Volunteering in Agras – Vritta – Nisi Wetland

One summer in Greece !

My last blog was about the departure of the boys. Since then, a lot of things have happened. It was a sunny, hot summer, full of new acquaintances and travels ! “Pame kalokairi”
First we had our second seminar, at the end of July. It was still in Athens in beautiful hotel (but so cold, po po po… the power of the air conditioner!). It was a pleasure to see the people we met during our first seminary (trainers and volunteers) and meet others. This time, there were less people and it was better to really knew each other. Together we talked about our experiences and future.
After seminar I and Lucile started our travels around the Greece. First we joined the second project of HOS in Gialova, a beautiful place near to the sea: new people, new activities and new birds!
Secondly we visited some friends in the wonderful island of Lefkada in the Ionian sea. Lefkada is an amazing island with good atmosphere and wonderful landscape! I went back with my parents in few weeks!!
After we went to Thassos, another beautiful island in the north east of Greece. There, we climbed the Ypsario mountain. It’s not the Olympus mountain but it was quite impressive anyway!
After that I returned to Gialova for working two weeks.
During this time Lucile stayed at home and she started to plan her departure. For me it will be later…
In September I went back for few days in Vryta, just to say correctly goodbye to my lovely incredible funny Lulu =). We had too many good moments together. Thank you very much and best wishes for what is coming next.
Then I travelled in Greece with my parents, they enjoyed to visit me in Greece and made a incredible big road trip!!
I was back again in Vryta for few weeks in September and October.
In the middle of October I joined Mari-Liis in Athens and we had a great vacation together!!!
I realize when I’m writing this blog how lucky I am. I have visited many wonderful places, I met amazing people and I learned a lot. I have enjoyed my EVS months in Greece.
Now siga siga I have to think about my return to France and I know it will be difficult to leave Vryta, but it’s not for now…

Caroline

Un été en Grèce!

Mon dernier blog parlait du départ des garçons. C’était au début de l’été… Depuis beaucoup de choses se sont passés. Ce fut un été chaud et ensoleillé, riche en nouvelles rencontres et en voyages ! “Pame kalokairi”
Nous avons tout d’abord eu notre deuxième séminaire avec Lucile, fin juillet. Toujours à Athènes et dans un très bel hôtel (mais tellement froid : le pouvoir de l’air conditionné !!). Ce fut un plaisir de revoir les personnes que l’on avait rencontrées lors de notre premier séminaire et d’en découvrir d’autres. Cette fois le groupe était plus réduit, ce qui a permis de mieux se connaitre. Nous avons parlés de nos expériences et de notre futur…
Après cela, commençèrent pour Lucile et moi nos périples à travers la Grèce ! Premièrement nous avons rejoins Gialova, où se trouve le deuxième lieu d’HOS qui accueille des volontaires. Gialova est un très bel endroit, tout près de la mer. Là, nous attendaient de nouvelles rencontres, de nouvelles activités et de nouveaux oiseaux =)
Après nous avons rendus visite à des amis volontaires sur l’une des plus belles île de Grèce, Lefkada, dans la mer ionnienne. J’ai beaucoup aimé l’atmosphère de cette île et ces paysages spectaculairement beaux !
Ensuite, nous avons fait un petit séjour sur l’île de Thassos, dans le Nord de la Grèce. Une autre très belle île grecque… Là-bas, nous avons effectué l’ascension du point culminant, l’Ypsario ! Ok.. ce n’est pas le mont Olympus mais cela reste impressionnant tout de même !!
Après un retour rapide à Vryta, je retournais à Gialova pour y travailler pendant 2 semaines.
Pendant ce temps Lucile resta à Vryta et prépara tranquillement son retour en France. Le mien serait pour plus tard…
En Septembre, je suis revenue à Vryta juste assez de temps pour dire au revoir à ma Lulu !!! Mon incroyable partenaire, colocataire et amie qui m’a accompagnée depuis Avril! J’ai passé beaucoup de très bons moments avec toi Lucile !!!! J’ai était « very lucky » de te rencontrer ! Merci et plein de bonnes choses pour la suite =)
Ensuite, je rejoignis à Igoumenista mes parents, qui ont profités de mon séjour en Grèce pour faire un incroyable périple de plusieurs milliers de km à travers l’Europe ! Félicitations les parents, vous êtes dorénavant de vrais routards ! hehe !!
J’ai retrouvé finalement Vryta à la mi-septembre.
Un mois plus tard je rejoignais Mari-Liis à Athènes et partais pour de nouvelles aventures!!
En écrivant ce blog, je me rends compte de ma chance. Je suis allée dans des endroits magnifiques, j’ai rencontré des personnes extraordinaires et j’ai beaucoup appris … J’ai essayé de profiter au maximum de ces mois en Grèce et je crois bien que j’ai réussi =)
Maintenant je dois siga siga penser à mon retour en France et je sais qu’il ne sera pas évident pour moi de quitter Vryta et tout ce que cela représente… mais cela n’est pas encore pour tout de suite…
Caroline

