I thought that March was going to be more relaxed than February, but when I checked the calendar it was already the end of the month.
First thing that happened was that our new roommate, Berra, arrived to the house and after that things didn’t stop happening.
At the beginning of the month, I discovered the Stará tržznica market, thanks to Mima, so I went with some of my friends and casually we found out about the Holi festival which was colourful festival from India where everybody was dancing and selling typical Indian products. Considering I’m used to going to many big markets at home I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the market was very small and in a closed space. I still got to buy a book, and my friends bought beautiful paintings. Nevertheless, some people have told me that during summer there are more markets so I’m expecting good weather not only for the sun but for the markets.
On the 3rd of March, Vaso and I did our first trial for our workshops, I was very nervous about it because I felt like I’d forget about some parts of it, and I wanted it to come out perfectly.
That day the girls at the office were our tough participants and gave us feedback on what could work better so we had time to change and adapt since three days after they were going to leave us on our own to with new and real participants, during our leadership training, who didn’t know anything about the presentation.
The leader training took place in a monastery in Kostolná-Záriečie, very small town close to Trenčín, this was our first experience out of Bratislava and our first training, so I was really excited to know what it was going to be like.
It was only a weekend, but it was a full weekend. We learned about leadership types, how to deal with difficult situations, how the preparation process works and how to do teamwork, we also had a little bit of time for entertaining tasks. I got to play pool for the first time as well, which was an incredible experience even though I am not the best at it, but I committed to improving. I was relieved when the time to present my workshop came, and Pet’o and Katka, two of our trainers, were there to tell me their point of view; most of the participants were satisfied and had fun during the activities which made me really happy because overall that was one of my goals.
Right before this weekend one of my best friends from home, Lluis, came to Bratislava and we spent the day together. It was nice being able to show him what I discovered here that made me feel really connected to the city. He asked how the Slovak lessons were going and I was proud to tell him the few words I learned as zdravie or zmrzlina, which is not much for now but I’m hoping it will be better along the year.
We had one day and a half free before moving on to the next activity. The on-arrival training organized by the national agency. A lot of the volunteers who started approximately at the same time as we did were invited to attend as well, everyone had a different perspective on the volunteering program and the reasons to be a part of it, it was incredibly interesting since I couldn’t imagine how many points of view there were; we were staying in a nice hotel and during our free time we could play at the billiard pool or at ping pong table. The training by itself was amazing, they taught us about Slovak history mixed with teamwork and conflicts resolution, which was the theoretical part I liked the most. We were encouraged to talk about anything we were interested in, so people had an open space to share something they wanted to which was very enjoyable because we danced, we meditated and we drew all together. Of course, a hike was included in this training which made me think that maybe I should get a good pair of hiking shoes since it’s the most popular activity.
With promises that we will see each other again we left that training to go back to Bratislava as I had a tea meeting to prepare for.
Pet’o and Katka did a trip to my place of birth, Ecuador, so I had to participate, they talked about their experience visiting the country and I talk about my favorite part of it: celebrations and food.
Even though I’m not the best chef I was persuaded to cook so I called my mum and made traditional food again, muchines de yuca which were little Ecuadorian cassava fritters and planned to make fried plantain but couldn’t find it anywhere. These ingredients were very difficult to find in the city, I looked for yuca and for green plantain, a salty banana shaped food that is something we eat at my house every day, but after going around for hours I found only yuca and plantain chips bag that were already made.
People reacted positively to the food I made, I heard only good comments so I was satisfied they enjoyed . At this tea meeting some of the friends we made during both training sessions came to support us, which was exciting and made me really happy.
At this point of the month, I was already exhausted but one night my friend group suggested to go to Prague, so two days after that suggestion all of us took a 4-hour bus to go to the Czech Republic.
We stayed there the weekend and as it was me and Vaso’s first time in this city we visited the most emblematic touristic points from Charles Bridge to the narrow street or the astronomical clock. I didn’t have much time to see more of Prague so I hope I will be back soon.
Last days of March were also filled with our first workcamp in Slatinka, a little village next to Zvolen in the center part of the country. Vaso, Berra and I took a bus to go there and help clean the river. I confirmed that I am a city type of person because the stay was interesting for me since there was no running water and I struggled to get used to it. Even so, I felt like I was really helping the local community, I felt a sense of accomplishment. The village was covered with green spaces, so it had a calming atmosphere and since there was no signal inside the accommodation.
Vaso has been a important person to live this experience to the fullest, tightening our bond every day, we are surprised how close we have become during these two months. I am thankful to have this good of a friend I can share circumstances with and who understands my opinion and most of the time shares the same perspective as me.
During the times we could be at the office we did an evaluation of the project called the “blob activity” with Barbara which help us to have a vision on ourselves and the work we are doing. In these days Mirka gave us a presentation about promotion where we learned a lot of new information on how we should post and push the activities and the INEX social media in general.
This month was filled with first time experiences, and I couldn’t be happier I’ve been given this opportunity to experience it all.
