So far

Hey there, everybody :). It is me :) - the girl you never hear from :D. I do realise you don’t get to hear from me as often as from Tanja, that in fact you barely ever get to hear anything from me :). But the truth is that I am here as well and I do stuff too :). I’m not that open about my personal opinions or when it comes to publicly exposing my thoughts and views, and as silly as it might sound, it is sort of a challenging moment for me to write a blog post that I would consider to be readable and interesting, rather than just a mash up of empty words.

It’s been a while since I came to Latvia and a lot of things had happened during those months. I’ve met tons of new, amazing people… I got to know a lot of new things, learnt a lot of new things, got used to plenty of new things, had ups and downs during that time, but mainly was smiling and trying to be as present as I can be.

You know, when you decide to do something like an EVS or generally something new, when you suddenly find yourself in a situation you’ve never been in before, there is no ‘best’ way how to get things done… people can advise you and tell you what they think and you can try to prepare yourself as much as you can  - make a huge research on what you can expect, but in the end the reality might be completely different... And whatever the case is – whether you like the situation or not – it is only up to you how you deal with it and how you let it to affect you.

However, what I can say and what I would like to advise to everybody who is about to do something new, something challenging, exciting - I think the best advice I can give is what I've been trying to do since I arrived to Latvia - and that is to be as present as you can be. Because to properly experience things, to properly feel them and live them, you have to be right there at the place where you are. Not worry about what’s going to be or what was, just try to enjoy what is right at that moment. Because time flies fast and within a blink something amazing can be gone :).

My project is all about working with people. I work with children, I work with people with certain disabilities. And as much as I can study what is right to do and what isn't, when it comes to people and especially kids in particular, in reality you usually learn by trial and error. And that’s how it goes with me, too. And even if I cannot make any major differences to happen in the lives of those people I work with, I try to give them the best of me I have. I offer my friendship, loyalty or support… because what makes me feel good in the end of the day is knowing that I did or tried to make people around me feel good as well. That I gave them something from myself.

In all EVS projects the participants get to learn plenty of new stuff… new culture… new people, new traditions, new nature…I’ve learnt lots of that by now as well. To name just a few :) - I learnt that sour cream is life here :D, I learnt that name days are a thing, that “Nu” is a really catchy word :D and that Latvian people are not as cold as it’s usually presented. Taking time to get to know someone or not cheekily greeting everybody in the street is not a bad thing. To me it all feels more like that to earn someone’s  trust is something really valuable here…

Yet what I know by now is that the learning aspect doesn’t really apply just on learning things around me. I know that I learn a lot more about myself while I’m here. And to learn things about yourself, your abilities you might have never known about, your weaknesses, your strength, and a lot more, I feel like learning all this is just as equal as learning about your surroundings. And no one can ever take that gained knowledge away from you.

From the geographical point, I haven’t visited many places in Latvia yet. I’m in love with the sea and the nature, but my time is yet to come in spring and summer, when I would like to travel a bit more. For now I’m really looking forward to Riga Christmas markets and hoping for more snow to come because that makes my days happier and brighter :). I hope that everyone who hasn’t got fully caught into the Christmas spirit yet will do so soon and enjoy this precious and magical time of the year :).

And even though it’s a bit too early for new year's resolutions yet, I will give myself one and that will be to become more regular with my blog posts :).

‘Seeing is believing but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see‘ – The Conductor (Polar Express)

Sincerely,

Your Rose :).

2. Adventspecial: If you don't need it, it's not a good deal!

If you don't need it, it's not a good deal!  (Post from Tanja)

It's Christmas time and of course, many people are thinking about which presents to give to their friends and family.
Especially in Germany, citizens are utterly stressed out, running threw shops buying cheap special offers that actually nobody really needs.

