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To anounce saddly, we have not been there since that friday :( But I hardly recoment visiting it and drink at least A beer.
Mateja recalled several times the slavic culture with me, a bit sad that this culture is not more known and shared. Then I wanted to know more about it. I began researches on internet, and it's not easy. Because I don't speak slavic language, I have to find informations in english or in french. I find some but not a lot. And of course it's a huge subject, because the slavic culture is of course settled in a long time and a large space. So I would need more time to get some real knowledge about it. I would say that is a first step.
I realized how much I don't know almost nothing about slavic culture – in a whole historic and geographic way. For me it's really sad, cause it's a big culture in Europe, and so we should learn more about it in France (and all Europe countries, but I don't know if they learn more about it or not in others countries). I'll try to find a book about history of Europe, which explains really the whole european picture, from East to West and South to North ! :) As the slavic culture is a really diverse culture, it's not easy to get a full picture of it - different regions involved, and the cultures evolving differently. Like the latin culture I would say, common things coming from old times in really different regions. Common points and different evolutions. Then, as I tried to get the « beginning » of the slavic culture, from the « protoslavic», it seems as often for this old times, that there is not a lot of historical proofs, so it's not easy to know what happened and how, but it looks really interesting. Also with a strong mythology. Nowadays, the slavic culture is still huge and diverse, and I'm happy that I began to know about it leaving nine months in Slovenia. I will continue my slavic learning process :) « Mais dans quel état j'erre ? » * First step : build a shelf. Second step : clean your room thanks to this new shelf. (Third step : realize you need an other shelf. Fourth step : build a new shelf ?) If my room is not cleaned, of course it's not my fault, I just need one more shelf ! Soooooo... I built it ! Not even big, just one for the desk, but it changes all, yes yes ! To explain better: during our european volunteeering, we have to develop a personal project. I decided to build useful things with reused wood ! I would like to find places close to the farm where we could find some reusable wood, but already in our place, we have quite a lot : palets or woodplanks used to receive machins, tools, material, needed in the farm ! Thus, after some time, I finished my shelf, first step of my personal project ! Slowly but surely ! I sawed the woodplanks, sanded them, and screwed together ! And then I cleaned my room. What is maybe a personal project for my whole life - with or without shelf ! No, I'm convinced that it will help me to keep my room cleaned : see you in some weeks (or days) to check ! Actually, the next step of my personal project is (not yet a second shelf, but) to renovate a « bridge » (made of a metal structure on which I will put wood planks), to cross a little river bed in the orchard, often muddy or slippery ! I have to clean, send and paint the metal structure ; and to send and screw the wood planks ! Then, we will probably burn the outside of the planks to protect the wood from bad weather, time passing, mouldiness and others enemies ! I learn at different levels doing my personal project : using different kind of tools – electric or not - indepedently ; learning to be more regular for more efficiency ; to understand what are my difficulties when I want to do something alone, and to try to go over them ! I am aware of doing little for the moment, but I hope I will improve and that what I do will grow gradually ! Zakaj ne ? « A tree as great as a man's embrace springs from a small shoot; A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth; A journey of a thousand miles starts under one's feet. » * Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 64 * https://www.wussu.com/laotzu/laotzu64.html Nota bene about cleaning : Marie Kondo, in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, gives a lot of advices and ideas to improve cleaning in a meaningful way of life !
