Day 8

So the last day of our training came. We gathered for the last time in the training room to “go back in time” to remember day by day what we have been doing and also give our feedback for the training course. Each of us had to answer following questions: what did we learned, what did we liked themost, what needs to be changed, how will we use the knowledge and also say some goodbye words for all the group.

It was nice to hear that everybody was satisfied with the training and especially the methods of informal learning used, expressed they gratitude to the others for being such a friendly, open and warm group. It seemed that promises to stay in touch and also build on the partnerships were not just empty promises. It was great also to hear the trainers complimenting the whole group for making this extremely pleasant and positive atmosphere during the learning process.

Just one more group picture outside the venue place to remember the nice castle-like building where we spend really plentiful and meaningful week!!!!!

Day 7

The day started with the presentation for Youthpass, which was interesting and included some nice energizers and fun… Youthpas is actually the document that is given at the end of EVS stage or training course as a certivication and declaration of what the person has gained during that activity. We talked about importance of youthpass.

Afterword ome time was allocated for partnership building and project development and then rushing to marshrutkas and heading towards Yerevan with a short stop at beautiful lake Sevan for a group photo!!!

In Yerevan everyone had free time to enjoy the city with the guidance of EVS volunteers who live in Yerevan. Thus this was also an informal learning experience.

The day concluded with a really nice traditional dinner in a Caucasus restaurant in the very centre of the city, and returned back to the training venue late in the evening.

Day 6

It was 10.00 o”clock – time to start session. Ilker suppose energiser. Then we watched presentation with previous day photos accompanied Armenian music. Applouses.

That day was the day when we had to sum up our impressions about visiting organisations in Dilijan and Vanadzor. We worked in groups. Every group presented their assesments and recomends on a poster, we were like experts.. the points were gathered by the trainers… So, one of the goups got the most points – applause!

The day was really busy, full of information and some amazing surprizes for the secret friends… For  example one wanderful armenian girl Aida sang a bautiful song for her secret friend… it was amazing! She is really gifted actress!!! We enjoyed it a lot.

At the end of the day the time of revealing the secret friends came finally – exciting moment! Each of us set on a chair with back to the audience being asked about impressions- how our secret friend was to us… and if we could guess who was this magic person. Really fun!! And after we took a group photo – with and without funny faces.

The most attracktive moment was  party with dance music, dance, amazing wine, some snacks… and an ocean of love.

Galia and Pepa from Bulgaria and Nino from Georgia.

Day 5

The day started with the overview of the daily programme. Then Dashaconducted the energiser. After the energiser we watched a film about the previous day accompanied b Georgian music. Later we moved to the session ,Assessment of EVS project,. The main points of the session were Quality of project design, Quality of project, Project content, Methodology, Quality of project reach.

Next we moved to the ice breaker proposed by Aida.

Before the coffee break we watched the film about the EVS issued by EC.The main idea of the film ,Voluntary service is enrichment,.

The session was followed by coffee break.

After it we watched two more fims which told us about volunteers who worked in Poland. We got to know about their experiences.

Then it was Ilkers icebreaker followed by preparation for the study visit. The purpose of the visit is to go to local organisations and use them as the model to develop project ideas. We were given the modified forms of Expression of Interests for the study visit. Step by step we went through this form in order to write an EVS project specifically for this organisation. We were divided into four groups to visit two NGO in Dilijan and two NGO in Varnadzor. Before ending up we got the guidelines for the stud visit.

Day 4

EVS Project Cycle.

The participants learned about the responsibilities of sending, coordinating and hosting organizations. The participants expressed their opinion about it and said that this session has covered a lot of questions concerns that they had before.

Challenges during EVS.

It was very interesting to hear about the challenges that EVS volunteers can encounter during their program period. Some of participants who have been EVS volunteers told about their experience and challenges which they faced.

Finding solutions for challenges.

The facilitators have divided the participants into five groups and gave them assignments to prepare a performance which was called “Forum Theatre”. Through the activity the members of those small groups showed the challenges which can happen with volunteers in EVS project.

Organizational fair.

The aim of the activity was to give an opportunity the participants to present their organization, how they are called, what is the aim, the participants, experience etc.  The way how they were presenting their organizations was through fashion show. The participants had to make some costume with some basic information about their organizations on them, and also they had chance to have speech about the presented organizations.

Life testimonies of EVS volunteers.

Two EVS volunteers were invited to the training. They shared their experience, thoughts and gave some advises that could be useful for those people who has desire to become an EVS volunteer. The presentation was organized as a press-conference where the participants were representing some fiction TV news channels, and were asking some questions to the guests as journalists.

