Leonardo in Mohács

Leonardo in Mohács

Leonardo, AIESEC volunteer from Costa Rica.

19th November, Mohács: Today was a special day, sad but happy at the same time, it was my last day.
We started picking up the children, we were the first to get to the commnity house. We find Erika’s husband and he took us to the gym and we played soccer and basketball, was very funny. Then we started with the lessons, we have three English lessons, first with the bigger children, we played many games and spoke a lot in English. With the younger children we played word games, it was very funny too. And then, the final part of my adventure, the final good bye to the children. They prepared very nice gifts for me, I was so grateful with them, they are so nice, I will keep these gifts for ever. Then we had lunch and said good bye. I have to say that was the perfect close for these great 6 weeks, I feel very happy that I gave my best for all these children. Now, moving foward, the Europe trip is waiting for me. Thanks to all the people who was with me in this adventure.

18th November, Mohács: I can not believe tomorrow will be my last day as a volunteer in this lovely fondation. So was time to enjoy my two last days as much as I can.
We started the day very early, 7am, we went to a primary school here in Mohács, the one where Edina, teacher in the foundation works. We met with her and another very nice teacher. We started with the groups, we had 4 lessons in total. Children from 11 to 14 years old. Some of them were shy, some of them not so much, we shared a lot and it was so nice. I think they enjoyed a lot to hear about my country and asked me personal questions and Costa Rican questions, I liked very much.
In the process, since we had a small break to have tea, I chat with the teachers, I wanted to know why in Mohács children learn more German than English. They gave me very nice reasons (cultural, German can prepare better the children and after this is easier to learn English, etc).
Then, in the afternoon I shared a lot with Gergő and with two children. The weather was nice so we walk in the city and shared a nice conversation.
At the end we bought things for the food of tomorrow for the children and taked to the foundation. Was a very nice day, now to prepare mentally for tomorrow, the last day.

17th November, Mohács: Today I had my first presentation in High Schools in Mohács. We went to their school, very nice building and enviroment. There I met with around 60 students in total. They are between 17 to 19 years old. I presented my-self and my country. Some of they liked that in Costa Rica we don’t have army, or how envirnomental we are. Also I shared with some of them, at the end of the class about swimming. It was very nice.
Then after a nice lunch, we met dr. Radoszáv Miklós the Operating Director, to check the building process of the new Community House. Was nice to see all the progress and would be even nicer to come back someday and see the final result.

16th November, Mohács: After a great game of the Costa Rican National Futbol Team (we won 4-0 agains USA), I started the day with a very nice mood. Then, I went to the pool to make some workout. And after this we went to the “Mohács Historic Memorial”. Is a very holy place where the people who died in the war agains the Ottomans is resting in peace. Was very important for me to start closing the experience here being in one of the most important places of Mohács history. Gergő did a very good job telling me everything we saw in the museum. Then we went to buy food for the children and find them to bring then to the community house. I had an idea, to prepare some typical food for them. So I though in “Quesadillas”, is not Costa Rican, but is very present in almost all the Latian American countries. They tasted and enjoyed a lot.

15th November, Mohács: After a nice weekend, where I had a very nice lunch in Erika’s house, with very tasty home made food shared with her family, and a nice trip to Budapest was time to start my last week with the Foundation.
Today, I prepared a “soup letter” game for the children who learn English, with Costa Rican words. They liked and learned more about my country. I shared with two groups, then the English teacher did a game about questions,was nice to learn more about each other. And at the end we took the children to their houses, always nice to check Mohács outsides.

12th November, Mohács: Today I went with Ericka to pick up the children. We started very soon since we have all the children on Saturday. After left 6 children in the foundation we went to  Újmohács, in the other side of the river. We had to take the ferry, it was a nice experience.
In the first lesson, children had a German/English test, it was great to see, how they work. Then I had my presentation with Gergo’s group. It was very nice, they had thousands of questions and luckily I had two lessons two answer these questions. Then I had Ericka’s group and it was very nice to share my country with them, they liked my country.
It was a long day but very nice 🙂

11th November, Mohács: I started my day going to the pool, as always is very nice to practice the sport I love. After this, we went to the museum of the “Busó Carnival”, a very old tradition here in Mohács, where they received every February thousands of people who come and see this nice cultural experience reconized by the UNESCO.
We met the owner of the place, which is also a mask maker, he showed us how he make these masks, also in the museum they explained everything about the festival and the masks, was nice, I hope I can come to the real festival some day.
Then, after lunch, we had a nice afternoon with students of Gergo’s group. We played games, heard music in Spanish and Hungarian. And they tried to teach me the numbers, very good teachers I am almost there to know them.

