my EVS walkthrough

Interessados num SVE, leiam

2011-01-27T13:14:00.002Z

As pessoas interessadas em fazer um SVE podem contactar-me para amarense@gmail.com.
O Clube Desportivo Recreativo e Cultural Amarense terá todo o gosto em ajudar mais e mais jovens a embarcarem numa das mais enriquecedoras aventuras que poderão experienciar! :)

Coragem, sejam voluntários!

Wondering

2009-06-23T14:59:00.002+01:00

I cant stop wondering how it will be, if it will be, what will it be, if we all want it to be and if it is possible to be... I want it to be, I cant stop thinking of it being, and you as part of it.

I miss (Greece)

2009-06-19T15:18:00.002+01:00

I miss it!!

Yesterday I booked my plane ticket back to my Portugal. Its is a lot true that I am missing so many things in my homeland, but... This is my life for the last 4-and-a-half months and I am adapted to it! I feel almost 100% incorporated in the local society in my point of view. I can go anywhere alone, I can buy things alone, I can ask for directions, I can understand most of the times the subjects of the conversations, I know some locals and some of them are friends, and I have someone in my mind 24/7 for the last month! All local things that I will miss when I return to Portugal...
Besides the local society, we have our own small intercultural society. EVS is a very big thing in whatever country you are, and Greece is no exception. I will miss so much my friends, real ones, with whom I lived and worked for the last times! But that everyone supposes...
And I already miss the most special person I met in Hellenic lands. Thanks to the Youth Center of Kalamata, thanks to Giannis and our greek lessons at Jimie's! Everything comes to an end, and the apart of lives was so difficult yesterday!... Everyday time was against us, and once again it is. Time and space, work and obligations... My EVS love has so many determining factors that pull us apart that its impossible to fight in both sides... I will never forget you!

Oh EVS!.... It is so hard to leave you... But thank you for changing me, hopefully to better!

I Remember

2009-06-16T08:35:00.002+01:00

I remember in Portugal, some days before coming to Greece, of being reading one of the many blogs in MyEVS.net. There was the story of a guy who had a project of 5 months like me. One and half to the end of it, he wanted badly to go back to his country. Many people advised him to stay, it was almost over, in a while he would go home, he should not finish an experience like that because everyone knew he could do it. And he stayed!
In the end he thanks in something like these words: "Fortunately my friends convinced me to stay and finish my project. It would be a huge mistake to leave in the middle like that! And...do I have to say I found love? :)"
If not whit these words, something saying the same, but I am 90% sure that the last sentence its really like this.

Truth said, I never wanted to give up from my project. I loved the life here, I still do, I love it more than ever! Because I stay to the end, I lived almost all I could. And the last month is having the best things possible... I feel like the other volunteer, I lived to the end and I found love too!
It would be so sad leaving my life of the last 5 months even without this feeling... So you all can imagine how difficult it will be this way...

There are many cases of EVS love stories, even my mentor is a case of that. She was an EVS from Romania here in Kalamata 8 years ago. She met a local guy, she stayed, they got married, they live together, they work in this city...

Give me a smile! :)

Portuguese issues

2009-06-04T10:41:00.007+01:00

I have less than one month here in Kalamata, here in Greece, here in the Mediterranean... The last 4 months passed fast like hell, unfortunately. Now I start to think a lot on my trip back to my country of course...

Today (can't remember why) I was reading some things in the internet about Portugal, then about Portuguese language, than about Galaico-Portuguese language and its history, then about just the history, then the diplomatic history, then the military history, and I ended reading about the Battle of Aljubarrota. I dont know why, but maybe because I am sensitive about missimg my country, I got fascinated about this battle. It was even better than I ever thought, together with all the history surrounding it. I got more close to understand why we portuguese people do not like the spanish ones and the frenchs! ehehe Poor guys... Over all these centuries we won lots of battles against the inhabitants of nowadays Spain, everytime they were more than us and better equiped and they were falling like flies... Many times they were being helped by the frenchs, poor guys were losing all the times their cavalry... We fought in disadvantage and we ended winning without casualties, we fougth from 1:4 and the casualties were 1:4, we captured lots of prisioners and material and our prisioners escaped...

Battle of the Atoleiros
Soldiers
1600:5000

Casualties
0:PLENTY

Battle of Trancoso
Soldiers
1300:N/A (around the same, but much better equiped)

Casualties
Few pawns:~90%

Battle of Aljubarrota
Soldiers
6500:31000

Casualties
1000:4000

Battle of the Lines of Elvas
Soldiers
11000+11000:14500

Casualties
800:6500

Battle of Ameixial
Soldiers
24000:21500+5000 amunition cars+20 artillery

Casualties
1350:12500

Battle of Montes Claros
Soldiers
20500:22000

Casualties
700:10000

One typical thing in most portuguese people is the admiration and reliance in our history. We were great, and now we are not, so why not keep remembering that? I will always be like this, I dont care. Portugal is the country in Europe which has the oldest national identity. Portugal is the european state with the most old and stable established frontiers.Thereby, I am Portuguese since the XIII century and you have your nationality for much less time than I do. Greece became a kingdom 177 years ago, and the actual greek territory has 62 years when Italy gave them the Dodecanese islands.

From the Portucalense County to the kingdom of Portugal (in portuguese)

And I forgive you castillians! In the end you were losing all the time.... eheheheh

TVI e normas ético-legais

2009-05-28T12:48:00.004+01:00

Ora bem... Uma notícia que me captou a atenção com extrema facilidade!

"Lisboa, 28 Mai (Lusa) - A Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC) considera que a TVI desrespeitou as normas ético-legais do jornalismo misturando factos e opinião em várias edições do "Jornal Nacional", alvo de queixas analisadas pelo organismo."

Nada que me surpreenda... Só me surpreende só agora ter ouvido algum "órgão superior" falar disto...

