Christmas in Ireland

Well, I didn’t spend the Christmas time in Ireland because I came back to my country with my family…

However, before the Christmas holidays, when we still had activities and groups in the Reco, we celebrated the Christmas!

It was nice. The main activity about Christmas was the Christmas dinners. Every group, from the youngest ones to the oldest, had the chance to celebrate the Christmas with a really good and tasty dinner in the Reco Restaurant!

During the week of 7th of December, I enjoyed with different groups this celebration. I discovered which kind of food they’re eating during the Christmas, and it is, mainly, turkey. They also had a really good ice creams and desserts.

One of the most enjoyable experience I had during this days was the exchange Christams traditions with the kids and workers from one of the grups of the Aisling Project. They asked me if I could explain them the typical Spanish Christmas to compare it with their celebration and to know something more about another country. So me, as a good catalan, explained them the Spanish Christmas traditions, and the catalan particular traditions.

It was very pleasant to have the opportunity to explain them about my traditions, it was a way to talk about me. They were really surprised with the Catalan “Caga Tió”, our crib with “El caganer” and, of course, with the fancy three magic kings and their three camels!

SOME PICTURES

Begining of December: We put "El caganer" in the Crib

24th December: After gave him lots of food to make him fat, we hit him with a stick and all sing a song. After it, he shit lots of presents for us

31 st. December: We eat 12 grapes for the last 12 seconds of the year.


6th of january: We wake up and we have the house plenty of presents. The three magic kings go in all all the houses puttig presents for everybody. If you have been a good boy or girl during the year, you have more presents!

Open Day, we are already open!

Wednesday 9th of December 2009. Everything were prepared for The oficial Open Day in the Reco... Everyboby arrived soon in the morning to finish the small things for the opening day and to clean the rooms.

1pm. Everything allright, everybody knew where to stay, the atmosphere was joyful. The firsts young people arrived in the Reco looking forward to seeing the new building and enjoy it... And finally...

WE OPENED THE DOORS FOR THE OPEN DAY!

The young people got in the building with a curious smile in their faces. They already knew the building, but now it was reformed, with new furniture, more prepared. Little by little more young people arrived and made a tour around the building. The youthworkers, the managers, the volunteers, and the rest of the workers were glad to open the doors again.

That day all the young people could enjoy The Reco again. The youthclub with a new pool table and more space, the music room, the art rooms, the music room, the hall, the City (the computers rooms), the Green room, the Restaurant. The young people could enjoy the restaurant as an open day and they could have a meal in that new space.

In that day I was mainly in the Youth Club, playing pool and other games, and talking with the young people about the new building and what they thought about it.

After the Open Day that finished at 5pm, the usual activity of The Reco with the groups restarted again.

I finished this day tired but happy to see the reason of all the previous work we did preparing the building. The young people are the reason and they were joyful with the new space. It was pleasant to be there.

The only think I continued thinking once the day finished, was how to transmit to the young people the need to be respectful and take care of The Reco. They already know that need but sometimes it's necessary to remind it because The Reco is like a big house inhabited for a lots of people. It's something like:

If you take care of your space, you are caring of yourself.

Moving to the "new - old" Reco

Since I arrived, at the beginings of October, The Reco had been doing its activities in another building. I didn't know how was the new building but everybody was talking about it and looking forward to going back there. Let me explain... Before I arrived and for many years, The Reco was in a big building that recently  had to be reformed for a safety reasons. So I arrived when that building was being reformed.

At the ends of November the works were almost finished and we started preparing the moving days. It meant to make some meetings to arrange the dates and all the steps we had to follow to move back. Since the last week of November until the 8th of December we did all that work. The hardest week was the last before the Opening Day. In those week I painted radiators and walls, prepared some furniture, helped organising all the stuff, cleaned, etc.

This moving was an opportunity to make of it a chance to give to the building a new atmosphere and to change some things for the benfit of the young people who are using it.

Everybody worked hard to have the new building prepared as soon as possible. It was also a good experience to work with the workmates that I don't use to, to know them a little bit more, and for me, to know the building, apreciate and respect it and feel it as an important part of my work. I think that helped me to understand the need to encourage the young people because they respect the building as it's essential to carry the activities on.

The temporary Reco

The Reco

Volunteer Fair

In two occasions I had the opportunity to participate in a volunteer event in the Universities. These events were meetings in the universities, where a lot of organisations that are working with volunteers had their own tent to present themselves to the students. There was all kind of organisations. The aim of these events was to show which kind of work these organisations are doing and to give a chance to the students who are interested in volunteering.  Actually, there were lots of organisations who are giving the chance of volunteering with them.

My experience was interesting. In one hand, I had the chance to know the university and to speak with the students about BRYR, The Reco, volunteering, and in the other hand, I could show them what the European Volunteer Service is and talk a little bit about my experience, even though my experience was short! I realized that lots of young people don’t know about the EVS, and some of them were really surprised when they found out this opportunity…

One of these events was in the DCU (Dublin City University), and the other one was in Trinity College.

I finished these events thinking how the EVS could be more accessible to the young people… It’s a big and a fantastic opportunity, but it’s still not widely known…

Zombies from the Block

One of the groups that I'm involved with is the Animation Group. A group of young people with two leaders that aims to create and have fun with their imagination and the digital tools they have around. It means that they try to think about they would like to do, and after this first ideas they start the project. Let me explain, for example, what we were doing during the October...

