.

Walking along Kösti järv and in Peetrimõisa village (Viljandi)

Kösti järv (also Kösti dam lake, Kösti Veskijärv and Kõsti mill lake) is a dam lake in the northern part of the Sakala upland, in the city of Viljandi. The lake has an area of 1.1 ha, a length of 250 m, a width of 90 m and an altitude of 50m. The lake is extended to the Uueveski stream and belongs to the West-Estonian river basin district and the Pärnu sub-basin. Kösti lake is not a public or public body of water.

The Oja tee runs along the dam of the lake, the Kösti hydroelectric power plant is operating in the Kösti watermill building next to the dam.

Peetrimõisa is a village in Viljandi Parish which counts about 288 inhabitants.

Visit of Rapla city alone / Discovery of Viiratsi village and hike along Viljandi lake

Since 2018, Rapla counts about 5 132 inhabitants.

Rapla’s region is the most recent estonian agricultural regions, a centre of large farms developed in Soviet times into collective farms.

Mentioned for the first time in 1241, but having never had a real status of city, Rapla was built around its two-tower church, dedicated to Mary Magdalene.

The area is suitable for walks in the forest, with its swamps.

Viiratsi (before 1920: Wieratz) is a small borough located at 1km far away from Viljandi city.

Some information about Viljandi lake can be find in the following link : https://www.visitestonia.com/en/lake-viljandi-1

Visit of a Turkish volunteer and of an Estonian family in Tõrva / Climbing and spending time with others volunteers in Tartu

Thanks to the Turkish volunteer Aysegül I met online during the mid-term training, I was able to see her face to face by her place in Tõrva, but also to meet an Estonian family that she introduced me. She knew that I wanted to be more in contact with local people that’s why she offers me to come to her place. It was on a Saturday, we prepared, shared French speciality (French toast – “pain perdu”) and Turkish food (lahmazun – pizza) with them. I also tested for the second time “Kama” which is a tipical Estonian food, practiced my Estonian because this family coudn’t speak so much English, discovered their garden and the city of Tõrva. I spent the night by Aysegül and we discussed about our project. We both work in a youth center, so it was good to heard another and different story from a volunteer who are in the same structure than me.

At the end of the month, I went to Tartu to meet volunteers there and share our lasts moments with some of them because they will go back to their own country soon.

We decided to have an inside activity because it should rain. So in the morning we climbed in an inside place and finally the afternoon was sunny. We spent our day outside, in a coffee in the center and walked around the town.

If you want more information about climbing, here is the link : https://www.ronimisministeerium.ee/en/about/climbing/

Visit of the capital Tallinn and meeting with some friends

As part of the project “plastic is not fantastic” I should join an Estonian student who lives in Tallinn, to do an action together. So I decided to go there for the weekend because since a long time I wanted to visit again this beautiful city but also my friends.

On a Saturday I left my room to take the bus before to have an online meeting. Arrived at the bus station 20 minutes before the training, there is no WiFi. So other option was to walk and find a coffee but everything seemed closed. Luckily an Hotel accepted me just to use their WiFi.

Then the day continued with meeting friends and new people outside by a wonderful weather.

On the next day, I met a new volunteer who was also in the capital for a couple of days. The same day the Estonian student joined me, we went to Pirita district and collected some garbage.

Because I had a few time before to return back in Viljandi, we walked and enjoy the time in the district of Kadriorg.

This weekend was very nice, I was able to discover the capital in spring time and to meet new people.

What I visited :

• Stroomi beach = a child-friendly sandy swimming beach in northern Tallinn where you can also make barbecue and have picnic.
• Noblessner harbour
• Telliviski district
• Balti Jaama turg
• Rannamägi
• Old town
• Pirita beach
• Kadriorg Park and district

May 2021

French posts

Health care system in France

Team meeting

Girls Club

Velokulg

Handcraft tutorial

Logo of the podcast

Record of the podcast

Elaboration of a survey with Google Form to help me to write an article about Estonian life

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfCodOyKF-EZTkO_D_WXsf5YHm5bU1_Qnh-jHpI2i-NNJ49-Q/viewform?fbclid=IwAR2JDmujgOzX60PvhFsWv3yRp6rz5lykI5yvbS4-FXjq-02eU7qme5-5amo

Redaction of an article with topic “What you have to know about Youth Work”

What you have to know about youth work

Creation of a list of handcraft’s activities for youngsters aged of 6 years and more

Participation of the project “Plastic is not fantastic”, organised by Erasmus + program

What did I learn this month?