Competitividade

2009-05-20T08:55:00.005+01:00

Como não poderia deixar de ser, posso estar ausente do meus país mas todos os dias tenho os meus feeds do JN a actualizar de meia em meia hora.
No total leio para aí 2 ou 3 notícias completas por dia, de resto leio apenas os cabeçalhos no programa. Ontem por acaso foi a da taradona/psicótica professora de Espinho.
Hoje, embora ainda sejam 11 da manhã aqui, duas notícias chamaram-me a atenção por conterem algo curioso!

- "Ferreira Leite adverte que o país pode falir"
Manuela Ferreira Leite defendeu esta terça-feira num almoço com empresários ucranianos que Portugal tem poucos anos para resolver o problema da falta competitividade se não quer "ficar irremediavelmente pobre".

- "Portugal ultrapassa Espanha" (só este título chama a atenção a qualquer tuga!)
Portugal subiu três lugares no ranking que mede a competitividade dos países a nível mundial.

Ora bem... Algo anda para aqui a contradizer-se, ou será que não? A Manela diz que o país vai falir com falta de competitividade, e afinal Portugal já ultrapassou os Castelhanos? Algo esquisito se passa... Vejamos, a Manuela é uma pessoa que tirou economia; este ranking mundial são várias pessoas que tiraram economia! Logo, é mais fácil estar errada a Manuela que um grupo de economistas que nada mais faz a não ser analisar países.

Assim sendo pergunto: Manuela, será que Espanha já faliu e ninguém sabe?!

Banana's Republic

2009-05-18T17:57:00.002+01:00

How is a greek second chance school?? Einai poli orea! Now we know the secret of their happiness and laughs in their work, take a look at this.
Me and Sandra are volunteering there in their Green Roof project. Today, I don't know why because they had plenty of materials, we did almost nothing. We worked something like 15 minutes! Then Giorgos told us that "today no more work, food!". Okay!
Then we went to the small garden house in the roof, with only 2 walls, and they brought some small foods and Ouzo...and Tsipouro (or whatever it is written). For those who don't know, these are like 30% up, Tsipouro being more than 45% I think...

So, an afternoon to discover one of the secrets of the "Banana's Republic"! I would like to see a public employee drinking these drinks during their work schedule...ahahah!

Responsabilidade

2009-05-16T14:49:00.002+01:00

Serei eu extremamente pesado e o outro demasiado leve?? Se calhar é por isso que ando sempre cansado, obrigando-me a dormir as horinhas certas para estar relativamente bem no trabalho.

Carago...qual o peso da responsabilidade??

Olympia

2009-05-13T09:27:00.010+01:00

Last sunday, Olympia.

Being my first train trip in Greece I was a bit expectant. Well... It started fantastic! The train line is not working at 100% so we had to take a bus that was waiting outside of the station. Half an hour or more through swamp-like plantations and zig-zag roads... Great! We then entered the train in a station somewhere. An old and slow train but okay for a trip like this.
Arriving at Pyrgos we waited a bit and took the next train to Olympia. A small one, looked like the urban trains in the portuguese North Line.

In a short trip we arrived at Olympia, last station of the line. Maybe because it was sunday, but the first thing we saw were big piles of garbage nears the bins... Poli orea! We then saw the map and we moved to the area of interest.
The town looks like it only lives for the tourists, so it seems there is nothing more to see than the and the archaeo site.

Archaelogical Museum
Modern building, nice construction with some statues outside, video vigilance everywhere, "security" people everywhere (and one of them a bit annoying), better room lighting than in the Athenian Museum (which is great for taking pictures without flash)...

The expositions count with lots of statues, many of them from roman emperors and famous people and athletes, very nice glass objects, metal objects, tons of pots, war helmets and armor, shields, bronze griffins and very small statuettes, and a huge room with a sequence of statues or both sides.
In fact I discovered here in this last room, that mobile phone technology was already used in ancient Greece, as you can see in the next picture.

Anyway, we moved to the archaeological site after talking a bit!

Archaeological Site
5 minutes of walking from the museum and we where there. We showed the tickets at the entrance and then we started a tiring trip!... In the beginning the place did not look so big. We passed by Gimnasium, then the Philippeion, then the Olympic Stadium, then the Echo Portic, then Nero's octagonal house, then the place where the Cryselephantine Statue Of Zeus was, one of the Old World Wonders, then the baths, then 2 more buildings and finnaly we were done!
It was a very hot day, we were tired, so we decided to go back to take the bus back to Pyrgos. Otherwise we had to wait 2 hours for the next bus back.

(The server is not uploading images. Later if I have the pacience I will upload some more...)

Distance from Kalamata: ~110km
Transportation used: train, bus
Travel time: ~3hours x2 (10:30-19:15)
Total transp. price: 9,40 euros
Museum + site prices: free to EU students, 9eur normal ticket, 5eur non-EU students and <19

Photo count: 428
Photo artifacts found: 0

My Daily Movements

2009-05-07T10:47:00.003+01:00

Here goes something like the description of the movements of my legs in a normal volunteering day:

- they move in my bed to get out of it, they go to the bathroom, they make me eat or drink something, and then they move to the room for me to get dressed;

- at 10:00 they pull me to the Youth Center where they stay many time without moving;

- at around 16:00 they get hungry and so they lead me to my home, into my kitchen;
(this week they were missing my parents and so they jump to my bike almost everyday and they moved in circles for half an hour to go to and get back from the beach)

- sometimes at 19:30 or 20:30 we have some workshops, and my legs are very interested in that, so they ride or walk to the YC again;

- then they get hungry, and they lead me many times to Jimies place, or to our house (once again to the kitchen or directly to the dinning room);

- sometimes they need a kind of fuel so they go for a drink with other friendly leg pairs;

- other times... they just go to bed and hold a movie or they hang with other legs behind some table in the house in a vivid conversation above.

