Hello everyone!

Have you ever had the impression that all seems to be well organized and under control and in few minutes you see that things are not going as you had planned and it starts to invade you a sensation of insecurity and nervousness that just blocking you and doesn´t allow you to react? Maybe we could thus summarize what was the workshop of last Wednesday.

The Veggie Kitchen is one of the activities which are responsible Gioia and I. But as last week I dealt with the football tournament with the people of Caritas and on Sunday I was one of the organizers of the event “Wet Games”, our Coordinator decided the next week my colleague Gioia would be responsible for the kitchen and Barbara her workshop assistant. She decided to prepare for this workshop two Indian cuisine dishes with the invaluable help of our friends Manish and Vicky, two Indian students lovers of their kitchen. The dishes they decided to prepare were “paratha” and “masar paneer”, the first dish was a pastry stuffed with a combination of veggies, mashed potato and spices, while the second was a combination of vegetables, cheese and a slightly spicy sauce. The truth is that the Indian guys behaved pretty well with the spices. Our concept of spicy food is quite different  as they are.

The workshop was planned to start at 7pm, but as usually happens in Cyprus, everything is done in a relaxed way and the workshop began half an hour late. Half an hour that we´d later regret having not used. We began when everyone arrived and presentations started. Very good atmosphere, good attendance of participants and everyone was collaborating on the preparation of the dishes... everything seemed to go well. But time passed, and the development of the event was not the desired. Some unforeseen events such as lack of several cooking equipment and lack of foresight in the preparation of the dishes began to put us in trouble. At 9pm we still were “with the hands in the dough” and several participants had other plans, so they left the workshop without trying all of the dishes. To lighten a little work, my colleagues and I started to clear the kitchen while Gioia, Manish and Vicky were cooking. A few minutes to reach 10pm we had still not finished, and the responsible of the spot where we doing the workshop, told us that we had to finish, she had to close. So at 10 o’clock, a little hasty, we invited the participants to begin to have dinner while the team of volunteers were cleaning and collecting the local. At 10.30 it was all over. But the feeling of the group was in general quite remote from having done a good job. However, and despite the setbacks, most of the participants had fun and were very participatory, something which I greatly appreciate.

Gioia felt as the main responsible of the activity, but the truth is that in this group if one fails, we all fail, in the same way as if one get success, all of us get success. And it´s true that not everything always goes as well as we planned it, but what is sure is that if one strives to something, both failure and triumph is always learning, always. And I´m sure that the next workshop will be a success.

Day off on Thursday because Saturday we had scheduled a day of training for a music and art festival called “Xarkis Festival“. More office hours on Friday and on Saturday afternoon my colleagues and I attended to the training together with other volunteers. Some name games to meet other volunteers and after this they were explaining us the way of working, how they organize everything and tasks we would bear out, among other things. Sincerely,  this is the first time that I’m going to work as a volunteer for a festival that, though they say it is not very large, expected participation of about 3,000 or 4,000 people, so I have the curiosity and desire to see and learn a little more about this type of event. It is possible that when you finish the festival I regret what I say, or it may be one of the best experiences and I may want to repeat. In a few days I will find it out.

As on Monday  it was a bank holiday in Cyprus, Orthodox Whit Monday, on Sunday I signed up to a trip that had been programmed by my colleagues and friends volunteer to the Agia Napa beaches. And I say I signed because in theory I had other plans that finally didn´t work. So on early Sunday  we took the bus heading to the beach and stayed in it until Monday afternoon. No umbrella and lots of suncream we could withstand the powerful Sun falling over us. Transparent water beaches (although a bit dirty by seaweed) and packed with people. In the same shore there were some party bars too. We stayed on the beach during the night to rest. With a volunteer pocket and exceptional temperature we had in the evening, it was the perfect plan. Chilling time that was very good for the body to disconnect from the city and from the work.

See you next week!