Design

Thanks to Canva I use to make the French posts, I also decided to use it for the articles I write. So that’s help me to increase my knowledges of this Platform but also to improve my capacity to transmit a message through simple and beautiful things.

Podcast

I focused me and worked a lot on this topic to be able to publish the first episode at the end of the month.

I realized that it is not so simple that it looks like, above all when you do it in the local language which is not very easy. You have to prepare it in advance, to choose the good technical materials to have good final outcomes and find a social media where the podcast with all the episodes will be spread.

The longest things to do were to prepare my speech and to translate it in Estonian with my teacher.

I will probably open a section on the blog page where you will be able to find all the episodes of the podacast.

Audacity

Audacity is a free and open-source digital audio editor and recording application software. In addition to recording audio from multiple sources, Audacity can be used for post-processing of all types of audio by adding effects such as normalization, trimming, and fading in and out.

I already used it before but a long time ago. I learned to include intro and outro music I chose in advance for the episode, to reduce the noises and to cut the bad parts to improve the quality of the audio.

Cultural awareness and expression competence

Thanks to the Turkish volunteer Aysegül I met online during the mid-term training, I was able to see her face to face by her place in Tõrva, but also to meet an Estonian family that she introduced me. It was on a Saturday, we prepared, shared French speciality (French toast – “pain perdu”) and Turkish food (lahmazun – pizza) with them. I also tested for the second time “Kama” which is a tipical Estonian food, practiced my Estonian because this family coudn’t speak so much English, discovered their garden and the city of Tõrva.

Adaption of a new environment

At the beginning of the month, with my former flatmate we had to move in a dormitory because the owner of the previous flat came back from their second home. That’s means I had to adapt me again of a new atmosphere, environment and to change my living habits. The good thing is that’s allowed me to met new and local people.

Discovering new places in my city

After I moved in a new place, I decided to take fresh air, to go for a walk and finally I discovered a very beautiful place close to my new room. What can I say is thanks to the moving I was able to discover again my city whereas I am here since more than the half of the year.

Estonian folkloric music

Thanks to my Estonian teacher who was also music teacher in her life, I learned a very important music that everyone around Estonia knows. This is a typical local and folkloric music but also a legend. Below is the summary of this legend :

A long time ago, on a summer evening, a boatman from Viljandi took a girl over the water and fell desperately in love with the girl’s blue eyes. No one knows what happened on the lake, but when he reached the other shore, the girl said goodbye to the boatman and left. The boatman, now old and grey, always paddles along the lake, eager to see these beautiful blue eyes again.

What do I plan to do for the next month?

Realise my second episode with some guests

After the 1st episode where I introduce myself to start, I will continue with a second episode and discuss about “how to be volunteer in Estonia?” with my guest Caroline who works by Estyes, my coordinating organisation. As volunteer here in this country, I will present you my experience to give you a real and concret example.

Write an article about “Living abroad and especially in Estonia”

With the help of the answers of the survey I did (cf.above) and spread with foreigners, I will write an article about what does it means living abroad but especially in Estonia. Through this article, I would like to show to the youngsters or people who are interested for a such experience, that it is possible for everyone but also give them some keys to help them to reach their goals in the best conditions.

Children protection day

Viljandi Child Protection Day will take place on June 1 at 13.00-18.00 in Viljandi Catle Hills, Vabaduse Square and Song Festival Grounds.

Elamuspank offers activities in Lossimägi. On Kirsimäe II you can practice archery, climb the adventure trail and glide with a ziplin. You can test yourself on the climbing wall at the singing stage.

*Activities are free.

The song field is conquered by the young people of table tennis and Viljandi Open Youth Center Dj school. There are table tennis tables and facilities to play with the family.

A youth fair will take place at Freedom Square from 4 pm to 6 pm, where young people will offer their products and services. The opening of the children’s and youth pop-up exhibition “My Freedom Square” and the workshop of Viljandi Art School will take place at 17.00. PreAt 16-18, Miss Rhubarb’s lemonade kiosk is open on Vabaduse Square.

Viljandi restaurants have prepared a special menu for Child Protection Day.

I will help to the conduct of this event, be present to check if everything go well, serving drinks at a refreshment stand, etc.

Handcraft

As mentionned above, I made a list of handcraft’s activities. Now I have to realize some of them to see the outcomes of the arts to show to the youngsters.

In this age, children like to see, to have an example of what they will create, that’s why I will make them. Also this will enable me to see if the arts are complicated to do it for them or not.

