'Democracy in Motion III' - Wendy's view

One of the best things about the Multicultural Language Cafe, in my opinion, is the huge variation of mindsets, of views. Sometimes these different visions create a better view of the truth, sometimes they lead to confusion or even clashes, but they're always an opportunity to learn and to broaden our horizons. Umur and I went to exactly the same training course, so of course Umur's view of 'Democracy in Motion III' has a lot in common with mine, and yet there are so many differences that it would be too subjective to give you just one of the views.

As Umur wrote before, it took us a long time to get to Chernivtsi, so although we were 'away' from the 8th until the 19th of October, the actual training took place from the 10th until the 17th. In those days, sometimes we just had to listen and take notes, but fortunately we also learned by doing things, in an interactive way. The best workshop - in my opinion - was about making graffiti stencils. (Funny? Check! Creative? Check! A way of expressing yourself? Check! Usable for illegal activities? Check! ...A workshop can't get much more exciting than that, I think.) Besides this 'practical' stuff, we got information about democracy (e.g., what is it, and what should it be?), activism, artivism or activism through (street) art, and about the Ukrainian Euromaidan protests in 2013/2014. Especially the Euromaidan stories were inspiring, because they came from people who formed the very heart of the Euromaidan protests in Chernivtsi.

If I have to describe my time in Ukraine in one word, it would be 'impressive'. If you are wondering whether that's good or bad: keep wondering a bit longer, because that is exactly why I chose this word. In some ways, this country is the worst I have seen so far. The infrastructure, the amount of stray dogs and cats, the poverty... (I totally agree with Umur that borders are strange, ridiculous things.) On top of that, during the training there were many stories about corruption and other problems, and disturbing videos about peaceful demonstrations that got completely out of hand... However, that doesn't mean I had a bad time in Chernivtsi - not at all. Friendly people, nice city, a good hotel and - last but not least - an informative training course that changed the way in which I perceive democracy and activism.

For me, the most important thing I learned is this: even if you are quite happy with the 'democracy level' of your country, like me, there's so much to stand up for. Maybe you disagree with the way refugees are being treated. Maybe you would like a community garden in your neighbourhood. Maybe you distrust politicians. No matter what, you need to do something in order to change things. Of course, you can just sit back, relax and complain - or you can make a difference. It might seem unnecessary, or someone else's responsibility, but in order to create true democracies and a sustainable world for future generations, we need to act accordingly. We need to participate. And yes, big changes usually require a lot of time and support, but if nobody starts pushing the wheel... By becoming active, you - we - will set democracy (and the world) in motion.

The new volunteer in MLC, Özgür Karakaş

Hey there,

I’m Ozgur from Turkey and I’m 24. I studied Politic Science and Public Administration. After finishing university , I decided to be EVS volunteer. I think I’m lucky one because I’m in Wroclaw and have been volunteering in called MLC at Semper Avanti. I’m happy to be here. I always wanted to see new work areas and do something which can improve myself. Beside this, of course to meet new people,new ideas that belong to these people,find out Polish culture. That’s why it’s big chance to work in MLC with Semper Avanti and I think that I’m in right place.

Good Bye !

Özgür Karakaş

Can you touch my "Democracy" ?

“What is the meaning of democracy?” and “how we can find it in ourselves?” were my questions while getting in to the bus from Wroclaw to Chernivtsi. A normal person probably would be excited, or motivated yet I was grim, sitting in my couch, thinking about 18 hours travelling and the concept of democracy. Human mind is full of wonders, mixing the journey and democracy altogether is something, which you would not even see in most savage and animal minds. But it was a lot of hours in front of me, and my soft parts would not be much suitable for the journey itself. Yet, I was sitting in the bus like an ancient god on his throne, ready for ancient Athenian, or Castoriadis style of democracy. 

