Czech republic

Hi people, some time ago again.. hope everybody had a nice Christmas and will enjoy a splendid and shimmering new years eve. This past month I have spend in different places in Czech republic and gotten to know some nice people and the culture a little bit. The first two weeks I spend with Miro, a Germán volunteer in Zbecno with Lukas who lived in a really large neglected house near the hills and forest. During the day Lukas was manager at the stone mine nearby so we could pretty much do whatever we wanted. With a very big garden and only few rooms in the house made livable, there was enough to do. So we cut some trees, made rosehip jam, painted a wall and did some exploring around the village and hills. With Lukas we had nice conversations about all the transformations he tried to implement in the mine to improve efficiency and about Czech culture and traveling. Furthermore, some cool ideas were shared about education. He thought the main goal should be to assist people into becoming the best world citizens and finding out who they are and what they have to contribute, instead of this fixed system with everything important for you to learn pre-set. To teach responsibility, open creativity, love and how to listen and ask the right questions.

Furthermore, we went to some cold river in the forest to bath, to the sauna to steam, and all across the country on a road trip to find magic mushrooms, in which we did not succeed. The garden was next to the forest so in the evening we could hear strange sounds and see beautiful stars, which was really nice to be closer to nature. It was a very chill and calm environment with limited going on, but all the freedom. After two weeks here Miro continued to Greece and I went to Prague for a week to continue afterwards to the next workaway community. In Prague I mainly just walked around in the city to admire the decorated houses and spiraling gothic towers, enjoying sweet pastries in a cafe and drawing people in a candle lit bar. The last weekend I changed to a hostel which was a lot of fun, meeting more people and cultural exchange and to dive into the nightlife of underground pubs.

Then my next visit was a Czech community of about twelve people and at the moment two German volunteers, near lanskroun. They had been together only since a year and in both the forming of a community feeling as well as improving the old school building which was their home, still a lot could be done. The initiator of the community was a artist and therapist and he also wanted this place to be a refuge to people with mental illnesses as well as to do art therapy and courses or workshops. Although this happened from time to time many ideas were yet to be realized. On a day to day basis most people in the community lived independently with everybody eating/cooking whenever they wanted and especially in the beginning it was harder to make a connection to people when everyone was coming and going. Also the language was a challenge as not everyone was comfortable speaking English or german. With the other volunteers we were to take care of the cute goats, carry wood for the fire and find other projects to improve. The plan to make a wooden kitchen shelves was postponed and in the end we only made some small things in the workshop for our own fun. The most fun about this place was the beautiful nature as it had been snowing and all the forests around were completely white. In this pure fresh landscape it almost felt like wintersport. Besides hiking I did sledging and also some snowboarding with the German girl which was a lot of fun!
I also spend my Christmas here, to get to know the Czech traditions somewhat better. By then the other volunteers had returned home and it also taught me about enjoying solitude. But luckily during the Christmas some more guests came and there was enough spirit going around! The traditional Czech Christmas meal is potato salad ( like huzarensalade) with fried battered carp (fish) and of course Christmas cookies decorated with glace figures. So we cooked, decorated the tree with dried orange and apple slices, visited the neighbors and in the evening we sang Christmas songs by the sparkling of our sterretjes (firework stars).

New years eve I spend again back at my previous workaway place where they had invited more friends for the celebration to do some creative, philosophical workshops together. Although the workshops were less than expected it was still a fun ending of the year. In smaller groups we could have a nice conversation in English and some games, caraoke, making apple begnets and enjoying the campfire were easy despite the language barrier.

This past week I spent in Czech switserland, the same nature reserve as before only now on the other side if the border. With the plan to do some nice hikes and exploring in the nature alone, I booked some pensions, hiked somewhat and read a lot of books! Enjoying learning things about different topics, working on my languages and trying to decide what my planning is for the months to come. Now I am looking forward to be around people again and will do English teaching for young children with a German friend and an Italian volunteer. I am really curious how the teaching will be, as I have never stood in front of a classroom before. The methode used is supposed to be very interactive to make the children more comfortable with the language through games and sports. As it is located in the higher mountains of Czech republic and I am now already surrounded by snow i also hope to do some snowboarding in the coming weeks! Although I love the snow a plan has also formed to enjoy the warmer climates to go and pick oranges in Greece or Italy, but nothing concrete yet.