I will go to my mums and select the stuff i want to bring back to Utrecht with me. Exactly one year ago I brought the stuff to my mumms to store for me. Because exactly one year ago this weekend I left for my EVS in Sweden, september 1st 2006.

I will be thinking about my EVS buddies a lot this weekend.

Still missing you all, from EVS, Vxe4xjxf6, Sweden!

Nostalgia is a post from Liza i Sverige.

There were multiple reasons for not writing earlier, like my laptop got stolen three weeks after i came back from Sweden. I had no money at first, so my first priority was to get a job to be able to pay the bills. The you work all day, and come home and are tired and i dont have my own pc to work with didnxb4t make me feel like writing.

I was also doing enough writing for job applications.

But now…

I have found new xb4Aspirationxb4, ok inspiration. My work is at a nice organisation with some growing possibilities, I am active at VIA again, also hosting and surfing at couchsurfing.com (seriously addictive, recommend it to everybody). This weekend i had a workconference about youth participation in society, and this showed me that there are still a lot of possibilities to continue the work i started with in Sweden. In september I am joining a Summer University of SCI in Romania about organizational management for NGO, and I am so excited about it, want to learn lots for VIA and for myself.

Inspiration all over the place!! O yeah, the Sziget festiival also helped my inspiration, one week of great music and atmosphere is very inspiring.

a long long time ago, but I can still remember is a post from Liza i Sverige.

I am not sure about my desicion yet, I am happy that I am back in the Netherlands with my boyfriend, but continuing Mapping Vxe4xjxf6 is a very tempting offer. I am being pulled from both sides, one arm Sweden, one arm the Netherlands, and both horses are going to opposite sides.

I have not made a desicion yet, so if anybody has any advice, please speak up!!!

Dilemma is a post from Liza i Sverige.

With 20 people sleeping in the house it made it hard to gather all our stuff. I had so much luggage that i had to gether, 2 trolley cases, one big backpack and one smaller laptop backpack. Because I has so much luggage I choose to go by nighttrain to the Netherlands. This way I could take as much luggage as i could carry and only have to change trains 2 times. All in all, preparing that morning was a bit hectic. In the end I had all my stuff, I could sit down for a moment for some breakfast. The last breakfast in Sweden…

Almost everybody who was att the party wanted to come with us to the station and say goodbye there.  Some had to go by buss, because there was no room in the car, there was not even enough room for all of our luggage. One suitcase had to go into Guillaumes car. He also came to the station with his car filled with people.  Allmost all the people came to the trainstation, from EVS, from the office they all wanted to say goodbye. And they all helped me with carrying my luggage, thank godness. To be honest I didnt want the train to come, because it really meant going away. Just as I said it, the train came… Now we had to go, load everything in the train, wave and then the doors closed. We were on our way home…

I was the first one to exit, in Malmxf6. I was gonna see Ida, another Dutch EVS volunteer, on my way home. The train was off course way to quick and in no time we were in Malmxf6. Maria and Marjut helped unloading my stuff from the train. Then the train waited more than 10 minutes at the platform, and I waited with them, hugging and having the last minutes together. untill the train had actually gone. I think it was good that we were together in the train, and not alone. This way we wouldnxb4t start think things over and start reflecting, make you sentimental and start crying the whole way home.

I met Ida in the trainstation hall. I put my bags away in a locker and we went into town for a Fika. I was strainge to be talking Dutch in my way home, while i was still in Sweden. I was mixing Dutch and English the whole time. Malmxf6 reminded me of Utrecht, my city in the Netherlands. A nice small city centre, little places to hang out, but all the stores you want. After a nice fika we walked through the city , talking about EVS, the Netherlands etc. after couple of hours the lack of sleep was kicking in and it was best if I would make my way to Copenhagen . From Copenhagen I would take the nighttrain. In the train from Malmxf6 to Copenhagen I almost fell asleep already, the sleepdeprevation was taking its tole.

