Kiksun

Sometimes it is very difficult to close an msn dialogue...Even if my chatfriend is already offline!
But I think it is just like with cleaning...to shut off simply!

I finally found words for the situation I am in.."I feel like a bus stop" with all those people coming and going and all the situations recently..=)

I was chatting with Sveta (who was also one of the passers by) and she told me that i wasn´t a bus stop..because I dont let all the buses stop.."All exclusive bus stop" did Sveta say..

Anyway..if u wanna stop u have to give sign to the driver ;-)

Yesterday I was cleaning a lot in my apaprtement. Throwing away old things etc. I do not understand why have I been collecting them actually. Maybe because they were not old then..hmm. Perhaps.

Today I just moved to the office and continued there..so many papars which used to be so important just some days ago - programme for the congress, list of workshops, list of participants..and now..all those things are just matured for a trash bin. Together with some even older papers and things..

It feels actually good to throw away. To make space for new things and...just to make space. When cleaning, my soul also got somehow ligther..

When cleaning I was also thinking. Many things I was throwing away reminded me past. I was throwing away past...No I wasn´t. I realized that we people are like huge photo albums - caring inumarable ammount of pictures from every moment we live. And then our pictures are base for another stories...

I believe that things are happening for some reason...but why have they stopped selling my favourite chocolate desert in ICA?

Nu har jag sett den..alltså "Så som i himmlen" har jag sett. Jag har gråtit av sorg och av glädje..

Det mest intressant med den där filmen är att jag har viljat se den sen den var ute men hann aldrig. Den här veckan är jag ensam här i Sverige. Alla voluntärer är hemma eller nån annanstans i världen och då tänkte jag att låna en svensk film (med dem andra tittade vi bara på filmer på engelska). Så nu var det dags. Hela veckan var jag på biblioteket under dagarna och jobbat på nätterna så jag hann inte låna filmen och titta.

Idag har jag varit på kontoret att ha skype träff med mina vänner i Slovakien. Och när jag var där, kom en IOGT-NTOare med filmen i handen. Han kommit från Tollare där Kay Pollak hade en föreläsning och alla fått DVD med filmen så de kan senare göra studiecirklar om den. Så jag fått den som från i himmlen och för att det är var lördag och jag tänkte vila lite ändå då tittade jag..

..och resten vet ni..Den är otrolig bra. Om männskligheten med allt gott och hemskt vi bär inom oss..Man aldrig vet varför man beter sig som man gör men en sak är säkert - ångst leder till inget bra och därför är trygghet det viktigaste man kan skapa för de andra...

... jag är så imponerad!!!!

Right now I have been sititng at the computer already 3 hours having "meeting" with NOM - which is slovak temperance youth organisation. They are having board meeting in Slovakia and me as a president I am trying to contribute on distance as much as possible from Sweden via Skype. Honestly.. I miss them. I like them and admire them. NOM is a small organisation with almost no financees inspite of that we have existed for already 7 years. All people working just voluntarly often very frustrated cause it is not easy to recruit new members into something what has very little to offer except friendship, nice atmosphere and sponatneous and improvised fun.

There has been some discussion going on in UNF about why to have many members in an organisation based on voluntarly base. Yes to spread ideas, to have better influence etc. I agree. But there is aslo another aspect - and that´s smth what an organisatoin has to offer to others. NOM is a small organisation but I think it is a very important "place" for those who are membes. They find space for self realisation. They feel that they belong somewhere thus they are assured that there are more people having the same believes, they found new ideas and new friends and they have something to hold on.

Now when they finished discussin some local things where I really can´t contribute I go back to them although it is a bit frustrating not to see their faces and hear their voices as good as in the real time and real space but still... the feeling to contributing and keeping NOM alive is stronger!!!!

..and now they r playing some slovak music for me =)

I have finally answered all the emails - work, NOM and private and now I can go to bed..Natii natti!

Veeeery veeery successfull and fullfilling. I was working on my thesis again.  Yesterday I managed to read newspaper from one week. Today I managed three weeks of Närikes Allehanda. It went much faster than yesterday but on the other side I really blocked all the news which did not have anything to do with gender, feminism, equal opportunities and such. I felt like a filter for gender matters =)
So no funny reports about latest research results today.

My hypothesis seems to be right. It makes me very excited and I cant wait untill I have results from focus groups...

Otherwise am also fine. It has been raining for several days already. I don´t care. I got really soaked on my way from library, but I was happy that I had not get soaked on the way TO library. It would have been worse. Sitting there 6 hours all wet wouldn´t be fun. After library I went to town to meet Malin. Havent met her for several months so we had a lot to catch up on. We were talking a lot about the summer and it made me feel warm inspite all the rain outside. This summer was really great, full of happening...my memories have finally settled down =)

Now I´m gonna read for a while...am reading Marian Keyes:  The other side of the story. Rather entertaining and also thoughts provokoing. Makes me think about moral and what is right and wrong.

