I've already met the turkish group and in a while will meet all of you. We've had tough and easy moments while preparing everything and we're still making last-minute-things. But... Actually I can't believe that this time tomorrow we'll be all together in one group remembering our names and finding out different things about each other.

Please don't forget any documents or good emotions back home. :)

Sanja, looking forward.

APV photos

Some pictures from the APV I thought you might like. :) Enjoy.

Practical stuff.

Hello once again.

Riga is steaming-hot with no rain right now. Hope it stays something like this. :)

The Advanced Planning Visit ended some days ago and I think the time was fruitful and pleasant. Despite public transport. At least the program right now looks very appealing. I want to participate and get the experience you're about to have, but alas - I'm going to be facilitating the process with nice people you call leaders. Or maybe we'll take part sometimes. Or all the time... We'll see on the way. And I'm sure you'll like it. ;)

Some practical things. What to bring.

• Comfortable shoes and clothes. We'll do some active things. Be ready.
  
• Sun glasses and raincoat. The weather is changy in this country. Especially where we're going to be. Be prepared.
  
• Something against mosquitoes. A spray or some sort of substance to keep parasites away. In this country we have mosquitoes and ticks. Beware.
  
• Some table games/sports inventory (ball/frisbee/...). We'll have an evening playing those and the whole exchange to do some occasional sports.
  
• ICE (intercultural evening) things. I guess your leaders already told you what we'd like you to bring. :) If not - ask me or your country's leader. ;)
  
• Your hygiene stuff. Shampoos, toothpaste/brush and whatever you might need to feel comfortable.
  
• Sauna clothes. Swimming shorts/bikini, whatever you prefer.
  
• Cigarettes or what you need to survive. I personally discourage alcohol, but you should have cigarettes if you smoke.
  
• Some music that you like.
  
• Alarm clock. We won't go shouting in the morning, so it will be up to you to organize yourselves. :)
  
• Your teddy bear.

About my country.
We got a lot of forests. Some sea. Some lakes. Some rivers. Look it up on Google Earth. ;)
We speak latvian. Some speak russian. I speak both. Sometimes people speak english, but that's kind of rare.
Currency is lats. 1 lat is 100 santims. 1 EUR = 0.702804 LVL
But we're going to a middle of nowhere where you probably won't need much money. Maybe. :)

And remember, to reimburse your 70% travel costs smoothly we will need

• an invoice of your ticket (if you can get one).
  
• boarding passes
  
• pretty much any originals of your travel documents that you don't need to get back home or for your organization's accountancy.

That's pretty much all I can remember. With any questions be sure to address me or your country's leader, we'll figure out something. :) ( a stupid question is the one you didn't ask ;) )

Sanja, from hot and friendly Latvia.

The location.

We're continuing with the preparations and I think it's a good idea to show you where the exchange is going to take place.

The place is a guest house near Talsi, a small Latvian town. A quiet and beautiful place with lots of potential. It's a big house with a lot of space and rooms. There's a nice garden around it and a fireplace. There's a lake near by with sports-ground for football, volleyball and other sports. :)

In the sidebar to the right there's some photographical evidence. (There's a picture of me there also ;))

I personally am very pleased with the house and premises. Hope you'll also like it. ;)

Sanja, your friendly project coordinator.

Foreword on "Step up!"

Hi and welcome to the blog of the youth exchange Step Up!.

The exchange is about being active. involving and participating. In what? In whatever you want - doing sports / making some tasks for school / making dinner for your family ;). Also we will try to find out if being physically active has anything to do with being active in choosing your future, your surroundings and making changes.

Our exchange is involving 25 youngsters from 5 countries (4 youngsters + leader, from Finland, Lithuania, Turkey, Czech Republic and Latvia) in non-formal and intercultural education event.

From a bystander's point of view an exchange is:
Youngsters come together for some days (nine in our case), have some activities, play some sports maybe, party and go home...
But I hope there's something more to it, because an exchange is what we make it. And Step Up! is no different.

So i propose to start creating the exchange right away. We have this blog (created by a youngster from latvian group ;) ), where you can post your ideas and expectations, comments, emotions or just let us know you exist :). So once again - welcome!

Oh yeah, almost forgot!.. I'm Sanja, a project coordinator from Latvia, a volounteer of JASMA ( available in English ;) ) NGO. I will be the guy, who takes care of practical/impractical/theoretical or pretty much any matters and problems challenges we might come across. For personal conversations reach me by mail (alexander.oleinikov@gmail.com).

So you know something about me, now I'd like to know something about you! (it's an exchange ;) )