OAT

Ira Radchenko
Feb 9, 2018
3 min read

Before going on on-arrival training everyone had talked a lot how great it is, so it is obvious that we were excited and had a lot of expectations about event. So 21 of January, here we are ready to meet new people, to get new information, ready to have fun and enjoy as much as it possible. We had train in the early morning as we thought that in this case we would get better rooms. In fact we got more or less similar rooms but most of us were living alone in the rooms. I was in love with my room for sure I can adore my room for a long time, and I really had reason for that: I had huge bad, bathroom just for me, big wardrobe and cozy night lamp, what is the best thing for booklover. I didn’t pay attention on strange stains of dubious origin on the curtains and floor, but I was really enjoying my room. Second thing I wanted to tell about it was food. Let’s be sincere all of us are foodlover (yes, unfortunately I can’t say so about books) so probably it can be interested for more people. So, food! Food was nice, very variable. One day better, one day could be better, but in general nice. Something strange happened with soups with meat, because they were super salty, but vegetarian soups were amazing, delicious and unforgettable. I don’t remember when the last time I was eating three times per day, but for sure I won’t do it now because looking things in the eyes I am not ready to cook so much. The things that I really enjoy a lot were coffee breaks full of great warm bakery and fruits. And now (ta-da- da-dam) the most interesting part – our trainings! Uff, there are so much to tell and in the same way I don’t have any idea from what I need to start. This meeting is for all volunteers who came on the same time to Romania. In our case we were the oldest ones there, so we knew more information about culture and some organization staff. All the volunteers were divided in two groups and each group had two trainers who provided for us knowledge about what is going on here and give us tips how to survive in Romania. Every day during all working week we had meetings from 10 a.m. till 19 p.m. with breaks for coffee and food. They explained us about a lot about what is it Erasmus+, EVS, Youth workers, Youth Exchanges, how to apply for our favorite insurance Cigna and so on. During this week there were two things that I really liked. One of them was intercultural evening. I cannot explain my feeling in the proper way, because, my lovely reader, you needed to be there to understand. It was amazing time full of joy, new things and new information. It was something that made us closer ( I don’t mean people, I mean more global things). What I can say, we are not so different from each other. The traditional ornaments on Ukrainian cloth are similar to Romanian or, even, to Jordanian. Or that dances, in most of the case, have identical moves. It was very good time, when everyone presented their homecountry and make people love that country as you like it. Second thing that I really liked was the rally in Bucharest. We had quest in the city what we didn’t know, we had to communicate with people who probably doesn’t speak English and so on. But we did it, maybe not everything, but we did it. Unfortunately, the weather was extremely cold and unfriendly, so we couldn’t enjoy for maximum. But after coming back to hotel, after drinking warm tea I understood how cool it was. I like Bucharest and I was happy that OAT we had there. We spent nice time in the capital, we visited nice places (I’m talking not just about rally, but it is private information), we found new friends, we explored, we got new knowledge and we enjoyed! For sure, it was one of the very colorful times during EVS, but I cannot tell that after OAT there is no life. There is, actually, here is, and not worse of that week. I am happy to meet all that people. To enjoy and to have fun with them. With love, Ira