Breaking Out of Routine

November/December 2019 -

It feels like we got into a familiar pleasant routine, with the work at the shop. The culture shock phase is almost gone, and I feel a sense of comfort and being at home.
This sense of belonging is so strong that during the Christmas holidays, after spending quality time with family and friends back in my country, I started feeling nostalgic for my other family, the Budapesti family.

Oh, and by the way, now that I’m writing this, I just got back from Italy and it feels nice to be here with them once again. Besides, New Year’s Eve is at the door and I can already hear the sounds of the city through my bedroom window, warming up and getting ready to party.

It’s getting crazy out there, but don’t hold your breath, because at Filantrópia we get our share of excitement and parties too. No monkey business.

Ordinary day at Filantrópia

We break out routine all the time.

“How?” You ask?

Good question! Let me tell you.

Every month we host events at the shop, for our customers and friends. These come in the form of anniversaries, Christmas parties or just good-old plain parties (‘cause sorry, Santa, we can’t wait for You to have fun) and every time we meticulously prepare food and drinks and we set up music and do-it-yourself workshops for the participant to join in.

It is satisfying to see people relax and learn in such a cozy environment we created for them.

"If you want to smile, make others smile!"

Besides, with all the creations coming from our workshops, we had the

opportunity to be part of the Christmas market in a cozy coffee bar and English book store called Massolit Bookstore & Café. (I know, right? Books AND Coffee?! Why didn’t we think of this??)
It felt nice to see our inventions being loved and bought by other people.
It was also the first time experiencing what it means to be on the selling side of a market stand.

It will be harder to smug at street vendors from now on…


Another activity that breaks us out of routine is creating social media posts, with humorous pictures and texts to engage our subscribers and notify them about weekly offers and promotions.
Although it’s cool to pose in hilarious creative pictures, it’s not always easy to come up with funny stuff in such a short time.

Luckily the girls are remarkably good at this so I’m happy to say that I’m learning the skill from the tops (brown-nosing via blog post: done 😉) .

High-tech drone selfie

So, in the end, we have our day-to-day routine, but we don’t get bored because we always have something challenging and new to deal with, which is, after all, the end purpose this Erasmus+ adventure: to experience new things and grow.

I send you all my love and I hope to see you soon!
Elia.

Olvass tovább

Filantrópia: an “Island of Gratitude"

Filantrópián nagyon fontos számunkra, hogy legyenek ifjú, önkéntes segítők, akik 1-1 évet nálunk 'szolgálnak'. Többször írtunk erről, az Európai Unió által támogatott programról, ami az elmúlt évek során több névváltoztatáson is átesett, volt EVS, Erasmus+ és most épp ESC, ami az Európai Szoldiaritási Testületet jelenti. Elia Olaszországból érkezett hozzánk szeptemberben, egy évre, és most sikerült kikönyörögni belőle az első blogbejegyzését. Angolul olvashattok arról, hogy hogyan telt az élete az elmúlt 4 hónapban Filantrópia kis szigetén!

September/October 2019

Imagine.

You’re sitting alone in your studio in Italy, after 1 month of painful unemployment because you just quit the most comfortable 9 to 5 job in the history of dead ends.

You are a 27 years old guy, scrolling the internet hoping to find the purpose of your life in your underwear, when suddenly you stumble upon a webpage titled “The Island of Recycling 2.0”.

It offers you to leave your current house, move all your belongings somewhere and go live in Budapest, working as volunteer in a Charity Shop, with people you don’t know, for 1 year.

Departure scheduled in… 14 days.


What do you do?

I will tell you what happens if you select “Yes, go for it”.

I will share with you the victories and setbacks of these first 2 months of volunteering at Filantrópia Charity Shop and how this experience is turning me into a better, more caring and loving human being.

I will share this with an open heart, because I wish to inspire you, if you are pondering a similar decision in your life, or to enlighten you, if you're just curious about the cool stuff happening behind the curtains of an Erasmus+ Project… or a Charity Shop.

In either case, brace yourself dear friend, ‘cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Let's begin.

Before I even signed up for this experience, I never worked outside of an office desk, let alone a busy popular store in the middle of a new country.

I didn’t know what hardships awaited me nor what kind of people I would have met but I was still very excited about spending a whole year living in Budapest.

I was all in for an epic adventure! Boo-yah!

But “Be careful what you wish for!” I would tell myself, if I could go back in time and sit next to me on the plane, because the first unexpected plot twist stroke me right from the start.

The plane I was on was delayed, and so I missed the last shuttle bus linking the Budapest airport to the city, where I was supposed to meet with my future roommates and colleagues.

So here I am, with no internet connection, jumping from bus to bus at 3 in the night, carrying two suitcases, a backpack and a very fun Russian tourist I just met at the airport (she was walking, I was only carrying the suitcases) who, for some spooky coincidence, was also lost and headed right next to my hosting house, where I was going.

