Arts Lab 5.0: Olha Popova, Ukraine - Month 5

 OMG, there is a lot to tell, as I promised in the last report:

1) Mid-Term Evaluation Trip
2) First Couchsurfing experience
3) The cat is missing
4) Last-last residency
5) Bolivian and English Culture nights
6) Ukrainian Culture night (!!!)

So, let's talk about things in order. Our month started with a trip to Bucharest, the capital of Romania. A wonderful, big city with lovely architecture and a slightly confusing subway system. But at first, we're here not for that but for the mid-term evaluation. Volunteers from all across Romania came there to share experiences and participate in activities. I'll be blatantly truthful; the program was mediocre. However, the stories from volunteers, on the other hand - that's a different story! We (actually just Carla) had to make a video to show our program and what we are doing here. We also had warm-ups, some treasure-hunting, etc. Most of the volunteers found that pretty boring, especially that one day when we all had to talk about the difference between empathy and sympathy FOR AN HOUR. I had fun, though. Also, the food was good; it has my approval. And it was very nice to finally have some personal space for some time after sharing a small room with another volunteer for 4 months. (Sorry, Aliye, but you understand me).

After the evaluation finished, we had to leave the hotel :(. Not a big problem for me because I found a Couchsurfing friend in Bucharest! She was pretty busy, so I spent most of my time in the center alone, going to cafes, visiting museums and churches, and hanging out in shops. On the last day of my stay, we walked together, she showed me some places that I missed, which Greek cafes are legit and which are not, etc. After that, I had an opportunity to visit Brașov. The architecture there is AMAZING. Also, it was fun to go through the narrow streets there, covered in different messages. I was hunting for Ukrainian ones and even left mine :)

Well, after this wonderful break, we all returned back to the House. Well, about the third point of this report... Just after Hassan told the cat that the girl planned to cut his bo-balls, the cat had gone missing. We haven't seen him ever since...

Of course, we all started our last residency! In a nice, but loud school, we all held workshops about Rromani culture. But this time the group of kids changed every day, which provoked some displeasure among volunteers, but for me, it was fine. To be honest, I didn't have a lot of material to work with. Kids were making little clay amulets and sculptures for the game that I was developing in the meantime. The truth was that I was actually planning my Ukrainian night instead of that (Mihaela, you didn't see this sentence.)

Then we went to the last culture nights of the season. Starting with the Bolivian one, Carla did an amazing job! We helped her with cooking, and then she presented to us the traditions of Bolivia, a little geography lesson, the TRUE-TRUE chocolate, and more. I really want to visit Bolivia now because it sounds amazing.

Then the English cultural night, which held a lot of surprises because Raph invited her MOM AND GRANDAD. And her grandpa was in traditional Scottish costume and it was LIT. Raph showed us her city and the beauty of England. Her grandad read us some poetry. It was very cozy. I hope I will never forget any of these days.

The final moment of this month was the last, but not least, Ukrainian culture night! I was preparing for it for so long... I made a big presentation, consulted with my friends, and asked my mom to remind me how to cook :) I had to add a lot of subtitles to videos because I could not find them. Hajer helped me to make varenyky, while we didn't have electricity in the house and we were not sure if we would have electricity tomorrow... To be fair, it was atmospheric to do that by the light of candles, which gave me the idea to do the same for my night. Dajana helped me with borscht, and everyone else was very patient when I was beating the chicken at 2 a.m. I think I was preparing for this day even before coming to the project, on the day when I went to the market with my mom to buy the best embroidered shirt. In the end, it was very good. And I hope that everyone enjoyed it because it was very, very, very important for me.

In the FINAL report: The Roma exhibition, the very last exhibition, and our goodbyes.

 Olha Popova is from Ukraine, and she is participating in a six-month volunteering program within Arts Lab 5.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps.