OATmeal
Back home in Norway we have this thing called
oatmeal, which
is basically a lot of oat* and subjected to boiling water. After a
while, it becomes more a mass of porridge than individual flakes of
oat with some water around them. When the two elements are brought
together in a bowl they mix into a single, delicious mass.
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Oat - "When we arrived..."
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The same could be said for OAT. At first, when me and my Polish
volunteer friend Dajana arrived at the Hotel in Tbilisi we didn't
know anyone and floated around aimlessly. We were nothing but two
tired and confused flakes of oat tumbling into a nice-looking bowl,
having travelled a nine hours by train the previous day. Soon we were
not the only flakes of oat in the bowl, as the people came pouring in
through the doors and introduced themselves to us. There were many of
them, from Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, The Czech Republic, Germany
and elsewhere, who were working in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.
Despite our differences we were still flakes of oat in a bowl and we
got along famously as we were itnroduced to one another over a
scrumptious lunch-table.
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| Oatmeal-
"but then we got to know each other..." |
So what is the boiling water? The boiling water was the OAT
leaders and the programme they made us go through, the training in
itself. We did everything from making creative posters of our
project, to group cooperation work, we wrote and drew about our
learning experiences in our lives, did conflict management work, and
ran around Tbilisi getting to know it culturally and geographically.
Through these four days of cooperation, socialising and exploration
of ourselves, others and the city of Tbilisi, the boiling water
slowly transformed us from a handful of befuddled individuals to a
multicultural, delicious mass full of flavours and tastes.
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| Oatmeal
Warm "...and then the mentors came along..." |
We had a real Georgian Supra, a long table overstocked on all
kinds of food and large amounts of wine. I was even made
deputy-toastmaster, and had to make small speeches about freedom,
peace, Georgia, friendship and volunteering. Frequently a Georgian
dance-show appeared, and the men and the woman spun around
energetically in a multitude of spectacular ways.
After programme hours, we all went out to explore Tbilisi's
nightlife. It has a lot of nightlife, we were forced to conclude. We
stayed out socialising and getting to know each other better not
until the cows came home, but after the cows had decided to go back
out again, because it wasn't getting late, it was getting early.It is sad that it had to come to an end, but such is life. I
believe that with OAT I am much better prepared to continue and make
the most of my EVS project in Armenia. I have made more friends,
realised more things, had more ideas and eaten much more food with
OAT than without it.
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| "..and
then we were like..." ;) |
Question:
«But, Martin, can't you tell me in a simple way?»
Answer:
«It is a great learning experience that unquestionably helps the
volunteer grow as a volunteer and as a person.»
Electronically Yours,
Martin Loeng
*Oat
is a type of grain/cereal (like wheat) used for making porridge
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