O testemunho final da Beyza (Spin)

 

Hello everyone,

    

  Well, I was expecting that It will pass very fast but It was more than I expected for sure. This is my last week and I feel very emotional L  I literally don’t want to leave.. Life is life.

Last months were really fun. In November I had small trip to Prag and Dresden. I definitely suggest to go to Prag during winter eve though It’s very cold. The city has magic itself. I ‘ve visited Christmas markets in both cities, I felt that I am in the movie scene. 

Since we started to live with the new volunteers, my days at Casa B were way better. During December I had a lot of activities around Lisbon. Whole the city has Christmas vibes already. So me and my flatmates went to the Wonderland Lisboa together. I think It was one of the most interesting xmas market I’ve ever seen because It’s not the typical one and the weather was 17 degrees..

In the office, after some busy months december was chill, we had some christmas activities together for the neighboorhoud of Carnide . They wanted from us to make Xmas tree that represents our Ngo. Me and other volunteers did that tree with the objects we have in the office. After that we went to see that tree in Carnide. They hang all the trees they have to the bigger tree. It will stay there till the new year.

We had some Christmas holiday in the office so I decided to make some plan for the Christmas and the new year. My Portuguese friend Carolina invited me her hometown for Christmas. It was so so nice.. We went to Castelo Branco together and I met with her all relatives. Her parents and grandparents prepared amazing food. It was actually my first Christmas so I will always remember that. After that I came back to Lisbon to spend my days with my flatmates.

   Before the New year I flew to France to be together with my Turkish friend in Nancy. I also had chance to see Paris.. Meu Deus, It was one of the best city. I fell in love with the cities and the croissant. <3 I met with my French flatmate there aka Dodo. Dodo and his friend made amazing Paris tour for me It was so nice.

 

After that We went office back. Neighboorhood of Carnide arranged traditional lunch for elder people of Carnide. Me and other volunteers were there to serve the food for them. I really felt the feeling of being volunteer that moment. It was unforgettable and I was using my Portuguese skills which I don’t have at all to communicate with them.

So I think we are coming to the final.. I am very very grateful to have this opportunity. I gained a lot of things and met with amazing people during my volunteering. Thank you ALL. Hope to see you again. 

Beijinhos <3

O testemunho No. 2 da Beyza (Spin)

 

Hello everyone 

The month full of surprises. It has been almost 3 months since I was in Lisbon. I still can't believe how It went by so fast. already feel I am local here. This city has magic. I also really like the people at the office and the volunteers at home.

Me and the other volunteers decided to make a vertical garden in the office and I collected plastic bottles for this. Later on, we will paint the bottles and turn them into vases. It sounds interesting.

We decided to have an international lunch every week at the office. This week it was my turn. I cooked potato salad, shepherd's salad (çoban salatasi) , pastry (pogaça) and custard with mastic ( sakizli muhallebi) . We set up a table outside and we had a nice lunch together. Although I'm not very good at cooking, I think I did a good job with the help of others. :) Trying new things while I'm here makes me happy at the end of the day. I think that's the purpose of volunteering

The first week of September, we went to the weekend camp attended by volunteers living in Portugal. It took place in Camp Amarante. I had the opportunity to meet many volunteers from different cultures and learn about their volunteering experiences. It was a very nice experience.

Besides that, during this volunteering we have 2 training sessions and one of them was last week. I went to Braga to meet with the other volunteers around Portugal. It was an amazing opportunity. We had a chance to do activities and spend time together. I made new friendships. During the training the facilitators were teaching us how we can make our life easier as volunteers. After the sessions we visited the city centre of Braga and Bom Jesus Do Monte. The viewpoint from Bom Jesus was incredible.. 

Travel..... <3

This month I did a mini tour of Southern Spain. It was a trip that I was very happy with and saved a lot of memories. I had a reunion with many of my friends and I had the opportunity to get to know their family/friends. They showed me the important places in the city and we tasted traditional dishes together such as Crochettas, Paella, Gazpacho etc. The beauties of Andalusia and especially Alhambra impressed me a lot. I am hoping to go back there. Thanks.

