Varajane jõulumarket

6th December Dresden

It was the 6th of December when I woke up 4.15 in the morning to catch the bus at 5.00 Who would have guessed that the morning would start with a huge snow storm? I sure didn't. Therefore many early people could witness a wondering girl in the bus station, since I just couldn't identify which bus was meant for me. So there I was running from one end of the station to the other, trying to figure out where to go. I already started to panic and was calling- texting- calling- texting my partner for the day. No reply, perfect. I was almost giving up hope, when I saw one bus leaving the station and then stopping. The driver opened his window. "Drážďany?" "eee...aa...to Dresden?" "Ano, Drážďany." Huh, final hesitation and I was on the bus, thanking people for stopping. Almost missed it, but I guess things always go as they are meant to.

Arriving to windy and super cold Dresden was not exactly what I was imagining. After a wonderful tour together with a Czech guide without anyone translating anything, we were free to exploring the town. And so we did. First thing was a stop at the 1/2m Bratwurst stand. It was okay, nothing too special in my opinion. I guess all the excitement came from the length, which in the end was not so impressive as I first thought. It took me of course some time to finish it, but after that we started our own tour on the world known Christmas market. After some time in the cold wind we decided to spend some time in one big shopping mall. Felt pretty good. 

Anyway we ended up trying different lush sweets and also Glühbier, which is not as popular as Glühwein. It had quite an interesting taste, at least something different. 
Outfacing the strong wind and flying chairs we decided to explore not only the old town, but also the newer part of it. Due to the big market it was dead. No people, no open stands on the other side of the bridge. Then again the view to the big buildings was incredible. And who knows me, knows how much I enjoy a great piece of architecture. 

After being a little disappointed in the new town we returned to the old town and found a marvelous little medieval market with all its glory. How fascinating it was! So many different smells, people, costumes, even some war weapons were displayed.

All the smaller markets which combined one bigger one were adorable. The stands were decorated with loads of lights and fairytale characters. There was music and the scent of hot spicy wine in the air. People were celebrating, drinking, eating, dancing around their little tables. What joy! The experience gave me inspiration to visit different Christmas markets around Estonia or maybe also in Latvia next year. Such good memories I have from Dresden :)

talking to people on the medieval market

hello shopping mall and embarrassing Vojta.

 

Have I gone crazy?

Maybe, just maybe.

Actually I'm sitting in my kitchen, in Nachod. Waiting. Already been waiting since 9 o'clock in the morning. Naturally I had loads of stuff to do, but now, I'm hoping that within this hour my sweetest girls will arrive. I guess it's the excitement that keeps me awake. Or maybe it's the chocolate.. either way, I'm waiting. 

And just to use the time somehow, I'm doing what I promised to do long time ago- improve my blog writing habits. So far so good. Though I'm pretty sure after this night of writing there will be another gap, but guys.. life's full of adventures! I can not be not excited all the time. There's something always something new, incredible that needs to be discovered. The more you see, then less you know.

While being in Berlin and also in Harz mountains I experienced how small I actually am in this big-big world. I've never felt like this before. Feeling totally comfortable, yet out of order. I guess the knowing of how insignificant you are for all those people living there, makes you appreciate the ones who really matter.

Yes, so deep thoughts on this late hour. I'm so anxious to finally see my darlings. Unbelievable!

 

Beginning of holidays

20.-28.12.13 Germany- a trip to remember

20th December: 12.00 Nachod- Prague, 15.30 Prague- Berlin- the arriving

Arriving to Berlin with shaking has because I could not believe that I finally was there. Finally! Oh, and when I saw Kamil waiting for us with his cheerful smile and a Berliner Kindl, I was sure it will be one interesting weekend.

trying to blend in with the beer

kebab, yamm

21st December: sightseeing to the max

The highlight was the cool yellow Hop on- Hop off bus that took us through the most important sights in Berlin.
- Brandenburger Tor (gates)
- Berliner Dom (cathedral)
- Checkpoint Charlie
- Sony center 
- Bundeswaschmaschine (federal laundry machine)
- Unter den Linden
- Holocaust Mahnmal
- Reichstagsgebäude (The Reichstag building)
- Hauptbahnhof (..which was an amazingly huge place with it's own story, wow)
- etc

And we ended the evening, started the new day with exploring the night life in Berlin. Worth the visit!

