Dave's 10 Tips-what you can do at home during qurantine

•  Call your friends that you haven't spoken for a long period. We all have those good friends that sometimes get forgotten. Use this time and give them a call! They will enjoy that you thought of them 
•  Clean up your E-Mail Everyone does have an E-Mail address and we all also have some problems with our Spam or advertisement box, take your time and unsubscribe all those emails that you never read.
•  Update your CV. During this time, People are losing their jobs and some are thinking of changing their jobs. No, you have some time to update your CV to the date of now!
•  Search of Volunteer Opportunities You can search where you can help local health services, animal shelters and so on. Still, those people need all the help they can get! 
•  Spring-Clean-Up In Austria we have the so-called: „Frühjahres Putz“ translated it means the Spring-Clean up. To have a nice start in the summer! So start to clean up your whole house! From each shelf to each cup. 
•  Try new recipes You have enough Time now to try new recipes! So go and google for some new crazy recipes! 
•  Start or refresh a language Now it's your chance to refresh or start a new language. Maybe you wanted to learn French, Spanish or german. Try it now! 
•  Refresh your home The best time to do some DIY or give your room a new colour is now! So try to do that long wished refreshment of your home!
•  Learn about other History, new modern Technologies Did you know that the ship’s propeller was found in Austria? They don't even have ocean access! The dutch build the worlds biggest water systems the delta works. There are so many interesting things to learn! Give it a try. 
•  Have some fun with Households products You can do some cool science experiments with easy household products!

Mental health topic: anxiety/stress during quarantine

Heyy everyone! I'm Elif, from Turkey. I'm a volunteer in Telsiai. Here I'm talking about feelings during quarantine. Hope you will like it

                                       

I've been reading about this topic for whole two weeks. Most of you know that I'm a psychological counselor. Also, I personally struggle with anxiety sometimes. So, I'm interested in this topic in a professional and personal way. Being in quarantine makes me feel so awkward. I kinda started to 'like' it after 17 days. But still it is awkward. I've lost my daily sleeping and eating routine. I feel like everyday is the same and unfortunately everyday feel like a sunday! God, I wish I could have a friday, at least. I'm not writing this for telling you about my personal stuff :d this is for you. I hope you are reading it. This is a big life change for all of us. Even if some of us enjoy spending time with ourselves at home, it still is a big change. 'choosing to stay at home' and 'not being able to go out' are different things. When we 'have to' do something, it's not fun anymore. Now our 'normal' life has stopped. This version is the new normal. Everyone is trying to suit up on it and being away from your school, your friends, your everyday life can be overwhelming. Losing the 'normal' social routine can make us feel disappointed. This might cause some mental issues (like anxiety, depression, constant laziness etc.) I want to make sure that you know this, anxiety is totally normal and helpful. When it gets too much, it effects us in a bad way, but especially in this situation, feeling anxious is totally normal. All world is struggling with the same issue nowadays. Some of us feels stressful, alerted, paniced, some of us are more chill and relaxed. We're different people, each of us are unique and valuable. Processing feelings looks different for everyone. Some of you are trying to create art, learn new skills, have new hobbies, make your time productive. and some of you will spend the whole day in bed. Yes! being productive is a good thing, but remember that, you don't have to be productive, you choose to be. The important thing is that you do what feels right to you. Let yourself to feel it. If you feel like you need to talk to someone, remember, your families and friends, they will be there for you and as the volunteer of the youth center, I am here for you. you don't have to deal with anything alone, because you're not alone. Remember, your feelings are valid, you're valid. annnnnndddddd love ya! 😽😽

“City of the sun” under quarantine

 Siauliai-the city where I started my volunteering. It's a gateway to the Hill of Crosses, just northeast. A place of pilgrimage, the site was established in the 19th century as a symbol of resistance to Russian rule.Rich cultural life.The unique cultural vision of the city not created only by artists but also citizens of Siauliai themself. 
 The oldest pedestrian boulvard in Europe full with tourists all over the world...year 2020, month March all streets empty, no one around, shops and malls closed.What happend?! Are we under pressure,is something or someone controlling us? Guess what? YES! Not only our city but all over the world „COVID-19“ aka Corona virus.It makes us to stay home,not to meet our friends and beloved ones.I did a photo story how the city looks like now.

