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CULTURE ZOOM – YOUTH FOCUS

PROIECTE FINALIZATE

It’s the middle of November and I’m still walking around beautiful Bucharest in a t-shirt!

I think it’s easy for Western Europeans (and people from even further away) to think Romania is a very cold place. I know it’s a mistake I always made – because it’s a country that most people know very little about, we make assumptions based on the little bits of information that we do know.

For example, until last year, all I knew about Romania was that it used to be part of the ‘Communist Block’ (basically anything East of Germany) and because the Soviet Union was run from Russia, therefore I assumed Romania must be like Russia – really cold and grey and everybody wears a furry hat. I know this is still what most people in the UK think, I know it’s still what some of family and friends think too!

I realise now, that if I had taken the time to look at a map, I would have seen that Romania is actually a long way from Moscow. In fact, Bucharest is just as close to the equator as Bologna (Italy) and Nice (France) both sunny places that British people go to regularly for their holidays because the weather there is so good.

On top of that, Romania is a very land-locked country meaning it doesn’t suffer from cold winds coming in from the sea. Actually it doesn’t get much wind of any kind, meaning when the sun comes out it takes days, even weeks for a cloud to come along and cover it up.

I admit it’s not hot enough to sunbathe, but it’s better than walking through Bradford (UK) getting my face slapped by rain, hail and icy winds.

– Tom.

#‎Romania #‎EVS #‎Weather #‎Funinthesun

Parcul Văcăreşti

Last week our EVS Coordinator Oana and our Mentoring Coach Alexandru took us to Parcul Văcăreşti in Bucharest. It a strange man-made park built in one of the industrial districts of the city. It was originally concieved to be an emergency reservoir – a big concrete bucket that could be used to save the city if it ever flooded.

Construction started in 1986, with lots of local families having their homes taken away by the Communist Government and watching them be demolished to make space for Parcul Văcăreşti. But 3 years later construction was stopped and the land has been ignored ever since.

Thanks to its bucket-shape and some underground springs, the land collected enough moisture for plants to grow there and over the last 25 years it has become a kind of natural wasteland. In 2014 it was delcared a protected area by the current Romanian government. It is very beautiful and the high concrete walls that surround it make it a very quiet and peaceful place.

– Tom

#EVS #Bucharest #Wasteland #Communism

The four of us visited the Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum recently (known as the Muzeul National al Satului in Romanian). It’s an outdoor museum in the posh and leafy North of Bucharest and it has examples of all the different types of architecture that was common-place around the country over the ages. So there is a Transylvania section filled with life-size examples of traditional houses, churches and workshops. In many cases the buildings are not reconstructions, but actual buildings that were really used around Romania, they were then rescued and transported brick-by-brick to Bucharest for the museum.

I’ll share photos of the buildings I saw at the museum in future posts, but right now I want to show you something smaller. Because in between the buildings were museum staff (probably volunteers actually) making and selling traditional Romanian items. Not quite as intricate or impressive as the painted eggs I shared with you previously, but still lovely to look at were these painted plates and jugs. Much less fragile than a painted egg, fuctional really, you could actually use them. Although I wouldn’t recommend that you eat your breakfast from them because they’re so lovely to look at. Better to hang them on the wall or display them on a shelf for all to see.

The volunteers used traditional clay and potters wheels to make the crockery, after the clay dried a little, they were painted, these were then fired in a traditional kiln (again part of the museum exhibits). The people doing the painting and glazing were often children, so I was really impressed with their patience, steady hands and with the results. I did a bit of ‘pottery’ in school and I remember it being really difficult to create delicate and intricate designs, plus, we’re all a bit clumsy when we’re young right? So my hat goes off to the Romanian kids (copii) and their beautiful painted plates.

C O M U N I C A T

Finalizarea activitatilor proiectului: „Culture Zoom – Youth Focus”

Asociatia “Centrul pentru Dezvoltarea Instrumentelor Structurale” impreuna cu partenerii: Association ARTAREA din Bulgaria si UNA Exchange anunta finalizarea activitatilor proiectului „Culture Zoom – Youth Focus”.

Acest proiect este finantat din fonduri acordate de catre Uniunea Europeana prin programul „Erasmus +”, Actiunea Cheie 1: Mobilitatea persoanelor in scop educational – European Voluntary Service – Programme Countries.

Grupul acestui proiect a fost format dintr-un numar de 4 de participanti (tineri cu varste cuprinse intre 19 si 24 ani). Acestia au participat timp de 6 luni, la diverse activitati desfasurate prin metode de educatie non-formala, prin care s-a urmarit:

• acumularea de cunoștințe privind cultura românească și aprecierea diferențelor culturale

• implicarea tinerilor în activități extracuriculare, prin folosirea de metode non-formale

• comunicarea eficienta cu tinerii

• dezvoltare competente cheie

• implicarea in activitati si lucru in echipa

• pregatirea pentru viata activa.

Durata proiectului: 01 Mai 2015 – 29 Februarie 2015

Durata schimbului de tineret: 17 Septembrie 2015 – 27 Septembrie 2015

Locatia desfasurarii SEV: Bucuresti

Printre obiectivele specifice al prezentului proiect putem enumera:

1. Pe parcursul proiectului, cei 4 voluntari au acumulat cunoștințe despre cultura și limba română, comunicarea cu tinerii defavorizați, elemente ale filmării, editării și artei desenului, elemente ale educației non-formale și factori de motivare.

2. Pe parcursul proiectului, cei 4 voluntari si-au dezvoltat abilitățile de a se exprima prin artă, de a filma și edita materiale video, de a lucra cu tinerii și a-i motiva cu ajutorul metodelor de educație non-formală și de a lucra în echipă.

3. Pe parcursul proiectului, cei 4 voluntari si-au dezvoltat atitudini inclusive față de tinerii cu oportunități reduse, si-au dezvoltat încredere în competențele pe care le dețin, si-au dezvoltat o dorință de implicare și de exprimare culturală, au devenit empatici fata de comunitatea din care fac parte.

Impactul proiectului a constat in:

• acumularea de cunoștințe privind cultura românească și aprecierea diferențelor culturale-

• voluntarii stiu cum sa implice tinerii în activități extracuriculare, prin folosirea de metode non-formale

• dezvoltare organizationala prin cooperarea continua cu CPDIS

• voluntarii au dobandit competente cheie (in special competente digitale si culturale)

• cresterea de noi pasiuni pentru tinerii implicati

• dezvoltarea motivationala si cresterea increderii in fortele proprii

Mai mult decat atat, referitor la rezultatele directe intangibile ale acestui proiect, putem mentiona cresterea gradului de constientizare asupra necesitatii cresterii increderii in fortele proprii, dobandirea de cunostinte in domeniul foto-video si dezvoltarea abilitatilor de lucru cu tinerii, astfel incat in viitor, voluntarii sa poata lucra in acest domeniu.

Totodata, pe toata durata acestui EVS, a fost facilitat dialogul si schimbul intercultural, pentru a se depasi posibilele bariere culturale. De asemenea, prin participarea activa a participantilor la toate activitatile, s-a creat un liant intercultural care a avut un impact pozitiv asupra intregului proiect.

Pentru informatii suplimentare va rugam sa ne contactati la urmatoarele date de contact:

E-mail: office@cpdis.ro

Website: www.cpdis.ro