22nd December: the lazy morning

Yes, but then again Sundays are meant to be lazy. In the afternoon we went for some more sightseeing and visited Alena at her working place. She's a supervisor in one adorable cafe in the East part of Berlin. The place was full of families, couples, soon to be couples and us. Coffee and chocolate cake for breakfast at 5pm tasted wonderful. After Alena finished working we head to the amazing East Side Gallery. The 1,3km long international memorial is a piece of art. I almost stopped by every drawing to admire the work.
def my favorite <- open this to see some greatness.

23rd December: 12.00 Berlin- Braunschweig- departure

 Bye-bye Berlin! It was awesome, but it's time to explore other treasures that Germany has to offer.

Beginning of holidays, vol 2

24th December: Braunschweig- Ströbeck

Christmas in Schachdorf Ströbeck. Getting to know the hosting family. Small preparations for cooking, decorating the Christmas tree.

Discovering Ströbecks most important sights...
..while walking the dog and the horse. Interesting.

Also my first experience with going to the church during Christmas. Of course, we were late so entering was a little awkward + there was no space downstairs. No worries, we'll just sit upstairs.. where you all can see us slinking to our places. Nice try with not drawing any attention. Despite the smooth entrance and fact we had no song sheets (not that I could read german anyway) the ceremony was pretty. Not understanding left me with so many thoughts about life, love, family, hope, faith, thankfulness etc. Special time.

After lighting the candles on the precious Christmas tree we enjoyed the excellent meal. This year it was way different from the one I'm used to, but I'm up for new experiences. Deer meat, meatloaf, red cabbage, croquettes, mushroom sauce, fresh salad, some kind of potato ball thingies and peaces/pears with jam. Wow, so yummy! Thank you for a wonderful evening. I really appreciate the effort, kindness, warmth and of course gifts. Unbelievable how nice it was :)

25th December: sauna, my looove

Call to home + to brother. Quality conversation right there.
 
Walking "the round" around the village and enjoying the incredible landscape, which charmed me. Oh, how beautiful and calm, yet exciting it was..
..and evening in pub + mystic tour in Halberstadt during night.

26th December:

Harz mountains and the lift ride. Oh my god! The weather was awful, yet I'm thankful for it, since if I were clear I maybe wouldn't have the guts to walk there. Amazing, just amazing place! 
WHOAA
open this!!
Wernigerode- the cutest fairytale village with a beautiful main square and town hall. With all the christmas lights I finally got the holiday spirit that I was searching for.
The main square

And we also visited a beautiful dam, but I cant remember the name of the place. Let it stay as a secret, special place.

27th December: Youth camp meeting



28th December: "you're like a pilgrim"

8.40 ~19.00
Ströbeck- Halberstadt- by car
Halberstadt-Halle train 
Halle- Leipzig- train 
Leipzig- Dresden- train 
Dresden- Praha 8- car
Praha 8- Florenc- bus
Florenc- Nachod- bus 

It was sad to leave, yet the time spent there was incredible. So I could come home with only the best memories. Thank you all for the jolly Christmas you gave me. My first Christmas away from home- it could not have been better. I am extremely grateful.

Forever yours,
xo!

Svatý Mikuláš, anděl a čerti

I'm guessing for most of my friends the title is as confusing as it was for me. To be very honest, still is. All though I did the "celebration ritual" couple of times.. I'm still not sure what happened. I assume trying to explain this in Estonian would not help me as well, since the topic just makes no sense for me. So if any Czech people read this- I'm sorry in advance. I might have got the whole thing wrong.

