Kategorije
Tko pita - skita!

Last 9 months of my life i have spent at home

Being a Russian who was born in Estonia and currently living in Croatia is a bit weird thingie. After such a long break from my ordinary life at “home”. I got lost in a thought – what or who is that…home?

After googling, all these endless quotes totally divided my mind: home is a place or feeling or its sweet or has a wi-fi. So let`s find this… home.

“Home is where the heart is” – “Hello doctor, bye-bye logic” quote.

To begin with, my heart is inside my body, precisely between my lungs. And more likely it`s very cold bc I was born in November in Estonia. So literally it means that my body is my home. And this sounds more like a truth. We all take care of our bodies… but only until we die hehe. Just as we take care of the place where we live and people around us. It means we can be a bit self-centred and say “ My home is inside me”.

“There is no place like home” – “Forks doesn`t exist” quote.

This works only for children. By law, until you are 18 there is really no place like home. For some people, it lasts forever but these are lazy individuals. Somehow when you start being an adult you have this feeling you are not child anymore. At this moment you lose your “home” with parents. Now you have to find your own. Doesn`t matter where: in another person, in an apartment under the roof, sitting on an old chair or while walking in the park. You gonna find it.

And I found it.

I can talk endlessly about fabulous places where I`ve been, great people I`ve met, about the town where I was born and the culture I belong to. This is all my home. These are all my memories. This is me.

P.S. Hvala lijepa Hrvatskoj zemlji.
Kategorije
Tko pita - skita!

Home, sweet home!

5 training days in the land of Miguel de Cervantes.

Luckily I had a chance to explore not only Croatia but Spain as well.  It was second part of the transnational initiative “Community makers!”. By the way, the first part of it was a training course in Pula, Croatia. In Spain we learned about different sides of media.

Spanish people like potatoes more than Estonians! For dinner we always had something mixed with potatoes: eggs with potatoes, vegetables with potatoes, deeply fried potatoes with mushrooms or bacon, potatoes with garlic sauce. By the way, onions and garlic are also among their favourite spices. On the streets of Toledo, you can even smell and see smashed onions.

In many places in Spain, it is possible to see a lot of things devoted to Don Quixote: bars of chocolate and marzipan, monuments, statues, figurines, magnets, etc.

Christmas time in Spain is magical: very pretty decorations, especially during the night, but the Xmas tree on the main square was a disaster for me – just a metal construction with lights.

As I’ve never been in Spain I thought it’s always summer season there. I was wrong. In the northern part, December is pretty freezing but sunny 🙂

Anyway, we spent very nice days in Toledo, Madrid and a small village called Numancia. Now we are experienced travellers!

Surprise in Estonia!

39 hours of challenging way back to Estonia. I spent a very nice and at the same time awful sleepless night in Trieste. During the twelve hours I needed to spend there, I was in two Chinese bars, without wifi on the bus station and train station. I got super cold that night, but after meeting a drunk guy who brought me a cup of tea, a smile came back to my face. I met a few Erasmus exchange students who are musicians and one of them even brought me to his place to wait for the bus! Thank you, blond long hair guy David! Luckily, I met two girls in Milano who showed me the way to the airport 🙂

It was super duper nice. In the end I remember my fast beating heart on the plane. I experienced emotionally and physically hard coming back home.

I really don’t remember when was the last time I had slept at least till noon but that day my dreams lasted till 1 pm. The first thing to do was to eat homemade lunch. But the best part of the first day was a surprise that I made for my friends. Can you imagine, nobody knew that I am coming! My brother was hiding behind the curtains thinking that I am a ghost! And the first question from my friend was – did you cancel you EVS?! Some of my friends were crying! It was so heart-stirring 🙂

The next evening we did a small jam where we were playing some random music and just having fun. For me, it was a bit heart-breaking and at the same time happiest moment because I missed that so much.

I also took a walk in my most favourite place on planet Earth – Dark Garden. It’s an old park with fresh air, lots of trees and a small hill where you can easily climb and hide like you are the only person in this world. Peaceful.

One morning I went to my high school. I had a feeling like it’s been years since the last time I was there. I met my teachers and took a brief walk through the school. It was a day full of the past.

There were so many things I wanted to do… for example ice-skate, or to make a karaoke party. But I simply had no time for that. Meeting family and friends takes a lot of time.

I can say that it was right decision to go for a few day to snowy Estonia.

Slovenia! Oh, Slovenia!

What would you choose? To take a walk on the foggy coast of the lake or to climb up of the stairs for 20 minutes to see the waterfall? To eat pancakes for breakfast in the caffe or to cook pasta for a dinner? To drink a cup of coffee looking at the mountains and lake or to visit the very fast river and feel the energy of the place?

Well, time flies fast but I managed to do all of it! And it was wonderful. To feel the desire of your emotions that wanted to jump into the dangerous river. To see a mysterious morning fog and a fascinating pinkish sunset. To eat breakfast when it was actually lunch time 🙂

This time, I visited Triglavski Narodni park. I was to Lake Bohinj, Radovna river in the Vintgar gorge, Savica waterfall and Lake Bled. One more time, Slovenia made me fall in love.

I was there in 2018 once already, in a peaceful town called Portorož. It was a foggy day that I spent with other volunteers from Pula and Vodnjan. Staring into nothingness and trying to find some beautiful shells – that’s all from me for now. 🙂

 

 

Kategorije
Tko pita - skita!

BLOG III: NO CHILLAXITIMMO

Maybe it´s not about happy ending. Maybe it`s about the story – Albert Camus.

Ooh wonderful OKay Go!

Last week I participated in the training course “Community makers” which included sessions with the trainer ( @dejanhren) about marketing, time for inspiration (videos and lectures) and time for content writing. I organized ice-breaking games and energizers. I did a bit of photography as well 🙂

Well, if you need a bit of inspiration watch this – How to find wonderful idea!

I knew that the music group OKay Go are good, but I didn’t know they do all these things! Wonderful!

I need snow! 

Can you imagine all this freshness of white shiny snow? When millions of snowflakes crack under your toes. When it`s so cold that trees freeze and become white. Yes, cold, but so beautiful!
Now, imagine, you spent one hour just walking in the snowy park. You can feel that you have snow even inside of you. It cleans… your mind, your heart and your body. And now after this fluffy walk you come back home. You immediately go to take a hot shower because you cannot feel your fingers. You spend there at least 10 minutes just to enjoy this moment… Then you go to bed and quickly fall asleep with a pleased smile. Feels like a blessing.

But not in Pula! The last snow here was in 2009 and it lasted for 3 days. By the way, my lovely Ljubljana is a bit covered with a snow right now.

In my head is English, but I speak Russian! 

During these last 2 weeks I had been devoured by my mind. There is nothing funny about it. I faced my fears. I faced anger and mess in my head.

Going on this EVS was a very spontaneous decision. I had been approved very quickly. The thing is that before my service I had planned my life for the next 4 years. I had been sleeping and waking up with these thoughts. Nobody thought I would go so far away from home for 9 months. I was ready for EVS but I prepared myself for university. I had been packing things for uni already and then came this day: they approved me for EVS in Croatia. It was a lot of pressure from the outside and inside. No, I don´t regret that I made this decision. But there is one little breakdown. I am still there… in Estonia. I moved to Viljandi to study at the Cultural Academy. I can feel it. My soul still lives in Estonia. I am not homesick or depressive. I am not here.

 

Kategorije
Tko pita - skita!

BLOG II: THERE IS A THING, THAT THERE IS NO THING

Time to discover Pula!

Trust me, a relaxing Saturday afternoon and homemade pizza turn your brain off and good mood on! For two weeks our supervisor had been forcing us to go there. Finally, we went to Lungomare – the seaside promenade! I made pizza pasties with blue cheese, homemade tomato paste, hard cheese, salami and oregano. We took our drinks and went to a picnic on the seashore. Good songs and jokes made our day.

All the time I am finding out something new. The discovery of this week is garlic oil! Pour the olive oil into the bottle and put in a few garlic cloves. Let it rest for the night and here it is! It’s ready to use everywhere: in a soup, on pizza, pasta, bread, etc. At this time of the year, it is very useful and healthy!

TURNING 18+1

Now I am 18+1 years old. Yes! I received so many good vibes from my friends and family: video with my friends jamming, voice messages with congrats, messages from my old friends and just nice inspirational words.

I spent this day cooking pizza with France and Macedonia (that is, my friends from these countries) 😉

In the afternoon we took a walk in the woods – the coolest thing is to walk in rhythm with the music! Thank you, Aline, it was perfect!

All the guests were late for my birthday party! This is part of the culture here, but, whatever, as somebody once said: “I am not late, everybody else is simply early.” Most likely I am too strict about time.

Homemade cake with a secret ingredient was perfect for this evening!  I am grateful to all who came to my birthday and embraced me!

Frankly speaking, I celebrated my birthday twice! Wine not?! 🙂

NEW ADVENTURES

During this week I discovered one more town – Fažana!

Just imagine sitting on a colorful bench directly ashore and listening Balkan music being played by a wooden cat?! That was the moment – the salty smell of the sea, silent waves, morning coffee and tender sun.

Shortly about these 2 weeks:

4 new guests in our house

1 short haircut

+1 city – Fažana (twice)

1 new name for my colleague Belle – Banbelle

2 new recipes

+1 year

10 stickers for ZUM`s project (promoting this website!)