Sequestered in Silence in Slovenia

Last Seven days in Slovenia

When I last wrote I was pleasantly surprised on my arrival to Novo Mesto (www.novomesto.si/en/)

To give some background, when I first had decided my work at Doorus Hostel was near done, I traveled around Ireland to find which place in Ireland would suite me best. I had decided on Bray, but before I finalized that decision, I thought about where in the world would I most like to live based on the various things I felt were important for me in geography, culture, climate and numerous other criteria. After much research and thought, I decided upon Slovenia.  I was going to visit Slovenia in April, but then I had issues with kidney stones. I was not going to be able to travel. Since I could not go to Slovenia, I decided to bring Slovenia to me. I did this by advertising for a Slovenian student to come and help me during the summer here at the Hostel. I have had over 75 people help me at the hostel, all of who had contacted me to help. This was the first time I had sought out someone from a specific country to help me. I was lucky to have received a response from Jerca Gabor a 21 year old tourism student from Slovenia.

Jerca helped me greatly at the hostel, taught me some about Slovenian culture and the basics of the language. Before she left at the end of the summer, she worked with me to send letters to all the hostels in Slovenia, to see if there were any hostels I could work for as so many people had worked for me here. We heard back from 8 of the over 50 hostels we had written.  The one response that interested me most was a hostel in Novo Mesto. I wrote them back and said that Doorus Hostel would be closed for 4 months in the winter and I would be interested in helping them during that time in exchange for room and board. I received a positive response in return.

At summers end, a fellow named Roger Brankin contacted me to help at the hostel and did so in the months of July-October. This allowed me to take the month of September off to attend my daughter Caitlin’s wedding, and as it turns out my Mother’s passing all in Oregon, USA. Upon my return to the hostel, Roger and I did what we could to get the hostel in order before it’s closing on 1 November. In mid October, Hostel Situla wrote me to confirm my interest in working for them and I responded in the affirmative, but did not hear back from them after that.

With the hostel closed on 1 November, my ex-wife Melissa offered to watch the hostel for me and to take custody of my (our) pets Dearmutt O’Gee, Cee A. Tea and Blaithin, so I could go to Slovenia to find a place to send my belongings and get a feel for where I might want to live and work. As part of my preparation, I went unto a Slovenia social networking site and another site where people who were Slovenians wanted to correspond with native English speakers to improve their English. This gave me the opportunity to learn a little Slovenian, but more importantly to test my assumptions about Slovenia and to make some personal contacts.

With the hostel closed, the pets sorted, I was able to go to Slovenia. My four days were spent in Kranj where I met Jerca, her parents and boyfriend. During this time I was also able to get my Tax Number for getting employment and benefits, and opened a banking account. As well, I was able to meet up with a couple who I had corresponded with previously about heritage trees and cultures. They are both educators in Slovenia and were very helpful to me in learning some about Slovenian culture. I met another lady, who is a travel agent and had a very nice traditional Slovenian lunch. They were all very kind and hospitable.

From there I then went out to discover Slovenia. I started with the Mediterranean coast by visiting Izola, Koper, Piran, and Portoroz. I also met with an American living in Slovenia who was kind enough to take me on a drive into the Karst region of Slovenia, which included Lipic (where the Lipazzane Stallions are raised) Nova Gorica, Sezane and a hostel.

Having seen the west of Slovenia I wanted to move unto the south and east and if time permitted the north. To see the south I booked myself into the Hostel Situla that had originally written me but had not responded to my last emails. The Hostel and its location intrigued me so despite their lack of response I thought I would visit there anyway.  Once I booked, I then received an email stating they were looking forward to my arrival. I was pleasantly surprised and found out for whatever reason they had not received my last emails, and ergo their lack of response.

I took the train from the coast to the Capitol Ljublijana and then caught the train south to Novo Mesto. By this time it was dark so I was not able to see the country side. On the train I talked to a young lady who had a law degree and was working for the Slovenian health service. When the train came to Novo Mesto and I was about to get off, a girl came up to me and apologized for listening in to our conversation but wanted to advise me if I was going to the hostel, it would be a shorter walk if I got off at the next stop.  (This was one of many acts of kindness I experienced throughout my visit to Slovenia.)

By now my luggage was quite heavy, I had bought numerous Slovenian children’s books and Slovenian DVD’s, so I could learn the language and about the culture and history of this country.  I carried my luggage up the flight of stairs from the train station to the street. There were no signs to the hostel, but a number of people were kind enough to direct me on the shortest route to the Hostel Situla.

The Hostel building is 500 years old, but was renovated and has been operating as a hostel for 18 months. It is located in the older part of Novo Mesto (which means new city in Slovenian). Novo Mesto was founded in the mid 1300’s so by European standards it is newer. I checked in, went for a walk over a bridge and down and around through the newer area of the City. Whilst it was dark there were many people of all ages out for an evening’s walk.  Like the rest of Slovenia it had a very relaxed and safe feeling.

The next day, Sunday, I woke up and got to take a walk up to a nearby hill which is an archeological site, where ancient items including Situla’s (metal buckets) made in the early bronze age were found. From there I was able to look down at the City, to the jade green Krka river and could espy virgin forests and mountains in the surround. The air was clear, crsip and clean as was the village.