Day 3

16.02.2010 Dilijan – Tomas / George / Ilker
Day smiled to the participants with a nice wind today. Beautiful people from different countries and picturesque view of the Dilijan Mountains got together and clouds turned into Sun. With the help of the wind we started the day with presentation of YIA (Youth in Action). Anna shared her knowledge and this was a useful step for the coming crazy sessions of day. TV Show followed the presentation. Before TV Show, we had to find answers about what are EVS and technical parts of it. But none of us was expecting that we were going to answer the questions in Rap, Ballet, and Pantomime style  Even there were winners and losers, everyone got the same present, and it was knowledge about EVS. Advertisements performed by the groups, in the TV Show, were also so creative.
Then lunch was the next step. Herbal tea was dancing with our meals. There were beautiful people near and picturesque mountains behind.
We started afternoon with the session named “Who is who in EVS”. Ieva started with the Galaxy of EVS using the papers and colours perfectly. Afterwards we were given cutted papers written about the roles of actors in EVS Projects. Participants read the roles one by one and told the belonging actors of the cutted papers. In the end, we were all sure that what are the roles of the main EVS Actors; Volunteer, Sending Coordinating and Hosting Organisation. To consolidate the knowledge learned during the day, we had such a activity that we were sitting on chairs located inner and out circles and discussing the topics about “what is EVS and what is not EVS”.
Reflection groups were so bright as always 
And preparations started for the crazy “Intercultural Night”. Instead of traditional Intercultural Night Styles, we did a different thing. Two countries prepared themselves for a common presentation and we saved time for PARTYYYYYYYYYY!!! All we saw all participants countries dances, tasted food and drinks, sang songs. It was a so big pleasure to see so big differences between even neighbour countries.
After traditional dances which we tried to learn, we started to dance with electronic musics which were mixed by “Dj Ilker” . And local people were also here and enjoying the night with the participants. This night has not finished yet. We are just hurry to finish the blog task and join the party again.

Day 2

15.02.2010
Offical Opening with the presentation of program, goals, methodology and team
The half sleepy participants jans were met by nice and short presentation of the program provided by our sweet Ieav, Anna, Ilze and handsome Artur.
Expectation, fears, contribution
Participants jans share their expectations, fears and contribution in very creative way; putting them on cute paper shirts.
Learning Contract
Organizers and participants jans came out with the certain rules which all should follow and the contract was validated by signatures.
Introduction to voluntary work on local, national and European levels
Participants jans share their knowledge and experiences connected with the idea of volunteering and Europe in everyone’s country.
Dilijan game

After a short lunch participants jans were ready to attack Dilijan 

4 groups were walking along Dilijan streets asking passersby to sing Armenian anthem, and some interesting facts about Artur Ghazaryan, and were trying to change a piece of chocolate with more valuable thing like hugs , or just make a nice Armenian girl to kiss Davit 
After a crazy day in Dilijan participants jans presented the outcomes of the game by showing short movies.
Swimming Pool Party
Hot water, nice atmosphere and half naked girls…Wanna join??? Find out where the swimming pool is 

EVS TC in Dilijan – Day 1!

The first day of our training was awesome. After a long day of traveling, groups from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Romania, Hungary, Armenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Turkey finally arrived in beautiful Dilijan, Armenia. Organizers from Latvia and Armenia had spent months preparing for this training course focusing on working within the European Volunteer Service in the frame of the Youth in Action Program, which will last from today (February 14^th) through February 21^st.

After a delicious lunch, we all gathered together to play some active name games, followed by a very energetic scavenger hunt that had us running up and down the hallways of our hotel. The name games included activities such as speed dating and information recall. We also used our artistic skills to personalize our mailboxes by drawing our neighbors on them.  For the scavenger hunt, we worked in teams, which enabled us to get to know each other better and begin to work as a team before all the hard work starts tomorrow.

After breaking for dinner, we all met again for a new challenge. We all brought our very best hats, and then had to get in front of the group and finish sentence that dove a little deeper. The favorite sentence was “If I had a magic stick, I would…” and the catch was that every time you answered a new question, you had to change into another hat. The most popular hat among the bunch was silver knit hat, with a large silver bow on the side. Watching a grown man share his deep, dark feelings was slightly less serious when could look up and see him proudly wearing such a lovely hat.

After such a memorable (and tiring) first day, we are all looking forward to getting some sleep and seeing what tomorrow will bring.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.