Just A Berlin Zoo Photo Attack

So yeah, I finally went to the zoo. It was big, but it's easy to get around there without wasting too much time, since the cages are small and very close to each other. My super ecxitement moment was seeing gorillas (we don't have many of them around Finland). Fortunately most of the animals seemed to have big outside areas, comapred to the small and dull cages they were spending their time inside, although Berlin is not so very warm in the winter from what I understood, even though for the week I've been here now, the weather has been great and sunny, especially yesterday. It was nice for the animals were spending their time laying in the sun outside. One of the weirdest thing of the zoo is that it really is in the middle of the city, but then again, it's easy to get to.

 I'm going to Gdansk tomorrow morning. I will leave my home in Berlin to spend there one night and go to my home in Kłodzko to go to my home in Finland. Sometimes I even confuse myself.

Work is Over

How much happiness can just a working computer screen bring. Like the joy of being able to upload pictures. And blog.

My project is seriously over. I won't be going back to my school, at least not to work. I said so many goodbyes -most of the children didn't even know that it was the last day for me and Birgit. They were so shocked and some of them started panicking - mostly because they didn't have much time left to make us goodbye cards. It was also Valentine's Day, and I received a bunch of sweet drawings and cards. It was overal a nice, happy day, even though from time to time I really felt like crying. There has been moments of doubt and lack of motivation, but in the end of the day, it's always about the children. As it should be. About the smiles on their face and the tight little human hugs. 
I told the teachers goodbye, received a giftbag with a book and a card. It was a really warming farewell. The situation felt also quite weird in the sense that only the two of us left. The school has winter holiday for two weeks now, but after that five of the volunteers will continue their work in the school. I know they will do a great job. This is an experience you can get so much out of if you are ready to.

For me this was seriously something unforgettable. I didn't even know how much this experience would affect me. It has guided me towards my future, gave me a point of view to see, what I really want to work for. To be honest I would have never thought that I would work with kids, even more that I would enjoy it. I had to last calsses on friday -the classes I've been mostly working through this half a year. My calsses, "my children" as I used to speak. They're still in my heart and will always be.

I had my last common room time in the end of the day. Last memory game with the kids, every now and then one of them coming hugging and saying goodbye and giving me Valentine's Day cards.
 After my last day I headed back to Berlin, where I'm writing this at the moment. It feels like spring. In the end of the week I will head to Gdansk, which after back home, Poland home, where I will gather my stuff and on the 1st of march fly home. The definiton of home right now is a little indeterminate. I feel good.

I lost a friend

You know that feeling when you drop something, and everything around you goes slow motion and and you just stand there watching the dropped item getting closer and closer to the ground. Then after the dropped item hits the ground, everything suddenly goes back to normal speed, if not even faster, as you start looking for damage. So yeah.. I kind of broke my computer. Good news is that it still works and all my files are still there, but without an extra screen it's pretty useless. So blogging might take a small break every now and then (how convenient right now when things are finally starting to happen in my life).
Shortly about last days; a bunch (by a bunch I mean a lot) of new longterm volunteers came here a couple of days ago,things are changing. Just like when I came here, and all the old volunteers slowly leaving. Today two of the new ones, who will work in my school, came there for the first time and I felt a little bit blue. It made me realize I really have just one week left with the kids. Then I have two weeks of holiday. Before that I should still be writing my youthpass and whatnot. At least I guess I have more time now to deal with my business as I can not watch Carrie Diaries all day.
I was so sad and angry and frustrated by my own stupidity yesterday. But breaking a computer is not the end of the world (right....?). Anyway no serious damage to the insides (professional terms) happened. Just sometimes life can be super unpredictable. And I didn't even realize how dependent I can be on this piece of electronics, I mean not necessarily addicted, but for the first time in a long time I sat home all night going like "I never noticed the walls were so yellow". I want to believe that I'm a creative person though, I can figure something out.

Btw, voting is still on, check the details from the previous posts and vote here; click , Thanks!

