Art and the city: Joan Miró

One year ago while studying in Leuven, Belgium, I made a huge mistake: I was traveling around Europe all the time, visited 8 other Belgian cities, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and endless list of museums, exhibitions and interesting spots. BUT! Staying in Leuven for 5 months, I never managed to visit Stella Artois brewery and M-Museum that were located in the same city.

As it usually happens, we don’t appreciate something found very close to us, no matter how gorgeous it may appear to be. Do you think all people from St. Petersburg visited the Hermitage? Or born Viennese went to the State Opera? Or Zagreb people went to Dubrovnik? The answer is quick and ready: no. Thinking that it can be done any weekend, we keep going abroad truly enjoying foreign treasures and forgetting about our own.

That’s why a couple of weeks ago I decided it’s high time I discovered Zagreb, which appeared to have much more to offer than expected and surprised me in a very good way. The first spot on the list to share is Joan Miró exhibition in Zagreb.

Miró - The caress of a bird

It almost happened to me: ‘Come on, it’s there for almost 4 month, I’ll have the chance to visit it’. And I never did before yesterday when I was just passing by and dropped. It’s not the first time I see the works of Miró (my first experience was pretty spontaneous, when being attracted by the name of Salvador Dali, I went to visit ‘Dada and Surrealism’ exhibition in Budapest 3 months ago), but as he’s is the representative of these two movement in the history of art, the question which appears most often in the heads of ordinary people is ‘Really? I can do the same and get millions of euros for my doodles.’ Not true. I can’t call myself an art expert, but every time I find myself in the museum of old masters or contemporary art, I become a little bit closer to this controversial, at times paradoxical, world of art.

Let me say I never understood Matisse, Gauguin or Van Gogh. Why? Take a look at Correggio’s ‘Assumption of the Virgin’ or Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘The garden of earthly delights’! This is art! Dare to create something similar! It’s not ‘White center’ by Rothko sold for 72.84mln USD that only art critics understand.

And then I went to the Hermitage. Here’s Van Gogh. Yes, I always believed he couldn’t paint and everything except for ‘The starry night’ is ugly, now I saw it with my own eyes. And here is Gauguin with his irritating primitivism and Tahitian women. Ick! And then you walk into the hall with French art of XV-XVIII centuries and find only darkish-boring-all-similar huge canvases depicting royal families that leave no emotion in your heart. Ironically enough, right? This is how I understood that Van Gogh and Gauguin created their own style that stands out, makes their works special and innovative, or simply put – different. Now, as soon as you see another Tahitian girl, be sure: that’s Gauguin. 

Gauguin - Nave nave moe

Or take Matisse. A lion’s share of his works was bought by a Russian millionaire and collector Sergei Shchukin, and people kept repeating that ‘One mad man paints, another buys’. But even Shchukin was shocked when first time saw ‘The dance’ and ‘Music’ which are now most famous canvases of the father of fauvism. I saw them both. I came to the hall where only two of them were placed, and time stopped for me. The whole world became only me, the room and 2 unbelievably powerful, eccentric, all-consuming enormous canvases, and their red, green and blue colors hypnotized. You can sit there for 30 minutes and will never be bored by contemplating a simple plot. Isn’t this the power of art?

Miró also belongs to the class of almost-never-understood artists. For me he reminds a little bit of Picasso (a person might have one eye somewhere near the knee) and Wassily Kandinsky with whom I found similarities in colors and lines. Unless you read the title of his painting or sculpture, you’ll never get the meaning. What would you say about a chair with a kind of red nose on its seat and a blue flat pancake with another red element somehow attached to the top of the chair’s back? Surprise – surprise: ‘Seated woman with a child’.

Miró - Seated woman with a child

At this point you start to reevaluate your own vision of art. Is the era of art over, and over long ago in 16^th century with the end of Renaissance when artists learned to paint for half of their lives and eventually created masterpieces that even we, 500 years after, admire? Or maximum in 17^th century with Jacque-Louis David. Can abstractionism, suprematism and pop-art be considered to be art in a classical meaning at all?

