The fairy tale city – Ohrid

“Office” holidays passed very quickly, like a few days only, not 2 weeks. Now we’re back in the office and preparing for a new start in September. There will be a lot of new activities going on in creACTive, so keep yourself updated and check regularly our website! The best solution is to add it to your bookmarks – http://www.kreaktiv.mk/

But I would like to invite you to visit with me one special place in Macedonia. For me it’s the most beautiful city and center of it is a small paradise town. It’s Ohrid. It’s located on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid, southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola, and east of Elbasanand Tirana in Albania. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. In 1980, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Ohrid is famous for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has been referred to as a “Jerusalem”. The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It’s an ancient city, full of history and interesting places. Besides being a holy center of the region, it is also the source of knowledge and pan-Slavic literacy. The restored Monastery at Plaošnik was actually one of the oldest Universities in the western world, dating before the 10th century.

Ohrid also helds annual events, which makes it even more interesting. Here you have names of some: Ohrid Summer Festival, Ohrid Choir Festival, The Balkan Festival of Folk Songs and Dances, Balkan Music Square Festival, Ohrid Fest.

Few of the interesting places to visit in Ohrid are:

1. Samuil’s Fortress was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire during the rule of Samuil in the middle-ages. Today, this historical monument is a major tourist attraction and was renovated in 2003. According to recent excavations by Macedonian archaeologists, it was alleged that this fortress was built on the place of an earlier fortification, dated to 4th century B.C., which was probably built by king Phillip II of Macedon.

2. Saint Panteleimon is a monastery situated on Plaošnik. It is attributed to Clement of Ohrid, a disciple of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius.

The monastery stands on a hill which is overlooking Lake Ohrid. Clement built his monastery on a restored church and a Roman basilica of five parts (the remains of the basilicas can still be seen outside the monastery). Judging by the architectural style and design of the monastery, researchers say that Saint Clement intended for his building to be a literary school for disciples, thus it is believed to be the first and oldest discontinued university in Europe.

3. The Ancient theatre of Ohrid is an ancient Greek theatre of the Hellenistic period. It was built in 200 B.C.. It is the only Hellenistic theatre in the country (the other three in Scupi, Stobi and Heraklea Lynkestis are from Romantimes). It is unclear how many people it used to seat, as only the lower section of the theatre is preserved. The open theater has a perfect location: the two hills that surround it keep it protected from winds that could interfere with acoustics during performances. The Anitque Theatre was actually discovered by accident and, today, hosts various different events and serves multiple functions.

4. The Church of St. Sophia is one of the most important monuments of Macedonia, housing architecture and art from the Middle Ages. It was built during the First Bulgarian Empire, after the official conversion to Christianity.

Originally the synod church of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, it was later converted into a mosque during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The interior of the church has been preserved with frescoes from the 11th, 12th and 13th century, which represent some of the most significant achievements in Byzantine painting of the time. A detail from the church is depicted on the reverse of the Macedonian 1000 denars banknote, issued in 1996 and 2003.

These are just a few from so many very interesting sights in Ohrid! I will always strongly recommend visiting this lovely city whenever they can. It’s wonderful, charming, full of flowers, beautiful architecture, interesting places to visit and stay and incredible views. Go there and enjoy your stay!

Announcement ;)

We would just like to inform that from tomorrow until 15th of August we’ll have “office” holidays, so more than 2 free weeks!

I plan to go to Turkey for working meeting of one project and then? Who knows? Maybe Greece, maybe Croatia, maybe Montenegro. It depends where I’ll manage to find hosts And Caroline is already at home, in Sweden and will come back just at the end of our holidays.

So, there will longer silence here. Maybe  a new post will appear after 15th of August. But don’t be angry on us, let us enjoy our holidays  And you enjoy too!

Interviews!

Summer time influenced also our project. People left Skpoje, everything got more lazy and slow. Lately we’re working on creating a set of question for interviews. We would like to interview people from Macedonia and foreigners living in Macedonia.