Welcome to Vryta! I’m Mari-Liis and I am from Estonia. I am new EVS volunteer in Agra-Vryta wetland project. I started my EVS already in June in Gialova lagoon project. This is also HOS project. And there we had work with bird monitoring, public awareness and Chameleon protection. Gialova is in South-Greece.

In Gialova I was busy all summer with public awareness in information center. Gialova was very touristic place. And because of that we had many tourists. We were three volunteers, me and two French girls – Lucie and Vanessa. They are very nice girls.

Work with birds and Chameleon was very interesting. I had very little experience in this field. Now I can say that my new hobby is bird watching. And I hope that I have possibility to continue work with birds back in Estonia.

I finished my Gialova project in October. And after that I had very extraordinary holiday with Caroline and her friend. We started with visiting Acropolis in Athens. Next we went to Crete, to city called Chania. It is very beautiful but quite touristic place. In Crete we hiked in Samaria national park and Balos mountains. The last hike was extreme and dangerous, totally different what we expected. But OK, it was very beautiful. And now we have stories to tell everybody.

November, our last month in Greece! We finish Agra-Vryta project beginning of December. Vryta life is quiet and good opportunity to think about future. If we continue with different projects, voluntary or work with birds. But anyway we are still enjoying our few week here in Vryta North-Greece.

Mari-Liis

Tere tulemast Vrytasse! Ma olen Mari-Liis, uus EVS vabatahtlik Agra-Vryta märgala projektis. Ma alustasin vabatahtliku tööga juuni kuus Gialova laguuni projektis. See projekt kuulub ka HOS organisatsiooni, mis tegeleb lindude loendamise, info jagamise ja Chameleonide kaitsmisega. Gialova asub Lõuna-Kreekas, mis on väga ilus koht. Nüüd on mul võimalus näha Põhja-Kreekat.

Minu EVS Kreekas on läinud üle kivide ja kändude. On olnud nii häid kui ka halbu hetki. Kuid ma olen õnnelik, et mul on olemas EVS kogemus. Ma alustasin siis oma projektiga juuni kuus Gialovas. Ma olin koos kahe prantslannaga, Lucie ja Vanessa. Nad olid juba veebruari kuust seal. Väga toredad tüdrukud.

Kolm kuud oli meil palju tööd, eriti informatsiooni keskuses. Kuna Gialova ja Pylos (naaberlinn) on mõlemad kuurort linnad. Seega turiste oli palju. Töö lindude ja Chamelonidega oli väga huvitav. Eelnevalt oli mul väga väike kogmus lindudega. Aga nüüd on minu uueks hobiks linnuvaatlus.

OH ja Kreeka temperatuur suvel on ikka väga kuum. Liiga kuum eestlase jaoks. Saan nüüd aru siesta vajadusest. Ja meri oli vapustavalt mõnus ja väga soolane.

