Anna's dagboek
Bjina gedaan
Nu is het bijna gedaan. De tijd van mijn EVS loopt af. Tijd om terug te kijken…Ik zit hier, blader in mijn agenda en word bijna en beetje sentimenteel erbij.
Mijn tijd hier in woorden uit te drukken is bijna onmogelijk – en het Nederlands maakt het niet gemakkelijker...;) Het zijn er zo vele dingen gebeurt. Maar ik zal wel proberen om sommige dinge te noteeren die tijdens mijn EVS gebeurt zijn. Het is zeker niet volledig, maar misschien een indruck.
Bijna zes maanden geleden kwam ik helemaal bepakt in Gent aan. Van het station werd ik afgehaald door een man in een rode trui die ik toen nog niet kende. Alles was nieuw en onbekend maar de vriendelijke mensen en de goede atmosfeer in Circusplaneet maakten het begin makkelijk voor me. Ik heb mijn kamer betrokken en het eerste weekend gebruikt om Gent en beetje te verkennen. Direct daarna heb ik op een vakantiekamp ook kennis gemaakt met kinderen van Circusplaneet. Ik heb helemaal niet verstaan wat ze zeiden maar met handen en voeten konden we elkaar toch ergens begrijpen.
Minder gemakkelijker werd het dan bij de administratieve centra waar niemand echt wiste wat hij met me zal doen en ik vier uur moest wachten.
Een welkom afwisseling was daar dan de steviger werk in Circusplaneet – de voorbereidingen voor de Gentse Feesten. Ik voelde hoe het is samen met vele mensen aan een project te werken en ik kwam voor de eerste keer in contact met constructies die ik tot toen voor onmogelijk hield maar straks leerde te appreciëren.
De tijd van de Gentse Feesten was ongelofelijk voor me, toch merkte ik ook voor de eerste keer hoe ik mijn vrienden miste. Ik heb vooral genoten van de atmosfeer, de contact met de productie groep en andere kinderen en de vele shows die ik kun bekijken.
Op de Gentse Feesten kwam ik ook voor de eerste keer in contact met mijn mentoren Wibbe en Vicki, die dan altijd voor me da waren. Thanks a lot for that! ;)
Daarna ging het verder met de “ big cleaning up” in Circusplaneet en met de “redecoration of the office”.
Ondertussen leerde ik de stad wat beter kennen, ging dikwijls naar de bibliotheek waar ik altijd kinderboeken en luisterboeken leende, leerde fietsen in een stad en begon er van een stad-leven te genieten.
De tijd begon op eenmaal veel rapper te gaan als tijdens de schooltijd en straks was het september. De leerjaar in Circusplaneet begon opnieuw en ik begon de lessen voor de kinderen te volgen. Nu begon ook- na enig startproblemen- mijn taal-les.
De ontwikkelingen raakten in een stroomversnelling en het duurde niet lang toen mijn familie op bezoek kwam.
Naar deze bezoek ging het dan verder met een stap die was voorzien door de EVS-programma – de “on-arrival” in Nieuwpoort. Voor me was het bijna een beetje te laat voor een “on-arrival”, was ik toch allemaal al twee maanden in België. Zo dacht ik tenminste eervoor. Erna begreep ik dat het nooit te laat is voor en “on-arrival”. Ik verbracht dus een fantastisch week met vrijwilligers uit de hele wereld. Deze vrijwilligers zouden nog een grote rol spelen in de tijd van mijn EVS omdat we ook naar de “on-arrival” in contact bleven en vaak iets samen deden. De korte afstanden tussen de steden hielpen ons wel om ons vaak te bezoeken.
De tijd bleef vlug voorbij gaan en naast de lessen voor de kinderen volgde ik nu ook zelf lessen in Circusplaneet en deed me bij acrobatie en jongleren. Vooral van acrobatie was ik niet echt overtuigt maar heel snel werd ik wel ook van acrobatie overtuigt en had veel plezier ermee! Veel plezier had ik ook altijd tijdens de open ruimte.
Was ik nu bezig met werk in Circusplaneet do ik helemaal verschillende dingen.
Schilderen, fiches maken, meehelpen om een aanvraag voor subsidies voor een uitwisseling in te vullen (het herinnerde helemaal aan de sollicitatie voor de EVS - allen dat het nog moeilijker was…), knippen; plakken, knutselen…
Funky Friday een “Theater op de markt” in Neerpelt waren nog twee vooraanstaande gebeurtenissen. Beide waren fantastische tijden!
