What is your Ecological Footprint?

I wanted to find out what mine was, but more importantly I wanted to know what I can do to lower my eco-footprint. So, I went to Greenside-Out (Training course held in Eselnita, Romania from 22-30 May 2010).

Simply put, eco-footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems and natural resources.

The concept of ecological footprint is based on the assumption that anything that consumes items or energy needs a certain amount of land, water and other natural resources to live the way it is. That means the more active and consuming someone or something is, the larger the ecological footprint for him, her, or it.

Are you one of those people who uses the world's natural resources as if they will never run out? Well, let me tell you this, if we keep on going as we do, then they will run out FAST!

I could give you a whole list of things that you could and should be doing to save resources. But I am not going to. I am just telling you to REDUCE.

Reuse bottles, bags, paper, clothes, etc
Eat seasonal and local produce
Don't let water run while shaving/brushing your teeth/washing dishes
Unplug your appliances when not in use
Choose to go by foot/bike instead of the car
Energy efficient light bulbs

Start reducing your eco-footprint today, so that future generations (of humans as well as all animals) can enjoy a healthy planet with clear air, water and food.

PS. Click here if you want to find out how green you are and what you can do to reduce your eco-footprint

Goodbye Bosnia and Herzegovina...

The past three weeks I was in Bosnia and Herzegovina. First I was 8 days in Kljuc for a Partner Building Activity, then I spent 10 days in Mostar for a youth exchange. Both places will always have a special place in my heart.

In Kljuc there were participants from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia among others. The group bonded almost immediately. Over music. We had a musician amongst us and we would grab any free moment to sing our hearts out. "Zombie" from The Cranberries became our signature tune. Oh, and besides all the singing, we also tried to do some partner building :)

The NGO from Bosnia liked me so much that they invited me to join the youth exchange on "One Europe but Different Families" in Mostar. So, I did. I have no words to describe Mostar, but I'll give it a go. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

- I felt like I walked into a fairytale. The Old Bridge and the smaragd green river...simply magical.

The method used in this exchange was theatre and the play central to this exchange was Antigone. All week, we discussed about the differences in families in countries such as Bosnia, Croatia, Germany, Montenegro and Serbia. Although I am far from an actor (heck, the thought of being on stage in front of people, scares me more than spiders do and believe me spiders scare me A WHOLE LOT) I decided to give it my all. We actually performed our final play outside. IN PUBLIC! Near the Old Bridge...The passers by looked confused. Who were all these strangely dressed people speaking in English running around, dancing, jumping, falling down and yelling all over Mostar? But, hey I had the time of my life. I forgot about all my inhibitions and just let it go...But thank god, there is no video footage of it - even though I am not ashamed of what I did, I think some things better remain unseen.

- What happened in Mostar, stays in Mostar ;)

Wonderful Warsaw but...

- Belgrade is Better!

Yes, I was away again. This time the Polish capital was my destination. I had never been to Poland before. When the opportunity came up to attend a partner building activity nearby Warsaw, I didn't hesitate and jumped at the chance.

Having spent nearly 4 months in Serbia, I had what some would refer to as a 'reverse culture shock' when I arrived in Warsaw. I knew I was back in the 'West' again, but somehow it felt strange to see shiny buildings, metro, shopping malls with all the big brand names on every corner, and not to mention all the fast food chains...

It made me think of all the 'things' that I have been missing since I moved to Serbia. Yeah, it was great to take the metro again and be somewhere quickly, rather than being stuck in traffic like it always happens in Belgrade. Sure, the shopping malls were nice to look at and I admit I ran into the Starbucks as soon as I saw it...but was I really missing these

- or did I just realize these 'things' were missing in my life when I saw it again?

Honestly, I don't think I have stood still about all these 'things' when I arrived in Belgrade, rather I embraced what was there and simply replaced my 'normal necessities' with the Serbian alternatives.

Rather than using the metro, I used my legs (it's so much faster to get somewhere when you walk than take the bus/tram in Belgrade ;)) I swapped huge shopping malls for the much more original street vendors and moka frappuchino became topla čokolada.

Warsaw made me appreciate more things than one, namely that:

1. I don't miss the "West"
2. I don't need the "West"
3. I don't mind using my feet
4. Who needs shopping malls anyways, when you can get way more unique items at smaller markets?
5. And Starbucks? Who?! I mean, nothing can top a Serbian TOPla čokolada - it's simply the best :)

- Warsaw was wonderful indeed, but give me Beograd any day of the week :)

Creating Creative European Citizens

That's the name of the training I attended in Becej this past week. As the name suggests - the goal was to come out of this training a (more) creative European citizen.

- Being an European Citizen means being active and aware of the issues and think and behave like an European rather than a Dutch or Fin for example.

There were 21 of us from Serbia, Macedonia, Finland, Turkey, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Scotland and The Netherlands.
It was a mixed group - varying from age and background, but despite the differences (or because of it) we all got along well. The days were filled with playing team building games and discussions. Playing these games was an integral part of the training, since it's a huge part of becoming a more creative person. The ones I'll remember and take with me?

- "Maffia"...and "Woosh"

In the evenings we would continue to bond over drinks and music.

