Our experience in a small paradise

It feels like holidays here in Portugal, but the weather is too strange for us: +19! Normally we are used to have a temperature below zero, but it’s easier to like this weather for sure! It will be the first time for the both of us not to wear gloves during the Christmas period J.

The children are having their holidays now, so MOJU is full of people this week. They’re enjoying their holidays and we try to help them to occupy their free timeJ. After 3 months we can say that they are used to have us around and we feel like we are part of the MOJU family. All of the people in this organization try to make us feel comfortable and we really feel appreciated.

Be you, be happy, be free!!

Thursday morning, 7 o’clock: alarm clock goes off. Lisbon is waiting for us! We leave the flat and go to the train station. 3 Hours of travelling and there you are Lisbon. Now let’s find the hostel – Pousada de Juventude de Almada. 15 Minutes of walking and we are in the right place. It’s the first time that we didn’t lose the way during our trips – youhu J.

When we entered the hostel, the view from the terrace overwhelmed us:  we could see all Lisbon! 

After a nice lunch we had the opportunity to meet with everybody who came to this on arrival training. People came from Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Turkey. During their projects they stay in different parts of Portugal, but we are the only ones who stay in ALGARVE! (yeyeye) J

After a meeting in the training room everybody went for a nap after this traveling day.

Friday all of us had to present our project and we had the opportunity to get to know each other. Everybody had to talk about their projects and the emotional side of it. Some felt happy, others had some difficulties… It was very useful because everybody could learn from each other.

Saturday we were very lucky, because we had the chance to visit Lisbon. During the day time we did a walking tour with the whole group and we were very lucky to have a few people who already have been in Lisbon and who could guide us. After a long day of visiting Lisbon we went to a traditional restaurant, where we had a dinner. After this almost all the people stayed to check the night life in Lisbon. J

Sunday – What is the time??? JJ oops, we have to wake up. J Traditional Portuguese dances were waiting for us. After that we went to Lisbon again.

Monday was the most interesting day! We left the hostel at 10 in the morning. We started the day with making our own azulejos. After that we went to a farm, there we made Azeitao’s cheese - Queijo de Azeitão. The Azeitao’s Cheese is produced from the raw sheep’s milk. After making this cheese we had a lunch in the farm. What can we say: mmmmm, it was the best meal in those two months!!!! J Then we took a short nap outside on the grass, because we had to go to a place where we could taste wine (Moscatel de Setúbal). After that we thought that the day was finished, buuuut the trainers had a little surprise for us: Portinho da Arrábida! What a beautiful place!

Tuesday we had to say goodbye in the morning, because we needed to catch the train. What a nice train trip, but what an angry conductor! „Learn Portuguese“ he said to us. We know, but he has to learn to be as friendly as the other Portuguese people J  

We can say that we met wonderful people and we really learnt from them. All those days we had really good emotions and now we realised how much we love our project and our hosting organization – MOJU! J

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

 

When we compare the life rhythm between Lithuania and Belgium, it seems that it’s quite similar: We live fast, we work hard, people are more strict and they’re not so open minded as people from the south.

There are some funny differences, which makes us to laugh all the time. We’re still trying to decide what we like more: the things in our countries or in Portugal?J

1.    Feel like an alienJ.

When you cross the streets in our countries, nobody cares about you, but here in Portugal, sometimes we feel that we’re from a different planet. Some of the people are whistling, some are staring like we painted our face with a green color, some of them are shouting or they act like people would act to cats (kks,kkkss). But it’s funny! The main rules – don’t make any eye contact, don’t look back, just go straightJ

 

2.    Rain.

We never thought that we would hate rain that much. In Belgium and Lithuania it’s raining a lot. So you would think that you don’t need an umbrella in south. But unfortunately we were wrong. The last few weeks we had a lot of rain. And actually it’s funny to see how the mood of Portuguese people changes beacause of that. In Lithuania and Belgium we’re also sad when it’s raining, but still we keep on doing what we planned. What about people from Portugal? They cancel a lot of things because of the rain. Apart from that, the Algarve truly has a lot of sunshine. It gives us very good emotions when we see the sun shining through the windows while waking up. And we can easily say that the weather makes people be and look happy. And that’s how people act most of the time. We are so jealous about that!

3.    Lunch time.

Oooh, this is the thing we really love. In our countries the lunch time is normally from 12h till13h in the afternoon, but here people have their lunch from 13h till 15h. Can you believe this?J Because of that, we can do so many things during the lunch time (making a good lunch, washing the rooms and still we have time left for a short siesta!) 

