April Round Trip

Spring arrived, summer is comming, and winter went definetelly away...

I did an amazing round trip on April whit a friend that brought us down to the East Coast.

We started our trip in Washington DC where we saw how a city can be created in a few years. White House, American Congress and all this stuff... Amazing weather and we discovered other parts of the city.

Next stop was Baltimore, were we could prove for ourselves that was not that dangerous as everybody told us, we saw how art and culture are really present in this city. We had the honour to meet nice people, an amazing couchsurfer and police officers that drove us wehre we needed in "unsafe" areas. 

Philladelphia was waiting for us next and was also amazing. The couchsurfer was also an amazing girl that spent lots of time with us, introduced us some frineds of her that drove us around the city, day and night. Amazing night out in Philladelphia.

New York was next and last stop waiting for us. I should say brooklyn, where we spent the whole weekend. And how glad we are to let ourselves know this dynamic cool and awesome neighbourhood. 

Once back from the trip the life in Maine looks exactly the same.

Winter go away!

It is March and there is still snow around. Although the Mainers keep telling me this has been a mild winter, I still believe it is being too long for me, too snowy, too cold! It is time for Spring. And the true that the sunny days becomming more common, but it is still cold. As you can see in the pictures though, when the sun shines the days are gorgeous!

A part from that, we are already completly into the work programming and routine. We are already one staff member more and have learned very fast how to deal with everyhting so we can be a good help. The kids are really challenging as the behaviors, backgrounds and specail needs. A wide variety of clients and needs are met there and sometimes is diffcult to individualize as much as it is needed. This is the reason because there is that many staff in this School. There is an average of 5 staff for 6 clients. Lots of theses cleints needs one to one attention.

The training the company provided us before starting our job was very useful. The main part of the training was the part dedicated to the Therapeutic Crisis Intervention. The TCI is an approach of the intervention of the educators when the child is in crisis. This approach is very extended and common in the United States. It takes into account all the little pieces and steps an educator can do and take in order to reduce a stressful situation for a kid that could potentially end in a crisis. The TCI also train the workers the physical strategies that need to be used in case that the situation becomes unsafe for the client, the worker, or both. This is something that mkes me thing a lot...

Why in Europe we don't have this kind of technicques? Do we need them? Can the use of theses techniques make the kids dependant to them? It is ok to expect from an educator to be able to physically distress an unsafe situation?

As we say, "mañana más", which means "Tomorrow there'll be more" 

Welcome Maine

Welcome Maine! We settled in Maine! By the beginning of February we settled in this state, after hours travelling by plane, airports, picking up cars, and driving driving and driving, we reached our new destination: Skowhegan, Maine. Wow, it still snows, it is still cold, it is still rural! This is deep America too! But it has coast, sea! A need for me.

Our town is Skowhegan. A small town up in the north of the state of Maine. No more than 7000 people live in here. I share the house with three more persons, one of them will leave soon. The house is not the best, kinda old and a carpet that would need to be removed and changed... A part from that, we'll make it our place.



The town is small. The streets have names and not numbers, and downtown is formed by just one street, in which there are a few shops. What suprises me the most of this area (and it also happened in Grand Rapids, Minnesota) is the old style of some of the shops and stores in town. The vast majority of them are small surfaces where they sell old and antique items that you can barely use, such as furniture, gifts or crafts. Of course in the big Avenue of Skowhegan there is a Walmart that provides the popullation with a variety of high quality American "food". Luckily, this time there is also Hannaford, another supermarket in which you can find a better quality food at a higher price.

Another thing that I can not understand is the management of the space by the American society. Let's see: This country in general has a lot of sapce, more in the suburbs and in the countryside. Maine is not an excpetion, not at all, probably is one of the less popullated states compared to its surface. Why then the people live in huge houses where the warehouse is completely packed and full of stuff as you can see from the street? Why do they still have problems with the space?

After a two weeks training we are ready to work. The workplace is much different than the one in Minnesota. Now we will work in a School program for kids with special needs. We'll be placed in one of the classrooms and will work as Educational Technicians. The job seems nice but very challenging. There is lots of staff because is needed, and this fact makes it easier for a beginner as I am!