Claymation

2009-05-05T19:46:00.004+01:00

We just finished the shooting of our first "claymation" movie!
The editing will be easy, I am sure. But we made lots of mistakes... :D Light and shadows, moving scenario, shaking [a lot] camera, fast clay movements... We are always learning, and for the first time we learned really a lot! Anyway, at least 2 scenes are very very nice. I will try to post it someway later.

Perfectness

2009-04-30T11:53:00.004+01:00

How does it feel to be okay? How does it feel to be liked? How does it feel to be minimally admired? How do you feel today? I will tell you about me. I feel nice, okay, comfortable, good and confident. I just want to keep this in mind in order to be like this more times. I just need to remember, or if the memory fails, I just need to read it again. And certainly think about what it meant in the past, what it is meaning just right now. I am sure I can remember that! It is very easy: how does it feel to have lots of things in your personality that can interest such perfect person from very far from your home place? How does it feel to know that other cultures can like you? How does it feel to know that someone with such a different background could maybe be the perfect one? And then, mostly fantastic, how does it feel to know that that person at least admires you as a person? It feels great. Even if with more days we could become evil persons. Because then I just lay down and relax; my first impressions are [almost] never wrong and “we live with the qualities and we learn to live with the bad ones”.

If a small and sweet supposed “angel” liked me, then why couldn’t the normal beings like either? Yes that’s it. Let’s keep this text for the future, let’s keep it as a guarantee for me of my possible value. Being accepted intellectually and maybe more, in not just my culture is something comfortable. For now it is relaxing, it is reflective, it is happy. Anyway let’s just hope that the same can be felt by you. Let’s hope that all I said, all I’ve done [or I haven’t] and all I showed just allowed you to feel the most fantastic person I knew for a long time. Why do you look like the perfect harmony between external and internal beauty? I want you to feel special, I want you to be yourself and then to cast a smile to me! And tell me without talking that you heard what I haven’t said about you. Tell me with your kind voice, again, that I am special and wait for me to tell you that you will always be! Just tell me now, perfectness, how does it feel?

Green Roofs

2009-04-23T09:25:00.004+01:00

"Hello world."
As my project has been having some problems mainly due to a local partner organisation that is not doing the reforestation as they were supposed to. Anyway, I have been searching some things for the "office" work. My mentor told me about "Green Roofs", something I have never heard before. Some easy search and I have lots of information already!
Today's step was to make a list of materials so we can buy them in order to make a small "maquete". I found some easy-finding materials that are generally used, so I hope next week I can start making it! With this we can estimate a price/m2 for extensive green roofs too.

Easter in Greece

2009-04-19T14:34:00.002+01:00

I wasn’t expecting anything special in the Greek Orthodox easter celebrations. I just had no idea. Everyone wanted to go to the church “just to see it”. So I went to. “Just to see”… Well it starts from the best way. As we were walking to the huge square around the Metropolis Church we noticed that everyone in the streets were very well dressed, dressed as “Domingo”. Tonight was Saturday night, but okay it is easter, let them use their good dresses once per year!

Arriving at the square we moved through the people to get closer to the outside “altar”. First impression: “Que CARALHO ‘tá aqui o exército a fazer?!”. An army battalion was just standing making like a human cord so that the people didn’t occupied the space for the priests to pass. WTF?! The army?? And 6 or 7 police officers too? It was enough to see the army parade in the greek liberation day after all the schools and everyone looked soooo happy! Now....the army together with religious celebrations? WWWWTTTTTFFF?! In this moment I got sick. Ah! And the soldiers looked like cheap actors who don’t even know exactly how to be in those situations... Advancing. Lots of children too, with candles in the hands, listening to 2 men “singing” things (yes, something) that didn’t even worked as “mantras” for buddhist people. Disgusting, I am sorry... Poisoning those small heads with chants who look that directly came from a book of dark sorcery. The whole ambience reminded me of that indeed. Dark, only light from the candles that 80% of the people had and one or 2 light poles. People from all ages could be seen there. Really, all ages without exception. All well dressed for a celebration that took like 15 minutes. As all the bars were closed, I suppose they used their fancy clothes for like half an hour! “So much for the All-Stars”! Show-off, contest, exhibitionism... Fake...

The only thing that kept me there was the army. I will never understand how could they use the army in religious celebrations. Control maybe, it is all about [mind] control. Anyway, my airsofter side was active and real G3-A3/4 were there and some very ugly costumes too. Just have been observing in case someone wants to re-enact (such bad tastes!...)

Enough. It is just to say that my children will never be exposed to such demonstrations of fanaticism. Neither religious or militarist or now both as it seems it is possible. I won’t choose for them anything so decisive for them. You don’t agree, you don’t marry me. Kiss, see you tomorrow!

Volunteerism

2009-04-19T14:32:00.001+01:00

For most of the EVSrs in Greece holidays have come in easter time. I had only two days but many of them have 1 or 2 weeks. It is okay! So, we are now hosting 8 volunteers (and 1 extra) here for the weekend! House at around 250%!

Most of the volunteers we met in our on-arrival seminar, established contacts and now here they are. We just met 2 new people. It’s good to have the house full of movement, but it is easy to start missing privacy and “solo” moments. Anyway, it is greeeeeat! We can now know better some of the friends we made in our on-arrival seminar and that is fantastic as you my assiduous readers should know. Interculturalism is just fantastic for me!

Κορώνη (Koroni): Part 2

2009-04-14T18:44:00.007+01:00

This is how the stairwell looked like, or it just simply doesnt looked like anything.

No flash

W/ Flash

The only light we had was the focus-helping light of mt camera that stayed on for less than a second. Better than cameras' flashes that are not viable... Down there I got astonished about the place! A huge and large and tall and geometrical tower in a dome like room. Traces of "picnics" were everywhere and there was lots of sand even being like 20 meters above the sea.

We then found that there is a normal and harmless entrance besides the dangerous and totally dark stairs...