So, if you would like to take a while to answer to the questions, please, do it and send it to: evsmacedonia@kreaktiv.mk. In the e-mail add also your gender (female or male), year of birth and level of education. We will be really happy if you would support us

Questions for people from Macedonia:

• What is the first thought that crosses your mind when you hear the word Macedonia?
• What makes Macedonia your home? (Foreigners: a place to live?)
• What does Macedonia mean for you?
• Are you proud of living in the Republic of Macedonia? And why?
• What are the traditions that you value the most?
• What are the perspectives for you as a European citizen?
• What can the Republic of Macedonia bring to the European Union?
• What can be improved in the Republic of Macedonia?
• What are the main values of people from Macedonia? And what can still be improved?
• What are particular elements which makes Skopje a touristic destination along with the European capitals?
• Do you have any special place or places in Macedonia that makes you feel proud? And why?
• Can you name three favorite places in Macedonia?
• From your point of view: which is the most interesting place in Skopje?
• What makes Macedonia unique as a touristic destination?
• What are the tastiest dishes of the Macedonian cuisine?
• What do you think about the wine from the Republic of Macedonia? Any favorite?

Questions for foreigners living in Macedonia:

• What is the first thought that crosses your mind when you hear the word Macedonia?
• What did you know about Macedonia before coming here?
• Will you come back to Macedonia after this visit here? Why?
• What makes Macedonia a place to live in?
• What does Macedonia mean for you?
• What do you think Macedonia should be proud of?”
• Do you know anything about Macedonian traditions? Which? How? Why?
• What do you think the Republic of Macedonia can bring to the European Union?
• What can be improved in the Republic of Macedonia?
• What do you think are the main values of people from Macedonia? And what can still be improved?
• What are particular elements which makes Skopje a touristic destination along with the European capitals?
• Do you have any special place or places in Macedonia that you think people from Macedonia should be proud of? And why?
• Can you name three favorite places in Macedonia?
• From your point of view: which is the most interesting place in Skopje?
• What do you think about Macedonia as a touristic place? What can be improved and why?
• What are the tastiest dishes of the Macedonian cuisine? Why?
• What do you think about the wine from the Republic of Macedonia? Any favorite?

Meeting on the beach

Yesterday afternoon there suppose to be a first picnic organized in the frame of our project. Unfortunately, most of the people could not join us. So, me and Aneta – instead of having picnic – went to have a coffee in the city beach.

City beach is an interesting place, which gives people an opportunity to relax in a nice atmosphere, closer to the nature, next to Vardar River. In my eyes it’s not so much beach, for that it would need a lot more sand. But that is just my Polish vision, which grew up with me since the childhood spent on our sandy beaches But it’s very nice place to spend free afternoon with a book and cocktail or for a meeting of group of friends.

But, coming back to the meeting, we spoke about a lot of things. Mostly we focused an EVS (European Voluntary Service, check here) – what does that mean for a person willing to be volunteer, what you need to do, how you arrange things, how is your life during EVS, managing finances, learning the language, cultural differences and adaptation to the new society and so on…

Besides EVS, we’re also talking about life in general, living in Macedonia and in Balkans, a bit about Poland also. As well as we’re discussing about the project “Macedonia – the land of the sun” in general, but also more in details – for example about planned interviews. We’re also coming back into discussing similarities and differences between different countries.

It was a nice and interesting meeting. Thank you Aneta and hope to see more of you next week!

After Alarm festival in Ljubanista, Ohrid

Yesterday at 14.00 i was back again after the Alarm festival since going from Skopje in Friday morning at 08.00 (At least it was supposed to departure then).  When we arrived at mid-day it was very sunny and finally we had managed to get away from the rain which was very suiting given that we slept in tents for the whole weekend.

