LINK ISSUU N°92

LINK

N°92

A PR I L 5 th 2017

SRING CLEANING Spring. The season of new beginnings. Flowers blooming, birds happily chirping... but also it's the time for spring cleaning, and that's exactly what we did with this issue of Link – we're excited to introduce a brand new design created by our lovely EVS volunteer Mariam. Big applause! Keeping up to date with modern trends can be difficult but it's a necesarry aspect of every good magazine. We hope you will appreciate this step forward as much as we do and that you will find reading the articles of our hard-working writers much more enjoyable. Now go and explore what have they prepared for you in this issue!

Editor : Tea KriĹžanec

Designer : Mariam Sassi

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Content Contact

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About us

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EVS, K.A.NE.

Youth Center - program 14 Sofiene Lahdheri 16 Mehdi Jaffar 17 Anna Szlendak 18 Joana Ganilho Marques 22 Ruya Hazar 24 Sofiene Lahdheri 28 ร scar Villarraso Lรณpez 32 Martyna Czypicka 34 Oskar 36 Oskar Shrattenecker 38

GFX / Photography Arras, France Interview with Nikos The Uncertainty of Love Four Seasons Anatolia (P2) Interview with Mariam Be Confident Tati Westbrook / Wayne Goss The Roof of the YouthCenter Inspiration : Anna Szlendak

K.A.NE. Staff members of KANE: Filaretos Vourkos Fotini Arapi Jelena Scepanovic Nantiana Koutiva Vyron Giannakopoulos EVS: Anna Szlendak Aroa Liébana Rellán Arthur Gallagher Joana Ganilho Marques Laura Gimenez Mariam Sassi Martyna Czypicka Mehdi Jaffar Molly O’Doherty Óscar Villarraso López Oskar Shrattenecker Renée Hoogenboom Rosa Vernooij Rüya Hazar Sara Amghar Sofiene Lahdheri Tea Križanec Yana Volkova

K.A.N.E Social Youth Development Youth Center of Kalamata Plateia Othonos 10 Kalamata, 24100, Greece info@ngokane.org +30 272 111 0740 kentroneon.wordpress.com ngokane.org/index.php

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@kentroneon

WHO ARE WE ?

ANNA

Kalimera! I am Ania and I come from Poland. I will be working for KANE and running Photography and Ukulele workshops. I studied photography in the Institute of Journalism of the University of Warsaw and worked for press photo agencies when I lived in my country.

I enjoy every form of photography, I use both digital and

film camera, I also create my own pinhole cameras. Besides, I am totally addicted to travel.

AROA

ARTHUR

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Hi ! My name is Aroa, I’m from Madrid in Spain but I live in Màlaga, the south of Spain. In Spain I’m working in a secondary school for dance, I’m the teacher for hip-hop, funks, break dance and classic for teens. I have 18 years and I love dance, photography and watch movies with my friends.

Hello, my name is Arthur, I’m coming from France.

I will stay in Kalamata for a 12 months EVS, working at K.A.N.E office. I will animate some workshops here and participate in media communication. I’m glad to be here and experiment the greek way of life.

MOLLY

Hello everyone! My name is Molly and I come from the UK. I’ve moved here from a city called Bristol in England. I am going to be working in K.A.N.E.’s office.

I’ll be helping with the programming, development and evaluation of activities. I’ll also be helping out in the Youth Centre and running an English Conversation workshop. I love cooking, watching films and doing yoga. I also really enjoy helping people to connect with their local history. Before I came here I was working in

museums and archives for many years. I am really excited to be in Kalamata and I feel very lucky to be here working as an EVS volunteer.

LAURA

MARTYNA

Hi! My name is Laura and I’m 24 years old. I come from a small town in France called Le Thor (yeah like the north god), it’s around Marseille. I have a bachelor degree but I wanted to do something else this year, something that will give me life and work experiences: I wanted to be useful. I’ll work in KANE’s office as the webdesigner of the team and I’ll stay in Kalamata for 1 year; I’m really looking forward to it! I have quite a lot of hobbies; I love to draw, write, read, play videogames, watching movies and tv show and so on.

Hey guys! My name in Martyna and I’m new volunteer from Poland! I’ve grown up in Poznan (west side of the country). I’m 26 this year and I try to enjoy every minute of my life! I’m crazy about Greece, this is my favourite place in Europe – however I love to travel and I take every opportunity to see the world. In my free time I like to read and spend time outside of the house. I love to eat, this is my biggest passion! I’m totally a beauty freak.

