Suddenly ten creative days in Armenia have finished, where there was a training course “Explore yourself through Art” program for Erasmus +. It was ten bright, colorful not similar to each other day in a wonderful hospitable country. We had an opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the capital Yerevan and Ahveran small town, which is located nearby, in the picturesque mountains, where, in fact, there our training was conducted.
From the first day of our arrival in the host country we felt good preparation and organization of training at all levels, for which I thank to our trainers from Armenia, Germany and Portugal. For those who arrived on the night before the scheduled day, the organizers had booked a room in a nice hostel in the center of Yerevan, so the next day we could see at once the most beautiful places of the capital. Our sanatorium «Resort park» was situated the middle of picturesque mountains and beautiful nature. Honestly we did not expect such a gorgeous service for 8 days, special impression forbear from our 3 per day meals at the resort’s restaurant, where the variety and yummy traditional food impressed us a lot, and the friendly staff and wonderful chefs complemented the picture.
The first day of training accounted exercise where we could know the person more than just a name and we have achieved that through art, expressing ourselves with a sheet of paper and brush. Personally for me it was a challenge, because the last time I held a brush nearly 12 years ago, I was afraid to start, was afraid of criticism. But during the training I realized that art is not only the ability for person to make beautiful things, but it is a special way of expressing ourselves without words, it can`t be good or bad, beautiful or ugly.
The second day was dedicated to sharing the experience with different groups of clients between the participants from 9 countries. In particular, all participants presented their sending organization. It was interesting to hear many useful stuff for future cooperation. Among all the organizations the most bright for me was Portuguese, embodying the project of social business by manual manufacture of chocolate, they provided working places for 6 people with disabilitie. In the evening we waited for intercultural evening, where we had the opportunity to taste specialties from different countries of the project participants, especially I enjoyed the authentic Italian cheese with truffle mushrooms, real Italian salami and sweet pomegranate Armenian wine.
The third day was based on knowledge of the inner world of each participant, for great majority it was a serious challenge, but ultimately it was useful experiance for each participant.
The fourth day started with exercise “conflict resolution through the arts.” At first I mentioned the happiest moments in my life, then we were told that all this must sketch in black and in the end, when all have been very sad, we were given scissors and stationery knives in order to erase that black paint pictures of our light so I was very impressed because the depressed black paintings left and we saw a real masterpieces.
During the fifth day which we spent in Yerevan, we got acquainted with the local scenery and beauty of the local culture. We started with a visit to the NGO, engaged in the education of autistic children. The whole center is very clean and modern, mostly funded by foreign sources. Our next stop was at the center of art therapy through art which not only solve the problems of people with disabilities and also helps in solving everyday problems of ordinary people, such as confusion between a man and a woman. And the same evening we had a small holiday in traditional Armenian cuisine restaurant, where delicious dinner was waiting for us in the best local tradition, as well as singing and dancing after it.
Sixth day provided us with workshops held by participants of the project. Inflammatory Claudia from Italy taught us how only 6 pictures can convey a whole life story, Anna offered us a German musical exercises, Giorgio from Italy taught us to listen carefully to the nature, and the girls from Poland taught us a special way of feeling our body. In the evening Lena gave us a master class of handmade.
The seventh day started with exercises on land art, during it each participant had to make a little miracle of natural materials and then show it to others. The rest of the day we spent learning more about Erasmus + and everything connected with it, and then we came up with the ideas for its future projects, and its implementation can be provided with a help of Erasmus +.
On the eighth day we shared our topics and assisted each other in writing the project plan together.
The day of tears, sincere words of gratitude, good wishes and frank admissions came. And all of us are united by one thing – the desire to see each other again.
Khmelovska Yuliia