Walking north, with the huge green field on our right (with goats, chickens and a donkey around), we found Jeronimo and the entrance of this side of the castle/fortress that leads to that big open green space. There are pieces of the walls just having a bath in the blue/green sea. Massive pieces of medieval walls just down there, probably for a looooooong time... Why they dont get them and try to use them to reconstruct the place? Is it so hard? I dont think so... Is it viable? I am not an archeologist...

After this we tried to retrieve a carpet that was swiming in a beach right close to those wall pieces. We went into the green zone and there we can realize how big that damn fortress is. If it is that big from that point of view, I assure that into the west it is a lot bigger than this!

So, we tried to go down to the sea, but only rocks, difficult paths, Greek "sea-side silvas"... We found some caverns and we went back to the fortress. Then one or 2 more rooms in the walls and then we searched for a place to eat. Passing by some houses (yes, inside there), one car and one bike, some goats and one roulotte, we found another tower and we had our lunch there, with a great view to Koroni.

Then we went to visit the monastery inside the fortress and a tower where a lady was saying the καστρι was. Not a big deal, the monastery area very very white, you cannot enter with shorts or mini-skirt or sleeveless or showing more than half of your arms, you cannot make noise (supposely) and probably you cannot produce your offspring either...

Then we tried one of the beaches of the zone... Only the "wavy" beach is a beach... This one on the north part of the town is a big σκατά! It has something in the sand that I have no idea what it is. Looks like pieces of some tissue mixed with the wastes of a carpenter's shop. It could be a good beach, with fantastic water... But as usual, in Greece...
We slept there a bit and then we slept in the bus back home.

From Kalamata to Koroni
From 11h to 21:30h
For 4.80€ x 2

Photo count: 620
Photo artifacts found: 15

Κορώνη (Koroni): Part 1

2009-04-14T17:39:00.005+01:00

Κορώνη was called by the Venetians as Corone and the Ottomans in their times. In greek this means flower garlands, and it looks like it doesn't mean "crown" in italian (corona). Anyway, and despite the true meaning, for me it means Greece.

We (me, Jeronimo, Ece and Laszlo) took a local/regional bus. Fortunately we entered in the first stop, so I expect the other people who stayed stand just enjoyed the sardine experience. Unlike in Portugal we enter the bus without paying and we start the trip right away. A few stops after a man starts to collect the payments. At least they know the numbers in English and are smart enough to understand I wanted to pay 2 tickets, one for my friend too. Of course I could have said "Ghia Koroni parakaló. Mu ké tu" (this is the sound of the thing, i dont want to risk transliterations...eheh). Probably he would understand I suppose... Anyway we met an old man in the bus who is living in South Africa after working there many years. Very nice person and he even gave us a bus schedule with all the links and times from Kalamata!

Then, after 1h45m we finally reached destiny. I really am no good....for a bus driver! The streets looked sooo narrow when we are inside the bus! And the balconies on the houses didnt help... But he managed to go down to a plaza one street near the sea. Guess what was in the middle of it?! A church! Very good!... Now that I am here, let me count them... hmm... 1... 2... 3... 4... and a Monastery! For a city with 1668 inhabitants... Yes I think it is apropriate! I just need to tell this to the mayor of my home town so he can start to save some money to build 3 or 4 more churches. In Amares, the town, all! This is Greece.

Advancing... We started to look for the castle of course. On our way there we found a great view over a sea with waves! Yes, waves, more or less like in Portugal. Not ondulation like in Kalamata where the sea looks lazy and is just moving to say that he is there.

We then walked into the castle/fortress and we decided "right". There was a cemetery and a bird wandering above my head of which I took exactely 15 photos. Those helped me to discover (at home) that my camera's sensor had some dirt... A bit further in the walls and a good view again.

The water looks great at least! (you will know why I say this further on)

The nest thing of interest was a tower just a bit to the inside of the previous location. Lookde very at first view, it looked well preserved. We went uo the wall and we saw the tower from there. At the first view it looked that the only way to reach the tower would be to jump down to some wooden planks and then walk carefuly towards the tower... I found two balls somewhere and then I did it. Reached the tower I just found an entrance/exit that passed just below the stairs we took to go up the wall!... Saintly stupidity... I called the others (by this time we had already lost Jeronimo somewhere as usual), we found some stairs leading down in a totally dark tunnel and after a while we decided: Let's go!

To be continued...

I miss...

2009-04-12T22:06:00.003+01:00

- my dog/cow;
- my friends;
- the nights in Concelho and Sintomas;
- my bus travels;
- my mom's food;
- my room and my house;
- genetics;
- portuguese humour;
- my speakers;
- Vila Real;
- my airsoft things;
- ...ed our Carnival parade and will miss the 25th of April;
- driving;
- riding a motorbike;
- my DVDs;
- my drawings;
- love;
- you;
- you;
- you;
- you;
- my closet;
- cinema;
- my city;
- my misunderstandings;
- coffee for 55 cents;
- my father's complaints about the politicians;
- my garden;
- portuguese yoghurts;
- Limiano's halfs;
- talking in Portuguese;
- portuguese ladies;
- laughing about the "olive oilers";
- shopping;
- my bridge;
- my sun and my pool;
- etc...

Easter

2009-04-12T02:18:00.003+01:00

Today/tomorrow is the Sunday of easter in Portugal and other catholic countries. In Greece, as for other orthodox countries, the easter weekend is one week later. Nevertheless people started with their traditions here!
Two things from now:
- painting the walkways outside their houses and stores with a kind of white paint, sometimes with strange and stupid drawings;
- blowing up petards in the middle of the streets. Not "Carnival" little bombs but really noisy and strong petards! Stupids...