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MARIAM

Stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things is the best way to grow, and this is what EVS is all about. My name is Mariam, I am 24 and I come from Tunisia. Passionate by traveling, arts, adventures as well as meeting new people and discovering new traditions, places and cultures. I decided to leave all of my normal steady life in Tunisia to come seek inspiration and and explore a new way of living in Greece, in the beautiful city of Kalamàta. I would use all of my

knowledge and dig even deeper to give the best of me, but also try to learn everything I can from other volunteers, from locals and daily life experience, either languages, dancing, music instrument, sports etc.

JOANNA

OSCAR

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Hello ! My name is Joana, I’m 29 years old and I’m from Lisbon, Portugal. I studied fine arts, art education and museology and I just arrived Kalamata for a 12 months EVS project. I’ve worked for a lot of time in bookshops and I love to read. I like quiet places where I can be in touch with nature. I’m a curious person and I’m always

Hi ! I’m Oscar, I’m from Spain, I live in Màlaga, so close to Africa. I love the fashion world and I worked as organiser and teacher of modeling in lot of fashion shows. I’m an animal lover, I have a tiny dog called Fredy. Music is very important in my life, I’m listening music every time. I like traveling every time I can, I think exploring the world is the most interestng in your life.

ROSA

Hi everyone! My name is Rosa and I am 17 years old. I come from a small town called Woerden in the Netherlands. I just graduated from high school, so now I am taking a gap year before I will go to university. I like hanging out with friends, watching a movie, going for a hike and cooking. I will stay in Kalamata for 9 months to work in the Day care centre for autistic children. We visited Kalamata in the beginning of August for one weekend, so we got to see a little bit of Kalamata

already. The people here have been really nice, but it is so different from the Netherlands.

I hope to become more independent here and meet new friends. I am also looking forward very much to learning about autistic children and how to approach them.

RUYA

RENEE

Hi, This is RĂźya from Istanbul,Turkey. I am 28 years old.

I have studied Maritime Transportation and Management Engineering in Istanbul Technical University. Then, i started working on tanker ships as an officer. So, i was once an old mariner, than after leaving ships become a full time traveller and now i am a volunteer in Kalamata until next middle of May:). I am into sports, cultural activities and travel.

Hi there, my name is Renee, I am seventeen years old and I am from the Netherlands. I arrived last monday and I will stay here for ten months. My work will be therapeutic horseriding and in the keviab. I just finished highschool and I didn’t wanted to study immediately, then I came across EVS and it turned out to be the perfect thing to do this year. Because I am doing something good and I will learn a lot from it. I hope that when I come back I will have new friends and have a lot more life experience.

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SOFIENE

Taking a decision to leave everything what you have and take a deep plunge into something unknown is never an easy one. I took such a decision, left my job and decided to take one-in-a- lifetime opportunity to do my EVS in Greece. My name is Sofiene, I’ am 26 and I am from a tiny country in North Africa called Tunisia. I am a photographer, videographer, graphic designer and I am here to share my experience and knowledge as well as expand it and acquire new skills. I’m social, open minded and always curious about different cultures and meeting beautiful people.

OSKAR

Hello my name is Oskar Schrattenecker, I am 18 years old and from Linz/Austria. I am doing Evs in Kalamata.

The main reason for me to do Evs was because i didn’t know what I wanted to do in my future so hopefully I get orientation during my Evs. Also since first of January in Austria you can do a long term Evs instead of your military service, so this was a nice opportunity. I started my Evs one month ago on 18. of April and my project lasts for one year, I work in the Youth center of

Kalamata. Me and 6 other Volunteers live in an apartment.near the Youth center.

MEHDI

There are at least as many things to know as there are humans and countries. EVS enables the possibility to know much more about our World. Καλημερα, Hello, my name is Mehdi, I am 24 and I come from France. Passionate about Life and Nature, my biggest motivation is to learn from other cultures, from people, from life. I decided to quit my job there too, so I could catch the opportunity to experience something unique in Greece, in Kalamata, and all the

Greek cities I will have the chance to see. I will bring you all I have, and I will learn from everyone all I can.

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SARA

Kalimera to all of you, I am Sara, I am french and I am 21 years old. Since yesterday, I am a new volunteer in Kalamata and will stay here for a year (maybe more ...?) in order to give some help to the horse riding center of kalamata and the Kefiap as well. More over, I will give french lessons at the Youth Center of the city. I met people I will work with and I am really excited to start being part of the project. Horse riding center is a real peacefull place for anybody who needs to connect his

mind with his body. The couple of therapist working there are sensitive and receptive people, so if you have any physycal pain, just go to the horse riding center :)

YANA

I am Yana from Ukraine. For 5 years I was studying architecture in university and I fond of everything about it as well as about natural building. Before coming here I was working as a project coordinator of the workcamps and as freelance graphic designer for different social festivals and non-governmental organizations. The last 4 years I’ve been travelling to different places in Europe such as eco-villages and rural areas helping people and promoting volunteering for

peace. All kind of arts, nature, voluntarism, and travel -- my biggest passions in life.