The area of the festival in Ljubanista at the Ohrid Lake was perfect and absolutely amazing and finally fresh air and water everywhere. Everyone was bathing, laying on the beach, tanning and just relaxing during the days between watching different bands from the Alternative stage. The atmosphere was so nice because of that and that they were playing reggae from 08.00 in the morning at the beach which of course helped the mood of the people a lot. Drinking beer, juice, having picnics and sleeping was also among the favorite activities. Maybe because the music in the night never ended which of course is both good and bad.

At the Alternative stage there were a lot of new bands or smaller bands from different parts on Balkan playing most hard core metal, punk/rock and similar. On the Dance stage they played most trance and techno and the area around was like rave with typical light shows and everything in white become shining and etc. It was a really nice place for it and many people seemed to like it but when you could feel the smell from people smoking weed and the ambulance coming and going from that stage all the time which isn’t really good.

The third stage was the Stage one – the main stage which started from 17.00 every day with known bands like Ljubojna, Superhiks, Foltin and other bands from the rest of Balkan and Europe which gathered most of the people every night. The mood was set every time and all the people was screaming, dancing and jumping until the music stopped at 4 in the morning.

The biggest flop from my point of view from that stage was a Croatian band with 3 grown up men wearing glittery pajamas with a gap open for there asses and singing songs like: Mjau, Mjau, Mjau..

The festival was supposed to be ecological but from my and the my friends point of view there was not much ecological existing at all which was a pity. It was trash all over the place all the time and also on the beach along with cigarettes so you had to lock and check before just sitting down with was a bog failure from my perspective. There was a challenge which you could participate in about collecting trash, leave it in and then get a reward for it but it was not really succeeded either because of the trashes that the people did collected just got put in a big pile in the grass which is not that ecological. And also that the rewards that was given was a t-shirt, a plastic whistle and another plastic toys and plastic is not a part of the ecological way of saving the world.

But all in all the festival was really nice, from my perspective as a young foreigner it was good organized with some lack of information, cleaning and stuff but thats also a part of going to a festival, nothing is perfect and luxuries are not to expect. The music was varied, interesting and good and all the participants had a good mood which led to a nice festival.

So hopefully they will learn from there flaws until next year and then provide an even better atmosphere!

Over and out / Caroline

Differences and similarities in the workshop

Yesterday, in Wednesday it was the third workshop in creACTive about “Macedonia – the land of the sun” where were three brave girls who defied the ugly weather and decided to come.

The topics this week was to find and talk about differences and similarities in culture, every day life and people between countries compared to Macedonia. At first the workshop started with a quiz about Macedonia, its culture, history and other interesting facts about the country which the participants found a bit hard but still they had a lot of correct answers despise the questions was on a very high level. For example:

How many mountain peaks does Macedonia have? 20, 26 or 34?

Which of the following can Macedonia boast? Europe’s oldest lake, Europe’s oldest footprint or Europe’s oldest tree?

Continuing, we started with the comparison between the different nationalities attending: Sweden, Slovakia and Macedonia. We talked about how a regular day looks like in the different countries with work, socializing, drinking, living and living conditions, economy and etc. Some examples is that in Sweden we move from home in an early stage or when we go to university compared to in Macedonia where people often stay after there university time and later also together with partner along with some of theres parents. In Slovakia it is also similar to Sweden that you move out early and then you move in a lot of people together in a apartment to be able to pay the rent.

Another example is that people from Macedonia are very social and can spend whole days just sitting and drinking coffee out in cafes compared to Swedish people who more often meet at each others homes to hang out, eat, drink or whatever instead of going out. Maybe it has a lot to do with the cold condition in Sweden but still in the summer we do the same. For Slovakian people it is a mixture in between and for youth it is more common to go out and party in the middle of the week instead of in the weekend.