10th November, Mohács: Early morning we started our trip to Budapest, our second mentor meeting was in front of us. After 3 hours ride we got to beautiful Budapest. It was so nice to see all the mentors and to get to know Csányi Erika, the head of the Advisory Board. She is a very nice person, I am happy that we had the opportunity to meet her.
Then, Elisa, a student and I started our trip to Budapest. First we start in the “Margit-sziget”. There was cold but nice. We had a spectacle view to the river and saw some animals. Then after a long walk we went to San Sebastian Cathedral, we spent some time inside. It is a very magnificent church. From the top, then we went to the top, and we had the best view to the city, it was very nice to have the big picture of Budapest. And after this we had a vey nice Hungarian lunch.
To close the day, the university students prepared for us an interview about our experience in Hungary and with the Foundation. Many nice questions for us.
Then we came back to Mohács, and had a nice dinner Gergő, his wife and I.

9th November, Mohács:Today was the first day I went to the pool in Mohács. As the past places, is good to see that Hungarians have very good facilities to swim in all these cities, also was funny to see that the length of the pool was 32,32 meters (not 25 or 50). Was very nice to go back to the water.
After a nice breakfast, we went to Mohács Museum. We saw the history of the city, their people (including the Croatians, the Serbs) and their most traditional festival “Busójárás”. I learned a lot about this beautiful city.
Then, after buying some food and go to pick up the children we had German classes, in the middle we made a pause of German, so I teach general things about Spanish, including self introduction. The children were repeating everything and learning a lot.
Was a very nice day.

8th November, Mohács:Today was the first official day in the fundation.I went with Gergő to pick up the children. We went to some outside towns. Was nice for me to see what is besides the big cities of Hungary. In the way we visit the place where an old King of Hungary died when the Ottomans attacked Hungary a long time ago.
Then, the first class. I knew that it was not going to be easy. In this part of the country people speak more German than English. But with the help of their English teacher we had first a game where they introduced their seld in English with the help of their classmates and then checked my presentation, some videos about Costa Rica and me.
They had many many questions, and they were very interested in my country. I love this moments when they are very open with me and we share a lot about our countries and culture. Excelent first day experience.

7th November, Mohács: Today was my first day in Mohács. I met with Gergo to see the city and to know where everything is. We saw the main square, with a beautiful church, then we went to the classrooms where the children take classes at the Csanyi Foundation. Then we went to the memorial of the people who died in the first and second war, it was a very paceful place. We had “tarhonyás hús” for lunch, it was very tasty. Also we met Annamária in a Pub, where we spent a nice time having a coffee. Then we went to the river Danube and had a nice walk. It was a perfect day, I love the city already 🙂

6th November: It was time to move out from Kaposvár. So Renata took me to Pécs, where first we visited the Zsolnay Museum. Then, we met Gergo in the city – he’s one of the mentor of Mohács – , and we had a great lunch together. Later he showed us very nice parts of the city, the Cathedral, the Big Wall and we went to a hill to see the city from the top. It was so nice. Then we said good bye to Renata and came to Mohács when we had a first look and come to the apartment. Again, I am so excited to meet the children and show then my country.

5th November: Today was the official good bye day from the Children of Kaposvar. First I joined the Drama class, where I was playing with the children. It was such a fun. The group of Sasa made a good bye activity for me, they said very nice things. Was so nice but sad to say good bye. They also prepared a photo book with pictures, messages in Hungarian-English for me. It was so nice. Later Barnabás and I went to drink a glass of good bye drink.

4th November: Today I also accompanied the children in the computers lab in their ECDL camp. They were learning about basic things like RAM memory, GBs, etc. They were very focus most of the time in solve the practice. Hope they’re gone through perfectly the exam as well. Then, we went to Lake Balaton, which is the biggest lake in Central Europe. Everything was perfect but the weather was cold and windy. Even so, this trip was a great experience. The lake and the view was absolutely stunning.

30th October – 3rd November: I spent the holiday in Croatia. Visited the capital and a very nice national park with many lakes and waterfalls. It was very nice experience to discover a new country, a new kind of people. Also to get back to the nature and think about the experience I am having. Then, back to Kaposvár, was nice, I felt like home again, and spent some time with the children in the computer practice lesson. They are always very active and funny, but also they spent the necessary time with the practice.

29th October.: Today we went to the Football Tournament with the representation of all the community houses. Was very nice to see so many children from all Hungary. They are very competitive in this sort so also was nice to see the games. After this we had the Halloween party in the community house in Kaposvár so much fun to share with all the students. Now I am preparing for a long weekend.

28th October: We started the day with a nice visit to Kaposvár University. We walk all the campus with a PhD student from India. Was great to see this university and hear things about Indian culture. Then we went to a really nice lake, called Deseda, with a really nice view and many trees of different colors. Then we had the class of Halloween decoration, was nice to see all the creativity from all of us.

