O testemunho No. 1 da Teele (SPIN)

 Olá! 

Today is my 10th day in Lisbon. I’m still in the process of settling in, but everything has been going well so far. All the other volunteers I’ve met have all been super nice and I’m already quite sure the next nine months are going to be amazing.

Actually, I applied to this project later than the deadline, but fortunately, the process of choosing volunteers was still ongoing. I had an interview with Giulia and after some days I got a letter saying I was picked and had to be in Lisbon on October 1st, which gave me exactly three weeks to prepare. The preparations went surprisingly stress-free. I had been 110% mentally ready to go anyway, so no goodbye tears were shed, no second thoughts had, because there was only room for excitement.

On the day of arrival, another SPIN volunteer Victorien picked me up from the airport. I chose to go to my new apartment by public transport. Not so wise decision after all, since my luggage weighed 22 kg and there were numerous stairs on the way, but Victorien kindly helped me carry the luggage up and down. My apartment is situated on top of a hill and the “final boss” was the staircase in front of my apartment. I call it The Stairs From Hell and I still struggle to go up the 77 steps daily.

The apartment itself is very Portuguese, it is old but has its charm. For the first time in my life, my room has a balcony and a double bed and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Currently, I have 3 flatmates (2 recently moved out), a fellow volunteer from Spain, a guy from Brazil, and a guy from Spain. I did have some uncertainties about how a girl from northern Europe would fit in with a bunch of southern folks, but so far it has been really chill. I especially love how there is a lot of music and singing in this apartment.

So what have I been up to these past 10 days? Well, just getting familiar with my

neighborhood and its shops, learning how to get around on foot and using public transport. I’ve also gone to a few bars with other volunteers, had a walk on the promenade along the river, took a train to the Cascais beach, drank a beer at a scenic viewpoint, and wandered around the steep and narrow streets of Alfama. Some days ago I started self-studying Portuguese, but I’m still confused about the pronunciation, especially the nasal sounds.

A few days ago, I, another volunteer from Estonia, and my flatmate from Spain had our Welcome Day at SPIN’s office, which included a lot of practical information, a delicious three-course lunch (what? wow!), a game around the lovely Bairro Padre Cruz neighborhood, and talking about our goals, fears, etc. Giulia has been the nicest tutor ever, so I feel like I am in good hands. 

Overall I really like the diversity and abundant culture here in Lisbon. It seems very colorful and international, full of cool young people. Kind of makes you feel that you can also be

whoever/however you want to be. I’ve been told that it’s easy to get to know new people here, so that is certainly one of the many things I’m looking forward to. 

O testemunho No. 1 da Annamaria (SPIN)

I’ve been in Lisbon for 13 days and it has been wonderful.

  When I arrived in Lisbon and was in the taxi I was nervous because I was gonna meet my new flatmates and didn’t know what to expect but when I arrived at the apartment and saw a sign at the door that said ‘’Welcome Annamaria’’ and balloons on the balcony, I knew that we are gonna get along just fine. Everyone in my apartment is so nice, the first thing we did was a little tea party to get to know each other.

These past few days I have been exploring the city and meeting new people. I have to say that the architecture is so different from Estonia, especially for me because I'm from a small town where about 1050 people live and now living in a BIG city is a whole new experience.  One of the things I have noticed is that in Estonia we don't have these little balconies and tiles for our walls. Sidewalks are made of small square rocks, in Estonia, the sidewalks are made of asphalt. The biggest culture shock that I had was on the first day when I learned that people smoke inside. In Estonia, it’s prohibited to smoke inside if it isn’t a smoking room in clubs or bars. Here in Portugal there are so many mountains but in Estonia, we have small hills and one ‘’big’’ mountain, that isn’t really a mountain, it is called Suur Munamägi. So walking around the city was already pretty hard because of the hills. On my second day when I was walking around and saw what type of a hill I had to walk up to, my first thought was that I’m gonna get super strong legs thanks to Lisbon. 

Also, the people I have met are so friendly. Like the other day, some people came to our flat and we all just talked about how life was going and how life is in everyone's countries.

  On the 6th of October, I had my first meeting at the Spins office where I, Teele, and Amundelia were. We got so much information about our organization and what we need to do and talked about our expectations, fears, and how to get over them. We had this amazing lunch that other volunteers had made for us. We ate tomato soup with mozzarella, rice with vegetables and ice cream. After lunch, we had to walk around this beautiful neighborhood a bit to answer some questions and take pictures on an app. One of the questions led us to a viewpoint that was breathtaking.

O testemunho final do Henri (SPIN)

Like many other volunteers, I also fell in love to Lisboa and thinked about staying to live here after the volunteering project. Sadly life had other plans and it's more important to be back in homeland already.

I will surely miss a lot - chill portugese lifestyle.That being late for 10 minutes is fine. That if you run to metro, some stranger will hold a door for you. 40 euro metro card that can used travelling  around as much as we want all the way to Setubal, Arrabida, Sintra and ohh yess of course Praia da Ursa. That sun is mostly always shining and can sunbathe every morning in my rooftop. Just going somewhere, discovering and meet international people every week.

And more and more of course, anyways specially if planning to stay here long term, can do more, live like locals - get a small dog, move around with electric bicycle and find a flat that is nice and warm for winter time - and life is good! 

