E-V-S: the name game

What is EVS? And what is EVS for me? Well, what do the letters EVS stand for in first place?
EVS stands for European Voluntary Service, but this acronym doesn't really describe my experience. I have other meanings for this letters, which may explain you better what was EVS for me. A bit of background information first: I was volunteering in Bitola, Macedonia from July to December 2011 and my project was about teaching Italian using non formal education. It didn't go as planned, but still I was able to give some lessons and I'll never regret my time there. Going back to the “name game” I would rather say that EVS means:

English Verbalization with Spanish and Swedish guys

these guys were my flatmates, I can say that for Swedish people English is like a second national language...I can't say the same for the Spanish, so me and Miguel were trying to communicate using Italian, Spanish, the language of signs, drawings, google and really little English. At least these were his first weeks, then he got better. I think my English got worse instead, because in general when you are in an international group, like the EVS community, maybe you don't know the words in English and then you try to say it in your own language and magically it makes sense for the other people, so English doesn't matter anymore at that point.

East Versus South

Macedonia belongs to an area called South East Europe, also known as “The Balkans”, which can recall happy people dancing a trumpet tune, but actually there is more there. For instance, astonishing landscapes and bright colours everywhere. Also, one thing I didn't expect to find in Bitola was a muezzin (or at least a recording) singing from an as well unexpected mosque. I admit my ignorance also about the Turkish domination and the conflict with Greece about the name “Macedonia” and its flag.

Eat a Vegetarian Supper

I'm vegetarian, which means I'm an alien in the Balkans, since meat is the specialty there. In most restaurants there wasn't much food for me but, on the other hand, going to the green market I could find plenty of vegetables of great quality at a ridicoulous price: 1 kg of tomatoes in the summer costed me 10 denars, which is 0,16 euros. So, even if you are not vegetarian you might consider to choose this eating style as a volunteer, since the monthly wage is enough, but still we all run low of cash pretty soon.

Evaluate the ima Vreme Style

Western society is based on stress. If you have to do something you have to do it quick and with high quality standards. If you fail you have to be ashamed of yourself. In the Balkans there's a sentence very much used: ima vreme, it means there is time. Let this lifestyle become your own, it's healthier and you'll probably reach or miss your goals the same way as you would being stressed about them.

Enjoy a Vacation with Surprises

This looks more like a slogan for a travel agency but the thing is that I can't hide that during my EVS I had a lot of free time (not for my fault) so of course if I think of my whole period in Macedonia I can see it as a vacation, but a peculiar one, where you have the chance to “live like the locals” and actually with the locals. I found good friends there, with whom, between other things, I was grape picking and drinking tea made by a grandma with herbs gathered by herself in the mountain, where she lives. I also took part in an art performance in the bezisten pazar (covered market) where I had to stand still completely covered by a white sheet in line with other people, in the meantime the artist was doing a sort of ritual of washing our feet: if somebody in the past had told me I would have done this I wouldn't have believed him!

To sum up i would say EVS is an Experience Violently Suggested.