Last month in Poland

It's here. Less than four weeks to go. I know I haven't been writing so much - I apologize. I've been super busy and not busy at all at the same time. Yesterday I came home from Kraków, where I was celebrating my friends birthday. Last week I did quite a lot of nothing; although we did have a volunteers meeting, where we catched up on what everybody has been doing the past few months.

Things are changing. A lot of us are finishing their ptojects by the end of this month -and just today bunch of new long-term volunteers arrived. I heard there's going to be another finnish girl here too.
The snow has melted away. There's no sign of winter anywhere, as I'm writing the sun is shining, and it feels more like spring. In the picture you can see that even the river was frozen still a couple of days ago -not anymore.
I wonder if I'm going to have winter here at all anymore. Anyhow I love how all the kids are skateboarding, rollerblading and playing outside. But come on, it's february anyway! It's unnatural. Even in Kraków there was like piles of snow and it really is not that far away. 

 I'm feeling kind of sad about leaving and finishing my project. In Kraków I met a lot of other EVS -volunteers who still had 3 to 5 months left in their projects. I remember when I had five months left in my project, about the time I started writing this blog. I would want to hold on this; but on the other hand I'm going to take the best out of what is left and head off to new adventures afterwards. It's not over yet. Anyway I have to get ready abit for leaving -my biggest worry right now is packing. I think I tripled my stuff during my time here, my big suitcase seems so tiny right now. And I really wonder how I managed to carry everything here from Wroclaw. It's going to be interesting...

 Oh yeah, and today is the birthday of my sweetest dearest flatmate/substitute mother! Kocham się bardzo bardzo, kochanie! I'm sorry I can not bake. Go Austria!

P.S. Suomalaisille lukijoille niin noin, jos haluatte lukea muiden vapaaehtoisten, au pairien yms. kokemuksia niin täältä löytyy mun blogin lisäksi myös muiden mun lähettäjäjärjestön kautta lähteneiden kokemuksia click click  .  Musta on tosi kiva lukea myös muiden kokemuksia -kaikkihan tässä jollain tavalla samassa veneessä ollaan.

P.S.S. The voting is going on! Today another week started, so remember, even if you voted before you can vote again now. Do it! If you didn't, information about the competition >> here <<. Please share a moment of your time and cick the vote ("ÄÄNESTÄ") button under my video >> here << (the one titled IDA K.)

Things And Stuff

I don't have too many things going on in my life right now. If we don't include the fact that my finnish coffee is finished, and I have to go to the market to find a replacing substance. On this aspect, it's going to be a hard few weeks left here. In another news, winter finally arrived, outside the temperature is almost 15 degrees below zero. However, at least we got some snow, so it's not so grey and depressing all the time. I thought I could use this space now in case some people stumble upon this blog through the application video, share a little bit of my background.
When I was applying for European Voluntary Service, or EVS, I was working in a warehouse in Finland. Super fulfilling. I was kind of lost and hopeless in the matter that; I had so many dreams I didn't quite know how to achieve. I did the right thing, working 9 to 5 to get a paycheck and keep a low profile. Here is a link to my first blog post, which opens a little my thoughts after I was accepted to an open position in Poland. I didn't know at all what I got myself into, but this opened a whole new world for me. Living in Finland all my life, I always thought going abroad was difficult. I did travel to a few countries, but in general the whole picture in my head was that I have three options; I can get a boat to Stockholm, a boat to Tallinn or a train to Russia. The truth is, as soon as I let go of this stupid image, and let myself accept a few possibilities (in a way of replacing I can't with I will) I can get a bus to anywhere, I can walk and fly and hitchhike as much as I like. Since I left home, I've been to six different new countries, seen so many amazing places and met so many wonderful people along the way. I've learned to appreciate the hard times of travelling, the sore shoulders of carrying my backpack, the waiting for trains that are never coming.
I found working in a multicultural environment not only natural but easy for me. In my experience, language barriers or cultural differencies is just another way to discover more and to find new solutions for communication. I see people are exactly the same everywhere, there's just always place within everyone to learn something new. All you need is an open mind, the key to open it everyone holds within their self. It can be a coinsidence, a self-made decision or a meaningful experience to make one grab their key and start to fit it in to the lock.

