The opportunity of voluntary service in Europe was given us by Gyumri “Youth Initiative Centre” NGO which is one of the most active organizations in Gyumri actively engaged in youth mobility and in involving them in community.
We are doing our EVS in Ozal, Croatia, which differs from all the other countries with its unique nature, castle and hydroelectric power plant, which is much more powerful than the castle itself. The outer look of the castle is quite modern: it has been reconstructed and has lost its soul. The river Cupe flows across the city next to the castle and the hydroelectric power plant is constructed on that river.
The project we do is called A.L.I.V.E, In the frames of the service we implement different workshops devoted to Armenia, to our culture, customs and traditions, as well as Russian language courses and thematic meetings on Erasmus+ projects in surrounding schools.
The two previous workshops were devoted to Armenia and especially Gyumri with its people and customs. We feel very honored to have an opportunity to present our own homeland and the whole nation, but it’s also great responsibility because it’s very important to share all the traditions in proper way.
In Ozal the interest for our workshops is great because all the majority knows about Armenia is that it’s a small country somewhere far away and that’s all. When we say Armenia everyone sais Kardashian and we try to explain that it’s not real Armenia, it’s not what we want to present.
We pass our free time travelling. We always try to discover the colors of Croatia, to become the part of local culture what is very important for living in a foreign country.
Capital Zagreb is also fascinating. We go there quite often on holidays. It is a typical European capital with lots of Asian tourists, big shops and history in every corner of the city. We should admit that 2-3 days are not enough for revealing Zagreb though it is even smaller than Yerevan.
Very usually we compare Croatia and Armenia drawing parallels between two little nations, their history, traditions and worldview.
Making use of the opportunities given us we do everything possible to make each day of our service productive and saturated.
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