O testemunho no. 1 do Cagri (Spin)

 Ola , everyone ! My name is Cagri,  I come from Turkey, and I started my volunteering project at SPIN in October 2022.

I had a Turkish friend who did his project at SPEAK this year and during our conversations , he told me so many good things about the volunteering and the life in Lisbon in general. So I decided to give it a shot and here I am. I was feeling nervous before coming to Lisbon because I have never been abroad before but after I saw the nice environment around me , all of my fears were gone.

The flight process was the hardest part for me because I was only able to find a transferred ticket from Istanbul to Frankurt then Frankurt to Porto. It was 2 AM when I landed on Porto Airport and there were no taxis waiting at the entrance of the airport. I was too exhausted but luckily I saw a taxi passing by and I stopped it then I went to bus terminal.

When I arrived at Lisbon I fell in love with its architecture. All of the buildings looked so historical. The city felt so alive and all the people around me were smiling. I was already amazed by this lovely city.

When I went to my apartment I was feeling too exhausted and I met with my flatmates and went straight to the bed and slept like 4 hours but during the night , we played some games together and this games helped me to know about their personalities. They are all nice and kind persons , I`m looking forward to share my apartment with them !,2 days later, I went to Spin office and met with my colleagues. My tutor Catarina informed me about my tasks and asked me a couple of questions about my goals in here. 

After that , they prepared a welcome day lunch for me and my roommate Amr and Lisa cooked some foods for all of us. The foods were delicious and our conversations during the lunch were pretty fun. As I never worked as a volunteer before, this is a huge opportunity for me to gain new experiences. So I`m feeling pretty excited right now ! Lastly , I have to learn about Lisbon as soon as possible because there are so many beautiful places to visit in this city and I want to see all of them. It all feels like a dream right now.

I`m looking forward for what`s to come on this new adventure.

Ciao for now !

O testemunho final do Ertuğrul (SPEAK)

 O TEMPO VOA

Yes, my friends, time flies. I still remember the first days of my arrival. Getting used to the city, to the people, my project etc. Now I feel like I am the oldest, most experienced. Most of the people left the city already. Already missed some of them. People come and go, memories stay. I got a bit nostalgic right now. I was looking at the photos. Many people, many faces, many smiles, many places. Like I told you before, many of them left already but I stayed with some of them. 

After my second testimony, let me tell you what happened, Me and my colleagues went to the Porto for Sao Jorge event. We had a really amazing party there. City was really beautiful even though I could see the city but no worries I will see it later. Everyone had a plastic hammer hitting each other's head and making these annoying sounds. I felt like people would get angry but everyone was cool about it. We had a really long party outside. Went to some concerts and after that we watched a firework show. Later we went to a club and they were playing Turkish music which I really liked. Later in Porto we went to the Douro region. We had a really good time there. Our Airbnb was amazing. We had a really nice dinner. Went for a Porto tasting. I really liked some of them. It was a really nice trip, I really enjoyed every second of it. 

About my project I was leading an English Conversational session and I finished it. It was really good. I had 5 participants from different countries. I am also still hosting weekly events in Almada. In summer our project is more chill. I had good numbers in Almada. Opened 4 groups and led many events, and Since it is summer we enjoy most of our time at the beach. I also learned how to swim in Portugal. I really like swimming and staying inside the water, Later some of my colleagues left and also most of my volunteer friends left already. We had goodbye parties and a lot of emotions. I will really miss them but I am also sure that I will see them in the future. They are all amazing people and I feel really lucky to have friends like them. 

So about me, I celebrated my birthday almost 10 days ago. Since many people left we couldn’t have a big party but still some of my friends joined and also many people wished me happy birthday. So It was a really nice birthday. Usually I am not used to celebrating it, I will continue staying in Portugal. It will be challenging but let's see, I still can’t believe I finished this amazing story. In this period I would like to thank everyone that I met. I never had a bad experience and everyone was amazing to me. I felt so lucky. I was looking at the photos to put it here but can’t decide what to choose. I have many, countless memories with many special people. I could put 100 photos if I had the chance.