The aim of this activity is to reuse recycled materials to sensitize the young generation on this important topic.

Take part of the girls club

We don’t know yet which kind of activities we will organize, we will discuss about it in the next weeks. If the weather allowed that, with my colleague we will probably do outside activities and I will try to share my hobbies with the youngsters.

Workcamp

From 14th to 18th of June a workcamp will take place respecting the sanitary rules. During this week, we will promote some activities to the youngsters, be with them and create a good atmosphere.

Travel

At the end of the month of June, I will have one month holliday and take advantage of this time to travel around Estonia, discover more deeply the country an the culture in which I live since a long time. I planned to travel far away from my city because this is something I can only do it on a long period.

Writer: Clara

As part of my work as volunteer in a youth center, I thought it could be a very good idea to write an article about what it means to live abroad. Thanks to the help of foreigners who answered to my survey, I was able to write this article. With this article, I would like to show to the people who are interested for a such an experience, that it is possible for everyone but also give them some tools to help them to reach their goals in the best conditions.

Where are the foreigners who come in Estonia from?

As you can see on this map, most of the foreigners come from European countries. We can suppose that this is due of the proximity and also because the procedures to settle there are less complicated when you come from an european country. Otherwise, there are a lot of American people who come to Estonia too.

Is there a certain age to travel to Estonia or abroad?

For me there is no age to go and/or to settle abroad. You just have to be ready, do not be too much afraid to start a new adventure far away from your family and a new life. If you feel you can do that, I encourage you a lot to live a such experience. Also I asked some people how old they are and the outcomes show a mixity of ages. This proves that you don’t need to be young or old to travel, it doesn’t matter.

In general why people are in Estonia?

According a survey I did about this topic, people are in Estonia for differents reasons :

Since how long foreigners are in the country?

The majority of the foreigners arrived in Estonia since more than 1 year.

How long will they stay here?

According to the following diagram, most of people doesn’t know how long they will stay here. That’s show that they enjoy their life here. But why, what are the reasons? What makes different from their own country? This is what will we see in the nexts parts of the article.

Why people decided to come to Estonia and not to another country?

How people travelled to Estonia?

Most of the people (73,9%) came in Estonia alone. Perhaps it is the best choice to be more open-minded and sociable. If you would like to go abroad and be in contact with local people, then I really recommend this option. You will go easier to the persons because if you are with friends, you will stay with them as a team and go less towards others. I know it is hard to travel alone, above all if it is your first experience but there is a start with everything. Also if you never try, you will never know.

How to prepare your stay?

This depends really of the situation of everyone and of what do you expect. However, lot of foreigners (34,8%) did researches on Internet to prepare their stay in Estonia.

Personally I used different ways like researches on Internet, I bought a book about Baltics countries and my coordinating organisation sent me some documents about life, environment, history, etc in Estonia but also all useful information I needed to know (insurrance, visa, etc.).

Is it necessary to have travelled before to go abroad?

If you already travelled or discovered places close to your home, it will be probably easier to do the first step to go abroad. Nevertheless it is not necessary, again it depends on you, how you perceive things and whether you are sufficiently prepared mentally.

Most of the foreigners (47,8%) said that they travelled before to go to Estonia but also some of them (21,7%) answered that it is their first experience to come here.

What people expect before to come here?

For lot of foreigners it was difficult to answer and also for me. Sometimes it is hard to have some expectations of a country, especially if you didn’t choose the destination and not accorded a lot of interest before you got a job or something else.

Can the expectations change during your stay? If yes, what changed?

As I mentionned above, I hadn’t special expectations about the country but I am still surprise about the beauty of the country and how much the nature is present everywhere.

Otherwise I heard the cliche that people are cold and not so social. To me it was totally the opposite. I was really welcome and even on the street one time a person asked me what I was looking for.

Another example which break this thought is that, on a weekend I was invited through a volunteer by an Estonian family. With the other volunteer we felt very confortable by her place.

I really think that the thoughts you may have about people’s behavior are not always true, it depends on what kind of person you are dating.

For the foreigners who answered that the expectations they have changed, they mentionned the following elements:

• “People are warm, the environment is beautiful…
• People are narrowmind and ignorant
• In southern Estonia people are very nice
• They found friends who became the closest people in their life
• They fell in love with the people and the country.
• Estonians drive like crazy, there is always something happening in Tallinn – everything is growing, advancing, changing.
• Safer than expected, cleaner, more modern
• People in Estonia are absolutely not cold!!! For me this “cliché” is totally wrong
• No one has bothered me.”