As it always happens on a free day - the weather sucked! All week the weather was great - sunny and comfortable. But on our day trip to Novi Sad - WHAM it started snowing...and then there was this really chilly wind...So, our day in the city was basically spent inside a coffee bar...where the waiter kept topping up my topla cokolada :)

The last two days were spent creating innovating projects. I worked together with participants from Serbia, Italy and Spain. We had many ideas and it was actually quite hard to choose one to work on for now. In the end we decided to develop a project on social networking sites.

I don't know if I came out of the course a creative European citizen.

- But I guess the fact that we had so many ideas, says enough.

Other than the project ideas a few other things were created: partnerships and friendships. All by all, not bad for a week's hard work in Becej :)

Smitten with Sarajevo :)

Yes I am guilty - guilty for having completely fallen in love with Sarajevo.

Having spent nearly two weeks in the city, I have gotten a pretty good feel of the place and its people. I had a tour of the city with a local, who told me about his experiences during the war. I met his family, who despite all the hardship seems happier than ever. They have been married for 30 years and still seem very much in love. It made me happy to see these two so happy with eachother. And it was actually something I saw all around me - people seemed content and just wanted to live and enjoy their life. Besides the people, I fell in love with the scenery. Yes, the evidence of the war was still clearly visible and admittedly rather confronting, but when I looked past that, I saw beauty in each and every corner of the city.

The On Arrival Training for EVS volunteers was an opportunity to meet other volunteers dealing with similar questions and going through the same emotions. It was reassuring to hear their experiences - it aint that bad after all at the MEC ;)

I expected a week filled with icebreakers, games, sharing experiences, lots of heartfelt confessions and...that's exactly what I got :)

From now on, every time someone says 'toaster' I will think of Maciek jumping up and down rather than that electrical equipment for toasting bread :) And 'washing machine' brings images of Lael moving around in rather strange circular motions ;)

The training provided a lot of food for thought, but that's what I expected from the beginning. What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the city, but I guess it was inevitable. I couldn't resist Sarajevo's allure :)

ILE*

*I Love Earth...that's the name of my project! After a hectic week of working on it, I was seriously considering changing the name into IHE* Don't think I need to explain what that stands for ;)

The past week was spent filling out the Action 3.1 Cooperation with Neighbouring Partner Countries Youth Exchanges application form. I say form, but it was more a booklet, since it contains over twenty pages!

If that wasn't enough work, I also had to plan and create a programme of activities (containing detailed information on the daily activities - kinda wished I planned a two day exchange rather than a nine day) and write and send out a so called "Call for Partners".

Now this was all new to me. I thought when I had my idea for the project, the rest was just a formality (read= going to be a piece of cake). How wrong was I! There's so much more that comes with writing and submitting a quality project. On top of all that, there was of course this deadline (February 1st), looming around the corner.

Luckily, I am the kind of person that's not scared of a challenge (hence why I took the initiative to write this project all on my own, with no previous experience whatsoever) and, more importantly, will persevere. Well, this drive of mine came in very handy with this project :) Everytime when I thought or felt like I had no clue what I was writing or what I was supposed to do next - I thought of Pancakes. Palačinka with Nutella to be more precise. And bananas. And plazma :) Yeah, the sweet reward that was waiting for me upon finishing the project and submitting it on time :) Did I ever consider quitting or giving up? Not a chance! That thought never even crossed my mind :)

So, this morning we submitted the finished application form + draft schedule + eight Part IIIs. Yeah, we managed to secure some great partners from Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Poland, Turkey, Georgia, Italy and Portugal.

All that's left to do is wait...and hope that the project gets approved. For now, I am signing off. I'll get some sleep. And eat my palačinka :)

Creative in Croatia

To all my loyal readers out there ( yeah all 3 of you ;) ) It’s time for an update again! Make a note on your agenda to always check this blog on Sundays – cause that’s my day :)

Andrea and I have just returned from a very interesting, but intensive training course: “IYI – Improving Quality of International Youth Projects” funded by EACEA, a Youth in Action programme. It took place in Osijek Croatia from 10 -18 January. The trainer was the lovely Danijela Lovric – a strong woman with a ‘can do’ and ‘no bullshit’ attitude. She knows what she wants and how to get it – I truly admire that in a person. Danijela is the founder of youth centre for non-formal education CnC – which stands for Creators not Consumers. The organization is run by a group of just as inspiring people: Sonja, Kristina, Goran and Nemanja. All of them welcomed me with open arms to their city and youth club. And what a youth club it is!