The Maine adventure starts now!

Last days in Minnesota

Well, after almost 3 months in Minnesota it seems that we are moving. The fact is that we will change the agency we work for, the new placement will be Maine, sorrounded by the same amount of snow as we have here, but with other GEO fellows who live around the area. The reasons why we are moving are different and diverse. I just want to point that these 3 months have been very hard sometimes, but that I have also learnt profesional and personel things that I bring with me. I also feel thankful for the people whi has helped us and tried to make our stay nice and warm. But sometimes in life there are things that don't work and it is not anybody's fault.

This last 3 months we've been working a lot. I have had the chance to know different parts of the agency, different programs with different kind of clients, less restrictive environments.

The American working environment is still sometimes difficult to understand for me, and sometimes amazing. Here is normal that the Youth Counselors don't have any degree or studies related with the job they are doing, and is also very common that the people need to have 2, or even sometimes 3 jobs.

It still aplies the rule that the Americans are very nice in words but sometimes they don't really mean what they are saying. Once you get used you understand when it is real and when it is just politeness.

Unfortunatelly, two of the GEO fellows who were with us left by the end of December, that was one of the things that made these times even more hard. Lonelyness is something we can feel here, and sometimes have been hard to handle.

Looking forward to start a new episode of this adventure in Maine!

Here two nice pictures of Minnesota. The first one, the average temperature of these days in Celsius, the second one, standing on the water of Mississipi River!

One month and a half in Minnesota

It’s been already more than one month and a half, and good news, I’m sill here, bad news, some things are not like we expected… It would be a long and boring story telling everything that worries and dislikes us, so I’ll try to make it easy.

Well, in general terms, the Social American System and the educational methods used in this country are not the same as the ones we use in South Europe. I’m working in a Juvenile Center, I understand that some restrictive settings need to apply, however, there are some things that I think could be different.

The American culture is also surprising me. First of all, I’m realizing that the Americans not always mean what they say, mostly in the working environment. This is the place of the forms, the trainings, the offices and papers. Another thing is what happens on the floor, day by day, when it’s time to do what is written on the paper and said in the training. You can sometimes be pissed when you realize it but you are not prepared to understand it yet.

My European fellows who share this experience are great and we get on really well, bad news, two of them are leaving soon, they have realized this is not what they expected and other issues that can not be solved here have raised, so they need to go back home. Each one has their own trip. I will not lie though if I say that all of us think about staying longer or going back home very often.

My option has been staying for now, I decided not to take any decision until two or three months have passed… Anyway, in Spain the general financial and social situation it is not great.

The Americans tell us that it is being a very warm December so far, that we should be freezing and with more snow than there is now. The average temperature now is -7ºC, getting colder in the night, and the worst still has to come. At least, as you can see in the picture when FCBarcelona plays they keep me warm! Visca el Barça in the USA!

And when FCBarcelona is not playing we just enjoy our talent The Trumpet Man who also keeps us warm! Enjoy the video and his amazing talent!

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Welcome to the United States of America!

After several and uncountable ups and downs in the process to get the J1 Visa, after 12 weird but intense 12 months in Barcelona working hard, having lots of fun and new adventures, but also with my head and heart willing to be in the States, I made it, I finally was there. I could not believe I was at Barcelona Airport again, but this time to take a flight that would bring me far away for a little while, for a long time actually... Nerves, feelings, sadness and joy, exhausted but full of energy, I barely slept last night.

Barcelona airport was nice, as usual, I really tasted for the last time in a long time the lovely feeling of being at a known place, where you can expect what will happen, what the people will do, how they will react. I bought the newspaper, as I always do before taking a long trip or a significant day for me, check in my luggage, passed the security control and left Barcelona. Maybe I should say fortunatelly, it was bloody raining and the weather wasn't sweet at all, fact that decreased my nostalgic feeling of leaving my sunny and warm land.