Regarding working hours it is for all three countries said 8 hours of working and in Sweden it is often between 8-17, in Macedonia 7-15 and in Slovakia 9-17. Also about the amount of drinking is very different in the three countries: in Sweden you drink a lot of alcohol and you drink until you get drunk, both female and men, compared to Slovakia where you drink a lot as a student but after that you often don´t drink more then a few glasses. In Macedonia you often just drink a few glasses always, which is just for socializing and not to get drunk.

This was just a bit of what was discussed yesterday, if you want more details or anything, feel free to contact us on the email: evsmacedonia@kreaktiv.mk

Stay tuned and have a nice midsummer!

Mysterious EVS?

What is it, this EVS?

It’s very simple. EVS stands for European Voluntary Service, which is one of the actions of the programme called Youth in Action Programme. YiA Programme is created and financed by the European Commission, one of the main bodies of the European Union. This action allows a young person (18–30 years) to become a volunteer in another country for a specified period, normally between 2–12 months. The service activities can be, for example, in the field of environment, arts and culture, activities with children, young people or the elderly, heritage or sports and leisure activities. Each project has three partners, a volunteer, a sending organization and a hosting organisation. The project has to take place in a country other than where the volunteers lives, is non-profit-making and unpaid and last for a limited period (maximum 12 months). One of the countries involved in a project must be an EU Member State or an accession country.

Why does EVS exist?

The European Union supports the development of various forms of education through several Community programmes, which are executed by the European Commission. The Youth in Action Programme, supports non-formal education projects which offer greater mobility, possibility of intercultural learning, active social participation, both personal and professional development, and the chance to practice European values with young people from all across Europe and beyond.

Why volunteering?

Volunteering is one of the most effective instruments for young people’s non-formal education. Through volunteering young people acquire new knowledge, skills and competencies. At the same time, being exposed to intercultural challenges and new personal experiences, they expand their horizons, learn more about themselves and grow as human beings.

But not only volunteer benefits from volunteering. The volunteers’ work and services contribute to the society as well as to concrete communities, organizations or projects in need.

What about costs?

To write it as simple as possible:

• 90% of your travel costs are reimbursed to your sending organization with the proof of the e-ticket and/or invoice. 10% you need to cover by yourself or fundraise with your sending organization.
• You’re receiving monthly (or weekly) money for food (or equivalent in food) + pocket money (the sum depends on the country where you’ll be volunteering).
• You’ll get a place to live, which will be paid by your hosting organization. It can be a single room, it can be shared room, all depends on the arrangements.
• If you have any exceptional costs related to your special needs (medical attendance, additional preparation, etc.) they will be paid, provided they are reasonable and justifiable.
• Your hosting and sending organizations are receiving specific amount of money as well. Hosting organization have some money for costs related with your project (for example if you need some materials) and sending organization is getting money to prepare you for your EVS (for example they can buy you a dictionary or language books).
• Besides that you’ll have an insurance against sickness, accidents, permanent invalidity, and repatriation in case of serious illness, accident, and death through AXA. The insurance also covers civil liability.

Isn’t great? It’s opening the door for many young people to have an incredible experience abroad

What do you need?

A project:

• that last between 2 and 12 months
• and that takes place within an organization abroad (hosting organization).

You can look for such project in the database of organizations that are entitled to host and send volunteers (EVS database), which can be found under this link: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_en.cfm.

The development of an EVS project consist of several important stages, which are taking pretty some time. Be prepared to work on the project, and then to wait for several months, first until the project is granted and then until it takes place. It’ll be worth your efforts!

How to find sending organization?

• via National Agencies of the Programme Youth in Action,
• via the EVS-database.

If you live in South Eastern Europe contact one of the contact points of from SALTO-SEE (http://www.salto-youth.net/rc/see/). If you are from Euro-Meditterean country contact one of the organizations from the Euromed Youth Platform from SALTO-Euromed (http://www.salto-youth.net/rc/euromed/ or http://www.euromedp.org/). Well, if you live in Eastern Europe and Caucasus you can find an organization via SALTO-EECA (http://www.salto-youth.net/rc/eeca/).