Maar het is wel niet alleen de tijd om de stomme dingen van en afscheid te bekijken en verdrietig te zijn. Het is ook tijd om blij te zijn zo een tijd beleefd te hebben, nieuwe ervaringen kunne maken, kennis te maken met interessante en lieve mensen en het is tijd om vooruit te kijken.
Ik zal wel nog en maand langer blijven om nog een beetje organisatorisch dingen te doen en de EVS af te sluiten. Eind januari ga ik dan terug naar Duitsland. En hoe weet… misschien zal ik op een dag terug komen…
In elk geval heb ik Circusplaneet, België en de mensen hier echt lief gekregen.
Dank u wel aan al die, die me tijdens de EVS begeleid hebben en altijd voor me waren.
Ik zal Circusplaneet en de tijd hier zeker nooit vergeten!
24 november 2009
Terug van een weekend in Duitsland.Terug in het land van lichte snelwegen, het land van een heel speciale taal, van regen en van lekker broodjes (deze zou ik zeker missen als ik terug naar Duitsland ga – niet het enige wat ik zou missen, maar wel eens van de dingen.)
Tijdens de weekend was ik in Duitsland op een juggling convention.
Het was een beetje vreemd weer iedere conversatie zonder concentratie en moeite te begrijpen. Een beetje vreemd zo vele mensen te ontmoeten die allemaal Duits spreken. Maar wel ook leuk.
Een beetje ongewoon was ook de dag als we terug naar België kwamen. Een jaar geleden kwam ik naar België op bezoek - als een toerist. Nu was het een andere gevoel. Ergens een gevoel van terugkomen thuiskomen - de tweede thuis.
Mijn werk in Circusplaneet bestaat op de moment uit naaien en knutselen van kostuums. Ik doe de werk heel graag en door de inspiratie en creativiteit van Julie is het altijd leuk ideeën te verwerkelijken.
16 oktober 2009
Half time…More than half of my EVS is already over- still almost half of it I have in front of me.
It´s becoming autumn and now with the cold weather I can feel it as well. For me it´s the first time when I don´t spend autumn in the countryside but in a city and it´s completely different. All the things which used to let me know that it´s going to be autumn aren´t there any longer now. No grape harvest, no harvest celebration, not that many leaves which change their colors - something different.
The cold weather made me feel both- a cozy atmosphere as long as I´m inside the house, but also those common mood for autumn where you calm down and think about some things. I have never thought to be influenced by the weather- change but now I recognized that obviously I am.
If you are away from home for a longer time you also get a feeling for what was important for you at home and which are the things you miss. That sometimes can turn out as a surprise, because you miss things you have never thought about missing them one day.
Doodskist, slachtoffer en blubber- wat een taal!
If you give the literal translation of those words into German or just hear the sound of the words it´s a really funny and strange feeling. Slachtoffer is even so brutal that I was really frightened when I heard it for the first time.
Although I get to know more and more about the language there are still moments when I´m quite surprised about the spelling of some words. Some words look like an incorrect German spelling, just like a little child who is just learning how to write wrote them.
On the other hand I get used to some words and they are just normal now. Sometimes that can lead to very funny situations when I´m in a group of German volunteers and we mix the languages and make some strange translations from words we use in Dutch but which in fact don´t exist in German. We just take a Dutch word then and make it sounds German.
The circusyear has started again and for me it was a nice experience to see the difference between what I understood of the things the children said when I just arrived and what I can understand now. Nevertheless I still have problems to speak on my own and it´s always a stupid feeling and each moment I have to force myself not to be lazy and just go back to English all the time.
When I´m not with the children in the lesson I´m in the office of Circusplaneet.
I´m happy to be involved in the preparations for the Youth Circus exchange 2010. It´s very interesting for me to see how such an event is organized from its beginning and how much work there is behind it.
As I experienced it´s also a real challenge to fill in all the papers which are necessary.
I hope that everything is going on well and that the time of the next “Gentse Feesten” is going to be a time of international meetings.
9 september 2009
Just arrived from 5 days of seminar.The last few days I spend in Nieuwpoort for a seminar on the EVS-programme.
It was a time to think about things that can happen during the EVS-seminar, about ensurance and formal things, about hopes, fears and expectations. For me it was a possibility to reflect a bit about the past 2 month and to think about the future.
But above all it also was a time of meeting other volunteers - time to spend some fantastic days with marvellous people from all over the world.
