LIFE+ | Lets become a multilingual family

The project mobility LET'S BECOME A MULTILANGUAL FAMILY which took place in Antalya, Turkey was truly a blessed experience for all of the participants. From day one we had a lot of games and activities that included going out in the city and exploring the culture. Antalya is a very interesting place to do so – the place has the typical Turkish atmosphere mixed with tourists from all around the world which brings a variety of cultures to one place.

During our activities connected to learning languages and celebrating the diversity of cultures we spend a lot of time talking with locals and for the first few days it was a bit difficult because only a few of them knew English and mostly the ones that work with tourist. After a while we realized that for me and my Bulgarian team it was actually easier to communicate with Turkish people because we have so many similar words in our languages. Basically connecting Turkish words that we learned with English words that we know and Bulgarian language all together was the perfect way to talk to locals especially when we had to interview them for a research or ask them history questions about a city game that we played – and all of them were more than happy to help! Whether it was because they are used to tourist not knowing their language or because they are just patience people who take the time to listen and try to understand what you ask them most of them were very patient with us.

On the European language day which was our last activity day of the project all of the countries made posters to show to locals and tourist about the importance of languages and how they bring people together. For us the idea about the poster was more than obvious – similarities between Turkish and Bulgarian language. We actually discovered that we have even more similar words then we thought in the first place! So we choose some of them for our poster and while we talked to other Turkish people we realized that they didn’t have a clue about the fact that a lot of our words are the same.

It was an interesting experience educating ourselves, the other teams, locals and tourists and a great reminder that we should embrace our diversities a

nd celebrate them in similarity. This youth exchange was one more proof for all of us that the opportunities of the world mean nothing if we are not ready to take them and in order to do that we often underestimate the power of knowing languages and the number of doors the open for us.

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LIFE+ | YE Sports back to the tradition STARTS

YE Sport Back to traditions will promote the value of sport as a tool for social inclusion and active participation. Taking into account the important values that traditional sports and games offer, through the educational, culture, communicative and health promoting role towards the overall development of the individual and one's community we will also tackle the topic of equality. This games heritage lies at the very foundation of ourrespective cultural traditions. Sports are expressions of the native culture and life systems contributing to theidentity of human beings. Considering that traditional sports and games being less susceptible to the temptations of excessive commercialization, manipulation, and doping, can streng then the values of sport and the spirit of “fair-play”, Further taking into account that they do not demand substantial material and financial resources or investments, but they can contribute to better intercultural understanding and mutual tolerance, both within and among the communities of nations we’ll come to the fundamental right of movement, sport and games as a constituent of the quality of life and development of a whole personality. In the end we will present one show of traditional sports. Videos and promotional materials will be also made for multiplying and dissemination. Starting with energizers, ice breaking, team building, presentation of Erasmus + to presentation of countries, we will create IC spirit and pleasant learning experience for participants; reflect on different cultural expressions, and create a bridge between cultures for a better mutual comprehension. Sports are part of intangible heritage and a symbol of the cultural diversity of our societies. They are also an efficient means to convey values of solidarity, diversity, inclusiveness and cultural awareness. Active participation will be not only presented but encouraged for our participants coming from different parts of Europe. During 8 days (planned dates 01 - 08 October 2018), people from Estonia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia and Macedonia will get the chance to be part of this YE.

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LIFE+ | 26th music festival- ‘WE-XXI century’

Sun, sand, amazing beaches, anything more to ask for? Sunny beach- a place where magic was made, 15 volunteers and 250 participants were gathered for such an international event- the 26th music festival- ‘WE-XXI century’ which was held in Sunny beach, Bulgaria from 18th to 22nd August. Pupils from Malta, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Ukraine and beyond were enjoying the international music, company and activities organized by us – the volunteers from Macedonia and Serbia. We never knew that young children can be so talented with huge vocals and amazing dance moves and have the courage to stand on a stage in front of an enormous audience, moreover to amaze every single person, to shake you of your feet, to touch your soul!

In reference to our work. We organized sport and art workshops where we connected the children from different age groups and cultures, likewise for us too. Nevertheless the busy schedule, we attended in the concerts where all those beautiful crazy kids were taking up the stage with their professionalism, seriousness and most of all, their voices! As volunteers we had the opportunity to teach these kids a special dance that we created before their arrival. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to present it on the welcome party that we prepared, then be shooting it with professionals on the beach and on the last Gala closing concert, all together, we danced it on the St. Vlas amphitheatre stage. You can not imagine the joy bursting from their eyes, the happiness in their laughter, the gratefulness in their hugs! With regard to our activities, imagine a big sandy beach, the Black Sea and the sun and then add the volunteers with the children playing in the water with a ball, others doing sprints as well as making sand castles. So you can get the feeling of the perfectness of that day, But now, how you ever been in an unplanned water balloon fight? Well, those kids faced that from us, which afterwards was fairly revenged by them. You can’t imagine the feeling that we had when you know that about 40 people will throw water bombs at you- just 15 volunteers, which didn’t give us a choice but eventually to end up using the water gun- the hose! We had mask making more precisely Kukeri as well as football and basketball matches, moreover we prepared even a treasure hunt which was one of the best activities because we wanted to make fun of the kids and we planted fake clues. In spite of all, they finished the hunt and found treating themselves with candy! Yes, we already know that we spoiled the kids but they deserve it, mainly because of their devotion and love towards music.

Additionally, some of the volunteers were in charge of the media, in other words, they caught every moment on camera, made daily videos and posted the highlight pictures of the concerts, workshops and the work and fun moments of the volunteers by using the hashtag #wevsxxi.

Regardless of our position as volunteers, the children as well as their families saw us as their friends therefore they were being friendly even not during the concerts or some activities. To sum it up, we connected on a much higher level as in the same manner for the volunteers, we became a family! This could not have been done without our supporters- our supervisor and mentor from the receiving organization ICDET as well as for the ‘Art center Karnolsky’ which were the initiators and leaders for this magical event! So concerning our welcome party we made a poster which was filled with painted hand prints from all of us- participants and volunteers and was presented in front of the stage on the closing ceremony as a memory of the energetic festival that we had together! A poster which presented the past, the present and future of us – WE the XXI century

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