From here on I was on my own with my luggage. Taking it in and out of the trains, carrying it to the stationhalls. It was hard, but i managed. I had made it harder on myself by going to the gym on saturday. It was free and we love things that are free. So me, Maria, Clara and Evelina went boxing. And we payed the price for it, the next day. I had so much musclepain in my legs that I couldnt sit down normally, walk down the stairs normally, even walk normally, I was like an old lady said Greta.  So I was dragging all this luggage (4 bags) over the stations and in and out of trains while I could not walk normally.

Another challenge presented itself on the station in Copenhagen. The nighttrain was cancelled from Copenhagen to Odense. I had to take another train to Odense and change to the nighttrain there. This meant an extra time putting all my bags in and out of the train. Thank godness there was this nice old man who was taking the nighttrain as well and he helped me out with my bags and looked where in the train I needed to be. It was such a relief to finally have found my bed in the train. Me and my roommates build the beds as soon as we were there. I climbed up to my bed, made it, talked a little to my roommates, and then went to sleep at 21.00. Well they woke me up at 5.00 and I had slept 1 hour the night before, so 21.00 wasn’t too for me.

Next stop Duisburg. 6.00 in the morning, 3 1/2 hours of waiting, 4 bags of luggage, lots of musclepaing from the gym, a deserted station, a broken elevator so you have to go down the stairs. Try to solve this riddle. Well I tried to go down the stairs with everything all together. Big no no, didnt work. But there is always a saving angel around who will carry a bag down the stairs for you. So just add her to the equation and you solve the riddle. Once I was down the stairs, I slowely looked for a place where I could sit for 3 hours with all my luggage, and have a little breakfast, which I brought with me. My real saviour was the luggage cart (you know the ones they have in airports). no carrying stuff to the platform!!

The last train was the ICE, nothing special exept I was hearing German and Dutch everywhere, I was almost back in the Netherlands.The thing I noticed waiting in Duisburg and in the ICE train is that I cannot speak german anymore, I confuse it with Swedish. I can understand it still, but speaking is another thing.

Then there was Utrecht, and my dear sweet mommy was waiting for me on the platform. I was so releived she could take half of my bags. She was amazed how I did it with all the luggage (actually I am too). The craziest is that I had to hold her arm to be able to go down the stairs. MY MOTHER HAD TO HELP ME TO GO DOWN THE STAIRS!! I had turned into an old lady :-S. I still was tired and just wanted to put all the bags away. For the comming month I was going to stay at Jaspers place. So we needed to get into the house. To do that you need keys. And Jasper was not at home, he was teaching. We had to pay Jasper a visit in the classroom . Well I waited untill his students were out of the room to sneak in and say hello and get the keys.

A small drive later I was in Jaspers room, my trip back was finished,  I was back in the Netherlands, my EVS project had ended. And all I could think about was a shower…

The trip back is a post from Liza i Sverige.

Contact me for a more extensive selection.

The actual party is a post from Liza i Sverige.

The gueslist included:
Marjut from Finland, she came  two  days earlier. Me Rupi and Maria met her in Helsinki, we became friends overnight. When she heard we were having a last party before we left Vxe4xjxf6 for home, she decided to come to our party. It was amazing that she came to visit us and spent a lot of crowns even though we met only a few weeks ago. She brought the sweetest present for us. For each of us (me, Rupi and Maria) she brought a selfmade bracelet, each out of our favorite colours. The special thing about them is that the bracelets have one bead of the other colours, this way we are linked together eventhough we will be far apart. The thought is so fantastic. For the first days i wasnt able to take it of (maybe only to take a shower) It is so precious to me. Here they are:

The volunteers from Kalmar and Mxf6rbylxe5nga also came. Emmy, also from Finland was so happy to be able to talk Finnish at an international party with Marjut. I could talk Dutch with Albert one last time. Greta could inform Clara on everything here in Austrian, one old and one new volunteer from Austria.  Ronja from Germany showed of her new hairdo, and Spanish Izrael got intouch with his inner princess.

But there were mor EVS volunteers beside the old, and the new volunteers from Vxe4xjxf6 and the ones from Kalmar and Mxf6rbylxe5nga. Onur and Natalia from Stockholm came with  Guillaume, Emilie  and Lukas by car. They drove 6 hours in a little itti bitty peugot!. Amazing!