After troublesome 18 hours, we arrived to the city of Chernivtsi which once belonged to the Polish kingdom. The economical and infrastructure gap between a standard same scale European city and Chernivtsi is massive. It almost makes no sense to see how artificial lines -we call them “borders”- makes this much change in the lifestyle of whole nation. Streets were worn out due to poverty, people were in rush, and life itself was cheap fellows, cheap… Yet it was beautiful, oriental in the European sense. The journey got more colourful and detailed when me and my three companions decided to walk to our hotel. Beautiful and old city was there, existing outside of European sense of “West”, offering the companionship of stray animals for the souls who seek the purity and sincerity among the felines and canines. Streets were tagged with the messages containing traces of civil war, or simplifying and summarizing the beauty of art with three colour graffiti. 

After half an hour of walk, the hotel revealed itself finally as a base of comfort capitalism in the suburbs. The group of wanderers checked in the hotel, and greeted with smiles in the faces. The first day was just an introduction day, an opening for the intensive, tiresome yet informative training. Many people, many nationalities, many personalities, were present all existing in one realm, with the different and relative ideas of democracy. Hence it was crucial to teach all those diverse minds the term itself! But, what to teach? What to show? Whose democracy? THAT WAS A MESS!! WHAT SHALL I LEARN? 

Since the question and the definition of democracy is changing from person to person, I did not think a proper way to describe this training. Or what I understood of it. There is no universal truth, there is no universal definition, there is no universal unity. If us individuals are happy in our realms, and protecting the rights of Humanity, why to bother with the definitions of the ancient Athens’ definition of elite rich ruling the commons?

Our new volunteer from Italy: Leonardo!

Hi everybody,

My name is Leonardo Lucchi, I’m 26 years old and I come from Cesena, a little town in the north of Italy. I studied International Relations in Forlì (University of Bologna) and I spent six months in Madrid for Erasmus. Ok, now the ice is break and I want you to know how and why I am here.

After nearly a year working in a field I really don’t like I wanted to give my life another direction. My desire was waking up, day by day, and being excited for what I’d going to do. When I saw the announcement of a project related with youth education abroad, I had no doubt and I applied. For Marseille, south of France, a warm place, as I like. Nonetheless, the staff of organization told me that going to France without knowing French wouldn’t be very well and inform me about a very interesting and similar project in Wroclaw, Poland. You can easily imagine how this has developed:

•         I googled “Wroclaw” and I liked, apart from the issue of climate;
•         I confirmed my interest;
•         I made a skype interview;
•         It went wrong;
•         The chosen one preferred to go to Marseille (….);
•         I was chosen and here I am.  

Now the “how” is clear, I think it’s fair you know something more about the “why”. Between the end of my Master degree and the job I didn’t like, I spent four months more in Madrid, as teacher of Italian in a private language school. I didn’t have particular interest in teaching or in the educational field. They paid me and it allowed me to come back to my beloved Madrid. It was enough. Nonetheless it was, unexpectedly, the most amazing working experience I had ever had. Seeing people learning words, sentences and even passing language exams made me feel very proud and self-confident.

Keep calm, I know I am not a real teacher of Italian, I’m not a real teacher at all. I’d like but I’m not. Still. The issue is that I have tasted the emotion of help others with something I supposed to know, and this was great. So great that I would like to have more, as much as possible. I have six months for improving my skills and get it.

P.s. Only to inform: I love practicing sports (especially strength and fighting ones) and reading about history, politics and weird things like the ones about conspiracy theories, paranormal and UFO’s. 

I like lots of different kinds of music but my favourite band are the "The Birthday Massacre".

Pleased to meet you,

Leo

   

Wendy about the Dutch Cultural Evening

Cześć! / Hi! / Hoi!

Last Tuesday it was my turn to organize the Cultural Evening, the first one after the summer holidays. During this evening I presented various aspects of the Netherlands: its history, food, music, pictures, videos... For one evening, Centrum Sektor 3 in Wrocław was turned into an extremely condensed version of my country. 

The first part of the evening was about the history of my country, up until the Dutch Golden Age. History in itself can be quite boring, so I tried to make it more interesting by connecting it to the present day. In what way did this part of history shape the country? What can still be seen nowadays? And - last but not least - where to go if you want to see more?

As I wrote before I consider food to be an essential part of culture, so of course there was some Dutch food to try. During the break, the audience could taste spekkoek (or lapis legit, a Dutch-Indonesian cake), Brabantse worstenbroodjes (Brabant-style sausage buns), and Gouda and Edam cheese.

