Ahoj!

The last month has been full of wonderful experiences, trips, people and animals. It’s been so packed with events that I haven’t had the chance to sit down and write them down. I have a feeling that the next months are also going to fly by at the speed of light. There’s a lot coming up. Exciting!

The 1st of April, on April Fool’s day, we spent the morning with the lovely clients of Integra and performed our play. We were so lucky with the weather which turned out to be sunny and peaceful. As a tradition, we went for lunch at Barbi’s place later. Elena also met little Mat’o, the coolest baby on Earth. I was really exhausted and fell asleep on the sofa while the others were chatting and playing.

This was not the only time to visit Integra in April. On April 15, we got a surprise request from Jarka. Apparently, 9 out of 10 volunteers who were supposed to come help the next day cancelled. So, superheroes as we are, Elena, Ivan and I got up early again on the morning of April 16 and went to the transport museum with the clients of Integra. We were also joined by Eeva who’s a volunteer from Finland in Quo Vadis, a volunteer-based café. The weather was lovely and the museum was nice but it was more interesting for me to see the technical part of going on a trip with people with disabilities.

It’s not like a school trip where a group of people jumps in and out of the bus like a galloping herd of gnus. Everything took a lot more time. One by one the clients were taken to their seats on the bus, out of the wheelchairs or in some cases the wheelchairs were secured with straps. Then there was a slow ride in the midst of the morning rush hour. And once we arrived, the bus had to reverse to the right entrance and everyone was brought out of the bus in the reverse order. The clients seemed happy and for them, this is the only reality. There were a lot of old-timey cars in the museum, it seemed that they really liked the experience. Something different, something outside of their routine.

Besides going to Integra, the main focus at work was preparing our workshops. It was a little bit stressful at first because I didn’t know where to start from. Once I got past reading and rewriting the theoretical part, I calmed down. On April 25, we all presented the first version of the workshops, got some great feedback and advice, and now it’s time to polish them for the second try. Ivan and Elena will present them again at Democamp but since I’ll be back in Estonia at my friend’s wedding at that time, my workshop will be in the form of a Tea Meeting at the end of May.

Speaking of Tea Meetings, we hosted one about Colombia on April 11. You can check the album on Facebook. This time we had about 30 people attending, it was delightfully surprising how many people are interested in a country in South America. Peter spoke in a captivating way and had many interesting stories to share. For me, it was all new and intriguing. And many EVS volunteers from other organisations in Bratislava came to the meeting, that was the loveliest surprise. 🙂

Other than work, there were a couple of trips outside of Bratislava that included many animals. The first weekend of April, I was invited by Tania, a participant of the leaders’ training, to a volunteering weekend in the Eastern part of Slovakia. I asked from Elena and Ivan whether they wanted to join, they said yes and off we went. So, equipped with raincoats from INEX, rain jackets from Monika (for me and Elena), winter/hiking boots and, just in case, too many clothes, we started our trip at 8AM from Bratislava.

 

On Saturday, we helped some frogs to cross the road to their mating pond. 😛

In the afternoon, the weather became better so we went to say hi to donkeys and ground squirrels (suslikud!).

We also helped to cut some small bushes and trees to create a grazing area for cows. I got really into the cutting, the next day my hands were hurting.

On Sunday morning, we took a 2.5 hour walk with the donkeys. We had to bring them from their stable to the area where the ground squirrels were living. The donkeys graze, maintaining the area habitable for the squirrels. It was such an experience! First, my donkey almost threw me to dirt but later we got along pretty well. She’s called Rosa and it seemed she was pregnant so she wasn’t too fast for me. We had to take the donkeys over the streams which they didn’t really like. So, in some cases we had to take the longer route on the railway. At some point we were crossing a highway and a car stopped to look us go. Children came out of the car to stare at our peculiar company. 😀

In the afternoon, we helped to prepare a nesting area for lizards and some other animals.

And that was it! Super intense yet super rewarding! I’ve never touched frog or handled a donkey or fed a ground squirrel before. So much love! I love animals!

 

I got a little bit ill from the weekend so the next one was more relaxed, mostly I just rested and slept. However, I didn’t have time to chill for too long as I’d planned to visit my dear friends in Croatia during Easter. I took one extra day off, and from 19 to 23 April, I spent a lovely time in Zagreb with people I met at the ASHA centre as well as Ana’s two cats and a dog.

I completely fell in love with one of Ana’s cats called Bubek. He slept at my legs every single night of the stay. One night, I wasn’t feeling so good and he came to my lap until I felt better. How precious! Now I want a cat. My love for them grew exponentially.

I’m so happy I could meet all of you – Ana, Lena, Anja, Marko, Ante and all the new human and furry friends! 🙂

 

Some other exciting nights in April included an international dinner with EVS volunteers from Bratislava to which everyone brought a dish from their country, another improv show by the Funnylicious Improv Theater who asked me to come on the stage and serenaded to me, and a stand-up show where we were roasted for organising “workcamps”. Poor choice of words for the last one. Should’ve said “international voluntary camps”.

I hope to make a video about April soon, until then, here’s the one from March.

Until the next time!