#evslife

Have you ever thought about what does a volunteer actually DO at their workplace? I can’t answer for everyone, but I can give you a peek how a volunteer’s life can look like in Norrbyhuset - a meeting place with youth activities:

Mondays are for staff meetings - like in a lot of youth centres. It is a good way to start a week, when everyone's gathered around and we go through the questions that have popped up among the group. (Not of course forgetting the fika! You can’t write a blog post without fika!) After the meeting, we still have time to open the house for visitors, even though it is a shorter day for them.

Tuesdays can start off with studying Swedish and coming to Norrbyhuset afterwards. At the house, there’s homework help, language café, helping in the library, playing cards with the kids or table tennis with the youngsters... You might have a certain room/place in the schedule, where you need to be in - for example in the "reception” welcoming everyone - or you could be going around helping, where needed. 

On a Wednesday you can start your day in the office checking emails and planning for your activities - maybe even writing an evs blog post ;) When the visitors start coming in, it's good to move in to the “verksamhet” (= activities/functions) to help out there. There might even be an event that needs preparations. We have had author visits, theatres for children, NorrbyDagen, Finland Day, party for women (on women's day) and many more...

On Thursdays you might work an evening shift. There is also the meeting with the youth workers about youth activities and how youth work is organized in the house. After that you might have your own activity for the visitors. I have done handcrafts with kids, arranged a table tennis tournament with staff and had reading for dogs, for example.

And Fridays we close earlier (at 16 o'clock), so they are usually a bit more quieter days. There's some more time to finish your things in the office, catch up with colleagues and help those visitors who find their way in. Or maybe you want to even use one of your vacation days to have a longer weekend.

(And every Saturday is a family day in Norrbyhuset, and you can find yourself working every fourth one. Doing your own activities or helping other staff members - maybe you even have a visitor who wants to create their own thing.)

Every day of the week starts with either a morning meeting (for day shift) or a “handover” meeting (for evening shift), where we go through, how we feel and what is going on in the house that day. Every evening we end with “logging" the day - going through if there has been something special happening and how did we deal with it / how could we improve.

Some other weeks there might be trainings about violence prevention or meetings with other EVS volunteers. You probably will do other projects, as well, outside of your youth centre.

Every week looks always a bit different and that is what keeps it interesting!

Hej hej!

I am Giuliana, one of the "newbies" and you are probably wondering "Is this going to be another of those settling in/I miss home posts?", well, in a way yes, and in a way no. 

As the title says this post should be about cinnamon buns, or kanelbulle, which were the main reason why I came to Sweden, but we are getting out of topic...

Anyway, cinnamon buns. You may remember me from that very awkward video that I hope nobody saw, the super short one where I said "Hi" and I added that my goal was to find THE BEST kanelbulle in Borås. I am proud to say that I started my quest to find the very best, like no cinnamon bun ever was. I tried many: I went to Viskan and ordered one, I went to Balthazar, I tried one at Espresso House as well, and get a few frozen ones. Ok, maybe not that many, but I have been living here for two months only! Alas, none of those cinnamon bun brought me to Cinnamon Buns Heaven. The closest ones were the ones I baked with one of my mentors during a busy evening at the Fritidsgård.

And although it was an immense improvement compared to the disastrous attempt of the week before (me, C. and V. didn't quite manage to pass the cinnamon buns basic test), they weren't the best I have ever tried. Did they spark joy? Yes, but not enough, so the quest must continue.

While looking for kanelbulle I started following dreary paths, like any knight-errant , and ended up in a wonderful place. Yes, I am suddenly changing topic to start talking about my favourite place in Bor ås! I didn't even know it existed until last week. It restored me and finally made me feel at home. 

I am actually considering moving my room to the woods, but I don't think it will be smart if it rains, and I am pretty sure it will rain at some point, we have been having too many sunny days already. I will attach a couple of demonstrative, not amazing, pics from my discovery and say “Hej då!”

G.

Bonus:

1. How many time did I write cinnamon buns?

2. What is the name of the place?

Hejsan!