4.    Throw your watch away.

When we plan to meet with someone, we always have funny situations. They say: “ Let’s meet around 9p.m., please” Don’t forget that around 9 means that it’s more or less at 9:45. When you meet at 9 in our countries, it means that you come 10-15 minutes before, but here if you see that you’re going to be late to a meeting, you don’t need to feel stressy, because if it’s only 10minutes, you will be the first one who is coming! J

 

5.    Good afternoon or good evening?

In Lithuania and Belgium we say good evening when it’s 17.00h. In Portugal they say good afternoon till 20.00h or even later.

 

CONCLUSION: These are a few of the main cultural differences between us and them seen from our point of view. But however, we love them;)

 

Smell the coffee

Here we’re again with a new story for you! 8 weeks have already past and it’s unbelievable how time goes by so fast. Time flies!

The first weeks were the hardest ones for sure: new places, new people, a new place to work... Our first week of working in MOJU was hard. Although the people were (are ) very friendly and they wanted to communicate, to know who we are. We couldn’t communicate with all of them,  just with those who can speak English. But little by little we can easily say that we’re improving. More and more we’re learning the skills how to communicate non verbal. We’re learning portuguese words and now we can construct short sentences. For sure, this makes us feel more comfortable.

A short overview of a normal week day:

At 8.45 our alarm clock goes off. Most of the time Ginvile wakes up first and then I followJ. After this hard part of the day, we take breakfast together, we clean, we prepare and around 9.50 we go to MOJU. Sometimes we’re to early, so than we go to a place, next to MOJU, where we can drink a coffee (‘café com leite’). After that we start with preparing English lessons for the children or we have Portuguese lessons ourselves. After, we go around 13.00 to the apartment to prepare our lunch. We have a break till 15.00, so there’s also time left for a little nap sometimesJ. At 15.00 we go back to MOJU and we work till 19.00 or 20.00 with the children. When we finish our work, we hurry to the gym for Body Combat, Zumba, GAP… and after an intensive hour of sporting we make dinner together. Some evenings we have to go shopping and others we go for a drink, we go out or we just chill in our apartment in front of the TV. So you can easily say that we’re living a peaceful life, but we don’t complainJ

 

Let's start :)

Olá a todos,

A couple of months ago, we started to search for an EVS-project.  After checking many different projects, we applied for one project in Portugal (Olhão). The organization received many applications from volunteers who wanted to work in this project, but we were the lucky ones.

Many people will ask: Why do you want to become a volunteer? The answer to this question will vary from person to person. We wanted to become volunteers because we want to gain satisfaction by helping others.  We also want to make a difference so the locals will remember us. Going abroad will also give us the opportunity to know a different way of life and to meet new people. And we think it can change our lives. So while we help others, we also help ourselves. And of course we can build up our CV with it.

In our society, many people only putting their effort into something when they can gain money, but we think that a smile of appreciation can have more meaning and impact on us.

The organization calls MOJU (Associação Movimento Juvenil em Olhão). Their vision is ‘me and you’. It means that everybody has an equal voice. MOJU is a youth association that works at local level, is non-profit making, and independent of all political, syndicalism or religious affiliation. The aims of the Association are: encourage active youth participation in society; develop activities (inter) cultural, educational, social, sportive, recreational and environmental aimed at overall development of young people in Olhão’s municipality; promote discussion and dissemination of information about the needs and aspirations of Olhão’s municipality youth.

The project started on the first of October. During our first week we went to Alcoutim (Portugal), because MOJU had organized a youth exchange over there that called ‘Shake your body’. For us it was a great opportunity to meet new people from different countries and to get some experience.

On the 7^th of October, we went back to Olhão to start our volunteer project. During this week MOJU had their 5^th year anniversary, and because of that they organized activities for 5 days. On the first day there was an exposition of photos, called “Exemplos”. The exposition took place in a nice bar called Catita & Companhia. There was a nice atmosphere with nice Brazilian music. We felt comfortable, cozy and we enjoyed. On the second day there was a performance of M90 Rock band and DJ Mike Moon. The singer of the band is a member of MOJU. The music was nice to listen and to dance, although there weren’t many people. On day 3 we went to a hip hop performance. The place was full of people, who were interested to see a show of young people. There were many groups of youngsters who showed their talents and the audience was very noisy and energetic! On the 4^th day, we had the opportunity to go to the theatre. It was a little bit funny for us, because we don’t understand the Portuguese language yet. But however, we liked the fact that they involved the audience. On the last day of the anniversary, the members of MOJU had a nice dinner at a traditional place in Olhão. We had a lovely dinner and we’ve celebrate like we never did before ;)