I don’t think I have ever seen a youth club with such a cool chill out area: several couches, home cinema ( well a projector with space for playing movies :) ) pool table, football table, board games etc. Next to that there is a bar/kitchen area where people can refuel. Moving on to the computer room, where I could count at least 10 computers for the youngsters to use. On top of that there is the office, where all the magic happens :) And I haven’t even started to talk about the location yet: just a few minutes away from the river – what more can the kids ask for? This place is so incredibly inviting, it just makes you want to go there. In fact, if I were one of the kids, CnC would have trouble kicking me out ;) as I would be hanging out there everyday ( actually, I think they do ;) )

The training course itself was held at Hotel Mursa, 10 minutes away from the bus and train stations. It was a 2** hotel, and although the rating might suggest otherwise – it was actually a really nice hotel with friendly staff. Andrea and I shared a room on the 6th floor with a view to kill ( well, it may have been a view to kill – we just wouldn’t know, since it was foggy most times ;) )

The participants at the training came from a variety of countries including Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Latvia and from Croatia itself. We were not the only Serbians at the training – there was another group, ‘In Stage’, who is based in Belgrade as well. And there were a few people from Kosovo. Miomir told Andrea he really wanted to find a partner in Kosovo – well, I think I may have just found him one: Ellen, who is from an environmental organization. She showed a lot of interest in the project that I am currently writing and has said that she would love to collaborate with me.

The week started with icebreakers so we could get to know eachother a bit better. It included name and storytelling games. The latter meant we had to find a creative way to fill out the missing information in an unfinished story and perform it to the rest. This resulted in very imaginative performances. Good thing they didn’t tape it ;)

Day 2 was filled with presentations from ’special guests’ and other important people. The media was even there and Andrea and I got our 5 minutes of fame thanks to our appearance on TV (though we didn’t see it) and picture in the news paper (which reminds me that I forgot to bring a copy. Sorry). Later on in the day we played ‘Mission Impossible’ where we had to write a project from scratch in 60 minutes. The title of this game was appropriate, since it was indeed impossible to achieve such a huge undertaking. We all learnt this lesson and that was the point of the game. In the evening we had an ‘Intercultural Evening’ where all the participants represented their countries with food and alcohol – and there was definitely A LOT of the latter. In fact, that’s all what the Macedonians brought ;) But you didn’t hear me complaining ;) We ate, drank, talked and danced the night away…

Day 3’s programme consisted of Public Relations and Marketing workshops. The first activity we had to do was to create a poster for our organizations. There were a few groups whose posters resembled….well something a 4 year old child could have done better ;) I think the feedback read: ‘Nice job…for a child’. These were obviously the people who had a little bit too much fun the night before ;)

Since energy was low Danijela improvised and gave us a role play activity where we became superheroes! The instructions included having to travel through time at least three times in order to prevent some ‘bad’ thing from happening. However, by traveling back in time and changing something each time, this had consequences for the future in a negative way, so then the superheroes would have to travel back in time again to……you still following me? Well, I don’t blame you – they lost me at ‘Instructions:’ ;) But credits to Danijela for the quick thinking and improvisation – cause we all needed it and it boosted the overall morale :)

Day 4 started serious (we had to do SWOT analysis’ of our organizations) and ended in a gigantic role playing game where we represented Media, Disadvantaged Youth, Elderly, EVS, Parents, Street Youth, Business, Municipality and NGO. The goal was to have a positive chain reaction. And I think we managed to do that – since this will probably be the one activity we all will remember :)

Day 5 gave us the chance to discover Osijek. Besides visiting CnC’s youth centre (as mentioned above), we visited a nature park and a vineyard, where we tasted a wine…or two ;)

The last few days were dedicated for project writing. My project is called ILE* *I Love Earth and it combines the themes of Media and Environment. The goal was to start writing the project at the training, but finish it when we returned home and submit it for the February 1st deadline…

And that brings me back to the here and now. Housemates: you probably won’t see much of me the coming week, since I will be pulling all-nighters trying to finish writing my first project ;) Just kidding, but I am taking this very seriously, since the training course – and Danijela in particular – really inspired me to write my own project. Without her encouragement I probably wouldn’t have started it – so thank you Danijela for a very rewarding week :)

Partnership Building Workshop

A few days after arriving in Belgrade we were invited to attend a workshop which was focused on building partnerships for future projects. There were participants from countries such as Georgia, Germany, Bosnia, Italy, Greece and Portugal. The group was about 15 people. They stayed at the lovely Arka Barka (floating) hostel. What a magical place it is: the staff is uber friendly, the views are to die for and so is the food :)

All in all the workshop took 5 days. There was an arrival cocktail party on Tuesday night. We only found out about this event at the very last minute, so we did not really know what to expect coming in to it.

The next morning we arrived early at the hostel to find ourselves playing 'getting to know eachother' games most of the day. It was fun. We made portraits of eachother among other things. Later on in the day we split up in three groups. We all had to make a short video which had to have a 'thriller' kind of feel to it. My group, which consisted of two Balkan boys, a Georgian girl and an Italian guy, decided to make a video about the prejudices tourists have against Balkan people. We did not really have a storyboard nor clear story line...so most of the taping was done on the go...a lot of improvising :)

Later in the evening we screened the short movies. Ours was definitely in the top 3 (there were only 3 movies made ;))

The next few days were spent presenting each organization, talking about possible future projects and collaborations. Then on Sunday there was a 'see you soon party' where we danced the night away...

It was definitely an interesting way to start my EVS project. Right away, I was getting into a daily routine. It was sad saying goodbyes, as I met some great people. But who knows we might work together again sometime in the near future.

As of now, I can't wait to start working at the Media Education Centre. Today we are meeting the boss once again for a talk.