'You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.'

On 1st September last year I made my decision and accepted the challenge to live abroad for one year as a volunteer. All about new insights and learning experiences in Croatia can be seen in photos and read on blog although words and pictures are not enough to express how spending time here changed me and my life.

How this experience changed me?

Before coming here I was a bit confused. I finished project management studies and my dream was to practice more in my field so I could become an expert. For this is needed 10000 practice hours as one of my favorite authors Malcolm Gladwell said in „Outliers“ book.

I didn’t even thought that one of the options could be to go abroad. After discussing with my mentor from the university I found out about Synergy Romania and EVS opportunity. Later I applied for EVS in Syncro and being accepted I took my flight to Zagreb and started volunteer.

Working with best team ever in Synergy Croatia I became more responsible and organized, patient and proactive. I learned from every single person I met and this is how they changed me.


How this experience changed my life?

I am responsible for my own actions and life. I understood that I have to take an action beyond thought. For example, I wanted to be more organized and to develop time management skills and I achieve it by finding the person who is master in practicing it and learn from him. There are plenty of examples of what surprise me about Croatian people and in order to keep it short and simple I made top 3 things.

Top 3 most amazing things I found out and checked about Croatian people:

1.  There are „Huggy“ people ( when words are not enough or there is a situation without escape they just hug you... and that helps  )
2.  Masters in listening to you ( when you have a lot of feelings and ideas that you want to share they are those kind of people in whom you can truly trust and speak with )
3. Warm ( speaking with them you can actually feel the warmness of their soul, they don't fake it, they really care about you)

I could add more things on the list but I will keep this top 3 until my next blog post in which I will write more about my experiences in Croatia and what I got out of it. But I can say for sure that this quote applies to me a lot: 'You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.'

Getting ready for the life after our EVS

https://www.ted.com/playlists/225/talks_to_get_you_through_your

Three things that surprised me the most about Croatia/Croatians

There are million things, but let’s make it easier so I am going to say 3 specific examples.

1.       Are you a robot?/ let’s eat…/let’s have a party

Ok, I am from Spain so since we are human beings when we meet people we kiss and we are kind and we smile a lot so obviously when somebody say “Bok drago mi je” and shake your hands is a bit uncomfortable, even if I knew this before because it is happening in the rest of Europe I am still freaking out how people can be so distant and so cold, let’s make it clear:

Me: “ Hey, ho are you man? Everything ok?”

Random Croatian person : “hey, everything ok, thanks”

Me : “Do you have some plans for tonight maybe?”

Random Croatian person: “Yes, I have some”

Me: “ahh, ok cool, what are you doing?”

Random Croatian person : “I am having some drinks with some friends, WHY??????”

(It wasn’t clear that I wanted this person to invite to join them??)

Let’s eat

Something easy to understand:

Morning-Breakfast

13:30/14:30 lunch

21:00/22:00 dinner

People having dinner when is still sunny? At 17:30/18:00/19:00? Are we crazy or what? I can’t go to sleep if I am hungry and of course I will be hungry if I have dinner at 18:30! Plus it is not healthy to be 13 hours without eating ;)

Let’s party

Party=having fun, forget about problems, talk, drink, eat, dance, do whatever you want to do. NO STRESS

It was quite surprising/annoying/depressing to see how people have a lot of problems just to understand that there is no need to have a reason to make a party:

Me: “We have a party this Friday, would you like to join?”

Random Croatian person: “A party, this weekend? Why?”

Me: “Why? You need a reason to have a party?”

Random Croatian person: “Are you celebrating something or what?”

Me: “Oh, yes, I guess we are celebrating we are young, e are abroad, we are happy and we are ALIVE, do you think is it enough to make a party?”

So we just spread the word all around because you ant to have as much fun as possible but for Croatians live is not that easy little Jorge…

Random Croatian person :“What wait a second? What are we buying?

Me: “Buy and bring whatever you want, this is a party, just relax”

Random Croatian person “Wait, wait, are we cooking?”