In the Sunday of easter here I think we will get into their traditions with the help of Sibel (our theoretical mentor and good friend) by visiting the church and then having dinner at her house. Yes yes, visiting the church! It will be nice, I havent seen the Kalamata's Metropolis church from inside yet! :p Maybe I can flash them a bit... eheheh

PS: I am really relieved.... Finally I will have an easter period without having to go with the annoying catholic traditions...

Cold Muscles

2009-04-11T15:39:00.002+01:00

And then yesterday we went to the sea!

For me it is okay, warmer than the ocean in northern Portugal! eheh But probably yesterday the communists had a prolongated siesta because today it started to rain! GRRRRRR!!!

The Conspiracy

2009-04-09T15:32:00.002+01:00

It was all a conspiracy... The clouds were back in this week in the afternoons, and when I said in the morning "Lets go to the beach in the afternoon after work yeah?" the weather got bad.

Whyyyyy?? I just want to go to the beachside so to buy a summer towel! Those communists anti-comsumism are damned!...

Heat!!

2009-04-02T01:03:00.003+01:00

Finally it looks like hot days are coming to Kalamata!! A very nice day today, we could be outside without any cold just with a tshirt and some shorts. It was a sudden change, but i don't care!
Me and Gianluca, we took our bikes with the first idea of going for a while to the beach but we ended pushing our vehicles in the rocks to get to some place we didnt know it existed. And then we arrived at something like this:
It's just east of the main beaches of Kalamata, very easy to find!

On our way back home we took another road, not the beach one, and after 4 km we arrived at Kekykamea, and then just some more minutes and we arrived to the Youth Center. I wanted to see if Fillos was there or not, but no, he wasnt, but Jeronimo "The Atheniense" was! After another seminar he arrived and went there to do something (I dont know what).

And that's another day!

PS: I gathered some info about Green Roofs in the afternoon and the night before and even this night. Very interesting to be implemented in this ulgy, grey town, but I forecast it very difficult to be done... Let's see!

Pylos, Methoni & Ancient Messini

2009-03-29T21:07:00.004+01:00

Gooooooooooooooooood! (with 2 "o", not only one...)
Today we went with some people from the school where Giannis (our greek teacher) is working to visit these places.

Pylos
Pylos is a very nice looking town by the sea! The fortress, originally built by the Venetians and then rebuilt by the Otomans, is a lot empty in the inside maybe because it is very large... Anyway it has a magnificent view over the bay! Worth a visit.

Methoni
A very very nice and welcoming little town/village near the sea. The main point of attraction is the huge fortress and castle that supposely existed inside the fortress... It reminded me of just another portuguese fortress that i've seen but then we entered. It is a Venetian fortress, as we can see in the outside wall: a carving of a lion with wings, the coat of arms of Venice. After crossing the first "inter-wall" space, we crossed another gate and then a huge green area extended to the sea. In the middle there is a very long road crossing all the supposed settlement to the other side of the fortress where the "Butcher's tower" is located. Yes, it supposely had a setlement... If it is still there now it should be below all those bushes... They could have such a great place in there if they had conserved it better in the past!
Anyway we walked something like 5 minutes to cross it. Another gate, we are on the outside again. And a marvelous view strikes my cornea! The tower just appears "in the middle" of the sea with a not so large path leading there. It is really great, with the mountains far in the back...
Inside there is not so much to see unfortunately. It was a tower where many many people were slaughtered by the Turks, and normally it was used to held prisioners. It should have 2 floors but the top one is gone... A nice round dome and nothing else to see!
Okay besides the fortress, Methoni has very nice beaches. It should be great in summer!

Ancient Messini
Arriving in Ancient Messini you can see some good-looking walls far away on the other side of the valley. Going down to the archaeological place you can see a big ancient amount of stones. It's not so big as the Greek Agora in Athens but it is extense anyway! It still has some walls in a very good condition as well as the little theatrer and the fabulous stadium! This last is really great. The sitting places are well preserved and there are many many columns all around it. Great ambience! :) Down there you can hear the sound of the water flowing below it.
On the way back to the entrance I found two pieces of a pot or a vase! :)
And conclusion... Verena said that 4 months ago the walls in the entrance were not there, so at least something is being done there... slowly...But there is still soooooo much to be found in that place! I bet with anyone! An unfortunately for this we are in Greece, what I have seen about conservation and restauring is not the best.... :(

It is great to imagine all that zone with life, in that valley, protected with 8km (yeah a lot!!) of fortificated walls all around it! In the North to protect that little "kingdom" from the Arcadians; in the East to protect from the Spartans, and the others two sides i dont know, Giannis didnt say! :) Those 2 gates can still be found, I hope i go back there in some months!

PS: Thank you, High Entity.

Earthquake!

2009-03-26T14:21:00.002Z

Finally! Greece is a country affected a lot by earthquakes. Last week when we were in Athens in the On-Arrival (18th March 2009) there was a 4.2 Ritcher here in Kalamata. We missed it and we got "angry"! :p
Today I was lying in my bed, semi-awake, when suddenly the bed started moving a lot! For less than one second ok...but it was strong! :D As long as they are not dangerous it is a new and curious experience...

Thanks mother Earth.

Sorryyyyyy....

2009-03-25T12:05:00.003Z

Its almost end of March and I havent been active here... Sometimes I want to but I am too lazy...
Anyway I will do a quick review of my almost 2 months in here! :)

First Day
I have been very well received in Kalamata! The Greek teacher, Giannis, got me from the bus station and we went to eat and drink something. Then I slept a bit in the afternoon (the trip was sooooo long and I could not sleep very much in the airport....). Some hours later I met my mentor and in the night we went to a Taberna to have a great dinner!

Other Volunteers
I was the first new volunteer to come to Kalamata. Verena was already here for 5 months but my future house mates were still to come. In one month after my arrival all managed to arrive, like 1 per week.

