In times of harvesting the goodies that have borne fruit throughout the year, the young people from the intercultural exchange MindYourEating traveled from Turkey, Poland, Germany, Romania and Italy to Cisnadioara, Sibiu County.
The MindYourEating youth exchange broughtย young people who were eager to learn more about nutrition and how they can improve their wellbeing by paying close attention to nutrition and daily routine.
The activities carried out in the project were complex and brought together multicultural perspectives, with a focus on food choices and preferences.
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Between July 21 and 29, 2021, in Carei, a youth mobility FACTOR – Facilitation actor is taking place. It is a a course funded by the Erasmus program and organized by the Beyond Association, takes place in Carei.
It is intended for youth workers (trainers, educators, teachers or other people involved in educational activities for young people) its theme being the facilitation of educational activities.
At this time, there are youth workers from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Hungary, Spain, Portugal and Italy are participating.
22/07/2021
Discovery. Unknown. Adaptation.
What do you think about meeting new people, after a long period disconnected from projects? You remember every knowledge game and try to remember the name of the one next to you. Feel how the connections are already created. – This is how the participants in the Erasmus + FACTOR – Facilitation Actor training course felt: curiosity and enthusiasm.
In the first part of the workshop I travelled through a game. Where would you like to live? Who would you take with you on a trip? All these questions helped us to see a little beyond the names of the participants around us. I discovered thoughts, emotions, principles and fears. All this dressed the atmosphere of the workshop in a warm and friendly light.
Do you think it’s possible to throw away your fears by just writing them down on a small piece of paper and then throwing them away? Yes it’s possible. But how? The key is to join the Erasmus + Training Course Factor program, where you will learn how to identify your fears and then overcome them, learning new skills that improve your personal and professional perspectives.
In the second part of the day, we connected with nature. Where else but Carei would have been so perfect to discover educational methods? In the middle of the park, full of peace and fresh air. Learning River – a technique through which we created a moment of connection and reflection, when participants had the task of remembering and classifying fractions of their lives either as part of formal, non-formal and informal education. After that, we continued to find out what a facilitator is and what he / she does? For this part, everyone was divided into groups and tried to find their own answer. The workshops ended with a session of reflection.
23/07/2021
The second day of training started at an energetic pace. After breakfast, we went to the training room and received the tasks for an active game. The participants were divided into 3 teams and had about 25 minutes to give life to a fictional reality. Each team received clear instructions about its history / cultural background and even directions regarding specific attitudes to adopt during the game. Each team was very different, which could be seen in the second part of the workshop, when all 3 teams had to cooperate to build a common shelter. It was intense and changing perspectives. Below we have a short testimonial from one of our participants that wanted to share the experience:
Eduard, Ro: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ด๐ผ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐
๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐. ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฒ๐
๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ต, ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป … ๐ฎ๐น๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ป๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ. ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ต๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ๐. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ต๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐น๐ฑ, ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐, ๐ฏ๐๐, ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐, ๐บ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ. ๐๐น๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต, ๐ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ, ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐, ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐๐๐น๐ฒ, ๐ ๐ด๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ. ๐๐ป ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ด๐ผ๐ฎ๐น, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐, ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐, ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ๐๐ฒ๐น๐๐ฒ๐. ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, ๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐๐ต.
Iulia, Ro : For me, the simulation of the shipwreck that brought a place 3 different cultures of the representative an interactive activity, interesting, but at the same time difficult. It involved overcoming internal barriers, finding an effective way to communicate with other communities, and accepting the beliefs of the people we interact with. I learned that when working with people who have different cultures and perspectives, it is necessary to reach a common number. It is important to listen to them in order to understand them, but it is equally necessary not to forget our own person, but to learn not to adapt.
After the coffee break, we had the chance to continue the training in one of the museum-type rooms of Karoly Castle. I had a special guest, named Mr. Slavic Vasko, councilor of Carei City Hall. He told us about the history of the city, the culture and the community. After this intervention, we continued the activity in the same historical hall.