Me: “This is a party not a dinner, anyway bring whatever you want, feel free to do it, this is a party, let’s enjoy”

Random Croatian person “What time do you want me to go there, should I invite more people, is it ok if you don’t know them??”

Me “Bring with you whoever you want, there is no need to ask me, this is a party JUST RELAX”

Random Croatian person: “What are we doing after the party, are we going to some club? What time?”

Me: “Go to hell… :D”

Crosswalk

Zagreb, Croatia, random street, 08:00 AM (or whenever….)

An intrepid Spanish guy is about to do something quite reckless, he wants to cross the street using the crosswalk and he thinks some Croatian driver gives a shit about it!!!!

Sorry dude this is not going to happen NEVER, if you want to cross the street you have to risk your life, you should be extraordinary brave, you have to look into drivers eyes and tell them “U picku….” Because, don’t get me wrong, courtesy is not working here, they will be making fun of you if you try just with the “Molim vas…” so, this is my advice:

“You could die in every single crosswalk in this beautiful country so enjoy every second because drivers don’t care at all about you”

3.       English

It was surprising/embarrassing to discover how almost every single person working in a store in Zagreb have a quite better English than mine:

“Oprostite…Engleski…?”

“Yes sure Sir, how can I help you?, just please let me know if there is something that you need, and I have to apologize because I started to talk to you in Croatian I didn’t notice you don’t know my language, anyway if there is something I could help you please let me know. Oh sorry Sir, you may don’t understand me? You want me to speak in German? Italian? Spanish maybe?”

“Ok dude…”

10 months, 10 songs

When you have problems with your memory, when you forget a lot of things, when you feel your mind is like 85 years old person you need MUSIC to remind you in a couple of seconds where were you, doing what and whit whom. These are my 10 songs in these 10 months in Croatia, it doesn’t mean I love them (I don’t like a few of them, I love some of them) but for sure I can sum up my 10 months in these 10 songs. Music, please, don’t abandon me.

September

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUsoVlDFqZg

October

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPXCWXsoY-0

November

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfD7Dc-qhuc

December

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79bBxpq6lCA

January

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nZF8JwK5eM

February

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX_1tSnCwOk

March

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm88Lt3MhEA

April

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maTP315XZCQ

May

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkCg-3nxT8E

June

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL3BbdJVweE

GO GO EVS!

Taking the first step and challenging myself coming to Croatia it was an easy going thought. Until I bought the tickets. Then everything looked more real and I start to worry. Several questions were walking on my mind like pigeos in the Zagrab main square: “What if I cannot get use with Croatian language ? “ or  “What if I will not be able to stay for ONE year and I will feel like quitting after one month!“.

It’s 2^nd June and I’m still here, no Croatian language needed because we all speak English. Sometimes I use some Croatian words with local people just to demonstrate I speak Croatian until they asked me where am I from. :D 

Best organisation and team ever (like my family),  accommodation in the center of Zagreb, nice and amazing office, surprising local people and beautiful new friend from all over the word. 

I can say after all this time that I achieved some of the goals that I have established in the beginning of this volunteering period. I started to practice more English speaking (In 10 days I will have Advanced Exam) I am not ready but still working on it.

Sometimes, I am running 5 km in the morning and this makes me feel energized all day long and I started to pay attention to what I eat thanks Syncro’s team. I also joined in Toastmasters Club to develop my public speaking skills and learn how to organize a speech. 

I have the opportunity to participate in trainings as a participant and also as a team member (learning from different perspectives). My project management skills are like fish in the water and after all this period I will have a backpack full of abilities and skills ready to practice them in want I have planned for next years.

This is not a Good Bye blog post. Keep following our awesome thoughts. Vidimo se! 

What should be said

I clearly remember how much I hated when I was a children and my mum just told me things when I didn’t do them. For example, she always reminded me “You didn’t do your bed today”, “you didin’t clean your room enough” and then the day I did it (I use to do it ALMOST every single day, I am a good soon :D ) she didn’t say a word. So, it seems like we only remember people bad things that they did or good things that they didn’t do. I think is quite silly, shouldn’t we pay more attention just to good things and forget as much as possible the bad ones?

