TC "Elephants swinging under the green flag"

always a pleasure to meet Iulia...especially when a beer is around

We have some free spots for this TRAINING COURSE in ROMANIA from 20 – 29 may 2024 on topic of sustainability and circular economy for participants from BULGARIA, CZECHIA, CROATIA, GREECE, ITALY, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, NORTH MACEDONIA, POLAND, PORTUGAL, SERBIA, SPAIN. If you are interested write a message to [email protected]. Limited places so first coming, first served

here are some links to final products
enjoy

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092304097208
https://issuu.com/toleapostovei/docs/catalog_swinging_elephants
https://www.slideshare.net/ToleaPostovei1/elephants-swinging-magazinepdf

ELEPHANTS SWINGING MAGAZINE.pdf ELEPHANTS SWINGING MAGAZINE.pdf - Download as a PDF or view online for free

DAY 9 - 11 may

Not good bye, but see you soon...

In the morning we were invited by our hosts, Hair Redivivus to a special event where they disseminate the results of first year of accreditation and also other local ngo's and schools were there to interact and promote Erasmus + programme. After our hosts, catalina and Tolea introduced us in the world of Erasmus + we visited the stands and got from them gifts like magazines, calendars, badges and we noticed that some of their projects are very "green connected". We spoke with volunteers and participants in projects, we met the staff of Hair Redivivus and it was a plesure to discuss with persons that were in our projects in Spain and Belgium.
Interaction was very good and discussions continued having a coffee and some snacks and they were interested to discover our projects' ideas.
Afternoon came with evaluation part but we had time to explore Buzau city center and enjoy the green parks. Evening came with youthpass ceremony, last words and secret friend revealing, moments of happiness and friendship. The party was a pizza one with a lot of dancing from all over Europe and then the last hugs and goodbyes.
We think that for everyone was a great experience and we promised to continue working in our teams to finish the projects and apply them

DAY 8 - 10 may

Last day in Sarata Monteoru found every team very active in completing the tasks of fish market so everyone was working on the "timeline" for follow up and dissemination. Every step was well planned and each team choose an organization that will take the responsibility to apply the projects so hopefully the projects will become reality in Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Spain, Romania

After lunch and cleaning the spaces we headed to "Budureasca Experience", a wine cellar that pays a lot of attention to bioplanting and cropping, using renewable energy in all phases of production, recycling leftovers. We visited the cellar, had a presentation of wines by a professional sommelier, met the main winemaker and other people involved and enjoyed the beautiful landscapes of the region
In Buzau after accomodation we did last preparation for next day event and also add new position on "learning tree". Organizers gave us the link for a youthpass questionnaire and explained again how to understand better our outcomes. Also a link of a final evaluation was sent and instructions to fill it next day.

DAY 7 - 9 may

This day was dedicated to work for our projects, to develop implementation phase, to plan activities and methods and to discuss how to integrate green priority in every step. as all the topics are connected with nature, environment, animal protectiction, mental health, healthy life style there was a lot of work. We presented everything using storytelling and all stories were highly appreciated. In the end of the day we were happy with results and in the evening celebrated singing Europe's Day.

Andrea created a more nonformal report for this day so find it below

Recap of second day of fish market and the fish is fishing:
Emptying our minds, giving everything, feeling exhausted after, passionate project, brainstorming, creativity, hard, good, difficult to express ourself because we are tired, melted brain, motivational, brain melted in honey, took care of each other, balanced teamwork, trying to put the individual process of writing into group teamwork, sharing different level of competences, satisfaction because of progress and because of realistic idea developed, project will be not just result of education process but we have a real process that will be applied, happy to start the process, Hard work, project preparing process, question, answer, way to find the way, go deep in details, cooperation, resposability

day 6 - 8 may

Day started very positive with energizers provided by Marisol. Then our trainers introduced the large workshop FISH MARKET and Bogdan went into details with 5 W methodology. According to our options, experience and age teams were created and worked all morning to realize the fish. Brainstorming, finding and discussed ideas, SWOT analysis were used to reach to final posters and so we have "Taste of art", "Be a Bee", "Farmental", "Green practices for mental health","Who let the bears in" born and presented in public.
In the afternoon work was concentrated to fix the motto, logo and visibility of the project connected with objectives, traget groups, partners and activities that were set.
The romanian evening was totally delicious and kept us united around the barbeque. Nobody was forgotten, vegans and vegetarians had wonderful fresh stuff as the carnivors enjoyed "mici" and "cirnati de Plescoi" and also we had a glass of local wine from Dealu Mare area. There were stories about romanian traditions, traditional dances, discussions and friendly atmosphere