TEA

Greece, the final frontier. This will be the voyage of a young volunteer. Her continuing mission - to explore strange new places, to seek out new skills and new forms of art, to boldly go where no volunteer has gone before... Greetings dear readers! Tea in my name and art is my game. I will be working for KANE and leading the Creative Arts workshop in the youth center as well as teaching croatian. Please don’t let my fragile looks trick you, as I am a level 6 elven ranger of the Vanyar

clan, my patronumes.s is an Eevee and I am aivailable for tea parties and board game.

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K.A.NE.

FILARETOS

jelena

NANTIANA

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Hello, I am Filaretos Vourkos. For the last 10 years I am working in the field of Non-formal education as avolunteer, youth worker and youth trainer. 6 years ago,I decided to create the Youth Centre of Kalamata, in orderto initiate youth work in Kalamata and promote active citizenship as factor for change.

Hi, I’m Jelena Scepanovic, an EVS coordinator in KANE and the volunteer of the Youth center. I came from Montenegro 2012 as an EVS volunteer.

I really liked the idea of the Youth center and the work that KANE does, so I decided to stay and be part of it.

My name is Nantiana! I’m 23 years old. I live in Kalamata! I was living for 5 years in Patras! I was studying there greek philology and now I’m teaching greek to the youth center in Kalamata.

fotini

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Hi my name is Fotini Arapi and I am project manager in K.A.NE. organization and responsible, among other things, for all sending motilities (sending EVS volunteers, participants in training courses, interns, etc). Apart from my work in K.A.NE., I also volunteer in the Youth Centre of Kalamata, a volunteer initiative managed by a team of local volunteers. I am very proud of and I love the Youth Centre, its dynamic atmosphere, and most of all, its natural inclusiveness that allows everybody to feel

“at home” there. See you around :-D

VYRON

would describe Vyron as an imaginative fast learning and inventive generalist with a passion for remarkable food and the great outdoors. That’s enough talking about myself in third person. Hello, I am Vyron Giannakopoulos, I consider myself a curious and open-minded person. I have studied the science of Geography and as the newest member of KANE I am here to help by managing the creative projects of EVS volunteers, planning events, creating new projects and

doing anything that will add value to our organisation. In my free time I like exploring new places and learning new things. But feel free to contact me on any issue if you need help.

Namaste

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MY PROJECT GRAPHIC DESIGN / PHOTOGRAPHY

My main tasks in this project are taking care of the graphic and video content for the organization that includes: - Creating posters, logos and campaigns - Graphic design of EVS Greece - Artivistes and KANE website - Producing a series of animation videos about EVS - Creating promotional material for KANE - Street festival poster contest - Editing created videos with credits and graphic when needed and much more.

Beside that I have two workshops which are : Graphic design and Arabic language.

The project I am working on now is a video presenting the EVS voluteers.

<= Shot from the video coming soon 16

SOFIENE LAHDHERI

MY HOMETOWN Arras, France

Καλημερα, Hello, Με λευε Mehdi and today I want to talk about my city, Arras, in France.

Arras is a small/medium town of 41 000 citizens South of Lille. We call its inhabitants "Les Arrageois".

This city is famous for its Beffroi, but also, and unfortunately known because of the World War I, and the World War II, in which Arras has been almost destroyed.

Totally rebuildt, Arras attracts some tourists, especially English, who come to see the big underground network, and it's unique in the world for Baroque and Roman architecture.

"Les Arrageois" like to meet each other at the main square, named "Grande Place" where all the main bars are. This city is the most protected one by UNESCO PATRIMONY in France, with 225 edifices.

Now that you know the history of Arras, if you have to visit it one day, I can give you some advices to enjoy your trip: First of all, visit the Beffroi, in the main square of Arras, and take a drink. You will also find very good restaurants around the Grande Place. Then, you have to know that Arras got a lot of nice parks, where a lot of students like to meet. Find the "Robespierre Parc", or the "Grande Prairie Parc". Visit "La citadelle", just behind the Robespierre Parc.

And if you can, come to Arras during July, to participate in the "Main Square Festival", a big music festival in the Citadelle. And finally, find me. You will not regret it. :)

MEHDI JAFFAR

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Interview with a local volunteer INTERVIEW WITH NIKOS

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Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Nikos, I am 24. I live in Kalamata and for some time now I am volunteering in the Youth Center.