Taking a short walk along 2 halls of Miró’s works: paintings and sculptures, and still being skeptical about whether I understood at least anything, I went to watch a documentary movie shot in the workshop of the artist. This is what I saw: he took a fresh cabbage, wrapped it up in a newspaper, covered with clay and white plaster, waited for a while, hammered the whole thing, took out the cabbage, painted it again... Madness? Maybe. But what I saw in the movie as well is that Miró had his own vision. It wasn’t about doing random things with objects around: his assistants could spend one hour placing a part of sculpture on different height and angles to please the taste and vision of the master.

 It seemed like this man lived in his own world, at the same time knowing what he was doing and how everything should be. And probably, being able to persuade other people that your works are art, true art, with its meaning, beauty and a bit of madness, is another inevitable part, not accessible to students of art schools who paint beautifully but nothing else except for the sea and the beach? And after all, Gauguin and El Greco were also too progressive for their time but became recognized only posthumously. It seems there is no right answer to the question what art is and where the limit is, right?

All in all, if you happen to be in Zagreb till February 8, take your time and drop to The Art Pavilion because art can’t be studied from books or photos, it must be contemplated and absorbed live, and you’re the one to shape your opinion about it.

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.

Officially: Christmas mood on!

Personally for me Christmas never bore a sacral meaning: in our family it is usually associated with my mom being a godmother and inviting her children to get presents either on January 6 or 7. It gradually turned into parents-children-family celebration and required both much preparation and cleaning.

That’s why, when I had my Erasmus Master’s Exchange in Belgium last year, I didn’t mind switching to West-European tradition and celebrating it earlier in December. To tell the truth, I didn’t even mind skipping it at all. My girls were planning their trips to Slovenia, Germany and Poland, I was already too old for getting presents from my Ukrainian godmother, and I literally had no plans for Christmas.

But here is the trick: when you expect nothing, something amazing happens. And it happened. It all started with a Christmas market popping up in the centre of Leuven: nice winter decorations, the smell of hot gluhwine, the house of Santa and most important – Christmas mood created by hundreds of happy faces everywhere, Christmas discount fever in shops and impatience all around. It seemed that everyone was waiting for a miracle despite the fact everyone knows it doesn’t exist))

It changed in a moment for me: my skepticism turned into happy anticipation and obsessive idea of visiting Christmas markets all over Europe: in Leuven, Brussels, Luxembourg, Maastricht, Bratislava and even the capital of Christmas – Strasbourg. You should know that in Ukraine it’s not typical to organize this kind of markets with hot wine, advocaat liquer and mushroom soup, hot dogs, sausages and pancakes, music, fun, souvenirs, and even fireworks. Once you’ve experienced it, you keep coming again and again. Surprisingly enough, Bratislava Christmas market amazed me most, and still reminds me of perfect winter time we had there.

Self-understandable, this year I was pretty sure my Christmas mood would knock at the door as soon as I smell hot wine and see first decorations in the center of Zagreb. That’s why, my going-out-for-amazing-ćevapi thing turned into tasting Balkan version of hot wine (which has no difference in comparison with its Flemish version) next to Ban Jelačić square and choosing cute from-Zagreb-with-love souvenirs to send home.

An interesting thing about Zagreb is that Christmas markets and stages are literally everywhere starting with Zrinjevac park and European Square in the centre, fuliranje kod Uspinjače near city funicular, the main Christmas tree with Sveti Nikola on Ban Jelačić, an open skating-rink in Tomislav park and other attractions who knows where else: this is something to be yet discovered. It’s not only about drinking hot wine, trying ‘special’ hot-dog that we call French in Ukraine, tasting typical palačinke and fritule (sweet stuff), but good reason to go out in freezing winter evening and meet your friends and dear people for a drink and talk.