„Geležinės lapės“ aka "Iron Fox"by Vilius Puronas,2009

“The Reading Man”  by Henrikas Orakauskas, 1983

 Algirdas Julius Greimas, Lithuanian literary scientist, semiotic.  Sculptor Gintautas Lukošaitis,2017

 "Talkša" lake in Lithuania

“The Girl with a Small Pipe”  by Aloyzas Toleikis , 1985 

“Motherhood” by Aloyzas Toleikis, 1979 

   “Three Elves” by Birutė Kasperavičienė ,1977

"The Sundial square" aka  "The Golden Boy of Šiauliai" by Stanislovas Kuzma  ,1986

  The central pedesterian pedestrian boulevard

 Kaštonų alėja ir Didždvaris 

 © all photos taken by Sabina Alishova 

Books and Quarantine #1

Hello again people, aliens, cyborgs, animals and all kind of creatures, who are reading our blog. It’s Maria. I decided from time to time write here about books that I’m reading, planning to read or just interested. Today will be “Rise of the Ogre”.  I found it recently, when we were making radio show about Gorillaz.

It‘s an autobiographical comic book about virtual band members backstories with a lot of amazing ilustrations from Jamie Hewlett. If you love the band‘s music and art, I think it is a perfect book for you. It is easy reading, funny and very colourful book.  It was released in the UK on 26 October 2006. It covers the band from 2000 and their first EP, Tomorrow Comes Today through their 2006 tour ending at the Apollo Theater. It contains previously unknown secrets of the band, such as future plans of the movie, their headquarters, and the story of the truth behind the "El Mañana" video. The book blends fact and fiction throughout, interspersing commentary from the band members with actual quotes from their creators, collaborators and critics. I will share with you link in Goodreads. And in the end let‘s enjoy one of my favourite songs of them J

Music and Quarantine #1

Hello everybody! My name is Eva, I am from Austria and a volunteer in Panevežys. I
want to write about some bands from Austria and Germany, which I like a lot.
The first one is the most famous one. They are called AnnenMayKantereit and are a
four-person band from Germany. The voice of the singer is really deep and that is
their main characteristic. My favourite song of them is called “Ich geh heut nicht mehr
tanzen” and it’s about staying at home and it has a great bassline.

The next band that I want to show you is Granada. It’s a band from Austria and their
songs are mostly in an Austrian dialect and they are using an accordion, which is a
traditional Austrian instrument and it gives their songs a specific sound. My favourite
song of them is “Ottakring” and it’s about a district from Vienna.

The third one , which I want to share with you, is Mine. She is a singer from
Germany and she often makes songs together with rappers. However, I saw her on
a festival last year and I prefer her live shows a lot more than her studio versions.
Therefore my favourite song is the live version of “Findelkind”.

And last but not least DuoLia. This band consists of two of my friends from Austria,
who play covers but also write their own songs. They are only 18 years old, but they
already play on smaller festivals and have some concerts. My favourite song of them
is a cover from the band The Black Keys and it’s called “Gold on the ceiling”.

I hope you enjoyed this article of my favourite Austrian and German bands. :)

Quarantine and tradiotional cuisine #1

Hello, our lovely readers and listeners. You couldn‘t imagine how much we miss you. As we are all locked in our houses we suggest  to improve our cooking skills ( when you gonna do that, if not now?). So, we will share with you super tradiotional recipes from our countries- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria.

Today we will start from Armenia and the queen of armenian table gorgeous Ghapama (Armenian: ղափամա), which is a pumpkin dish. Yes, pumpkins are not only for Halloween. The all you need is to choose the most beautiful pumpkin from the shop. Don‘t hurry, take your time, remember that you are choosing the Queen. You will also need rice, nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, dried fruits (plums, abricots), raisins, butter, honey and cinnamon.

There are a lot of recipes on the internet, but I will share with you the secret, which will help you. First you will need to remove the guts of the pumpkin and put in the oven. (usually it takes 1 hour to cook). Meanwile boil rice and in another pan start to fry all nuts and dried fruits with butter. (You can improvise and add your favourite nuts and dried fruits also).  Then mix rice with them, add cinnamon and honey. When pumpkin is ready refill it with the mixed rice. Decorate your pumpkin with some shapes you want with the knife. It can become a work of art. Serve it with love and pride, that you did it. My armenian relatives are proud of you :D