Category Archives: nekategorizirano

Lateen sail sailing course

EVS Dnevnik, nekategorizirano, , , , , , , ,

Ena izmed nalog, ki so del mojega prostovoljnega dela tu v Cartageni, je tudi EVS dnevnik. Tega naj bi pisal približno enkrat mesečno. Prvih nekaj zapisov bo v angleščini, kasneje, ko se izboljšam v moji Španščini, pa upam, da bom lahko kaj napisal tudi v španskem jeziku.

This weekend Association de amigos de vela latina organized a introductory sailing course for the interested public and us, the volunteers working in the organization.

The course started on Friday evening. We were first introduced with the presentation about what the lateen sail is, where it originates from and how it developed. We briefly skimped across the history of lateen sails and their importantce in Catragena. After the introductory presentation, we took a walk into the haurbour where the association has their sailing boats stored or moored. We took a look at the different boats, the 21 palm sized, that are used for the summer regattas, and the bigger, 42 pals long sailing boats. We also mentioned that the organization is hard at work renewing some of the boats that used to be lateen sail boats before they were changed into the motor boats. After many years of using the boat as a motor boat, the owners decided to change it back to the sailing-type boat. The association is a great help with organizing and helping out with the the renewal. After the visit to the marina, we went back to the community center in Santa Lucia, where we continued our theory part of the course. We had the introduction to the techniques of sailing, the parts of the boat and the expressions used in sailing. We were also shown a couple of the basic knots that are useful for mooring the boat or other occasions.

On Saturday morning we drove to Mar menor, where the association has some more boats moored. The idea was to have the first day of sailing and then to repeat the sailing a day after. when we came there, however, it became obvious, that the weather will not be good enough to go to the sea. The wind was too strong at about 10 knots and there was  a high chance of rain. However, all the members of the course came and we did have a session with all of them. We went to the boat with which we were supposed to sail, and prepared it as if we would go for a real sail. The lateen boat requires even more preparation than a traditional sailing boat and the setup at the beginning is just as important as the knowledge about how to act in the sea. We were shown how to properly set up the sail, how, where and why to tie the ropes, how to raise up the sail and how to maneuver the boat. The whole operation actually lasts longer that I imagined and the additional explanation made it even longer. We did some dry runs and at the end we tidied the boat and put everything back to its place.

On Sunday, the third day of the course, we finally made it to the sea. The weather was looking promising, the wind was good for a beginner’s course and there was even a bit of sunshine. We have setup the boat as we learned the day before, put on the life jackets and were dragged out of marina by one of the marina staff and her orange motor boat. The wind was blowing from north-east and since we had the lateen sail on the starboard side of the boat (es.: estribor), we first sailed in a non-optimal way. One of the drawbacks of the lateen sail is that it’s not equally efficient if the wind is blowing from the port as opposed to starboard side. Depending on how you setup the sail in the beginning one of this sides will be the “bad sailing” (es.: navegar a la mala). with this technique, we sailed about half way to the biggest island in Mar menor, called Barón. Then it was time to turn. Because of the low wind, we had some troubles. The mood in the boat got a little bit tense, when it started lightly raining. But after about 10 minutes and two or three failed attempts, we finally managed. On the way back, we were using the whole potential of the sail, so we theoretically cached more wind power. After some smooth sailing, we came close to the marina. We called the lady that took us out of the marina, to come get us again, but she wasn’t answering the phone. As the rain stopped and we had time, we decided to do another zig-zag to come closer to the marina. The two turns that we had to do, went much smoother than the first one. In a coupe of minutes we were close to the gate. Now also our tow-boat-lady answered her phone and came to get us. We were on solid land in a matter of minutes. After disassembling the boat, we went for a beer and finished up the nice day.

The sailing course was nice despite a few nervous moments. The fact that it was solely in Spanish was a bit of an annoyance for me, because I picked-up less that I’d be able to if it’d be in English. However, I can understand that the paying participants have priority. Anyway, it was nice and I did learn some basics. Hopefully, during my stay here, I’ll have many more opportunities to learn about sailing (and other activities for that matter).

I was advised not to take the camera on board, so sadly, I don’t have the photos of the sailing itself.

Raziskovanje Sierra Muela-e

nekategorizirano, , , , ,

Včeraj dopoldne smo se z družbo odpravili na sprehod v bližnji naravni rezervat. Hodili smo kake 4 ure. Diego nas je peljal do dveh plaž, zaradi časovne stiske pa smo se po počitku počasi vrnili. Prepričan sem, da ima park še dosti skrivnosti.

Vreme je bilo prijetno toplo, nekateri so se celo pritoževali nad vročino. Ko smo se vrnili je termometer v avtu kazal 26 stopinj Celzija. Menda so v poletnih mesecih taki sprehodi mogoči le pred 8 uro zjutraj ali po 6 uri zvečer.