You might say November 30 is too early for Christmas shopping, but Black Friday discounts and me being a girl forced me to go to the biggest shopping centre a little bit on the outskirts of Zagreb for a new dress (I still have 2 dresses I never wore in Zagreb and really need new winter shoes more, but who cares: Christmas mood is already on and out-of-control). The dress was successfully worn on Christmas Syncro party (that was forbidden to be called Christmas) and added to the collection of black dresses for all cases.

The last thought to share is that Christmas in Vienna was my dream. It somehow happened that Austrian capital has this special connection with Christmas for me: Amsterdam is a sin city, Brussels – European capital, Paris – romance, art and high prices, Zagreb – already second home, but Vienna…Vienna… Instead I got an invitation to celebrate my next Christmas in Germany, and surely, accepted it immediately)) Sorry, Vienna, probably, next year. As I say, some dreams should stay dreams for some time, and with time they will inevitably come true.

P.S. And yes, if they don’t give me my Christmas Schengen visa, I’ll meet Balkan Christmas in Montenegro, or Albania, or Serbia…who knows, what other Christmas surprises will December bring!

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.

96km game changer in Samobor.

While I’m enjoying my EVS year in Zagreb besides doing a lot of new stuff I still follow my old hobbies like running and biking. To give you glance what its all about here is a strory of recent adventure with my new friends from Zagreb running club Upri Gelender.

Three days before the race I receive the sms from Vedran(my training friend one of fastest trail runners in Sljeme) ,,Andris do you want to join me in 100k run in Samobor’’ my first thought was ,, it is too insane offer to reject’’. What scared me was the fact  that the longest mountain run I have done so far was 55k 3 years ago and I was completely wasted afterwards. On the other hand what motivated me was three things - curiosity what would happen after 100km, wish to see Samobor surroundings and hunger for adventure.

It was allmost midnight when we arrived at Samobor the temperature outside is around 10 degrees and there is a refreshing mist in the air. My watch was showing 15minutes past midnight when we start  our run. Altogether we were crew of 8 mens , chating and craking jokes first five hours went like a one moment.  At some point around 5 o’clock I got attacked by sleepmosters, luckily then begun more hilly and techical part of our route and I was forced to focus which drove away all the sleepiness.

At eight o’clock we reached Trdinov vrh or in other words the highest point of our root and also midway which meaned that there isonly half way left. It was really nice realization and it gave our team extra motivation to move faster which resulted that slightly before then we arrived at Šosice where we had refreshment point in local bar. Some guys grab some water other change their socks or tried to dry their feet.
After ten minutes refreshment we could continue to run it was only 35 km left. 

Because the speed of different team members varied I decided to split and I got Hrvoje(guy with a quite an exerience in ultra marahons) as a companion to run rest of tack. Hrvoje was a really nice companion because or speed matched as well as our sarcastic humor. 

Somehow the closer we get ro finishline the slower the time go. For me it was downhill what was iritating for Hrvoje it was uphill but together we balance the disatifaction and cheer up each other by saying some jokes which made us run last kilometres faster then the rest of the track.

When we reach finishline I have a pain in my legs and joy in my hart.

Before this training I would never imagine myself running ultra marathon but after all the nice emotions I got during this weekend it is more than clear that this is something I want to do again and probably Istria 100miles will be my next years goal.

Huge thanks for Gelender team for letting me join their amazing event!

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” ( On arrival training - Orahovica, Croatia)

It was a pleaser for me to participate for 5 days to "On arrival Training" held in Orahovica, a beautiful village in Croatia were we meet  40 participants from 17 countries.

Arriving there we had the lunch and coffee, we gathered together in a big room where we meet the trainers and all the group.

We had a lot, a lot of beautiful activities: introduction and getting to know each other names, activities to learn more about project management, teamwork,  from idea to project, project planning, project implementation, reflections on the project experiences, challenges & communication, personal learning, culture - prejudices & stereotypes, evaluation, strategies of negotiations.