What is different from your own country in Estonia?

To live abroad do you have to be open-minded?

Yes, I think it is necessary to be open-minded if you want to settle abroad; otherwise it will be difficult to introduce you in the society of the country where you are. You don’t have to be completely open-minded at start but still a little bit, this will come with the experience. When you are in a foreign country, you will naturally have the desire to know more about the country and his culture. This will develop your curiosity and make you more open-minded than before.

Lot of foreigners (82,6%) answered that to live abroad you have to be open-minded. They have probably the same or almost thoughts than me I described above.

“Travel is about discovering each other. And the first stranger to discover is you.”

Do you have to be able to speak English?

The official language of Estonia is Estonian, which is the mother tongue of 69% of the country’s population and a foreign language mastered by 14% of the population, which means that 82% of the country’s inhabitants know how to speak Estonian.

Russian is also very present with 30% of the inhabitants having it as their mother tongue and 42% as a foreign language, 72% of the inhabitants thus understand Russian.

The third most well-known language in the country is English, which although only spoken as a mother tongue by a tiny minority (0.07%) is understood by 38% of the country’s inhabitants.

Today, many young Estonians prefer English as a foreign language.

German comes in second position and is very present in the elite, and in the cultural and tourism fields.

To conclude this part, I can’t say you have to be able to speak English but this is better/highly recommended if you want to communicate with the local population. For example, I know a volunteer who came here without to know any words in English, he learnt when he arrived in Estonia. When I met him for the first time, it was really hard to have a conversation with him and I felt he was a little bit isolated of the team.

Also if you don’t speak very well English this is not a problem, people will even understand you. Personally, before to come here, my English was very bad and because I speak every day this language and I learn it with online courses, I increased and improved my capacities of express myself.

Most of Estonian old people, doesn’t speak and understand English. Some of them understand and can speak German. This is the case of my Estonian teacher for instance. So it can be useful to know German but not in everyday life because as mentionned above, lot of them speak as the third language English. Russian is probably more useful but in the northern of the country like in the city of Narva which is inhabitated by a majority of russian.

What are the advantages and the disadvantages to live abroad?

Advice and recommendations from travellers living abroad

What is youth work?

Definition

According to Wikipedia ” Youth work is community support activity aimed at older children and adolescents. Depending upon the culture and the community, different services and institutions may exist for this purpose.”

Working with young people covers various fields such as street work, sports and cultural activities, social, youth and leisure activities.

It enables the youngsters to develop themself, to integrate them in the society in a new context through non-formal or informal learning. The main objective of youth work is to give them the chance to discover and learn new things which will help them to build their own future.

Youth work characteristics

Value-driven : Youth work as a aim to include people in the society and to create social cohesion.

Youth-centric: Youth work responds to the needs, interests, ideas and experiences of youth as perceived by themselves.

Voluntary: Youth work is based on voluntary participation, that’s means it is not obligatory.

Developmental: Youth work contribute to the personal, ethical as well social development through non-formal and informal education.

Self-reflective and critical: Youth work consists to make sure it is doing the best to live up to its mission.

Relational: Youth work seeks to establish relationship, communication with young people and active citizenship.

Approaches to youth work

Community youth work

Community youth workers provide community-based activities for young people in a variety of settings throughout local communities, including places of worship, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.

Centre-based youth work

This youth work is carried out at dedicated premises, which mayinclude facilities such as drop-in coffee bars, sports facilities and advice centers. Most youth clubs fall under this fairly wide category. It is reliant on young people choosing to come to the centre, but in some cases may be linked with outreach or school-based youth work.

Faith-based youth work

This youth work is carried out from a foundation of religious morals and may be for the purpose of sharing or engendering religious views. In the Christian church the main purpose of faith-based youth work may be derived from the biblical commandment to “love your neighbor”.In many faith-based situations,the main agenda or purpose of youth work is aligned with the spiritual goals of the religion, or the perceived progress of a young person toward these goals. In Northern Ireland, 64% of youth work is faith-based.

Mobile youth work

In its purest form, detached youth work is a form of street-based youth work provision, which operates without the use of a centre and takes place where young people “are at” both geographically and developmentally. It is often confused with outreach work, because of the similar principles (i.e. making contact on the streets with those “hard to reach” or “unattached” young people). Detached work is seen as more than trying to encourage young people to utilize existing provision (which is the often used definition of Outreach work) and is used as a method of delivering informal and social education and is concerned with addressing whatever needs are presented to or perceived by the youth worker.