I always had the need to express myself. Sincerely I think I have a lot to give, even though I'm just human and I know in some way, I could use more of my potential, as anyone else. I still find that as long as I work for my goals, I will always improve. It's like I have this image in my head, of me being constructed of all these different components. All of them I already had since I was born, and all of them serving their own purpose. Then, when I improve these parts of myself, which are all supporting one another, they combine to some kind of new scifi supercomponent. These are the things that make me special, as self-centered as this may sound, I believe in myself. Trust me in the middle of this complexity, this makes a lot of sense in my head. Anyway, this post seems to have gotten super off-track from it's original purpose to just letting my brain flow over the keyboard. I'm fine with this.

The voting is still going on. I want to thank everyone who voted, and remind that once you vote, you can still vote again every week. I'm so happy for all the support I've gotten. Even if I don't win this thing, at least I have a lot more confidence in striving for the things I want to do and achieve.

http://maailmanmatkaaja2014.fi/?s=ida+k&post_type=videot

Press the blue button!

I want to get a job

I already promised something exciting coming on facebook earlier. So I'm going to put here what I also put on facebook;
Hey Friends! Now you have an amazing chance to keep me out of Finland. Help me get my dream summer job and vote for my video here http://maailmanmatkaaja2014.fi/video/ ! It's the one titled with my name, IDA K. Thank's in advance, just one click and I'm closer to travelling the world. Share and like! Woop Woop!

Here's also the video itself. I'm super excited about this! The competition is for a summer job, from the videos nine with the most votes get to the interviews. The job is to travel around the world for one month (Stockholm, London, my dear Krakow, Barcelona and super excitement woopwoop Dubai and Tokyo!!!), and to interview young people and summer workers and use social media to share my adventures through fe. a video blog. This is what I have always dreamed of! So I have been a little bit distracted and busy and stressed, but now I can breathe. Although I did skip polish lesson for this.

So voting happens here; 

http://maailmanmatkaaja2014.fi/video/

Thanks to everyone ready to sacrifice a small amount of their time.

And yeah, the vote button is the blue thing under the video saying "ÄÄNESTÄ"

Looking Back

I seem to have a lot of time in my hands right now, today we were ice skating again with school (you can read about the last trip here). I also haven't been feeling so energetic recently, due to who knows, the weather (never ending darkness -you'd think I'd be used to that already, no snow but still so cold), maybe the travels and the training (it was quite exhausting I have to admit) are still pressing on. Well, sitting here I was wondering about a subject I already have been writing about; how much this experience has changed me. However, I'm still the same me as in the picture above (very finnish photos I have to admit). At least I hope I am and hope always to be. If the sight of looking at myself through the eyes of myself 15 years ago would make me feel like that's where I want to be, I know I have succeeded. For funsies I checked my application, written in august 2013, to see if there's a big difference to my being at this moment - I didn't remember any of it and was kind of disappointed when it was not so interesting as I thought it would be.

But there was one line in my application that specially caught my eye. "I intend to be very loving, understanding and a non-judgemental person." Can I say, getting closer to the end of my project, that I have succeeded in this? Has this kept its position as the guideline to my life as I have set it to be? To tell the truth, I'm just human. I'm young and I have a lot to learn from life, and sometimes even this simplest thing has hid itself away from view. Maybe I should remind myself more of these things, keep my eyes on the goals I set.
In the trainings we always talked about our competences, which basically mean the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. In the on-arrival training we talked about what kind of competences we already have, what we would like to improve and what we want to gain, set to some point (the end of the project). In the mid-term training again we looked on these things from the view of the end of the project, how well did we succeed in these goals we set. Or maybe we found something we back then weren't even aware about.

