Home sweet home

21st of December I finished my EVS project in Slovenia and got back home in Finland.

It was quite sad to leave Slovenia after spending there a whole year and getting to know the culture, country and wonderful people with who we had really great time.. But at the same time, of course it's wonderful to get back home, especially when it's Christmas time. <3

So, sLOVEnia, for sure I will miss you all! Let's keep in touch, and maybe we will meet again some day - se vidimo ;)

Merry Christmas, Vesel Božič and Hyvää Joulua!

PS. I will update at least few more things on my blog before I stop writing it, so from time to time, check it out :) Maybe also some things about returning back from the long journey - how is it to be back in Finland, what did I learn and how did it all change me?

Independence Day

6th December 1917 Finland got independent.

Happy 96th Independence Day, Finland!

 And this is how we celebrate it: 

http://www.wikihow.com/Celebrate-Finnish-Independence-Day

10 Things About Living Abroad: No Turning Back

On Facebook I noticed an article about living abroad (or traveling for longer period). It had really good points and I agreed with many things of the text. No need to explain more, here is the start, and below you can open the link for the rest of the text. 

"Moving around the world teaches you many things. It isn’t for everyone. It takes a special type of person to be able to do what we do. Packing up all your things into two carry-on bags and two checked pieces of luggage is struggles in itself, and to generalize imagine being a woman! I could only bring 10 pairs of shoes! Your mother will go through that luggage and make you narrow it down to seven cardigans instead of 17 and she will remind you that those shorts still don’t fit and haven’t fit for 3 years, you should probably just let them go. Along with letting those shorts go you are also letting go of friendships, relationships, comfort.

A wise man told me that the reason we move to new countries is because we are either running from or running to something. I laughed and thought he was crazy. I just wanted a change; there was no rationale to my choice. The more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. I wasn’t just running from something, I was sprinting as far as I could. What I didn’t realize was that this choice has now started the foundation of my future. Just like a tattoo, that first little taste and you want more and more. No turning back."

Check out the 10 things about living abroad from this link.

Source: http://thoughtcatalog.com/rachel-rae/2013/11/10-things-about-living-abroad-no-turning-back/#4Hp6tmwiejfhFsUE.01

Exhibition of drawings - Welcome!

Jesenice

This weekend we went hiking in Jesenice - Hruški vrh 1 776m and Dovška Baba 1 891m. Our crew was Finno-Ugric: Balázs and Judit from Hungary and me as a Finn.

On the morning we arrived to the train station of Jesenice, bought some food from the market and continued the way to the start of a walking path called Stara Rudna pot. On this summer my Hungarian friends participated in a working camp there, cleaning the path and streams, digging ways for water to flow down.

On Jesenice train station we also saw an old steam train - wow! 

 

Jesenice is located on the border of Austria and Slovenia, so a part of the way we were walking in Austria's side. So, hehe, now I can say that I've been in Austria. Or even better, hiking in Austria ;-)

This is Austriaaaaa!

 

On this hike we reached two peaks - Hruški vrh 1 776m and Dovška Baba 1 891m on the Karawanken Alps.

On the border there is just a small, broken fence... And a great view!

On the way down we stopped by a hut (unfortunately it wasn't open) for a lunch which we had with us

On the way down it was already getting quite late, so we missed the last bus to Ljubljana. But no worries - hitchhiking was successful and we got to a train station of Lesce-Bled and caught the last train.

Mali Golak part 2

On Sunday we went hiking on Mali Golak for the second time. Previous one was around April, when there was still plenty of snow and the weather was so foggy that we didn't see further than 5 metres on the top! Now we were luckier, on the morning the weather was a bit rainy but sky got quite clear while we were walking up so the view was great! It was possible to see all the way till the sea. It was only a bit shame that we didn't see the Alps properly - there were a bit more clouds on that direction.

As also on the previous time, we started from Predmeja. This time we chose a different way up, but went back the way which goes by the cottage.

Floorball

On 23.-25. August there was a floorball tournament called "Floorball Slo Open International Tournament 2013" in Ljubljana. There were floorball teams from different countries and they were playing 2x15min matches. When checking the web page, I noticed that there will be 3 teams from Finland as well, so of course as a floorball fan I went to cheer for them. :-)

I've been playing floorball for 10 years already - last 5 years as a goalkeeper. We are playing in women's 2nd division. Even our town is quite small, every year there are more people (especially juniors) who want to start playing floorball. It's really popular sport in Finland!

Lately I've noticed that there are several different versions of hockey games played either on ice or indoor sport hall. The main differences between these sports are on equipment and rules, but they also have a lot in common. Here are some pictures;

Ice hockey

Bandy

Ringette

Rink hockey (Roller Hockey (Quad) or just roller hockey (in British English))

Inline hockey (roller hockey or inline roller hockey)

Indoor hockey

Floorball

Also that floorball can be played also on sand, lake, swamp, snow, street..

Then there are usually less players on the field (3-4), and no goalkeeper because the goals are smaller. You'll see on these pictures :-)

Triglav

I heard that it's possible to become a real Slovene only after getting on top of Triglav, the highest mountain on Slovenia. Now I did it! ;-)

On Sunday morning me, Balazs (Hungarian long-term EVS volunteer in Ljubljana) and Sanja (from Novo Mesto) started the way towards Uskovnica, where the hiking trip began. 

There it is, Triglav... We are on the way there!

On the first day we walked till Krederica hut via Vodnikov dom, where we had a break for lunch (delicious risotto cooked before).

On the evening all of us were pretty tired, so after our sandwich+hot cacao -"dinner" it was time to go to sleep...

On Krederica hut - tired but happy!

An awesome sunset, and the temperature was around 10-15c - chilly.

...And on the next morning we were probably the last ones waking up. :-D

For the second day's hike the route was more steeper than the way till Krederica. By holding on chains, wires and rocks, we were more likely climbing than walking first up till Mali Triglav (small Triglav) and then to the top of Triglav. 

I guess we can confess that we were a bit scared on the way, but getting on top cleared our minds of all thoughts. The view was AWESOME! I have never seen that amount of high mountains. We were also really lucky with weather - it was sunny, so not even so cold and the sky was quite clear. What can I say... breathtaking! :-)

Heli (FIN), Sanja (SLO), Balazs (HU)
---->>>> ALL SLOVENES NOW ;-)

A bit of joking... :P

For the way down we chose the other way and had a break on Dom Planika mountain hut.

 From there we continued the way till Vodnikov Dom, where we stayed the second night. The people working there were really friendly and helpful and the cottage was really cozy. I really loved that place and could spend a whole week there <3 :-) Unfortunately on the next morning we had to keep on going.

Vodnikov dom

Haha, this was funny situation. Our new friend, Kerry the Cow was really friendly and sympathetic, sleeping on the grass... Untill she got up and we saw how big she is!

Vodnikov dom with the great view on Triglav

The last day's hike (Tuesday) was short and easy (even though muscles were getting quite painful) - around 3-4 hours back to Uskovnica. 

Planning which way to choose for going down

YAHOOOO! We survived ;-)

Our deserved drinks - Radlers and my half a liter milk... even becoming Slovene, I still didn't forget my Finnish habits :-)

When we got down, we still had a lot of time so we decided to go swimming in Lake Bohinj. Water was chilly and refreshing, just what we needed after exhausting 3-days hike.

On the trip we were really lucky - perfect weather, no accidents and all together everything was fine! It was also the best place to escape busy life in the middle of nature. This will be one of the experiences which I will never forget. :-)

Pictures: Balázs Kajor