DAY 5 - 7 may

That was really exciting day. In the morning we start our way on the roads of beautiful villages and hills of the area and we stopped at Muddy Volcanoes, a UNESCO heritage site. We explored the area and had some scientific explanation about geological phenomenon then we visit a green facility created by administrators of area -restaurant with local food, trade fair products-gems, zakuska,sweets- and sustainable means of producing part of needed energy.
Next stop was at 'Artisan Market" in Berca organized by "Slow Food Buzau" where Hair Redivivus is a member. We were met by Mr. Thorsten who explained us some facts about mission of their organization, then catalina and other members of Hair Redivivus guided us to visit stands and to taste cheese, saussages, sweets and other home made products. It was nice to meet friends from other projects and incredible was that Mercedes met 2 youth workers she met in a project from 2012.
On the way back we admired the wineyards from region
Inafternoon we had a creative workshop about social responisibility and its indicators. The trainers joked that we'll see a power point but that was just to show us the 4 categories of indicators and how they are linked eachother with green priority. Then we discussed about things we can not live without in our lives and expressed them by poetry, music, drama. Creativity was at highest point and day finished with midterm evaluation that showed a satisfaction very high and good results for learning process.

DAY 4 - 6 may

It was a full day, very dynamic and with a lot of challenges. We started wit a spanish energizer that will be a kind of "power play" during the week. Iulia explained us then the first session task and expected results and we were divided in 8 groups with the task to create and put in different situations characters that could EKO or OKE at school/job, in vacation, home and in family. What was very challenging was that main material should be clay but we also use baloons, recyclable paper and other things. Afetr we drew and presented our characters, each team made a drama to act accordingly and make people understand what behaviour we should have to be green and more important how can we transfer this to our youngsters in daily work as part of Green Drama methodology.

Afternoon was dedicated to a more difficult session with new terminology for some of us. SDG - sustainable development goals were introduced and explained by Iulia and Bogdan and each team formed got 3 cards and has the task to create a short idea of a project to answer to those specific problems and to reach the goals. It was very interesting to find common interests and to understand that we can combine the SDG cards to reach clear objectives and needs of our communities. Projects were presented and discussed in public most of them being very realistic

After a long day we still had energy to play in the evening games like dixit, cards agains humanity, lige game etc

DAY 3 - 5 MAY
Shining and beautiful day in the morning. We started with a yoga energizer to connect our minds, body, soul and life out there.
Trusting games followed to connect with other participants, firstly in pairs by the "blind car" game and then in groups with "the bottle". As a result, we felt closer with one another, more confident and was easier to do the workshop using land art method.
Divided into 5 groups, we worked to create together a piece of art in the forest, under the topic of the project: green sustainability. Very enjoyable for everyone to express their ideas and emotions through cooperative art and not destroying nature.
We sang together "Happy birthday" for our lovely Estonian participant, Roosika's son, Andreas.
After that we followed with the topic of the project in a quizz in groups, to reflect and raise some awareness on facts about food consumption, water resources, etc. It was fun and shocking some of these facts for many of us.
We followed with a workshop on energy consumption at home divided into groups. We discussed how to spend our money for 4 years, year by year, taking into account some unexpected things out of our control like the increase or decrease of prices, our values and needs. Easy for some groups who have plenty of natural resources of clean and cheap energy vs. frustration due to the opposite situation.
Finally, we enjoyed together the national evenings from many different countries sharing some food, drinks, dancing, singing, clothes, craft, music, linguistic expressions or gestures from Turkey, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal and Croatia. It contributed to understand better other cultures, connect more with other people, especially shy or with language obstacles.

DAY 2 - 4 may

In spite of the morning rain, it was a beautiful day.
Day started with “Hey Joe” energizer and introduction of project and its objectives.
In the activities room every participant got the promo pack with agenda, pen, badge, t shirt and mug.
Main part of the morning was to know each other. We did name games, we told what GREEEN is for us and everybody did a portrait as a caricature and so we had our group on the wall. We found more things about us introducing ourselves by personal objects and enjoyed communication.Then hopes and contributions were discussed using DIXIT cards and it was very impressive the power of some images. House rules followed and some agreements were discussed together with logistical and organizational aspects.
After lunch we walked and talked to the village and discovered some useful locations and part of a local history of salty and therapeutical waters and Monteoru family.
Being back every organization created a "poncho" to introduce to the others their aims and activities and the fashion show was wonderful. After that there was an open arena for interaction and already plan next steps for cooperation. Second part of afternoon included a session about Erasmus + programme, green priority, key competences and youthpass certificate sustained with numbers, statistics, information. Participants with experience shared facts about their projects and participation in other youth exchanges or trainings and there was a large interest from everyone for future cooperation
A daily evaliuation and reflection closed the activities
Last part of the day was dedicated to first international evening with Serbia, Poland, Greece, Belgium, Estonia, Italy and North Macedonia dispaying their traditional products. After presentations and tasting there were traditional dances and the night ended in a nice atmosphere with stories and memories.