„Oh, hey! We’re spring-ing!“

How quickly are my questions changing. A month ago they were mostly about „What do I do?“ and „Where is that?“. I noticed that they changed – now, I ask „How can I do it?“ There are still lots of things happening and I still have problems remembering them all, being on time and other „adult things“. But I feel something changing – things are happening to me, but I’m also making things happen.

After the finish of the Corners project, around twenty EVS volunteers from all over Slovenia traveled to the beautiful town of Bled for our arrival training. I didn’t know, what to expect, so I didn’t expect a lot, my wish was only to meet a few great people doing the same thing and learn something. After feeling lost in the big city for the first month, the five days of intensive training and getting to know other volunteers were a completely refreshing experience, filling me with desires to meet those people again and go to places where they are and more. I’m already looking forward to the midterm training to see how we all progressed and changed.

 

Shortly after the training, another new experience was waiting for me – leading my first workshop! I wanted to try what teaching would feel like and what result I would get, with being in a different country being added to the challenge. Infopeka also encouraged me to try it, so I picked something I knew people would like to learn and I knew I could explain it – Photoshop. The topic was very basic: editing photographs the participants made, in simple ways, to get familiar with the program so it wouldn’t feel as intimidating. The workshop had more success than I thought – sixteen people have attended so far and we might do more.

There was also a wonderful event organized at Salon uporabnih umetnosti by the Ziz group – Ziz Gala! A lighthearted evening about giving awards to local alternative artists and making fun of the excessive amount of award ceremonies for artists in Slovenia at the same time under the slogan „Več je več“ or „More is more“, complete with a dress code, hand-made awards and attendants holding signs with signals such as „laughter“ or „applause“ for the audience. A very pleasant evening created with little money and a lot of passion.

The air is sweeter. A bicycle passes by every once in a while. Teenage couples are starting to appear on park benches. The sun peeks through blooming branches, painting shadows on pedestrians.

The busy spring in Maribor feels much warmer than I thought – in more ways than one.

Michal