Oktoobri kuus oli mul puhkus nädal aega. Mis oli väga seikluste rohke. Olin koos Caroline’ga, kes on Vryta projektist ja tema sõbraga. Alustasin oma puhkusega Ateenas Acropoli külastamisega. Pärast seda sõitsime laevaga Kreeta saarele Chania linna. Väga ilus linn kuid väga turistide rohke koht. Kreetal me käisime Samaria rahvuspargis ja Balose mägedes matkamas. Viimane matk oli väga ekstreemne ja ohtlik. Pärast seda oli selline tunne, et tulevikus ma enam ei matka kuhugile. Aga nüüd on hea rääkida ja meelde tuletada mida me kõik tegime.

Meie viimane kuu Kreekas! Koos Caroline’ga lõpetame projekti detsembri kuu alguses. Siine elu on vaikne. Meie üheks hobiks on kokkamine. Küpsetame kooke, keedame marmelaadi ja palju muud. Oleme hakanud ka tuleviku peale mõtlema, et mis pärast meie EVSi saab. Vabatahtliktöö kodumaal või välismaal? Grundvig või Leonardo Da Vinci programmist osavõtmine? Töö seotud linduega looduskaitsealal või midagi muud? Palju küsimusi on tekkinud. Kuid hetkel jääme nautima meie viimast kuud Kreekas.

Mari-Liis

Departure Lucile

Hi everybody! Today I’m doing my last day in Vrita, Edessa and… Greece. Tomorrow I come back to France, and I feel very good because I had passed a very good time in Greece and I have lot of project in France! So lot of good energy.

I would like to say thank you for every people I met in Greece… And the list is long and I said lot of time thanksssss. But I want to say hello and efrahisto PARA POLI to MY (mine mine) Roomate; Carolina ! She knows what I thinks off her but I’m sure, without her, this project wouldn’t be the same ….and so good! And Eirini because she was present every time with discretion ! That is important too! After I want to come back to come for the wedding of Vaggelis and Chrisenthème (write in French because I can’t pronounce her name… sorry Chris!) So Thank you Vaggelis for your kindness! I would like to see one time again christos and Christos (who is who??? J ) mr Dimitri, and the Macedonian family, Chostas, Maria and Petros. Thanks to miss Katerina for each days and moments I pass with her, Like my second god mother (And You look like my real, amazing)! I would like to see again the team of Kerkini lake !

I have a special thing for Aldi, because is a good guy and I hope, I could make good things to change and evolve his life like he want !

I have clean every thing in the house… I’m little sad because this house was really good! Space, good rooms… But I say good luck to Caroline, Vanessa and Maryliss for the beginning of winter ! HAHAHAHA 😉

I have learn lot of thing of bird’s life and this is really important for me, because it’s one things I would like to do! I will continue in France! Sure! Thank you Eirini!

During this EVS I met very good people but, we can’t hide that, greek people are not happy and they begin to be more close… Please trust in yourself and keep hope! You have a beautiful country and you are good people! Thank you for everything!

Globally really good so! Just I missed the sea! 😉 But the mountains are so beautiful! Huhu 

Bye every body and if you can come in north of Greece come to Edessa … and Vrita!

Lucile, one of the frencheees volunteer

Last days in Vritta and going back to Turkey

When days was going I started to fell sad. Because leaving time was coming. Firstly On 7 june Eno, Pierre and eren left. Before We made farewell party for them. Their leaving was sad.  After them I Stayed Lucille and Caroline. We live one month. Together We went to bird monitoring, we made cook, we travelled. Live with them sometimes was difficult, but usually it was fine. 🙂 And When july came, I started to my leaving preparations.

I buyied my ticket for 9 july. Before leaving greece I wanted go athens last time. On july I started to say good bye to my friends. Firstly I met with my Greek teacher Ms. Katerina with Lucille and Caroline. İt was soo good. We talked about a lot of things. She gave me one gift.

After Lucille and Caroline made farewell party for me on 3 july. They started to cooking on morning. And They made very very good cooks. (Actually They are very good coooker) At night everybdoy start to come. We were 12 people. We talked, played games and drank. İt was perfect party. I have seen all of my Edessa friends.

