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| EVS Team says Farewell |
Thu 20 August 2009 |
The month of August will see the departure of our three European Voluntary Service volunteers: Ann-Kathrin Spiegler , Micha Fuchs and Andrea Biondi . They have been with the YMCA for a year and have really enjoyed the time working with us . Andrea decided to leave us with a short article about their time in Carrickfergus .
The Volunteer team -Micha Fuchs is 21 years old. He lives in Germany but he is proud to be Swiss! He was the first volunteer to arrive in Carrickfergus around the end of last August. Micha has mainly worked in the Woodburn -Sunnylands Parents And Kids Together Project. He has built very good relationships with the children. Some of the Children even asked him to stay for another year! Micha has taken part in the cross community weekends and all the family events run by PAKT. As a result he has made good friends with parents as well enjoying the Carrickfergus banter.
In the first few months of the experience he faced difficulties to get "in the job" and "in the language", but he rapidly felt part of the team and got a lot out working with the children, coaching them at sports, games and in the homework club .Finally Micha has been very happy with his entire project and is confident that this year has provided him with skills that will be very useful in the future.
Ann-Kathrin Spiegler is 20 and she is German. She arrived one month after Micha. Her main work has been with Glenfield -Castlemara PAKT YMCA, where she enjoyed the after school programme and the Teenager Club. She quickly got acquainted with the new situation, getting along well with children and teenagers. She has built a strong bond with her team colleagues especially Maurice Shearer, the project coordinator. She will really miss the group and will stay in touch .She hopes to help organize a youth exchange visit next year.
Andrea Biondi is 24 and from Italy. He arrived in December. He has been the "jolly joker" of the group, working in all the YMCA projects. He particularly enjoyed working in the intergenerational garden project at Northlands Court. All three volunteers also worked in the Area51 Youth Club. It was harder to develop friendships with teenagers, compared to working in the other projects. But they eventually developed good relationships with them and spent an enjoyable summer scheme with the theme "All Different, All Equal".
LIVING in CARRICK
In the beginning they faced difficulties with the language due to the local accent. But by constantly talking with the local people at work, they got used to the accent. All three volunteers share the same opinion about the accommodation and the weather. As for the accommodation they think it is brilliant! A very well equipped house with internet, a strategic position, being near the railway station, Tesco's (so they don't have to carry their groceries over long distances), and quite near to their working place. Ann-Kathrin and Andrea have been very happy living in Carrick, while Micha, who used to live in, Berlin, thought Carrickfergus to be a "bit small". They all agree the people of Carrick are very friendly. As for the weather, however it is colder, rainier and windier than in their home countries. They have never seen so many seasons in one day! Living in a house on your own means you have to prepare your own meal. None of the three has ever lived on there own before. Anyway, it has been a stimulating challenge! Micha eventually got used to it and started to enjoy cooking his meals. The most remarkable meal has been his huge breakfast. As for the Irish traditional food, he tried it, but never developed a liking for it. Black puddings and soda bread won't be appearing on the menu in Germany.
Ann-Kathrin tried several cereals, she especially likes Wheatabix and the "Ulster Fry" but not to often being a big breakfast!
Andrea has got used to cooking a large amount of pasta sauce .Trying with good, but not excellent results to emulate his mum's cooking and freeze it for every necessity. Being Italian, he ate pasta nearly every day.
Throughout the year, there have been weekly outings to the pub. The local beers are very different. Micha got to enjoy the flavours but Andrea will stay with wine. During the few sunny, fresh summer evenings, they have enjoyed barbecues thank to the hospitality of two friends and YMCA colleagues Paddy Patterson and Jana Hoelshke . Andrea and Micha both joined local sports teams ,with Micha getting a regular basket ball team place .All three got to meet with other international volunteers working in Belfast, where they spent every other week-end. Overall it was a great year , working in a great place where they made a good many friends .Finally they would like to say thanks to the European Volunteering (Voluntary) Service team ,Youth in Action Programme Teams and Carrickfergus YMCA for the great opportunity it gave all three of the team .
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