I feel I am not done with school yet. I am really motivated to do smth about my future studies. Maik helped to find a subject that would really fit to what I have already studied and to what I work with. Now I just have to find out how to transfer the studies I took in Slovakia into the swedish system.
To play/train handball and spent time with Dante are the best ways how to stop thinking about all the worries and concerns.
I am sitting at our sofa, having Dante next to me, sleeping. I feel peace. Amazing how much calmness can such a small creature bring into my life.
Haf!
The research shows that not all the ways of the prevention against alcohol consumption work. It is not a new information that different information campaigns and prevention at schools do not have any effect. Sad but true.
Why is it like that? Because we are getting ambigious messages about alcohol day by day. And of course the messages promoting the consumption in one way or another are stronger. The people talking about harmful impact of alcohol consume alcohol themselves. How trustworthy can they be? We serve alcohol for atheletes who have just overcome their limits, we provide solutions for hangover instead of ways to avoid it, and we are afraid to break a pattern and start smth new.
This first picture comes from the Vättern runda. The yellow sign welcomes the cyclists who just biked 300 km (!!!!) and invites them for food, drink and beer (!!!)
The second picture offers 7 ways how to cure hangover after Midsummer celebration (a huge celebrations in Sweden). The cures are recommended by doctors (according to the Newspaper).
I do not have a picture for another example but I have words. I have read in UNFs magazine “Motdrag” an interview with the Minister of Health Maria Larsson. Among many things she also mentioned that when she travels around, the other countries are asking about swedish restrictive alcohol policy. That´s positive in my opinion. In the same interview she claims that when they have official meetings, they invite guests from abroad for some alcohol. The reason is that some guests would consider it very strange not to have a glass of wine served for the dinner. Aha? Isn´t that the best way how to manifest the restrictive alcohol policy in reality and to show other countries that it is totally OK with water? I do not think some country would declare a war or would not come for a visit just because a glass of wine has not been served.
We have to stop with ambiguity and show where we really stand.
I guess it is not my destiny to be a bad guy. But I tried last week. During Trollebo - a tent camp for children, organized by Junis Örebro. This camp deserves a prize. 75 children, around 35 leaders, workshops keeping the children busy all the time, wonderful environment and an exciting story going on throughout the whole camp (5 days). This year was the story about an astronaut who crashed near the camp (in Sweden) instead of Meditterean sea. That is not the biggest problem of course. He has with him stone samples from Moon. The samples are very valuable and might be very dangerous if they get into wrong hands. And of course..the wrong hands are ready to receive the stones. Two of those hands were mine.
The astronaut who is just about to faint makes it to the camp and asks the children for help to contact the space agency. The children of course help and keep the astronaut in the camp. Pretty easy for the gangsters who need the astronaut to be able to locate the stones. At this point the gangsters come into the story. To distract children, get their attention and then run like crazy was no complicated at all while my collegue “kidnapped” the astronaut. That was all for that day. The next day was more exciting. The children went to the forrest to find the spaceship and the stones. Great for us. They would lead us to what we really wanted. BUT the successfully kidnapped astronaut managed to escape and warn the children. They all ran away and took the stones. THAT made us very angry. We jumped into our car and drove around the forrest where the children were hidden. We shouted and swore like troopers and kidnapped one of their leader who was later that day to be exchnaged for the stones At 20.00 in the middle of the nearby lake.
We came there and so did the whole camp. Two of the leaders rowed to our boat already waiting in the middle of the lake and gave us the stones. Ha – ha – ha soooo naive they were. We just pushed them into the water and rowed away. Ha ha haaa! BUT the children were smarter this time. They were prepared for the dirty tricks and surrounded the whole cost. There was no way to escape. They got us…
…and they would really beat us if there were not their leaders who stopped them and started to talk to us. It turned out that we did not have clue what kind of stones we wanted to steal. We were just bunch of poor guys who did not know what friendship is, we did not have money and did not know other than stealing.
“Oooh but this can change” said the leaders. The children were there for us to show us what real friendship and fun is. We got to follow with them to the camp and play with them, watch their evening show, we got some food, even some hugs and some presents. So nice. We decided to be nice people. It was much easier than living in lies.
Why am I not destined to be a bad guy? The things just did not go smoothly. Our car fastened in a ditch and for a while we thought that the whole story was over because of that. Luckily we got out of there. Then we got lost in the forrest (twice) and on the top of everything – our motor boat did not work so we had to row (real proffessionals..hihi). It was much easier to play and sing with children -to be their friends than to hunt and scare them.
It was a great experience. Not only for the children. For me as well. To see the change in the childrens eyes – from the small taunting faces, some of them really ready to attack to soft and compassionate eyes willing to help to solve our problems. They could forgive by a swing of a magic wand. I hope they will not grow out of that ability.
