One month after their participation in MOVE Week our EVS volunteers share thoughts, ideas, and favorite moments form this year’s events in Plovdiv.
Egle:
MOVE Week, I have never heard about this before I have arrived to Bulgaria. Apparently this is a very super huge campaign across the whole Europe! Yey I thought to myself, such a great thing to be involved in. The BG Be Active organisation based in Plovdiv allowed me to put hands on something as big as that campaign. For one week I became the part of European movement and moved my body together will all the nations in order to become fit and healthier. I saw all the events from inside out and could be part of them myself. Along with other tasks, I was official photographer of Bg be Active for MOVE Week. The most amazing thing about MOVE Week experience was all the happy faces I could see during the events. The excitement of the team before the event and the happiness in their tired faces after it was successful and over. I am very proud of all those people organising this big campaign and need to say very well done! You all did great and made a lot of people happy and moving and I really hope that at least half of those who attended sport events will decide to move regularly and be healthier and happier. Stay awesome everyone and keep exercising!
Egle’s favorite moments:
Philipp:
In 2015 there was the fourth edition of MOVE Week taking place in whole Europe. Since I haven’t heard about it before it was the first time I experienced that is why I was so happy to have the chance to prepare, see and even attend the different events that took place in Plovdiv.
The last weeks of preparation were quite intensive at work. Hundreds of packages had to be made and sent to our partner organizations (MOVE Agents) all over Bulgaria. Banners, t-shirts, stickers and bracelets were our friends to spread the message of physical activity for a better health and wellbeing. Also I prepared some music for the dance events.
The first time I went outside to spread the word myself was at the FlashMOVE event in Plovdiv at the ancient stadium. I enjoyed to see all the motivated girls and boys from the volunteer organization and also the event had a quite positive vibe. There was a lot of people performing their dances with a very great choreography. The event proves the positive effect sport and especially dancing has on people – the atmosphere was quite good! A lot of passersby also enjoyed the flashmob. I think this is a good way to give inspiration to people to get physically active.
You can watch the FlashMOVE video of all participating cities here: http://flashmove.nowwemove.com/2015-videos/
Another nice event in my opinion was the NowWeDance event. I am a big fan of dancing and I dance a lot to electronic music. But I am open-minded to learn new styles of dancing to different music and that’s why I was happy to participate in this event to learn to dance some Reggae, Salsa and even Bulgarian хоро.
Philipp’s favorite moments:
Rihards:
Rihards:
So common words: “I don’t have enough time for this.” Time for what? To be healthy? To be lively? To be active? Many people don’t realize how important good eating and activity are in their lives and this is not a problem only on local level, but also in all Europe. Facts show that 78% of Bulgarians never exercise or do a sport which is quite significant number. Needless to say, but people will not change their habits if they will not get an impulse or motivation to do it and we can’t just wait until things will change by themselves, therefore it’s very important to drawn attention that sport is a rudiment for being healthy and not an additional extra in our life’s. You don’t have to be an athlete, but making small changes in your lifestyle can make a big difference in your overall health. You don’t have to follow other people, but find your way how to be active, because the best sort of physical activity is the one you enjoy! I’m inclined to believe that such a big initiative as MOVE Week helps involve people to be active and ponder about their lifestyle. I am really happy for the opportunity to be a part of this week! It may be bold assumption, but I would like to say – be active, be healthy!
Rihards’ favorite moments:
Iuliia:
MOVE Week is the biggest annual event in Europe promoting the benefits of physical activity. 1,640,000 people from 38 countries was participating in it this year. And I was lucky not only to be one of them but also being an EVS volunteer in organisation that coordinates MOVE Week in Bulgaria gave me the opportunity to see the organisational process from the inside. It was an amazing experience for me to watch so many people working together and being so passionate about what they do. It wasn’t easy at all to do something that big but result was totally worth it.
And of course it was very fun! There were a lot of different activities in our city so everyone could find something for himself. People were dancing, skating, running, exercising, playing, doing martial arts and just having fun. My favourite part was aerobic exercises in ‘Kangoo jumps’ boots. I knew I had to try it as soon as I saw people coming with this weird shoes and I wasn’t disappointed, it was very cool! I felt like a kangaroo a bit and didn’t want to wear my normal shoes after. 🙂
Iuliia’ favorite moments:
Meet our volunteers and learn more about them here: EVS доброволци