So anyhoo, there's this Saint Nicolas...who is accompanied by an angel and some devils. Yes. And then .. they move around together and visit kids. I guess the devils scare kids by saying that if they don't behave correctly, they would be taken back to hell. Judging from the kids faces, they really believe that story. Then again parents at the same time a both nervous, whether their kid will cry, and excited because maybe, just maybe their dearest will start be a nice person for some time. Quite interesting to observe that happening. If the kids knew that the parents gave their name to SAINT Nicolas, oh me-oh my.

Basically if you want to postpone going to peklo (hell) you have to promise to be nice (one version was that you have to sing, but i prefer the being nice one). Then you have to jump over the devils broom and voilaa, done. Until next time.

Oh, and the angel gives you treats...

Yeah, to be fair I'm kind of lost on that topic. Cheers!

the army of angels

My work on that event was telling the moms that they should decorate the apples with cloves, toothpicks filled with raisins and small pieces of oranges. I'm proud of my work.

stiilinäide

15 minutes of Estonia

In the first post I mentioned something about my mini project. Well on the 5th of November it started and is still running. Every Tuesday with the 4-5th grade and Wednesday 1 and 2-3rd grades.

So far it's going nice and the kids look like they are interested in getting information about the land far-far away. They're especially excited when they can be involved and have some practical assignment.

The first project minutes for dedicated to a general introduction. From there on the mini lessons have turned to more specific topic. With the older ones we discovered the map of Europe and the countries the connect Czech Republic with Estonia. I'm glad that the assistant of the blind boy was such a kind person to call the boys mother for her to bring me some special paper and tools. Therefore I was able to make him a so called blind-map, so that he was also a part of the class. It was cool. :) Younger ones were exploring a puzzle i brought. It has the map of Estonia with some important landmarks and animals around it. Now they can put it together when ever they feel like it.. when the teacher approves of course.

We also made some flags. Older ones made bigger, younger ones smaller flags.

The next topic was nature and animals. Who wouldn't be excited about the many lynxes, wolves and bears we have. For the older ones I made a "fill in the caps to find the missing animal" task and younger ones got two drawings that they could color. They're simply adorable. I'm so glad to be in such a lovable environment.

Since the beginning of December was already a little crazy I couldn't be there for one week. For that I prepared an Estonian fairytale in Estonian- English- Czech, that the teachers read to the pupils. All of them also got a drawing, that I had to made for another event in Decko. Lucky me, that I was able to connect these two. About the drawing.. still my greatest thanks go out to Alex, my flatmate who's breathtaking drawing helped me finish this .. thing. It was a made for a kids coloring book, so no hate on my amazing drawing skills.

I personally love the ninja in the carriage

The last 15 minutes of Estonia for this year was about out Christmas traditions. As a surprise to me and the kids turns out that Ježíšek (baby jesus) doesn't bring presents in every home. Who would have guessed!

The great week of Halloween

The 44th week of the year passed by in a festive mood. Just within three days I managed to celebrate Halloween in three times in three different groups.

Starting off with some home time with Danielle when we did our best with carving the special pumpkin my mum sent us from Estonia. Yes, she actually sent us a pumpkin through Europe. Thank you for that! :)
For me that was a first, but Danielle, she knew what she was doing, so we ended up with a fabulous Jack-o-lantern.

Second 'party' was the cute gathering in my primary school. Of course we did some preparations some days before the actual event. The kids had several Halloween related worksheets, crosswords, hidden word puzzles and in arts class we made small candle holders from wire and jars. Because of the awesome bus connection I decided to stay in school that afternoon and do some more preparations for the evening. Prrr, was kind of scary to be in school all alone knowing that the front door is locked. Should have been safe, since no-one can enter, but at the same time.. I couldn't exit. Huh, anyhoo, I had a lot of work, so the time passed quickly. Too quickly I'd say.

It already started getting dark when kids arrived all dressed up and with their candle holders. Before going the forest I did some warm-up games in the school yard. After that we lit the candles and head out to the forest. There we had a fireplace prepared so quite quickly we managed to make a fire and start baking the salt tough. I haven't done anything like that before, rookie as I am, but it turned out very nice and tasty. Even if the "pastry" only consisted of water, flour and salt. We also baked some apples and marshmallows- yammy! Afterwards played the games we had prepared and not too long after that headed back to school. Prrr, already then it was freezing outside. End of October it was minus degrees outside and now, NOTHING. jesus christ.