On 5 july I wanted to leave. But Eirini said Edessa have one concert. So this I didnt leave. I went to concert with Caroline. We meet with Eirini and her friend. We listened Greek songs. After concert we went to one cafe and we drank something.

on 6 july I left from edessa. Firstly I went to tehssaloniki, I met my friends. We travelled in Thessaloniki. After I went to athens. I live in athens 2 days. I travelled in athens. I joined last party in athens. On 9 july I left from Greece by plane.

Ali

Vritta da Son günler ve Türkiye’ye geri dönüş

Günler geçtikçe üzgün hissetmeye başladım. Çünkü ayrılış tarihi geliyordu. Öncelikle 7 haziranda eno, pierre ve eren ayrıldı. Biz onlar için ayrılış partisi yaptık. Ayrılışları üzücüydü. Onlardan sonra lucille ve caroline ile kaldım. Biz bir ay birlikte yaşadık. Birlikte kuş gözetlemeye gittik, yemek yaptık, gezdik. Onlarla birlikte yaşamak bazen zordu, ama genelde eğlenceliydi. Temmuz ayı gelince ben geri dönüş hazırlıklarına başladım.

Biletimi 9 temmuz tarihine aldım. Yunanstan’dan ayrılmadan önce Atina’yı son kez görmek istiyordum. Temmuzda arkadaşlarına güle güle demeye başladım. Öncelikle Lucille ve caroline ile birlikte yunanca hocamız ms. Katerina ile buluştuk. Buluşma çok güzeldi. Çok şey hakkında konuştuk. Bana güzel bir hediye verdi.

Sonra 3 temmuzda Lucille ve Caroline benim için ayrılış partisi yaptı. Yemek hazırlamaya sabahtan başladılar. Ve çok güzel şeyler hazırladılar. (aslında çok başarılı aşçılar) Akşam vakti herkes gelmeye başladı. Toplamda 12 kişi olduk. Oyun oynadık, konuştuk, içtik. Parti mükemmeldi. Edessa’daki bğtğn arkadaşlarımı gördüm.

5 temmuzda Edessa’dan ayrılmak istedim. Ama Eirini bana Edessa’da bir konser olduğunu söyledi. Bu yüzden ayrılmadım. Caroline ile birlikte konsere gittim. Eirini ve arkadaşı ile buluştuk. Yunan müzikleri dinledik. Konserden sonra edessa’ya gidip bir şeyler içtik.

6 temmuzda Edessa’dan ayrıldım. Öncelikle selanik’e gittim. Oradaki arkadaşlarımla buluştum. Onlarla selanik’de gezdik. Ardından atina’ya geçtim. Orada 2 gün kaldım. Atina’da gezdim, son defa partiye katıldım. Ve 9 temmuzda uçakla Yunanistan’dan ayrıldım.

Ali

By-Bye Vryta!

After 6 months in the small village of Vryta (and in all around the Greece and more in fact), it’s the time to leave!
This EVS was a great experience I never forgot. Now I am in France and I really understand that.
I have too lot of good memories from there! It’s strange because I miss also the things I didn’t really like during my evs. Sincerely I would like sometimes to come back and work in infocenter for one day! Ok.. one half of day it’s enough 😉 I miss the hundreds of Fulica atra, enter to a bar and just said : “ena nes metrio me gala parakalo”, and a lot of others things…
And what can I say about the persons I met! ?
Too much of good experiences and meeting ! Eno of course! My Evs would have been not the same without this estonian guy. My others roommates Eren, Ali, Lucile and Caroline : you are the best !!!. I though also about my coordinator Eirini ! Vaggelis, miss Katerini. I cannot quote all the persons right here, it would be too long!
It’s truth! I can totally approve now : an EVS is a real great opportunity for each young to meet others people, open his mind to others cultures and share experiences. So, I encourage all of my friends to do that also !

