Updated on August 7, 2015
Germans in Ieranto!
The Germans are coming! Well, no more. They came and they went. But what was it that they did in the Ieranto Bay? The answer is:… Well it’s long, so we are having a whole blog entry just for that.
On a fine Thursday morning the bay of Ieranto got filled up by the very white looking Germans. In total 43 of them. Or was it 53? Or maybe 49? Doesn’t matter – quite many of them, anyway. And what did all of them want? Everything the bay of Eranto can offer – the beach, snorkeling, kayaking. Tours on both the land, and the sea. That is exactly what they got.
After having been introduced with the history of the place that surrounded them, they were divided into smaller groups. Each group started with a different way of exploration. Some started the day by getting into a kayak and going all around the bay and a bit further. Others went by foot, both up and down the hills, allthrough the wilderness of Ieranto. And some suited up and jumped into the always warm water of the bay of Ieranto to start their snorkeling session. I, myself, went with the later group. I believe that I enjoed it at least as much as them if not more. Oh my, the colors of the fish! And plants! And actually everything under the water. The depths of the bay were there to see. Under us and around. Another world. Almost completely out of our control. No fullish laws, the makings of men, apply to the world under the line that separates land from sea. You feel as if you go through a portal and into something else. With the life underneath. In the moment. Free.
However, my brightest exerience of that day was not what some might call a pleasent one. I was stung by jellyfish – first hit came to my face , the second one on my arm. For a second, no more, I was struck out of the dream I was in. But fast enough I realised that, more or less, this was the part of the experience. And later on, funny enough, I was only happy about the incidient. For it was nice to know what it’s like. The little burning sensation under water might have been the most adventorous part of the day.
All in all, I deeply believe that all of us had a time to remember. The Germans as well as us. A good day to add to our greatest of memories.
Updated on August 6, 2015
Returning to MARE and the homebrewing adventure
8 months after –
after the last day in Ieranto (full of jellyfish but still sunny enough to stay on the beach in only our swimsuits) and the last day in our old home, accompanied by the faithful Trilli all the way to the sunset on San Costanzo;
after the adventurous return trip to Germany via Bologna, Piemonte, Veneto to Berlin;
after winter at my parents’ place, too grey (the ever so slightly sunny days could be counted on one hand) and full of doubts, wher my only task was confronting the Big Question: “What now??” and my only certainty wanting to return the following summer to MARE – which by then seemed so far away.
Even the certainty of wanting to return, however, was disturbed by questions like “What will it be like to return as ex-volunteer? Whithout my fellow Marellini of 2014? Will the new guys be nice? And what will the project be like living in the city instead of Nerano? Without our home, not being able to go to Ieranto, Recommone, San Costanzo easily whenever I want? How do we even get to Ieranto to work? It was hard to immagine. Anyways I knew I had to return, even if only to brew beer, which my dad had done the previous year when he stayed with us, and which Mimi asked me to do again every single time he wrote me.
Arriving 8 months later on the road from Vico Equense towards Meta, seeing the peninsula which just a week ago had seemed so distant, strangely enough it feels like I never even left. And whenever I’m here, Napoli becomes my horizon, I’m so immersed in life here that it seems as if the rest of the world outside ceases to exist.
Once I arrive at the volunteers’ place, I am immediately reassured that they are all very sympathetic. The new house, even though smaller (and even though I still miss Nerano’s ex-school) is nevertheless beautiful, and is recognisably the home of Marellini: everything is a bit improvised, the same photos of turtles and underwater life are hanging on the walls and even our MARE notizie posters from last year, and most importantly it’s very welcoming, with communal dinners of international cuisine, it feels comfy.
The first days I feel a bit strange – last year the old volunteers showed us around all the places to discover in our village; I on the other hand, know nothing of the place we live now and the first time I have to return home alone I take a wrong turn and in the end have to call Mimi to find the way back to the house. Everything’s a bit different, there’s internet for everyone and even a WhatsApp group. You can easily go out in the city in the evening. By bike.
But then I return to Ieranto. To Franco’s to say hi and get a lemon soda. To Olga to say hi and get my panino for lunch. To Salvatore to say hi and get lemon coffee. To work in the bay with Antonella and Francesco. To kayaking. Where I always feel at home.
Now I’m back here for 2 weeks already and got used to the new situation quite well. I got to know the area a bit and know how to get back home. Most of all I got to know better the new volunteers and was able to share some of my experiences from last year with them. I also observed that, despite all the differences, the small problems and questions of everyday project life still remain the same, be it about learning italian, particular situations with the boats in Ieranto, or how to correctly separate the trash at home. It’s wonderful to meet again all the friends from last year, to see how much our little Silvia has grown, and how project MARE has grown, in the sense of having learned from previous experiences, and how it overcomes any new unexpected challenge.
And then we did brew beer. Which was a small challenge itself, transferring what I learned from my dad in the last days before coming here with his by now well-established system of equipment into our improvised context here: for example, to store the 22l of water we sterilised the day before, we had to use every pot we could find in the house, as opposed to the convenient large buckets with lid my dad uses, and we stored them in various different places between fridge, freezer and cellar. For stirring the mixture of the various ingredients for the beer we used a broomhandle (obviously sterilised previously with boiling water). Furthermore, the malt I had ordered the week before still hadn’t arrived, and eventually I found out that the delivery company hadn’t managed to deliver it to our house, so we had to go to their deposit in Castellammare to pick it up. Without a car at our disposal, we headed out by train towards the industrial zone of Castellammare. Walking along the most polluted river in all Europe we got to know a very different kind of place than the pretty touristic towns we usually frequent during our work here.