Nedousa
When we were all here, in our first day all together we went to a village in the mountains. There was some Pagan Celebrations that were very veyr nice! In the end we were dancing with the local people! :)

Intercultural Night
Some days later we finnaly had the Intercultural Night! Tradicional things from Turquey, Hungary, Germany, Italy and...ok...my bottle of Porto Wine representing Portugal!... ehehe

Youth Center
As my project depends a bit on local groups of reforestation and as they have not been very active lately, in the last weeks I have been working in the Youth Center helping the other 2 volunteers from there to paint, clean, etc. Basically that space was a complete chaos and we had to remodelate it! :) It was nice, and it is very nice now. We started to plan some things for it, we defined the YC identity and objectives, and we are now preparing some things to the opening party in the 4th of April.

On-Arrival Seminar
I LOVE YOUUUU!!
Wow...I really loved this last week in Athens in the On-Arrival...Unfortunately we got a very short seminar because the National Agency doesnt like us. Only 3/4 days, 2 less than the "normal" seminars... Anyway I loved it, I loved to meet people from everywhere in Europe! We are all so different and so like the same... :) Loved loved loved! My best week ever! I will never forget that experience.

Athens
After the seminar we managed to stay in Athens for the weekend, in the house of some volunteers from SCIint organization. Right in the center of Athens, great location! In sunday we went with other volunteers from the seminar to the Acropolis and to the Greek Agora, and okay...a paradise in the middle of that huge and ugly city! :) That zone is really really beautiful...

National Liberation Holiday
Today is a national holiday in Greece. Here they celebrate their Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 25th march 1821. We went to see a parade in the main square... Strange. All the schools and colleges and whatever where in the parade, all marching with specific customs. Nothing very fancy, in fact very all like the same and very boring... Some people claped hands when they saw like their son or grand-son marching in his school group but most of the time was just back-noise and music from the speakers. Everywhere there were greek flags (i have never seen so many together).
In the end something caught my attention. On of the last groups in the parade was the army. Armed with G3 rifles and Mini-14 (I think) they marched very very coordinated as it was to expect. My curiosity started here... Okay they march a lot better than the school guys and girls and the scouts, but supposely after the incident in Athens where a student was killed, greek people do not like the police and the security forces! Many local people told me that many times. This is why I am confused... They clapped A LOT!! Like a huge manifestation of Nationalism and proud in their security forces, while they just watched still the future of their country (the school's students). I am confused... I will ask today to Giannis! :p

Trip Plan

2009-01-15T20:58:00.006Z

-PT-
É verdade, o projecto foi efectivamente aprovado! Não vejo a hora de entrar no avião! Dentro de 3 semanas partirei para a cidade que me vai acolher nos próximos 5 meses! De entre as pesquisas que já andei a fazer, aqui fica o meu hipotético plano de viagem:

Transportes
- voos para Atenas (horas de partida, chegada, mudanças de avião);
- hotéis para passar a primeira noite em Atenas (acabei por desistir porque supostamente chegarei ao aeroporto por volta de 1:30 da manhã, e já não há metro para a cidade a essas horas);
- horários do metro de Atenas para ir do Aeroporto para a estação mais próxima da central de camionagem;
- horários dos autocarros de Atenas para Kalamata;
- horários e tarifas do Leonardo Express em Roma.

O que irá supostamente acontecer será o seguinte: embarco no Porto às 9:50 do dia 4 de Fevereiro; chego a Roma por volta das 14:00; possivelmente tomarei o Leonardo Express para fazer uma visita assim para o rápido ao centro da cidade (se o tempo me deixar); ás 20:20 embarcarei com destino a Atenas, com chegada prevista às 01:30 (hora local) do dia 5 de Fevereiro; devido a ser tão tarde ficarei no aeroporto até de manhã e apanharei o primeiro metro para o centro da cidade às 06:30; saio na estação Eleonas da linha 3 e se chegar a tempo apanho o autocarro das 07:30 para Kalamata ou então o das 08:45.

Acho que melhor planeamento é impossível! :D

-EN-
Yes, the project was actually approved! I can not wait to get on that plane! Within 3 weeks I will leave to the city that will welcome me in the next 5 months! Among the searches that I already made, here is my hypothetical plan of the trip:

Transportation
- Flights to Athens (hours of departure, arrival, change of plane);
- Hotel to spend the first night in Athens (I gave up because supposedly I will get to the airport around 1:30 in the morning, and no more subway trains to the city are available);
- Schedules of the subway line from Athens Airport to go to the nearest station of the bus central;
- Schedules of buses from Athens to Kalamata;
- Schedules and fares of Rome's Leonardo Express.

What will happen is supposedly the following: Plane in Porto at 9:50 on February 4th; arrival in Rome around 14:00; possibly I'll take the Leonardo Express to make a quick trip to the center of the city (if I have time); 20:20 departure to Athens, with arrival expected at 01:30 (local time) on February 5th, due to be so late I will stay in the airport until the morning and take the first subway train to the city center at 06:30; I will leave in Eleonas station of line 3 and get to the 07:30 bus to Kalamata or the one at 08:45.

I think better planning is impossible! :D

Aprovação do Projecto

2008-12-09T19:15:00.004Z

-PT-
Já lá vai mais de um mês à espera da resposta da Agência Nacional...
O único projecto que entretanto me aceitou foi um da Grécia. Curiosamente o último a que eu tinha concorrido e ainda esperava resposta! Taygetos SOS, reabilitação das zonas florestais e aldeias afectadas pelos enormes incêndios de 2007 no Sul da Grécia. A zona parece-me espetacular, o tema também, e as actividades muito moralizantes! Nunca mais chega a resposta...

O preenchimento do projecto envolveu contactos diários entre mim, a minha associação de envio através do Martinho, e aqueles me aceitaram acolher, através do Filaretos. Durante semana e meia, uns dias mais do que outros mas regra geral acrescentava-se sempre qualquer coisinha por dia. Lá acabamos tudo a tempo, o projecto foi entregue e estamos então agora à espera que a comissão se reúna (isto a acontecer dia 15) e que a resposta nos seja comunicada!