EVS uvodni trening

nekategorizirano, , , , , , , , ,

Prejšnji teden smo imeli uvodni trening za EVS. Za trening sem zvedel že, ko sem se prijavljal na projekt, a brez kakršnih koli podrobnosti. Rahlo sem bil razočaran, ko sem izvedel, da je naš tečaj le kakih 20 kilometrov stran od Cartagene. Da bi bila ironija še večja, smo na edini dan brez delavnic imeli organiziran ogled Cartagene. No ja …

Na trening smo se odpravili v ponedeljek zjutraj. Vlak nas je odpeljal v Murcija-o, kjer smo počakali na svoj avtobus, s katerim smo se odpeljali v Los Alcazares. To je malo turistično mesto, ki v poletnih mesecih verjetno poka po šivih. V februarju v mestu ni praktično nikogar, celotno mesto je kot prizor iz vesterna – mesto duhov.

Namestili so nas v lep mladinski kompleks, nekako v stilu slovenskih SŠOD-jev. V njem nismo bili edini, prostor smo si delili še z nekaj športniki različnih starosti in državljanstev.

Dogodek je imel podoben delovnik, kot vsi drugi dogodki tega formata. Delo od zajtrka pa nekako do 7h zvečer, vmes čas za kosilo in dve kratke pavze. Po večerji je sledil bolj sproščujoč program, ki se je kdaj pa kdaj zavlekel tudi do polnoči. Po tem pa jasno še pivce ali dva v lokalnem baru. Včasih smo ob vrnitvi domov nadaljevali debato še na balkonu bloka, marsikateri večer pa smo popestrili tudi s kako neumnostjo. Plavanje v ledenem morju, plezanje po balkonu, nočno raziskovanje kompleksa in podobne vragolije. Vse, kar lahko pričakuješ od skupine 30-ih mladincev in mladenk. Zaradi teh neumnosti smo se zjutraj kdaj znašli v težavah, a kaj se če. Dovolj smo stari, da smo lahko  razumeli, da si pridigo zaslužimo (no, vsaj nekateri).

Na koncu se je, kot vedno, vse dobro izšlo. Dogodek smo zaključili v dobri atmosferi, in se naučili smo se precej o formalnostih EVS-a in si ustvarili smo mnoga prijateljstva. Z nekaterimi se bomo tekom našega prostovoljstva prav gotovo še srečali, saj si mnogi izmed nas želimo potovati naokrog po Španiji.

 

Aklimatizacija

nekategorizirano

Še en dan, navaden tih in zaspan …

To se verjetno vedno zgodi. To je verjetno najtežji del premika v drugo mesto, v novo državo.

Ko dolgo časa živim na enem mestu, lahko opazim, kako se ujamem v ritem. Čeprav mi ta ritem ne ustreza popolno je občutek stalnosti in urejenosti sproščujoč. Predvidljivo in udobno življenje je lahko in prijetno. A prej, kot ne opazim, da mi nekaj manjka. Da potrebujem spremembo. Da je potrebno narediti nekaj radikalnega, pobegniti od doma ali dom celo prestaviti kam drugam.

Temu sledi obdobje raziskovanja za opcijami (ki je ponavadi precej kratko), kmalu za tem pa navdušenje nad premikom. Prav take občutke sem imel v preteklih tednih, odkar sem dobil potrjeno novico o EVSu v Španiji. Malta je bila super avantura, naučil sem se veliko, vsaj deloma spoznal novo deželo in tudi sebe. A, kot po planu, sem si želel ta otok zapustiti relativno hitro. Priložnost prostovoljstva v Španiji se je ponudila ravno ob pravem trenutku in seveda sem veselo zgrabil zanjo. V ognju sem imel še drugo železo, a tudi tokrat se mi je posrečila boljša izmed obeh možnosti.

Ko končno pride trenutek so občutki precej mešani. Nostalgija nad preteklimi dogodki, pomisleki, česa nisem uspel narediti, strah pred novim, navdušenje ob premiku, radovednost …

Seveda pa je vsak začetek tudi izziv. Prideš v mesto, kjer je vse novo, vse tuje. Začneš od začetka. Kje so vse pomembne točke v mestu, kje je najbližja trgovina in kdaj je odprta, kje je najcenejše pivo, kje se lahko najde dobro družbo … Ko potuješ sam, si moraš na vsa ta vprašanja odgovoriti sam, poleg tega pa si želiš kaj hitro ustvariti neko osnovno socialno mrežo, nekaj ljudi, katere lahko kadarkoli pokličeš za pivo ali sprehod. In vse te stvari poberejo ogromno energije. Tako se včasih zgodi, da se skriješ nazaj v svojo cono udobja. Slabo vreme je lahko le dodaten izgovor, da cel dan presediš v sobi, pod odejo, kjer je poznano in udobno. Gledaš stare filme in odklopiš možgane. Veš, da to početje ni kaj prida produktivno in da se stvari ne bodo rešile same od sebe. Veš, da bi moral ven med ljudi, da si ustvariš nova poznanstva in prijateljstva. Veš, da pasivnost ne prinese nič dobrega, le slabo voljo in razočaranje nad samim seboj. A danes si prešibek, da bi se premaknil. Poženeš še en že pogledan film in si rečeš “jutri bom bolj produktiven”.

In nekoč ta jutri pride. Vreme se spremeni, motivacija se dvigne, na najbolj nenavadnem mestu spoznaš nove ljudi in življenje se počasi spet začne normalizirati. Čez čas vidiš, da se je splačalo potrpeti čez težke trenutke. Bogat si za eno novo izkušnjo in naslednjič je aklimatizacijska doba mogoče kanček krajša.