Having returned from our walk under the scorching sun we waited for the slightly cooler hours of the evening to complete the brewing process. We needed the previously sterilised water to be very cold since it would then be mixed with the water in which we had just boiled the hops and with the malt. All together had to be less than 26 degrees in order to not kill the yeast, which we added in the end to ferment this broth and turn it into delicious beer. In the cellar underneath Nicola’s house we found a nice cool dark spot for our beer to develop without being disturbed. The volunteers are now off to their on-arrival training. After they get back, in the first days of August, it will be time to fill the beer into bottles, and we will see if the adventure of the first beer made by me, my contribution to MARE 2015, will end well. I hope so!
Frauke
Updated on August 6, 2015
MARE project is haunting you!
Due anni fa, un gruppo di volontari assolutamente leggendario arrivò a Nerano downtown, la prima generazione di MARElini, che pero non è riuscita a far abbandonare a Mimi l’idea di svolgere sto progetto anche nei prossimi anni. Per questo, il progetto compiute tre anni quest’anno. E cresce molto bene. Anche fuori dall’Europa geografica, giovani di diversi paesi si impegnano per un incantevole pezzo di terramare italiano.
It was the shadows in the moonlight time
the sound of the waves
the rolling stones
sunset hours in our mind
the whispering from mountains above
the nighlty walks, the full moon swim
unforgettable summertime made of good vibes
a house full of friends, freedom, happiness and life
Mada, Daga, Sinda, Marco, Steph. Franzzzesco. Alba. Mimi. Pippi. Teo. No Silvia yet.
E la scuola, casa della felicità, luogo di incontri, di idee, utopie, di musica da Gangnam Style senza headphone a l’indimenticabile playlist di Bob Marley. Cucinando con l’allegria dei Beatles, mangiando tutti insieme sul terrazzo sempre pieno di amici, famiglia, discussioni in cinque lingue, energia. Lo spettacolo delle stelle, quel cinema naturale di ogni sera. Nottate passate col rumore del mare, bonefires, pizza e birre. Non c’era tempo per la virtualità, si doveva vivere. Era il periodo di piccoli messaggi scritti a mano e attaccati nell’entrata della scuola. Non c’era bisogno d’un orologio, si viveva nel momento.
A Ieranto, in quel periodi, dei strani individui con magliette slavate e capelli disordinati occupavano la baia con i loro kayak. Un tuffo snorkelling tra due turni di monitoraggio, contare le persone, descrivere la meteo, dipingere e scrivere nel logbook nero. Una chiacchierata con Gianna o Elisabeth, una partita di domino con i legionari. E, quando il sole spariva dietro la montagna, era tempo per tornare, piccola pausa caffè da Salvatore e zouuuuh! Correndo attraverso la macchia profumata, aspettando la granita di Franco!
E stato più di un esperienza di volontariato, e stato piutosto un’esperienza di vita.It’s been two years now, a reality hard to realize. Project MARE is haunting you, even when you already left. Friends spread all over Europe, coming regulary back to our second home Italy to meet beloved people and places. EVS is such a life time feeling. Tutte le persone incontrate durante quest’esperienza, che siano altri volontari o italiani mi hanno insegnato tanto. Ho potuto crescere molto durante l’esperienza e credo di poter dire lo stesso dagli altri. Ognuno è stato accettato come persona, ognuno è tornato cambiato. E difficile mettere parole sullo spirito MARE, è un ricordo, un feeling, un legame. E leggere i post dei nuovi volontari è sempre bello, perché si vede che quei luoghi, le persone e attività che abbiamo conosciuto noi due anni fa colpiscono i „nuovi“ nello stesso modo. La famiglia MARE cresce…a quando un gigante incontro?
Updated on August 7, 2015
Presentation to the park!
Few days ago, we finally made the official presentation between ourselves and the park’s staff! That was an opportunity to meet the members of the park and introduce ourselves to them , and specially to understand our roles and all the activities to complete.
To escape the formal type of presentation, we decided to make something different : every volunteer choose to present an experience we lived during the past month (turtle release , climming the mountain , our house , the food , the italian class, etc) and then a little talk about his own country. What made our idea original is that each volunteer didn’t represent himself but was presented by the previous one . It’s funnier …
In that day , also we travelled all around the world through the typical food that each one had prepared : tortilla from Spain , wine from France , candies from Czech Republic , porridge from Latvia , beer from Germany …
After this, the other way around! The staff of the park presented us their activities (or “ours” now!) and our roles in protecting the marine area ; and how can we be helpful to release this goals .
It was an very interesting day to be aware of the responsibilities to protect the marine environment and to reduce the damages on the nature caused by man .
Updated on August 7, 2015
About Mentoring
Hello Kamacho! How are you? I hope all is ok, I’m perfect here in the South of Naples, there are a lot of things to do, and now with the activities of the project – the italian lessons…Idon’t have time to send you emails or letters! Sorry! I’m sure that you can forgive me.
I don’t know how to start… But probably today is a good day to talk to you about one very interesting activity with our mentor in which all of my mates participated, me includedof course. This is the the mentoring time, and we do some activities with the main objective to get to know each other better.
Our mentor explained us some activities that we had to do, in pairs, or in teams, for example, the last monday afternoon, we had to present each other to all the group. We didn’t talk a lot about the each other because we have lived together just for two weeks, it’s not enough time, so it is too soon to know any information about the others. However, at the end of the activity we knew a lot of things about the others mates!!!
In an other activity, each of us had to write six sentences about ourselfs. Then, our mentor had to read the information in public to the others mates and we had to guess which one was the person that the mentor was talking about.
At the end, we did some activities together in pairs with the main objective – understanding that we can do a lot of things if we work in a team. In order to do so, we have to work like one. In a team and not like individual persons.
For sure this kind of activities will be very usefull in the dynamics of the MARE group, and our lives.
I hope to talk with you soon man! Visit me soon!