Off course a lot of people from the office  also wanted to see us together one last time. Always in for a party Jesper, my handleader Maria with Matias, President Evelina, my partybuddy Fia, Gayathri just lovable,  Montor Malin,

A lot of friends we have made over the months with Real Life and Nxe4tverket SIP also came to party with us.

In total we were more than 50 people in the appartment and over 20 people slept over as they were not from Vxe4xjxf6,

That is a defenite record for the basement appartmen in Sommarvxe4gen 5L.

Last party in Sweden, the guestlist is a post from Liza i Sverige.

They name (written incorrectly!) and even quote me.

The article is in Swedish for now, a translation will come later on

Att mappa vxe4xjxf6 med mobilen

Projektet Mapping Vxe4xjxf6 kombinerar orientering med mobil teknik.

Med hjxe4lp av mobilteknik och orienteringskunskaper letar hxf6gstadieungdomar efter en skatt som finns gxf6md pxe5 Campus Teleborg i Vxe4xjxf6. Skattjakten xe4r den fxf6rsta aktiviteten i det nya projektet Mapping Vxe4xjxf6, ett samarbete mellan Nxe4tverket SIP, de lokala orienteringsklubbarna och projektet Ung kommunikation pxe5 lxe4rarutbildningen vid Vxe4xjxf6 universitet.

- Redan i slutet av 60-talet, dxe5 jag utbildade mig till lxe4rare, kxe4nde man till att det fanns ett samband mellan fysisk aktivitet och inlxe4rningsfxf6rmxe5ga. Sedan har det gxe5tt lite upp och ner med instxe4llningen till detta genom xe5ren, sxe4ger Margareta Moqvist entusiastiskt.

Hon xe4r engagerad i Vxe4rend GN, en av de tvxe5 orienteringsklubbar som startade projektet Mapping Vxe4xjxf6, vars syfte xe4r att locka stillasittande ungdomar till aktivitet med hjxe4lp av ny teknik.

Avstamp i lokal historia

Nxe4r Liza van Kujik, volontxe4r pxe5 Nxe4tverket SIP, fick hxf6ra talas om Mapping Vxe4xjxf6 insxe5g hon att deras ambition skulle fungera vxe4l tillsammans med den teknik som utvecklas pxe5 Center for Learning and Knowledge x96 CeLeKT x96 vid Vxe4xjxf6 universitet.

Frxe5gan var bara hur man skulle gxe5 tillvxe4ga fxf6r att skapa ett projekt som var tillrxe4ckligt lockande fxf6r ungdomar. Pxe5 ett brainstormmxf6te tillsammans med ett antal lxe4rarstuderande kom idxe9n till en skattjakt upp och Liza bxf6rjade tillsammans med Daniel Spikol frxe5n CeLeKT att utarbeta ett manus.

Som utgxe5ngspunkt anvxe4nde man sig av den lokala historien kring Campus. Hxe4r bodde, under sin fxf6rsta tid i Vxe4xjxf6 pxe5 1820-talet, skalden och biskopen Esaias Tegnxe9r. I slutet av 1800-talet lxe4t greve Fredrik Bonde af Bjxf6rnxf6 bygga Teleborgs Slott och gav det i morgongxe5va till sin unga hustru Anna Koskull. Det var hon som fick bli huvudpersonen i Skattjakten.

Deltagare till Skattjakten fick man genom att annonsera pxe5 Vxe4xjxf6s fritidsgxe5rdar och ett tjugotal elever nappade pxe5 erbjudandet att delta. Men den februarikvxe4ll dxe5 arrangemanget ska genomfxf6ras har fxf6regxe5tts av ett rejxe4lt snxf6ovxe4der och lxe4nge xe4r det tveksamt om nxe5gon xf6verhuvudtaget ska dyka upp. Nio tappra tjejer och killar trotsar dock kylan och infinner sig i lagom tid till introduktionen.