When have you started volunteering here?

I started to volunteer in Youth Center in February, but before I participated in some workshops. German, sign language and Japanese – all workshops I take part in are languages. The main reason I came here is because I wanted to meet new people, to extend my social circle.

So what do you do as a volunteer here?

I am at the Info Point, when people come I help them, give information, also I teach new volunteers about work in the Youth Center.

And what do you do when you are not in Youth Center?

Generally I drink coffee with my friends.

I heard that time for a Greeks coffee should last at least 2 hours.

2 hours is a minimum. One time I had a coffee with my friends from 11 a.m. till 9 p.m. It took 10 hours. We went there, drank a coffee, then we left the place for few minutes to go to our homes, we came back, drank another coffee and then we drank some beers.

When we are talking about that, what are you thinking about Greek “sigasiga”?

It is your motto?

My motto is not tobe worried about anything. You don’t have to rush. Actually, yes it is “siga, siga”. It’s a philosophy of almost every Greek. For example, if I have some problem and I get very anxious about it, like very, very anxious, after some time I just tell myself to move on, notto be worried anymore. “Sigasiga is about every aspect of our life, you don’t have to worry about anything,with everything it’s just a matter of time until it gets better.

Gave you lived in Kalamata for your whole life?

I moved for a few years to another city to study, to Patras, you know, famous for its carnival. I had really good carnivals there. After I finished my university I came to Kalamata for summer and after that I went to the army. For Greeks it’s like you volunteer for the army but you have to go. It’s mandatory volunteering.

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And if you don’t want to volunteer to the army?

If you don’t go, you are considered as a kind of criminal and you have to pay a fine to not go, it’s around 8 thousands euros. You can also buy your time - if you are older than 30 years old or you live abroad you don’t have to go to the army. If you live in Greece you have to.

How long is the service?

9 months in the army and 12 months in the air service or the navy.

So, you can choose?

No. The air force and the navy are considered as better options, usually you can do your service there if you have a friend who will get you there. Most of the Greeks go to the ordinary army.

Did you like the time in the army?

Personally I liked it very much, I had a good time. But for many other people it’s worse.

They gave you some money during that service?

Yes. 6 euros and 30 something cents per month. Soldiers have a salary, but they take some of your money because they feed you and give you place to sleep. So, at the end you have 6 euros.

Where did you do your service?

I spend 1 month in Kalamata, 5 month on Chios – it’s an island near Turkey, 3 months in Tripoli. I was lucky, because I was chosen to go to Chios, others, for example those who go to Evros didn’t have such a good time as I had.

And what about your plans for near future?

In September I am going to Ireland to do my postgraduate studies. I studied economy, but now I am going to study information systems. What I am going to do is that I want to implement information systems like database to other businesses.

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But why Ireland?

Why Ireland? First of all, because Irish people are very similar to Greeks, their mentality is practically the same. They are easy going people. Moreover, in Ireland there are big businesses related with computers. For example European headquarters of Facebook or Apple.

Which university did you choose?

I am going to study in Cork. On 11 of September I have to be at the university already.

It’s free or you have to pay some money?

I pay a lot of money. Fees are 10 thousands euros per year, but whole studies lasts only one year. One full year precisely, I start in September and I finish in next September. For 3 months I will go to some companies to do my internship during this period.

When did you decide to go to Ireland?

I searched for final degree for a year. At the beginning I planned to start studies in last September, but I didn’t have enough time to fill and send papers, that’s why I am going to start it in this year.

Are you planning to go back to Greece after a year in Ireland?

I want to come back but I think I won’t, because I will probably look for a job in Ireland.

I am 25, I can’t depend financially on my parents forever. I have to earn my own money and here in Greece there is a problem with finding a job, especially for young people.

So, what are you going to do before starting your studies?

I am going to enjoy time here as much as possible. I want to spend time with my friends, take vacations away from Kalamata, maybe in Stoupa, just relax.

What will you miss about Greece?

First of all I will miss my family. I will miss the sun, night life here and people’s attitudes.

Here when you go somewhere people are so friendly, they invite you to their houses, share with what they have. I will miss Greece and at the same timeI won’t, if you know what I mean.

I hope you will have a good time in Ireland. Thank you, Nikos.

ANNA SZLENDAK

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BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS The uncertainty of love

Kafka once wrote, in a letter to Oskar Pollak, that “a book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us”. And sometimes iit doesn’t need too many words for that.

