goodbye !

Second camp is saying goodbye to You. Thank you for visiting us and reading about our project and our life. We will miss Latvia, Stelpe, Rulle family and Masha !

 Here we are:

Lika

 Orest

 Raquel

 Aga

 Kasia

Good bye !

everyday life III

Lately we've been enjoying our holiday time in Stelpe. Look what happened in our paradise.

Orest got a haircut. That's a big change, it almost costet him deportation from Latvia.

 Raquel and Lika went to Vilnius together. They had a chance to compare Latvia with another baltic country (Latvia wins, it's a paradise after all).

We said goodbye to Vera. She left our house with the crazy sounds of Tīģernēģerklinģeri song.
Vera, we miss You every day.

One Sunday Aga and Kasia went on a biking trip to Bauska. It was a great adventure, unfrotunatelly it rained for most of the time. Here they're presenting waterproof fashion.

Oh, and Masha and Orest joined the mafia. Beware !

two celebrations

Yesterday was truly a special day. It was both Ukrainian Independence Day and our volunteer Vera's Birthday.

In the morning Orest and Masha got quite patriotic...

But in the evening Vera was the center of attention.

Stockholm trip

A few days ago a group of our volunteers went on a trip to Stockholm by ferry. It took them all night to get there, but they weren't bored. Aga, Lika, Raquel and Orest had a really great time. What did they do? See for yourself.

Firstly, on the ferry they met so many new people from different countries. For example two specific neigbours from Finland. Raquel & Lika took a relaxed in the sauna, Aga talked with guy from France about movies with Louis de Funes and Orest just disappeard for few hours. In the evening they went to a disco. Beacause they went to bed very late, they almost overslept the arrival to Stockholm the next morning.

Our Volunteers started sightseeng the City from Vasa Museum. Raqel was very happy, because she found a flyer-guide in Portugeese.The most important exhibit was the ship from 17th century, the oldest in the whole world. It was bulit for a war with Poland. Luckily for Aga's ancestors it sank right after first contact with water. 

Old city in Stockholm is very impressive. Beautiful buildings, narrow streets, bridges conneting small islands, big number of monuments and well maintaned green places - it makes this city close to perfection. People there lead a really healthy lifstyle. You can see many of them jogging and riding bicycles.

Stockholm is full of tourists. Souvenires are everywhere, but for our volunteers the best keepsakes are great memories.

We Connected ! Part 2

Saturday evening we were just waiting for the concerts and performances to start. We were able to see Lika's and Raquel's workshop rehearsal on the stage and take some pictures.

 When it became more dark and more audience gathered, the festival started

Here are Masha's guitar lessons students. They wehe preparing very long for this concert and their teacher was very proud of them :)

It was already too dark for pictures when our trio performed, so excuse the quality. But they were the best and their daina "Tumša Nakte" got stuck in our heads for hours.

After the concert there was a party on the stage and it was a good opportunity for all of us to integrate and have fun together with local youngsters.
We're hoping next year's Connect will be as well prepared as this one !

We Connected ! Part 1

Connect festival is already behind us ! We spent the last weekend on the Stelpe's Open Air stage and at Stelpe's schoolyard preparing workshops and performances for the festival.

Everything started on Friday night with orienteering game in the forest. It was very exhausting and competitive and difficult at times with all those bushes and swamps in the forest. But it was also a great fun an a test of orienteering skills :)

Saturday morning sport games started. There were team competitions like volleyball and football and also individual disciplines like darts and stilts.
And of course our volunteers' workshops started as well.
Aga and Kasia were leading the art workshop. They created circus-themed photography background for the festival guests.

Art team at work. You can see Tina, Agathe, Oskars, Reinis, Vera and Zane painting the Strongman and Lion Tamer. Kasia and Aga had fun with them and they both think it was an extremly creative group of people.

Agathe and Tina with finished painting. Great job, girls !

 

Kasia & Aga. Work is done, time for fun !

More about oher workshops and festival in the next post :)

Happy B-day!

We had two birthday celebrations last week.

On August 13th we celebrated with our volunteer Lika. We went up to her room at midnight with a piece of pizza.

With the help from our friends and neighbours we prepared some decorations and our music producer Masha played "happy birthday" songs in different languages. We enjoyed the night and we hope Lika liked it as well :)

And on August 16th our coordinator Agnis turned one year older. The volunteers prepared a surprise gathering in the outside house.

Once again they invited our friends and neighbours, and put candles and decorations. When Agnis entered the house Oskars and Masha played guitars for him. It was really beautiful and moving.
Now everybody wishes they got to celebrate their birthday in Stelpe ;)