Hey stranger!

This post is dedicated to one of the most exciting parts of my EVS project: workcamps (I think we’re over the “international voluntary camp” thing by now, right?)!

From 15 to 25 June the very first INEX camp of the season took place at the border of Hungary in Zlatna na Ostrove. I was lucky to lead the camp together with L’ubka who is such a sweet and compassionate soul and an amazing problem solver. It was an ecocamp, we worked at an ecofarm and were surrounded by dozens of animals. Every day we were cycling to and back from work, I think I haven’t been using a bike so much since childhood.

I’ve been writing, speaking and thinking about the camp quite a lot recently but to a very limited audience. There will be a video coming up, though, probably some time in August or September, depends on how fast I manage. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t feel like going into too many details now, if you want to know anything, you have to ask me personally. 🙂

Hereby I present you a visual recollection of the camp:

 

Arrival

Moments from 14 June, the day before the camp when we cleaned the accommodation from dust and spider webs

 

Preparation

 

Animals

 

Work

 

Afternoon & evening activities

 

Trips

 

 

More photos of the camp, the participants, the overall vibe can be found here.

 

Until the next time!

Hey beautiful person reading this blog!

It’s time for another update. June…

For most of the month I was somewhere out of the office. It started with me visiting Brekov, the place for my second camp. In hindsight, I’m still amazed how I endured 2 x 8 hour rides by train in two days and yet had time to look around and get acquainted with the place and people.

The local partner took me first to Humenné because he thought I was arriving later and hadn’t finished his workday yet. So I looked around a little bit.

 

In the afternoon, he kindly invited me to his home and I got to meet his wife and two adorable sons. The boys welcomed me warmly and invited me to play with them. We played badminton and the younger one was eager to show me different games on his phone. 🙂 In the evening, I went to sleep in another house where we will be staying with the volunteers during the camp. The view from there is amazing and also the train stop is really close to the accommodation.

 

The next morning, very early, I was picked up by two workers who brought me to the castle and showed me around. It’s going to be such a cool site to work on!

 

 

After walking around the castle a bit, it was time to walk down the hill again and go wait for my train back to Bratislava. The train stop is literally a tiny house with one bench.  I got there a bit early and waited in the blazing sun for an hour or so. There was no one to see, not a single soul until… One guy approached me and started asking something in Slovak. It took me a while to figure out what he wanted from me. I tried my best with my elementary broken Slovak. And when I realised he was begging for money I was already too deep into the conversation. So I gave him 1.50 € and hoped (although heavily doubted) that he w i l l use it to buy a bus ticket as he claimed. Well, about 20 minutes later I saw him from the distance crossing the railway going back to the exact same place he came from. With a bag in his hand. Sooo he probably just went to the shop for a beer. What can you do? You win some, you lose some.

For the next couple of days I was preparing things for the camp in Zlatna na Ostrove, we also had a training about the financial book and the final Slovak lesson before the summer.

On Friday, June 7, there was an event called Naše Mesto (Our City) at Integra. It’s an event where people all around Slovakia go do some voluntary work for their local communities – for their city. People from companies got a free day from their work to come and help in the centre. Some went to spend time and do activities with clients, some (including me) were washing the windows and the rest were helping out in the garden cutting bushes, mowing the lawn etc. You can check out the photos here.

The window cleaning team had only 8 members and the building has two wings. Somehow it happened that 6 people were on the one side which left me and a man called Daniel to the other side. I felt a bit rushed and couldn’t finish all the windows but eventually we were laughing about it and we were an efficient team. 🙂

 

After the work, all volunteers were served goulash and later Jarka’s husband Danko dropped us off at the apartment. Officially, the workday had finished but Elena and I had still stuff to do.

There was an opportunity to visit Žilina in the weekend. Our travel costs would be reimbursed, our accommodation provided and all we had to do was to prepare a 6-minute presentation about our EVS project. Of course we jumped at the opportunity! So, on Friday afternoon, we were preparing the presentation. Next morning, we took the train and enjoyed a whole day hanging out with other EVS volunteers from Slovakia before we had to present in the evening.

 

After the presentations hanging out continued, some of us even decided to go to a club. I should have estimated my tiredness better because right after we arrived there, I started to fall asleep. Everyone else was dancing and having fun but I was simply too sleepy to join in. Luckily, we didn’t stay for too long, I think we left around 3AM. We were staying at the EVS people’s house, what a palace it is! It had four floors and eight rooms I think. All just for EVS volunteers!

The next morning we went to the best ice cream place in town. Ice cream for breakfast, why not? We were walking around a bit after that but since the late night, we woke up quite late as well and didn’t have too much time before the train back to Bratislava.

 

 

Back in Bratislava, we’d been invited to a grill party by Olivia. She’s a friend of L’ubica or L’ubka who is an INEX trainer and who was also my co-leader in Zlatna na Ostrove. Olivia has been coming to a couple of Tea Meetings, some Quo Vadis events and she also joined us at one of the improv shows. It was such a nice atmosphere at her place, a garden just beside us and all girls talking about the issues of the world. Ivan had his sister and her partner visiting that time, that’s the reason he didn’t join Elena and I for the weekend activities.

The next week, I had to pack for my camp and all of us had to pack up the whole office. The office upstairs was moving out and took back the furniture that had been borrowed to INEX. So, we took all of the things out of the shelves and put them to the seminar room upstairs until we got the new furniture. We even had to put away the computers! After that, it was quite difficult to work. 😀

Luckily, it was good timing because on Wednesday, June 12 we were out of the office anyway and the day after, Elena and Ivan were going to their midterm training. On Wednesday, we were again blessed with the opportunity to go to Integra. This time, it was a trip to a nearby town Pezinok. There was a wine museum and after that we went for coffee, Kofola and ice cream.

 

 

 

Back from the trip, we treated ourselves to a final lunch together before the summer madness started and we wouldn’t see each other for three months.

And there it was, Thursday, June 13. I went to the office, prepared to have a lonely day and do my final test before the camp. I arrived and I was sent back home almost immediately because there was nothing to work on, literally. Everything had been packed up. So I took the stuff for the camp and had a home office day.

The next morning, another big adventure began. My first international voluntary camp as a leader was about to unfold… But this is a story for the next time.

I’ll be back shortly with the adventures of Zlatna na Ostrove.

Until then, enjoy your summer, enjoy your life!