The first flight brought me to Frankfurt, an enormous airport, the biggest in Europe. I had there 6 never ending hours for the next connection flight. I "Germanly" waited at the airport till I couldn't be polite anymore and I lied down on the chairs to have a nice rest. The last night party drinks and the lack of sleep started to be hard. When I woke up the gate was full of people. We were about to get in the plane. The megaphone system anounced that the plane was fully-booked so we were allowed to bring just one bag inside. I had two. Couldn't do them smaller, couldn't fit them in one. I just got in with my fingers crossed and my two bags: -"Good evening Sir", -"Good evening madame" (smiling and "good lad" face). I was in. I found my place, it was at the window, near an American man in his fifties... A pillow, headphones, book, personal notebook, and myself... Here we go America!

My friend F. was waiting for me at Boston Airport. It was one of the nicest and warm welcomes ever, not because anything amazing happened, he was just waiting there for me, but if not amazing it really was very specail for me to have someone ready to pick me up at the airport when I landed for first time in the States, and not only this, but also to host me at his lovely house for the forst three nights. That was definetelly, the best jet lack I ever had. If I landed at Boston then, Connecticut was the first State I was and when I saw the first big snow storm. There I spent Halloween with my Spanish friend, being advised, recieving some tips, and having a warm weekend.

On Monday the 31st, the official day of the Program, I took a train from New London to Boston. In Boston all the GEO Fellows met. I should mention that GEO is the organization that selected and hosted as a fellows for this Profesional Exchange. http://www.geopportunities.org/. Once we all met, we went to Worcester, where an Orientation week waited for us. The week was nice, funny and helpful. There we arranged practical stuff as paper work, forms to fill in for the Immigration offices, more forms to fill in for the taxes, some other forms to fill in for him, other forms to fill in for her, some other form to fill in for them, but most of all, we got to know each other: the fellows going to DC, the fellows going to Massachusetts, the ones going to Maine, to New York, and us, the ones going to Minnesota!

After this week, we all left Worcester and went to our destinations. The ones going to Minnesota we took a plane to Minneapolis. Once there, we stayed at a hotel while we were setting a bank account and having our cars ready to pick. Once we did that, we finally drove to Grand rapids, MN, our final destination!

I will avoid here a large explanation of facts and feelings about how we found our house, I'll just say that we spent the first 48 hours cleaning and getting rid off all the rubish! Then, we could start to think that this could be our house for some months! I long journey was ans is waiting for us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt4EhV_xw-0

Closing time...

The next lines set out to examine and evaluate how my EVS experience has reached the objectives I had at the beginning throughout a description of the key competences pointed by the "Youthpass" which describe best the experience and the learning outcomes gained during the project.

The educational benefits of the Key Competences are linked with the set learning objectives I made at the beginning and integrating them with my volunteer learning process.

Communication in mother tongue

My mother tongues, Catalan and Spanish, have been both present during my EVS experience.

First of all, during my conversations over the phone or Internet with my family and friends I have been speaking in my mother tongues, fact that has made me feel closer to my family and, in some way, still close to my traditions through using the humour, the language, the expressions, etc.

On the other hand, the several trips that friends and family made to visit me in Dublin have helped me also to communicate in my mother tongue. I have used my mother tongues to translate into them from English when friends from my country could not understand, helping them to be more integrated with the culture.

Moreover, I have taught many times different songs from my country and explaining and sharing the meaning of their lyrics.

Finally, I have used my mother tongues in several times and it has been useful for me to show to some natives and young people how rich but sometimes difficult it is the process of learning and understanding a new language.

Communication in foreign language

Since the first day when I arrived in Dublin I needed to develop and comunicate in a foreign language, in this case, in English. I had to develop my own skills and abilities to built up my learning on a daily atmosphere with native people, fact that involves other related abilities.

This learning has provided me with a global understanding of other aspects around the culture and the language. In this sense, I had to change my point of view in several points and understand the general use of the language through, for example, the use of the humour in the Irish culture, the different expressions used specially in a specific area, or the use of the slang in a youth environment.

