Sretan Put

June 13, 2009

We were getting picked up around 10 am, so we decided to get up early and have one last breakfast together with Adelita, Maja, and Pega at the local restaurant. As we were walking there, Nemanja and Damir surprised us! They were also going to join us for breakfast.

Damir is a really talented artist, as I've said before, and he made individual cards for all of us. They were yellow cards with a hand drawn tree on the front, signed by him on the back. We all sat down, ordered a drink, and began writing notes in each other's cards. We wrote our names at the top, and passed them around the table.

I still have my card today, hanging up in my room, and I'm so thankful to Damir for the idea - it's really nice to have a little personal reminder of everyone, and words of encouragement as well, hanging on my wall.

We spent a few minutes writing in each other's cards




Words can't express the love I have for that small town of Gvozd and all the wonderful people I met there. I will forever be grateful for my opportunity to spend my time with such a great group of people.

To Maja and Pega - I know you know, but I really believe that you two are the most amazing and compassionate people I've ever met. You're both so driven to do what you can for Suncokret, your community, and Croatia at large, even when it means sacrificing your own needs. I'm so inspired by the both of you, and I'm so fortunate to have met you. I love and look up to you both very much. I can't imagine my volunteer experience without you guys!

To Adelita - We had a lot of good times, didn't we? Gvozd was a lot of fun with you - cooking, having discussions at night over tea and biscuits, and especially going to Topusko, waiting for the bus for hours, eventually to get rained on. Ha ha. I wish you all the best, and hope that I can see you again soon!

To Damir - I don't know if you'll ever see this, but thank you for all your hard work and dedication. You're an amazing artist, person, volunteer, and I hope you continue to make art throughout your life! I hope Luna is doing well! I wish you the best :)

To Ljubisa - Thanks for driving us to Karlovac and showing us around! I had a lot of fun in Gvozd and I'm glad you were a part of it.

To Sonja - Thank you for being so giving during our two weeks in Gvozd - I will never forget the cookout at your place - I had so much fun! I think we all did!

To Duda - Boy, do those kids love you at Suncokret! I feel like you were a second mom to all those kids, as well as us. Thank you for being so open and kind to us while we were there.

Without ALL of you, my experience in Gvozd and Suncokret would have been so different. You all are doing such a great thing, and I only wish you all the best.

Leaving Gvozd on the bus :(

Water Balloon Toss, Maja's, and a cookout!

June 12, 2009

I was so surprised how fast those two weeks flew by. By the time the second Friday came, I couldn't believe it! I felt like we were just finally comfortable with the kids and vice versa. Still, I was blown away by all we managed to accomplish while we were there. I just wish I could have stayed longer!

Our last Friday in Gvozd, we spent doing a TON of fun things. We had a water balloon toss with the kids.

Everyone ended up tossing it back and forth until someone dropped it. Once that happened, everyone grabbed balloons, and it turned into a full-fledged water balloon fight! Once we ran out of balloons, the kids started filling their water bottles and buckets with water and spraying everyone with it, including the volunteers!



AND! The mural was finally finished! Most of the work was done by Jennifer and Damir, but we all helped with certain parts. Bravo to them! They did a great job :)

I did the Sunflower Power area, as well as part of the ferris wheel and rollercoaster tracks :)



After everyone dried off, Maja took us to her house with cherry trees, cats, and countryside galore.




Pega encouraged us to try his homemade honey and cherry rakija - rakija is alcohol usually made from fermented fruit, and typically, when you visit someone's house it's offered. You don't usually have a choice if you want to drink it or not, they make you! :)

Because it was our last night in Gvozd, we decided to have a cookout and invited everyone from Suncokret to come. It was a lot of fun planning a party! Some of the boys from Suncokret came early, and helped us make a bonfire pit (actually, they did it all on their own while we watched, ha ha.)
Making salad, while listening to some tunes!

The fire pit!

It was a really good time - we got to spend time with all the volunteers from Suncokret, our group, and some of the local kids. The majority of the kids that came were the younger ones. I think the older ones were on a field trip to see the coast. We played lots of volleyball until everyone was ready to eat.
Marcy and Jennifer!

