The view from our accomodation onto the lake
Sundown in front of our accomodation
In the evenings we often came together in a cafe. 
Fun at the lake
Accommodation and environment
Camp work at the youth centre
At the youth centre in Mugle, we cleaned the area in mixed group, and cleared it from weed, we painted a wall in front of the youth centre, and we artistically fashioned a wall inside the centre with colours and clay works. Due to the high temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius, the work was physically exhausting, but working in the mixed group was great fun and strengthened our group cohesion.
Trip to the waterfall
02/08/17 – Hopes and Expectations – Visit to QUART DE POBLET
SIMON - Quart de Poblet - 02/08/17
After we spent the first night in Spain, we talked about our hopes and expectations for the camp. Till, the German head Teamer, gathered the entire group and explained, what to do; in a bit of private time in silence, every participant and teamer took a little “post it” and answered two questions: What do I hope for the Camp/ What do I want to see? and What am I willing to do, to make this happen/ What can I do, to make our last ewoca³ year as awesome as possible?
After everyone had some time in private, we met again with the group and we talked about, what we have written down. After one had read his notes, he put them on a wall in the gym we’re staying in, to save them for the camp.
It took us quite a while, because we translated everything in English, Spanish, Lithuanian and German, but it was a really intense and honest time, and it felt really good to see, how everyone was listening patiently to everyone’s wishes. All the participants made really nice wishes, about respect fun and of course staying in touch with their new friends.
All in all it was a really good experience that showed how the participants grew since the first camp.
After this very nice and sincere moment together; participants took to the streets of Quart de Poblet to know more about the town and the population with a fun gymkhana!
With this amazing beginning, I think the next days will be very good too.
I want to see how this year the family is getting stronger!!
See you soon guys!
Simon <3
01/08/17 – First day in the camp – BIENVENIDOS !
RUBÉN - Quart de Poblet - 01/08/17
God, I am really excited, I start another EWOCA again. This is the reason why I want to immortalize these days together with my friends in this “diary”.
I have many nerves to see my friends again and feel the same emotions that I felt a long time ago. The first day in the camp, teamers and participants from Spain met at the Ramón Laporta School to prepare everything necessary to the arrival of the German and Lithuanian group. I saw my friends as nervous as I was, and it reassured me. We all wanted to feel like an international family for the next 15 days!!!
After we prepared everything, we had dinner at the picnic place, where we stayed until 23:30 talking and organizing activities for the camp. After that, we came back to the school in order to wait the Lithuanian and German people, who arrived really late to Spain.
The teamers and also some parents of the participants went to the Valencia Airport to pick them up. They arrived to Ramón Laporta School at 1:00 am. The welcome was really warm in every meaning, because we haven’t seen each other for a while and the weather was really hot. And of course we also welcomed the new participants that joined our group this year.
Today has been a very long but highly expected day. Tomorrow will be another day.
See you!
Rubén
Our Odyssey
Around noon, on Friday the 11th of August, the Danish Vikings began their journey. At this point they did not yet know how long they would take to reach their destination. Their first stop was supposed to be in Northern Germany. There, they could spend a relaxing night to meet up with the German Vikings the next morning. With two small buses and a Volvo we then headed towards Ukraine. Everyone was prepared for a long trip with enough food. Everyone knew that the trip would be quite long still. We started our journey and were on our way. During the trip, we had a first opportunity of getting to know one another. In the centre of Poland, we then decided to camp at a rest stop.
In order to be at the Ukrainian border early in the morning, we for up at 5:00 already. The camp was packed, and our journey toward Ukraine continued. Then, at the EU border, we had to wait for 7 hours. We spend the waiting time getting to know the participants in the other cars, and playing card games. Already while waiting it was possible to hear our stomachs, as all our food had been used up, and there was no opportunity for getting food near the border.
We are waiting in a queue to pass the border.
At 20:00 in the evening, German/Danish time, we finally made it. We are in Ukraine. Only about 450km to our camp ground. So we calculated with about 5 hours. But we forgot, we are in Ukraine. It took the whole night, until 8:00 in the morning to reach our camp grounds. At this point the Danes were about 70 hours on the road, the German participants about 46 hours.