I am sitting in a shopping mall right now (they've got a sofa and free WiFi here ;) ) watching purchasers consume useless goods.
Seriously, do they need a tenth pair of trousers? The twentiest shirt? Red sparkly highheels they will only wear once? Hairclips that look like fairies?
Do their friends and family really need another wallet? That huge reindeer cuddly toy that sings jingle bells when you press it's belly??  :D

Will they be happy when they receive that present?
And what I ask myself, too:
Do they remember all the people living in our world who can't even afford to buy food for themselves and don't get any present at all?

However, not only in this time of year do the wealthy purchase useless items. Daily dustcatching decorative stuff, clothes that rarely get worn, easily breakable plastic toys etc are being bought.   ;)
Nonetheless, while consuming, these people are not only harming themselves, they have a significant impact on our whole world.

You might ask yourself how wealthy consumers are harming themselves.
Well, they go to work every day. Often, they do not even like their job. So basically they are wasting their time earning money that they will spend on stuff, they don't need. Unfortunately, it is proven, that consuming stuff usually only makes you happy for a short period of time. Consequently, after their purchase they still aren't satisfied. So they will work even more to get more money so they can buy more stuff hoping that might make them happy.
On top of that, these people haven't got enough time for their friends, family, hobbies, talents....

Obviously, it would be better for them to work less and instead, focus on things that they truly enjoy.

Now you might ask yourself, how can they have a significant impact on our world?
Well...   ;)
Whenever you buy something in a normal shop
1. it is made of different materials, some of them are fossil fuels.
One day we won't have enough left and then people will be asking themselves: was that toy really worth it.
2. it is made of materials that can't be recycled.
One day it will be waste. But where will it end? In the sea killing fish? In some field killing birds and bugs? On some rubbish pile that gets bigger and bigger every day and produces methan? On the moon? ;)
3. a lot of energy was used to produce it.
Which obviously increases the CO2 level...
4. a lot of water was used to produce it.
Did you know that to produce one box of teabag you need 100 litres of water? Did you know that we don't have endless resources on clean water in our world? It takes ages to regenerate and clean the water we use. In Germany for example we won't have any clean water left in about 30 years.
5. the item travelled to various places until it arrived in the shop. Transport always pollutes our world: CO2 emmisions, LKWs, trains, ships, streets, train tracks, harbours etc have got to be built, which of course destroys nature and demands the usage of fossil fuels......,  sound pollution that has impact on e.g. birds lives, large ships influence sea creatures lives etc
6. ... Just imagine you were an extremely poor person in a poor country working all day and night in a devastating factory barely earning anything while producing absolutely useless stuff that you know you would never ever be able to afford.
How would you feel?

Of course, you want to give your friends and family presents anyway.

Here's an advice from me:
Surprise them with a lovely self-made gift!  :)
Most probably that will make them much happier and btw, did you know that creating things usually increases your own happiness, too?  ;)
Francly, that way, you've got a win-win situation  ;)

If you need some inspiration, visit us in Ligzda. We've got plenty heartwarming ideas :)

E.g. pretty christmas cards like the one on the right.

29. Oktober: Second workshop

Mini Monsterbags  (Post by Tanja) 

Halloween was on its way!!
Most kids already had their costume, but I knew exactly what they hadn't thought about yet:
A bag! Obviously, you need a bag to put the sweets in if you want to go around the houses asking for them.


So that saturday, my attendees were allowed to
create their own monster bag.
I had prepared the bags beforehand by cutting up and
sewing together old shirts.
All they had to do was sew on eyes, mouths, shoulder straps and everything they could imagine.
Luckily all kids knew how to sew already which made it easy and fun for me and for them.  :)

22. Oktober: Tanjas first workshop for kids

Creating kites   (Post from Tanja)

That saturday I held my first workshop for kids at Ligzda. Honestly, I was super excited and extremely nervous. I didn't know how many kids would come but I didn't think there would be a lot, because I hadn't done a lot of advertisement on media.
Also, Leonardo, the previous volunteer had told me, that usually there aren't a lot of people attending.