We worked in groups and individual but every activity ended with a evaluation and brainstorming, the activities were really good combined, perfect for understanding the meaning of every each activity. 

For me it was really inspiring  to have all the activities that I am interested for and to meet a great group of people from different countries and to make brainstorming... which was amazing! :)

But we didn’t forget to take some rest and have some fun :) we had also Croatian Traditional Dinner,  Party and Pool :)

Something to complain ? :) 

            So I was starting to think that we are more then lucky. We live in a big house,  in the center of Zagreb, with our own rooms, the team in the organization is one of the best and all the activities are what I ever wanted and the conditions for living... nothing to complain. 

And yes we often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude and we see that we are really lucky when you start to open the eyes and look around you. However, I remember that no matter  how bad some situations may seem, there are tens of thousands of things to be grateful for in life. 

Greetings and bubbles from Zagreb, 

Carmen 

3 months abroad…and still alive!

I can’t believe it! 3 months abroad…and still alive!

Yes it has been an interesting time here in Zagreb. “What do you think about Croatian people?” Could somebody ask me, “I don’t know I haven’t met them all” Should I say.

As far as I see the city is still easy and quiet (I mean, it’s a capital…) but to freeze for a guy from Sevilla. The most sad thing I have ever seen is that it’s completely dark at 16:15, I feel like the world is saying to me “come on man, go home and sleep until tomorrow morning, by the way I think it’s the most stupid thing ever and nobody need it but the sun will raise at 06:15”

Me and my flatmates met a lot of EVSers in Orahovica, we went there to have the “On arrival training” and it was quite interesting to discover new people, we should be in touch to them because they live in some interesting places so… I want to visit them :D

Croatian language is still a big problem, but I’m working on in. I’m not giving up so easily, so at the end of this year I hope to be able to write this post in Croatian.

Christmas is coming and I can’t wait to celebrate New Year ’s Eve abroad surrender by non-Spanish people, sharing some champagne and greeting to 2015.

Kisses and hugs to everybody, I love you all! :D

Respect or not respect? RespACT!

It was an EVS on-arrival training for all volunteers staying in Croatia when we were thrown a challenge: make a one-day project that would favorably influence local community, be a new idea and get implemented within 1 day together with a group of people you literally met 2 days ago.

Challenging enough? It is. For me it was about working as a team, for Natia – with a new unknown audience, for Cristina – communicating her ideas in English. And this is how three girls from Spain, Georgia and Ukraine decided to show children of 6^th grade from a primary local school that everyone is different, but it doesn’t necessarily mean bad: we can still make friends, do things together and not get bored by being clones.

Did we expect it to go smoothly? No. Did it go smoothly? No. We couldn’t imagine that our ‘small discussions’ wouldn’t work, that actually our program instead of being too long was shorter than planned, that we would throw ourselves into the pool of English class as soon as we arrive to school.

BUT! Children were happy. They were happy with drawing, jumping, trying to teach us simple Croatian phrases, us translating their sentences into Spanish, Georgian and Ukrainian. And most importantly, they told us: ‘yes, it would be boring if we were all the same, but we still can do things together.’ Mission completed!

P.S. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a try!

         P.S.S. Now Natia has an opportunity to show her NGO that even 1 day is enough to start acting. 

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.

Already two months and time goes fast!

I learned that our projects and experiences are different, fortunately.

We can talk about 14 young people travelling through Romania for 4 years, we can talk about crossing the Atlantic Ocean twice with the boat or about the great Watermelon Voyage, we can talk about preparing two years for reaching Everest and about how to rise your children and be a good mother. We can also talk about what we do to earn money, if we like it or not, we can talk about our passions and  abilities, goals or hobbies.

I learned that we have to find what we love. Our work is going to fill a large part of our life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what we believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what we do. And if you haven’t found it yet keep looking. No matter what dreams we have... That little thing that make the difference is if we are acting every day to reach our dream.