I ended my Halloween week with a Decko party... which led to a funky after party in one of the volunteers flat.
For me and Babsi (a fellow volunteer) the "party" was more like 3 hours of busy-busy explaining kids how to make a bat out of carton and paper and how to add cloth wings and something else. Huh, in the end we were maybe even more confused than the kids, since there was just SO many people there. In the end the organizer told us that they assumed ca 100 people will come. The miscalculated. More like 300 people was there that evening. But we managed, we always do. It was such a pleasure working with Babsi, since she's just the sunshine you need to a stressful day. Thank you for being so calm and easy-going. :)

the army

I was a forest fairy feat crazy lady.

Oh, and our after party started with loads of delicious food and and nice conversation. Greetings to the good cooks who made a the food according to the theme. Was superb!

Visiting my sweetest Jitka in Policka

25.- 28. October

It was in July when I met this nice girl called Jitka. We participated in different workshops, so in the beginning of the camp really didn't communicate. The last days changed things. But I guess you get closer to a person after being only girls attending the shower party, enjoying dancing and finally sharing deepest thoughts about personal life. A special connection was made within those few days.

So in the late October I decided to visit her. Oh, how lovely it was! I'm ever so grateful to you for taking me into your home, introducing me to your family and just being a splendid host. 

During the time there I had the change to see the work of a rising young choreographer and the group she was coaching. It made me miss dancing. Thank you!

We visited a fire sport competition, which I saw for the first time. Turns out that almost every village in CZ has it's own team and they participate in these competitions. Since the weather was perfect and athletes nice, we spent a great time there.

Of course we walked around a lot, because the landscape + cute Policka were wonderful. But one of the best parts was Jitkas mom. What a sweet person and great cook. She was also so kind to share her recipes with me. And not only that, but on Saturday she taught me how to make dumplings (knedliky). How cool is that! As expected the ones I later made at home were half as good as the one she made. Half as good.. pff, more like half as cooked. They really sucked to be honest. Needs some more practice.

I was almost necessary to visit some local pub there. So we did, every evening. But all the time at the some awesome theater club, which was full of students. There we also met some friends like David+ Karolina,  Petr, Martin and for me some new people. Great times! 
The biggest surprise was when one evening David showed up with a cake, which had the letter A written on it. "Just something my mom sent you".... WHAT? I was amazed, shocked and touched. I still am :) What a lovely thing to do. Thank you! It was not only beautiful, but also delicious.

So once again I must say, thank you for a wonderful weekend and just for being so amazing! Can't wait to return the favors :)

xo!

Tark ei torm ehk teine postitus, jee

Okei, ma arvan, et on ilmselge, et aasta blogija auhinda ma endale ei napsa. Nii põneva elu juures ei teki kuidagi arvuti taga istuda ning kogetut kirja panna. Pigem ikka uusi kohti külasta, inimesi kohata ning olukordi tekitada. Ja neid viimaseid on mul omajagu olnud.

Enne kirjutama asumist pean vabandama ema ning ehk mõne teisegi ees, kes eesti keelt inglise keelele eelistaksid. Kuna mitmed rahvusvahelised sõbrad pärisid, mida ometi oma blogis kajastasin, siis otsustasin seekord teise keele kasuks. Saame hakkama!

So as once mentioned a lot has happened after my first and as well last check-in. 

- Lazy as I am, for my international friends, here's a quick summary of my life...which i had written long-long time ago, but was never published. Check!