Nunca mais passa uma semana!!!!!!!!!

-EN-
Still waiting for more than a month for the response of the National Agency ...
The only project which has accepted me was one from Greece. Curiously the last that I had competed and still expected answers! Taygetos SOS, rehabilitation of forest areas and villages affected by the huge fires of 2007 in southern Greece. The area seems to be spectacular, the theme too, and the activities very moralizing! The final answer never comes...

The completion of the project involved daily contacts between me, my sending association by Martinho, and those who accepted to receive me through Filaretos. During a week and a half, some days more than others but generally adding a little something everyday. Finnished in time, the project was delivered and we are now waiting for the committee to meet (that to happen 15th) and the response to be communicated!

This gonna be a loooooooooooong week!!!!!!!!!

E mais outra??

2008-09-23T23:22:00.002+01:00

A chamada correu bem. Inicialmente um bocado nervoso, com as palavras a sair todas arranhadas e a ter que encontrar outras expressões para dar a volta à coisa, lá me consegui exprimir! Convém notar que o meu inglês falado numa frase com nexo, não vê a luz do dia desde o meu 11º ano no secundário! lol
Depois de perguntas tipo: "O que poderíamos ganhar contigo cá, e o que poderias ganhar tu?"; "já estiveste muito tempo no estrangeiro?"; "Porquê a Hungria?"; "Que área do projecto te interessa mais?"; disseram-me que dentro em breve me iriam contactar novamente.

Verdade, contactaram cerca de cinco dias depois a dizer que me queriam telefonar novamente. A minha surpresa: "Richard Harrill (Director for Europe) and Christine Schmidt (Communications Officer) will join us to talk about more details on our possible proposal and your ideas"! Director Europeu?! :D Mas....continuo sem saber se estão interessados ou nem por isso... Nada de criar falsas expectativas, ainda não vi nada de concreto e explícito a dizer que "sim"!

Dia 2 de Outubro, nova chamada! :)

I'd like to have a short call with you

2008-09-16T12:47:00.002+01:00

-PT-
Não preciso dizer mais nada! Projecto Húngaro a querer me ligar para uma mini entrevista! eheheheh

-EN-
I dont need to say anything else! This last Hungarian project want to call me for a mini interview! eheheheh

Mas que surpresa....eheh

2008-09-15T18:43:00.002+01:00

-PT-
Recebi hoje uma resposta a um mail que eu tinha enviado há quase um mês atrás! Curiosamente dos muitos que mandei, a resposta recebida foi da Hungria! eheh Obviamente que foi uma excelente maneira de começar o dia, não tivesse eu a "panca" que tenho por esse país.

Bem, projecto pa durar 6 a 12 meses, na área dos direitos humanos embora com um leque de opções de tarefas imenso! Enviei então o que me pediram e vamos lá de novo esperar...

Entretanto os outros dois projectos que devem andar a ver o meu CV/ML (Grécia e Polónia), ainda não comunicaram a sua escolha... O prazo limite é o final deste mês, vou desesperando até lá!

-EN-
Today I received a reply to a mail I had sent almost a month ago! Interestingly from the many sent, the response was received from Hungary! eheh Obviously it was a great way to start the day, because of the "panca" I have for this country. (to have "panca"=to be crazy about something)

Well, its a project to last 6 to 12 months in the area of human rights but with a big range of options for tasks! I sent then what I was asked and let's wait again ...

Meanwhile the other two projects that must be reading my CV / ML (Greece and Poland), have not yet communicated their choice ... The deadline is the end of this month, I will be stressing out 'till then!

Alargamento e um CV/MV enviado

2008-08-14T00:00:00.003+01:00

-PT-
Bem, a coisa estava a começar a chatear-me.... Alarguei a pesquisa de projectos recentes a:
Polónia, República Checa, Eslováquia, Eslovénia, Áustria, Grécia e Bulgária.
Enviei um total de mais 19 mails, em 3 dias responderam apenas 5. Quatro respostas foram negativas e uma positiva, da Grécia.
Enviei o currículo e a carta de motivação e estou à espera neste momento da resposta da selecção. O projecto tem como objectivo a monitorização de 3 ou 4 espécies de abutres num Parque Nacional da Grécia. Agrada-me! :)

A verdade é que isto se tem revelado BASTANTE mais complicado do que a ideia inicial que eu tinha.... Mas sbem! eheh

-EN-
Well, this was starting to bother me... I've expanded the search on the following:
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Greece and Bulgaria.
I sent a total of 19 emails, and in 3 days only 5 replied. Four responses were negative and one positive, Greece.
I sent a CV and a letter of motivation and I am now awaiting the response of the selection. The project is basically monitoring 3 or 4 species of vultures in a national park in Greece. I like it! :)

The truth is that this has been A LOT more complicated than the original idea that I had .... But "sbem"! eheh

Next Deadline

2008-08-09T00:40:00.003+01:00

-PT-
Passado o 31 de Julho só me resta tentar encontrar um projecto até ao final de Fevereiro.
Mas como o tempo parece que passa e tudo fica na mesma, já estou a tentar resolver tudo o mais rápido possível. Para ajudar "à festa" comecei também a alargar os países de pesquisa.

Vamos lá ver se recebo mails.... :)

-EN-
After July 31st I can only try to find a project 'till the end of February.
But as time passes by and it seems that everything is the like the same, I am trying to resolve everything as soon as possible. To help "the party" I also expanded the countries of research.

Let's see if I receive any mail .... :)

Ah e tal, até parecia que era desta! :p

2008-06-28T15:48:00.002+01:00

-PT-
Lá mandei mais uns dois mails acho, e recebi resposta de um deles. Um senhor muito simpático respondeu a um deles, no qual eu tinha perguntado sobre durações do projecto, com algo que me interessou, de 3 a 12 meses, conforme o que o voluntário preferisse! Assim sendo respondi positivamente e perguntei datas, meses, e então a resposta foi "só a partir de Maio de 2009".... Coisa que para mim não dá...