However, I learned that living your dream it can be hard, sometimes,  because you have to be every time out of your comfort zone, you have to make every time sacrifices, you have to accept rejections, you have try  and try, again and again.

 It takes courage to start over again but we can’t quit because we haven’t reach our goal yet and is not over until we win. :) 

It’s ok. It’s Bosnia (c): insight into Bosnia and Herzegovina

We’re all people, and we all have stereotypes about other people. Personally I consider French people to be arrogant, Georgian people – hospitable, Slovenians – very easy to deal with.

Before I started to travel I knew hardly anything about Bosnia: only that its capital is Sarajevo, and it’s Europe. Sorry, Nevena and Nikola, but at least I knew there is no war anymore. However, when I met several Bosnians during the training courses, I shaped one more opinion: everyone in Bosnia speaks English perfectly well. If only I knew how wrong I was))

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very special, at times paradoxical country. They have 3 presidents(!) and every 4 years they choose a Serb, Croat and Bosniak to represent (not to rule) the country. The country itself is divided into Republica Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and employs 180 000 people in public administration and governmental sector. They have only 3 neighbor countries, but own a coastline of 21 kilometers squeezed between Croatia and…Croatia. They have 3 official languages: Serbian, Croatian (very often it’s simply called Serbo-Croatian because of very slight differences) and Bosnian: I wonder if even Bosnians can tell the difference; and write both in Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.

And yes, there is no war. Bosnians repeat it all the time to foreigners: come on, guys, it finished in 1995, it’s almost 20 years ago for now.

My Bosnian adventure started with crossing the border and trying to buy coffee at Jajce bus station. Trying my best and Croatian ‘kavu s mlijekom, molim Vas’, I got my coffee, Orbit and even a change from 2 euros! Basically, with good negotiating skills you can get a coffee, a chewing gum, WC and a tram ticket for 2 euros only (compare to the Hague: 3 euros for a 5-minute tram trip).

Nikola and Nevena became my guides into Bosnian culture and mentality.

 First of all, you can hardly find a person who speaks English. Looking for a tram stop, I tried to figure out whether tram 1 was going that way. Nothing. No answer. ‘Tramvaj broj jedan, ovdje?’ (usually I use Croarian in the bakery or for a small talk only). Then a small boy aged 9 or 10 told me: ‘Yes’. Happy to see someone I could communicate, I went on: ‘How much does a ticket cost?’ He pretended to be numb and ignored me)) It’s ok, it’s Bosnia.

The education is free. Nikola explained it to me: ‘Yes, it’s free, but there is an entrance fee of 50 euros, and then you pay 20 more plus 10 more, plus…’ And everyone smokes. You see a group of teenagers at the bus station smoking, you see students smoking in the canteen, you see an officer smoking in the ministry! How come? It’s ok, it’s Bosnia.

Ukraine is known for its bribery. It’s true that deputies buy mandates in the government, students buy their grades at university, everyone pays doctors and policemen. But even I, a born Ukrainian, got my portion of amusement here in Bosnia.

- Do we have to buy tickets for the train to get from Sarajevo to Banja Luka?

- Sure, no. You’ll see.

The thing is that train tickets are checked twice: on the territory of Federation and Republica Srpska, thus, you have to take care about both conductors. This is how it’s done. One coming to our compartment: ‘Tickets!’

Us: no tickets, we are students, can you take 6 marks (3 euros) for both?

He: I don’t know if I can (already stretching his hand to take money). Mission completed. Instead of 16 euros each, we spent 8 euros both for 187 km. It’s ok, it’s Bosnia.

Bosnians feel really ironical about their country and themselves. Nevertheless, this Balkan country is not only about bureaucracy, low (compared to Europe) prices, bribery and unjust political system.

They have an amazing capital Sarajevo, rich in history and cultural heritage. On the territory with 150-meter radius you can find a mosque, Catholic and Orthodox churches and Jewish synagogue. They naturally combine Turkish and European cultures: you see Adidas and Mango shops neighboring cheap Turkish jewelry markets, next to Bosnian čevabdžinica there is a rahat-lukum shop, women with covered head feel free at university next to fully made-up chicks on high-heeled shoes.