Haha, well to be honest the countryside looks a lot like Estonia... if you count out the mountains, which Est doesn't have- About the money, umnn, Czech is compared to Estonia quite cheap! I cannot believe the prices on most things. Also the beer, wooow! On Saturday we had a beer festival in the local brewery and oh boy, was that fun!
Anyway I just arrived back from "work". Today I went to my little school for the second time. First time I just got to know the place and met some teachers, but that took only 30min or so. By the way, the school is in a small village and almost 10km from my town. BUT the bus (which I have to change to get where needed) drives for one hour! WOW! due to that I woke up around 5am to leave home at 6am and catch the 6.25 bus. I went first time alone, hardly speaking the language and not totally sure where I'm going. Anyway kids arrive at school 7.30. first half an hour they sing and play the flute. Classes start at 8am... or smt around that. it's so funny with their timetable, because they don't have a school bell (there's only 1, 2-3, 4-5 class) so the teachers just look when to start and when to finis.
This week I will be mostly assisting a disabled kid or a blind boy or a boy with learning disability. But in October I will start giving English classes in school and also in the nursery. Oh, two different arts classes as well. Huh, will be interesting!

All of the volunteers have different jobs and in totally different conditions. Some of us work mainly in Decko, which is the local youth education center. They give English, Spanish, German and dancing lessons. One does art workshops for kids and one works with animals. Quite the crowd to be honest.

Umn, about me. This week was very nice, even tho I had to wake up at 5 o'clock every morning. I didnt do any English or arts classes myself, but I helped a disabled boy. He is so precious! I almost cried when on Wednesday he started talking in English to me. He is also so-so clever in math! I'm sad that he can't walk or properly use a pencil or even talk, but then again his very wise and friendly. I hope I can do some more special work with him. It was wonderful. To be honest, I don't know his full medical history, BUT he was born way toooo early and due to that his muscles didn't fully develope. He can't walk nor move his hands properly. So someone must always feed and carry him. He is a very bright child and when the teacher asks something, he always knows the answer. When other kids talk to him, they sometimes have a hard time understanding. Therefore I assume he has some trouble with speaking as well. I dont understand Czech so well to be a judge of that. It all sounds the same to me.

And there was this other kid who every morning wanted me to sit next to him in the bus, hold my hand and couple of times even kissed it. Like a gentleman! I will start "real" work on 30 sept, when i'm back from Decin, my on-arrival-training. I managed to find an estonian host for all of us in Prague, so we will go there on Monday, stay for the night and on Tuesday leave to Decin. I'm very excited about that :)

I also give English in the kindergarten for the last class. So they are 5-6y old kittens. We have one lesson per week so so far we learned how to say hello- goodbye- thank you-please-good morning-good night-what's your name-i'm xx. Also some animals like dog, cat, cow, pig, chicken, hen, rooster, mouse. Every lesson we start in a circle sitting on small chairs and then we usually do a game, listen to some songs. if it's easier we sing along or try to. I have made some flashcards with pictures of animals so at first i show them and say the name. They try to guess what sounds they make and so on. In the end of the lesson they all get the picture of the new animal and they glue it to their little notebooks and color it. That's the most basic lesson.

Anyway the preparation for one lessons takes quite a lot of time. At first i have to think about the previous lesson and how well they did, how many kids were absent and what new did we learn. Then i will write some ideas down in my little notebook. After that write sentence by sentence it all in a document on the computer and translate it to czech, so i could let the kids and teacher know what i'm trying to explain them. Then i send the doc to Jitka (a lovely person who i met this year in youth camp) to read and correct the mistakes. After that I write the correct text on a sheet of paper which i will take to the lesson.-