Also there is one thing I don't miss about living in Lisbon, and that is peacock around my flat. Birds in general sing very nicely and are more quiet in night time but they ohh me they are something else.

I really liked my volunteering time in Spin organisation, because of the good team. Also nice office/hostel area for workplace. And the projects itself, never gets boring because always new kind of events coming up to plan and manage. New volunteers coming in to welcome. Only problem for this year specifically was that would have wanted to do more work/events, what was obviously not possible. But I think that's actually pretty awesome 'problem' to have. 

There were two biggest event that I was able to take part of - on arrival training and road trip to Castelo do Viana. They were really enjoyable, because it gave good feeling of what ESC project are. Not only volunteering in workplace and living with flatmates, but being part of larger group. These events gave opportunity to see and meet a lot of new people. Learn and to activities all day and I have to say eat a lot! 

Now I have done my short and long term ESC opportunity. All I can do now is keep spreading the good words about it that more young people take part of it. 

Like we learned from conference, there are billions of euros invested into that for next years, and I think its all beneficial for everybody! 

Thank you! Love Henri

Agnes’ testimony No.2

One and a half months after my ESC started, sitting behind a desk, looking out of the window I realized that I´m not a tourist. It just sunk in whilst brushing my hair. Took me a few days to get used to the feeling. After being here 3 and a half months I realized im home. I know now how to manage without constantly looking at the map, which Asian store has my favorite udon noodles, where herbs are the freshest, who is the DJ who plays what makes me move and my go-to beach with turquoise blue water. Not to mention the parks, nature reserves, galleries and restaurants.

Working in the office was something I needed to get used to. Luckily Spin also has a projects that require working intensively for long hours, this style of working suits me better then sitting behind the desk for 5h a day for sure.

‘’From crisis to chance’’ was a training course on emergency pedagogy. This project brought together so many caring humane people. Focusing on the aspects of how to restore harmony in a human after something has interrupted their ability to do it themselves. Moving, singing, painting, playing – the basic rituals of feeling. “The high sky above me, the firmed earth below me, the good spirit within me.” That was the mantra with which we started and ended the day. A empowering practice to connect us to our surroundings, recover balance and remind ourselves of our ability to design our own future. With the words of Bernd Ruf trauma is a wound of the soul. If our bruises heal we become stronger, but if we don’t, they become contaminated and develop into illness.

During the training course I also had the opportunity to listen to the stories of refugees. All my respect to people with such strong will , determination and passion to live!

Agnes with Bernd Ruf,
the founding father of Emergency Pedagogy

Live it Lisbon was something I kept hearing about since the beginning of the project. Old volunteers looked back on it in hearts and flowers.
For those of you who don’t know what is this project : Live it Lisbon is a feel-good summer camp where you get to meet people from around the world, volunteer in the community, learn a bit of Portuguese, explore inside and around Lisbon, learn a few new recipes and have a nice time. The bonds built in these 11 days are strong and many participants from years ago still meet annually.
In addition to the running task that come with organizing such a camp I also went to the elderly day care center with the participants and ran a cooking workshop. In my eyes, these were the highlights of the camp. I love the atmosphere that results from combining the energy of youth and wisdom or the elderly. I feel really relaxed and focused among old people.

I also really enjoy cooking together. Cooking as a group for the group certainly creates a tight bond and a sense of family. Food is the language of love. An ideal tool for experimenting and a medium for giving love and effort.

These kind of activities are great to make people understand and appreciate the people around us. There are no others, there is only us!

O testimunho da Agnes

Congratulations, you are chosen! Pack and organise your life, your year in Lisbon starts in two weeks.

I love a bit of a challenge.

So I got my health checked, documents renewed, hugged my family and friends, and went to the airport.

For me it made sense for I had a strong feeling that’s what I’m supposed to do. And by that i do not mean that i know exactly what is going to happen or why i need the experience, or in which ways I’m gonna grow, not the slightest. But i had a strong feeling sending my application and it only grew doing the Skype interview, packing my suitcase, the plane landing, meeting with my roomies and planting the first seeds of coriander on our balcony. And with meeting with my co-workers and getting to know the projects more closely it only seems to keep doing that...

Sharing a home with 5 other people was what was making me nervous. As i am the eastern - European with dry dark humour, coming to live together with 4 other people from the middle- and south - Europe. Maybe the others don’t get me, maybe i seem distant, maybe they’r hot blooded temper is too much for me. Now I can tell you that it’s a silly thing to worry about. Of corse conflicts can comes but to worry in advance gives you no experience or skill to deal with the situation, you just have to deal with it as it comes. And I know that it will, and I know we can overcome it when It does. Overall we are all great young people who have come together to volunteer and do good.

And as a sidetone about the flat:  I absolutely recommend to bring a picture of friends, favourite candlestick, small decoration or any kind of other personal belonging to make you feel at home in your new home.

Getting to know the city itself has been surprisingly undemanding. Moving around and up and down the hills of Lisbon feels more like a sweet village than a big city. I got used to it so fast it surprised me. Not to say that I have it as the palm of my hand but the logic is there. And even if you wander off into the wrong direction you are so mesmerised by the sights it doesn’t really bother you. And the people have the best kind of warm presence, they make you feel like you are welcome to wonder around the streets as in your own home. 

I recommend to see the outskirts of the city as well.