For the last few week that is all I have been doing. In order to advance in the film project, I have been making interviews with a lot of people: adults, teenagers, people with two Hungarian parents, people with a Hungarian parent and a Romanian parent…

It has been very good. People have collaborated more than I thought they would. I have found out that, in general, people like to talk a lot and to be listened to. Most people have something interesting to say and they are willing to share it with me, which is great.

After these weeks and about ten interviews I am starting to find where the common ideas of Hungarian identity in Romania. Many people that I have interviewed share a simmilar view in many things, which is very interesting as most of these are things that I did not think beforehand.

I would love to be more specific but you will have to wait for the videos, sorry.

In the next few week I will interview more and more people, I will keep on gathering experiencies and stories so I can share them with you soon.

After a few weeks back home for the Christmas holidays I am back in the small city of Sacueni. When I got here I met my two new house mates, la Alba and la Andrea. We live together in the apartment, so we have been able to know each other well in a short time.

Workwise it has been a bit of a hectic few weeks. After some time thinking about the project, together with my supervisor, we have redefined the focus of the films. So it has been mostly research and lecture this weeks. I’ve also been working on editing my first film, you will be able to see it very soon.

And last but not least, last weekend I was at the Hungarian culture’s day charity ball. It was very good fun and I danced a lot. Really really good night out.

The next few weeks are looking good I am stocked on publishing my first video. Until then: SZIASZTOK!

Last week I was in Bucharest. I got there at 8 in the morning, after a looooong fourteen hour train ride. I spent the day visiting the city, it was cold but really nice. After hours and hours of walking, and when it was starting to get dark I got to the hotel. It was very nice, in the university area and near a big supermarket where we could get anything we needed. I was in Bucharest for the compulsory On Arrival Training, that we have to do as volunteers in Romania. In the evening we had our first dinner toghether as a group. We started knowing the people who would be our team mates for the next few days. Portugal, Italy, Spain, Latvia, France, Turkey, Sweden, Croatia… People from all around the continent were there.

For the next few days we focused on teambuilding, cultural diversity, how to manage the anxiety of moving to a new country, etc… In my opinion it was a bit to childish but getting to know all those new people was great, now I have dozens of new friends and places to stay al around Romania and Europe aswell! I was a bit sad I did not have the oportunity of exploring a bit more the city but I am looking forward to go back again soon. All in all, the On Arrival Training was a positive experience, I am looking forward to see some of the friends I made there soon.

When I started thinking about what I wanted to make a film about, what inspired me, what I think that would be important and interesting according to my interests I found out that I am interested in people, places, life, feelings and the complex interrelations between them. So, once knowing that I decided to make a film on Tibi Bácsi, a retired priest that now is focused on art. I wanted to know how he perceived art being someone who had spent his life connected to God. I wanted to know the relation though spirituality and art, where he got his inspiration from.

I had to organize the first “Spanish night”. We decided that we were going to make it abour flamenco. During the week I designed the poster, created the event on facebook and kept it alive.

When thinking about how to develop the night I had to take in consideration two things: firstly, I was not sure what to expect nor what people expected from me and the event, secondly, I am not a very good dancer.

Taking these two things into consideration I decided to prepare a presentation talking about flamenco, edited a few videos with different flamenco songs to show those who came what flamenco was, as I think that when talking about music it is easier to listen to the music itself than listening to someone talking about it.

After the presentation we showed a short and easy dance for those who wanted to shake their skeletons with flamenco rhythms. As I said, I am not a very good dancer, but we wanted to give people a glimpse of what dancing flamenco is.

On my second week in Sacueni filming has started. I have been helping the team in some of their different projects. I went to a small city near Sacueni to film St. Martin’s celebration, I filmed an interview with the chorus leader. At the same time, I started to work on the first community event, thinking on which topics could be interesting and how to work on them in a fun and amusing way. Also, I’ve been to Oradea for the first time. I did not see much of it as I went only to sort out some papers, but I am really looking forward on going back again and exploring the city.

I arrived at Sacueni on Tuesday night, four days ago. These first few days have been great, I’ve started to know my way though the village, getting to know people and starting to learn some Hungarian, as even if Sacueni is in Romania the language spoken be its inhabitants is mostly Hungarian. This first week has been an adaptation week, with not much work yet, just a few meetings to start to understand the workflow and the team.

For the time being everything is fine, I am comfortable at my accommodation and the people at Er hangja are extremely nice and helpful. The installations and equipment are also really great, I am really looking forward to start working next week.

My name is Jon, and I am a 22 year old volunteer from Madrid (Spain). I am a graduate in International Studies by the Autonomous University of Madrid and a self-taught photographer and videographer. I am very interested in media and communication in its various forms, I like to tell stories. In the past I have collaborated writing articles for important Spanish publications like CTXT, La Marea or El Salto Diario, and I have a bimonthly column in an online publication called Código Público.