Thank you Vryta for all of that!! and see you soon maybe more sooner that you think =)

Pierre

 By-bye  Vryta!
Après  6 mois passés dans le petit village de Vryta (et dans toute la Grèce et même plus en fait), c’est l’heure du départ !
Ce SVE fut une expérience très enrichissante pour moi que je ne l’oublierai pas ! Je m’en rends d’autant plus compte depuis mon retour en France.
J’ai tellement de bons souvenirs  qui me reviennent !
C’est étrange, je voudrais même retourner parfois travailler toute une journée au centre d’information !! ok.. une demi-journée ce serait suffisant 😉 Les centaines de Fulica atra me manquent ainsi que le simple fait de rentrer dans un bar et de demander mon « ena nes metrio me gala parakalo !» et beaucoup d’autres choses…
Et que dire des personnes que j’ai rencontrées ! ?
Tellement de bonnes expériences et de rencontres inoubliables ! Eno bien sûr !! Mon SVE n’aurait pas été le même sans cet estonien ! Mes colocataires Eren, Ali, Lucile et Caroline : vous êtes les meilleurs !!. Je pense également à ma coordinatrice, Eirini ! Vanggelis, Katerini… Je ne peux pas citer tout le monde ici, ça serait bien trop long !
Donc.. c’est vrai et je peux en témoigner un SVE est une réelle opportunité pour tout jeune voulant rencontrer d’autres personnes, s’ouvrir à une autre culture et partager ses expériences. Maintenant j’encourage tous mes amis à en faire un également !

Merci Vryta pour tout ça !! Et à bientôt, peut-être plus tôt que tu ne le crois !

Pierre

I have been now in Estonia since june and I’m adapting slowly. It’s weird that when I came out from the plane i had this feeling that I have been there only one day- 6 months went so fast like a blink of an eye .
I had really good time in Greece- I met a lot of good Greeks and people from many other countries aswell and I have realised that I miss those people a lot. Also I had the opportunity to learn many new things about the culture and the way of living. And of course coffee and food- now I use all the time lemon juice and I’m making even my own frappe. But I do miss a lot feta cheese. I even got a chance to visit also some other countries near by.
Now I’m looking forward to visit someday Greece again because there is lot of things still to see and definately my priority is to conquer Mount Olympos- I’m training for this 😀
This post is going to be my last in this blog. I wish all the best for the people who stayed behind!!!!. Special thanks to people who made my staying great and experienceful as possible: my project coordinator Eirini Skouli, mentor Vangelis Koutalis and of course Sofia I. Georgeli.

Eno 🙂

Eestisse jõudsin juunikuus ja hakkan tasapisi juba ära harjuma uue olukorraga. Alguses oli veider tunne- tulin lennukist välja ja tundsin, et olen olnud Kreekas ainult ühe päeva…6 kuud läks nagu linnulennult.
Kreekas viibitud aeg oli imetore ja tutvusin seal paljude toredate kreeklaste ning inimestega paljudest erinevatest riikidest- pean tunnistama et igatsen neid inimesi väga palju. Samuti oli mul seal viibides võimalus Kreeka kultuuri ja inimeste elu üldisemas mõttes tundma õppida. Igatsen pidevaid kohvipause kohvikutes ja loomulikult ka toitu- nüüd pidevalt topin toitudesse sidrunimahla ja teen endale frapet, mis on külm kohv aga maitseb maruhästi. Feta juustust ei maksa rääkidagi, nii maitsev oli see. Kasutasin oma aega ka mõningaid naaberriike külastades.
Nüüd juba ootan tagasiminekut, kuna nii palju huvitavaid kohti jäi külastamata ja loomulikult Olümpose mägi tuleb ära vallutada- selleks juba teen vaikselt trenni 😀
See on minu viimane postitus siin blogis. Soovin kõikidele inimestele parimat kes maha jäid!!! Eriti suured tänud inimestele, kes tegid minu sealviibimise võimalikult toredaks ja kogemuste rikkaks: minu projekti koordinaator Eirini Skouli, mentor Vangelis Koutalis ja Sofia I. Georgeli.