* Lame french word Advice: reading listening "Gremo se kopat", just above ;) After the online arrival training because of quaranteen, we finally met with volunteers of Slovenia and trainers, in Ankaran for two days of « real » arrival training ! With activities, beach, food, music, international friendly sharing on the program! Then, we decided with Arnaud to discover the sloven coast walking. We starting the way on Friday evening with Simon and Lua, other volunteers met the day before, until Koper ! Nice weather, nice sea, nice environment. We had a picnic at the water's edge in Koper, where Lua and Simon had planned to sleep. We continued by night until Isola with Arnaud, to find a camping for the night ! Hopefully it's not so long ! After a good night, we walked again along the coast, sometimes up, sometimes down on the beach, with some breaks to enjoy the sun and the sea. We went until « Moonbay », where Lea (ESC trainer) and Freja (ESC volunteer) spent the day, and stayed with them until the end of the afternoon ! Then we continued our way until Strunjan (where we found fruits and vegetables on a farmer's stand next to the road), and Portorož, through the surprising pedestrian « Valeta tunnel » ! Like an highway for walkers and cyclists ! In Portorož by night, the atmosphere changed a bit for club music, fancy dresses, and almost private beaches ! We ate our « roadmade » salad front of the beautiful moony sea. Next step : the closer camping - so the one of Lucija. Thus finished our first walking trip along the seaside. On sunday morning, we discovered an other aspect of Portorož, more relax and family ambience. Then, we took a bus back, from Portoro to Koper, to meet Mateja and Žiga, who took us until the castle of Triesta ! Slovenija has a little but nice and diverse coast, and I can't wait to go next time until « Sečoveljske soline ». But this time, we had to travel until Portorož to understand a part of the soul of the sloven seaside <3 Photo montage and music by Louise
This year a lot of changes are happening in EkoPot and one of them is small RV in our back yard. It was bought for us volunteers, so we could all enjoy our personal space and to be able to express ourselves. As life makes strange curves, the renovation became my personal project. At the beginning I didn't know in what I was going, I had a romantic idea about how I would like it to be and how many hours I will spend for the whole process (quite funny). It ended up as a whole adventure. And the hours went into days and days went into weeks :D..... but hey, I sleep now alone in my small RV, that looks like a hipster place from Pinterest account and i did it by myself ...almost, because the community helped me a lot. Luisa and Arno, Maja and Matjaž, even Žiga my boyfriend and my mother Jožica. Flying fork, I almost forgot about Ema, who helped me one day with putting down the covers from beds and sorting out trash ... THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP, I LOVE YOU! And one more thanks to EkoPot who was extra helpful and provided me with all the goodies that I needed! Included cold vegan coffee with vegan milk....mmm <3. Because this was a personal project, I would like to say that in the whole process I learned a lot. Now I know how to use a shovel and how, I became quite a good digger, I know how to make a »strait« terrace for a small »building«. I realized an idea, that was in my head and that made me proud of myself. During the whole project I connected to the group and I needed to express my whished and needs out loud, and I'm not that good at it. But in this case, I think I was well organized, and I stud up for my ideas. I also got brave and went alone to Bauhaus and bought same stuff i needed. The last part I'm most proud of. And nevertheless, I got my personal space and the organization got a place for future volunteers. It was great and it is still great. I'm enjoying it and I can have friends visiting me ... <3 Written by an organic warrior Mateja from Slovenia.
1st of March : arrival in Slovenia.
2d of March : start of our ESC mission in organic farming 16th of March : start of the quarantine in Slovenia Luckely, life on the farm permits to work and live well in the fresh air, even during the quarantine ! So two months : hoeing, planting, sowing, building, weading, sorting, picking – and cooking, resting, smiling, speaking, learning, playing music... And then, at last, 8>10th of May : TRAVELLING ! Best discovery of Slovenia through a short but intense roadtrip : from Jarenina to Jarenina, through Goričko, Ljubljana, the Triglav National Park, Soča and Sea side (Koper best ice creams, Piran best swim and beautiful city). Forests, mountains, sun, rivers, bridges, streets, food : Slovenija, rada te imam And above all, Mateja and Žiga – hvala lepa you are the best ♥ With Arnaud, Mateja and Žiga - Jeremy we miss you Jeremy, the reed beat lover and the organic warrior from Belgium had to go back home last week, because of his health issues. It was a heart break for us all.
So as always when we get sad, we made food. We made the best rhubarb-apple vegan cake ever and we named it BYEBYE JEREMY CAKE. In case you have rhubarb, apples ( or strawberries instead of apples) at home you can try it out. Just promise us, that when you will eat the cake you will send positive thoughts to Jeremy in Belgium <3. *** the recipe we found on www.minamade.com What you need: 300 g flour (I used spelt) 125 g raw cane sugar 10 g baking powder 1 tsp baking soda (alternatively: vinegar) 1 tsp vanilla powder 1 pinch of salt 150 ml cup plant milk 100 ml sparkling water 100 ml vegetable oil, neutral in taste 150 g strawberries or apples 2 stalks rhubarb How to do: Preheat oven to 180°C. Line cake springform pan with parchment paper or grease.
Your ø 25.4 cm springform pan should only be half full as the cake is going to rise while baking (thanks to baking powder and soda). Written by Mateja, organic warrior from Slovenia |
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December 2020
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