okay, im here!
okay, I know I'm not a great updat-er, but if you read my first post, you'll see the disclaimer! This summer has been totally insane and I finally feel like i can breathe again. Read on for my latest adventures!
I got back about 19.30 Wednesday evening - flew from Prague to Brussels and took the train from there. I don't think I was ever so happy to see my own apartment, use my own shower, sleep in my own bed, sit on my own couch......but let me start at the beginning of the story.
So we left Kruiningen on 10 Aug and drove first to the middle of the country to pick someone up, then drove on to Germany and spent the night at some friends. Sat we drove the rest of the way to northern Slovenia, the first village we stayed in was only 500 m from the Hungarian border. So we got there and had a meeting with the two people who were supposed to be arranging everything. Well, not only had they not arranged everything, they didn't bother to communicate with me about it either! I found out Sat at 8 in the evening that someone would have to cook for 23 people for the next week because food was not provided and meals would not be taken care of! And there was no other 'someone' than me! So on top of managing the week and making sure things went okay (not according to plan because that almost never happens, but at least that everyone had a good week) I had the pleasure? of shopping, cooking and generally making sure there was food on the table for seven days! Towards the end of the week when we were in a bigger city, we did go out for lunch twice, so that helped. And it was so hot that by the end of the week I was making easy meals like warm sandwiches and burritos because the kids had a big meal at lunch and then weren't too hungry in the evenings.
This was also my first experience with Slovenian culture and I've learned a few things from that as well. They are very hospitable and want to help, but are not great organisors. We were supposed to stay in host families for the last half of the week, but they couldn't arrange that either so we ended up staying in a hostel. Which of course, threw my budget right out the window. By last Sat night all I wanted to do was come home. If there would have been a cheap flight and an airport nearby, I would have gotten on a plane then. Of course, there wasn't and I already had a flight booked for Wed, so I managed to make it through three more days in the Czech Republic.
All in all, the week went quite well for everyone else. The youth enjoyed it and several of them commented that it was a very meaningful week for them and they were all glad they came. They also met a lot of Slovenian youth so hopefully we can start a Bridgebuilders Club there and they can go on an exchange next year. It was also interesting because 17 Aug was the anniversary (89 years, I think?) since that part of Slovenia came back to Slovenia after being Hungary for many years. The town had a big celebration with important people, music, etc and afterwords fireworks and a lot of traditional food. That was fun to sample.
I'M HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and I'll try to post slightly more often)
I got back about 19.30 Wednesday evening - flew from Prague to Brussels and took the train from there. I don't think I was ever so happy to see my own apartment, use my own shower, sleep in my own bed, sit on my own couch......but let me start at the beginning of the story.
So we left Kruiningen on 10 Aug and drove first to the middle of the country to pick someone up, then drove on to Germany and spent the night at some friends. Sat we drove the rest of the way to northern Slovenia, the first village we stayed in was only 500 m from the Hungarian border. So we got there and had a meeting with the two people who were supposed to be arranging everything. Well, not only had they not arranged everything, they didn't bother to communicate with me about it either! I found out Sat at 8 in the evening that someone would have to cook for 23 people for the next week because food was not provided and meals would not be taken care of! And there was no other 'someone' than me! So on top of managing the week and making sure things went okay (not according to plan because that almost never happens, but at least that everyone had a good week) I had the pleasure? of shopping, cooking and generally making sure there was food on the table for seven days! Towards the end of the week when we were in a bigger city, we did go out for lunch twice, so that helped. And it was so hot that by the end of the week I was making easy meals like warm sandwiches and burritos because the kids had a big meal at lunch and then weren't too hungry in the evenings.
This was also my first experience with Slovenian culture and I've learned a few things from that as well. They are very hospitable and want to help, but are not great organisors. We were supposed to stay in host families for the last half of the week, but they couldn't arrange that either so we ended up staying in a hostel. Which of course, threw my budget right out the window. By last Sat night all I wanted to do was come home. If there would have been a cheap flight and an airport nearby, I would have gotten on a plane then. Of course, there wasn't and I already had a flight booked for Wed, so I managed to make it through three more days in the Czech Republic.
All in all, the week went quite well for everyone else. The youth enjoyed it and several of them commented that it was a very meaningful week for them and they were all glad they came. They also met a lot of Slovenian youth so hopefully we can start a Bridgebuilders Club there and they can go on an exchange next year. It was also interesting because 17 Aug was the anniversary (89 years, I think?) since that part of Slovenia came back to Slovenia after being Hungary for many years. The town had a big celebration with important people, music, etc and afterwords fireworks and a lot of traditional food. That was fun to sample.
I'M HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and I'll try to post slightly more often)
posted by Heather at
2:20 p.m.
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