Eno 🙂

Herkese şimdiden güle güle demek istiyorum. Son 5 ayımı burada geçirdim ve gerçekten çok güzel bir zamandı. Çok güzel deneyimlerim oldu ve birçok yeni arkadaş edindim. Yunanistan’da geçirdiğim bu zamanları asla unutmayacağım. Beni tanıyan ve burada bana yardımcı olan herkese çok çok teşekkür ediyorum. Unutmayın her zaman bir gönüllü arkadaşınız Istanbul’da yaşıyor. Umud ediyorum ki tekrar görüşebiliriz.
Herkese teşekkürler.
Sevgilerle Eren

I want to say goodbye to everyone. The last 5 months were fantastic here and you were all gorgeous I had really nice experiences and friends here. I’ll never forget Greece. I send my regards and love to all people who helped me to get used to living here. Don’t forget you have a friend in Istanbul, i will gladly help and host you when you visit there. I hope we’ll see us again. Thanks for everything. Danke für Alles.

Best regards,
Eren

Since a couple of days we live alone with Lucile in our big house of Vryta.

All the boys leave the house siga siga with the end of their EVS.

Ali, the last volunteers who was staying with us, left at the beginning of the month.

Each of them was quite nice and it was a real pleasure to live with them during this last months.

Sometimes, I know, live and work with persons we don’t know is not easy. So, I enjoy much more that it was so nice and not difficult to live with them

Among others things, here is that I miss the most :

* The good cooking of Eren : miam! In fact, all the boys try to cook good during their stay, but know, I can say, he was the best!! Sorry Eno.. in spite of your estonian cakes and your boulettes.. you can’t win this time !

* The siga siga life of Ali. He was the perfect transition between the departures of Eren Pierre and Eno and his own departure. Now we start with Lucile to really miss your curious sentences, sometimes so funnies. In fact, we are very lucky to live the last month with you =) congratulations!!

* The different voices that Pierre could make and his perfect sense of humour. I laughed a lot because of you! Thank you le loup !!!!

* Finally, the incredible and wonderful stories of Eno and his great passion for the Disney cartoons 😀

So.. a lot of good souvenirs and just for that I can say I already pass well my evs!

Thanks boys and see you in Greece, in France or somewhere else, hehe!

 Caroline

By bye les garçons!

Depuis quelques jours désormais, nous vivons seules avec Lucile dans notre grande maison de Vryta !

Siga siga tous les garçons ont quitté Vryta avec la fin de leur SVE.

Ali, le dernier des volontaires.. a pris son train, direction la Turquie, au début du mois.

Chacun de ces 4 volontaires était vraiment sympathiques et ce fut un vrai plaisir de vivre avec eux durant ces derniers mois.

Parfois, je le sais, vivre et travailler avec des personnes que l’on ne connait pas, peut être difficile. Ainsi, j’apprécie d’autant plus le fait qu’il était facile et agréable de vivre avec ces 4 volontaires à Vryta !

 Entre autres choses voici se qui me manque le plus :

 * La très bonne cuisine d’Eren !! miam miam !! En fait… tous les garçons ont essayé de mitoner de bons petits plats durant leur séjour. Mais maintenant je peux le dire, c’était bien lui le meilleur !! Désolé Eno… malgré tes estonian cakes et tes boulettes  tu ne peux pas gagner cette fois 😀

 * La vie siga siga d’Ali. Vivre avec lui après le départ des trois autres garçons a fait une parfaite transition. Maintenant tes curieuses phrases, parfois si drôles commencent à nous manquer. En fait, nous avons été very lucky  de passer ce dernier mois avec toi =) Congratulations !!

* Les différentes voix que pouvaient prendre Pierre et son irrésistible sens de l’humour ! J’ai beaucoup ri grâce à toi !!! Merci le loup !!!

 * Enfin, les merveilleuses et incroyables petites histoires d’Eno et sa grande passion pour les dessins animés de Disney 😀

 Donc… beaucoup de très bons souvenirs !!

Merci les garçons et à bientôt en Grèce, en France ou n’importe où ailleurs, héhé !!

 Caroline

We are on the road again, direction Vlasty, a little mountain village.

We arrived Thursday at 6 o’clock and we met the first people. The stands were not ready but people worked on it. With Caro we saw the stage, little stage but very good to share energy.
The car was totally full of stuff and we decided to go to the camp to install tent. We came back to the village at half past seven to prepare HOS kiosk.

The road who’s go to the camp was not easy, and we missed to killed the little Toyota Yaris. Finally we arrived on a middle of a forest were any people fix tents and own camp. We choose a beautiful place with tree and the view on the mountains. We saw just one water point and no electricity… but one kiosk with food and drinks.

When we came back to the festival we install the Carol’s west exhibition and my bird poster.
We prepared few things for the time with children (Friday and Saturday). For Thursday the rain began to felt so we came back to the camp at 11:30 pm.

One Friday morning, we could take the sun, slept under the sun and read all the day to wait the festival. We visit the camp, met people, speak a little and listen music. They speak English. The mood was good.

We gone to the village to prepare the activities with children and fix the kiosk of HOS.
Eirini asked few question to the children and they answered with my poster, they shown which animal it was etc. After Caroline and me create two team of 5 children and, let’s go for the game “who is the mysterious bird?” They had a map of the festival and they had to discovered 6 points and 6 questions to find the mysterious bird. The Caroline’s team won!

We closed the stand at 1 O’clock and we gone to the concert, we came back to sleep at 3 O clock by foot with Caroline.

On the morning it was so hot, so I decided to slept outside on the forest floor.

To the next night I would liked to slept on the Eirini’s Hamac.

On Saturday we shown the shadow theatre to the children but nothing were ready ! The computer was no working, the room was not clean etc… We created some solutions to do something for the children and finally we shown how they can create a shadow theatre and our story.

This Saturday night Eirini and Caroline stay at the concert and I was waiting for her in the car. At 4 O’clock we gone by foot to the camp and I slept in the hamac.

All the Sunday, the festival take place in the camp so we continue to met some people. I will remember three peoples, one Italian girl and one grec couple. The first is writing her dissertation about “environmental issues” and the second sold plant and give us two tomatoes plant, One peper plant and one courgette plant.
Now we have a real “potager” in our garden at Vritta.

We came back to vritta on Sunday night and we began bird monitoring on Monday morning 😉

See you!

Lucile

Vlasty Festival 4 jours dans la nature

Nous voila parties toutes les trois pour la montagne grecque direction un petit village charmant qui se nomme Vlasty.

Nous arrivons sur place jeudi à 18h et rencontrons les premiers festivaliers, les stands pour la plupart sont en cours d’installation. Avec Caro nous voyons une petite scène pour les concerts amplement suffisante pour donner au public de l’énergie.
La voiture étant pleine à ras bord d’affaires nous décidons d’aller au camp pour installer nos tentes et par la suite revenir au village installer le stand de HOS.
La route en forte montée pour le camps a failli venir à bout de la petite toyota yaris, finalement nous arrivons à bon port au milieu d’une forêt de chênes. Nous garons la voiture et Eirini nous emmène dans un coin de forêt avec une très belle vue sur les montagnes environnantes. Nous installons la tente puis retour au village.
L’installation du stand se fait bien, nous fixons les panneaux, l’exposition sur les déchets de Caro ainsi que mon poster, spécialement fait pour Vlasty. Nous avons préparé quelques petites choses pour notre créneau avec les enfants (vendredi et samedi). Malheureusement le vent se lève et on sent quelques gouttes qui vont nous faire replier et revenir au camp à 23h30.
On profite du lendemain pour faire quelques photos et prendre le soleil, enfin !
On va voir un peu ce qu’il se passe au centre du camp. On y trouve les mêmes festivaliers on écoute de la musique, les gens dansent, discutent et ils parlent anglais pour la plupart.
Le soir nous descendons pour réinstaller notre stand et faire notre chasse au « mysterious bird » avec les enfants. Eirini leur posent des devinettes et ils répondent en regardant mon affiche. Après on prend chacune une équipe de 5 grands enfants et on leur fait commencer la chasse au mysterious bird. Aidé d’un plan du festival ils doivent rejoindre 6 points qui leur permettront de trouver l’oiseau mystère. L’équipe de Caro (majoritairement féminine) remportera haut la main cette épreuve.
Nous assistons à un concert, fermons le stand à 1h et rentrons vers 2 ou 3h du matin. Caroline et moi empruntons la route à pied et nous arrivons assez fatiguées.
Je décide la nuit suivante de dormir dans le hamac d’Eirini.
Le lendemain une amie d’Eirini nous rejoint avec son neveu. Pour la deuxième activité avec les enfants on voulait leur montrer le théâtre de l’ombre, hélas, peu de choses étaient prête comme prévus dans la salle et nous avons du trouver des solutions B, C voir D ! C’est bon pour les méninges. Au final, nous leur avons expliqué le concept du théâtre de l’ombre grâce au mini théâtre de l’ombre de Caro et montrer sur un petit écran notre histoire.
Ce soir là Caro et Eirini reste au concert et moi je préfère les attendre dans la voiture où je m’endors. La musique était bien mais pas à mon humeur du jour. On est rentré à pied à 4h30.
Les journées furent chaudes et les nuits agréables. Tout le dimanche le festival se passe au camp et on rencontre un peu plus les gens. Je retiendrais la rencontre d’une jeune italienne qui rédige sont mémoire « environnemental issue in greece » et un couple qui nous on offert des plans de tomates cerises, poivrons et courgettes qui agrémente désormais notre petit potager à Vritta.
On rentre dimanche soir et on reprend notre rythme in vritta.
A bientôt
Lucile