Similar to detached youth work, outreach is a form of youth work that takes place on young people’s own territory and is a method of work that supports and compliments new and existing centre/project based youth work. Primarily used to inform young people of services that exist in their locality and to encourage them touse such services, Outreach can also seek to identify, through consultation with young people, any gaps that exist in services aimed at meeting their needs. As opposed to Detached Youth Work, Outreach is seen as an extension to centre-based work, Outreachwork takes place whenworkers who are usually centre-based go onto the streets with an agenda of their own to pursue, usually to encourage young people to attend their club.

School-based work

This form of youth work is carried out in schools and is provided directly for the pupils, often by an organization external from the school. It may include lessons, assemblies, after-school clubs, one to one mentoring etc. There may be a link with other non-school youth activities.

Youth development

Youth development programs seek to identify the needs of young people from a social/educational perspective, and to meet those needs through structured, intentional activities that satisfy those needs. This area includes community youth development and positive youth development activities.

Source: Youth work – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_work#Approaches_to_youth_work

Conclusion

Youth work and non-formal education

The volunteer : characteristics, roles, responsabilities, salary, and what to expect

As I already mentionned it above, working with youngsters covers a diversity of fields and activities. The aims of the youth work are to integrate the youngster in the society, to bring him a personal development and active citizenship. To achieve this goals, a code of conduct and certain ethics are required for creating high quality youth work.

What are the roles of a volunteer as youth worker?

Responsabilities

As youth work, the volunteers has to :

• assess their needs to propose them adapted activities but also to sensitze them by organising some programmes related to areas like mental health, fitness, smoking, drugs, violence, relationships, etc.
• organise creative activities like art but also environmental projects to educate young people about the preservation of the environment, to plan outdoor education and sporting activities for the mental health
• develop a relationship with young people based on respect and trust
• do mobility youth work, which consists to look for the youngsters on the streets and to see what they do during their free time

Salary

The volunteer receive a small allowance for personal expenses between 3 and 6€ per day, depending on the country and the job you have. However, the coordinating organisation takes in charge the travel costs, the accomodation and gives us some money for food.

Working hours

Working hours are usually around 37 hours per week. There are always 2 sequence days off per week. The hours are flexible and the volunteer would sometimes also need to work on weekends or later in the evenings (depends on the events).

What to expect

• The volunteer learn a lot about youth work during his stay
• He develops his ideas, creativity thanks to the training (on-arrival and midterm training) he has, but also by meeting and speaking with others volunteers
• Personal and profesional development
• Discovering of a new culture, people, history, food and learning a new language
• Make new friends and have fun
• The volunteer has the possibility to discover another country, others places and to travel during his stay
• He shares his culture which can be beneficial for the community, bring his knowledges and supports the team
• Possibility to leads projects by yourself and to share your hobbies

For more information about youth work, here are some interesting links :

https://www.coe.int/en/web/youth-portfolio/youth-work-essentials

Click to access Manual%20TOYW%20EN%20Online.pdf

For my colleagues, life in Estonia can be summarized as follows :

Liis:

“Homemade pizza for my family.”

“Enjoying real winter and snow with my 2 years old child. We built a snowtown in our garden.

“Me working :)”

Rita:

“Every spring I buy flower to put in my home outside veranda.”

When all family is at home my son is cooking something interesting.”

Ege:

“Beside work I am currently mainly on a mom role which means usually around 16 I take Ruudi to home and we start to cook, eat, play, clean and prepare to go to sleep. On the weekends we try to spend some time outside also. If I have my alone time I try to read, to write down my dreams and thoughts, listen to podcasts, etc.”

Maarit:

Hiking trail in Õisu / Ceramics courses in Heimtali with my Estonian teacher and German volunteers

The hiking trail runs along the banks of the beautiful Vidva stream, north of the centre of Õisu manor.

Vidva stream starts from the Lake Mäeküla in Muti nature park and flows into Lake Õisu. Three lakes have had their dam removed on the 16 km long river: Lake Paluküla, Lake Kalvre, and Lake Veskejärv.

Õisu manor was founded in the middle of the 16th century. In 1744, the Russian empress Elizaveta Petrovna gifted the manor to the president of the Admiralty Board of the Russian Empire, the widow of admiral Peter von Silvers.

