One of the greatest things about being an EVS volunteer is of course that you get to meet a great number of interesting people. Before I left, I could not have imagined that I would hangout with funny Macedonians, meet Russians who don’t like vodka, hear Germans talking English among each other, hear Poles talk Dutch to me, discuss oil politics with Norwegians, and to be kissed on the cheek by a drunk Bosnian guy. To experience this mosaic which is Europe first hand made me realise one thing:

Europe will never be united.

It will never be united because the average European will never live through the EVS experience. They will not know how it is to spend time with someone from the other side of Europe and discover that you have more things in common than there are differences. Instead they will rely on vague stereotypes and archaic forms of nationalism to define themselves and others. Politicians will continue to create an air of suspicion and distrust towards workers from Central and Eastern Europe, thereby denying themselves a generation of talented and hardworking labourers. The peoples of Europe will lock themselves up within borders that were set by their warmongering ancestors in past times.

Therefore I call upon the European Commission to increase funds for the Youth in Action programme. Increase the promotion for this unbelievable programme that allows young people to live and work abroad for free. Let’s create a generation that values internationalism, who know no borders, and who’ll reject the petty nationalism that has defined the bloody past of the generations before us.

Let us all become EVS volunteers!

I'm suffering a little bit of PPD (Post Parapetowka Depression). To walk into my flat after work, and to only find a bag of uncooked pierogi waiting for me is a bit hard after the fabtastic party we had on saturday. And fabtastic it was. We probably had around 25 to 30 people eating, drinking and dancing in our flat. And thank God no-one mysteriously died after eating my Babi Ketjap. In fact, some even complimented me on my cooking. I'm pretty happy with that last thing considering I define 'cooking' as shoving frozen pizza in an oven. And since I'm in Poland, I define it as throwing a couple of Pierogi in a pan with boiling water.

Pictures of the parapetowka can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kresna

The preperations for our 'Parapetowka', or 'house-warming-party' are under way. On the third day of February Barbara (my Italian flatmate) and me will host 20 people in our little flat in order to celebrate our 'new' home. Well, 'new'... We've been living here for almost 2 months now, but Christmas and an on-arrival training in Warsaw prevented us from organising one earlier.

I have to say that my stay in Poland is unlocking some hidden talents. Unfortunetaly, cooking is not one of them. Now I'm not an evil man. I couldn't live with the idea to feed my 20 guests buckets of Pierogi (which are very easy to prepare). Nor will I resort to buying shitloads of frytki (fries) and hamburgery (hamburgers). So it's rather unavoidable that I have to prepare something else. And because of my Indonesian roots, what else would be suitable than introducing some proper Indonesian food to Polish society!

But the question for me is terrifying in its simplicity: "How?". How am I going to prepare food I've never cooked before? Being raised by a mother who's the best cook in the world sure has it disadvantages. Namely, I never had the need to cook for myself. However, I'm 24 years old, a college undergraduate, an EVS volunteer, and pretty damn smart and charming at the same time! I will learn to cook! I will feed 20 hungry people at my parapetowka! I will prepare Babi Ketjap and Sate Ayam!

Merrrrrrrdekaaaaaaaa!!!!

I'm back in Gliwice. Tired, both physically and mentally, but feeling incredibly richer than before. The on-arrival training was great. And I feel so lucky that I got to spend it with such a great group of people. The energy we created was just amazing. And although we were all different in both culture and personality, we all got along, creating this amazing European cocktail of love and happiness!

I'm still pretty tired right now, so I'll leave it at this. I'll share some pictures soon though.

Do zobaczenia!