Some days after the first post I packed my bag and started hitchhiking from Nachod to Riga. Since I'm still not brave enough to do that internationally alone, I found a companion. A lovely Latvian girl who currently is in Bulgaria as an Erasmus student. Together we hitchhiked on one lorry and two cars. It took us 19h to get through three countries. Can't really say that it was a trip of a lifetime because in every stop we just had to wait for 1-20minutes and only once actually hitchhiked. The two other times just were in the right place at the right time. Second time we were just hanging out in the gas station, showing our sign and asking people where they're going. There was this one guy who said he's going to Warsaw, but we thought it's too close (we didnt know it's 150km). So he kept eating his hotdog and walking around for some reason. Eventually he came up to us to ask if we are sure we don't want to go with him to Warsaw. Finally we agreed While driving he made a mistake and took us like 50km outside of Warsaw to the direction we needed to go. Hihi, thank you stranger for making that awesome mistake. We really appreciated that. I think we were in the next gas station somewhere north from Warsaw for 15 minutes max. We were just sitting inside the gas station, eating sandwiches when two man come in. I have my bread in one and the sign in other hand. They see it, nod as if they are going to Suwalki, Poland. We didn't even ask! And then Kristine asks in Russian, where are they going and they reply RIGA. I turn the sign around: RIGA, LV. Turns out they were Latvian men, who were on their way back from Germany from a car shopping spree. Great! Me with three neighbors. For some reason they had already been on the highway, but then turned back, changed the route and finally ended up in the same gas station. What luck!  So I went with the one guy who spoke better English and Kristine went with the other one. Next 9-10h we spent in their cars. Around 9 or 9.30 in the morning we arrived in Riga. Or at least somewhere near it. Quick call to my dad to get the address of the hotel and my room number. Simple as that took the first bus from nowhere to the center of town. Asked people for directions, walked and walked more in the pouring rain. Finally arrived to my hotel, which check-in was at 2pm. So I was there more then 3hours before the correct time. Thank god the receptionist was so kind to give me the key and allowed me to go to my room. Around 4pm my parents arrived and the weekend flied pass so-so quickly. On Sunday afternoon around 3pm I found myself driving back towards Cz Republic. 6 o'clock in the morning I was back home, so I had time to have some coffee and the piece of cake my mom sent me. At 7.20 I was already at school waiting for the exciting project "Tree day" to start. 

It was indeed a lovely day with the kids and spending time in the nature. It was the first projects in school that I really took part of. I mainly helped with preparing and developing ideas for the day. Most of the assignments actually needed normal communication with kids, so I decided to take pictures and leave my poor Czech knowledge for the following days. 

And since I just found out that I have no photos of that event... then here's a picture of my creative corner, the table by the window. :)

Better now than never

Asjade loogiline käik oleks olnud kolida välismaale ning esimese nädala lõpus alustada blogimist. I'm special.

Kolisin Tšehhi Vabariiki juba kuus nädalat tagasi, ent erinevate sündmuste tõttu pole ma lihtsalt viitsinud midagi kirja panna. Nii tuim vabandus ongi! Seega püüan nendest nädalatest teha all-in-one ülevaate. Võite kindlad olla, et palju häid detaile unustan kindasti esimesesse postitusse lisada, kuid I'm willing to live with that risk.

Note: üsna tõenäoline on, et kirjutades tulevad sisse kentsakad inglise k. fraasid, sest tuleb välja, et 1,5 kuuga on võimalik emakeel unustada. Mitte ehk unustada, aga loogiline lauseehitus kaotad. Eriti kui see alati pisut lohakas on olnud.

Anyhoo alustame siis algusest. Saabusin Tšehhi 2. septembri hommikul bussiga kuskil kella 8 ajal. Tulin koos projektikaaslastega Leedust ja Lätist. Tänu pikale veenmisele ja tüütamisele tegi bussijuht piiri lähedal peatuse, et ma saaksime maha minna. Meile tuli vastu üks tore naisterahvas, kes toimetas meid korteritesse. Igatahes päev möödus rahulikult ja lebotades. Jagan kodu kolme vabatahtlikuga- Katharina(19) Saksamaalt, Danielle(26) UK-st ja Alexander(29) Bulgaariast. Üsna rahulikud inimesed ja siiani on elu maasikas. Lisaks meile neljale on Náchodis [häälda Naaaaaaaaahod] veel kaks korteritäit vabatahtlikke- Babsi(18) Austriast ja Jonas(24) Belgiast; Liane (18) Saksamaalt, Raquel (22) Hispaaniast ja Reinis(21) Lätist. Sama organisatsiooni all töötavad, kuid teises linnas elavad Amy(25) UK-st, Elvyra (22) Leedust, Fabian (18) Saksamaalt ja David (25) Hispaanist. Sellega lõppeb kena ülevaade teistest vabatahtlikest.