For more information about this trail you can surf on this link: https://loodusegakoos.ee/kuhuminna/puhkealad/sakala-puhkeala/1231

Thanks to my Estonian teacher who has a friend who gives ceramics courses, we went together in Heimtali Loomestuudio to make some artistical creations. German’s volunteers with whom I had already be in contact joined us. 🙂

But the best of this day was that, with my flatmate we hadn’t electricity during 5 hours, we had to buy food to take away, turn the candles on and also my phone turned out What a pleasant experience and moment we had!

Visit of Türi city with a Turkish friend and volunteer / Ceramic’s course with German volunteers to finish our arts

With a friend who lives also in the same city than me, we took the train (1st time for me) to go to Türi to visit the city.

Türi, one of the greenest areas in Estonia, is situated in the middle of Estonia, on the shores of the river Pärnu. The town is known as a garden–town: 1/3 of the territory has been covered by green open spaces. It is distinguished by its beautiful nature, developed agriculture and pleasant living environment. Besides, it is the spring capital of Estonia.

The weather was super nice that we had a picnic outside

Also I tried to swim in the lake but how to tell you…the water was extremely cold and it was a little bit windy outside

To finish the week, on a Sunday I went to a ceramic’s course with German volunteers. Last time we made the objects and this time we painted them. Then we went for a small walk in the village.

Visit of Polli and Karksi-Nuai villages under the snow

With a good friend we went to visit the beautiful city of Karksi-Nuai under the snow It was a nice day despite the weather

To achieve this place we took the city bus (free) from Viljandi and stopped in the middle of nowhere.

We walked along the road until to arrive in Polli (small village), where we discovered a manor. It was the Karksi Manor dairy farm but it became an independent manor at the end of the 1720s.

From there we followed our way to Karksi-Nuai which is a town situated in Mulgi Parish, in southern of Estonia close to Latvia border, at 25km from Viljandi.

Construction of a castle in Karksi started sometime during the Middle Ages. Completion was however delayed as the castle was destroyed several times during the period. During the Great Northern War the castle was destroyed and never rebuilt. Today, the ruins are used as a backdrop for various cultural and sports event.

April 2021

French posts

Eating habits of Clara’s family

Online team meeting

Handcraft tutorials

Storage box, dream catcher and Easter chicken

Collection of the garbage

Creation of a quiz about the preservation of environment to sentize the youngsters

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAO__RlNlr1URFlVNk5ZQzA2S1BMSzMxMjlRNjRSOUtJSC4u&fbclid=IwAR1KU6F3yWVDUsiJEIqxDGXzL0dVYzHgYNEK3rfRVCqjbQEI1ILS1dByQt4

Conclusion and promotion of the month about the environment

Podcast’s researches

Help my colleagues to writte an application for research of a new volunteer

What did I learn this month?

Ceramic

Thanks to my Estonian teacher who has a friend who gives ceramic’s courses, a weekend we went together in Heimtali Loomestuudio to make some artistical creations. So I learned again this month to use my hands to create beautiful things.

How to color eggs with onions

My Estonian teacher gave me this egg as a present and at the same time she explained me how she colored this with the onions peel. I knew that we can colored eggs with paint but I never heard about coloration with onions. So it was very interesting to heard the story from my teacher. As you can see, I take courses with a local person but I also learn others things with her.

Online game

To sensitize the youngsters about the environment, I decided to create an online game (quiz in Estonian). I wanted to develop my digital skills but I also thought that educate youngsters through pleasant game and not like in school, is more usefull and they will remember better the things.

At first, I tried to develop the game with Drimify which was a new platform for me and when it was finished I realized that you have to pay to publish your work. Doesn’t matter because I learned to use a new platform

After that, I explained my situation to my colleagues and one of them gave me differents free suggestions including microsoft office forms. Finally I worked with the last one and learned how to create quiz with that.

Podcast

This month I had my online mid-term training and during this meeting I heard about podcast.

I thought it could be a great idea to start to do that in Estonian. So I could practice the language, share the project I do here in this country, promote the programm of voluntary to local people who are interested about this.

I have this blog yes, but I think having different channels to communicate about the work is good for making the project known. Some people prefer written and others oral formats.

Concerning this subject, I learned about how to create it because I did some researches and watched some videos before to start to realise some.

To take the train in Estonia

Until now, I always used the bus to travel to another city because I have the T-Pilet application on my phone. So it is easy to manage with the buying of the tickets.