Nxe5 en ande via mobilen

Vid samlingen i Nxe4tverket SIP:s lokaler fxe5r de fxf6rst se en film dxe4r professor von Daniken, alias Daniel Spikol, pxe5 engelska berxe4ttar att Anna Koskull under sitt liv sxf6kte efter en skatt som skulle finnas gxf6md pxe5 omrxe5det, nxe5got som xe4ven biskop Tegnxe9r skulle ha kxe4nt till. I sitt sxf6kande efter skatten glxf6mmer Anna att xe4ta och dxf6r, men hon xe5terkommer vart tionde xe5r fxf6r att leta vidare. Uppgiften fxf6r deltagarna xe4r att hjxe4lpa Anna hitta skatten och dxe4rmed ge henne ro. xc4ven Anna Koskulls ande finns med i filmen och berxe4ttade att hon gick att nxe5 med hjxe4lp av mobiltelefon om ungdomarna behxf6vde frxe5ga om nxe5got.

Dxe4refter delas deltagarna in i grupper och varje grupp fxe5r ocksxe5 med sig en ledare frxe5n en av de deltagande orienteringsklubbarna. Sedan blir det utdelning av de mobiltelefoner som ska anvxe4ndas samt genomgxe5ng av hur tekniken fungerar. Pxe5 mobilens display visas en karta med startpunkten och den fxf6rsta koordinatpunkten. Fxf6r att fxf6rsvxe5ra sjxe4lva orienteringsmomentet ytterligare fxe5r grupperna olika kartor och kommer dxe4rmed till kontrollerna i olika ordning.

Nxe4r de hittat sin koordinatpunkt och fxe5tt sin ledtrxe5d sms:ar de in den till x94ledningscentralenx94, som skxf6ts automatiskt frxe5n en dator, och fxe5r en kunskapsfrxe5ga i retur. Svarar de rxe4tt pxe5 denna skickas en ny karta med nxe4sta koordinatpunkt till mobilen. Skulle svaret vara fel fxe5r de en karta till en extra koordinatpunkt och fxe5r pxe5 sxe5 vis en straffrunda.

Spxe4nnande och lxe4skigt

Det xe4r mycket som ska tas in och ungdomarna undersxf6ker sina mobiler noggrant. De flesta har tjocka jackor, men xe4r i xf6vrigt knappast klxe4dda fxf6r en kvxe4llsrunda i snxf6 och kyla. Humxf6ret xe4r det dock inget fel pxe5.

x96 Det xe4r spxe4nnande och lxe4skigt, sxe4ger Julia Rydberg, som tillsammans med kompisen Lina Green inspekterar mobilen de just fxe5tt.

Elin och Anton Jonasson som deltog i Mapping Vxe4xjxf6.

Deltagarna ska hitta sex koordinatpunkter och deras jakt ska fxf6ra dem till Tufvan, huset pxe5 Campus, som var biskop Tegnxe9rs bostad men som nu rymmer cafxe9 och studentkxe5r. Det xe4r dxe4r den xe5trxe5vxe4rda skatten x96 mp3-spelare x96 finns att hxe4mta. Pxe5 Tufvan bjuds det ocksxe5 pxe5 fyllda baguetter och nxe5got varmt att dricka innan prisutdelningen tar vid. Fxf6rst i mxe5l xe4r syskonen Elin och Anton Jonasson som avverkat rundan pxe5 en knapp timma.

x96 Det var roligt! Vi gick hela vxe4gen och ringde anden en gxe5ng fxf6r hjxe4lp, men vann xe4ndxe5, sxe4ger Elin belxe5tet.

De xf6vriga deltagarna droppar in och snart sitter alla x96 deltagare och arrangxf6rer x96 tillsammans xf6ver en vxe4lfxf6rtjxe4nt kvxe4llsfika. Projektledare Liza van Kujik xe4r nxf6jd och kan pusta ut.

x96 Jag xe4r glad att allt gick bra. Nu hoppas jag att Ung Kommunikation, CeLeKT och Mapping Vxe4xjxf6 kan fortsxe4tta att jobba tillsammans, sxe4ger hon.

http://www.kollegiet.com/templates/StandardPage.aspx?id=5504

Mapping Vxe4xjxf6s skattjakt i tidningen is a post from Liza i Sverige.

They name (written incorrectly!) and even quote me.

The article is in Swedish for now, a translation will come later on

Att mappa växjö med mobilen

Projektet Mapping Växjö kombinerar orientering med mobil teknik.

