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How did Undine, our volunteer spend her first two months in Cristuru Secuiesc
Hello! I’m Undīne from Latvia. I arrived to Romania in November. I’m part of a 10-months long project, the ninth edition of ‘Development Support for Transylvania’, which takes place in a little town, called Cristuru Secuiesc. Currently, there are 6 of us in the project – Daisy from Italy, Murat and Senol from Turkey, Alejandro and Abde from the Canary Islands. We all live together in this international household, the so-called “Yellow House”. Life with so many people from different cultures is not an easy ride, but one that is worth taking: we learn something new about each other everyday.
My daily life here involves understanding the currency in euros, hearing church bells every day, walking to the kindergarten and helping out in the library. One of my goals is to improve my English language skills – it’s essential to speak English in your daily life here, as well as to learn Hungarian as a part of my experience.
If you are curious of all the things I am doing here, these are some of the places where I have been volunteering at:
At the local kindergarten, where we speak simple English with the kids, hold some interactive activities, draw and paint. It is my personal favourite activity, the kids are very sweet and talkative, although I do not understand Hungarian, so our conversations are one-sided.
In the library, I organize books (hence my book-tree, that was very successful during the holiday season) clean spaces, and create decorations.
When I am working in the office, I can show off my craftsmanship, by designing and creating some tools for the local events ATA organizes: I’ve made crowns for stork balls, decorated the office Christmas tree, and designed numbers for an advent calendar.
Occasionally we are invited to hold some activities in the after-school program of the local elementray students. We try to be very creative with these, play, dance after the long hours they have spent sitting and learning.
In order to make learning English more interactive, we hold lessons for grades 8 to 12. When I was in school, we chose the theme of traveling so that students could get to know more about and discover popular dishes and people from our countries of origin. The students enjoyed this topic, some of them even had personal stories to tell from when they had a trip to other regions.
At herbalism, we prepare deodorants, fill bottles with oils, and syrups, using all natural ingredients.
Places I’ve visited:
– Cristuru Secuiesc museum
– Sighisoara to explore the entire city, see the church, and visit the museum
– Csík to get acquainted with other volunteers
– Went to a cinema theatre for the first time in Romania.