Related to the last point, it needs to be said that working with young people in a specific area in the North of Dublin has not been easy for me sometimes in terms of understanding how they speak and the use of the language in this specific environment. That's why, since the first moment, I had to develop the capacity of a really active listening in order to understand and be aware of what was being said in every moment.

In reference to the more academic learning of the language, I took some lessons at the begining of my EVS with a native teacher and, several months later, I took a specific course to prepare myself for the Cambridge Exam in Advanced English.

Last but not least, I would like to point how rich has been the opportunities that I had to listen Irish and speak about how the Irish language has been used during the history in the country. I had some interesting conversations to understand the reality in this country, at the same time that gave me the chance to speak about my country and my nation, Catalunya, where we also have our particular language, the Catalan, and our cultural identity and expressions.

Mathematical competence and basic competence in science and technology

The EVS experience in its global understanding has been constantly a challenge and the chance to develop the logic thinking both sorting daily issues related with the youth work that requires immediate solutions and the daily organization of my life and all its aspects in general.

Organizing  and planing my monthly allowance in order to cover all my expenses with no problems but also managing the money to have enough to enjoy the experience has been something that I have been doing during my whole EVS. In this sense, I have improved my capacity of solving problems finding always the best solution and I feel I have learnt a wide range of abilities that now I am able to use in the future.

The use of the new technologies in the organization I have been working with has given me the chance to develop this skills also in this context. I have been helping the young people on how to use the computer and graphic programs to create new materials. For instance, I have been helping young people in the use of different programs to create a poster or some material for a competition entry.

Digital competence

The digital competence is something that has been greatly present in my EVS experience. The use of the Internet in various fields and different ways, and the specific initiative taken as the creation of a blog to reflect my experience are just some examples.

The email has been something needed to develop my work experience that I used to communicate and exchange informations with my mentor, youth workers, colleagues, and to recieve training opportunities. 

I have been involved in the CITY project of the organization, where we have been developing several digital projects and providing the young people with access to Internet and different technical equipment, 

such as Apple Macs, video cameras, digital cameras and some basic graphic design programmes. The collaboration in this area has meant for me the opportunity to participate in digital projects as the creation of a short movie with young people from Ballymun, short movie that was projected during the Otherworld Festival for Halloween 2009.

In addition, during my whole EVS I created and managed a personal blog where I have been uploading all the relevant information and experiences that I have had. Linking this blog to the website of the organization made this blog and my general experience not only more accessible and understandable to the young people and everybody interested in it, but it has also become a way to promote the existence and the numerous advantages of the EVS as a programme. https://manelsole.blogspot.com

Last but not least, the personal use of Internet and the computer in my personal environment has been essential to develop these skills and keeping in contact with my family and friends using tools and implements of the net in order to contact them.

Learning to learn

Before starting the EVS I already thought and formulated what my objectives for the experience were. Some of them were improving my English, contrasting and complimenting my work experience and reflecting on my working skills.

At the end of my experience I accomplished most of them. However, this is not just a fortunate end. The reason is because of the revision and evaluation process I have been doing during the whole experience thinking how the things could improve and looking for the reasons of my succees or frustrations.

It is needed to be said the fact that in a new environment and a foreign country, the expectations are significantly different than the ones that I would have in my country. In that sense, continuous reflections have had to be done in order to be aware of the reality of where I was involved and how it was affecting me, both in my daily life and routines and the work environment.

The weekly meetings with the team have been the opportunity to discuss about our job and how we were doing the work, at the same time that was the place to organize the coming week and make suggestions.

On the other hand, the meetings and revision with my mentor have had a wider significance than just the work done in the organization. That was the place where I could give and recieve feedback about my perspective, expectations and frustrations about the general expereince such as the money allowance, social life, impressions in and out of the organization, level of understanding of the language and the culture, etc.

Social and civic competence

The EVS experience has raised my awareness of the European Policies in terms of young people specifically, and my awareness of the European reality in general.