After the lunch break, we enjoyed nature and had the workshop entitled Transactional Analysis. During this session, many interior doors were opened, and each of us walked a little through the connections of the past. It was a workshop with a strong impact, which helped us to look more closely at ourselves, at our reactions and to begin to understand why we are or are not in a certain way. Following this, the participants were again divided into teams and were given the task of creating a conflict situation, through which they had to highlight certain reactions and how they can manage them, in order to keep a balance.
In the end, we had the reflection group part, when the participants had a moment together to analyse the day, sharing ideas and giving feedback.
After dinner, all of us truly enjoyed being together, by celebrating each participating country through the cultural night.
Food, music and great company – there isnโt another perfect combination.
24/07/2021
The third day of training began with the long awaited workshop by all participants: Public Speaking. The motto of the session was the following: Public speaking is like a mountain without a peak. What does it mean? It underlines that it is a domain without a finish line. There will always be things to strengthen, to overcome and to discover.
At some point, the participants have been asked what their fears are when it comes to public speaking. Among the most mentioned fears were the following:
– Forgetting the lines
– Not being aware of the body language
– Not being able to maintain the focus of the people
– Not being able to make eye contact with the public
Alongside the fears, we have been searching forย the ingredients that would make a speech memorable, and those ingredients were:
- Humour (or self irony)
- Telling a story
- Picking a good subject
- After this session, the participants have been divided into working groups. They had to prepare a speech and then to choose a representative to present it in front of the whole group. After each speech, the participants were giving feedback and pieces of advice related to theย performance that they had just seen. Then, after every round of presentations (3 in total), they ha
- d to take into consideration the feedback and apply it into their speech and performance.
- It was a challenging session, but the improvement of the participantsโ speeches could be seen round after round. Below, we are presenting you a short testimonial from participants that were also in the shoes of a speaker:
- Sergiu, Ro: I really liked the Public Speaking workshop with Lerio. He is a very good trainer. I was glad that I had the opportunity to practice some of the techniques I learned. From one speech to another, I felt a pretty good evolution. The first time I spoke I was very excited, after which, little by little, I started to relax and convey the message more and more clearly. The third speech, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to work so well for me, because I didn’t organize the ideas well, but the good part was that I introduced another teammate to talk to and that made the difference. Overall it was a very nice experience. I really appreciate that each trainer has other questions to think about, they are not always the same – which makes things more interesting. I learned a lot, a lot of new things (tips and tricks). What impresses me is how we managed, in such a short time, to discover many methods, to put them into practice and to practice them!
- Alexandra, Ro: The public speaking workshop with Lerio was a revealing experience for me. It helped me a lot to change my perspective on what a speech means, considering it a discussion with loved ones, to enjoy the moment and to overcome my fears about emotions and limitations. I also received some fantastic tools to improve a speech, and their effects were noticed almost instantly, from one half of the workshop to another. Many thanks ๐
- After the sessions and lunch, we had Cultural Visit – we discovered the castle, the surroundings and connected with the local community. By the end of the day, all the participants got the chance to enjoy Carei.
25/07/2021
The fourth day of training, started with a good vibration!
After breakfast, we went outside enjoying the green space of nature and we received instructions for an amazing activity. We all had to pass through a wall which was made of 24 holes, so that each of us had to pass through a different hole, without using the same hole twice. It was a surprising activity which included group strategy, learning about how to trust each other having a pre-set time for this game, where everyone had his one role as initiator, leader, follower, or the role of helping in accomplishing the activity.
After this activity, we had a debriefing session, where we were divided into four groups for preparing questions regarding the activity. After that, we gathered, and we made a union between the groups, creating only two groups, in order to analyse deeper the questions regarding the activity.
Then, our trainer presented us four categories in which to divide questions: fact, feeling, finding and future questions.
After a coffee break, we chosed two people from the team to represent us and they presented the most relevant questions from the four categories, and we all answered depending on personal feeling that we experienced.
After the lunch break, we started a new interesting subject in the same green environment! This time it was about conflict fear and conflict management.
We were asked questions about conflict and depending on the situation if we agreed or disagreed with the statement, we had to stay on one side or the other side of a line, and argue the decision of choosing the place in which side of the line we stayed.
After a coffee break we had again a great exercise. We were split in three groups, and each group had to arrange the chairs in a different position. Although, at the beginning, there seemed to be different tasks, in the end we realised that each group’s task led to the same goal.