I decided to make spekkoek and worstenbroodjes because they are nice opposites. Brabantse worstenbroodjes are savoury, simple sausage buns from Brabant, the Dutch province where I grew up. Spekkoek on the other hand is a sweet and delicate layer cake, developed during colonial times in the Dutch East Indies. Baking it requires a lot of time and patience. A lot. The recipe must have been developed by a desperate housewife, waiting for her husband to come home while an Indonesian nanny watched over their children... In other words, it's not meant for a busy EVS volunteer preparing her Cultural Evening, although the taste and the compliments afterwards compensated a lot of stress. 

After the break it was quiz time! I prepared five questions, four about stereotypes when it comes to Dutch people - rich, tall, smoking weed and riding bicycles - and one about the links between Wrocław and the Netherlands. The winner would go home with real Dutch stroopwafels (syrup waffles), from a Albert Heijn supermarket. Pretty normal stuff for Dutch people, but over here... When I showed the prize, a lot of ooooooooh's and aaaaaah's came from the audience. Sky high motivation assured! :) 

The quiz took more time than expected, so after the quiz I had to hurry a bit through the last part of the history, from the 18th century until the present day. Fortunately there was just enough time left to show everything. Meanwhile, all the answer sheets were checked so at the end of my presentation I could congratulate the two winners, who were so kind to share the prize, and after that it was time to wrap things up and go home.

On the day itself, and the day before, I had the feeling that I was living on another planet. The only thing I could think about was the Dutch Cultural Evening. It was one of the most nerve-racking experiences of my life, and heaps of work, but I look back on it with pleasure and pride. Not only because of the effort I put into it, but also because of all the support I got. Thanks again to all who helped me, in one way or another.

Na razie! / Bye! / Houdoe!

On-arrival training of Mariana, Ana, Chiara and Frederic

Before the arrival training we had no clue what would happen and what we would do there. However our journey began at 6am in a very comfortable PolskiBus. During the bus trip, those who had not met before, got to know each other. We were a bit sleepy, but also very excited when we arrived in Warsaw - the Polish capital, in the afternoon. 

Agrykola was our hostel and the place where we had a lot of fun with other volunteers coming from all over Europe. Michael and Woytek were our trainers. They let us chose the biggest content of the training and made sure that we get the most benefits out of these days. Close to the hostel is the Lazienki-Park, a huge park established by Ujazdow Stanislaw Lubomirski in the 17th century. All of you have to make a long walk through it, because the park is wonderful. Mostly we used the park to relax and calm down. 

During the training we learnt a lot and gained many new skills. The biggest advantage from the training was to share our upcoming problems during the first days. Everyone was quite in the same situation so we recognized we were not the only ones facing these issues. This gave us a lot of confidence. All in all the arrival trainings was totally successful. We were surrounded by an intercultural environment and we experienced the European diversity. Last but not least we have to underline that we are enthusiastic about participating in the EVS program.

Kind regards,

Ana, Mariana, Chiara, Frederic

Keep calm and... in bocca al lupo!

Waking up at 6.45 am on Sunday morning can be harsh, especially if you know that you will need to wake up at 4 am the very next day to catch a Polskibus to go to Warszawa. On 13 September, nevertheless, I was really curious about holding my cultural presentation in Zespół Szkół n.3.

The recipients were two groups of 17 - 18 years old vocational education students who are going to spend a month in Bologna next October. It was really interesting for me for many reasons. 

Firstly, it was the first time I could “test” my Italian presentation on Polish youngsters, I tried to include facts, history, some language expressions and...gestures.

 
Secondly, I had the chance to understand a bit more about what Poles think about my country, since I asked them about their expectations and about common ideas Polish have about it. This intercultural element is vital to me, in order to understand more Wroclaw and Polish culture during my EVS.

Finally I was really looking forward to explain my point of view to the kids who are going to Italy and to soften any cultural shock they might experience there. 

I have to say I did not expect such focussed and active groups! My experience was not only very enjoyable and interactive but mad me reflect on how to be a better speaker and trainer for future sessions. I really hope they enjoy their internship in Italy and I wish them a big “IN BOCCA AL LUPO”.