So when suddenly ten kids arrived, I was positively surprised. Of course, not everything worked out exactly as I had planned it, but in the end, everybody had a pretty kite.  :)
Andris and some of the others who were first to finish went outside and tried them out. They really did fly!  :)

As I mentioned, we made kites.
Because I am interested in upcycling and love the idea of being able to make art out of rubbish, we used plastic bags to create them. So the next time you want to fly a kite instead of spending a lot of money on a new one, just get out your trash and make it yourself  ;)

This is how it works:

You need a plastic bag (80cm x 45cm), rope, two sticks (each 45cm), something to decorate the tail with and duck tape

1. Cut open a plastic bag.
2. Measure a piece 80cm  x  45cm
3. Measure 20cm from the two short sides and mark it
4. Measure 15cm from the top on the short sides and connect the point at the top that is 20cm from the edges with the new point.
5. Cut off the corners.
6. Glue on the sticks.
7. Glue on a pretty face.
8. Make the tail.
9. Connect the two ends with a 110cm long piece of rope.
10. Connect that piece of rope with a very long piece that you will use to hold it.
Finished!!!  :)

18.September : Bicycle trip with my mentor

Some Latvians are crazy...  (Post from Tanja)

On friday, the 16. of september my mentor Aija and I went on a bicycle trip with some of her friends. First we had to take the train to Riga, in which I met two German girls that were travelling through the Baltic states, before we met all of the others and took another train to Madona. There we arrived late in the evening, checked in to our hostel, had some dinner and beer in the only local pub and finally went to sleep after some glasses of wine in the hostel because we had to get up early the next morning. When we wanted to leave, I got locked in the toilet, so the others had to get the owner who used some special tools to get me out. It didn't really seem like I was the first to get stuck in there......
So when we finally could start, it didn't take long until the first bike had a puncture, but luckily it was fixed after a short time and we could continue.
My mentor and her friends had told me, that we would be cycling on roads, however I quite quickly understood that Latvian roads are not the same as German roads. Basically, we were cycling on a hilly stone "road", which was a bit dangerous for me, because I didn"t have a mountain bike but a fast city bike with thin wheels, which didn't have any grip on the track - most of the time I was sliding and hoping I wouldn't fall over.
After some 10 kilometres, we finally got to a "real" road with tarmac which we only used for a bit, because then we had reached first destination: a small brewery. We got a very informative tour around the brewery (in Latvian, but Aija translated for me) that ended with a beer tasting. (Some people had told me, that Latvians start drinking beer in the morning - I didn't believe them but now I was there, doing exactly that).
Our next stop was a hotel, where we had some lunch, then a museum in an old railway station and of course, a lot of pretty places for example the highest railway bridge. In the evening we arrived at one of the cyclist's brother's house where we were welcomed with a very tasty soup. After cycling 90 kilometres that day we were very exhausted but happy and sat together until very late that night with snacks and wine and lots of laughter.
I'd like to mention, that the house used to be a dairy farm but the very artistic owner had changed it into a beautiful, charming and very cosy artwork. She also designed a lot of the furniture and pottery herself.

The next morning we didn't get up that early. It looked very grey outside and the weather forecast hadn't been promissing, therefore I put on many layers, but after cycling for a bit the sun came out.
I was quite suprised to see so many forests and so much beautiful nature. Especially seeing happy cows grazing outside delighted me because in Germany they are usually kept inside.
In the end we had to split up due to the state of the old railway tracks we had been following all the time. The adventurous ones of us continued following them even though the path was becoming extremely stony. I chose the easier way on the normal street, which led us directly to our final destination, Riga. When we got on our train that would bring us home to Tukums, I was relieved but sad at the same time because I had enjoyed seeing Latvia from an unusual point of view and in the company of those nice, crazy Latvians.

11. September: A day at the beach in Majori

Majori  (Post from Tanja)

On sunday I met Reno in Majori and fell in love with the beauty of the town straight away. First we just walked through the centre and looked at the interesting architecture of some of the big wooden houses. Then we went up one of the sightseeing towers and only saw trees..... It really is amazing that Majori looks like a forest from above because of all the tall trees. I heard that it is very difficult to get permission to cut a tree down, therefore many people have them in their gardens. That doesn't only look beautiful, it also is a great natural protection from icy weather and from the sand, so there won't ever be desertification and, of course, trees are much more important than a lot of us think.

Majori absolutely impressed me. I couldn't even imagine that there are modern cities that are so extremely green. In my hometown Bamberg for example they are planning on cutting down a piece of the forest to provide space for a new industrial area. When I tried explaining to people how important it is, to keep the forest and that we don't need  even more industry, they wouldn't understand or listen to me.
Furthermore, I absolutely love the idea of having sightseeing towers that you can visit for free! (Wouldn't be possible in Germany - many people only think about profit) and the climbing park they built in the forest (jup, that proves again, that Latvians are sportive!).










Of course, I loved the sea, too. The beach was unbelievably clean, there weren't too many cafes that could make it dirty -only one big hotel, and the water was warm enough to swim in. I was the first to get in the water and stayed there longer than Reno! We had a swim, ate some cookies, made a peace bird and had a 
photoshooting when the sun set.

10. September: Tukuma Sporta un Veselības

Sports event  (Post from Tanja)

On the tenth of september there was a big sports event in Tukums, that I attended because Ligzda had a stand there. The children enjoyed making colourful medals with us. When there weren't many kids at our stand, I was allowed to go and watch some of the performances, so I saw some dancing, some people doing karate, some guys showing off their strength by doing pull ups and the flag, but most of all I enjoyed the Greentrials; a group of young bmx riders that go to different events to perform. 
That day I also met Reno, a French volunteer working in Bauska who was helping out at the sports event.
I was totally amazed by how many children took part in the event. It really is a great thing that people take care of their health and participate in sports groups for fun and not because some school makes them. 
In Germany I knew a lot of kids that would prefer sitting at home doing stuff alone, which in my opinion is quite sad, because it isn't good at all for their health and they don't get to meet a lot of people that way.

9. September: Tanja attends the poetry event

Poetry Event  (Post from Tanja)

On the ninth of September, traditionally, many Latvian people go to their hometown's train station and read poetry. Ieva persuaded me to go and so we both read some poetry, too - she read a Latvian poem and I had chosen a part from Simon's poem.

                        

I was surprised to see a lot of youngsters, however later I found out, that their teacher had encouraged them to go. But still, I was positively surprised that they actually stepped out in front of everybody and spoke up. There also was the possibility to draw something on the ground , so of course, I did. 

                           


I admire the way Latvians keep their traditions because it strengthens the community and helps to teach core values to following generations and I hope that next year there will be even more people attending this event.

1. September: Tanja's arrival

Hello everybody!   (Post from Tanja)

I arrived in Latvia by plane on the First of September and fell  in love with the country straight away.

The first surprising thing  I noticed, was how green Riga is, which made me happy because it is very important for  a big city like Riga to take care of its nature and its gas emmissions so the inhabitants and the ecosystem won't suffer any harm. Honestly, I had actually thought that there were no cities, which are as modern and as large as Riga but that are still aware of nature.

The next thing I noticed was how small the airport is. Obviously, not many Latvians travel to distant countries and not many foreign tourists come here. I haven't found out exactly why this is the case but probably because Latvia only opened to Europe and the world a few years ago,  so consequently not many people know about this beautiful country yet. Furthermore the tourist infrastructure isn't widespread yet. However, the number of tourists is increasing and the airport is going to be expanded. Most tourists visiting Latvia are German (ca 15%), which isn't very suprising because Germans are the most frequent travellers in the world.

The first person I met in Latvia was Aija, my stunning, tall, blonde mentor who picked me up from the airport and brought me to my flat where I met Leonardo. He was the previous volunteer from Italy that also worked in Ligzda and had to stay for a few more days to attend his last event,  an exhibition of his own pictures.