Jumping rope! We later used this rope as our volleyball net. These kids know how to make anything work for EVERYTHING

Marie showing the kids how to put their sausage on their stick to cook over the fire


Suncokret Volunteers - Maja, Sonja, Pega, Ljubisa, and Duda

Damir and Adelita



Eventually, everyone left and it was just us 8 girls and Adelita left. It was very bittersweet - our last day at Suncokret was today and our cookout was just as much for the community as it was our going away party. We spent another hour or so sitting around the campfire talking. I think we all felt the same way - it had definitely been a remarkable 2 weeks in Gvozd, but we were also ready to see the rest of the country.

So we left the campfire and packed our bags...

Karaoke Night!

June 11, 2009

Finally! Karaoke was here! We had been planning karaoke for about a week - well, at least THINKING about it, because there wasn't much to plan - and we were super excited to hear the kids sing. We finished the gravel road during the day, while the other girls worked at Suncokret or visited a gypsy town.


There was a storm rolling in - we could see it in the distance on our way to Suncokret. I loved being able to see so far across the countryside. The most beautiful days in Gvozd were the days it rained - there was always an amazing sunset at night.

Goran and Pega had already set up the speakers and got Suncokret ready for karaoke when we got there. By the end of the night, we had attracted quite a crowd with our event - a lot of people showed up that we had never seen before - older teenagers that were probably the same age as us, parents, and even the younger kids. It was a really good time :)




It was a great night! Once karaoke was finished, everyone left, and it was pouring rain outside. On our way back to the house, we stopped at the caffé bar, Mika's, on the main road for some icecream! Yum.

Petrova Gora, more of Gvozd, and gravel roads galore

June 10, 2009

There is a small mountain with a huge silver building on top of it that you can see from Gvozd. (If you look back and some of my pictures, you might be able to see it.) We had wanted to go explore it since we got to Gvozd, so today Adelita and Predrag took us there. It was about a 30 minute drive up the winding mountain in a bus - it was a little freaky, especially when I looked out the window and it just dropped straight down!


During World War 2, Petrova Gora was the location of the Partisan resistance movement's central military hospital which consisted of a system of underground chambers and log cabins scattered throughout the mountain range. Even while the country was under German occupation, the hospital was never discovered by the occupying forces and remained in operation until May 1945. Starting in 1940, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, from makeshift underground printing rooms on the mountain, started printing Vjesnik, a daily newspaper that is still being printed daily in Croatia. Petrova Gora is a memorial site/monument dedicated to the Partisans and what they did during Yugoslavia's resistance in World War 2. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrova_Gora)



However, during the Homeland war, the monument was destroyed. Surprisingly, Petrova Gora is almost a tourist attraction - while we were there, there were probably a handful of other people there exploring, too. I really think it's a shame this amazing building was wrecked and was left almost completely barren on the inside. There's almost nothing left.



Anyway, we decided to climb to the top of the monument. The inside is mostly still intact, but there were places that were completely pitch black, so we had to bring our flashlights with us!
Looking down the staircase - It reminded me of Dr. Seuss, but without all the colors!


Once we got to the top, there was an amazing view!



This is Gvozd from the top of the Petrova Gora monument


It was super windy up there!


All the girls and Pega!


When we left the monument, we continued down the mountain, which has a lot more interesting things to offer. Another thing we got to see was this monastery, which is thousands of years old.


After our excursion, we stopped for a Coke at this restaurant.


After we got back from our day trip, we took a walk around Gvozd and took some pictures.

The Post Office


The Photo Booth


The Police Station


An apartment building


The main street


There is a farmers market here every week, and if you look hard enough at the top
of that mountain, you can see Petrova Gora!


This was our favorite house in Gvozd! The woman who lived her always gave us buckets of fresh strawberries. She was so sweet!


Also, earlier that day (and the next) we worked on the gravel road. Jamie, Marie, Marcy, and I all worked on it. It was quite a project! This road was parallel to the road that led to the Japanese house. The road we worked on was used by people who lived beyond the Japanese house. There weren't many people, I think we only saw about two of them the entire time we were there!