Ohlédnutí za končícím projektem Evropské dobrovolné služby

A je to tu zase, konec přišel rychleji, než bychom to čekali. Vždycky to tak je, vím to, ale nejspíš si na to nikdy nezvyknu. Přijde mi to jako před pár týdny, kdy k nám Španělka Elvira a Arménka Shushanik přijely a začaly se seznamovat s knihovnou a objevovat pro ně dosud málo známý svět. Od té doby však uplynulo už celých 10 měsíců a nyní nastává čas loučení, jejich projekt v knihovně končí a zbývá čas tak akorát na malé ohlédnutí za tím, co jsme společně prožily.

Za sebe musím přiznat, že to byl projekt plný výzev – poprvé dvě zahraniční dobrovolnice najednou, poprvé dobrovolnice ze státu mimo Evropskou unii, nejdelší projekt, projekt s nejmladší dobrovolnicí (Shushanik bylo 21, když přiletěla do ČR). Mé počáteční obavy, jestli to všechno v knihovně zvládneme, se však velmi rychle rozplynuly. Společný čas, ve kterém se rozvíjely a učily nejen dobrovolnice, ale také my všichni, kteří jsme se s nimi ať už pravidelně nebo jen občas potkávali, utekl jako voda. A nejen nám, ale i Elviře a Shushanik. Jejich malá ohlédnutí si můžete přečíst níže, tentokrát pouze v angličtině. Přeji příjemné počtení.

Zuzana Pařízková, koordinátorka projektu

A generator of good stories, photographs, friendships and memories.

“Finding lost things is hindered by routine habits, and that's why it is so hard to find them”

Gabriel García Márquez

Within a few days I am closing the suitcase again, this time way home. I still do not know if sad or happy, I imagine the "hard truth" will come when boarding the plane as it usually does, or when seeing my bedroom stop in time, or when September will come and the fury of the summer will be over.

But what I know is that I will miss my routine here, the familiar faces smiling at me every morning to the tune of "ahoj", having something to do, a trip to wait and a small Czech family with I always can count, and which I have much to thank. Thank you for making everything easier and for making me feel at home.

Since coming to Czech Republic I've missed some things, family and friends of course, but also material and cultural things. And now I'll miss things I've discovered here, which until a few months ago, I did not even know about their existence.

In these months I have been able to discover things about my culture and personality and about Czech culture, I could compare both, but specially, I have found people, and that's the biggest thing about travelling, shake off the dust and monotony to remember that we are all people everywhere, it makes you a little down to earth, appreciate and understand we are small part of something bigger, beyond nationalisms and fears.

Ten months apparently go far, but I'm leaving things to do. In the last training I wrote a list of 101 things to do before I finished my volunteering; now I would be ashamed of myself just looking at it, the last few months here have flown, and between lots of trips there is not that much time for anything else.

I still hardly recommend this experience, and although the destination place does a lot, after all is not the most important thing. I have known as many volunteers as ways to leverage this experience, everyone enjoys it and takes advantage of its own way, more or less respectable, but in any case is a personal growth experience, a challenge, a generator of good stories, photographs, friendships and memories.

Text a foto: Elvira Abellán

Ahoj Czech Republic

The time run so fast and now I am writing my last article. This ten months were so special for me, I will always remember about it as the best experience of my life. I met a lot of new people, I discovered a new culture, I learned a lot and I travelled as much as I could. Too much warm memories to take in my heart.

Now I want to say thank you to each person whom I met here. Thank you for your smiles, for your support and for your attention and warm attitude. 

When I will look back to remember the best moments, first of all I will remember, with a happy smile on my face my, Russian class. The best students ever! Even if I didn’t consider myself as their teacher. They were people from whom I needed to learn and not to teach them. They were amazing. I was worried at the beginning, as Russian is not my mother tongue, and it could be hard for me to teach, but when I felt how nice people they are, how positive and kind, I forgot about my worries. It’s indescribable to explain the energy that I got every time from them. I will miss them so much!

I would like to say thanks to my coordinator, who was great in each aspect. Always helpful and open for support. Thanks to our mentors and our friends out of library who made our free time better and funnier. Thanks to our colleagues who were always nice to as, always smiling and helping us to be involved in to library’s life.

It looks that writing my last article was just about saying thank you, which means I’m leaving with great achievements and gratefully satisfied.

Text a foto: Shushanik Zargaryan

Více o projektech Evropské dobrovolné služby najdete na webu programu Erasmus+.

Více o projektech zrealizovaných v Severočeské vědecké knihovně, najdete na našich webových stránkách.