How to keep the fire

Lilla

 

 

 

After years of constant moving, finally, I could stop in Italy. Before, I had been changing place, country, apartment, role, profession, language. Attempting to recreate the bondless happiness of half year Erasmus in Firenze, my first definitive foreign adventure in 2012. Since then, only five years passed, but I feel like a marathon-runner, who has discovered precious pieces of her puzzle wherever she went.

I remember:

• the colourful bungalows of Whitstable, crispy seaside walks and biking, eternal green fields, white cliffs, the ample, majestic Canterbury Cathedral, my cat-ladys and all the supportive, nice people who were keeping me in line on my lonely hero’s journey, studying in England (… and last but not least, I remember the shortly deceased master chéf, RIP, Antonio Carluccio with whom I had a super short interview; his simple humbleness was a big honour and a real wow – as he said, the secret of good food and good life is using maximum 3-4 strong but likewise good ingredients);
• museuming, “flâneuring” and immersing ourselves in arts in that Parisian spring with my group of inspiring, international friends (… and of course, how could I forget our Hungarian-vegetarian-philosophical community and the first steps towards a sustainable  household? );
• trying to slow down and BUILD (numerous things, in so many areas, with the hope to improve and open up the world) in Hungary, while exploring more my motherland; commuting, hiking, volunteering, training, writing.

Since I was getting paid for working as a journalist and coordinating youth voluntary projects (asking, listening to and sharing amazing stories of amazing people), after a while, I got tired of  walking in my challenge zone and fighting. Because a lot of  times, I faced barriers difficult to overcome and tackle.

So the main reason behind my decision to apply for the EVS was to change perpectives, and share stories as a volunteer who lives, works, writes in Italy. (In most cases, about Italy, and till now, in most cases, to Hungarian readers in my weekly blog.)

Moving  worked out well for me. I am happy. And I believe, it is because you cannot feed a fire solely with fire itself. And so, if I were fire, this storyful reality would be my wood and air: the lands, the people, the work and the fact that in this EVS project I can not only collect stories, but experience, try, do and live through them! For instance, I will never forget the day when we started harvesting olives in the farm with locals. Hard to express how much I enjoyed every step. Likewise, our everyday activities make me glad: learning the language, personal and collective stories, about the past, regional history, good practices etc.

Back to track, in a nutshell, I was coming to this EVS in Italy hoping (that can seem a childish wish at first glance, but after all, that is really how it happened!) to find my heart, be able to balance, and keep the fire. Because, during this previous, intense, shifting period of my life, more or less, I had always found motivation, work, objectives, place to live, people caring about me and people about whom I cared. However, that little pulsing organ deep down, in the hustle and bustle, came too close to stop, and not to give a curious leap, not even hearing another new story again.  And for a storyteller, this is definitely not a good sign.

Till now, life proves me. My EVS project has given to me more positive things than I could ever dream about.  I am surrounded with great people who would catch me if I happen to fall. I learn something exciting and new every day. And important,  I found my heart. Or probably my heart has found me. We may never know the truth. But that is already another chapter of the story.

 

 

 

This part of my life is called Italy

Sopio

My name is Sopio, and I’m from a faraway land: Georgia. I often have to explain where my country is located and what a long-dated cultural background it has. During my lifetime I’ve experienced many exciting and interesting adventures, but to be honest, I had never imagined to be thrown to Italy at the beginning of my 25th birthday. Especially not in such a small and peaceful city like Viterbo. Where streets are named after famous composers such as Puccini, Rossini, Vivaldi and Donizetti, you see beautiful flowers hanging from each balcony, and smell the air full of coffee and happiness.

You may wonder why I decided to leave my homeland, my “comfort zone” for living one year in a country still unfamiliar and strange for me. Well, there are several reasons. First of all, since I remember, I was always attracted by the idea of the “seeker hero”. The one who is searching for the meaning of life and for the personal identity. One of the first Georgian folk tales that my mom used to read me when I was very small was about a guy who left his family to discover the universe, as well as himself. Then I remember sitting in the second floor of my old house, in a village of east Georgia, reading a lot of books about travelling, while everyone else having fun outside. 🙂 I always thought that life was something more than that I used to see in front of my eyes. Moreover, it was my “personal responsibility” to explore those little magic things around the world and inside myself. But my “odysseys” were always so inner, like I was travelling but without leaving home. So I decided, it was time to challenge myself for something real.

“I read somewhere… how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong… to measure yourself at least once.” Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

It has been already four months that I’m living and working here, in Italy as a volunteer of Alicenova, and I can say that I have discovered more than I expected. I live with 5 other volunteers from such different countries as Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, Palestine and Portugal. We all have absolutely different personalities and languages. Sometimes it’s very complicated to find the proper words to express how we feel because of the language differences. However, we know the most important “universal human language”, the language of emotions, which can be understood even without spoken words. 🙂

We have several activities as EVS volunteers such as working in the farm with people with some disabilities. All of them have different problems, mental and physical conditions. It is strange. But when I’m in that environment, I do not feel like a stranger. On the contrary, my feeling is that I am one of them. I know it is selfish, but with their help I help myself too.

By the way, I started learning Italian language. It is not exaggeration to say that I’m addicted to this process, not only because of the communication, but also for the reason that there are very few such beautiful things in the world like Italian language. I like the feeling that when you are learning a new language you have to find and create yourself from your very basic roots. Sometimes I feel very helpless, but people always smile to me and understand what I’m trying to say.

One of the most pleasant part of the project is that we also have free time for traveling around and outside Italy. During these 4 months, I’ve visited such wonderful cities as Rome, Naples, Milan and several small towns in the region of Lazio. I remember my shock and speechless state when I first visited Rome “the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning”. And I’m so happy that last month my greatest wish came true, I went to Sigur Ros’s, my favorite band’s concert. It is extremely difficult to put in words what I felt in the moment when I was listening to their live show.

Finally, I can say that I’m sure this will be the one year which will have a fundamental effect on creating and shaping not only my present but also my future. It’s a process of endless discoveries and gains. Some days we’re happy, some days we feel pain but the most important is that we always learn something new.

“I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then.” Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland