First two weeks of April were far from perfect. I spent them home with high fever, and just recovering from a pneumonitis. It was a good excuse to catch up on some reading and not missing any of the Spring cycling monuments like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Even though at the time it wasn’t much fun, as you might imagine, looking back, it had it’s funny moments like when the doctor with not very good English told me “Fever high, so injection in ass!”
After those two weeks, I was practically recovered, and ready to come back to the office! I had the chance to take part on Sarah’s workshop about cartoneras. And despite my craptacular abilities for anything relating to plastic arts, it was quite amusing to work on it and see the outcome.
In the office we also celebrated Earth Day. We cleared up our own garden from some weeds that were constraining the growth of other plants. It was a way of taking symbolic action in this day and bringing even more beauty to our workplace! I also had the opportunity to take part in a webinar by Meta,on “The power of Reels”. This was particularly useful for me as it covered everything from the very basics to more advanced questions that will certainly help me create more successful content for INEX’s social media.
April allowed me to finally take part in a Workcamp! On the last weekend of the month, Sarah, Peťo, and I were joined by three other volunteers in the tiny village of Slatinka. Here, we helped to manage the effects of the heavy rain that had fallen earlier that week. We diverted the water that was flowing (and destroying) some waking paths, so that it could flow back to the main Slatina river and not onto other roads and pathways that surround the beautiful, pristine nature of this area.
The work was fairly physical, but it felt nice to be away from the city and crowds and surrounded by the green, lush vegetation, the singing of birds, and the buzzing of insects. Everyone from Združenie Slatinka was super welcoming and good-natured, and we got to talk a bit around a cozy fire under the stars. After some shenanigans with a non-existing bus, to each we had reserved some tickets, we successfully made it back to Bratislava.
Once back in town, I couldn’t miss out on any of the UEFA Champions League action, so I met up with some friends and watched the exceptionally eventful Barcelona 3-3 Inter. After the match we met some local youngsters that took us to a karaoke bar and thought us some Slovak songs (with variable degrees of success).
I also took part in an activity organized by Prešporkovo Family Center in a school playground. It was an exceptionally enjoyable afternoon, where I got to play some football (which I dearly missed), have some laughs, and meet some old and new small friends.
In the end of the month, I got to present my workshop on media bias, to the office. We analysed a few types of bias in news reporting and discussed about the importance of this subject and how it resonates with deeper problems such as democratic backsliding and political polarization. There’s still a bit of work need doing, but I believe something interesting will pop out.
To finish the month in style, some Erasmus people and I attended a superb concert at the Slovak Philharmonic where we listened to Stravinski, Prokofiev, and Schmitt. After this we went to a bar where a folk music group was performing live and provided us with an amazing night full of music.
