LOGO, YouthPass and other EVS volunteers

So yesterday me and Gerlinde took part in two events connected to EVS.

First of them was : Einfach Weg! INFOmesse zu Auslandsaufenthalten


This was organized by LOGO Jugendmanagement (http://www.logo.at/jugendinfo/auslandsmessse )

It was mainly focused on introducing the possibilities for going abroad to young people. There I learned that in Graz there are quite many EVS volunteers and they kepp in touch with each other via phone and email and they meet often. I also met my first EVS there - Christian from Romania.

The second event was :  International YouthPass Spektral


There we talked about YouthPass and I also met an  ex- volunteer Marina who did her EVS in Estonia. It was very interesting to meet her and we agreed to go for a coffee on Friday. I am exited to hear about her EVS and what she has been doing later on.

Yesterday evening I was added also to mail listings and could communicate with other EVS. That was really important to me as I do not know any young people here in Graz with whom I could spend time and for example visit Events. 


I am meeting the EVS group today for Dinner. The dinner there is part of Volkskuxe - once a week volunteers gather to cook vegan food .Usually it is held in Spektral, but this week there is an event in the evening it the dinner is moved to this place - Fahrrad Kuche :) (Bike kitchen)


I was asked to bring my smile and I will definetly do that :) 

Where it is good to be born as a woman and where is not - WHERE WOMAN HAVE A BETTER CANCE FOR A BETTER LIFE?

REPORT ITSELF (ALSO COUNTRY STATISTICS) -  http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-2011/

According to the World Economic Forum's newly released 2011 Global Gender Gap Report. The report ranked 135 countries -- and Iceland topped the list.

The report gets its rankings by measuring the gap between men and women in four key areas:

1. Economic participation and opportunity, which covers the wage gap as well as the percentage of women working and women working in high-skill jobs. 

2. Educational attainment, which includes access to all levels of education.

3. Health and survival, which measures life expectancy and mortality rates.

4. Political empowerment, which measures how women are represented in decision-making structures (i.e. the government).

All 135 countries were assigned a numerical score between 0 (complete inequality) and 1 (complete equality). These scores were calculated by taking the average of 14 different ratios, each based on a specific indicator that falls under the heading of one of the four key areas. The indicators included the ratio of female to male literacy, the ratio of female pay to male pay for similar work, the ratio of female legislators and senior officials to male legislators and officials, and the number of female heads of state to male heads of state in the last 50 years.

Top 10                                                                                                                                                              

1. Iceland                                                                                                                             
2. Norway                                                                                                                            
3. Finland                                                                                                                             
4. Sweden                                                                                                                           
5. Ireland                                                                                                                             
6. New Zeland                                                                                                                   
7. Denmark                                                                                                                         
8. Philippines                                                                                                                      
9. Lesotho                                                                                                                           
10. Switzerland                                                                                                                    
11. Germany

16. UK

19. Latvia

34. Austria

51. Bulgaria

54. Estonia

56. Greece

68. Romania

74. Italy

122. Turkey

Graz, Austria

So I will write some things about the city. I love the city quite much as it reminds me a lot of my hometown - Tartu. 

Graz is also the second biggest city in Austria (as is Tartu in Estonia)

It is considered to be a University City (as is Tartu in Estonia )

And it has a big river flowing straight to the city (as in Tartu ).

Population is about 250 000 people, approximately.

There is 6 main Universities with about 44 000 students. 

City itself is quite green and beautiful and has many bicycle - drivers and roads. 

Language is German and in conversations I understand about 40 % of the content. My working language is English. I am also taking a German course twice a week 1, 5 per time. And I like it a lot- it is not for beginners and teacher speaks mostly only in German ALL THE TIME, but then I just learn more and that is good as I am very motivated to learn the language. 

Besides my co-workers and flatmates I do not know anyone here and no-one of my own age and it is a little difficult to find someone. Today we are participating in a LOGO Event ( it is a local EVS coordinator organisation) and hopefully I can meet some volunteers and local people there. 

Free time : there is a lot of possibilities here and when I get to participate in them I will write about them but it has taken quite much energy just to settle in and first week I was mostly so tired than just needed some rest time a lot. But my host has already organized a possibility for me to participate in Greek dance course and a Yoga course and I love them both. 

Some pictures of the city:

8. March Women´s Day

So we desided to take ACTION and walk around city to raise awareness about the problematics of Gender Eguality.

Here is a short video of our day.

Enjoy!

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Astrid Mats. I am a 26- year old Estonian girl , who is doing her European Volunatry Service in Graz, Austria from 6th March 2012 until 5th March 2013 in the organization European Federation of Mentoring for Girls and Women (WoMentor).

You can read more about the organization at www. womentor.eu.

This blog will be about :

My activities here
My thoughts about EVS and Gender Equality
My research concerning Gender Equality

Discussion and comments are very welcome!

Astrid