A Chance of Sunshine (1999), also translated as Turn Left Turn Right, is an illustrated book by Jimmy Liao (Taiwan, 1958). The book, with full-page illustrationsand very little text, introduces us two characters who share the same city.

He is a musician and he always turns right; she is a translator and always turns left. They live side by side but never see each other.

By chance they meet one day and they fall in love. Also by chance they lose one another.

From then on, they wait, experiencing the delusion of loss.

More than a story, Jimmy Liao uses powerful visual metaphors, drawing successions of feelings and states of mind: loss, melancholia, loneliness, boredom, hope. He connects the states of mind with the weather, and the time of the narrative is given bythe days and months, as in a calendar. The text is usually short, almost telegraphic, a kind of a report.

It also intensifies the sense of repetition and sameness that characterize theirs (and our) routines. tThe characters live a suspended life; they are lost in the vastness of the city, a prison without walls, where solitude and anomie rule.

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They don’t have names: they could be anyone of us; the everyday life events could fit in withmost of our routines and the city is generic, it could be almost anywhere. The author invites the readers to make an introspective reflection, powered by the possibility of multiple interpretations and the different layers of meaning. In Portuguese, as well as in Spanish (Desencontros e Desencuentos,in the same order) the title anticipates the action: both characters seem unable to meet each other in the labyrinth of the city, in the routine of their own actions.

The book is full of external references, tributes and appropriations. In the beginning, we find apart of a poem by Wislawa Szymborska: “Both are convinced / that a sudden surge of emotion bound them together. / Beautiful is such a certainty, / but uncertainty is more beautiful”. The quote pays a tribute to the poet but it also helps to set our mind for the development of the story. Liao’s work is made up of meaningful dialogues with other artists. We can find visual elements that lead us to Matisse, Van Gogh, Magritte, Sempé, along with other, oriental references. It is also difficult to find a strict category in which this book can fit: It’s not a comic book, nor a graphic novel; it is maybe something between those and a picture book.

Turn Left, Turn Right is a book for all ages, in the same line as Little Prince or The Man Who Planted Trees. Those are books with universal messages conveyed in the story in a way that allows them to become particular, to talk with every one of us in a very personal way. As long as we grow we change, and the meanings we can find in them change as well.

In this particular book, the open plot is one of the key elements that can lead us to multiple interpretations. Also the nature of the visual language Liao uses, rich in details, and the way in which he uses it – most of the action is given by the images and their sequence – turning the illustrations into a deeper source of information that can uncover new readings and meanings, inviting us to figure out by ourselves some of the aspects of the story and eventually, for those who need it, its ending.

LET US GROW WITH THE BOOK is the theme for the International Children's Book Day (ICBD) 2017, celebrated worldwide on April 2nd. This yearwe celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ICBD, chosenin 1967 bythe International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to pay a tribute to Hans Christian Andersen, who was born on April 2nd 1805, and to inspire a love of reading, as well as to call attention to children's books.In

JOANA GANILHO MARQUES

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FourSeasonsofAnatolia! Part 2 A Year Round of Travelling Tips for Turkey Let’s continue from where we paused last month.

Party Summer June, Before the party starts, it would be a great idea to take some fresh air first. For that, the perfect region is in the Black Sea coast of Turkey. We call this tour; Karadeniz Tour When we think about Karadeniz which is the direct translation of Black Sea, we think of such a place where you can see every shade of green on the mountains. It allows you to take a hike, spend the night under the bright sky with fresh air, which makes you eat all the time. Luckily, Karadeniz cuisine is crazy delicious. They have both vegetarian and meat dishes which are mostly with sea products. An important info about fish in the Black Sea coast - in season, its fish is more delicious than in the other regions, because of mostly cold and less salty waters in the area.

July, Ok, enough with nature and fresh air! It is time to party on the beaches and get sweaty in the bars of the Mediterranean! All those British, Russian and German people aren’t wrong; Antalya Antalya is a whole package city with nature (the one I have mentioned in Lycian Way), history with thousands of ancient archeological sites and yes, with parties. Parties start on the beach, continue until the sun goes down and end with the sunrise in the morning. And it is like a cycle. If you complete the cycle successfully, you might start living on the beach, because most people find themselves falling asleep drunk on the beaches while they were watching the sunrise.

It is actually a tradition among Turkish people, maybe it is from the ancient times since Turks were worshipping the sun before Islam. Still, it feels great watching the sun going down and rising in the morning. And maybe after the sunrise, you can walk to the see with caretta carettas and take your morning bath And have you heard about Olympus? Yes, it’s there.