What to remember about?

EVS is NOT…

• occasional, unstructured, part-time volunteering.
• an internship in an enterprise.
• a paid job and must not substitute paid jobs.
• a recreation or tourist activity.
• a language course.
• exploitation of cheap work force.
• a period of study or vocational training abroad.
• simply a funding scheme, but a quality model of transnational voluntary service.

More questions? Check the official website of the Programme – http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.php!

What Macedonia means for me?

Last Monday, in the frame of our project we had a 2^nd meeting with interested and interesting people. This time it was one girl and one boy. We asked them some questions and this is the answers we’ve got.

• X is a girl, Y is a boy.

We’re talking for example about what Macedonia means for them…

X says “The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about Macedonia is that it is my motherland that I’m living here and I like it. I have lived here whole my life and it’s a part of my life. I think about beautiful places, nice and welcoming people, about my family and friends, good weather, all the advantages which Macedonia offers. I’m an optimist and in this case it means thinking more about beautiful things, I don’t like politics here, but I don’t focus on it. Everywhere, in each country there are good and bad things. I really like my country and I don’t know if I could live for a longer period away from it. I’m bound to my family and everything here, I’m used to things here and I like them. I like the places, people with whom I hang out, clubs, organizations etc.

“I’m not that much optimistic” – answers Y – “Macedonia is a nice piece of land, but people sucks. People are not living their life, just surviving. Living is, when a person is doing things in live, which makes him/her happy, have time to spend with family, friends, not to be disturb with stupid things. People here are not really happy, economic is disaster, everyone is thinking about politics and not things which are important in life. I don’t like living here very much, because I don’t think I have fair opportunities to achieve things in my life, many things are working with ‘knowing important people’, with connections. People who have the qualities don’t necessarily go far in their life, because they don’t know the “right” people. I like the land and the nature, but not the situation in our country.

“Well, situation is like Y said – says X – we need to improve a lot of things, but I don’t agree that you could find more chances out of your country, there is similar situation in many countries. I had a chance to communicate with many different people, for example French people, we’ve got very close etc. and all of them wanted to stay here, they were pleasantly surprised by the mentality of people. People in Macedonia have this virtue of being very welcoming, outgoing and warm. They really want to spend time together, to be with other people. And I think that in Western countries it’s different, the people mostly think about work, not so much about other people. But now in Macedonia we’re slowly changing for the similar model.

We also question them if they would leave their country and why?

X thinks that “I could maybe leave it, but not for always. I would like to be able to return here whenever I want. But I would like to try to live in another country. My aim first of all is to finish my studies and then I’ll think about my further future. If I’ll manage to have a good career here then I’ll stay in Macedonia.

Y says “I’m not sure, but probably I will go somewhere, but just to make a comparison. But I’m not sure if I would then come back. The only thing which I want is a fair chance. But here it’s very hard to get it.

“If you migrate, – reacts X – you first need to adapt, it will take a long time. You cannot possibly have exactly the same chances as the rest of the society. Especially that people often don’t have the knowledge about Macedonia or they have a wrong knowledge. You would need to try more to confirm your qualities; you would need to improve, also to confirm the official diplomas etc. But if you’re really wanted, you’ll probably get your chances. Maybe it would be harder than in Macedonia, maybe not.

Y adds – “I agree with X almost in everything. I would never go somewhere as a migrant. I could only leave the country to study or to specialize. I would never work on a black market or on the low-profile jobs. I’m a bit pessimistic about Macedonia, but I would only go away, if I can precede my studies or if I can work in a job for which I’m qualified.  I suppose that if they would really want to check my knowledge I will do every test.

And what about Patriotism? What does that mean?

Y:  “To be a Macedonian and to love the country. You don’t have to be an ethnic Macedonian, its intercultural society; we all live here and love the country. It’s enough to love the country. I can be critical about the country, but It doesn’t mean I hate it.”

