April isn’t quite the end of winter yet (the snow has made a comeback!), so spring isn’t quite here yet… Every day, we keep an eye on the weather to find out whether we’ll be able to continue in the garden or not. In France, we have this saying: “ne’er cast a clout till May be out”.
Easter bells
Volunteering in another country also means having the time to discover and take part in national holidays, religious or otherwise, that are different from those in our home country. So we were able to celebrate Easter by learning about the local tradition of painting eggs with natural dyes made from turmeric, onions and red cabbage.
Working with children
We have started the activities with the pupils from the art school in Kazanlak, on Wednesday mornings when one of their teachers is missing.
We planned different activities for each session with a different theme: group dynamics, emotional intelligence, ecology, yoga and breathing.
Ecotrail Event
Throughout this month, we’ve been busy organising an event on the Shipka. All the mediation panels have been restored, and to mark the occasion we organised an event open to the public on the trail, with geocaching as the main activity. We went there several times to restore the caches, paint the panels with varnish and change some of the wooden legs.
And of course, gardening time
Mulching, planting, cutting grasses, many, many things have to be done with the spring coming ! We also still pruning do the hail damage …
The little extras of volunteering
Finally, there are all those little extras, those activities that we have the privilege of doing as volunteers and for which we don’t have the opportunity in our own countries, for various reasons (costs, lack of time, etc.). So we had some time to do a fitness session in the village and we also took part in a mini festival of craft designers, making wickerwork.