Med hjälp av mobilteknik och orienteringskunskaper letar högstadieungdomar efter en skatt som finns gömd på Campus Teleborg i Växjö. Skattjakten är den första aktiviteten i det nya projektet Mapping Växjö, ett samarbete mellan Nätverket SIP, de lokala orienteringsklubbarna och projektet Ung kommunikation på lärarutbildningen vid Växjö universitet.

- Redan i slutet av 60-talet, då jag utbildade mig till lärare, kände man till att det fanns ett samband mellan fysisk aktivitet och inlärningsförmåga. Sedan har det gått lite upp och ner med inställningen till detta genom åren, säger Margareta Moqvist entusiastiskt.

Hon är engagerad i Värend GN, en av de två orienteringsklubbar som startade projektet Mapping Växjö, vars syfte är att locka stillasittande ungdomar till aktivitet med hjälp av ny teknik.

Avstamp i lokal historia

När Liza van Kujik, volontär på Nätverket SIP, fick höra talas om Mapping Växjö insåg hon att deras ambition skulle fungera väl tillsammans med den teknik som utvecklas på Center for Learning and Knowledge – CeLeKT – vid Växjö universitet.

Frågan var bara hur man skulle gå tillväga för att skapa ett projekt som var tillräckligt lockande för ungdomar. På ett brainstormmöte tillsammans med ett antal lärarstuderande kom idén till en skattjakt upp och Liza började tillsammans med Daniel Spikol från CeLeKT att utarbeta ett manus.

Som utgångspunkt använde man sig av den lokala historien kring Campus. Här bodde, under sin första tid i Växjö på 1820-talet, skalden och biskopen Esaias Tegnér. I slutet av 1800-talet lät greve Fredrik Bonde af Björnö bygga Teleborgs Slott och gav det i morgongåva till sin unga hustru Anna Koskull. Det var hon som fick bli huvudpersonen i Skattjakten.

Deltagare till Skattjakten fick man genom att annonsera på Växjös fritidsgårdar och ett tjugotal elever nappade på erbjudandet att delta. Men den februarikväll då arrangemanget ska genomföras har föregåtts av ett rejält snöoväder och länge är det tveksamt om någon överhuvudtaget ska dyka upp. Nio tappra tjejer och killar trotsar dock kylan och infinner sig i lagom tid till introduktionen.

NÃ¥ en ande via mobilen

Vid samlingen i Nätverket SIP:s lokaler får de först se en film där professor von Daniken, alias Daniel Spikol, på engelska berättar att Anna Koskull under sitt liv sökte efter en skatt som skulle finnas gömd på området, något som även biskop Tegnér skulle ha känt till. I sitt sökande efter skatten glömmer Anna att äta och dör, men hon återkommer vart tionde år för att leta vidare. Uppgiften för deltagarna är att hjälpa Anna hitta skatten och därmed ge henne ro. Även Anna Koskulls ande finns med i filmen och berättade att hon gick att nå med hjälp av mobiltelefon om ungdomarna behövde fråga om något.

Därefter delas deltagarna in i grupper och varje grupp får också med sig en ledare från en av de deltagande orienteringsklubbarna. Sedan blir det utdelning av de mobiltelefoner som ska användas samt genomgång av hur tekniken fungerar. På mobilens display visas en karta med startpunkten och den första koordinatpunkten. För att försvåra själva orienteringsmomentet ytterligare får grupperna olika kartor och kommer därmed till kontrollerna i olika ordning.

När de hittat sin koordinatpunkt och fått sin ledtråd sms:ar de in den till ”ledningscentralen”, som sköts automatiskt från en dator, och får en kunskapsfråga i retur. Svarar de rätt på denna skickas en ny karta med nästa koordinatpunkt till mobilen. Skulle svaret vara fel får de en karta till en extra koordinatpunkt och får på så vis en straffrunda.

Spännande och läskigt

Det är mycket som ska tas in och ungdomarna undersöker sina mobiler noggrant. De flesta har tjocka jackor, men är i övrigt knappast klädda för en kvällsrunda i snö och kyla. Humöret är det dock inget fel på.