One of my competences I wanted to gain/improve was budgeting. Handling and spending my money wisely and efficiently. Well now at this point, I still have some time left on my project to try to change that, but I'm still bad at this. I guess I did improve my ability of communicating in polish language; this being something I'm planning to improve also after my departure. I'm still not sure how I should measure these competences; I always find place of improvement in everything. But I could say, I learned about working with children, also working with other people, living with other people, even actually living on my own for the first time, independence. I learned about not only polish culture, but a lot of other cultures too. I learned communication skills, to listen and something that has always been harder to me; to speak, to ask and try my best to get my voice heard. I can not say I would have succeeded to improve these competences to 100% but I am just as proud to have improved them even just by 1%.

 "My important life values are to treat people equally and always give your everything. I want to enjoy life, and smile as much as I can."

Week in Toruń

 So, I have returned from my mid-term training in Toruń. The city is absolutely beautiful. Inside the old town walls it seems as if completely untouched by the modernisation of the outside world. Full of history, with the cobblestone streets and the ruins of the castle still remaining. The city is lively, full of people, though hardly any tourists. The architecture of the old town of Toruń is very united, so for standing for the feeling of realness, at least more than compared to the fakeness of Warsaw or the contradictory of Kraków, not to even mention Poznań on this. Of course it's just my opinion, but there's no doubt that the city is beautiful in any case.

One of the city symbols is the frog. According to Lonely Planet (click) the legend says that a witch once came to the town, but wasn't welcomed by the locals. In revenge, she invoked a curse, and the town was invaded by frogs. The mayor offered a sackful of gold and his daughter to anyone who would rescue the town. A humble peasant boy then appeared and began to play his rustic fiddle. The frogs, enchanted by the melodies, followed him to the woods and the town was saved. Much like the Pied Piper story. Anyway this supposed to be a symbol of luck, and there's a fountain next to the town hall, surrounded by these statues which we groped a little. One of the other symbols and attractions is the Leaning Tower, which as it's name says, is a leaning tower (which originally it wasn't). According to our trainer-tourist guide, if you're able to hold your balance while leaning on the wall of the tower, you shall have a straight life (I didn't see many of us succeed).

City tour and ridiculously photogenic observing Ivar

The mid-term trainig differenced from the on-arrival training a lot. As the on-arrival training mostly provided us with the tools to mak the most out of our project and how we can improve our competences effeciently, the mid-term training was more about gathering the knowledge we've received and aknowlodging the competences we've improved, and how to benefit from them for the future. The whole future-orientation of the training was a huge positive aspect. In general the atmosphere of the training was more relaxed, less theoretical as we already know about the official parts of EVS and more about us as individuals.

We had a workshop in the museum to share our knowledge with others. There was intercultural learning; italian gestures, history of spain, traditional dances, different alphabets, but also origami, graffiti writing and my workshop, juggling for example. It was really fun and also  a good way to to reflect your self-expression.

We also layed some paper boats to the river, as wishes for the future. The day was really windy and the river was going crazy and I think all of the boats sank within the first minute after touching the surface. However, the idea's what counts, right?
What are your future plans after EVS? Was one of the topics we talked about. I have some plans, but the truth is, I really don't know what's going to happen. But I feel like this experience and all the personal growth I've gained, the new perspective of myself and of the world surrounding me is supporting me in a way that no matter what happens or which path I choose to take, I will be on the right way.

I'm overall satisfied with this week, the group of people was amazing and we worked well together. I was lucky to have so many friends of mine there but also to meet other people, sharing the same experiences. And have a lot of fun with them.
Also I made a succesful, as well as a long journey to the other side of the river to get some photos of the city. From here you can see that it's not very big, but has a lot of character (kind of like myself).

