June brought some amazing warm and sunny weather. Summer is finally here and I plan to make the most of it, while it lasts. I started the month with a very enjoyable week of holidays in Rijeka and Ljubljana. I finally got to go to the seaside again, met my good friend Lara from Croatia, and visited the lovely city of Ljubljana with its beautiful canals, delightful city centre, and interesting architecture.
The day after coming back to Bratislava, INEX teamed up with a big group of volunteers from Naše Mesto – Nadácia pontis to help trim some bushes, take care of the green areas, and painting the fence around ZŠ Lachova. We were divided into teams for the different tasks, and I got quite a nice job, as I got to use an electric hedge trimmer for the first time .
INEX and Prešporkovo came together once again, this time to provide, camp leaders and attendees of the Leadership Academy with a first-aid training, held by Miška who is a doctor. This was very valuable, as we got to ask as many questions as we wanted about this topic and to perform CPR on a manikin. After this I feel that bit more confident in myself to deal with emergency situation should they occur.
The next day, Peťo and Katka, came over to INEX’s office to administer the exam from the Leadership Academy. We went over six different subjects related to the workcamp’s management, from how to organize kitchen and cleaning teams, to conflict management, how to prepare the study parts, and of course the one I most dread, coming up with a menu for the camp…
The next week Sarah and I got our ESC on-arrival training in Liptovský Mikuláš. It was really nice to meet other ESC volunteers staying in Slovakia, and to get to know their projects and organisations and how different (or not) they are to ours. The trainers were also really cool and quite knowledgeable. We were lucky to be in town during the Stoličné dni, which meant we got to attend some concerts and have some fun with our fellow volunteers. During the training we took a day trip that involved a fancy mountain train to get us up to Štrbské Pleso. This is definitely the most beautiful place I’ve been to in Slovakia so far, the weather was nice, the lake beautiful and the mountain backdrop was breathtaking.
Once I got back to the office, it was time for this month’s Tea Meeting and for me to present my Workshop on Media Bias. We discussed a bit about what media bias is, why it is important to talk about it, and we had some activities lined up that made the attendees reflect on different types of bias, how they are presented, and how they affect the way in which people form their opinions. Despite being a bit nervous I think it went really rather well, and I got some good feedback 🙂
The next day we had an early start to meet with our friends at Integra. Together with them, and their clients, we had a wholesome morning at Zoo Bratislava. We saw zebras, giraffes, bears, ostriches, hippopotamuses and lions; however, the monkeys were the ones that sparked the most smiles and laughs.
To wrap up the month with another volunteering activity, we went to Prešporkovo family center, with a very friendly group of volunteers that helped us clean, tidy and organize the place, in anticipation for next month’s workcamp. It was also a nice opportunity to discuss some details for said workcamp which I’ll be leading with Nat, whom I met in The Leadership Academy in Modra.
To sum up, June was a month without a single dull day, and the feel of Summer. Hopefully the Sun keeps on shining in July, to help us have some amazing workcapms.
