Dirty job

‘DJ Titus de Grote’ really got the crowd moving yesterday. Most of you have already noticed that Jelle – aka Tietjezz – has been working really hard all week, so we tought it was time for an interview.

Jelle, we have seen you do a lot work this week, but what is your funtion or position at Jeugdhuis Josto?

I am in charge of it all! (laughing) No, seriously, at the moment I am the main responsible of the daily routine at Jeugdhuis Josto, so it is my job to make sure that everybody else does his or her job properly. Besides that I see to it that everything stays under control, I prepare and hold meetings and when there is a conflict I have to find a solution. For me, it’s all about maintaining the overview and seeing the bigger picture.

The closing event of this week is tonight, do you have any advice for the young people tonight?

Well, I always lived by the ancient Greek motto ‘kuistdekakisoep’ – and that always work just fine for me. If anyone needs more wisdom or advice, they can also have a look on the Facebook-page of Jeugdhuis Josto.

Spanx!

The art of Poi

Saturday night fever! Almost our last evening, we have to celebrate this with a big party. But before we go to the party, Loredana and Mara from Romania had a big superprise for us. Both are members of the Crispus fire dancing crew and they know the secret art of Poi - a traditional ritual that originated in Hawaii and New Zeeland. We enjoyed a spectaculair show! Just take a look at the pictures beneath and on Flickr, it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! These girls are on  fire..

Exploring Europe

Žiga (24) from Zagorje Ob Savi  graduated as a post technology engineer one year ago. He worked as a mailman for a while and wants to go into real estate later on. Beside these professional activities, he volunteers at their local youth club Mc Zos.

Žiga, how did you end up here?

All the Slovenian people that are here in Antwerp, are part of the same circle of friends that volunteer at the local youth club. One of them proposed to participate in this project a couple of months ago, so here we are! I have some free time in between two jobs right now, so the timing was perfect for a new experience.

A new experience? So this is the first time you participate in an international exchange program. What motivated you to take part in this project?

There are several reasons. It is a combination of having FUN, seeing a new country, getting to know the culture, meeting new people and improving my language skills. I really want to explore Europe.

Slovenia joined the EU in 2004. Have you noticed any changes in your country since then?

Yes, a lot of things have changed. We started using the euro as a currency on the first of January 2007. Since then the prices have doubled, but the wages remained the same. That is one of the downsides, but there are a lot of positive aspects as well. We have a lot more opportunities to travel now, since the borders are open. And that allows us to participate in projects like this one.

Have you made any new friends already?

I hope so! (Silence. Smiles dreamingly..) That is one of the best parts of cultural exchange programs such as this one: I can invite people I really connect with to Slovenia to guide them around – and I hope I will get the chance to visit some of the friends I made here in their country.

Ok. Good luck with that and have fun!

Discover the groove

As you could read below, the creativity group got a dance initiation a couple of days ago. For the occasion Formaat contacted Youssef, a member of the ‘Let’s Go Urban’ dance squad. This seventeen year old dancer helped everyone of the group to take the first steps on the dance floor. ‘Dancing is in my genes’, Youssef explained us. ‘My brother was a dancer as well and until I was five years old, I always joined him to all the events. This made me discover the groove in my body, heart and soul.’

Some of us had difficulties to discover the dance groove in their own body. Nevertheless, everyone did the best they could . The activity ended with a jam session: the entire group stood in a circle and one by one the participants were invited to show their best moves. Thanks for the encouragements Youssef!

Creative talent.

We caught Oliver playing around with photoshop around midnight. There is a workaholic in the creativity team! Have a look at some of his previous work ! Here you can find his personal website - and he also participated in the creation of the stopmotion movie below. Really curious what he will present us on Sunday, because this tastes like more.

Regen, regen en nog eens regen

Paola (Italy) seems to really love the Belgian weather.

The communication team

Now the project AEYC is halfway, we want to thank everyone who is reading our blog. It means a lot to us that people are interested in what is going on here in Josto. 

 

For this kind of project, a lot of people are involved. You already met the logistic team, the trainers and some participants. But now it’s time to introduce you to the people behind the blogs, the pictures and the movies. It’s a very big communication team, so let’s start…

First of all you have Lotte. Lotte is ‘the big chief’ of our team. She is the coordinator and motivates us to write and learn. She also doesn’t like to pose for photos, but we managed to get her on camera.

Lotte

Then you have four Belgian people: Thomas, Goele, Bert en Ine. Thomas is the intelligent guy who writes the ‘heavy stuff’ on the blog and takes some pictures. Ine is in charge of the movies, after Bert learned her how to do it. She is also writing for the blog (like she is doing now, oow yeah J). Goele is our (photo)camera girl. She also gives head massages when you are tired.

Ine

Goele

Thomas

Bert (of toch niet?)

Four other girls who joined our team, come from another country. They are staying here in Belgium for a couple of months, so you can also call them “EVS’ers”. First, you have Paola. She is a girl from Italy. She is learning Dutch and seems to be pretty good at it. The sentence “Ik heb geen horloge” (or “I don’t have a watch”) is her favourite. Eszter from Hungary is also learning  Dutch. Her impression of Belgium: “regen, regen en nog eens regen” (or: rain, rain and more rain”) and also succeeds in  asking the way to the cathedral. Beatriz and Sabela are from Spain. The two girls haven’t ridden the bicycle for more than ten years. Now they are in Belgium, it’s hard for them to learn to ride it again. Beatriz also told me that she really doesn’t like chocolate, and Sabela doesn’t like French fries. They still need to learn a lot! 

Paola

 

 

Sabela

Beatriz

Eszter

Stoofvlees-fun from Ireland

Sinaasappelsap en winkel. These are the first Belgian words that Isolde (16) and Nicholas (17) noted in Antwerp. The two Irish students said, their first impression about the group is very good, cause they met many open and friendly people here.

They are interested in the event management, that’s why they chose this training:

- I am happy with this project, because I can learn new things and I meet new people from different countries, I like to know new cultures, commons, foods… I found the training very interesting, I enjoyed the teambuilding, I like the challenges. This is my only holiday this summer, but I like to spend it this way.

Althought many foreigner suffer from the rainy weather in Belgium, the two Irish youngsters enjoyed it, because the climate is similar in Ireland.
- Finally there are some sunny days in my country this week, and now I am here, but I don’t regret it, the new friends and the experience compensate it… - Nicholas told us.

And how did they like the Belgian food? Isolde and Nicholas tried the “stoofvlees met frietjes”
- Delicious! Really! We like this “stew à la Belgian”...

Eat this !

While all the participants are away for the day, the logistics team keeps on working at the campsite. Our reporter followed them for a day, click on the movie above for an exlusive peak behind the scenes.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

First assignment!

At last, everyone has arrived! All youngsters have found their way to Josto and arrived without too many problems.  All hungry, but not too wet despite the bad weather. 

Now everyone has gathered in Deurne, it’s time to get to know each other.  The first assignment for the youngsters? Present yourself in a creative way, by making a personal profile. And we can tell you, the participants did a good job!

Are you curious for the first results? Have a look then!

 This guy from Iceland is a fine young artist... Speaks for itself, no?

This girl is young, restless and awesome. What a hell of a combination!

Peter from the UK wants to become a pilot. I think he will miss ALL of his brothers and sisters...

Aine really hates pink. Luckily the national colour of her country is green!

Tadej, a 23 year old guy from Slovenia, is a real tree lover.