'I only have one month left of work. This all seems so surreal, what has happened, what is going to happen. Kind of like I felt when I first got here and was adapting to the whole new life situation. It's scary to think about the fact that all this I've somehow relied on is going to be over soon. But thanks to also this training, I feel more confident on being able to accept new challenges and continue my journey.

Along the way; Bratislava

We were on our way to Bratislava. Our new addition to the family is an austrian penguin called Rodrigo.The trip only took about one hour or so from Vienna, and it's so hard for me to understand such a big difference between two cities that are so close to each other. We did all kinds of fun things, like ice skating and going to see the Hobbit. Even though the movie was in original language, I didn't take in consideration that it will still have slovak subtitles. At least I have something to be surprised for when I watch it again, when I can finally know what was said in the elvish and orcish parts.

 The city was beautiful, in all its eastern contradictory. In this picture you can see the silhouettes of both of the two bratislava symbols we visited. The Bratislava Castle and the UFO tower. The photo is taken from the clock tower of the Bratislava City Museum.

The Bratislava Castle

These are pictures taken from the UFO tower. The tower is actually a structural part of the bridge over the Danube. It's 95 metres high, with an observation deck on top and a restaurant inside. I loved it, all though the whole thing itself is just weird. The weather was not on our side, it was all the time so foggy, that during the day you could not even have seen the closest skyscraper. I'm still hoping to see snow at some point this winter.

So I'm kind of lazy to write right now. Our mid-term training is coming to an end soon. It has been a lot of fun and also mind-opening somehow. The story filled city of Toruń is by far the most beautiful polish city I have seen. I will enjoy getting back to routines for a while when I get back home on sunday though.

Along the way; New Year's Eve in Vienna

Starting new year's eve in an amusement park wasn't something I expected I would do until now. We visited the giant wheel, Wiener Riesenrad (link) to get another view of the city from above and it was absolutely beautiful. The ride itself was a pleasant experience, and the city decorated with the exploding fireworks here and there over the skyline. We weren't the only tourists enoying this, but the park itself didn't have many people around, which made it at the same time kind of creepy and beautiful when walking around the park, just the way I like it.

At midnight we went to see the fireworks (with the rest of the people in Vienna I guess) at Heldenplatz. It was absolutely beautiful and such a remarkable, special way to start this year. I'm gently covering 2013 into bed and kissing it goodnight. Thanking it for everything it gave me, especially everywhere it brought. All the possiblities I had and all the chances I took to make it a year worth while. This past year will have so much meaning, like a prelude to a book not yet written. Right now as I'm writing this I'm sitting in the train (which is super uncomfortable by the way, and I'm so very hungry and I still have hours to go) on my way to Toruń for my midterm training (and now as I'm actually posting it I'm alreay here). The sky is clearer than I've seen it for weeks and the sun is just flickering through the window and running around everywhere, making everything look a little bit more alive. I'm excited about 2014 and sure it's going to be a great year.

So I started my year super excited with a hockey game on the first of the first. I was not disappointed, although the game itself wasn't as good as I'm used to (I don't think I have to underline here where I'm from, and by the way recently we won the world junior championships, congratulations little Lions!). The atmosphere was still the same, the hall was fully packed and the players had mullets and the referees were blind.

Drinking beer before entering the hockey hall like a proper finn.

Next stop: Bratislava!

Along the way; Vienna part 2

We climbed up the St. Stephen's Cathedral to get a better view of the city. The tower rising up to 136 metres doesn't seem so high when observed from the ground, and 343 steps of narrow circular stairs don't seem so bad after actually getting there. Anyway, it was very rewarding and the church wasn't too bad from the inside either. Sensei was looking into the distance, wondering about life. I was lucky to talk him away from jumping though, so emotional it had made him.

The city of Vienna is absolutely beautiful. Of course as in any other big city there is also a lot of ugly blocks and scyscrapers, not to mention a lot of tourists blocking the view. The magnificiency of the historical buildings is astounishing. One can only wonder through the streets and parks surrounded by these massive stone palaces and feel a bit small in this world.