New Friends

Life goes on here in Beautiful Baia Mare. The schools have ended and the sun is shining.

And fourteen new volunteers have arrived in the YMCA.

 Last weekend was their first one here and we had fun fun fun!! 

On Thursday we went to Karaoke in Logout bar and yours truly sang........ I have many talents but singing is not one! 

Friday the new recruits had their induction training and I focused on my new hobby ..... programming , I'm learning with Khan academy! Check it out! 

Saturday we went to the so called "Blue Lake"...... yet it's green...... and had a swim! It was awesome!

I have also decided to try a new traditional cure against the dreaded mosquito, gin and tonic. Like a champion I took my medicine diligently on Saturday night. And wok up with eight new bites on Sunday morning and a sore head!

 The next cure? Garlic.... I hope my new friends will tolerate the smell!!

"A change is as good as a rest"

It has been a while since I've posted but not a huge amount has happened. Our normal routine was re-established back we went to our schools that we had neglected during the coaching training. The end of may arrived and with it our Mid-term training!!

I looked upon the training with mixed feelings : dread and excitement. Why dread you ask? The twelve hour train journey to and from Bustani. For those of you who don't know Romania is a HUGE country. We made a lot of delicious food for this journey to help pass the time.

 Excitement? Meeting other volunteers and staying in a hotel for three whole days with meals provided! I was not disappointed! My team and I had a great time. I had not met most of  the participants before and it was lovely to meet new people and share our experiences.

Now we are back in Baia Mare energised and ready for the challenges ahead. Should our motivation fail we have our fall back plan...... tickets to the music festival in Blaj this weekend!!

Welcome back to Orla's adventures!

LIFE'S A RIDE! 

It can be fast , slow , forward and backwards ! The only thing that matters is it's yours! 

Own it! 

Enjoy it!!

After a brief pause in my blogging I am back!! With stories galore and insights to share!!

I think one of  the most important lessons I learnt is the one I started with!  This with many more I learnt at a YMCA training in Coaching. It was held in Baia Mare and I learnt so much , including how to ehh.. coach ! There was a lot of focus on self development and we learnt so much about ourselves and new skills such as communication , presentation and empathy. I want to spend the next few months developing what I learnt and who knows what will happen!

Another great thing about the training was the opportunity to meet so many FANTASTIC new people. I love you all!! We learnt from our trainers but most of all from each other. At the end we developed our own project ideas.  New bonds were formed and ideas shared. Through this group effort we created great projects which we can use to change the world!!

I will leave you with the words of  Yoko Ono:

You change the world by being yourself.

So long, farewell!

Another week has passed and a new one beckon's to me. My EVS adventure continues but it ends for one of my esteemed colleagues Tazo. This week he will go back to Georgia and although we have only know each other five short months we will miss him and it feels that an integral part of our team will leave.
                                                           We will miss you Tazo!!!

This week was relatively uneventful - for me that is , for those of my friends reading from Ireland it must read like a big adventure, but there was a lull in my travels and  adventures this week!

In the Hungarian school we sang "Twinkle , Twinkle little star" all together and I even choreographed the awesome moves to go with the song! It was our second week in Cavnic and we really got to know the group. Together we prepared three plays , written and performed by the children themselves! Our workshops are in full swing and the activities are so diverse. This week we recorded a song - we are sure it will be a summer hit! On Wednesday we discussed culture shock and in Art club we painted our Pinatas =D In the pretty village of Copanic the school had prepared a big party for Tazo, it was for his birthday and his farewell showing to us how much they will miss him too!!

The changing seasons

Here in Romania the winter is OFFICIALLY ENDING =D

The experts are saying that spring has officially begun. This was news to me as I had always  thought it started on 1 February or St. Brigits day! But for our continental cousins it starts almost two months later!

During the changing of the seasons you can be very prone to coughs and colds, so last week I headed to the Salt mine in Turda to arm my immune system against the bugs and virus's that the changing weather brings.

This week was a sunny yet nippy one and I enjoyed it! As well as going to my regular activities we have added new schools to our list. On Thursday we went to Cavnic, in the mountains where it was.... SNOWING mad huh?! Back in Baia Mare we sang songs with our Kindergarten class and colored shamrocks with our other students.

This weekend was fun, I got the bus to Sigisoara the beautiful medieval city and really enjoyed wandering her ancient streets. It is rumored to be where Vlad the Impaler, the person whom the legend of Dracula is based on was born. The near by hills are beautiful for walks and give a wonderful view of the citadel.

It was a nice week yet busy! I hope the next one will be nice and full of interesting things.

Row, row, row my boat!

Leaving the comfort zone

Dear friends! 

How was your week? 

What did you learn?

Did you try anything new?

I was writing an email to a old colleague telling her about my news, what I had been up to excetra,
Looking over it before I hit send I saw how different my life looks to what it was when we worked together as colleagues. How strange my daily activities must sound to her and the problems and dramas that crop up sound completely alien. It's not a new musing, you will see I have discussed it in my blogs in the past.

As the weeks go by everyday I notice that I am doing something new and this challenges me. That sounds like a nice sentence, full of motivational activities but its not all simple. Challenging yourself to take a risk and step outside your comfort zone is difficult and not always fun - but the results of doing this are!

So what fruits have my new activities born? I have traveled the length of Romania, I have met some incredible and inspiring people (some not so too), seen beautiful sights ended up in difficult situations and I think I now have a new outlook on many aspects of life.

So message of this blog? Do something different today , it doesn't have to be something wild or crazy , in fact I don't think that wild crazy adventures come from nowhere. They begin when you slowly make changes and try new things. That is to say step outside the comfort zone. So today go somewhere new, order something new even watch something new. Who knows where this will lead you!

The calm after the rush

Another week has passed. It was our first without the support of those who left. But we have settled into our own routine so here's what we got up to!

This was an arty week for me, the Art club made pinatas and we made shadow  paintings with the Roma centre. Both activities were successful, the shadow portraits needed team work between the participants one to stand and one to draw their shadow.



The weekend had arrived before we knew it and off we went to Sighisoara. For anybody who has never been there I highly recommend it. I think it shows how diverse Romania's culture is. It is a beautiful blend  of German architecture and Romanian. We met our friends from on arrival training and had a lovely weekend!