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August, is same. Here are 3 musketeers of attraction sites for rich people; Çeşme/Alaçatı – Bodrum – Marmaris These three towns are the most well known attractions chosen by both foreign and local tourists. Although there are many more in the Aegean Sea Region of Turkey, they are the ones that are most crowded and of course with the best night lives.

When you are in the Aegean Sea, it is a good idea to start the day with classical boat trips, which sail from crowded beaches and reach best coves, creeks of the mainland and beaches of near islands. After the boat trips, you can have your dinner in traditional taverns with good traditional music and drink your raki with a variety of mezes.

And after dinner, “Street Of Bars” is waiting for you for bar crashing! Çeşme/Alaçatı is a town of İzmir. İzmir is already a beauty herself. Yes, “herself”.

She is our precious lady of our country. Alaçatı is mostly famous for its cuisine.

Bodrum, and Marmaris are towns of Muğla, before they were only about nature and white - Greek Style houses and peace. Now, they are only about crazy night life, especially Bodrum is the city, when we think about crazy nightlife of the south in summer.

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Autumn Romance September, Within one month, colors will start changing and bring brown yellow sadness to the costs of Turkey. So, it is better to catch the last green tones of the Aegean in the north and experience the great smell of mountain spices from Kaz Montains and the festivals of harvest.

Bozcaada Island September is the time for harvesting the best grapes of the coast. And in Turkey, harvesting is always considered as a festival where you can hear nice music on the street with products of the harvest. Almost every city celebrates its own festival of harvesting, as does Bozcaada. Grapes are the most important good on the island. They grow many things but they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make delicious wines out of them to drink during festivals and get drunk.

It is also a good opportunity for urban people who are not very familiar with agriculture.

October, The reason why it is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Autumn Romanceâ&#x20AC;?, one word; Cappadocia Have your own Sweet October. Picture is self-explanatory.

Yes, it is a real place, which is an open-air museum. With amazing wines.

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November, Before snow covers the whole country from east to west, it is time to witness the last colors of the nature. Go to places where red, yellow and brown meet with blue lakes; Yedigรถller Translation of the name is Seven Lakes, located in Bolu. You can go there, take a daily hiking tour around the lakes and have fun with a barbecue in the allowed spaces of the national park.

Still there are many and many more natural and entertainment beauties of the country, which you can visit all the time. Most of them are available on Trip Advisor, which is very useful to make your plans for Turkey.

RUYA HAZAR

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Interview with aN EVS volunteer INTERVIEW WITH MARIAM

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Which super power would you like to have?

It's kind of a nerdy question, but it always seems to come up. Most people can't answer it because thereare so many to choose from. But not me. I know exactly what I'd pick, hands down, every time: invisibility.

Just think about invisibility for a second. No one can see you. You're there but not there.

You could be in the same room with someone, standing inches away, and they wouldn't realize it.

Yeah, invisibility is the best superpower, without a doubt. I honestly don't know why people even have this discussion.

The only downside to invisibility I can think of is how tempting it would be to abuse it.

For instance, it would be very easy to rob a bank. I could just stand in the lobby, totally unnoticed by anyone, and wait until everyone went home for the evening. Then, with the whole building to myself, I could simply walk up, rip the vault door off its hinges, and fill my money bags at the speed of light. If the police somehow arrived before I finished, I wouldn't have to worry about being arrested, because I could stroll right past them.

In any case, I realize it's a silly fantasy. It's never going to happen. There's no getting around the limitations of the real world. It's fun to ponder, though.

Where would you go in a time machine?

I think that I would either go back to a time before humans, to like 80 million BC, to experience a world without humanity. And to see dinosaurs. But my suspicion is I’d get there and wouldn’t be able to find any dinosaurs, or if I did, it would be cool for 10 minutes and then they’d be eating some grass and I’d figure out that dinosaurs were just animals.

Or maybe I'd go to the future, like 100 years in the future would undoubtedly be beyond belief. I would discover the technology we’d have, the things we will have learned, the social norms and taboos, the music, the advancements in philosophies on life and happiness. It would be vastly beyond our world and amazingly enlightening to learn about.

Which is your favorite quote?

"We become what we image ourselves to be"

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What song best describes you?

I would definitely choose Afterlife from Avenged Sevenfold. This song is about a man who dies at an early age and goes to heaven, but realizes that he has too much to do before he leaves earth. So he tries to escape this ‘place of peace of light’, i.e The Afterlife (Heaven). But when I listen to this song, its meaning is completely different to me. I think it’s an eternal love story between two lovers, wherein one of them dies and goes to heaven (The Afterlife). The dead lover tries to force the other to live with him/her, but the other doesn’t want to. The lines ‘I don’t belong here, I gotta move on dear; Escape from this afterlife cause this time I’m right, to move on and on; far away from me’ justify my version of the song. Ironically, The Rev (the drummer) also died at a young age; and he is the one who has composed this song.

