Today I came back from an on arrival training for the European Volunteer Service which was held in Stockholm. There were 20 participants taking part from the whole Europe starting with Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Russia, Lutviane,Paraguay, Serbia, France and of course only me from Kyrgyzstan.
We had 4 days of nice teambuilding games and valuable practical information about Sweden, and EVS program overall.
Day First
On the first day we had to do mostly introduction part, getting to know each other, presenting ourselves. Moreover we had several games on teambuilding, that seemed to be very simple but good for communication and understanding of team members with each other. The day was full of joy and everyone had a nice fika and delicious food at the hotels restaurant.
Day second
The second day was held by a nice woman, whose name is Lotta. We had sessions related to Sweden, Swedes and our expectations of our Volunteer year. There we could talk about how we were prepared to come to Sweden. Later on we went to the National Board for Youth Affairs. Anna, a coordinator of EVS made a presentation on our program, and reminded of important practical information.
Day Third or To BE ABLE To Fly
That was the most exciting day of the training for me. All 20 participants went outside the hotel reluctantly partly because it was cold in the morning, partly because everyone was full after the breakfast. The Instructor told that this exercise was for everyone who wants to challenge oneself and get out of the comfort zone, and try to overcome the fears. We splitted into pairs and started coaching each other while the partner had to climb up to the tree on the 8 meter height. There were 4 different stages and each was more difficult from the previous. Well, I want to admit, I turned out to be a pretty coward!
YEs I did it. But I can't forget my legs shaking and hands uncontrolable at first. I was really scared. All my life seemed to recollect in my head, and thanks to professional instructors and my coachs, Eliina and Marlen, I safely landed on the ground.
The second part of the day we had session devoted to the Swedes. This work was done in groups, where we had to discuss about different peculiarities of Swedish people.
Here are few of them which I found true to life and helpful:
1) Swedes drink a lot of strong coffee
2) Fika is one of the useful inventions of Swedish people (Fika is a swedish coffee break)
3) No shops and stores work on sundays.
4) Swedes have parties on Wednesday and Friday nights and there is always a long quee to the alcohol shop
Day Four
The last day we spoke about how is it to be a Volunteer. We set our goals for the year, chose the strategies to reach them and defined indicators. Most important that everyone could think and write more precise steps for taking during the whole year!
All in all , we had great time spent in Lidingo hotel. What I liked most, that I met 19 other people who were in the same situation as me, and we became good friends during this 4 exciting days!
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