After some more disoriented wandering in the empty suburbs and many hysterical phone calls in which my roommates and I were trying to figure out where I was and how to get home, I finally found them at 5 am, waiting for me in the street, wearing pajamas and yeah… under a very unforgiving last minute heavy rain!

Sheesh! That was quite a start considering that two hours later, I was heading to my first day of work.

My work consisted in helping to run of one of the most popular Charity Shop in Budapest, called Filantrópia Adománybolt, and I must tell you, I learned the hard lesson right away:

Running a Charity Shop is a tricky business!

As a team, we must simultaneously coordinate “front-end tasks” like operating the cash register and helping the buying customers, with “back-end tasks” like storing and sorting the abundant goods we receive as donations because, well, it’s a charity shop.

At the beginning, I wasn’t speaking a single word of Hungarian, so I spent most of my time in the back of the shop, while Zsuzsa, Beci and Sara (my team-mates) were taking care of the communicative tasks.

Anyways, it wasn’t long until I was encouraged to spend some time behind the counter, as soon as I learned some essential “behind the counter” Hungarian, like how to tell prices and expressions like: “Ennyi lesz?” (Is that all?) or “Mennyibe kerül?” (How much is it?).

But honestly, not knowing the language almost at all, I swear, I was literally praying:

“Please God, let nobody enter the shop right now”

And when, of course, they did I was like:

“PLEASE God, don’t let them ask me any questions”.

When your prayers go unanswered

So scary!!

But of course, as with every frightening thing, after some weeks and with the loving support of my team, I was able to get over the fear and be a decent cashier, making just a few mistakes here and there (but SHHH… I didn’t tell you that).

I also started to enjoy the once-scary-but-now-just-goofy interactions with the Hungarian customers.

As a matter of fact, they all turned out to be very understanding and friendly with me, everybody in his/her own way, and relationships formed between us, a kind that does not require much spoken language, I guess.

But anyways, learning the skill to be a cashier in Hungary, overcoming the fear of language barrier, was my first big challenge here in Budapest, and it surely reminded me how life is much more fun without fear.

I’m greatly grateful for this.

So, in conclusion, that was my first impact with Hungary and the people of Filantrópia, which really is an “Island of Recycling” but that really deserves an “Island of Gratitude” for all the good impact it is having on the world and on myself.

There’s so much more that I want to tell you, so stay tuned and I’ll see you on the next post!

…or who knows, maybe we’ll meet in person when you come visit us!


Arrivederci,
Elia.

Olvass tovább

Giuliana és a magyarok

Giuliana bejegyzéséből kiderül, hogy miért szimpatikusak a magyarok a számára és mi közünk a kókuszdióhoz. Decemberi első havazás és hóember építés, januári filozofálás, angolul, dióhéjban Erasmus+ önkéntesünk második bejegyzése.

December

I don't know if Santa is real,  but if he is I know where  all the old present are brought, to Filantropia Charity Shop, and who has to find them a place? This girl over here, sometimes I just feel like an elf.

Nevertheless, It was a nice month, the city was full of “bipolar snow”  because you can see every three hours how it gets melt again. Even though I made my first snowman named Manolo, sadly he was murdered by a random human. 

I received from my boss my first Santa's chocolate for the Szent Mikulás  day, I felt like a kid again, also  Ági the sweetest girl that help us in the shop bringing us chocolates and Christmas cards, I've  realized that Hungarians like to give chocolates for any reason, I like to believe even during funerals.

Other of the things I really like about this association are the events, every month we find a reason to celebrate  something and  every two weeks I find an excuse to bake a cake, for example this month we have  the Christmas party.

January

Why Hungarians are szimpatikus:

The first person that thinks the Hungarian population is not nice are Hungarians. Every time I said that people in  this county has treating me really well I receive a lot of bad faces and sometimes they offered me psychological help.

I know what you are  thinking  but I'm not crazy, not that much. Yes, they are serious, bad dancers, silent, quiet,  and sometimes  unfriendly, but must at all when you said “I don't speak Hungarian” yes I've been received compliments like “get out from my country” “why you don't speak Hungarian” “kurva” and more romantic things but that is just a little tiny percent of the population.

Instead I've met with really nice people, like our neighbors, persons in supermarket lines, lovely woman who bring us cookies to the shop, all of them answered me with a smile when I told them that I don't speak Hungarian, Tami who brings sweetness to our lives, Ádám the guy from the books, Julia who  laughs  and just makes our day, Orsi who always has a vegan story to tell, Gyöngyi my mentor who wants me to save the world and use washable straws or my boss who teaches me that doesn't matter how crazy a person is you have to give it a chance. 

I got to this conclusion during a dinner with my not Hungarian friends, we realized that one big part of the population is like a peach, soft, nice and sweet, easy to eat until you get to the seed, and face a personality change, Hungarians work differently: they are like coconuts difficult to open but when you break the shell you get a coconut oil. 