And am gonna brush my teeth today also ;-)

This happens when you fall asleep at the public place on a boat and people have free access to your shoes..;-)
(the picture wasnt modified in any graphic programme..hihi)

I have been working a lot with my thesis - meaning analyzing swedish news paper. Among other usual things as politics and local news, i´ve got to know that 28th of October is international day of teddy bears (I will celebrate it for sure) and that condition of your teeth influence your memory (the better teeth the better memory of course). The second is kind of hard to believe although they had made research on animals and humans as well. Now they want to find out where is the limit - how many teeth can one loose to keep memory still in good shape..hmm.
I know people without teeth with great memory..but one never knows - it might be even better..

Now I run to brush my teeth ;-)

And here I am worshipping the god of photography ;-)

Going home from Croatia tomorrow. It was very short vaccation (only from 12th till 17th of August). The positive things (among many) is that the shorter the time spent in Croatia, the shorter the blog ;-) Well...Only 4 full days but I managed to: be sick (I was already when I left Sweden), get well, to go to cinema (movie called: Break - up), drive to sea, swim in the sea, see mountains, see the natural park - Plitvicke lakes (see the picutre below), take plenty of pictures, drive back to Zagerb (640 km together - Ruza was driving) sight seeing in Zagreb, shopping, roller skating, barbecue, talking and laughing with Ruzka and her friends..

Now I have to pack..and I cant have hand luggage (it is actually very funny all the security at the airports..but about that maybe some other day..)



I will come back!!!

Spiders in Croatia r curly and green...

There are many things to write about from one week in Basel. When I look back. I was trying to sort out my thoughts but I am still overwhelmed by feelings.. Nevermind..i´ll give it a try.

So the EGTYF congress started. I was "just"  an observer since I work for EGTYF so it wass logical that I wasn´t a delegate. I can say it was great to observe. And I felt very happy. I saw people I work for in action. I saw new organisations taking active part during the sessions, I saw old organisations who havent taken part in previous congresses talking and expressing their wishes. I saw people gathering, dicsussin, laughing, thinking, creating coalitions..I heard great speeches, board reports and I was proud to be member of EGTYF..
....or Active which is the same. Yes we changed the name into "Active - sobriety, friendship and peace". There are still discussions going on. Is it good or not? Is it the right name for temperance organisation? There are arguments that we will make an impression of being sport organisation. I do not agree really. Not only sport has something to do with activity. What about active participation? What about living an active life and not being passive? Passivity leads to using drugs for example. And our members are active in what they do. They actively promote the ideas of the organisation and also their believes, they take active step forward. It is up to us to make word "active" connected with temperance. I believe that it will help the organistion to grow and change the discourse connected to "active". And maybe it will also help some people to realize that sport and alcohol really do not belong to each other. Maybe..

When it comes to IOGT International congress..I liked it a lot. I was charing it twice. The first day and the day before the last day (how to call it in english). As I said I have learnt a lot from Robert and Andreas who were chairing the EGTYF congress. I have learnt that one has to be really clear and strict and be focused all the time.  When being a chairman I had one thing on mind. Respect. From my side and from side of others. There were more than 45 countries presented at the congress. People of different ages, from different cultures, having different "congress habits" but keeping those four things on mind - it was easy to handle. I loved it!!!!

Free time, evenings - I was amazed by many situations - drummers, Balcans together, winning volleyball, party in Basel...yes I have to describe it by few words.



During the excursion day, we had also street action in Basel. We went through the down shouting: "what´s a party without alcohol? Real party!!!" untill we reached the town hall and there we had disco, photo making etc. It was REAL party!!! So much fun! It was great final of the whole bus tour action. Many people dancing and enjoying. I felt very proud again!!!!

Maybe I can write a bit more about being elected vicepresident of IOGT International as well. Yes..when I got to know some day in May that EGTYF (now Active) wanted to nominated me for vicepresident of IOGT I, I was very surprised. It was very unexpected but the timing was incredible. Right those days I was walking around thinking that I have been very much active in Europe, but that I should step further cause Europe is not a desert island and I should live only in my "small" european bubble although it feels very nice and safe. I had to think a bit. I didnt know what such a position carries and so on but after some days of thinking I said yes.  And am happy that i did! After the congress I am very motivated to represent IOGT International and tp copntribute to its aims. I hope I will be able to do that. I will do my best!!!

As I promised and planned..I am back with some more detailed report from my "Basel" weeks.
There are many people writing about Basel week. So why do I write about weeks? Because I also had to get somehow to Basel. And I chose one of the longest ways of course =) It was long but it was very enriching and exciting. We started one week before the opening of EGTYF congres. We means around 15 Swedes from UNF, Sasa from Slovakia and our bus and bus drivers. The first day went rather easy. We came to our ferry, boerded and went to Estonia. We landed in Estonia close to Tallin and picked Kadri. It feels like this was real beginning of our time confusion. Instead of 2 hours to Tartu, we counted 7 hours. So of course we arrived rather early. But this was the better case. We arrived 5 hours earlier so we got some food and rest and sight seeing. At 16.00 our estonian friends arrived to joing our tour. It was amazing to see familiar faces. I do not know how estonians do that but I feel very close to them although I see some of them maybe once, twice a year. So they came and our party started. The meaning of going one week before the congress was to visit several places on the way "down" and promote life without alcohol and other drugs. The message wasnt only fighting drugs but also offerning the alternative to drugs - Real party with friends and fun!!! We really had nice party. We created leaflets (directly in the streets of Tartu), we build party tents and had disco on the square, we stopped people, invited them to the party and we also took a picture of some of them which was directly printed out and they wrote on it their name, age and smth that makes them happy.



