Gilles, Lucas in Filip vabijo k on-line raziskovanju njihovih najljubših kotičkov mesta Maribor. Pa začnimo …
… my name is Gilles, I come from Limoges, France. I decided to participate in the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) in order to continue my professional career in the field of culture, but also to have the chance to live and work abroad. I got my ESC volunteer-ship in the non-governmental organization Pekarna Magdalenske Mreže in Maribor. I arrived last year on September the 3rd and moved into my new home located in the Jewish square. This is also one of the first places I discovered in Maribor. When you arrive in a new city, you first concentrate on discovering your apartment, then you discover your building, then your neighbourhood, and, finally the rest of the city. Jewish square is right at the back of my building. I liked to spend time watching the Drava sitting on the little wall of this square. Jewish square is an artistic and cultural place, recognizable by the sculpture in the middle of the square, with the different galleries and inter(trans)disciplinary laboratory GT22.
For my neighbourhood in Maribor – the Jewish square, I chose the song “Myth” from the band Beach House. Beach House is a dream-pop band from Baltimore. The song “Myth” is about new starts and consolidation with a past. “Let you know you’re not the only one who can’t keep hanging on to all that’s dead and gone. If you built yourself a myth you’d know just what to give materialize or let the ashes fly.” My experience abroad is also a new beginning for me, a new chapter. I’ll let you discover the song by yourself.
When you leave Jewish square, look toward Intimi Order – GT22 go down the stairs and walk through this less visible part of Maribor. There are three different staircases that allow you to get closer to the river. Choose one, stand in the middle, and play
the Joakim song.
I chose this piece because I think it fits well with the urban dimension of these concrete stairwells. You find yourself between two floors, from there you can see the bridge or the Drava but you stay between the concrete walls. Take this moment to think about yourself, think about the future, or, as it is written on some graffiti in the city: Maribor is the future. Let yourself be carried by your emotions and plunge into yourself. I invite you to go there in the evening or very early in the morning when the sunlight is golden. I like this part of Maribor because it represents the diversity of Maribor, the different architecture, some buildings of Austro-Hungarian architectural influence, mixed with other more brutalist and modern architecture.
I thank you for walking through Maribor virtually with me. I leave the place to Lucas for the next musical text.
… I‘m Lucas Bertram from Germany and I’ve been in Maribor since September, working with Pekarna Magdalenske Mreže. Since I’m here I spend a lot of time in the park with my friends, my girlfriend, or alone. I really appreciate this place and because I can not tell you how much, I borrowed someone else’s words:
“Dear parks, I think you’re pretty great, and I just wanted to let you know. I hope this doesn’t come as a surprise to you or anything, because I’ve always felt this way. You just have so much going for you, and I can’t get enough! I love that you’re always there for me when I need a place to take a stroll. You don’t care whether it’s a sunny day or overcast; you don’t even mind if your paths have puddles after a rainstorm or a layer of crunchy snow in the winter. You’re still there, open, inviting, and ready for me to come to take a walk. I love that just when I think I’ve discovered all the different parks in the area, you surprise me and there’s a new one waiting just around the corner to explore. There’s something so satisfying and invigorating about tromping around a new park for the first time. Will it have a paved path or gravel? A pond? A fountain? A playground? The options are endless! A view from the Prairie Path I love that you bring people together. Is there anything quite as equalizing as a park? Children scamper onto the swing set while their parents relax on the benches and chat. Young couples picnic on the grass or toss a Frisbee in the field. Neighbours greet each other while they pass by on their evening walks, dogs in tow. I think that’s pretty great. I love that you’re a good listener. When I’m stressed or upset, there’s nothing better than a walk in the park. When it’s quiet and empty, the trees are great listeners, the breeze gives great advice, and the laps around the pond provide all the answers a person needs. I love that we have so many memories together! Do you remember when I was young and I would spend hours climbing the “moon” slide with my friends and pretending it was a rocket ship, or walking the balance beam and perfecting my circus act? Thank you for giving me a place to pretend. Or how about later on, in high school, when my friends and I used you as a safe place to go in the evenings when we had nothing else to do. We spent lots of late nights talking on the swing sets, playing truth or dare, and running around the field with the fireflies. Thank you for keeping us safe.”
Listen to my song here.
A basketball court, a place where ankles break, ligaments tear and knees are squeezed. A place where a dunk is made right above your head. A place where a 3 point shot will be pulled up directly in your face if you forget about your defence for a second. Where your guard keeps you closer than his partner at night and is ready to lock you up on every god-given position. In a nutshell, the Game knows no mercy. But we are not there for mercy, we are there for the challenge, the joy, the excitement when you release a shot. We are there because it is also a place of togetherness, a place where one is there for others, where several people work together as a single one for a common goal. Where you understand each other even if you don’t speak the same language. Because on the court it does not matter who you are or where you come from it only counts basketball.
I chose this place because I spent most of my free time there during my first months in Maribor. I collected a big number of beautiful memories of sweet wins and not so many sweets loses. Listen to my song here.
I thank you for walking through Maribor virtually with me. I leave the place to Filip for the next musical text.
… I’m Filip and I come from Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina. After finishing high school in Sarajevo, I spent four years studying in Prague, and two years in Budapest. Last summer I arrived at Maribor to complete my postgraduate internship program (ISP CEU) at Pekarna Magdalenske Mreže, and after three charming months in Maribor, I got the opportunity to become an ESC volunteer. I like living in this town and I made a lot of beautiful memories here so it’s not so easy for me to make a selection for this virtual walk. Regarding my special places in Maribor, I would have to mention City park, Pekarna (the Tito statue), the atrium of Vetrinj mansion, a cobbled courtyard in front of the entrance to Intimni oder – GT22, Gallery K18, banks of Drava river, and many other. But here, I would like to present to you two places which I learned about just recently, paradoxically, during the walks in the pandemic period. These places are not necessarily my favourite, but after 10 days of staying indoors, discovering them was quite refreshing. First is the “shore” of the Maribor Island on Drava river (West of the central part of Maribor). And my second choice is the large plain on the North-Western corner of the town with three statues which resemble the Moai from Easter Island or sculptures from Pink Floyd’s album cover “The Division Bell”. The official name for statues is “Three angels” … While in Bosnia we only have pyramids, Maribor has a pyramid and the Easter Island statues. Great!
Lastly, because being outdoors is a large part of my life in Maribor, and because we should take more care of nature and of each other, I am sharing the song “Zemlja” (eng. Earth) by my cousin’s band Blue Shadow Caravan from Denmark / B&H. Listen to the song here.
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