In conclusion, people it's people doesn't matter where they from or which language they speak, they can be good or bad, peaches or coconuts, not more than this. 

Olvass tovább

Giulianas adventures in Filantrópia

Nálunk hagyomány, hogy az Erasmus+ önkéntesek blogot vezetnek az önkéntes szolgálatuk alatt, ami több célt is szolgál, az egyik, hogy tudatosan, reflexszíven vegyenek részt a tanulási folyamatban, másrészt jó visszajelzés a számunkra is, ráadásul néha kifejezetten jókat nevetünk az önkénteseink megállapításain. Giuliana fél éve érkezett hozzánk Olaszországból, ahová néhány hónappal korábban Venezuelából települt át. Összetett identitása van, családja egyik része olasz, másik része szír, ő Venezuelában született és nevelkedett, önmagát olaszként határozza meg, az európia létet és mindennapokat nálunk tanulja, tapasztalja. (Ezek az infók fontosak ahhoz, hogy például érteni lehessen Giuliana félelmeit.) Eddigi élményeit foglalta össze angolul, amit két részletben fogunk megosztani veletek, fogadjátok szeretettel!

September 

 My first month in Budapest was amazingly scary, I felt part of a Hitchcock thriller, sincerely I didn't know what to expect about this adventure. 

I was pretty sure about the project, I fell in love with it in the very moment I read the description, but after being accepted a lot of things changed: being a volunteer has positive and negative aspects, requires skills and taking responsibilities. 

At the beginning it felt a bit uncomfortable to being welcome by strangers. The first thought that I have was "I'm gonna end in the Chinese black market without a kidney". But the people that I thought would have kill me, ended to be really kind and, if you are reading my blog I'm glad to let you know that I still have my kidney. 

One of my other fear was the Hungarian language. The Hungarian is not easy to understand nether to learn; I already have a lot of problems trying to learn it. But is funny to see everybody laughing when I said something completely wrong. I work in a charity shop in Budapest, my work is awesome we receive donations of any kind from clothes to alive snails, so yes, you can find everything in that little tiny store, also because every two minutes you can hear somebody screaming from the door "donation!". 

My coworkers have differents types of abilities, as understanding each other without speaking the same language, dealing with Hungarian clients not knowing how to speak hungarian, or challenging "Newton's law" creating mountains of clothes up to the sky. 

So yes, in this month my volunteering prepared me to hundred of things and teach me thousands more such as there are Hitchcock movies with happy endings and not everybody in this world wants to steal a kidney from you. 

October 

Somebody stole my cell phone. 

In October I learn to be more careful, be more patient and keep calm when a Hungarian Policeman tells you that your cell phone "is neither expensive or new enough" to complain about it. 

In other news, I had the chance to meet the other volunteers of Hungary. The training was a mix between long hours of games, evaluation of ourself and our works and getting you know each other's. 

At the beginning it was really awkward being there with a lot of strangers, but it was nice knowing people that decide to take the same path as you and with that the same problems. 

One of the things we found on a common ground with the other volunteers was that sometimes our ideas are not completely being listened by our association, in other particular cases strange coworkers, bosses that doesn't believe in us or just treat us like mere employees. 

Nevertheless, those unknown faces ended to be really nice, the training helped us and gave us lessons and in the end of the week we were running all over Budapest performing every task we have been assigned to, dancing Hungarian folk dance and toasting with palinka in the night. 

November 

My job in the shop varies, from taking new donations, organizing the clothes, cleaning, preventing Sara (my coworker) from play Bastille ones again, writing and correcting the board three times a day because I still think that Kedd (Tuesday) is with double E, taking pictures during every event of the store and of course about every new object, which we are receiving every five minutes, also but not less important defending my right of playing for the umpteenth time "All I want for Christmas it's you" 

We received all kinds of donations, normally if the bags are big people call us first and ask for permission. Sometimes we wait for few bags and instead we received a camion full of two meters tall boxes... that boxes were taller than me! That time we didn't even know what to do, we could communicate with the driver just with hands signs, we decided to take just four boxes and we sent back the others. The worst decision ever! :They were full of art and customers got crazy and wanted to buy all of them and we still crying and regretting that we've sent back the other ten boxes. 

On a beautiful morning I was in the middle of a pretty romantic moment with a slice of pizza when my boss called me upset asking were I was because it was 10:50 and the shop would of been opened in five minutes, Advice for myself: Kedd it's Tuesday not Wednesday. It was 

the first time I saw my boss upset and I didn't blame her, I spent the rest of the day telling her that I was sorry even if she already forgave me. 

In other news I traveled to Belgrade with other volunteers from Hungary, even do we spent twelve hours sitting in a bus with a bunch of strange, drunk and hippie people, a Serbian policeman shouted at me without any reason, we almost lost the return bus and I woke up the next day with my boss phone call asking me "are you alive?" It was a really interesting and fun adventure that I will never regret. 

Olvass tovább