After this, we had another activity. We were divided into four groups and we had to deal with a negotiation regarding a big cause of saving people from a disaster. After analysing deeper the subject, we formed two groups and after debate we concluded that many things require attention and understanding!
At the end we shared our opinion regarding the first four days impressions of the training, doing a very funny game. We draw our hand on a paper, and on every finger we had to write a few words about what we most liked untill now, what we want to point out, what we disliked ,what commitment we take, and also what do we feel like sharing from this experience that we had these days.
We ended the day in a note of celebration. We organised Carei Got Talent and each group had to prepare a moment (dance / music/ etc). It was amazing, because we have created an atmosphere like in the movies. Everyone having fun, laughing, feeling relaxed and enjoying the moment.
On the fifth day of the project FACTOR (Facilitation Actor), the participants had the chance to learn about creative problem solving, project management and also about how to design an activity.
One of the participants, Anna from Hungary, shared some of her thoughts and perspectives regarding the sessions:
,,To gain all these knowledge Toninho was in charge. He has created an interesting so called step-by-step figure for us and the community was able to fill the missing parts by expressions regarding a project (from having a target group, or settling concrete objectives, through creating a strategy, and planning activities untill evaluation and celebration etc).
Afterwards everyone had the chance to write about the challenges what a facilitator can face before, during and after the project โ furthermore we shared our opinions about these as well and had an amazing conversation.
After a nice break we had the Thinking hats activity with Laris, who made us put on imaginary hats on our minds and have a different perspective for a while, which actually created the feeling that we can reach everything (or nothing) with different attitudes.
Finally, there was an amazing show about two fascinating experts (Laris and Lerio), who shared their experience about facilitating to help the team in understanding the idea about their own workshops.
The afternoon was very productive โ we have designed workshops in small groups and had a wonderful spare time on the other hand. (The keyword for me is: together ),,
Another participant, Marta from Italy, said about the day that:
,,Yesterday was a very important day. We had to put in practice what we have done ’till now, draw out our creativity and collaboration to realize a captivating workshop. I was a bit worried at first, but when my team-mates and I started to bring out our ideas, I was thrilled,,
27/07/2021
The sixth day was one of the fullest days. Every team got the chance to facilitate, to be on the other side of the stage. This experience gives you perspectives. Sometimes, it is not only about WHAT you are going to say, but HOW you are going to say.
And our participants had this opportunity โ to exercise their abilities of delivering a speech and involve the public into the facilitation process. Below, two of our participants shared their thoughts:
Boyana, Bulgaria: Today we reached the conclusion of our training. The trainers gave us what they had throughout the week and we had the complicated task to implement it all by creating a new Workshop.
All that sounded compelling on paper, but I never expected the workshops to be so unique. Every one of them stood out with the point they were trying to make and the various ways they used to get there. It was a roller-coaster of activities and debriefings, but the facilitators in training managed to keep it a smooth feel-good ride for everybody.
Ilyass, Italy: We are here! We are in Carei, a small town with a big heart. 24 guys and 3 trainers get together, ready to experience something unique and unexpected. FACTOR! what a nice name! We learn to become facilitators from the best facilitators I’ve ever met. I feel lucky, happy and finally useful after a year of pandemic. CAREI GOT TALENT, we said but the truth is that in this small and beautiful place we are making history, something that will always remain written, which will remain forever in our hearts. I feel important, happy because I’m part of a group that is committed to overcoming its limits by understanding its fears. Because it is really true that “the limits as the fears are just illusions”
After all the sessions have been delivered by the facilitation teams, they had a surprise party โ the Rekettye Kulturalis Egyesulet, respectively ,,Ansamblul Ceteraโโ organised a spectacle for our participants. There have been both Romanian and Hungarian traditional dances, and the public had the chance to try and learn the steps.
Boyanna, Bulgaria: At the end of the day we were surprised by a cultural visit that came to visit us. I couldn’t believe so many people and resources were gathered here in our lovely stables just so our stay in Carei becomes memorable. I haven’t had that much fun while also gaining new knowledge in forever, so this day will stay with me for a long time.
It was a day from which all of us collected memories that will stay forever in our hearts and minds.