Bem, a procura continua! :D

-EN-

Well, I have sent two more mails I think, and I received response from one of them A very nice man replied an email that I have asked about the duration of the project, with something that interested me, from 3 to 12 months, whichever the volunteer prefer! So I responded positively and asked for dates, months, and then the answer was "only from May 2009 on".... And this is not possible for me...

Well, the search continues! : D

Nickles

2008-06-17T10:41:00.002+01:00

-PT-
Bem... Ainda não obtive nenhuma resposta dos afinal 3 mails que mandei...

-EN-
Well... Still no answer from the last 3 mails I sent...

4 Mails, 2 Respostas

2008-06-15T19:31:00.002+01:00

-PT-
Bem, até agora mandei 4 mails para 4 projectos diferentes. Os dois primeiros mails obtive resposta negativa devido à impossibilidade actual de receberem voluntários. Os dois mais recentes foram para um projecto de uma associação de acolhimento de animais abandonados, e o outro para uma espécie de Centro Cultural. Ainda não obtive resposta de nenhum deles. Notícias em breve! ;)

-EN-
Well, until now 4 mails were sent to 4 different projects. The first two mails I received negative due to the current inability to receive volunteers. The two most recent were to an association who hosts abandoned animals, and the other for a kind of Cultural Center. I have not received any response from them yet. News soon! ;)

O início - The beginning

2008-06-03T01:48:00.005+01:00

-PT-
Tudo começou quando há uns anos atrás, a associação da qual eu fazia, e faço ainda parte, recebeu dois voluntários: um grego, e uma espanhola. Naquela altura era tudo uma novidade, nenhum de nós (mais jovens) sabia da existência de tal coisa, e logo os mais velhos do grupo pensaram em fazer também um SVE. Mas passados os impressionismos...todos por cá ficaram... :) Eu nessa altura era jovem o suficiente para estar é a pensar em que curso tirar no próximo ano...
Entretanto chegaram os voluntários, e resumindo, só experiências positivas!

Mantendo ao longo destes anos sempre a ideia vaga de que tal experiência deveria ser extremamente enriquecedora em termos pessoais. O cansaço do curso superior, o facto de estar "farto" de ver sempre a mesma pequena cidade à frente, a minha sede por coisas novas e o facto de o filme "O Ilusionista" me ter deixado pasmado com a beleza da República Checa, avivou-me a memória e comecei a pesquisar, sem qualquer compromisso ou ideia fixa, sobre o Serviço de Voluntariado Europeu.

Visitei inicialmente o site português: http://sve.pt/sve.html
Obtive informações básicas que me foram preciosas, principalmente sobre o funcionamento dos projectos, os contactos a fazer e, muito importante, a parte do "O SVE é" e "O SVE não é".

Passei depois para o site europeu onde estão alojados os projectos: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_en.cfm
Pessoalmente sinto uma curiosidade enorme sobre os países da europa central. Sendo eu de um país mediterrânico, e sabendo como são certos países como a Inglaterra, França, Luxemburgo, e por aí, considero que todos têm algo "igual"! :D Ao contrário dos países mais centrais a leste, como por exemplo a República Checa, Hungria, Eslováquia, que do que sabia achava fantásticos.
Culturas diferentes, influências políticas diferentes, paisagens só por si diferentes... E virei-me para a procura de projectos de todos os tipos nestes países!

Entretanto o meu gosto enorme pela música de um senhor austríaco de nome Parov Stelar, fez-me começar a falar com uma pessoa da Hungria (culpa da Last.Fm) que também ouvia muito este dito senhor. A certo ponto perguntei coisas sobre o seu país e, com a curiosidade à flor da pele, fui pesquisar sobre este país... Obrigado Nora! ;) Ainda hoje procuro (3 meses depois) coisas e simplesmente adorei o país!
Estou neste momento a tentar decidir que projecto escolher nesse país...Há tanta opção!... Para a semana já devo começar a mandar mails para as opções diminuirem, wish me luck! :)

-EN-
It all started some years ago, when the association I am in received 2 volunteers: a greek guy and a spanish girl. For all of us that was all new , no one knew about the existence of such a project, and right away the olders started to think about doing an EVS too. But it all passed and everyone stayed at home. J In that time I had the exact age to think only about my next year, the first in college…
Then the volunteers came, and, in two words, great experiences!

For all these years I always kept this idea of how an experience like this would be personally enriching. The fatigue from the college course, this everyday-little-city, my hunger for new things and the movie “The Illusionist”, which left me amazed with Czech Republic, were the needed impulse to put me on search of EVS projects, like “just for fun”.

I initially visited the Portuguese site: http://sve.pt/sve.html
The basic information I obtained was precious, especially on the operation of the projects, the contacts to make and, most important, that part about “EVS is"and “EVS is not”.

I passed then to the European site where the projects are hosted: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_en.cfm
Personally I have a huge curiosity about the countries of central Europe. Being from a Mediterranean country, and knowing how certain countries are, such as England, France, Luxembourg, and so, I believe that all of these have something "equal"! :D Unlike countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, that from what I knew I thought they were fantastic.
Different cultures, different political influences, landscapes alone are different ... And I started looking for projects of all types in these countries!

Meanwhile, my fascination for the music of an Austrian musician, name is Parov Stelar, made me begin to talk to a person in Hungary (all because of Last.Fm), who also heard to Parov a lot. At some point I asked some things about her country and, with lots of curiosity flourishing, I started searching this country ... Nora Thank you! ;) I still search for those things today (3 months later) and I just seem to love the country!

I am currently trying to decide which project to choose and try in this country ... There is so much choice! ... Next week I’ll start sending emails to reduce the options, wish me luck! :)