Anyways this time i don’t want to say goodbye. I want to say thank you, Thank you for being with me in my story in Portugal

O testemunho No. 2 do Ertuğrul (SPEAK)

ESTAR ATRASADO

I don't know where to start writing this testimony, I should have written it a long time ago. I know I know sorry Amr. I will act like I didn’t finish my project and we will all act like this is my second testimony in the middle of my project. Right now I am in my room. Time already passed midnight, I opened some nice hopeful music from YouTube, lay down on my bed and started thinking, went back some months. As you can see, I still don’t know where to start. I think I started learning that some things are better when you do it on time, when they are still hot in your memories, but It was impossible to write this testimony back in that time because It was too hot to write so I had to wait some time for it to be get colder to write it  but I forgot something. I forgot that  time flies. With my flatmates we had a great trip to the Algarve region, the place called Lagos. It was a bit of a short but really nice trip. I really like the surroundings and our time there. 

With my project we had a weekend event in Almada. It was in the Hotel. I met with my colleagues and many people from different backgrounds. I felt closer to my organization and also made really good friendships. We had really good activities, parties, small talks and many more things. This was one of the breaking points for me. After this weekend, I became really close friends with my supervisor and currently one of my closest friends in Lisbon Ricardo. I also met three really nice Dutch interns. With all of them we had many countless memories.

After some months, we had some goodbyes and welcomes in our flat. Two of my flatmates left and now we have two new boys in our flat and we also became good friends after some time. Me and my other two flatmates went for arrival training in Viseu. It was really good, I met really cool and good people. Also I got to know Viseu a bit. I like the city actually even though It was small. In the arrival training we met with people from many countries but mostly European. We had some good activities there and also ate really good food, partied a bit, learned more about ESC, youthpass and other European projects for young people like us. It was really useful training for me and I think for all of us. After I came back from the project I had a covid and stayed alone in quarantine for almost 8 days. It was really boring since my room is not the best room and I had some headache but luckily my flatmates took care of me. Especially Amr and Lisa fed me really well, it was a bit of vacation from cooking haha. Special thanks to them. About my project, one of the people that I work with changed her job and I have a new colleague that I work with ( like supervisor but not supervisor). Now it is much more challenging for me but still good. I am hosting more events in Almada. Now I am doing weekly events in Almada as a CEO of the city.

Also it was a crazy month to be honest because In the city it was a month of big parties. In Portugal they call it Santos Populares, city is now looking like a big club. Everywhere there are big parties, people sing, dance, get drunk and eat sardines( everywhere smells like a fish). I am more like a bifana person. I don’t remember how much I drank at these street parties and I don’t remember how many times I partied and got drunk. I am really feeling this amazing festival mood around the city and makes Lisbon even better. 

O testemunho No. 1 da Beyza (Spin)

 

Hello Everyone

My name is Beyza. I am from Turkey and I am 24 years old. I am really excited about living and being a volunteer at Spin because It's my first time in Portugal and also will be the longest time being away from home. It wasn't easy to find volunteering especially if you need a visa for all the EU countries ☺ I´ve been looking for an ESC for 7 months and luckily I met with Spin by my friend Gjorgi who had participated in a project in May with Spin. It's A pleasure for me to be here.

Before I came here everybody was saying that you´ll love Lisbon because It's very similar to Istanbul. Well IT IS! I already felt like here is like my home. There is something that makes this city magical but I can't explain it yet ☺ When I arrived in Lisbon ,Lisa and Ertugrul picked me up from the airport which made me so happy. They are also my flatmates.

About the house, I mean I really liked it. When you go inside from the apartment you can easily say that the house is very Portuguese – colorful and tiled walls, wooden stairs – and also the volunteers were very kind and nice to me. They showed and explained everything about the house,

The 2nd day in Lisbon, Amr helped me to get a SIM Card and after that I did a small tour in the city. The Portuguese people were really helpful to me about the location of some places while discovering the city, even though some of them didn't know English. The first word I learned in Portuguese was ‘SAIDA´ If you don´t understand anything just follow ´Saida´.

I actually arrived in Lisbon on the 15th of July and I met with the Spin team on the 19th of July. They were so nice and they arranged a welcome day for me. I felt so happy. One of the new volunteers Monika made us lunch <3 I am hoping the bond between me and the Spin team will be stronger than now. I just can’t wait to spend my days here. I am sure I will have more things to tell for the next testimony. Thanks.

