November 2023
Hi!
Already two months here in Slovenia! In a way, time flies.
November was again about getting used to work in EPI, learning to know the kids, and adapting to this new environment. Those things take time.
In the weekends, I also travelled a bit with Anne, the other volunteer and roommate. I went to Kranj, Moon Bay (a place in Strunjan where you have a stunning view of the sea with Italy in the background), Trieste (in Italy) where we saw the biggest sailboat of the world (and yes, that’s really cool) and of course, Ljubljana again for a film festival. The last weekend of November, we also decided to hike to Velika Planina (the cable car was closed). We hiked for a bit less than 4 hours. From a certain altitude, there was some snow and the more we climbed, the more snow there was. The view until there was already amazing but on the top, it was incredible. Velika Planina is quite a touristic place in the summer but at this time of the year, with the snow, we were almost the only one. We stayed there until the sun started going down and had to hurry to come back before it was dark (spoiler: we finished in the dark). Even now, I’m still amazed by the view we had up there.
The last week of November was the On-arrival training (finally)! This is a training all long-term volunteers get and it’s also a great opportunity to meet other volunteers from Slovenia. The training was in Zreče, not far from Celje. In this week, we learned about the rights and values of a volunteer, about solidarity, about the YouthPass and personal project, and so many things it’s hard to remember. We learned all those things using non-formal education. I think I never learned this way but I really enjoyed it. We were a big group (around 30 volunteers) but we had every night “home group” night, which meant that every day, we had to reflect on different topics and discuss about the day with this home group (which was always the same).
I’m still shocked about the way we were able to create this safe place in such a short time and I’m really grateful for that. Everybody was respectful, open-minded and listening. I think it was the first time I experienced that.
After this week, I feel now even more motivated and optimistic about this experience and I’m looking forward to what December will bring.
Se vidimo!