Returning to the hostel, there were children, parents and grandparents all having hot chocolate or other hot drinks and enjoying post church conversation. I sat in the lobby with my children’s books and within minutes had 10 young teachers ages 4-16 helping me to pronounce various words. One of the parents, happened to be the fellow (Bostjan Grobler) who I had corresponded with regarding helping at the hostel. He asked me if I was still interested in helping at the hostel for a few months. I told him I was and I actually was not just looking to be in Slovenia for a few months, but to move live and work here. He responded that he might be interested in my staying longer than just a few months.  And, that he would like to discuss some options with me the next morning, Monday.  I then extended my booking for another day and put on hold my plans to go east and north, so we could meet and see what we could work out.

On Monday morning we met and he informed me that the hostel manager was expecting a baby and would be leaving in a few months and they were looking for someone to replace her. I told him I would be interested and we agreed to meet again later in the evening to discuss it further.  Later that afternoon I met with a local school teacher, who teaches art to primary students. She had been referred to me by a person I met at the hotel I had been staying at in Izola. It was nice to meet a local person from the area and get a perspective of the hostel and the city.

That evening we met. We disussed our mutual goals and objectives and agreed to pursue my coming to work there. There would be a board meeting on the Friday evening and he would at that time ask the Board to consider hiring me to be the new manager. As a result, I decided to remain there the balance of my stay to learn more about the hostel, the city and the area. That evening I went out for another walk and found myself locked out of the hostel. I had two sets of keys one for my room and one for the exterior door, unforetunately I had left my outdoor keys indoors. I was sleepless in Situla J. There was a covered outdoor balcony, where I went to go to sleep until the restaurant crew would arrive at 6am. The a person from Finland who was staying in apartment that was part of the hostel came up to the balcony and let me into the building. But I could not get from that part of the building to where my room was. I found a radiator in the hallway and went to sleep there. At 6 am the restaurant staff opened the hostel and I was able to get to be for a 2 hour sleep.

On the Tuesday, Bostjan needed to go up to Kranj and took me with him. We had a very good conversation on the drive up. He let me off and went to his meeting. I met then with Jerca and we had a coffee and shared how our weeks were going.  While I waited for Bostjan I went to the Tourist Information office in Kranj and used their free computer to do research and put together ideas of things I could do to help Hostel Situla. I then rode back to the hostel with Bostjan.

Wednesday I took the train to Zagreb Croatia. It took three trains to go the 50 miles 80 kilometers and 3 hours. The scenery and villages were very interesting as was Zagreb which is a well laid out city and easy to find your way. Croatia is not yet part of the European Union, so on my way back on the train that evening, I was stopped by border control. They asked me for my passport, so I showed them my Irish/EU passport. They questioned me on why my passport did not have any visa stamps in it. So I explained to them that I was a dual citizen, so when I enter the EU my Irish passport does not get stamped and when I go to the USA my US passport does not get stamped. This confused them a bit, and then they asked if I had work. I said no that I had been laid off from a job in Ireland and was interviewing for a position in Slovenia. They then asked where my luggage was and what my address in Slovenia was. I told them I did not yet live in Slovenia and therefore did not have an address and I had no luggage because I had left it at the hostel. They asked me for the hostel address, which I did not know.  By this time, my train was about to leave and they finally decided to let me go and stamped my USA passport. I made it to my train and back to the hostel.

On Thursday, one of the Board members took me on a drive around Novo Mesto, we visited the archeological museum which has artefacts from the stone age to present time, a war museum and then down to the river Krka where we visited a river island with caslte hotel. We also visited the local golf course and drove by some of the virgin forest areas. It was all quite nice. That evening they invited me to the student nightclub where a jazz concert was being performed. There were people there of all ages and the musician was a well known Slovenian musician, who brought some of his own home made wine to share with the audience. The Slovenians make their own wine and beer, have vegetable/fruit gardens in their yards and make their own bread. They take their food and drink seriously. During the night, we found out the manager who was having a baby that I was to replace had had a miscarriage earlier in the day and that the funeral would be Friday morning.

On Friday, I spent the day walking through the newer part of Novo Mesto and visiting the various shops, awaiting to hear the outcome of the Board meeting that night.  Bostjan asked me to be available that night to meet with the Board and to come to the Board meeting at 18:15.  At 18:15 I met him outside the door of the building they were meeting at and he informed me that the Board needed more information before they could make a decision. This did not surprise me, I did not think the Board would make that quick of a decision. As it turned out, because the manager I was to replace had the miscarriage, she would now be staying on to manage the hostel and ergo that position was no longer available. But, they agreed that they could use my experience and perspective so they asked that Bostjan , two other Board members and the hostel management staff work with me to go over the hostel budget and find a way to provide a position for me within the organization. I think that will be doable and it will take 2-4 weeks to work out the details. After the Board meeting Bostjan invited me to his home where I met his 3 daughters, son and niece.  They older ones 9 and 16 were able to understand and speak English. The younger ones were happy to help me read their children’s books.

Considering my mission for this initial trip was to just get a feel for the country and find a place to ship my belongings, I was much further ahead on finding a place in Slovenia than I had anticipated 2 weeks earlier.  I still need to make it to the east and north of Slovenia but with now most likely having a place to rest my head, I am sure I will get the opportunity to do so when I next return to Slovenia before years end.

I am back at Doorus Hostel now, working on finishing up the things I need to do here, while I wait for the people at Situla to send me the business details so we can create a place for me in their organization.  As for my weighty luggage, I was able to leave my clothes back at the hostel and only needed to bring my children books and DVD’s to Ireland so while we work out the details for my return I can continue my self study in Slovenian.

Whilst I had not ever been to Slovenia and I only knew of it via my research and contact with Jerca, it and my experience did not meet my expectations but exceeded them. I am looking forward to my return.