O testemunho No. 1 do Ertuğrul (SPEAK)

 Pôr do sol ☀️

With the sunrise in the morning, I rose to the sky. I got lost in the clouds with a metal bird which was the most beautiful proof of mankind's love for the sky and flying for centuries. After 5 hours, as the sun was setting, I came back to earth from the sky. Later, at the airport, I was greeted by a flatmate that I had never seen before, but she was friendly as if we had known each other for years. The adventure that I started in the sky continued into the underground. It seems that mankind got bored of its love for the sky, and put a metal snake underground. After passing through dark tunnels and a few stations the names of I didn’t know, I got off at the station called Marques de Pombal and reached the earth again. 

I got lost in the streets of this city, which was designed for me to lose the weight I gained during the corona time, with the sounds of the wheel of my luggage. While looking around like a curious child, I followed my flatmate. From the very first day, Lisbon thought me that once I go down to a hill, I have to climb back up over and over again. Just like that, I reached my new home, the Casa de Bernardim, and what actually made me feel like home were my new flatmates, who always had smiles on their faces. After a couple of days past another flatmate arrived from away. Then my roommate arrived and he was late because he came from farther away. Finally, the Casa Bernardim family was completed.

Since I had a couple of free weeks before my welcome day with my coordinating and hosting organizations, I started exploring the city of Lisbon with its ups and downs. I walked and walked, sometimes I got lost by chance and sometimes I wanted to get lost discover something new. After climbing the slopes and steps to watch the sunset at the beautiful “Miradouro’s”, this fairy-tale city taught me that “to see beautiful things, we have to go for it even tho sometimes it's hard and we can be sure that it will always worth it.

Finally, I met with the Spin team at the welcome day and also with the SPEAK organization that I volunteer at and after I met with my coordinators and other colleagues at SPEAK. The SPEAK office has a great atmosphere. I felt welcomed and motivated about my project. The purpose of SPEAK is to connect newcomers with locals living in the same city through a language and culture exchange program that has two main activities: language groups and community-organized events. We work with many ex-pats, immigrants, refugees, and students. My main responsibilities are interacting with Buddies in Almada city in general and developing the community there. I give online training for new buddies, explaining to them the purpose of SPEAK and providing information about language sessions, events. I also get feedback from buddies and help them with their questions and problems about the language sessions. 

In addition, I currently lead a language session and prepare a guide for Turkish buddies. My colleagues at SPEAK always help me and teach me new things, and this is a great opportunity for me to improve myself. At first, I had a little difficulty because there was a lot of new information, but then everything fell into place and I continued my project more comfortably. Within a week, I had a Christmas dinner with both the Spin and SPEAK team. At both events, I met people from other countries. In these warm family environments, I felt as if I had been in this city for years and knew these people. I also started learning Portuguese thanks to one of our volunteer friends. 

I am always grateful for being at the same table for dinner with my flatmates, the little trips we take on the weekend, the conversations we have while cooking in the kitchen, the Miroduro's we go to catch the sunset, and me always being late, the sweet reproaches of them, the activities we did with other volunteers in the Casa de Bernardim. Countless feelings, smiles, conversations, sunsets, stairs, drinks, songs, food, sweet discussions, new places, new people, and stories …

I laugh, I learn, I see, I taste, I try, I share, I tell, I understand, I experience.

In short, I am feeling alive.

O testemunho final da Kerim (SPIN)

Heyy, what’s cracking y’all? Kerim a.k.a. KC got the mic to throw a free-style testimony.  

 It has been almost 11 months since I have started rolling as an ESC volunteer at Spin association. It was a bit hard to get used to life in Portugal because the starting date of my project crossed with the spread of Covid-19 in Europe and that was a lil bit whack. After a while, I started clicking anyway because of the friendly people in my host organization and the sunny weather in Portugal. It was a life-changing experience through hard, tight and a’right moments that I could have never imagined to have had  before coming to Portugal.

Despite the fact that I wasn’t been able to go to the office and collaborate with my teammates closely, I have always tried to do my best as an ESC volunteer. I spent such a tremendous effort to manage Spin’s Instagram account. It was challenging but in the end, I felt that my sweat drops paid off completely because I learned a lot about preparing useful content for promoting youthwork. 