How would people communicate in a perfect world?

I actually don't think that our imperfections come from miscommunication so much as they do from misinterpretation.

I guess in a perfect world we'd have to communicate like we do now, just interpret and manage it better.

If we consider that there are multiple, parallel, infinite universes, that it's possible in infinite worlds that every element of them is also infinite, that every communication can have multiple meanings, that we should give others the benefit of the doubt when we do communicate with each other - then that alone would get us closer to a perfect world.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

First things first, I won't do anything. I would take some time to think about what just happened, to let the excitement wear off.

Then, if it’s just spending money, I am going to lose the money. That’s why, I will have to think about if I want to invest my money and live off the dividends, start a charitable foundation, or become, say, a real-estate baron. (Or, some combination of all three.)

After that, I will start thinking about having a worldwide trip, might one day buy a house in Bali or a yacht in the Caribbean.

But for now, I just have my dreams. And that’s pretty much free.

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What 3 items would you take to a desert island other than food and water?

I would take you, for obvious reasons haha. You are not an item but still. You make me laugh and feel safe. Plus, if I am alone and anyone finds me, they wouldfor sure feed me to the wolves that inhabit the granite islands.

I would take alcohol, for warmth and injuries.

And I will maybe take a big good book to entertain myself.

SOFIENE LAHDHERI

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BE CONFIDENT

Today I want to talk about something very important, loving yourself, yes, that is one of the main things you have to have in your life. A few years ago I was very insecure of myself and I cared a lot what people said about me. I wanted to like everybody without any problem, but I was not being myself.

All this comes because we have been educated to be all the same, you have to be as people say and if you have something different or you like something different than normal, you can not express it. Blue for guys, pink for girls. Men can not cry, all women are sentimental... Why a man cannot wear makeup? Or a woman drive a truck? Just because society has taught us that since childhood.

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OSCAR VILLARRASO LOPEZ

For example, I really like the world of fashion and I think it's a good way to express yourself, with your clothes you make your identity, so I started dressing as I wanted without caring what people said to me.

Another thing that helped me to be so sure of myself is music. I listen to music all the time, and most of the songs are about loving yourself. For example: Rebel Heart - Madonna Wings - Little Mix Firework - Katy Perry Lush Life - Zara Larson Also my friends have helped me a lot, they help me find myself and I help them.

Never let the things people say influence your decisions on how to live your life.

It's never too late to love yourself.

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MyFavoriteyoutubechannel Tati Westbrook / Wayne Goss Hello our dearest followers! In this issue I want to tell you about my favorite YouTube channels. For the past few yearsI’m kind of addicted to make-up videos! They help me a lot to improve my skills, they are irreplaceable when you’re bored or sick and you don’t want to do anything creative or exciting. I subscribe to many channels, I follow my favorite YouTubers on Instagram and I have to admit, that it’s not that easy to choose the best one.

YouTube gives us an opportunity to “meet” various people – with different characteristics, temperaments and way of thinking. I enjoy every video, I think that people who are working as YouTubers have to sacrifice their private life, and, in some way I admire it. If they want to be liked and reliable, they have to be open and fully honest. For those reasons I would like to present you two amazing, English-speaking YouTubers.

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iLadies first, so let’s talk about Tati! Tati Westbrook started her YouTube journey in 2010. She uploads product reviews, tips, hauls and tutorial videos on drugstore & luxury beauty products five days per week!Thanks to that she has over 2,5 million followers! She has two very popular theme videos – OMG Tuesdays and WTF Wednesdays. In OMG videos she tries weird products, which are not conventional nor popular! WTF videos are about crazy expensive products. I really enjoy both series, because I don’t have to buy all those things to check if they are worth their price! Furthermore, Tati is very funny and cute, so it’s a pleasure to see what she’s doing!

She’s very straightforward and honest, so I’m always checking if Tati said something about make-up products I want to buy!

Follow Tati on YouTube: youtube.com/user/GlamLifeGuru My second favorite YouTuber is Wayne Goss, who is a make-up artist in real life! He’s been working in this field for 15 years! He started his channel in 2008 and he has almost 3 million followers. He uploads videos twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday. When you’re watching he’s video you can tell he’s not only passionate, you can fell that he knows what he’s doing, he loves it and he’s sure about his opinion.

I find him very powerful, when he breaks the stereotypes or “makes fun” of make-up trends.