– Det är spännande och läskigt, säger Julia Rydberg, som tillsammans med kompisen Lina Green inspekterar mobilen de just fått.

Elin och Anton Jonasson som deltog i Mapping Växjö.

Deltagarna ska hitta sex koordinatpunkter och deras jakt ska föra dem till Tufvan, huset på Campus, som var biskop Tegnérs bostad men som nu rymmer café och studentkår. Det är där den åtråvärda skatten – mp3-spelare – finns att hämta. På Tufvan bjuds det också på fyllda baguetter och något varmt att dricka innan prisutdelningen tar vid. Först i mål är syskonen Elin och Anton Jonasson som avverkat rundan på en knapp timma.

– Det var roligt! Vi gick hela vägen och ringde anden en gång för hjälp, men vann ändå, säger Elin belåtet.

De övriga deltagarna droppar in och snart sitter alla – deltagare och arrangörer – tillsammans över en välförtjänt kvällsfika. Projektledare Liza van Kujik är nöjd och kan pusta ut.

– Jag är glad att allt gick bra. Nu hoppas jag att Ung Kommunikation, CeLeKT och Mapping Växjö kan fortsätta att jobba tillsammans, säger hon.

http://www.kollegiet.com/templates/StandardPage.aspx?id=5504

Mapping Växjös skattjakt i tidningen is a post from Liza i Sverige.

Evelina heard about all the EVS people comming from all different countries, she thought the newpaper might be interested, so she wrote a pressrelease about the party. The day of the party we got a call from Evelina at 10: a reporter from Smxe5landsposten is comming at 12 with a photographer to interview us about you and everybody comming. The appartement was a big mess at 10. With 10 people living there, after one day there were no clean dishes, everybody was sleeping everywhere. So we went into cleaning mode and in a supertime the appartment was spotless and ready for reporters. At exactly 12 the reporter came and did a smal interview, who we were, what we did here and what EVS was. It was for the paper on monday. Its crazy really, now when our EVS project comes to an end we get media attention. Any way this is the article, with picture!!

Here is the translation:
Changing the guards: 17 youngster frxe5m 11 countries get together at Dalbo.

Talk about multiculture! 17 youngster from 11 countries spend time with each other in  a basement apartment at Dalbo in Vxe4xjxf6 this
weekend. The new group took over from the previous one in a EU program that has the goal of supporting youngsters in get to know
each others cultures during a number of months. This change over took place under the eyes of Nxe4tverket SIP (changing
the society in practice) among with Grrl Tech, Projekter, PIX and the national organisation Booster. The European Union is financing via the European Voluntary Service. We managed to get together 10 youngster at one time, from the left to the right: Fabio from Italy, Karolis from Lithuania, Marjut from Finland, Clara from Austria, Liza from the Netherlands, Rupert from Austria, Evelina from Sweden, Mustafa from Turkey, Maria from Spain and Frxe9dxe9ric from France.

EVS in the paper, on our last day is a post from Liza i Sverige.

I have some mixed feelings about the fact that everything drawing to a close and I am almost going back to The Netherlands. On the one hand I want to go back to The Netherlands to be with my boyfriend again . But on the other hand going back means that the money worries come again, finding a job, to be able to pay the bills. Once i have a job I like I know it will be ok. The ironic thing is also that now after the Treasure Hunt of last week the people want me to stay and be a project leader for the rest of the project. This would mean that I would have a job when I would have stayed in Sweden :-S. One thing I am for sure going to do is to explore every possibility to continue and start the project of Mapping Vxe4xjxf6 in the Netherlands, or start a collaboration.

The last days are filled with getting all my stuff together, touchable and non touchable. Burning DVDs with all pictures, packing my 4 bags, moving out of my room, cleaning the whole appartment. The next few days we are guests in what was our home for the last 6 months. Frederic from France it moving into my room. For 3 days we are 9 volunteers in the appartment. Where we are going to sleep

Saturday, the day before we leave we have one last party. We invited basically everybody we knew to come and spend one last night with everybody together. From 17.00 we are going to cry our hearts out. Its Swedish style, so bring your own tissues :’(

The last days is a post from Liza i Sverige.