It’s hard to believe, but we have been in Bansko for three months! When we left The Netherlands, we had never expected to be in the same spot for such a long time!
However, time really flies and we are enjoying ourselves a lot here. Even though we don’t have children, we are feeling connected to this Worldschooling community. We used to be a bit hesitant when it comes to ‘community life’, but this experience really proved us wrong. Because we like our privacy, we were a bit scared it would all be a bit too much. And it does sometimes! There are days when we don’t feel like going out for dinner with the whole group or joining in on yet another activity, but most of the time it’s just absolutely amazing! There’s always someone around to talk to, to ask you how your day was or just to borrow a needle that you didn’t bring.
It’s unbelievable how many new – and close – friends we’ve made. Spending a lot of time together with like-minded people really helps building deep relationships! And it inspires us for the future.
As you know now, we are helping out at a ‘world schooling hub’. Worldschooling is an educational movement that recognizes that a child can receive its education by experiencing and interacting with the world around them. For most families, this means traveling together and using the journey to enhance the child’s education. Some families here are also homeschooling and/or using online schooling. Other families are unschooling. Here in Bansko, a lot of these families have gathered to have social interaction and to be part of this worldschooling hub.
We’ve changed one of the big apartments (in the building that we and most of the families are staying in) into an activity center: a place where most of the activities happen. Let me tell you about last week (an ‘almost normal’ week) so that you have an idea of what we, and all the families, are doing here!
Monday
On Mondays we get up around 7 am. Skiing with friends started at 9.30 last week, so we have to be sure to be in the Gondola up the mountain at around 8.30. At 9.30, we meet up with the kids (and parents) that like to go skiing together. It’s a lot of fun to go skiing with a group. Some days we are skiing with only 2 kids, while other days we might be skiing with up to 20 people. On Monday, Tamara usually goes up by herself and goes skiing instead of snowboarding. On this day, we mainly do the blue slopes. By now, we have ‘marked’ a lot of the places on the slopes. We always stop at Ava’s tree (the tree Ava crashed into), the 4th bump, the diamond of trees and so on. All the kids know how to find these places and even when they are skiing with their own families, these spots are always used!
After 2 hours, we take the kids back to the meeting point and make our way back down to go for a long walk with Sparta. In the afternoon, Nienke usually teaches two science classes. One for the younger kids and one for the teenagers. Last week, they used the microscope! The kids also made slime, candy DNA and they made parachutes to make sure their eggs wouldn’t crack when being thrown off the balcony.
Tuesday
In the morning, Nienke takes the kids to a dog shelter called Bansko Street Dogs. The kids cuddle with the dogs and take them on walks. While the kids and Nienke are being walked (by the dogs, they pull like crazy!) Tamara usually takes Sparta on a long walk. In the afternoon, we always do a fun activity. This week, we tried to go ice-skating, but it started raining like crazy! We’ve hardly had any rain in Bansko, but on this day the streets looked like rivers!
On Tuesday evening it’s time for the ‘family dinner’. All the families go to a restaurant together. This week we decided not to join. It’s fun to go to dinner with a large group, but we knew there would be some other fun nights this week, so we skipped it!
Wednesday
On Wednesdays, we both go up to ski with friends again. The weather wasn’t great last week, so we only had a small group. Sometimes we split up. Nienke takes the kids on the blue slopes while Tamara takes the kids on the red slopes (a lot of times we also have adults joining, it’s so much fun to all go together). This time we didn’t split up though. The slopes are getting terribly icy, so skiing with friends didn’t last very long on this day.
On Wednesday afternoon and evening, we are working online. But we will definitely skip that one day, since the worldschooling program is so much fun! The families all went sledging down the ski road together and afterwards they always visit the hot springs nearby.
Thursday
This week, we organised an escape room together with one of the mums. It took some preparation, but it was worth it! Nearly all the kids and teens showed up, so we ended up doing it 3 times (for around 25 kids in total!). All the kids got out and loved the activity. We even did the escape room one more time so that some parents could try!
In the afternoon Tamara taught a programming lesson and played dodgeball outside, while Nienke entertained some of the little kids with Legos. In the evening, it was time for the weekly ‘hot chocolate and chat’. We don’t always go, but this time we did. And this time it was a very special one!! When we opened the door, it turned out to be a HUGE SURPRISE PARTY for us as volunteers. All the families showed up and they had decorated the whole room and had all brought food. It was amazing! We were speechless (well, kind of, we ended up giving a little speech…). Such a wonderful evening!
Friday
Another day of skiing with friends. Once again, it was super Icy on the slopes, so none of us really enjoyed it. It’s been a while since we’ve had fresh snow and the conditions are getting worse every hour! After skiing, a lovely family took us out for lunch. It was a beautiful day, so we all sat in the sun for a few hours enjoying the food and company. In the afternoon, we didn’t have to do the program, so that was nice! The kids were entertained by the other volunteers with some Spanish lessons, some arts and crafts and a drawing and gaming club.
In the evening, while all the kids where playing werewolves with some teens, it was time for a birthday/goodbye party. Here in Bansko, every pub/bar/restaurant has always been open, so it wasn’t our first Friday night party. But maybe it was our best! This time, both mums and dads were invited (usually it’s mom’s night one week and dad’s night the other). We went to a bar and danced (we even did a ‘polonaise’, sang karaoke, played pool and had drinks, lots of drinks! It was a very memorable night and we didn’t get home until 3am. This weekend, four of the families were leaving and this was a great way to say goodbye!
Saturday
On the weekend we usually don’t have anything going on at the hub. This Saturday, we had a late start because of the party and then we took Sparta on a 2 hour walk with two of his best friends: Loki and Oro, also rescue dogs and pretty similar to Sparta (unfortunately, they were leaving too this weekend). The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. In the late afternoon, we watched two kids to give their parents some time together. We went to bed early after saying some goodbyes.
Sunday
This Sunday was an amazing day! We had been waiting for this day for a while: it finally snowed again! And not just a little, A LOT! We walked out of our apartment at 8 (it’s a 10 minute walk to the Gondola, carrying our ski’s on our shoulders, we’ve gotten pretty good at that now!) and then we were up at the mountain when the lifts opened. The snow was absolutely amazing. It kept snowing the whole day, so there was a lot of powder! We loved it! One of the families even decided to postpone their leaving with one day to get up and ski some more in these amazing conditions. We got to do one last run with them! The visibility wasn’t great, but we didn’t mind! In the afternoon it was time for another long (powder) walk with Sparta; he loves the deep snow too. Then it was time to relax, and pack!
We’re staying for three more weeks (we extended our stay again), but unfortunately, we have to move to a different apartment. It’s in the same building, but on the 5th floor. We are on the 1st now, so that will be something different! With the lift only working for about one day a month, we will be in really good shape! Our next week is about to start, so this is it for this blog. Next week will pretty much be the same (except for the surprise party; that was a one time, wonderful thing).
One response
What a nice recap of your “typical week.” Reading it made us happy to have been a part of it but quite sad to leave 2teachersontour so early. We will miss you two but know that our paths will cross again.