This is my last post for EVS blog, as my EVS project will finish in less than a month.

I would like to sum up this 11 months in Sweden:

-I’ve got around 5 new friends -I’ve got to meet around 120 new people -I’ve got around 15-20 people with whom i would gladly have some coffee one day -I’ve visited more than 50 different places in Sweden -I’ve traveled to 3 new countires and to 2 countires i have already visited -I’ve gained so many new skills which i can use in future -I’ve ate endless number of sushi -I’ve managed to organise 5 projects  - I’ve found love. 

Until some other time,

“Time to Move” is a project that has been going on all over the world in October. It is a collection of events and activities that promotes possibilities to be involved internationally (projects, volunteering etc.).

And of course we - all the volunteers in Borås - had to take part to share our own experiences :)

We decided to share information about EVS (soon to be ESC - European Solidarity Corps) through one thing that every volunteer loves: food.

So we started building an event that introduces four dishes from four countries while getting a chance to talk to us, volunteers about our projects and life in Sweden.

The dishes we chose were: Bruschetti (Italy), Gulyás (Hungary), Alho francês à brás (Portugal) and Plazma Kex (Serbia).

The event “ESC Delicious” took place on Tuesday evening and it was a nice, chilled event with many happy faces and both old and new acquaintances.

The idea behind the event was also to try it out and see if it is something, that we could have again in the future including new countries and dishes. Let us know what you think - which countries/dishes would you like to see?

Well, it wasnt so long ago when all of us were complaining about being too sunny and hot in Sweden. Now, we are regretting  it. Yes, yes, it is already only 11 degrees and raincoats, rain boots, umbrellas and extra layer of clothes are now starter back in Borås.

Good thing is that Borås isn’t such a big city, so whenever there is a storm or huge cloud of rain you can easily find your shelter. There are also many places in Borås such as cafes, libraries etc. where you can borrow an umbrella and bring it back the next day when rain, hopefully, is gone.

Many shops have sales now, but sale is on RAINCOATS! You can find as cheap as 250kr (around 24euros).

The positive thing about rainy days is that everybody is trying to make this Scandinavian cozyness in their flats/rums and everything is so MYSIGT.

The negative thing about rainy days is that you usually stay indoors and miss out on lovely Swedish nature.

PS- this photo was rare example of me having Converse instead of rainboots. 

HASTA LA VISTA,

Halmstad is a city which is located directly on the west coast of Sweden and it has its own perks. It is also one of the most visited cities in Sweden under the summer, at least all the people living/crossing by Västra Götaland and Halland go to Halmstad once under the summer season.

Halmstad is very windy as all the cities who are located on the west coast, but since nowdays the temperature is so high we need some wind from time to time.

There is something special regarding Halmstad and that is small locality which is called Tylösand and it has one of the best beaches in Sweden, that I have seen. It is only 7km from Halmstad city and it is directly on the coast and it has so many beaches u can choose. If you want to have some privacy, there are small beaches which look like private, but they are not. If you prefer a big beach with lots of people and sand, then go to main beach and you will have a blast of time.

Along the way to the beach, there are few resturants, fast food, ice cream so there is little bit of everything for everyone.

Around Halmstad you have hotels, apartments to rent and also camping places where you can place your camping equipment or tent. The prices are okej, but If you don’t want to spend any money you can still just put your tent where ever you want for one night, don’t forget – Allemansrätten.

So, pack your tent, swimming suit, towel, sleeping bag and you are ready!

Please, one way ticket to – Halmstad – Tylösand.

Till next time

Tjena!

This one will be short one.  What are the chances that you will fall in love during your EVS in Borås? Belive it or not, chances are really high, 97% you will find someone here.

I dont know if that was written in the contract that i have signed at the begining, but i dont remember that i have agreed to fall in love here. 

It took me 2 weeks, it took Anna one week, it took Alex 2 weeks and so on (there is at least 7 more people who are/were in love).

So, if you are in search for soulmate, dont worry EVS in Borås will make sure you find one. 

Until next time,