One weekend, I suggested a friend to have a trip to another city together. He proposed me to take the train because sometimes it is cheaper than the bus. I accepted, he taught me how, which Website I should use to buy my tickets.

How to cook kiluvõileib

A friend came in our flat to have a dinner together for my flatmate’s birthday and he cooked “Kiluvõileib” (Sprat sandwich) which is a traditional snack of 20th century Estonian cuisine.

It is usually made using slices of black bread, which are greased with butter and placed with spice fillets, and, if desired, boiled egg slices, mayonnaise and herbs.

So thanks to my friend I learned how to prepare that and which ingredients are used.

What do I plan to do for the next month?

Realise 2 podcasts

As I already mentionned above, I would like to promote our work through an oral format. This will permit me to practice the language and develop my digital skills. I think it could be good to have 2 podcasts per months. I will prepare the speech with my Estonian teacher.

Collection of the garbage

Educate the youngsters in the preservation of environment. This activity will consist to collect every Wednesdays the garbage in the city of Viljandi. Moreover, I will share the link of the quiz I did last month to the youngsters, so they could answers to the questions and learn things by fun.

Continue to make handcrafts tutorials

Take part of the girls club

My colleague Rita organise this event for girls. Each time the activities are differents. Since we are allowed to do outdoors activities, we will go for a hike with them. The aim is to keep contact with the youngsters, to talk about girls things and do activities dedicated only for them. Sometimes my colleague collaborate with profesional people like school Art, hairdressers, etc. who come and bring knowledges to the girls.

Participate to “Velokulg”

Velokulg is an event which consists to ride with a bicycle in Viljandi. With my colleagues and probably with some youngsters we will participate it respecting the sanitaries rules.

February 2021

French posts Preparation of the French food

Team meeting Playing billard with the youngsters but also table tennis

Development and creation of a blog page

Meeting and exchange with my coordinator

Girls Club : hiking around Viljandi lake (13,5km)

This activity replaced the French cooking course which could not be done because of the covid situation. Outdoors activities are allowed.

What did I learn this month?

Estonian culture

This month I learnt a lot about Estonian culture thanks to the experiences I had on the weekends. Moreover, one of my colleague lend me an Estonian cooking book.

Vastlapäev on the 16th of February

In Estonia, the feast of Vastlapäev is none other than “Mardi Gras” in France. On this occasion, we prepare some delicacies: the “Vastlakuklid”. Vastlapäev’s Day is associated with the hopes that can be nurtured for the current year. It is common for families to go tobogganing and eat pea soup with pieces of ham. Estonians sometimes make a kind of toy from the bone of the ham. They make a hole in the middle of the bone and tie it to a chain and then sin it around to create hiss.

Development and creation of a blog

My teamworkers gave me the opportunity to create a blog  where we will promote the work of young volunteers. This blog will be picked up and fed by the next volunteer. Currently I am working in this big but interesting project. I look for tutorials but I also try by myself.

What do I plan to do for the next month?

It is a little bit difficult to plan what I will do this month because due to the covid situation the activities change fast. Moreover, the youth center will stay closed until the end of the month. Although the situation is worst, the team stay motivated and continue to work with the smile. So we trying to provide outdoors activities to the youngsters because this is allowed.

Collection of the garbage

Educate the youngsters in the preservation of environment. This activity will consist to collect the garbage in the city of Viljandi. After, we could imagine to do an informative post with the garbage we gatered.

Continue to develop the blog page

Promouve and share the experience of the volunteer in the Youth center but also the Estonian life.

Some lecture about Youth work and Youthpass

Develop knowledges. I think it will be usefull to read them to develop some ideas. Futhermore, this will help me for the redaction of my competences for my Youthpass I will develop during the stay here in Estonia. With this reading, I will know more about the work of youth.

March 2021

French posts

Online team meeting

Handcraft tutorials

Colorful placemate

Collection of the garbage

Natural Art

Redaction of articles for our blog page

What did I learn this month?

Handcraft

This month I learnt a lot about  what and how to create things with recycled materials. I am very happy because I like to work with my hand and not just with my mind. Furthermore, it is very useful to show the youngsters that you can use old stuffs to realize beautiful things.

Natural Art

All the team went outside one day to collect  materials from the nature to make some art and to share our ideas with our youngsters.  So they could do the similar activity. The aim was to show them that it is possible to create Art with simple things from the surrounding environment. Moreover, this permited them to take fresh air. According to me, I developed new ideas concerning this subject just by watching videos on Youtube. It was very useful and I improved my imagination.

