Thursday, November 10, 2016

Trip to the Czech Republic

After only 6 days in the Netherlands I was heading off again, this time to the Czech Republic, a country I'd never been to before and knew very little about. So the interns along with John and NY musician Jason Harrod set off on our first tour of the year. Living in N. Ireland if I want to travel abroad I have to get on a plane, so the 12 hour car journey that followed was certainly an experience . . .

Day one of school talks had limited success, but it was definitely a learning curve. I learned that Czech people are very reserved and reluctant to talk to or even look at people who they don't know. This is the polar opposite to N.Ireland where you say hello to virtually every person you pass on the street, whether you know them or not. I also discovered that the Czech Republic is largely atheistic and despite our presentations and videos being filled with pictures of crosses and churches only one boy during the entire week caught on to the fact that we are a Christian organisation. Finally I learned that Ireland/the UK seem to be the only place in Europe where school uniforms are worn, everywhere else students just wear what they want; it's kinda weird.

Our success in schools picked up, as already during our second day of giving talks we acquired a long list of pupils interested in receiving information about Atlantic Bridge. Therefore we're confident that we'll have a Czech team come to our Europe Week, which is being planned for the end of June 2017.

Highlights of the trip include a school which had a zoo and let me hold a chameleon, visiting a concentration camp in Terezin and going up Mount Jested and eating some pretty epic pancakes in the restaurant 1012 metres up.

Overall my first time in the Czech Republic was great. All of my host families were very welcoming and I met lots of lovely people. It was definitely an exciting way to kick off the beginning of my year with Atlantic Bridge.

Sophie






Friday, November 4, 2016

Meeting the Mayor of Reimerswaal

ew EVS-team
On Thursday November 3, the new EVS-Intern team was welcomed at the Reimerswaal Municipality represented by Mayor Piet Zoon and youth worker Stefan Koeman. Finding out what is going on in the township of Reimerswaal with it seven villages and total population of about 22.000 people, helps us build better bridges.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Irish girl in a Dutch world

Hi, my name is Sophie and I come from a small place in Northern Ireland called Whitehead. It's on the coast and quite pretty but I decided that after finishing school I wanted to take a gap year and move to a different country to experience a new culture, meet new people and challenge myself. So now I live in De Vierslag in another small town called Kruiningen where I work with Atlantic Bridge. I've only been here for a couple of days but already I've talked to lots of new people, explored the town and planned talks for when we go to speak in schools amongst other fun activities.

Immediately I noticed how different Dutch life is compared to life back home. The language is completely different for a start. The Germanic language sounds alien to me hence in my first few days I've smiled through many a conversation I didn't understand a word of, so the sooner I learn some Dutch the better! Another observation is how flat the country is compared to Northern Ireland where there is a hill everywhere you look. Since the land is so flat the Dutch cycle everywhere so you can't walk down the street without being passed by a cyclist. Also the Dutch have an obsession with coffee. They will take any and every opportunity they get to socialize over a cup of the stuff as it is seen as an integral part of every day life. This is a somewhat awkward custom for a girl like me who doesn't like any form of hot drink, but still, I can appreciate the concept behind it.

Furthermore I can tell it's going to be a year of new experience for me. On my second day here I had mussels, which I've never had before but was told I must try since they are the speciality of a neighbouring town. I've also been adjusting to living away from home for the first time and all the cooking and cleaning I have to do, as well as learning to live with new people who have different upbringings, beliefs and ways of life to my own.

But before I get too settled in the Netherlands we're heading off to the Czech Republic and East Germany with New York musician Jason Harrod. We will be going into schools, churches and events speaking about Atlantic Bridge, our home country as well as the topic of building bridges internationally. It will be an exciting way to begin our year together and I'm looking forward to meeting new people, talking to lots of students in schools and seeing more of Europe.

Introducing the new EVS-Intern team

A new EVS-Intern team started in October. They are Brigita (Lithuania), Sophie (Northern Ireland),  and Sándor (Hungary).They started their year with Atlantic Bridge a bit different from the usual. Soon after their arrival they went on tour with musician Jason Harrod to the Czech Republic and the former German Democratic Republic.Each of them will introduce themselves and share their adventures with interested readers.