27th October: Exciting day, we went to our first school in Kaposvar in the morning, and surprise: for a Spanish class. I shared with 15 students my country and in Spanish, was very nice to speak Spanish after a month. They had hard times to understand my Spanish (from Latam) on the beginning but then they used to it and participated in the class. After lunch, a new challenge, the biggest audience in this experience, 53 children in one class, was so nice to impact so many children in just 45 minutes, I got the opportunity to hear the voice of each of them in the personal presentation and then when we shared. And to close the day, a radio interview by some students from the Csanyi Foundation in Kaposvar. Was a nice experience for me and for them. They did a very good job even it was their first time, they asked many good question.

26th October: Fourth day in Kaposvár. I started with an English lesson for two groups, they were between 13 and 15 years old. We start with a nice introduction of their self, playing different games, they enjoyed a lot. Then my introduction and the Costa Rica introduction, one of the students knew where Costa Rica is, so it was nice to hear that. After a sharing session from then, we had a funny treasure hunt, where they had to find some answers about Costa Rica in different parts of the community house. Then, was time for some Hungarian typical food, we prepared (actually I did help) Rétes, with two very nice moms volunteers, it was delicious at the end and nice to share this cultural experience.

25th October: After a nice and short trip to Budapest, was time for the first lesson with children in Kaposvár. 11 children from 10 to 13 years old join the class. I have to say that this first experience was quite difficult, since they are beginners in English and some of them spoke other languages like German. But after some funny activities they started talking and asking me questions. They liked the presentation and were interested in Costa Rica. Nice and challenging first experience in Kaposvár.

Kaposvár, 23th October: New town, new house, new people. I felt sad to leave the Szeged but a new experience is comming in Kaposvar. Was a nice 3 hour trip from Szeged to Kaposvar. And we got to a very cozy and nice place. We visit the community house first, is a very big and nice house, we walked in to the main streeth, we saw the main historic places, the train, bus station and others. I can not wait until I meet all the children.

Szeged, October 22nd
Last day in Szeged, I felt very sad leaving this nice city and warm people. On the morning I saw some of the Saturdays activities they normal have, some lessons and tests in Hugarian. Then we had a nice lunch and after this we went to the museum, to finish the Pompei exhibition. Was so nice to share this with Peter and some of the students.

Szeged, October 21st
Today I had the last session with a new group. They where about 17 years old and begginers-intermediate in English.
Was nice to meet this last group, they made a big effort to understand and share in English and also were interested in my country and culture.

Szeged, October 20th: I had the privilege to visit again Piroska’s school and share with many children. This time around 100 children from 13 to 17 age years old. It was challenging to have 6 lessons in the same day, but at the same time was very nice to share with so many children at the same time, makes me feel very happy. In one group, the teacher had to tell to the children to let me go, because they had many many questions, and I couldn’t say no but my next lesson was in 5 minutes. In other class even we play football table, was so nice to share with all of them. After this, in the afternoon, we had the Biology lesson with Peter in the community House, I was so excited. We takeout all the fish and moved them to the house, also we took the water and gave to the plants. Then count the number of fish and check how big they got, was very nice to share this with Peter and the children.

Szeged, October 19th: New school to visit, I spent two lessons with students between 16 and 18 years old. I have to be honest, on the beginning was difficult to engage them in my presentation, the mood and attitude were not the best, not a great energy in the environment.  But after 20min they started to ask some questions, then we had a sharing exercise and then they got a better attitude, asked me many question and talked about what our countries can learn from each other. Was difficult but a nice experience. At the end of the day we went with Piroska’s group to “ParaPark”, a challenge room where you need to find clues to find the wayout from the room. Was very challenging and funny.

Szeged, October 18th: Big challenge today, I will go to a school and share with 4 groups. From 10am to 2pm I shared with 4 groups of around 20 studens from 13 to 19 years old. I tried to make different kind of activities for introduction, exchanging personalities, “Hot potato”, and others. Then a session of questions about what they knew about Costa Rica and finally my presentation combined with a session of work in groups for disscusion. Was a terrific experience, I liked so much the way they were interested about my country, many questions, reactions, feelings and others.  Something nice I got from them is that they are very concern about nature, they are aware that we need to work on this World Wide, which makes me happy since future generations will be aware of this. At the end some if them asked me selfies, pictures, it was very nice. Then, was the turn of the group of Zoli to show me their city. We walked the city and they showed to me nice history and important people from the city. It was very nice to see them making this effort. I learned a lot from this.

Szeged, October 17th: Peter group was preparing a nice visit to the museum, Pompei. With his group and I walk tha museum and discovered many things from this lost city, it was very nice.