Make bread by myself

I decided to bake bread because I thought with the lockdown I will have more time and I could take time for myself to learn to do new things outside my working time.

Redaction of articles

As you already know for our blog page I writte articles about differents themes (Estionian life, how to be volunteer in Estonia,…). The main aims are to share the opportunity of voluntary, to promoute the work of Viljandi youth center but also to give the tools necessaries to youngsters who would like to live such an experience. For this, I have been led to search on the Internet and to transcribe the useful information to transmit.

Estonian language with a local teacher

Thanks to my previous flatmate whose gave me the contact of a teacher, I started to take courses with her to her home. So I had more opportunities to speak, practice and to learn more about Estonian language and about the culture. Because it is not just learning but also share moments with a local people. We will probably go to a friend’s place and take some ceramic courses together.

To work at distance and found activities for the youngsters

I thought it will be not so easy to continue to work from home and to find some activities for the youngsters. I already lived this experience last year with another project in France and it was really hard. The context was different that’s why I learnt again and differently to do home office. The hardest thing is to find and to provide outdoors activities respecting the rules. Otherwise I like my work. “Mulle meeldib oma töö.”

What do I plan to do for the next month?

Collection of the garbage

Educate the youngsters in the preservation of environment. This activity will consist to collect every Wednesdays the garbage in the city of Viljandi. Moreover we will also realise some post with small and  simple daily actions that the youngsters can do to preserve the environment.

Create a board game about the preservation of environment

Educate the youngsters in the preservation of environment through pleasant games (quiz, memories, etc) that they can play with her family.  I don’t know the format yet. It would have to be online for everyone to have access to it.

Finish the blog page

As you can see, despite the situation I have a lot of work. 🙂 However, it will be good if our blog page could be ready this month to put all the work I do.

Continue to make handcrafts tutorials

Since we are in home office, I had  the idea to make handcrafts and  to share that with the youngsters through posts so that they can reproduce them from home on the weekends. It is a good method to increase their creativity skills and their manual knowledges.

Organising of treasure hunt

To develop the digital skills of young people, the ability to combine several spheres of life and what they have learned in school with real life (e.g. digital skills acquired in school during treasure hunts, etc. ), an interdisciplinary meaning.

Online mid-term training

In the middle of the project, volunteers

take part in a mid-term training

organized by National Agency of Erasmus+. This training has as aims to:

– create continuity and build on work done in previous  training

– reflect on the journey so far

– give some instructions to fill out the Youthpass

– assess the experience of the  volunteer and more.

Hiking trail in Elva with others volunteers / Visit of Abja-Paluoja village with my flatmate

Elva is a town of 6 090 inhabitants located in Tartu County. You can join this place by a free bus from Tartu Bus Station (bussijaam) and the journey takes about 1 hour. Thid is what I did, I met others volunteers there and followed the trip with them.

We also joined a volunteer who was arrived in advance by mistake.

The hiking trail goes along forest roads and trails of the primeval valley of the Elva River, where you can see several lakes, streams and sandstone outcrops.

For more information about this trail : https://www.loodusegakoos.ee/where-to-go/recreation-areas/tartu-jogeva-recreation-area/elva-river-primeval-valley-hiking-trail?fbclid=IwAR3xcIex0vx7tYw6eFfNJ

On a Saturday with my flatmate we had as plan to take a bus to reach Sinilliaku’s trail to hike. I thought we should take the bus at 2pm but I did a mistake, so we had to wait 1 hour on the bus station Then 2 busses arrived at the same time and we didn’t know which bus was right So we just decided to get on a bus without to know if it was correct or not Finally it was wrong and we chose to getting off the bus when we found a place which seemed beautiful.

Arrived in Abja-Paluoja, we getted off from the bus because I read somewhere that this place worth to be visited.

Abja-Paluoja is a small town situated in Viljandi County, at 35 km in Southwest from Vilajndi.

We just walked in the forest during 2 hours, admired the landscape snowy and came back with the last bus of the day.

Sinialliku hiking trail / Visit of Tartu with another volunteer from Tõrva

Situated at approximatly 8 km from Viljandi, you can access to the hiking trail very easily by a free bus at Viljandi Bus Station.

On the way back I thought I would take the bus, I had looked at the schedules several times to not be surprised and miss it. Finally, after waiting a good quarter of an hour at the bus stop and still not seeing it arrive, I decide to walk back before night falls.

For more information about this trail : https://www.visitestonia.com/en/sinialliku-hiking-trail