     I enjoyed and experienced greatly through interacting with people from different cultures. One of the biggest moments I have ever had in Portugal was meeting with one of the greatest artists and the rising star of Portugal called “Bruno Reis”. His unique creativity and vision about transforming the music into another whole dimension of art during his show made a huge impact on the audience including me and my company M to the I, R, I who had the most rejoice among the fans.

     Besides, another markable fact was about the fishermen in Portugal because when I looked at those guys, I could clearly see that no matter what kind of physical difficulties they face with, the attitude was always simple “never give up, never surrender”. I felt the enlightenment and relief through watching them because it was inspirational. I know that people go to Portugal to see natural beauties and amazing Portuguese culture including delicious cuisine with dishes such as Bacalllhau and Francesinha but It also worths seeing the harmony between nature and fisherman based on my experience. More than that, I will be always missing to watch the amazing sunset in Lisbon with my half-eaten cheeseburgers and a couple of candies while spinning some rhymes by the inspiration I got through the vibe. 

Long story short, during the time I have spent in Portugal, I have become more aware of social obstacles and the importance of intercultural integration. ESC is a kinda program that everyone should participate especially after getting graduated from the university because I believe that it is quite important to experience giving to the community without receiving a considerable amount of money. Coming to Portugal as an ESC volunteer was one of the tightest decision I have ever made in my whole life. The last but not the least, I wanna say thanks to my unofficial mentor J-Roc who helped me go through the hard times in Lisbon. I am also thankful to Erasmus+ program and Spin Association for giving me that opportunity to widen my vision about life and people. 

Let me say goodbye to y’all in my whacky style;

“blaaap shiggida erriip erriip blaap zhyeaeaa erriip shiggida erriipp sliiippp peaceeee”

O testemunho do Özcan No. 3 (SPEAK)

 

I’ll just use a few quotes from really nice people to discover some ideas to make up for my lack of creativity. 

“Pessimists are usually right, optimists are the ones who change the world.”

-Thomas Friedman

I like this quote. It glorifies no one. It accepts both sides as they are. Makes me wonder what would come out of a project of a pessimist and an optimist working together. One pointing out the problem, the other one solving it. 

I was pretty skeptical about the quote itself when I first saw it because I thought it debunks the pessimists. Then I started discovering it;  Pessimism can bring certain creative power with it and according to a few ‘first hand’ experiences that I’ve had there are actually productive pessimists who start their day with full realization and get the job done until the evening. They are the consistency barons and baronesses of our age. Their mindset is built upon understanding that the future is blank. They don’t put credit into it. What matters for them is what they do at the present moment. That’s, in my opinion, exactly how you start to change things both in you and around you. By focusing on what you want to do both in arts, social and professional life at the exact moment.  

“The future is a concept, it doesn't exist. There is no such thing as tomorrow. There never will be, because time is always now. That's one of the things we discover when we stop talking to ourselves and stop thinking. We find there is only present, only an eternal now.” 

- Alan Watts

Now to deepen what I meant and to mirror what ESC has changed in me; I think I’ve learnt to balance the pessimism and optimism that dwells in me. Pessimism to stop hoping what the future might hold but to just focus on what I can do at the moment. Not for what I can become in the future but for what I am and what really gravitates me in the present. That proved to be enough motivation to kickstart a productive endeavor. Now after I start working, the optimism in me kicks in while I’m progressing in whatever journey I’m in and I find the tail of the motivation just to stick to it. Do I feel that I  produced a nice musical piece? Yes, I like it so let’s move on. Did I solve a problem while learning Javascript? Yes, it’s pretty simple but yesterday I was not able to do this. Let’s move on. It feels like just a natural flow of untying the knots that I didn’t know that were there. 

There is no way that we can predict what is going to happen as we have experienced this year. Fate is fickle, black swans are real so I say it’s totally acceptable to be reckless in whatever you wish to do. As long as you are humble that you know you’re not better than anyone else but also wise enough to know that you’re different than everyone else. 

Travel like a king, listen to the inner voice.

Ciao Spin! Thank you for everything.