Within those days I also had the possibility to visit Belgians capital which is more beautiful then I always thought. I don’t really know why, but somehow the idea that Brussel is ugly was fixed in my mind. I really was surprised when I got out the train and found a city with quite a lot of nice buildings and parks.
I hope that it’s possible to stay in touch with the people from the seminar. But with internet and not least with Belgian train connections it should be possible I hope.
I really appriciate the short distances between the citys in Belgium. It’s so nice that you can reach a lot only within two hours or something like that.
What I don’t really like is the Belgian bureaucracy.Meanwhile I got to know a part of it.
It’s possible and supposable that it’s very similar in Germany but there I didn’t have to go through some processes I have to go through here so I don’t know it.
I had to spend some time with waiting at the administrative centre or with biking from one place to another to fix an appointment or get something else arranged. That often causes some frustration but finally I’ve learned always to carry a book with me. That makes the waiting time much more agreeable an nicer.
Seen as a whole I think this procedure gives you a small idea of what’s coming in the process of applying for a job, organize your studying and it gives you an idea what immigrants have to stand when they want to be integrated in a foreign country.
Furthermore the weather is driving me crazy ;) until up to now I had almost no day that I was dressed right. I’ll see if I can learn that during the time I spend here. Kind of rule seems to me that if the weather is fine in the morning it’s the other way round in the afternoon and backwards.
But in the end the last days were quite nice and with a lot of sun and for the upcoming autumn it’s only a question of the right clothes ;)
21 augustus 2009
Almost a month passes since my last entry in the dagboek and sorry to those who wait all this time for a new entry! You are right- I have to write something again! ;)It was a month of work at Circusplaneet, meeting new people, making new experiences, a month of very warm weather and cold showers – a very nice one which I really enjoyed a lot.
But there haven´t only been new and unknown things this time. Meanwhile I really feel like living here. I got used to some daily things like living on my own, buying food only for one person or using the cutting machine for bread in the supermarket without some minutes of observing natives before (so if you ever see a young person observing you while you cut your bread, don´t care and just continue. It´s maybe an European volunteer who sees that kind of cutting machine for the first time and wants to find out how it works. I´m glad that I finally got it! ;))
Other things haven´t change and “fietsen” is still a challenge. But fortunately all the people I bike with care for me and bike slowly ;)
Meanwhile I´m not longer only amongst people when I´m at Circusplaneet. The place at my kot is getting filled and I really meet nice and interesting people there. Unfortunately all of them move this month but then in September with all the new students it will be a quite sociable and filled place again. I´m curious how living together with so many people feels like. But I´m looking forward to it.
I also met some other German volunteers I know since a seminar in Germany. They also do an EVS in Belgium. We had a very lovely time together and had the possibility to exchange all our experiences and impressions and had a nice discussion about the things we saw in Belgium for the first time ever.
One example of those things is the cutting machine I already mentioned. Another thing is for sure the public toilettes for men. A friend of mine answered to the picture I send her: “they remind me of a telephone box”…
Unfortunately we also don´t have such nice street lamps in Germany. They remind me of the “Tigerente” of a famous German children book which on the other hand seems to be unknown in Belgium. Matthias told me now what´s the story behind the colors and that it doesn´t have to do anything with the “Tigerente”. What a pity…
This weekend my parents and my sister visited me and we used the chance to get to know Gent as typical tourists. So we made a trip by boat for example and enjoyed the really delicious Belgian pastrie.
In this month I also get to know Wibbe and Vicki. They are my tutors in the EVS-program. Thanks to you and Michiel for an “echt heel mooie tijd” together!
Work at Circusplaneet went on quite well (at least according to my feeling).
The work on the tribune which has to be restored and painted gives me not only the chance to learn patience but also gives me the time to do some meditation ;)
Before starting on the tribune we redecorated the office and I once more learned about the style how Matthias build something. In the end I guess I have acclimatized to a new way of working and learned that not everything has to be perfect but just have to fit in the end anyhow…
Maybe ergonomische (the shape we want to create) is just another word for not straight and exact and regarding to this aim we really did well, he?
But to become more serious again: I think the results as a whole can be seen and it was quite a lot of fun during the work - that´s for sure!
Other work has to be done and I hope that we can continue on it with the same creativity and the same fun like in the past month.
Time still passes very fast and new impressions, new tasks and the people around me make it a time of valuable experiences and nice meetings.
I´m looking forward especially to September when there are some more children at Circusplaneet.
22 juli 2009
- “Yesterday today was still tomorrow“ - Time goes on so fast and I can hardly believe that I´m here for already two weeks now and amid the half year I once expected so much.