Esimese nädala jooksul tutvusime kesklinna ja noortekeskusega. Saime kõnekaardid, tegime endale pangakontod, kohtusime linnapeaga ning maitsesime kohalikke toite. Saabusin siia riiki eeldades, et koht sarnaneb Eestile. Eksisin rängalt! Alustades maastikust, toidust, kultuurist, aja kasutusest, hobidest ning lõpetades täielikult susiseva ning veniva keelega. Keelest rääkides olid esimesel kahel nädalal intensiivtunnid. Oh wow! Pidi olema lihtsam omandada, kui Vene keelega kursis oled. Seni ajab vaid segadusse ning nüüd ei oska kumbagi keelt kõnelda. Isegi Eesti keeles skype'imine tekitab probleeme.

Ah, et mida ma siin õigupoolest teen?

Esmaspäev kuni neljapäev töötan ühes armsas algkoolis Žďárky nimelises külas. Kogu külas elab umbes 1000 inimest ning koolis käib ligi 50 last. Siin on kokku vaid kolm klassi, sest 2-3 ja 4-5 on liitklassid. Õpetajad annavad korraga kahele astmele sama ainet. Hea balansseerimine käib pidevalt, et kõik rahul oleksid. Enamasti abistan probleemsemaid lapsi kahes erinevas kunstitunnis(lõikamine-kleepimine ning maalimine) ja inglise keeles. Näiteks ühel kutil on probleeme rääkimisega, ent meie koostööd see ei mõjuta. Pealegi ta on täielik moosivaras oma nunnude punnis põskede ja ruuduliste pükstega. Nii muhe tüüp lihtsalt! Siis veel abistan poissi, kel on tähelepanuga probleeme. Paar minutit jaksab kuulata ja siis on pea kadunud. Vähemalt on ta ülisõbralik, abivalmis ja mõistab mu keele oskamatust. Kolmas poiss, kellega koos töötan on tõsise puudega, ent ta on nii andekas. Anna poisile hetk aega mõtlemiseks ning ta vastab kõik küsimused õigesti. Esimesel nädala kui kooli läksin polnud mu juhendajat seal, seega määrati mind teda kõikides tundides abistama. Kui E-T-K püüdsime kuidagi omavahel hakkama saada, siis kolmapäeva viimases tunnis hakkas kutt minuga inglise k rääkima. Meisterdasime parajasti järjehoidjale kosmost, kui ta järsku juhiseid inglise k. andma hakkas. "Cut pink moon", "cut yellow stars", "rocket!", "sticker"- ma olin nii liigutatud, sest seni polnud ma ta ühestki sõnast aru saanud. Palusin samal õhtul Alexil joonistada talle pilt kosmosest. Järgmisel päeval seda üle andes oli poisi ja ta isa üllatus samaväärne rõõmuga. See oli tõeliselt armas hetk. :)
Muide, küla asub 9km kaugusel kodulinnast ja E-K sõidan sinna rattaga. Jee! Neljapäeviti lähen 6.25 bussiga (ehk ärkan umbes 5.15, et 6.08 kodust lahkuda) ning naasen ühe vahva õpetaja autoga.

Lisaks kooli tegutsemisele, käin igal esmaspäeval seitsmendal tundi andmas lasteias! Nunnud mudilased õpivad sel aastal esimest korda inglise k. Esimesed kaks nädalat käis mu juhendaja kaasas ja oli tõlgi eest, kuid täna (14.10) viisin tunni iseseisvalt läbi. Või noh.. kõik laused olid eelnevalt kodus Tšehhi k tõlgitud ning kui puterdama hakkasin, siis palusin kasvatajal lugeda, lastele seletada. Aga meil oli niii-niii tore! Usun, et sellega hakkab nalja saama. 10 pisikest tšehhi vs üks suur eestlane, oi jah :) 

Ja veel lisaks kohustustele Žďárkys käin kaks korda nädalas Deckos abis. Kolmapäeviti keraamikas ning neljapäeviti draamaringis. Viimases olen vaid korra käinud ning keraamikasse lähen loodetavasti esmakordselt sel nädalal. Seega tegutsemist jagub!

