Re-Imaginers | Martin

”Here is a monthly blog from Martin, our Long Term ESC Volunteer”

 

July

So I arrived on the 18th of June. Thanks Eliza for taking me to apartment from bus station late in the night. Then started getting to know each other and getting to know the flat. Checking the neighborhood of Lakamatia so you know where to shop and where don’t. Than the first experiences (and definitely not the last one) with the buses. Yay! And the disappointment… Trust me you will know what I am talking about when you find yourself in Cyprus without a car. We are currently working on getting a bike.

We are working most of the time in office when we don’t have workshops. But creative process never sleeps! We already made 3 upcycling workshops and others are waiting. I work on my personal workshops and ideas meantime. Yea, creative tasks takes a lot of time. But stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

I already met a lot of other volunteers from others NGOs and they feel free to cooperate. Everyone has different hobbies and knowledge so there is a lot of interesting opportunities. We are not only potential colleagues but we also spend free time together visiting the city and discovering beauties of Cyprus. And there is a lot of things to discover in Nicosia. It is not only about the pubs but there is a lot of cultural events and people care about civic life. In 2 weeks I managed to attend DARE conference at European House and theatre workshop at Home for cooperation. Cyprus is also really rich in history so I feel like there is not enough time for me to discover everything in 6 months. I will try my best so wish me good luck 😉

 

 

 

August

So it is 2 months since I arrived. Wow! Time flies so fast! I am familiar with Lakatamia neighborhood now and I am okay with uses local buses – just kidding you can never be okay with buses here.

My work mostly consists of office things. But I have enough space to work on my personal projects. I am finishing my Educational portable escape room. The aim of this room is to raise awareness about environmental issues for youngsters. Target group is high school students. I also implemented some ideas I find important like uniting Cyprus. I tried to use some waste while creating my puzzles to enhance the feeling of being surrounded by rubbish. I am sure this can help my aim. I hope I can do the first rounds of testing in September and start to be active with this thing.

In my free time I discover the Cyprus. Sometimes I have a friend with a car or I go by bus but everytime I sleep under the sky. I saw almost every big city in east and now it is time for the west and south. I still have 4 more months. My another favorite activity is to meet new people and listen to their stories. And ESC in Nicosia is the best opportunity for it. You can find here people from all around the world and everyone knows english.

One of my personal tasks here is to do some networking. I cannot believe I am here for only 2 months now and I already did so much progress. I find so many people interested in the same topic as me and we will cooperate in future for sure.

The only problem for me is the weather. I am melting every day and I just can’t get used to it. August is hell in Cyprus! I am looking forward for autumn here. I don’t know how it will look like in this country but I am curious about it. Lets see… for now “Sunny regards from Cyprus”.