V septembru 2020 sta se naša ESE prostovoljca, Charlotte in Matjaž udeležila usposabljanja ob prihodu, ki ga organizira nacionalna agencija MOVIT. Kako sta se imela je Charlotte zapisala v drugem poglavju svojega bloga.
Zdravo!
After introducing myself and my work at EPI in the last post, I thought that I could talk a bit about the on-arrival training me and Matjaž went to in Velenje a few weeks ago.
The ESC program includes a 5-day training for new volunteers working in different locations all over Slovenia. You meet up in a youth hostel and then there’s different workshops that help you prepare for your time here.
During the day, we did different activities, for example we talked about how to deal with problems at work and our personal project. We also did a treasure hunt in Velenje where we got to know the city and its mining history better. One task, for example, was to ask the locals about solidarity in their hometown.
As a special activity, we did SUP boarding on a nearby lake. Located at a coal-fired power plant, the smell was definitely memorable but we had a good time.
During the evenings, we really got to know each other and just spend a lot of time talking and laughing. Although it meant that we got very little sleep, it was definitely worth it! We played a lot of board games and on one evening, some volunteers prepared a pub quiz which was definitely one of the highlights!
I think it’s kinda crazy that when you first meet new people, they are this homogenous group of strangers and then 5 days later, you had conversations about all kinds of stuff with them and have become friends in the process. I’m really glad that we were able to have our on-arrival in person even in Corona times. It’s really cool to know volunteers in different locations and to be able to visit them. We’re definitely planning on meeting up again but we will have to see when and if that’s possible with the new covid restrictions :(.
Nasvidenje!
Charlotte