EVS in Romania: The Big (Positive) Change 23/10-24/11/2019

When I came back from Macedonia to Resita on 23th of October, I immediately felt the change in the association.

The overall atmosphere became more positive and pleasant. I've seen a smile on people's faces and an overall friendlier attitude amongst volunteers and between volunteers and the staff from the association.

I can also say that Nevo's staff were way more involved in their work and were way more open and willing to help us and provide us with the necessary things that we need in our private lives and the voluntary work which gave them the impression of a professional working team that could be an example for other NGO's.

In my opinion, the drastic change happened because, at about that time, Nevo had already started other new projects which brought more volunteers from all around Europe and Western Asia.

Also, we had more opportunities for our voluntary work. We had many schools, special schools youth and elderly centers to choose from.

My first week after coming back From Macedonia started by going and having fun with the people at the elderly center and the children from Semenic kindergarten who I missed so much.

During the first weeks, I was so lucky to meet a very interesting and friendly guy called Vali Balaban. It happened while I was in a supermarket, we started a random conversation and it turned out that he worked in the nearby mountain resort. And he was so kind as to take me on trips to explore more the city of Resita while telling me all the interesting facts about the history of the city and the region. He also took me to see ''Semenic Mountain'', the place where he works, ''Three waters'','' Valug'' and some interesting villages.

Also, Nevo has organized a team building on the 1st of November that held a place at Baila Herculane.

This was the perfect timing for me to get to know the new volunteers and spend more quality time with them while simultaneously learning new useful things that could help me during my EVS stage.

The new volunteers that I've met were very friendly, open-minded and intelligent which made expressing myself and befriending them very easy.

I pretty much liked the trainers and how they organized our sessions. The lectures and educational games that we were exposed to were very interesting and fun that taught us a lot about teamwork between volunteers and recipients. They showed so useful that I am still using some of the methods and techniques in schools and kindergartens that the trainers used on us during the team building.

After the team building, I immediately started creating non-formal activities for schools and experimenting with my ideas and implementing them.

I can say that the greatest joy that I felt in my entire life is after performing a method in schools that showed successful and amusing.

Also, I started going to ''Primavara Center '' during the morning hours where we were free to choose different classrooms in which we observed and helped teachers with their activities.

That was the first time I visited the school. I loved the teachers and their dedication to every child which gave me a lot of inspiration. The children there were very interesting and every individual was different and unique that made my experience fun.

I can surely say that aside from the Semenic kindergarten, Primavara is one of my favorite schools.

Schools:

The places that I've visited and the children that I worked with most of the time were:

Primary school ''Generala2'', School for children with special needs ''Primavara'' and Primary school ''Traian Lalescu''.

Methods used:

Generala2

In this school, I used interactive non-formal methods while trying to explain the activities to the students only in English without recourse to the native language. The purpose of this was to create an atmosphere in which students were exposed to the language so they can acquire it easily while having fun.

I used a lot of energizers, fun interactive games, English teaching based games, and drawings.

Primavara

In the evening hours, we used a lot of interactive physical games that helped the children develop their motor skills.

Traian Lalescu

In this school, we used interactive methods with a lot of energizers and fun games. We also always had one Romanian volunteer with us that translated the activities from English to Romanian so the children can comprehend them better.

Semenic Kindergarten

In this kindergarten, I focused more on teaching English words and sentences through fun games and lessons suitable for the students there accompanied by a lot of energizers, exposing them to the language through the natural approach.