We usually don’t stop to thank for good things and people do a lot of good things for us, small and dayly details but also big things.

So, somebody ask me lately what did I learnt in my 10 months here. I learnt how much I like to tell people the good things they do for me, even if they sometimes don’t deserve to to listen to them or if they also did some mistakes. So this is my little tribute to some of these things (by the way, my mum is the best)

Thank you for showing me that fear is just in my mind, we can achieve whatever, Thank you for being able to see always the bright side. Thank you for put your effort in make me like my EVS and the life I have to live now :)

I realized that things I thought were death for me weren’t at all. Thanks for sharing your city, for cooking and thanks for show me your real side, the charming and magic one, thank you for all your smiles :)

Thank you for open yourself, thank you for show me your life, your fears and your hopes. Thank you for be genuine no matter what. Thank you for your honesty and for sharing with me thousands of hilarious and beautiful moments :)

Muchas gracias.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAxiPFE6pqM

Balkan chronicles: Chapter 1. Serbia

While being a tourist is great, being a traveler is even greater. What's a big difference, you may wonder. There is. While in the first case you manage to explore cultural and historical heritage, experience night life and taste local food, in the second case, being lucky enough, you'll get deeper to catch the spirit and find the soul of the country. Our trip is inside out: less museums and tourist traps (hopefully, but never sure) and more locals, contemplation and readiness to experiment.

Belgrade central avenue

Just two days before we left Zagreb to start our Balkan tour I met a Serb on salsa party in the club. The music was so loud that we could barely hear each other, thus, as it turned out later, he understood that Ukrainian girls: 1) drink vodka with lemon; 2) smoke joints; 3) go to church next morning after the club. 'Good start,' - I thought sarcastically. To tell the truth, this was the only Serb I held a conversation for the next few days: we got a ride with a Turk, hanged out with Bosnians and were hosted by a Canadian who invited his French friend to show us around. Answering the question what made them move to Belgrade, both answered in 1 voice: 'They have a soul here'.

2 Ukrainians, US Angel, Canadian and French in the center of Belgrade

It feels home in Serbia: the smell of meat everywhere, and though I heard that Serbs eat meat wrapped in meat and served with meat, I truly enjoyed tasting all these pljeskavice, kobasice and vešalice which added to a positive image I had.

Choosing between bela vešalica and pljescavica

Being absolutely reluctant to vodka, I still wonder how I let a guy on the market talk me into buying a liter of rakija which I had to carry everywhere and could hardly smell. My grandad would, however, strongly disagree with it.

A victim of rakija-seller persuasive skills

Deliberately avoiding tourist bars in Novi Sad we met midnight near a famous fountain behind the church where teenagers prefer to hang out, eavesdropping their gossips and everyday conversations while watching common people. We also managed to drop to a typical kafana to listen to some famous Yugoslavic songs performed live and mixed with Balkan turbofolk and almost suffocating by everyone smoking inside.

And yep, just to mention that surprisingly enough, our Serbian train departed bang on time but going backwards for two hours, it seemed we were riding a broken carousel in a theme park. Not everything at once, though, or as they say: 'polako, polako'.

Always moving 

Finally, lying in Kalemegdan park, we were listening to Balkan beats from the wedding orchestra and quietly singing 'Elaine from Ukraine made me insane', the song of our Canadian host which is telling his first love story with a half-Jewish, half-gypsy Ukrainian girl back to his 18. 

In process: chronicles will not write themselves

Anyway, while being skeptical about the country because of its Balkan spirit and recent history, it turned out to be different. Everyone will find something to meet their demands: culture freaks are recommended to visit Kalemegdan with its Roman well and awesome torture museum, sweettooth gastrolovers will find their way in Blaznavac i Crna Ovca, and eventually, party animals should start booking their tickets to Exit event with Tom Odell, Sigma and Manu Chao coming already in June.

Famous Kalemegdan  towers