Each day brings new experiences, new situations and often also a lot of joy.
I have to get used to life in a city which sometimes can be really funny but sometimes also quite hard and exhausting. In some situations I really just feel like a country bumpkin. Almost my whole life I´ve lived in a very small village with only about 1200 inhabitants and Gent is quite huge for me. Biking in the city for example costs me always some nerves and also the opening hours of the stores (which differ from them in Germany) led to some confusion in the beginning.
To some of the things I think I can acclimatize quite fast. Others will maybe take the half year experience if I will ever get used to them…
Meanwhile everybody at Circusplaneet is very busy and there is a lot to do because of the Gentse Feesten. But- and that is one of the things I really appreciate- although there is a lot of stuff that has to be done nobody really produces any stress. At least this is what I feel and experienced.
The preparation for the opening-parade of Gentse Feesten was another very nice experience. The building of the car gave me an insight in crazy Belgian constructions (maybe not real Belgian constructions but the constructions of Matthias) and taught me to trust in Gaffa-tape ;)
It was very lovely to be part of one big group in which everybody is working for the same aim and helping together to make a concept become reality.
Of course I was happy when I heard that the efforts were recognized by the jury and the public in the end.
I´ve never seen something comparable to the openingsstoet of the Gentse Feesten and I really enjoyed the red, white, copper and golden sight of Circusplaneet and to see how all the costumes, decors… you only have seen laying around look like when they are worn and used.
It was really crazy to be part of all this, to see the crowd in the streets watching you and to experience how fast everything finally comes to an end.
The atmosphere in the city at the moment is awesome and I really like it. But to be honest seeing so many people just hanging around with their friends can make me a bit sentimental for some minutes and then I miss some of my friends quite a lot and wish they could be here.
Nevertheless there is Skype and mailing and all the friendly people and new impressions at Circusplaneet help me to get over it.
I´m still optimistic and looking forward to the future.
9 juli 2009
Hallo everybodyIf you walk around the place of Circusplaneet these days you will maybe see a new face among all the known faces; it’s possible that this is me.
I’m Anna, 19 and from Germany. This Tuesday I have just started my EVS at Circusplaneet.
EVS means European voluntary service and is a program of the EU. Young people have the possibility to go abroad for six month or longer to work in a non-profit organisation there.
The aims of an EVS are many-sided. It should advance the development of solidarity and tolerance by abolishing common prejudices for example. This should strengthen the social coherence in Europe. The EVS should also lead to the understanding among people from different countries. Another important task is to advance European collaboration in youth work.
But these are just a few tasks of an EVS. To write down all of them will be too long and maybe to theoretical for that “News”
For me everything started with the idea not to study right after finishing school (I finished school in June this year) but to collect some practical experiences, get to know another country, lifestyle and culture and in general to develop personality in connection with working for an organisation. To realize my idea I had to spend a lot of time at the computer or at the telephone. At the end of this process- it was two or three days before the application has to be sended to the EU and I almost wanted to give up my search – I found a new project in the database for the EVS. It was Circusplaneet.
I called Matthias and then everything went on very quickly. Paperwork, mailing, phoning. Another thing which went on quite fast was my school. Suddenly the end of school had come and faster than expected the date of the 7th of June came; in the morning of this day I left home and with three heavy bags I entered the train. Seven and a half hours later I arrived in Gent and here I am ;)
At the station I was heartily welcomed by Matthias. Heartily welcomed I also was on Wednesday when I came to Circusplaneet.
At the moment communication in Dutch is very difficult for me, almost impossible (some of the children already experienced that, but accept patiently talking with hands, feet and other possibilities). I´ll work on the language and I hope that I can write a report for the diary in Dutch one day!
Another thing I haven´t mentioned yet are my tasks at Circusplaneet and the reason why I chose Circusplaneet as the organisation I´ll work in during my EVS.
Some of the tasks I have will be assisting the teachers during the lessons, preparing things for an international Youth-circus-meeting in 2010 and working on costumes and decors, just to give some examples.
One of the reasons why I chose Circusplaneet is that I want to find out more about using circus as a pedagogical tool in the work with children and youngsters. I myself fall in love with the circus as I participated in a camp at a children- and youthcircus near my home. Especially the aspect of juggling hasn´t left me for about five years now.
I´m really looking forward to the upcoming time, the upcoming tasks and the upcoming collaboration.
If you want to see how my EVS develops and follow me during my time at Circusplaneet you can have a look at Anna´s dagboek were I will post News from time to time.