Smitten with Sarajevo :)

Yes I am guilty - guilty for having completely fallen in love with Sarajevo.

Having spent nearly two weeks in the city, I have gotten a pretty good feel of the place and its people. I had a tour of the city with a local, who told me about his experiences during the war. I met his family, who despite all the hardship seems happier than ever. They have been married for 30 years and still seem very much in love. It made me happy to see these two so happy with eachother. And it was actually something I saw all around me - people seemed content and just wanted to live and enjoy their life. Besides the people, I fell in love with the scenery. Yes, the evidence of the war was still clearly visible and admittedly rather confronting, but when I looked past that, I saw beauty in each and every corner of the city.

The On Arrival Training for EVS volunteers was an opportunity to meet other volunteers dealing with similar questions and going through the same emotions. It was reassuring to hear their experiences - it aint that bad after all at the MEC ;)

I expected a week filled with icebreakers, games, sharing experiences, lots of heartfelt confessions and...that's exactly what I got :)

From now on, every time someone says 'toaster' I will think of Maciek jumping up and down rather than that electrical equipment for toasting bread :) And 'washing machine' brings images of Lael moving around in rather strange circular motions ;)

The training provided a lot of food for thought, but that's what I expected from the beginning. What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the city, but I guess it was inevitable. I couldn't resist Sarajevo's allure :)