I came across Bogdan‘s blog today and I really really *heart* his posts; one of them was about his experience with EVS. I found his words motivating and coming from the heart, so I decided I will publish them on my blog also. They are in Romanian so far, but I will work on the translation as soon as possible.
Bogdan is this cool dude, that I’ve first met at this NGO – festival, two years ago-I think, and then two months ago at this training for EVS mentors. He is totally into my ‘romenglish’ language, so I don’t need any other reasons to like him ☺

Bogdan’s stroy about his EVS project [ http://www.voluntareuropean.ro/povesti_de_voluntari.php ]:

Q: What inspired you to become an EVS volunteer?
A: Since I was in college I have started dreaming about how my life would be living in another country, surrounded by strangers, where nobody would understood my language, my customs. I imagined that only like that, in those conditions, I would discover my true self, I would understand myself and to be what I was supposed to be. I discovered EVS through some contacts I had with different youngsters involved in Youth in Action program and I told myself that at the right time I will go abroad and fulfill my dream. The advantages of EVS convinced me that this is the best choice of being a volunteer in a multicultural environment and the stories of those that experienced the program made me start with my first steps in the journey represented by European Voluntary Service.
Q: What were you supposed to do as an EVS volunteer in the project in question?
A: I have applied to volunteer in the Atlantic Bridge, an international Christian youth organization. It was the only organization that I have applied for and my wish of being selected came true. I am the only EVS volunteer I know that applied only to one organization and got accepted. The secret is simple: you have to feel that it’s for you and then you must want it very much.
Atlantic Bridge’s mission was to create bonds of friendship, understanding and breaking down the walls of ignorance, misunderstandings, prejudices (‘Building bridges’,’ Breaking down walls’). The target group was formed by young people aged between 14 and 18, coming from different social groups, families with different beliefs and values and we were trying to build bonds. We were 4 EVS volunteers in the organization, me and three girls from Lithuania, Germany and Belgium and each of us was responsible for a given region, where we had to create a regional network of contacts and support, to meet with youngsters and to establish a youth club. My activities were diverse and I had a flexible schedule, which combined office work and research with organizing youth exchanges, writing Youth in Action projects.
Q: What new things did you learn and what skills do you feel you acquired during your EVS service?
A: My EVS experience offered me many things and I have developed on many levels. I learned to be more structured an organized, to plan and to forestall future actions. I have gained a lot of social skills, communication in a foreign language. I became more careful in managing time and more prepared in handling stressful situations. I developed my creativity and I look at things as an opportunity for ongoing learning. Perhaps the most important thing that I have learned in the Netherlands is that if you want something, through love, passion, hard work and reliability it can be achieved.
Q: – What about yourself, what do you feel that you have learned during your EVS experience? (eg: about your limits, your talents, your tolerance, your way of interacting with others etc.).
A: The mission of ‘Building Bridges’, ‘Breaking Down Walls’ had a big impact on me. I realized how much people limit themselves while dealing with others. Many times I have built walls around me and for those around me, although I was the one who had to demolish them. I have pushed my personal boundaries and I have learned what it truly means to build a genuine connection with those who probably you do not want to. I realized that to be understood you have to understand, for this I have gained more patience, tolerance and curiosity. This experience was the best personal development process that I had. Experiences, the people I met and coaching and training programs that Atlantic Bridge offered me, made me create my own vision of life, to establish deep values and to reveal my new talents, new passions that I want to follow with confidence.
Q: – Do you think you are different now than the person you were before going on EVS service? If so, how do you feel you have changed?
A: I have changed a lot, although I often feel that I am the same Bogdan. When you have developed your own values, you have created a vision and you believe in them, your life changes a lot. If before leaving I could have chosen several directions to choose to go by, now I can say I know the meaning that I want to follow. The experience that I had in the Netherlands gave me confidence, ideals and dreams that I want to fulfill. I also learned to appreciate what I have and be better to me, to people around me and the world in which I live.
Q: – Considering your career, how did you develop professionally?
A: Working with young people, I realized that I really like this and want to become a professional youth worker and I want to create social development projects. The training materials and documents used are starting points for future activities. The professional youth workers I have worked with inspired me, motivated and offered me useful experiences that will help me in future plans.
Q: – What else has this experience meant to you, outside of the project activities?
A: The EVS service has meant to me primarily fulfilling a dream. It meant joy and disappointment, cultural misunderstandings, but friends for life. It meant a significant diversity in thinking and habits. It meant “country living”, below sea level, in a Dutch village in the most conservative and religious province. It meant long and beautiful trips, with nights sleeping on mattresses in the rooms of EVS volunteers. It meant hundreds of miles of biking, lots of water and strong wind. Independence, freedom, faith, trust and love.
Q – You met, you worked and you made friends with other volunteers from different countries. But what do they all have in common, what kind of youngsters would you say are the EVS volunteers?
A: EVS volunteers? I met many and all very different. Some came in a new country to be as far away from their country, some because they could not start something at home and wanted to postpone this, some for the love of traveling and the charm of being in a foreign culture, some because they do not know what to do in life and came to find out the answers, some to learn a new language, others to save the world or at least to make it better and others just for fun. There are many reasons, but overall I believe that everyone has something in common: THE DESIRE TO DO MORE IN THIS LIFE.
Q: – Why would you recommend someone to become an EVS volunteer?
A: Why? If one read what I wrote so far then they would realize why
Q: – How much do you think you will engage in volunteer activities in Romania in the future?
A: I want to get involved more and more. I have a number of ideas that I have to see how to adapt to the Romanian society or adapt Romanian society to my ideas. I want to be involved in the Youth in Action programs, helping EVS volunteers who come to Romania to have their life experience here. I want to build links between people and tear down the walls between them.