While staying in Banja Luka together with Nevena we managed to see an impressive youth initiative – ‘Rock symphony’ concert organized by a music academy. Young performers: solo, guitars, violins, a choir, a pianist and a drummer were playing ‘Show must go on’, ‘Skyfall’, ‘The one I used to know’ in a way I was mesmerized (you should believe me, I saw Madonna and Marilyn Manson concerts live). The professor was conducting the orchestra, and a crowd of people who didn’t manage to get tickets, was standing in doors. A truly amazing performance that proves wherever there is a great idea, it can me implemented.

 I’m a coffee maniac, and in this aspect I feel really related to Bosnia. Bosnians can easily drink coffee for an hour adding ‘gossip spice’ to it. Generally, Bosnian coffee is cooked in džezva, served with sugar cubes, rahat lukum and a glass of water with cinnamon and clove, with the main ingredient – gossips. This is another thing they can’t live without.

 And the last thing. If you don’t want to insult Bosnians, remember: burek exists only with meat. No potatoes (it’s krumpiruša), no cheese (it’s sirnica), no zucchini but meat. And in case you start feeling tired of bureks and čivapi (another amazing national meat dish), drop to a good restaurant and you’ll be amazed how a good meal with a glass of good wine in one of the best restaurants of Banja Luka found in a real fortress can cost 11 euros per person.

Indeed, Bosnia and Herzegovina is an amazing country!

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.

The first month in Zagreb

         So here I am back again, my last post I finish with sentence that Zagreb is a city full of suprises and now I know I wasn’t wrong  because the things I discovered since I m here are more than suprising.

Sljeme and Menza are the two names you should learn if you gonna read my post, because they will gonna be used often not only in this, but also in following posts for that I am sure.

No these are not girl names or names of my favorite beers :D
         Sljeme is picturesque mountain on which southern side is lying city of Zagreb and which is outdoor sport paradise in a city outskirt.  Actually, this mountains  real name is Medvenica, but locals call it Sljeme which is name of Medvenice highest peak.
           For me Sljeme is special because  it is a place where I can escape the rush of the city and enjoy the serenity of nature besides it only takes 15 minutes of biking to get there.

         Menza is the other name to remember why it is special, because it is a student canteen where you can eat a lot of decent food for fantastic money and meet a bunch of nice people.

6 kunas lunch - They say that picture say more then thousand words.

While beeing in Zagreb I been going around quite a lot on one of these trips I noticed a sign which said LIDL 3 km. For most people it is just another cheap groccery shop, but not for me, Lidl for me is synonym for my favorite icecream with which I have years long history.

This strawberyy Icecream became my favorite when I was 12 years old and then by some reason they stop to sell it in Latvian shops I was sad in the beginning but years pass and I got over it.

It was 7 years later, I went on a Eurotrip and it was one of these days when outside is so hot that all you want to do, is to try one icream after another,  I discovered that Lidl sells I cream which has the exact same taste as childhood strawberry icecream, needles to say that I was high. 

After that  day since everytime I went to a Country where they have Lidl it was obligation for me to buy and merclessly kill atleast one box of this icecram per visit.

Yes it is one liter box, and yes sometimes I regret my greediness after finishing this box on my own, but the craving for this icecream were so imense that there was no other way how to feed my hunger.

Sounds crazy? It is :D

So Zagreb give me one more suprise Lidl with my favorite icecream and for three days in a row I went to buy 1  ice cream and eat it on my own to feel the pleasure and the pain which follwed.

The strangest thing happen one week later, I was going near by Lidl shop and I stop to buy my favorite icream, after a while of pondering I realise that I don't want it anymore.

With abundance of icecream there were no craving and no need to buy another one. The magic with icecream was gone, but I got to repeat a great learning point about how absurd our brain tend to work.