We repeated this activity in all the places we stopped and it was real success. People were really happy about the pictures and there were many of them who supported our message. It was really pleasure to make party in the streets inspite of hot weather (still better than rain in this case). In the night we had some games with estonians and went to sleeping bags (we slept in a gym).
Next day our tour continued. Some more people on board (6 estonains) Next stop - Latvia. There we changed our plan a bit. Due to the fact that we havent got permission to have a party in the cetre of the town, we joined our latvian friends in demonstration walk through the town a later on we arranged the party out of the town at the street children centre. The experience is unforgettable. So many children, really happy for a single lollypop or music playing, amazed by our fire show.



The weather was with us again. Feeling tired we decided to take it easy next day and not to hurry to Kaunas, Lithuania. The morning was free so we spent it in street of Riga and we left after lunch heavier and noisier by some 9 lativans. In the bus we had a talk show about situation in alcohol advertising in different (participating) countries. The street action in Kaunas was canceled. We didnt have a permission and we were tireeeeeed. So after dinner we had some group activities together, improvisation theater, getting know each other etc. And then shoooop to bed cause our departure time for Slovakia was 6 a.m.
We woke up just to move to the bus and we slept more. We were on the road the whole day and arrived to Slovakia after midnight meaning that we traveled like 19 hours (with some small breaks of course). Slovaks were already waiting for us, we slept in a student house which was for some of the participants real adventure regarding the size and conditions...
Next morning - with a new information that our bus has to stay 10 hours without moving we somehow got into the centre of Bratislava and fixed the party there again. (I met my parents and my dog there - which really cheered me up). We took some more pics, danced some more (it was veeeeeeery hot), heard some words of support and then we left again. We left on time BUT....
Our next destination with some more people in bus (6 slovaks) was Freiburg, Germany (close to Basel) and estimated arrival time was midnight..hmm...OK..let´s say that we were 6 hours late..hmm..Considering all the complications we would have when arriving there (no shower, no bed, bus waiting 10 hours again) we deceided to change our destination, to skip Freiburg and to go directly to Basel. We did it =) We arrived to Basel at 9.30 ready for breakfast and shower and for one more week of great time.

The bus tour was about lots of sitting in the bus but also about seeing different cultures (remember the student house in Slovakia), different people and different reaction of people, exploring the cities and expressing what we believe in - fun without drugs and alcohol!!! It would never happen without UNF´s contribution and that´s why I want to THANK unf also here and send greetings to all partiicipants and organizers. It was unforgettable week..

I have been offline for more than 2 weeks. Nothing has happened in my blog but very much has happened in my life. The EGTYF Camp and Congress 2006 and IOGT World Congress were just full of happening and it is very difficult to start writing about it. Don´t know where to start. And I will not start from the beginning. I will just name some strongest moments and I will get back to the real beginning some other time.

I have never met so many friends at the same time and at the same place as I did during the congress week. Wherever I looked I saw faces which mean a lot to me. I could stop at whatever group and join people without any doubts. At the same time I feel that i have been with everybody and nobody. I managed to talk to a person maximum 15 minutes and some other people or tasks appeared. It made me feel a bit sad when i look back. I was looking forward to many friends and long talks but this I havent managed.

I slept maximum 4,5 hour every night.

I have never faced so much support as I did during the week. Even people who do not know me came to me to support me in what I was doing (chairing IOGT congress)

Btw. chairing the congress is one of the best things I have done in last years. I have never done it before but i guess I learnt a lot from Andreas and Robert during EGTYF/Active congress and I just applied it at IOGT International congress...

Yes EGTYF has changed the name into Active and I am very exciting about future promotion. (I will have to change my cathegory EGTYF into Active)

Our volleyball team won midnight tournament =) =) =) Seems that Switzerland is bringing me luck.

I got elected as vicepresident of IOGT International. It makes me think a lot too. Four years ago I took part at my first IOGT International congress in Eastbourne. I felt so little, unimportant and unexperienced. And suddenly four years later I was leading the congress and got elected. It just gives me lots of energy and motivation to continue in what I am doing. (seems I will have to add cathegory IOGT International as well)

I managed to change one part of constitution =) From sentence "IOGT I is the organisation for all women and men of all ages.." into "IOGT I is the organisation for people of all ages regardless gender,...." I think it is very important change. I have dealt with gender a lot last year and "men" and "women" do not cover all the cathegories. Moreover, although "all ages" were mentioned it can be a bit misleading and the fact that also children are members can disappear. So I am very happy that my proposal went through.

And I am impressed by the youth at the IOGT congress. They were great!!!

I have seen all the participants from Balcans together at the stage singing and having fun and it made me almost cry. Very warm feeling. Yes I definitely do believe in IOGT and Acitve.

OK..my emotions are stlil not sorted out so I will continue some other time..