Arts Lab 6.0: Sinem Sağdıç - Month 3

Salut! We started the third month by continuing the workshop at Petru Rareș Technology High School. With the help of the students at the school and, of course, the support of our fellow volunteers at home, Soukaina and I managed to finish the wall. Throughout the workshop, we faced some challenges. The weather was freezing, we didn’t have enough paint, and on top of that, I got sick. But in the end, we achieved a good result. Honestly, I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to complete the wall, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.

The next day, we went to Ruginoasa. The trip was quite fun because it had snowed, and we enjoyed playing in the snow so much that we almost missed the train. That day, we built a snowman and had lots of snowball fights. In Ruginoasa, we visited museums. One of them had costumes used in winter festivals, including one made from a real bear hide. Everyone touched the bear hide! :) After that, we visited the Alexandru Ioan Cuza Memorial Palace. It had been completely destroyed during the war and later rebuilt. I learned that Alexandru Ioan Cuza is a significant figure in Romanian history because he united the country. I also saw many paintings of him depicted alongside Ottoman sultans.

Speaking of snow, as Christmas approached, we started playing Secret Santa. Everyone had their own envelope, which we hung on the wall. We became each other's Secret Santa and left gifts in the envelopes. So far, I’ve received pretzel sticks, Turkish delight, Christmas elves (don’t worry, not real ones!), and a snow globe, which surprised me—I wasn’t expecting it!

In the following days, we had an Egyptian night. Salma, Ziad, and Yasser organized a lovely evening. We ate delicious food and played Kahoot. We were divided into teams for Kahoot, and my team didn’t do very well, but we had fun anyway. That same night, Sona suddenly suggested, “Should we make coffee?” Before we knew it, we found ourselves in the kitchen making coffee so we could read fortunes from the coffee grounds. Since we didn’t have Turkish coffee, we used regular coffee—but who cared? We had to try! It’s a type of coffee you make in a pot and boil thoroughly, so the girls were very surprised. I even have a photo of them just standing there, staring at the coffee cups. :D Later, Sona read all our fortunes, and she’s really good at it. I know nothing about reading coffee grounds; I have more experience with tarot cards. Sometimes, I practice by doing readings for the people at home.

By the way, one day in Iași, I found Turkish coffee at the supermarket, so the problem was solved! I also finally got the chance to visit some important churches, which I hadn’t been able to do before, and I explored the Christmas market. I bought a few souvenirs as keepsakes. They even set up a fairground in Iași with a giant Ferris wheel, but I didn’t want to ride it because the line was too long.

In the following days, we started working on our personal projects for the MAF exhibition. Once again, I used VR, but this time, I expanded my scene and added more interactive features. In my scene, you could move around and pick up objects using the controller. While we continued our work, it was time for the Hungarian night. Luca’s event was quite different, but in a good way—it was very much his style. The Kahoot questions were super fun, the dances and videos he showed us were very entertaining, and the food was excellent. (Fun fact: Luca was the one who taught me how to make a bracelet out of string)

We also went to the hills for a photoshoot for the catalog. Everyone took photos with a mask or a traditional item. Even Cappuccino joined us, and we took photos of her too—she’s now part of our catalog.

The day of our first MAF exhibition arrived, and it was definitely busier than our previous one. People really enjoyed my VR project, and this time, we had more artworks on display. The exhibition was also more colorful. After it ended, we went to Iași to celebrate and closed the day like that.

In the following days, we celebrated Katrina’s birthday, participated in an event for children in need, met Santa Claus, and prepared for the Christmas market.

This month was challenging for me, to be honest, because I felt like I had to handle so many things at once. Sometimes, I need to recharge and plan things calmly, but everything moves so fast, or we have to be quick with planning, and I struggle to adapt. I also don’t have any plans for my two-week winter break, which bothers me. I guess what I’ll do will be a surprise for me too. There were also arguments at home. I didn’t get directly involved, but living in the same house, I could feel the tension.

We’ll see what the coming months have in store for me.

Report written by Sinem Sağdıç, she's from Turkey and she's one of the 14 volunteers participating in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.