Asociația SUPER TINERI (ASIRYS)

It took me a while to write this final report since I came back home, but maybe because I needed some time to realize what has happened in the six months I’ve spent in Romania. This experience was soul enriching, I’ve learned so much things about myself, I became aware of traits I gained over the years of my life but never acknowledged, going abroad can always be a fun adventure and a learning journey, but what you can never know is that you’ll come across things and people you never thought you’d meet one day, and this is what has happened to me. During this period, I’m met over 100 people, a lot more than that actually, and you can’t imagine how overwhelming this can be, some of them were only a passerby in my life, but others were more than this, or shall I say they became someone I’d care to meet again later in life. I learned a lot from socializing and just talking to strangers day by day, I got the chance to share whatever I would like, to talk about my culture and heritage and s

One more monthly report and this journey is over. Last month we worked on the Rroma museum and it was one of my favorites because we started working on it right after the Christmas holiday so we were recharged and with full energy.  I collaborated with Ataota this time, we did the workshop at the school with the students together, it was about dance and we documented the process by doing a small video which the students enjoyed doing.  For my personal final product, I did a collage artwork, it was a mix of painting and photographs and fabric. I really enjoyed doing it and I like the result. I also filmed with Ataota her personal video, we were filming in an abandoned house with no windows or doors and I still remember how cold it was that day.  Then after the final exhibition, we moved on to our last topic in this project which is the Jewish museum. It’s a really sensitive topic to work on and also we are working with a special needs school, so the challenge is bigger

Another month, another report. Here I am writing this monthly report with my mind thinking that I only have two months left here. In the past month, we did the Cucuteni alternative museum, it was fast and short this time, we had a short period to work on this exhibition, but we managed to do it like we always do.  We had our Christmas and new year’s holidays; it was my first time experiencing Christmas outside my country and with people who celebrate it. We went to Cluj to celebrate the new year and it was some of my favorite days here in Romania, we danced, celebrated, and watched the fireworks lighting up the sky at 00:00. Ataota and I had the Arabic intercultural night, we got the chance to talk about the Arab world in general, about our culture, our countries, and what matters most to us to clarify for foreigners about the stereotypes and other stuff. We also introduced them to our cuisine and dances. Currently, we are working on a new topic, a new exhibition, which is about the Ro

Three months have already passed, which means I’m half way through my journey here in Romania. This past month we finished the museum of Folklore and did our first exhibition, it was great to see how everything we have worked on for a long time is over and we can finally share with people the final results. The exciting thing is it is at last the time to start with something new, which is the museum of Cucuteni. We visited the museums, the land where they found the remnants of this civilization and got to learn more about it through books and researches. Then it was time to start working on the artistic products where we have to show and teach people about this oldest European civilization. We organized workshops and went to a new  school this time, it was really fun for me and exciting to see kids work with me on creating comics and I got to see their creativity and imagination through their drawings. In the upcoming days we are gonna hold an exhibition about all what we are working o

Two months already has flown by like a blink of an eye. A lot of new things happened and a lot of new beginnings. This month was mostly focused on the folklore of Romania, which I find really interesting and fun to learn about. Romania for sure has a rich history of traditions and stories, and what is most fascinating is how they keep preserving it to this day and for all new generations. We got to work on that this past month and we did several workshops with kids at schools. We also had Folcloristica and I got to experience what being part of a jury is about, I got to see a lot of people from different villages compete with each other not to win something in particular but in fact to keep their legacies alive. It was fun to get to experience that. We went to the seaside of Romania, to Constanța, the black sea, and for me, this short trip of two days was some of the best days so far in my journey here. It was calming and definitely soul-enriching. -------- Wasan Abusummaqah is from Jo