Leonardo showed me around Tukums and introduced me to my new workplace before Ieva, the coordinator came by and took us to the beach which is only 16 km away and absolutely stunning! There are 50 metres of pure, soft sand with no stones at all. I was told that it is forbidden to build hotels, houses and bars at this beach.  Consequently there's a forest separating the beach from the street, which is smart in many ways. On the one hand, the ecosystem is perfectly intact, the water is clean and there are many (happy) wild animals and ducks!? I've never seen ducks at the sea before. On the other hand, the forest functions as a natural shelter. The dirt from the street and towns can't harm the beach and can't get into the water and of course, the sand doesn't blow into the countryside, so there won't be any desertification. Furthermore, the forest acts as a buffer to the sounds from the street and towns, so you can't hear any noise at the beach except for the soothing sound of waves and birds singing. (Germany, take Latvia as a good example!)

Ieva took us to the one and only very small beach cafe where we had some very tasty traditional garlic bread. The only thing I disliked about the whole place was that they served all the dishes and drinks in plastic cups and plastic plates. In my opinion, especially at the beach you should try to avoid plastic, because many sea animals swallow it and die.

Ieva took this picture of Leonardo and me 

Rose's introduction

Hello out there in Latvia   (Post from Rose)


Since we've been shortly introduced already, I have just a few important words to say for the beginning. I am very happy to say that I can be here, writing this blog post that actually doesn't bring any particular exciting, entertaining  & adventurous story, but more or less my pure excitement of the stories that might be ahead. As was already mentioned in our introduction article, I came to Latvia from England - London and ever since I arrived, I keep being a happy bubble with a big smile on my face. I like a lot of things here so far . The nature, the food, the people, Riga, the woods, my work, my friends. oh and my intake of sour cream has increased from zero to ten . But that's a good thing .
I'm planning to make most of my time in Latvia, either when it comes to my project duties or free time. I want to do well and effectively, I want to smile and make others smile, I want to travel and when the year passes by, I want to leave with at a least a little bit of Latvia in my heart . That's all I want to say for today but surely I will get to talk more.

Best wishes,
BR xxx

Tanja's introduction

Hello everybody!  (Post from Tanja)

Because I was the first to arrive in Tukums, I will start by introducing myself :)

I am Tanja from Bamberg, a beautiful town in Germany where I've just taken my A-levels. It is quite common in Germany to go abroad for one year after doing A-levels, because they are very exhausting and, therefore, you don't really want to start studying immediately and many school-leavers don't know what to study either.
So for the same reasons and because I love travelling and I absolutely wanted to help people and work in a social organization, I decided to do an EVS.

You don't know what EVS is? Ecose it!!!  ("Ecose it" is a synonym for "google"it. Ecosia is a search engine that donates its earnings to a project which plants trees. So you basically "plant trees"by using Ecosia instead of Google)

When I was looking for an EVS project (https://europa.eu/youth/volunteering_en) I found Ligzda, which a small social art workshop (atelier) in Tukums and fell in love with it immediately. So I applied and got chosen and I must admit, it is one of the best choices I have ever taken! Since I've been here, I'm just like a happy puppy enjoying life :)

As I already mentioned, Ligzda is a small but beautiful atelier run only by voluntary workers. Some of the people engaged here are youngsters, who couldn't find a job and are now learning some new skills by doing something meaningful while they are searching for job possibilities. Another employee is disabled but a great help here. Basically, Ligzda is a open community room, where people all ages can come, do some art or just chat and feel welcome. On wednesdays there's a  ceramic course and thursdays a painting course that everybody can attend. On other days there are different events and soon I will start offering a weekly course, too.
I'm planning on doing upcycling with the kids and that way, teaching them how important it is to take care of our planet. Also, I want to show them some German traditions and explain "my culture". (I don't really feel German and I think it is stupid to have borders but I will write about that in another post). However, by showing the Ligzda visitors a different culture, I hope to spark their interest for other european countries and make them understand that we all are just one huge family with a connected history and the same core values that should stand together and whose members should support each other and be like brothers and sisters.

Ligzdas Website: http://manaligzda.com/en/

On my first workday I drew this: 
On the top left corner you can see my hometown Bamberg. The nest with the bird symbolizes Ligzda, my workplace.