This is my list from last year:
1. A car! (I insist)
2. To discover in Cluj a cosmetician and a hair-stylist just like the ones I have back home.
3. To reach my target figures every month.
4. To continue my second year of MA without paying for it.
5. To develop my NGO.
6. To have a date for my cousin’s wedding.
7. To successfully pass Adrian’s ‘life-learning tests’.
8. To be patient.
9. To cook more.
10. To sign up for a photography class with my sister.

The results are:
2*, 4, 7**, 8, 9 – checked! (same number as in 2009)
1 – I had my parents’ car for more than 6 months and also drove the car from work the rest of the time; this counts, because it made me think more about the responsibilities of owning a car and I still have a lot to learn.
3 – I don’t work there anymore, so I don’t have monthly targets. I don’t regret my decision and I admit I learned a lot during my time there and also I am thankful for the friends I’ve made – maybe I will write about this experience in a different post, just maybe.
5 – I won’t talk about that subject yet.
6 – I could have, but then he decided I was overqualified or something like that. I won’t cry a river.
10 – Yea, me and my sister will never be able to match our schedules. Buuuttt..we did go on ONE road trip this year – we were planning of visiting some of Romania’s beautiful places we didn’t get the chance to see so far. The trip to Arad was pretty fun and adventurous, right ‘tiny dangerous one’?

* I found the cosmetician and I really like her, but I realized I am really satisfied with George, so I am not changing my hair-stylist!
** The tests are never going to stop, but I believe so far so good. Right, AS?

To sum up, I am proud of myself, of how I’m growing up. Things are starting to change in my life, I need to change my priorities, I am focusing on different tasks .. This year’s experiences made me believe in my instinct more, showed me I deserved more, made me opened my horizons a little bit more. Ironic, I am still unemployed!

2011, here I go:

1. To go on an EVS project.
2. To be proud of my final MA paper.
3. To do an ‘I’d never do it’ thing (eg. a tattoo, to hitchhike, to go to an Ozzy concert etc.).
4. To work on my writing skills & my public speaking.
5. To travel to every country/continent where I have friends waiting for my visit!
6. To see at least 20 movies during TIFF.
7. To use my Twitter account daily.
8. To try and get involved in as many outdoor activities as possible.
9. To visit the girls in London.
10. To take IT easy & just enjoy the ride!

Alors, on dance!

Did it ever happen to you to desperately want to stop time? When good/happy things happen to you, do you ever feel in the same time sad because you realize there will be an end at some point?

They say future starts now. But isn’t now the present? What’s exactly the timeline for the present? 1 to 10 days? to 30 days? to 6 months? Who knows !?! It depends on what/who you relate to.
So future, bring it! Let me see what you got, so tomorrow I can think about my past.

I was talking to my sister about the fact that this year has passed soooo quickly, that we don’t even remembered what we did these twelve months. I hope getting older doesn’t mean time will pass by this quick! :-s

So, I tried a ‘face lift’ for my blog, but I kept the pinky-look I was editing my blogroll, when I realized more than 50% of them either deleted their blogs, or they haven’t written in months. What’s up with that? Where the enthusiasm and willingness to write? What happened to spending half of your day ‘blogging’? Oh, I know, we are ‘facebooking‘ now! Don’t get me wrong, I heart FB!
But is blog-mania over? Is blogging just for the cool/popular guys, the ones that make money out of it?

