Ahoj!
We started this October with very cold weather, but the good part is that the month was full of activities and trips! If you want to know more about what happened in October, Halloween, and our trips, please keep reading 😊
Evaluation Workshop
We had to evaluate how the presentation of our workshop went from June to August. While preparing my presentation, I realized that I had presented my workshop, Resilience through Volunteering, four times, and it was attended by 36 people! I’m very happy because I received positive feedback, even during this evaluation. The good news is that I will be presenting my workshop at a high school, which is very exciting but also quite challenging, as I’ll be presenting to young people aged 14-15 years old.
After the workshop evaluation, we received our certification in Volunteer Management in a Multicultural Environment, and it was very special that Peto was able to present the certificate to us.
Multicultural Quiz Night!
On the 10th of October, we organized a Multicultural Quiz Night with Presporkovo Centre. At the beginning of the event, Leo and I were quite stressed (as usual, nothing new there, haha) because we had some technical issues. Fortunately, we managed to sort things out, and even though we made some mistakes (look at the first picture to see what’s written—hint: Mulicultural, haha), I think people had a great time and enjoyed the questions and the atmosphere.
Falling in love again: Slatinka Weekend Workcamp
The day after the Multicultural Quiz Night, we went to Slatinka for the weekend workcamp. It was special for me because I had led the workcamp during the summer, but this time I wasn’t a leader, so I could relax a bit more and enjoy it with the others.
When we arrived, at first, I felt a bit strange because the people I met during the summer weren’t there. But when I saw Katka and Robo and we hugged, everything felt familiar again. We had some really great and fun moments, and I enjoyed it so much!
It was also really nice to see Martina again and her dog, Zoe. We worked very hard, and the results were excellent! We cleared the weeds from the meadow and brought wood to the house for the fire during winter. And… we had a barbecue! The funny thing is that Leo and I (the only ones who weren’t Slovak) had to go inside the house because we couldn’t handle the cold weather, haha. Slovak people have a superpower to withstand the cold and hike. This is one of the things I’ve learned this year!
And when we had to leave on Sunday, I started becoming more aware that our project is coming to an end, because there are some people I won’t see again this year. To be honest, I felt quite sad and a bit emotional.
Here are some pictures of Slatinka in autumn—it’s really beautiful—and of some moments we shared together 😊
Latvia with Leo
On Friday morning, before heading to Slatinka, Leo and I decided to check some flights, just in case we found any good deals and could visit another country. And surprise! Flying to Riga was extremely cheap, so after Leo convinced me to visit Latvia, we bought the tickets. I have to say the capital surprised me a lot. The architecture is really nice and beautiful, and after walking 30 km in 24 hours, I can confidently say we managed to see everything.
When we came back to Bratislava, we were quite tired because after Slatinka, we went straight to visit Riga without any rest, and then had to go back to the office, haha. It was an interesting experience. But then…
I flew to Lithuania!
Elisabet, a Catalan girl living in Bratislava whom I admire a lot, recommended that I visit Kaunas and Vilnius… So I thought, “Why not?”. I asked the office if I could take Friday off, and I flew to Kaunas. Before that, I called Laura, an ESC volunteer from Lithuania whom I met during the first training. We had a great time together, both in Kaunas and Vilnius. I also had some moments to explore the cities alone, so I was able to enjoy a solo trip and time with a friend at the same time.
Funny story: People who are familiar with me know that I usually have bad luck when traveling, and of course, Lithuania couldn’t be an exception. On my first night at the hostel, at 4 a.m., there was a fire, and the police woke me up. I was so sleepy that I thought they wanted to sleep in our room (haha), but no, it was a real fire. So we had to go outside. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and now we can laugh and make jokes about the experience. Thanks to that incident, I met two guys who were also traveling solo and live in Vienna. And we even ended up on the same flight—what a coincidence!
I didn’t have enough and wanted to visit Brno
On Sunday, I woke up at 3:40 a.m. to catch my flight, and I arrived in Vienna at 7 a.m. But since I wanted to visit Brno, I asked Leo and Mehmet if they wanted to join me. Can you imagine how tired I was after the Slatinka weekend workcamp, Latvia, Lithuania, and now Brno, all without a single day of rest? You can see a picture of me sleeping on the bus, haha.
But Brno was really beautiful, and I enjoyed my time there, not just because of the city, but also because of my friends.
When we finally got home around 11 p.m., I went straight to bed—I really needed it, haha.
Baking Cookies with Presporkovo at the Senior Center
On Monday, the 21st, Leo and I went with the Presporkovo family center to bake cookies at the senior center. It was a lovely experience, and even though we couldn’t talk much due to the language barrier, we managed to have some conversations in Slovak.
The next day, we visited the Presporkovo center to teach some Spanish to the children. It was really nice because we also got to learn some Slovak words 😊
HALLOWEEN AT INTEGRA
On Thursday morning, we went to INTEGRA and enjoyed Halloween activities with people with disabilities. I think they had a good time, or at least, a different experience! We painted their faces with Halloween designs, and even held a contest for the most beautiful pumpkin. Finally, we wrapped up with a mini dance party at the end of the activity.
TEA MEETING: Discovering Iceland through Marek’s Eyes
On Thursday evening, we had our regular Tea Meeting. This time, Marek was our guest, and he did a fantastic job. Through incredible photos, he explained why he chose to go to Iceland and shared his experiences living there. It was really interesting, and we had a great turnout: our friends Mehmet and Yanelly came and even brought more friends to the event. Additionally, two ESC volunteers from other organizations joined us. It was a success!
My Workshop at the High School
On Friday, I went with Mirka to a school to present my workshop, Resilience through Volunteering, to students aged 14–15. It went really well because they have a good level of English, and I think they enjoyed the presentation. I’m very excited because so far, I’ve presented my workshop to a total of 50 people!
As you can see, this month was filled with activities, especially during the last week!
Thank you so much for reading my entry!
Ciao 😊
