Andrea, ki prihaja iz Španije in jo gostimo v okviru Evropske solidarnostne enote, je pri nas že skoraj dva meseca. Kako hitro leti ta čas! Predvsem takrat, ko se imaš dobro in počneš zabavne stvari. Ponovno se vam oglaša iz CZM-ja, kjer je v tem času izkusila mnogo novih dogodivščin.
“Hello!
I’m Andrea, the ESC volunteer in CZM. I’m back again to share some updates about my experience, as I’m getting to the halfway point of my project at CZM.
To be honest, at the beginning I had some fears about whether I would fit in with the team and the kids. Even though I have an extroverted side, I had never worked with children or teenagers before, and I was used to working on my own. I also thought that teenagers would be reserved with someone new who doesn’t speak their language. However, they welcomed me so naturally from the very beginning, in a way I would have never expected.
Even though I’ve been here for less than two months, it already feels like I’ve been here for half a year. I’m learning a lot of new things and developing skills related to youth work.
One of the activities I prepared for the kids was a winter-themed treasure hunt, with the Yeti as the main character. I designed a treasure map, created necklaces for each team with their characters, and built a whole story around the “Yeti’s treasure”. I really got into it, and my graphic design skills were super useful here. I also organised a Spanish Day, where we had a quiz, made castañuelas as a craft activity, and cooked a typical Spanish dish—tortilla de patata.
As you can see, I’m not having a bad time here. I’ve also started learning some basic Slovenian – I can now ask simple questions, I know how to count to 100 and ask for a burek, but my favourite word (that I hear all the time here) is “čaki čaki”.
Overall, I’m really happy with this experience. I’m developing new skills and discovering a field I never imagined myself working in. In addition, I’ve been visiting different cities around Slovenia and discovering many fascinating cultural traditions that have surprised me—like countryside birthday celebrations where, when someone turns a round age (like 30, 40 or 50), people decorate their garden with banners and other stuff, as well as Easter traditions like decorated eggs and bread shaped like braids and nets. All of this feels very different from Spanish traditions, but I’m really enjoying discovering it!”
SLOVENSKI PREVOD:
Pozdravljeni!
“Sem Andrea, ESC prostovoljka v CZM. Spet se oglašam, da z vami delim nekaj novosti o svoji izkušnji, saj se približujem polovici svojega projekta v CZM.
Če sem iskrena, sem imela na začetku nekaj strahov glede tega, ali se bom ujela z ekipo in otroki. Čeprav imam ekstrovertirano plat, še nikoli prej nisem delala z otroki ali najstniki, poleg tega pa sem bila navajena delati sama. Mislila sem tudi, da bodo najstniki zadržani do nekoga novega, ki ne govori njihovega jezika. Vendar so me že od samega začetka sprejeli tako naravno, kot si sploh ne bi mogla predstavljati.
Čeprav sem tukaj manj kot dva meseca, imam občutek, kot da sem tu že pol leta. Učim se veliko novih stvari in razvijam veščine, povezane z mladinskim delom.
Ena izmed dejavnosti, ki sem jo pripravila za otroke, je bil zimsko obarvan lov na zaklad, kjer je bil glavni lik Jeti. Oblikovala sem zemljevid zaklada, ustvarila ogrlice za vsako ekipo z njihovimi liki in zgradila celotno zgodbo okoli »Jetijevega zaklada«. Res sem se vživela v to in moje znanje grafičnega oblikovanja mi je prišlo zelo prav. Organizirala sem tudi španski dan, kjer smo imeli kviz, izdelovali kastanjete kot ustvarjalno dejavnost in pripravili tipično špansko jed – tortiljo iz krompirja.
Kot lahko vidite, mi tukaj res ni hudega. Začela sem se učiti tudi nekaj osnov slovenščine – zdaj znam postaviti preprosta vprašanja, šteti do 100 in naročiti burek, moja najljubša beseda (ki jo tukaj ves čas slišim) pa je »čaki čaki«.
Na splošno sem s to izkušnjo res zelo zadovoljna. Razvijam nove veščine in odkrivam področje, v katerem si nikoli nisem predstavljala, da bom delala. Poleg tega sem obiskala različna mesta po Sloveniji in odkrila veliko zanimivih kulturnih tradicij, ki so me presenetile – na primer praznovanja rojstnih dni na podeželju, kjer ob okroglih obletnicah (kot so 30, 40 ali 50 let) ljudje okrasijo vrt z napisi in drugimi stvarmi, ter velikonočne običaje, kot so okrašena jajca in kruh, spleten v kite ali mreže. Vse to je zelo drugačno od španskih tradicij, vendar v tem res uživam!”