Firstly, I learnt and was involved in a youth organization, where I could observe, understand, and work with the standards of the youth work in Ireland, Dublin and, especially, Ballymun. This fact has provided me with a general view and understanding of the main issues that the youth work in this area needs to cover and deal with, and the way the youth work face its daily challenges.

At the same time, that brought me the opportunity to compare all these aspects with my own background and experience as a social worker in Catalunya, having reflections on how the whole structure and specific needs of a country influences its social policies and their work perspectives.

On the other hand, I met lots of people from other European and non-European countries with whom I could sahre experiences and develop interesting conversations and reflections about the main issues in the different European countries and Europe in general.

Finally, trainings as "Engaging Youth and the World", "Creativity Unlocked" and the "On-Arrival and Mid-way trainings" provided me with a better understanding of the different options and possibilities that the Youth in Action Programme has. In this sense, I could share this knowledge with other youth organizations in my area that could benefit from them.

Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship

The youth work is developed in a team and based on group decision making. Under this perspective, I have actively participated in the group work in different ways such as making reflections, giving ideas and advice on how to manage or improve some specific situations, giving my own opinion or sharing my knowledge on how a similar issue would be solved in my country.

One specific example is how I prepared, managed and gave a presentation to a group of young people in Ballymun about the Christams festivities in my country.

Another example can be found on the way on how I have been thinking on my training needs and interests. Some of the trainings I have attended have responded to a particular interest that I have. In this sense, I have been doing all the process of researching, applying and being involved in these trainings. After these process, I could bring new ideas to be developed in some of the groups in my organization and manage some of them. 

One example of this would be the use of material I collected at 'Engaging Youth in the World' training with a group I work with, the Animation Group. I planned and implemented teamwork activities based on young people resolving a fictional conflict in their group.

Cultural awareness and espression

The cultural awareness and understanding of the Irish culture already started before my arrival in this country. Through guides, books, films, music, Internet, etc. I had already a general idea of its particular cultural expressions.

However, thanks to the attitude of knowing people and my interest about different cultures and persons, I have had repeatedly the chance to have rich conversations and reflections not only about the Irish reality, but also about different cultural realities, both in Europe and the rest of the world, at the same time that I could participate of their costumes as dancing, food, traditions, humour, etc.

On the other hand, one specific example on how I have showed my particular culture was the opportunity I had to prepare and give a presentation to a group of young people in Ballymun about how we celebrate Christams in my country and the significance of this festivity for us.

Therefore, taking part of the festivity of Halloween in my organization and the community, I could learn how and why this party is celebrated in Ireland, at the same time that I could explain and show how the same dates are differently celebrated in  my country.

Other specific skills

I also volunteered with other local groups in Ballymun, working with young people, including the Aisling Transition Project and the Holy Spirit Summer Project.

These opportunities meant I got the chance to see different approaches to how the youth work is done and developed in different organizations that are still in the same area. At the same time this gave me a sense of the community and the context of working within it. Through my participation in these projects I could see and understand how the brotherhood among youth organizations works in Ballymun and what it really means.

In Oct and Nov 2009, I also supported BRYR's involvement in 2 events to promote volunteerism among students. In Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University, I took the opportunity to get to know the college environments and other volunteering organisations in Ireland and Dublin.

At these events, I learned how the organisation promotes volunteerism. I interacted with the students, bringing my experience to those interested, explaining what EVS is, and the steps involved. I told them about the activities I was involved with in BRYR and how they could get involved too.

Training activities

• Child Protection Awareness Training - 14 Oct 09
• Leargas (Irish National Agency) On Arrival Training 16 - 19th Oct 09
• Introduction to Youth Work - 23 Feb 10
• Leargas Mid-Way Training 26 - 28th Mar 10
• BRYR In-Service Training 12 - 13th Apr 10 (including Young People & Sexuality, Youth Work Code of Practice and Youth Leadership)
• Youth Mental Health lecture 13 Apr 10
• Engaging Youth and the World  29th - 30th Apr 10
• Challenging Behaviour 11 May 10
• Creativity Unlocked, Salzburg 12 - 18th July 10