Discovering Zagreb and Romania in the same time !

My dear friend, Ilinca, born in Romania is now living in Zagreb since 20 years ago. She is married and she has two beautiful children, is performing ballet since to a very young age. Because of my birthday I received from her a ticket for ballet premiere at The National Theatre Zagreb. 

I didn't know nothing about The National Theatre Zagreb just only where is placed and ... that's all.

Waiting for the three plays to begin ( The female manuscript, Dracula, Budoir - One crazy night)  to begin, sitting on our places, meanwhile watching the beauty of the architecture and all those building details, I hear Ilinca saying: Did you know that The National Theatre Zagreb was built by a Romanian architect the same that built the National Theatre from your city Iasi? No, I answered, continuing to staring to the architecture and telling to myself: Romanians are really talented and smart.

The National Theatre ZAGREB - Inside view 

 The National Theatre IAȘI












The National Theatre ZAGREB

Already they turned off the lights, the music began and I heard Ilinca whispering: The music and choreography are made by the Romanians. Oh, and look, that guy who is playing Dracula is from Romania too. 

I ask her amazed: How many Romanians are performing ballet here? Mmm... We are 11, she said.

I couldn't say one word. I was deeply impressed.

After the beautiful show she said: Let's go backstage to meet them! 

Trying to follow her, and hearing how is speaking romanian, meet them and speak with them it was an indescribable feeling in words. Ilinca said: You will come to others concerts here ! 

Now, for sure you will say that I am proud of my country because of this. And is normal. I really am! :)

And I'm not proud only for this... since I was in high school ( and starting to be conscious by the beauty and capacity of my country) I felt that every Romanian has a very deep talent, something special, something good and now I see that they have something common: the power to fight for their passion and to do it better every day, even if sometimes is hard, difficult and you want to give up. For sure we are fighters. 

Greetings from Croatia, 

Carmen 

One month, thirteen days, and a few hours (Jorge's thoughts)

One month, thirteen days, and a few hours… it is more than enough time to notice about a lot of things. 

Zagreb it is a good place to live, it is rather quiet but at the same time there are people all around. Locals are very polite people and they are always willing to help you if you need them. It is amazing the fact that almost everybody it is able to speak a good English (of course better than mine) I really like how polite people are and they never say “no” if you ask them something.

Living abroad with people from other different countries it is not always easy but I am definitely dealing with this pretty well. It is not so easy to spend the most of the time with the same people around (We live together, eat together, stay in the office together and go to Croatian lessons together) but are not trying to kill each other (not yet at least).

The hardest challenge until now it is the language, I am not so good in foreign languages as my flat mates ok but Croatian seems to be specially hard for me, of course I am trying my best but still is not enough at all. Sometimes I think that would be much better for improve my Croatian if anybody here could speak in English… but it is ok, I am not claiming about this…

No homesick at this point, just missing sometimes my real good friends and family, but there is no drama here, until now it is something I can control it. I am missing some Andalucian food, because it was almost a holly habit to have a toast with jam in the morning… but I will survive (Even more now that I know some good food is coming from my city!)

We are about to visit Graz and it will be the first time I leave Croatia in all this time. I really want to travel so this is going to be the beginning of all my trips.

The goal is still the same, try to learn as much as possible, stay fine, try to have some fun and meet a lot of different people.

One month, thirteen days, a few hours and a few minutes… I still have time to reach my goal.

Vidimo se!

Five emotions of September

Being blissfully happy.

Croatian food, or better to say food in Croatia evokes a storm of emotions in such a gastromaniac as me: classic burek s mesom and burek sa sirom, grilled(!) corn, ‘street food festival’ 40-sm beef hot-dog I could hardly hold with both hands, amazing cream cheese brownie a-la mode served with ice-cream in ‘The cookie factory’ and all kinds of sladoled from local slastičarnica with chocolate chili ice-cream on top of the chart.