Et mul igav ei hakkaks, siis haldan koolis veel suurt stendi, aitan projekte korraldada ning hetkel valmistan ette oma miniprojekti (mis antud hetkeks on päris pikaks protsessiks kujunenud).

Paari sõnaga mu "mini"projektist, mis on kohustulik igale vabatahtlikule. Vähemalt siin riigis on see ette nähtud :) Plaanis oli 24. veebruaril läbi viia Estonian Day, kuid õpetajate sõnul ei jõua nad nii kaua oodata. Tahavad enne mu kodumaast kuulda. Seega pisut mõttetööd ning töötasin välja programmi 15 minutes of Estonia. Ehk alustades novembrist kuni veebruarini on igal nädalal igal klassil ühe päeva ühes tunnis 15 minutit Eesti aega. Igal veerandtunnil on kindel teema, mida annab siduda ka riikliku õppekavaga. Teemadeks on üldine riigi ülevaade, lipu meisterdamine, geograafilise kaardi joonistamine, populatsiooni võrdlemine ning arvutamine, loomad ja loodus, 2x Eesti keel, pärimusmuusika, laulu-ja tantsupidu, rahvatants, tuntud kunstnikud ja neilt inspiratsiooni hankimine, spordi ülevaade (kiiking), saunakultuur, laste enda valik ning viimaseks 24. veebruar on pidupäev! :) Küllaltki mahukas ettevõtmine, ent kindlasti tasub end ära.

Sellega meenub esimesel nädalal kogetu, mis oli suuresti miniprojekti teema ajendiks. Nimelt läksin kohalikku turismiinfokeskusesse, et postkaarte ja marke osta.
"Where would you like to send the cards?"
"To Estonia."
"What?"
"To Estonia!"

"...Is that in Europe?"
"....yes..."

Tore esmamulje! :) Samas ei saa pahaks panna. See kõik toimus ju vaid 22 aastat tagasi.

Pealegi on paljudel inimestel raskusi mu päritolu esiteks arvamusi ning teiseks mõistmisega. Kuue nädala jooksul olen päris palju erinevaid pakkumisi kuulnud. Küll olen ma kohalik, sakslanna, poolakas, britt, rootslanna, soomlanna, norrakas, taanlanna, iirlanna ning mu lemmik AUSTRAALLANNA. Ausalt, selle peale poleks ma eales tulnud! Igatahes pärast nende küsimuse kuulmist, pean enamasti tükk aega seletama, ET Eesti ON riik ning KUS see täpselt asub. Ma tõesti ei oodanud midagi sellist, tho it's fun :)

Välismaal oldud aja jooksul olen veel...

... veetnud pika nädalavahetuse organisatsiooni on-arrival treeningul väikeses mägikülakeses
... kogemata Poola metsas ringi uidanud

... Hradec Kraloves Aafrika peol käinud
... igal pühapäeval pannkooke küpsetanud
... nädala Saksa piiriääres Nebocady linnas CZ national agency on-arrival treeningul veetnud (imekaunis koht!)
... Prahas EVSi peol käinud
... samal korral ööbimispaigata Prahas ringi trallinud
... lossifestivalil lastega mänge mänginud
... noorteka mini-loomaaaias merisigu paitanud
... hommikul kell 7 lossi juures olematut päikesetõusu nautinud
... kohaliku õlletehase avatud ustepäeval kohalikku toodangut mekkinud

... kolm (!) filmi vaadanud
... rattaga ligi 234km maha vuranud! ps, I didn't own a bike in Estonia.

Oh me, oh my mul oleks veel nii-nii palju kirjutada, sest tõesti iga päev uued seiklused. Selle nädala lõpp tuleb ulmeline, ent püüan uue harjumusena vähemalt korra nädalas oma blogi täiendada..
.. kui keegi teine ei loe, siis vähemalt saab vanaemale printida ja raamatu koostada.

High five kõigile, kes viitsisid lõpuni vastu pidada :)

Järgmise korrani,
Ann