TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012 

This morning was colder than the day before. We were divided into three groups: two of them went to repair the fences and the third one cleaned the horses and their stables. It was a pretty and a tiring day. We did a lot of work which we found really interesting. We had the opportunity to work as a team and we got to know each other:-) 

After lunch, we continued with the work and in the evening there was some time for horseback riding lessons, which was a good experience. There was a small accident with the wild horse - so Denisa fell down:-( In further evening the Czech delegation had its program. Some learned a lot of information about the Czech Republic - the president, singers, currency... For dinner, we had typical Czech potato pancakes! And we also had the chance to taste Czech alcohol and some sweets. 

Sereen (Lebanon) & Kuba (Czech Republic) 

MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2012 

The first day of work... for some this may sound a bit scary, especially when it has to be related to a farm of horses. All you can imagine is dirt, bad smell, sweat and hard exercise. Well... our first day at work as CISVers was nothing more than FUN! Yes, surprisingly, it was fun: having a team spirit with a smile on our faces made all this work just go so smooth and so easy that time flew away. 

The tasks were divided, one group was celaning the pool (yes, we have a pool, which is not done yet, but we are not giving up:-)), another group was working in the stables, cleaning the horses poo (well, not a flowery smell out there...) but the feeling of serving the horses entering the stables at the end of the work outweighed all the sweat. Finally, the last group was cleaning the camp shop tiny house - well, someone must do the work!

Well guys, for your info that was only the morning part, the afternoon is another story. That´s it, just for a small glance of what we do as a team.... 

Keep smiling and nothing will be hard. That´s us and what we do... 

(Sarah, Lebanon) 

WOW! The camp is perfect. Yesterday we had the introduction while eating Czech-Italian pizzas. Today we started the activities: cleaning and taking care of the horses, we moved  about 400 tall trunks, we cleaned the field between the tents and the kitchen, Czech organization was perfect. We are starting to know each other and we appreciate our group. 

(Francesco, Italy) 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2012 

The staff got to the campsite in the morning to check that everything was ready for the participants. Then Martina and Jiri arrived with some of the participants (who had spent  a few days at Martina´s house). Then Hanka got to the camp with other participants... We also met Matyas and Martin, the sons of the farm´s owner, Lesha.  Later on, Martina went to the airport to pick up the remaining ones... when almost all of us were at the campsite (except for Anbjorg who was going to arrive at 10pm), we had....

an Italian lunch - pizza! The Italians were soooo happy about it:-) 

Then the boring part started - Denisa needed to collect the boring CISV forms:-), and in the meantime, there was time to choose a tent or cabin, settle down and unpack. At about 4pm there was a getting to know activity - to remember our names, a bit of private life (gossips, huh? :-)) and so on... and to see how we perceived the others. 

Ather that, the participants and staff went through the Leader´s file, to see the outline of the daily schedule and our calendar. Morover, all countries signed up for their National Activity. We also hung the countries´flags and also CISV flag and the HUCUL CLUB flag together! They look really nice together! 

Then we had .... guess what!? .... an Italian dinner! Pasta Bolognese (although the Italian activity is on Thursday...) that our cook Jarda made for us! Really delicious! Although it may not have been prepared exactly according to the Italian recipe...

And then we had a tour through the farm and its surroundings - Lesha (the owner of the farm), took us around the farm, showed us the corals and pastures, briefly explained the history of the hucul breed and suggested what we could possibly help with at the farm. We also went to see... THE HORSES!  

Then Frank asked if he could taste some Czech beer, but the saffies had bought more important things for the first day... however, Lesha was going shopping in the evening, so we asked him to get a few beers for us, just to taste:-) Then  he spent some time sitting with us at the fireplace talking, and also his neighbour Michael went to see us there. And during all that... since it was around 10pm, Martina finally appeared with Anbjorg! Finally, we were all togehter! 

Then it started to rain slightly, so we went to our tents to spend a lovely night listening to the raindrops falling on the roof - a unique felling! Let´s see what we´re gonna do tomorrow... 

(Denisa, Staff member) 

Our new blog has been launched today. However, we will rather use it as a Camp Diary after our IPP starts. 

Stay focused on it and we will try to keep you informed. You can read new posts on this blog via the RSS feed.