Finally ! That is the famous seminar which all people talking about… but staying so mysterious.

The way to be there is long and with a lot of traps… no in fact it’s only very long : 7 hours with bus, toward the South. Toward Athens. Of course, Lucile is with me.

So, during 5 days that is the programme is : Meeting the other volunteers who come from all the Europe ; Exchanging and experiences sharing ; Praticales informations about the EVS ; Discovering of Athens and its inhabitants (!) ; and a lots of others activities (héhé I keep some mysteries).

With Lucile we enjoy the Big city. The first evening it’s “Pame sto Gazi”. There we see a Jazz festival. Another day we climb the big mountain of Athens, The Lycabeth during the night. Over there, the view is amazing.

The meeting with the other volunteers and our trainers is so rich. I hope that I could renforce new friendship.

We come back happy with Lucile, our mind fool of futures travels we could do it. Hehe!! We have to visit our new friends =)

Finally we come back early and quickly to the North, where a new mission waiting for us (look the Lucile’s article)

Before I leave… Just a special dedication to DJ Lulu, so awesome when she anime world karaoke party 😉

Caro

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Enfin ! Le voilà ce fameux séminaire dont on nous a tant parlé… mais qui restait tellement mystérieux.

Le chemin pour y arriver est long et semer d’embûches… non en fait il est juste long : 7 heures de bus, direction le Sud, direction Athènes. Lucile m’accompagne. Bien sûr !

Alors, au programme de ces 5 jours : rencontre avec les volontaires venus de toute l’Europe,  échanges et partages d’expériences, informations pratiques concernant le Service volontaire, découverte de la ville et de ses habitants (!) et tout pleins d’autres activités (héhé ! je garde un peu de mystère).

On profite avec Lucile de la Grande ville. Dès le soir de notre arrivée c’est « pamé sto Gazi » pour assister à un festival de Jazz. Le lendemain on gravit la big mountain d’Athènes, La Lycabette, par nuit. De là-haut, voir  les lumières de la ville est assez sublime !

La rencontre avec les autres volontaires et nos « trainers » est très enrichissante et j’espère pouvoir renforcer quelques premiers liens d’amitiés qui se sont créés durant ces quelques jours.

Nous repartons contentes de ce séminaire des idées voyages plein la tête (héhé.. il faut rendre visite à nos nouveaux amis !!!). Direction le Nord ou une autre mission nous attends… un autre séminaire…(cf. article de Lucile)

Ah et spéciale dédicace à DJ Lulu, parfaite dans l’animation de pré-soirée karaoke

Caro