Ohh, I forgot to mention, I didn’t leave for Lithuania, hence the previous post. I couldn’t pull myself together to write about it, but I promise I will. And after meeting these cool girls from Lt, now I won’t say anything rude about what happened. I am hating the process, not the country.

I’ve quited smoking. Then started again after 3 months. Epic fail, but it’s the first time I’ve tried. See, I am always finding excuses !?!

I am gonna stop here for now, with a special call for my motivation:

Or, it might be my ‘come back’ to my on-line diary.

Situaţia e în felul următor: 1,2,3,6,8 – checked! hooray.
4 – sincer, nici nu mă interesa!
5,10 – nope, not yet. Se pune că am BB-ul?
7 – dacă era ăsta checked, erau şi 5 şi 10 checked )
9 – i-am dat playerul meu când mergea la dentist; asta se pune?
Plus că deşi nu a apărut în listă, îmi doream inelul, iar pe lângă faptul că mi l-am achiziţionat prin resurse proprii, am fost sălbatică şi l-am cumpărat şi pe acesta. <3
Cele pentru 2010 (va fi anul meu, sunt sigură de asta!) sunt următoarele:
1. O maşină! (insist)
2. Să îmi găsesc în Cluj o cosmeticiană ca şi Raluca şi un hair-stylist ca şi George.
3. Să îmi fac targetul în fiecare lună.
4. Să rămân la buget la master.
5. Să fac frumos cu PRIME.
6. Să am un partener la nunta Marinei.
7. Să trec cât mai multe dintre testele lui Adrian.
8. Să învăţ să am răbdare.
9. Să gătesc mai mult.
10. Să mă înscriu cu Sis la un curs de fotografie.

Voi ce spuneţi? 2010 nu sună a fi un an bun?:)

A cunoaşte pe cineva în zilele noastre e ca şi când susţii că şti ce poate face telefonul tău: ok, îi cunoşti funcţiile, ai un manual de utilizare pentru el, te anunţă când se descarcă bateria, dar nimeni nu-ţi spune că după două luni ţi se zgârie ecranul, că e posibil să nu îţi mai funcţioneze joystick-ul etc. E incredibil cât de repede putem trece la o non-relaţie cu prietenii noştri, cât de repede se pot updata, schimba cu un alt “model”.

Am observat că ne proiectăm în alte persoane, ne regăsim în istorisirile lor, ne compătimim reciproc, devenind sclavii complăcerilor. Pe urmă ne motivăm să trecem de nivelul la care eram în urmă cu 5 ani, să atingem următorul prag din piramida lui Maslow, doar că de cele mai multe ori scopul se schimbă pe parcurs, ne “îndulcim” obiectivele, de unde rezultă regresul.

Omul este o fiinţă sociabilă. Nimic nou. Mai mult, omul este caracterizat de multe alte atribute, care într-un fel sau altul, îl definesc ca persoană într-o societate, îl plasează într-o anumita “pătură socială”, îi conferă un anumit statut etc. Ce se întâmplă când nu e aşa? Cine are dreptul de a închide acest cerc? Cine a creat şablonul?

Trăiesc după principul “what goes around, comes around”, dar la urma urmei cui dăm socoteală? De ce m-ar preocupa aşa de mult ce va fi şi ce consecinţe au faptele mele şi de ce nu iau lumea aşa cum e acum, în timp ce scriu aceste rânduri? Va conta pentru cineva dacă reuşesc glorios sau daca eşuez lamentabil? De ce doar Ioana D’arc să fie o eroină?

De ce ne complicăm viaţa când avem un scenariu aşa clar? E curiozitate? Imaginaţie? Curaj? Prea mult timp liber?

Poveştile au tot timpul final fericit. Binele câştigă de fiecare dată. De ce să promovăm doar ideea de pozitiv, frumos, bun, optimist, când toţi suntem conştienţi de prezenţa antonimelor? De ce maximizăm efortul şi minimizăm răsplata? Dacă tot ştim şi ne place să ne jucăm cu vorbe, de ce nu o facem în mod constructiv? Măcar de dragul minciunii.

Nu e nevoie să ne închidem într-un seif părţile bune; şi ce dacă vom fi judecaţi că am luat decizia cea corectă? Faptul că Adam a mâncat mărul e până la urmă greşit? Doar totul e bine când se termină cu bine …