Wayne’s videos are full of good advices and tips.

His tutorials are also nice, but his knowledge is just priceless!

Follow Wayne on YouTube: youtube.com/user/gossmakeupartist

MARTYNA CZYPICKA

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The roof of the youth center During my stay here in Kalamata, I saw a lot of things that changed during this year.

The Youth center went through a complete transformation. I don’t even really remember how it looked when I entered the first time. The roof of the Youth center is definitely something that changed a lot too.

I don´t know how it was before but when I arrived, a year ago, the roof was actually about the same as now. Dried out palm leaves were forming more or less a roof which gave it the spirit of the southern sea, improvised tables and seats made out of wooden pallets and a lot of other things which were crafted out of random stuff.

Since the summer was close, we, the EVS, started to restore some things, as an example we put new fresh palm leaves on the roof, and repaired some of the furniture because it broke during the winter.

And then the roof was ready for roof parties.

For the parties we transferred the sound system, the drinks from the café and some more furniture from the Youth center. We had huge bowls of ice water to keep the drinks cold.

During the summer we had some of these parties, also we organized a BBQ on the roof after the Street Festival of Kalamata, all the Volunteers which helped there came and celebrated the festival.

But the nice weather stops at some point and the time for roof parties stopped as well, and after the summer the roof started to be just a placeholder for random things.

During the summer the leafy roof got destroyed in a heavy rain and we removed it completely. This winter nothing really happened with the roof, but since it was raining a lot most of the things on the roof got destroyed and also the roof started to show some damage.

So after the winter we, the volunteers decided that we have to repair the roof and all the stuff we have up there. At first we needed to repair the small roof which was above the stairs, and since there was a lot of garbage and dirt on the roof we had to clean it first.

Rüya Hazar and me did this dirty job.

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After the area got cleaned, a few local volunteers helped to fix the roof and repaired everything.

Still some other parts of the roof needed to be fixed, we had a few plants on the roof, and the soil collected the water and stopped it to vaporize, and the collected water slowly destroyed the roof.

Because of this reason we had to remove the plants and again the Volunteers of the Youth center showed their spirit.

Now the roof is more or less fixed, there are just some small things that need to be donebefore the summer, like to clean the roof and to fix all the furniture which should be an easy task, so we can have nice roof partiesagain.

OSKAR SHRATTENECKER

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The greatest idea always appears when you’re falling asleep or when you are taking a shower, am I right? Yesterday, when I was in bed, ready to go to sleep, I checked my Instagram for the last time. I saw plenty of pictures of my friends, celebrities, got some inspiration for new make-up and a few nice outfits for rainy weather (you really don’t want to know what’s happening right now outside!). I closed my eyes and heard in my head only one sentence “Inspiration – Insta-ration”, which of course doesn’t make any sense. But when I was lying on my bed I thought this is exactly what I need right now! I want a little bit of INSPIRATION. I started to create a “logo” in my head and prayed to remember all of this in the morning. And voila! Here it is! My new project for K.A.NE.!

Inspiration/Instaration is a project based on the popular “Humans of New York” idea. For many months I was thinking of how to do it right, not to copy the “HNY”! In every LINK magazine you will find one or two pictures (portraits, my favorite!) of our volunteers, coworkers, friends or strangers meet on the street! I will always ask them the same question: What inspired you? What is your motivation to …? I really can’t wait to learn and maybe use some of your ideas!

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MARTYNA CZYPICKA

Ania Szlendak What inspired you? Is it music, books, philosophy? Or maybe you have some idols, like famous people or someone from you family or friends?

There is no specific thing which inspires me. It can be everything – something that I suddenly notice in the city (it can be graffiti, a life scene, astreet musician), a book I’ve just read, a sentence, a piece of music I’ve just discovered, a theatre play or a movie.

Everything can give me new ideas.

Is inspiration enough to be motivated? If not, what is usually your motivation to work?

It depends on what I do. If it’s about art, inspiration is my main motivation, actually I don’t need anything else. Sometimes, when I have an idea in my head I just have to put it somewhere, make it real, because otherwise I can’t think about anything else. I can get up in the middle of the night just to write something I’ve just thought of. If it’s about work (especially team work) I need to discuss it with people, know what exactly is my task – inspiration is only one of the tools.

Can you share with us your favourite motivational quote(s)?

Paul Arden — 'It's better to regret what you have done than what you haven't.'

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LINK

N°92

A PR I L 5 th 2017

The volunteers responsible for this publication are hosted in Greece in the framework of the European Erasmus+ programme, KA1/youth - European Voluntary Service.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.