I can’t imagine going abroad without trying something special, and consider every trip to be a good trip as long as it meets 2 criteria: 1. trying good food; 2. feeling happy for at least a few seconds. And there are moments that combine both: for example, accidentally meeting 3 Kazach people in Zagreb tram and having dinner with them in one of the best restaurants in Zagreb – ‘Mano’ with amazing seafood, perfect Croatian white wine (previously I was sure it doesn’t exist in nature) and long talks in Russian. Indeed, I need very little to feel happy.

Being curious.

When people hear I can’t ride a bike, the first thing I hear in response is ‘How come?’ Yep, shit happens. But I ride a horse, and wouldn’t mind getting one to go to the office)) Anyway, before coming to Croatia I decided this year to be the year of new skills, and one of them – riding a bike. Why not? It’s not learning a new language (although also planned), or getting my second Master’s degree, but small things also count, right?

I needed one hour with Andris as a coach to learn how to saddle a bike, ride straight, try to turn, almost hit 2 people, 1 sign, a police car and kill myself)) Today empty Dolac market in the evening is my favorite cycling pitch which seems to be safe both for me and people.

Feeling WTH?

No one likes police: policemen, who stop you on the road, fine you for drinking alcohol in public places or tell you the rules you’ve never heard about. While staying on the territory of Croatia for 3 weeks I managed to commit a felony – for non-registration in the police station within 48 hours upon my arrival.

If only Croatian embassy in Ukraine published relevant info on official website or border control informed me about this bonus-option… no one would be obliged to pay 65 euros. But of course, we decided to go Ukrainian way meaning to prepare a pile of documents, write an appeal and hope for the best. In the next 6 months (yes, thanks goodness, bureaucracy in Croatia works with the same speed as everywhere) we’ll probably get an answer. To be continued…

Inspired? No, superinspired.

When preparing our first Syncloud event ‘Get Inspired’, me and Cosmina were interviewing different interesting people to learn their inspirational stories and share them with others: a girl who made an Atlantic circle being 23, a member of Yugoslavian expedition who 35 years ago conquered Everest by climbing a new route, Vida – amazing mother and woman who shared her secret how to combine both. All of them told us that they are getting inspired by other people and their life stories. This is also true about me. One of the endless source of inspiration for me – 2 Ukrainian girls who crossed 40,000 km and 14 countries hitchhiking, with almost no money in their pockets but passionate wish to achieve their goal.

Of course, I’m far from being Morozova (80 level), but my first European hitchhiking trip just happened last weekends. Imagine a Bosnian guy coming to a Ukrainian girl in Croatia to make a trip to Slovenia and visit our common friend.

And then a few more episodes: us in the middle of nowhere waiting for a car to return to Croatia but seeing only tractors with corn passing by, going to Kidričevo-middle-of-nowhere to couchsurf, crossing border on foot, sitting in one car with a priest and his wife who spoke perfect German and were eager to share their life story, and a major componenet – getting stuck somewhere where I expected to be eaten by mosquitoes and starve to death. But actually I enjoyed it. Try to go for a weekend abroad for 20 euros (including 3-course meal in a restaurant). Not bad, not bad, right?

  And a little bit of nostalgia, of course.

Everything is perfect: the job of my dream I enjoy every moment, short weekend trips to countries I have never been before, lots of new and new people both locals and foreigners who use our couchsurfing hospitality; new things, new food, enough time for concerts, sport, dancing whatever.

But then this strange feeling of nostalgia inevitably comes. And it’s not about missing Ukraine or family (I’m used to seeing my family once in 3 months at least), but best friends. Those 2 people I used to spend much time with, and sometimes not even people but thinking alike, understanding each other from the first 2 words, doing the same things and sharing a lot.

But life is about finding and losing. And I hope I’ll meet, or even better – find my 2 dear people soon in Europe: Croatia, or Slovenia, or Hungary, the place doesn’t matter. And there will be a huge-huge reunion.

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.