At the camp ground we were most welcomed by the Ukrainians bearing water melons and honey melons. Then we put up our tents, and we could wind down from our odyssey.
Departure for Turkey
The German group, while waiting for their flight, is looking forward to the camp in Mugla.
A short trip to Mostar
On Wednesday we went to Mostar, where the thermometer showed delightful 41 degrees – the perfect condition for a 2 hour bus trip. Luckily we had air conditioning and enjoyed the nice view of the mountain landscape on our way. Mostar is the biggest city in Herzegowina and a famous place for tourists. Especially the Stari Most – a beautiful bridge across the river Naretva – is definitely something to see. It was build by the Ottomans in the 16th century.
But at first we visited a traditional house which was left also from the Ottoman empire. With its architecture and original objects from that time such as furniture and dishes we were able to get a good impression about how people lived during that time period. After some of us bought postcards to send them to their families and friends, we moved on to meet up with local people in a nice pub. 
The most interesting part about Mostar is its devision in two parts: a Bosnian and a Croatian one. At the pub we had the possibility to talk to locals from both parts about how live is in such a conflicted situation. We got the impression that most of the young people in town had overcome this devision already and that they do not want to see the differences between these two parties. However the older people seem to hold on to old prejudices and stereotypes about each other.
We were able to exchange our prospectives and ideas of our perfect republic and happily the locals seemed to agree with us and our values. Afterward we had some free time and spend it differently. Some of us went shopping and bought lots of souvenirs, while others had a fantastic traditional Bosnian coffee with Lokum or went to swim in the very cold river.
On our way to the bus we found a dehydrated bird on the ground. We gave it some water to drink. Shortly afterward it felt much better and was able to fly away. Isn’t it symbolic?
Our first days in Donji Vakuf
Zdravo everyone!
After some time spent in Sarajevo, we arrived to our host town Donji Vakuf, where the family of our friends hosted us in their homes.
To understand better the situation in this town, we had some workshops that included interacting with local people. We went to the market, and asked people questions and their opinion what do they like and what would they do to change the things as citizens.
During our workcamp, we divided into two working groups, ´Republic´- where we are working on our ideal republic, where we create our perfect country and `Furniture group` where we are making furniture out of pallets for the kids in the neighbourhood. Local people reacted very positive about what we do here, and the kids were helping us :))
So far it´s going well for our final event that is going to happen on Saturday evening. We are preparing invitations, and inviting people ourselves, and there we are going to present our republic, so we are pretty busy right now, but we will post more pictures next time to show how are preparations look.
And here are some pictures of the barbecue we had last night, where the family of our friend Haris hosted us.
Till next time!
Democratic Playground
Hello everyone who is reading our blog. So we gathered again. but this time we came from Turkey and Germany to Bosnia and Herzegovina and we are here to create our own ideal republic.
The first two days we spent in Sarajevo, exploring the capital city, learning about the history and the culture of the country. We also visit the Parlament of Bosnia and Herzegowina where we have learnt about the system here and how it works.
For that purpose we interviewed local people and discussed each countries good and bad points that learned us how is the situation and lead us shape our republic.
![IMG_7575[1]](http://ewoca.org/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/08/IMG_75751.jpg)
During our two days in Sarajevo we had a chance to meet Amar and his mom Adha who are witnesses of the war that was happening from 1992 till 1996. They visit us and shared their stories. It was very emotional to listen, especially because it was told from the first hand and also because we didn´t know many things about the war that happened.
The other day we visit Tunnel of Hope which was built by Bosnian army during the siege of Sarajevo. This tunnel linked the Sarajevo neighbourhoods of Dobrinja and Butmir, allowing food, war supplies, and humanitarian aid to come into the city, and allowing people to get out.
Finally, we arrived to our host town Donji Vakuf, where we will spend the most time of our workcamp, and that´s why you should keep following us, because there are many interesting things we will be posting in our upcoming posts.
So stay tuned!
Warm greetings from hot Bosnia!