Szeged, October 15th and 16th: This day, Zoli took me to a nice museum about IT, he was so kind of thinking about me, since my carrier is IT. Most important learning: one of the most important scientific in the history of computer John von Neumann was Hungarian, not from United States like my teachers told me. Then, on Sunday we had so much fun, we went to Aquapolis, a place full of pools and slides. Was very nice to enjoy this place with the children. They made me take the craziest slides, good that I enjoy slides a lot. My favourite part was sharing with three girls, we were doing the line to order food, I was talking to them in English, but since they are still learning, they felt very uncomfortable having me next to them asking things in English, we had a small awkward moment and then I start asking how to pronounce some Hungarian words in the menu, they start speaking a lot and joking about my accent and the way I was saying the words. It was so nice to heard them talk and laugh.

Szeged, October 14th: Big challenge this Friday, open myself and my culture to around 15 teenagers. I planned something different for them, I remember when I was in high school to be sited the entire day, so I planned something to move a little bit. We started with a nice presentation of every person (after a name tag exchange, so other were presenting you), then I presented my culture (with a funny dance in between for those who were speaking in Hungarian 😀 ). After this, the fun part come, we had a treasure hunt, in groups of 4 people they had to find the hidden answers (with the help of some children 14 years’ old that were playing soccer at the moment) to solve 12 questions about Costa Rica, our culture and state. After this, they discuss in their groups about my country, similarities and differences from Hungary, and what they can apply here. The topic of the referendum from some weeks ago appeared, and we had a nice discussion. A lot of learning for all. Then, I played table games with some of them, was very nice.

Budapest, October 13th: This day started different, very early, 6am, with a trip to beautiful Budapest, where we were going to meet all the Csányi Foundation colleagues, I was so excited. We arrived to a lovely House in Buda, in a beautiful hill, and start meeting all the people, the director, people of finance, and the 18 mentors from the different community houses, all were so kind with me. But also I met Elisa, she is from Italy and she is doing the same volunteer job as me, it was so nice to meet someone who is in the same page than you. We also meet three old students from Csányi community houses who took us to walked the beautiful city, we had such a good time, and we shared a lot and learned a lot from each other. It was a very nice experience, now waiting for tomorrow to meet a new group, I have the same feeling than when I met the first group, nervous but excited.

Szeged, 12th of October: Today was a shorter day, it was the first tme I took the train by myself, went to swim a little bit in the local pool. After a nice lunch, I got to the community house to meet Anna (group 2.). She is in third grade and is preparing for her final English exam. Was so nice to hear her stories about Serbia where she went together with ther Foundation photography klub members. I shared some of my experiences and history of my country too. I hardly cant wait to travel tomorrow to Budapest, and meet all the people of the Csanyi Foundation, who are gathering to the monthly mentor meeting in the centre.

Szeged, 11th of October: Today was the day, the day of the first encounter with the children. Very nervous and excited at the same time. I went with Zoli to pick-up some of then, they were a little shy on the beginning, but when we start talking about soccer, they start talking. When we got to the house, the rest of the children and I start talking about technology, we finalized watching a very funny video they sugested, almost all the 14 were around my cellphone, was a very good Ice Breaker. Then we start the class, we did an activity first playing “Rock, paper and scissors” in groups, and then activity to know then, everybody talked and introdueces their names, hobbies and favorite sport. Then I presented my country, they had some questions, then I asked differences they see between Costa Rica and Hungary, they talked about the costs, the nature, and of course the army, was so enriching to hear what they tink about it. Then four boys and me played soccer, we had an amazing time, can not wait until Friday when now they will present their city. Leonardo

Szeged, 10th of October: Today, I met with Zoli for a first introduction to the program and the city. We discussed and reviewed my first week here in the community house of Szeged. Emotions for the first day with the children come more and more. Then we went to walk the city and get used to the transportation and streets, and different places. Loved the city already, its beautiful atmosphere, buildings, and the nice and sunny weather.

Szeged, 9th of October: After 17 hours in three different flights across the Atlantic and Europe, four days ago, I finally arrived to beautiful Hungary. Nevertheless, 4 days are not enough to go through all the history and places of the greater Budapest and all its people, but it was a good big picture to meet closer their culture and past. Budapest is a little bit cold and windy; I caught a cold, but it was all worth it.

Later today I met Judit, she is the person tacking care of me and my experience. She kindly took me to Szeged, my first town, and during the commute we share a lot and set clear expectations before I start this exciting journey. Later when we got to the Community house, I met one of the mentors, Zoli. He was so kind and worry for my accommodation. He showed us the house and every place where we are going to share with the children. I feel nervous and at the same time so happy that I am living this experience and that soon I will meet all the children of this house.