The group was interested in creating a short movie. As we were near the Halloween dates, they decided to create a movie about Zombies... However this story had to have something about Ballymun. So the Movie would be about "Zombies from the Block" and it would be filmed in Ballymun, in The Reco and in the blocks. We started thinking about the screenplay. We decided the characters and we spent a week writing the screenplay.

After that, the funniest but the hardest work: Filming. We spent some weeks filming, trying to get the best version of the film. The young people maked up, dressed up and acted as a real zombies... They were a busy sessions finishing late but everybody were really implicated and all of us wanted to get the film for the Otherworld Festival, in the October 31st, to show it to everybody in the big screen.

I really enjoyed those days taking part of the activty of this group. Even I could participate as an actor in the movie!!

It was really joyful all the process and the end at the big square fool of people, and the big screen showing them the movie "Zombies from the block".

Ireland, first month...

After the first month, obviously… lots of things have happened!

Summary:

After a month… heavy rainy and windy weather, they’re still driving for the left side, I’m still having long conversations with the bus drivers, I’ve met European people, I live in a house and I’ve a room, I got a broadband mobile, so I’ve Internet when/where I want, I realized that sometimes in Ballymun there are horses and hens around the sreets, I have an English teacher, I’m thinking of buying a bicycle, I eat more potatoes every day, I’ve known the house parties, I’ve known the police (luckily no for any bad reason!) and I celebrated my Birthday, yeah!

My house and the room

Yes, I have a room, in Collinswood. The one that I told you about the guys that are looking the Champions League matches, the cheap one, so that’s my house. The room is pretty small, but cheap, cossy and nice. It has a bed, a table and a cupboard to put my clothes and stuff in.

The house is inhabited by 4 Irish people (3 men and a woman) and me. At the beginning they seemed to be shy and not so sociable, but day by day they are nicer with me. The last Friday we played Poker… and I won!

They are Irish people, a bit older than me, who works in a usual timetable (from 9 to 7, aprox.) and during the weekdays I don’t see them so much… They arrive in the afternoon, and I work in the afternoon.

I hope it’ll change but, you know… when you are in a new country, where everything is new, where you have to speak, listen and think (just a little bit) in an other language, you realize that it tires more that it seems so I need to sleep long hours at the moment!! But it’s gorgeous! The truth is that I sleep very well, during the morning I can’t hear anything, just sometimes the soft noise of the rain making “tic tac tic tac” when it beats the window, then I open one eye, look outside and say to myself: half an hour more…

Halloween and a perfect Birthday

Halloween… The Irish people are really looking forward enjoying Halloween. They dress the houses, dress up themselves and make lots of things. In the Reco we were developing a dolls called molly dolls, they were dolls made by clothes. The technique was cut a DL clothes giving them a body shape, then, sewing the clothes putting them together. They had to let a hole in the head of the molly doll to put the scum of a pillow in. After it, they finish sewing until the end. Then, the funniest work: decorate the doll putting smiles, shining eyes, hair, a nice dress and all that your imagination let you do!

During these weeks previous to Halloween, there was also a circus near The Reco where the kids could go and enjoy a circus experience by themselves.
One week before Halloween everybody was throwing fireworks all over the street, they really like it and in Halloween there are lots of Fireworks. Sometimes is dangerous and you have to be careful!

We celebrate Halloween on the 31st October. The party was called Otherworld Festival. It was a Festival in the big square in Ballymun, where there were lots of organizations, people, cultural associations, etc… who are involved in Ballymun. As BRYR we had our own tend where were all the molly dolls exhibited. During the Festival a there were places to eat, a non stop circus performance, short gigs from the Ballymun young music bands, dance exhibitions from a Ballymun dance groups, dress up and make up workshops and lots of things. After enjoying all the afternoon and evening there, we finished the party with great fireworks.

That was Ballymun Halloween event and my Birthday afternoon celebration. After it, the Dublin night was craig great. All the pubs and nightclubs were fool of dressed up people and the atmosphere was really nice and funny. A perfect Birthday.


Ballymun, the neighborhood

This neighborhood is really interesting… I realized after two weeks here, that sometimes there are hens and horses around the streets of Ballymun. The first I thought was that some animals escaped from a farm. However, after asking a workmate about it, she said me that it was normal because some people from Ballymun has animals.
A part from these curiosities, Ballymun is a dynamic suburb in the North of Dublin. The blocks built in the 60's give to Ballymun a particular structure. I hope I can see more about this area. Getting involved in BRYR and the Reco give me the chance to see the issues that the people from this are have to live with, and to see the potencialities of this area, of its inhabitants, and all the youth, health, social, educational, community organizations that are working in it.

Other things…

I bought a photo camera. I bought as well a shaver that only works when is plugged… and the bathrooms of the Irish houses don’t have sockets… Bet what I do!

That’s all after a month… Well… that’s all I can say just with words!

Cheers!

On Arrival Training 

From the 16th to the 19th October I went to the On arrival Training organized by the Nacional Agency of Ireland (Leargas). There were all the European volunteers who are working around Ireland doing a European Volunteer Service.

We did lots of activities to get to know each other, meet the other EVS projects. We shared fears and dreams, expectations and frustrations, and the most important, we created a net of Volunteers in Ireland.

It was a great experience because I could meet lots of people around Europe and I could know the people who are in Dublin like me. We arranged some visits and meetings with other volunteers in Cork, Galway, etc.