X reacts: “I agree. To love your country and to be proud of it.”

And why you’re proud of your country?

Y is proud “because the land is beautiful, people are capable to show a lot of love. It’s rare in modern countries, but it’s one of the most important things.”

And X is proud of “the beautiful spots around the country, the nature, the people, the history, the potential of developing in every sense, the richness of nature, agriculture is very developed, I love the traditional meals, music, parties. People just need to be given a chance.”

And what you would tell to the other people about Macedonia?

Y would tell that “it’s a nice country, but not so many nice people. I’m being critical and it doesn’t mean that I’m bad; I’m just this kind of person. I think that critic is a way of improvement. Now and in a future I’ll take every chance to improve my society.

X think that “I would locate them first And then say all the good things which I’ve mentioned before. And if the person would like to know more about Macedonia, I would introduce the full situation, including more negative points. If someone doesn’t know any information then I would say general information, mostly nice ”.

To sum up: Y was more critical, X was more optimistic. So, they thought that together they spoke about the full image

Thank you for your input!

ALARM Festival

In the frame of our project we also want to publish information related with cultural events in Macedonia. One of the interesting events seems to be Festival “ALARM”, which will be held in Ljubanista (village not far from Ohrid) between 25th and 27th of July 2010.

ALARM FOR NATURE 2010 includes work on specific projects, both ecological and in the field of music and art, which will contribute to awakening the sense of connection and interdependence between man and nature and implementation of healthy lifestyle in harmony with the natural surroundings. ALARM FOR NATURE unites the forces of the green army, music & art, education and student organizations, science and technology, architecture, government and NGOs, young and old, ALL in joint action to face and solve environmental problems. The three-day music festival in nature, with the possibility of camping, aims to draw people, especially young people, from the grayness of city life and to return the love and respect to nature. During the festival, visitors will have an opportunity to see and hear their favorite music bands, DJs and some new prosperous demo bands, watch several theater performances like the latest music theater Fist Full of Love, short art films, to follow 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP on a big screens outdoors, the opportunity to sunbathe, to swim in the waters of Lake Ohrid, to take part in sport tournaments and different leisure activities, take part in the art colony…

There will also be an opportunity to learn about recycling and renewable energy sources, eco friendly resources, products and technologies, organic food and healthy lifestyle that contribute to clean environment, to get familiar/involve with the activities of many NGO’s from South-east Europe that act on this field etc. The festival will present the work, products and technologies of all those working on the restoration and preservation of the environment and the human health.

Besides such an interesting idea of Festival you can also listen to your favorite bands, for example: Ljubojna, Superhiks, Foltin…

Tickets cost just 1000 MKD for the whole time of the Festival and include also place for a tent plus – if you are one of the lucky 5000 people – transportation from different cities in Macedonia to the place of the Festival. For more info, check the website of the Festival!

Join us and let’s experience it together! If you can’t – expect a post after the Festival, full of our opinions and photos which we’ll make

Welcome in the team!

Yesterday evening, Wednesday, at 18.00 in creACTive´s youth center the first meeting of the workshop about “Macedonia – the land of the sun” took place with a group of excited people from Macedonia and EVS volunteers.

So now it has started, the starting shot has been shot and from now on we have new co-workers, for example this blog and etc, which will help us, learn us and we will do the same for them (hopefully), welcome in the team!

We started with getting to know each other with different kind of games, presentations and Human Bingo proceeding with a Power Point presentation about creACTive, the aim and the tasks. After that we had a moment of thinking about the expectations and motivation for this workshop which was really positive and from the points of view me and Aga was looking for. Continuing with a brainstorming about ideas and suggestions from the participants gave us also a chance to see more possibilities and more practical ways that we haven’t thought about so far

So all in all, a good start and will it continue like this there will no problem, ever!

Thank you guys and to all of you – have a nice weekend and stay tuned!