!

unexpected..

Twelfth week.
I have just checked the calendar to see how many weeks I have not been updating the blog for..actually 2 weeks..not too bad, even though now it's time to put it right.
I need to make a brief intro before I start telling people what is going on at the present time, but also what happened last week!

First of all I want to surprise you..I am in Italy again! but this time I am not as happy as last time when I came back for Easter.
Unluckily we are having huge problems with some bureaucratic issues..namely our resident permit in Croatia. Everything has happened so fast that in two days, since I was back from Macedonia, the three of us had already gone back to our own countries to try to fix this problem, which is really jeopardizing our EVS!

So now I'm sitting in my room, at home, and going to write about these two past weeks from a workspace I would never imagine..it's quite sad somehow..even though I cannot hide I am glad to see my family and some friends once again. But I really miss Madara and Magdalena and it's such a strong feeling as I didn't know when I would have met them again until yesterday afternoon when I got some positive news from Osijek, from Damjan and Danijela at CnC.

So now that everybody can have an idea of the situation which we are in, I will start my job.
The training in Macedonia, due in Stip, really deserves an accurate description for plenty of reasons..starting from the travel I made to reach the place and ending to the final evaluation and the "instantaneous" follow up the training is having!