This week I had my mid-term training. The mid-term training is similar to the on-arrival training. Volunteers from the whole country meet and talk about themselves and about their projects. As the name says the mid-term training happens in the middle of the volunteering project. Therefore the topics are quite different in the mid-term. It is about the experiences from the past, thoughts in the present and plans for the future.
Normally this mid-term training takes place in Torun, but because of the situation with Corona it was changed to Zoom and google classroom. As I received the message that I will have my mid-term training online I was really surprised and sad. Even if some of my flatmates already had online mid-term training I thought that maybe until I will have it, it could be in Torun again. But it is how it is and so I accepted it and honestly it was better than I thought. But convince yourself:
On Monday morning we started with an energizer, which was really necessary because I am absolutely not used to get up early anymore. With the energizer and the excitement of meeting new people I started this day. We started with an exercise to get to know each other, then we talked about our expectations for this training, and in the afternoon we exchanged ideas how we deal with the current situation. The whole day was well structured and we had enough brakes so that the day passed very fast.
Tuesday was “the reflection day”. First we had time to reflect on our own and to express the answers, to different questions on our previous months of the project, in creative ways. I enjoyed this time a lot. It helped me a lot to reflect and to think about my last months to see what kind of changes I made already. After sharing our thoughts and lunch break we started another little project. Our task was to create an activity in the frame of solidarity depending on the needs of people in this Corona situation. Amongst other things we summarized that it is important to stay in touch with loved ones, and have fun together even if it is with physical distance, to move and to learn new things. All those things are combined in dancing. So we decided to dance together. If you want some inspiration here are some nice and energizing songs and moves:
- Asereje https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmQ1nfI0z2s
- Dancing queen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZcet1RXceM
- Macarena https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWHS4HsgnUk
- Timber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQxj2JcHEso
- Baby One More Time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI31AWYYuFI
- Price Tag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v5ACZzXKYU
On Wednesday we had time to exchange skills and I learned some basics in Turkish, Spanish and Romanian words. Afterwards we talked about powerful learning moments since our arrival and what we want to learn in the rest of our project. In the afternoon one of us played with a friend kind of improvisational concert and we participated all together. It was a great feeling of being together even with the distance. I am so glad to had the chance to meet this people.
Thursday was all about the future. We spoke about the Youthpass – a document all ESC volunteers fill in their learning progress while the volunteering. Furthermore we did a “time travel” to the day one year ahead. How do I imagine myself to be in one year? What will I do? Where will I live? Then we thought about what we will need to get there and what of those competences I already improved in the past few months.
In the afternoon we had the task to imitate famous Polish paintings. It was a lot of fun and a nice finale of the day.
In the evening we met on Zoom and just enjoyed the evening together. It was great to just talk with the people, play some games online and to make the best out of the situation.
On Friday we had a really nice session about international volunteering, working, and learning possibilities. From farm work to summer camps for children, from 3 weeks up to a year, from Poland to Israel – There are so many great projects out there!
Some suggestions to have a look at:
- workaway: helping with work in exchange for a place to stay https://www.workaway.info/
- WWOOF: organic farming https://wwoof.net/
- Au pair: https://europa.eu/youth/tr/article/58/5398_en
- Service Civil International: volunteering and workcamps https://sci.ngo/
- European Solidarity Corps: volunteering https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity_en
- Erasmus+: study abroad and many other things, too https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/
- European Youth Portal: working and learning https://europa.eu/youth/EU/employment-and-entrepreneurship/work-and-learn_en
In addition we talked about important values and what we focus on. To exchange our thoughts about this topic was really interesting. Some things are so similar and others were understood and rated totally different. In the afternoon we had time to reflect the online mid-term training. To be honest I was really sad as I heard that I will not have the opportunity to travel to Torun and meet the others in real, but the online training was really good. It was pretty well organized and I had nothing to criticize besides the fact of not being all together in a room. But even with the distance we were somehow connected and even more as I thought it would be possible. And I believe that we will meet somewhere someday.
Mid-term online Even if our mid-term looked different as we thought, It was so much what it us gave and brought. We had a look in our present, future and past, Moments, thoughts and ideas, which will last. We met new people and talked in different groups, Shared our experiences – downs and ups. So many kilometres away from another, But nothing to bother! Connected we were and hopefully stay, To see each other in real life one day!