I have just bought the tickets. I believe my holidays will be great =)
Porto – Batalha – St.Fatima – Lissabon – Setubal – Algarve – Huelva – Sevilla – Gibraltar – Malaga – Almeria – Granada – Cordoba - Madrid – Montserrat – Barcelona
Yuhuuu..my camera can´t wait =)
I could feel in the end of the prevous week that it was a very exhausting week for me. Mentally. Many things to think of and solve. I was pretty empty on thursday evening and could not wait till friday – my day off (after a very long time of no free days). Instead of being at home enjoying sunny Örebro, I decided to go and cheer for my friend Andreas who decided to bike 300 km around Vättern (a second biggest lake in Sweden) Crazy guy =)
So me, Andreas, Maik and Dante took off to Motala on friday afternoon. No internet, no work.. Was short but a great time. Being with those I like, I laugh with and I fully trust and I want to be there for. The weather was almost perfect. It prevented us from building a tent in the middle of the night, it made Andreas to improvise some waterproof clothes but luckily the solution was not neccessary since the rain stopped. (one cant say it about Switzerland..heh)
Andreas did really good. Started on midnight. The round took him less than 10 hours. And I was happy that me, Dante and Maik could be there – waiting for him in the finish with a huge hug =)
Congrats Burken!!! =)
PS. I still think you are a bit crazy =)
Sometimes when your dreams come true… What do you do then?
Do you dare to have new dreams?
Some days ago - Stina and I were in Stockholm to present NORDGU project to one of our foundations. The room was full of mostly men of age 50 and more and then there were some women here and there. Something one could notice at once. Stina and me were the only ones presenting. Before we started talking, we were introduced as youth who had come to tell about their project. I am usually happy that I am young and beautiful 
but at that moment the word “youth” resonated in my ears for a while. Why is that an important information to provide? Why not: “Here we have two guests who we have invited to talk about their project” or “Kristina and Stina are today´s guests who will…” I guess my point is clear.
I did not feel bad to be called youth. And the word did not have an impact on our presentation (i hope) but I was thinking about it afterwards. Why do we have a need to put some labels all the time? I mean everyone could see that we were there, everyone could see (or guess) our age, our sex, the colour of our skin everything. It did not need to be pointed out, did it?
Am watching a football match in TV. Having boyfriend who is football player – no surprise. I have never been a huge fan of football. One of the reasons were that they score so few times. (I guess that is why I play handball. Something is happening all the time in handball) But back to the football now. So I am watching and Netherlands have just scored. The TV showed the coach. Jumping of happiness. Our coach jumps rarely when we score. I guess it is the same amount of happiness in both games but in differnet proportion. I wonder whether there is an universal happiness law in sports
Some days ago was the last day of school for students in Örebro. Those who finish the high school have a huge celebration. They are running around in special white caps designed especially for this day, they get from their parents kind of banners with their name and a picture of themselves as a child. After they get their diplomas/certificates, they drive around the town. The vehiclas they drive in are mostly some tractors pulling a vagon behind them, trucks and similar. The students are standing on the trucks, singing, screaming, hugging each other. So far pretty weird but why not =) But most of them are drinking alcohol they actually even get from their parents. The celebration goes on untill the nigh or the next morning and the spirit of the celebration is changing with the amount of alcohol they have consumed. Around midnight, they are still dancing or just wandering through the town, screaming some slogans from time to time, taking curvy ways and causing some worries by passers by. The police forces are increased. Wherever you look, you can see some police car meant to keep an order in the town. As Maik has told me: ”It is weird that when students finish their school, police has to be in the town to avoid a damage” I agree. It is a bit sad that our ”future generation” that will in some month go to universities or start working, when released from school, is a threat for the city and for itself. It is hard for me to comprehend such culture.
The night is long, the party goes on, the people get tired and drunk. The train station at 7 in the morning is full of just graduated students sleeping on the benches or just sitting with an empty glance in their eyes. This is a phone call I have heard at the station: ”Hello…yeah I did not go home. I have a quite drunk friend with me, but there is no danger. I am also not very sober at the moment. I will come home somehow”
Yeah..the drunk friend was not able to stand without a support. In my opinion it is quite a danger since he was not in a room filled in with soft mattraces but in a room with many sharp edges and close to moving trains. Talking about different perspectives.
When I saw the station, I felt weird. Dissapointed that this is a tradition that is preserved and encouraged. Everybody knows what was going to happen that day/night and the only thing done against it was more police cars in the town. I was thinking about the whole situation, some frowns on my face, some worries on my mind, when I saw another group of people. One of them finished the school the previous day as well. Standing around, waiting for their bus, laughing, having clear minds. I know them a bit. They are from the local UNF club (temperance movement). They had fun the morning after. They were safe and I felt safe around them. I got to know they went to Stockholm to take part in demonstration for intercultural solidarity. They made me smile, they made me happy and they made my day.
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