Spring in Trešnjevka was an event held over four days with various workshops and activities in Park stara Trešnjevka. Despite the rainy start on the first day, which forced us back into the safety of walls and roofs, the event was just like a spring, blooming with life and activity. I spent most of the time behind a camera during these three days, so I can provide a good overview of all the activities. My insight and observations will be the topic of this month’s article. Buckle in and get ready for a ride.
Wednesday
The forecast was showing rain, so on our first day we had to move our events back inside. Luckily, there were just two events, and one of them was the English café held by me and Marija. It was quite uneventful for the most part. The café was held in a library with a piano inside, so I was forced to listen to her before people arrived. We talked about random topics for the first half. For the second, we played a game where people have to agree to throw one person out of eight overboard. By the end of the class, we narrowed it to some folks (secret it is). Yay!
Thursday
By the time I arrived in the park, the activities were all underway. Tara was doing capoeira with the kids. I had missed the Italian café, but luckily some of the bruschetta remained and would return back home, where I would later eat them. The Brazilian percussions were being played which attracted a lot of people even the police. Music is for everybody after all. It was a great atmosphere with a lot of things happening at the same time. When the seventh hour struck, it was time for me to move my old bones and do the capoeira training. We had some new people trying capoeira for the first time which I was grateful for because that made the training relatively easy. It was nice to play capoeira barefoot in the park. I could feel the grass on my feet and the mosquitos all over my body.
Friday
The third day was my time to shine with the camera and capture everything. Therefore, I was there for all the events. Anđa was having capoeira with a lot of small children. They were playing capoeira games, running around, singing, and having a blast from what I could tell. Meanwhile, Angel was also running around the park handing out Amazonas promotional flyers to random people. Sometimes he reminds me of a golden retriever. Anđa later continued with another capoeira class. This time it was for parents with their children. What’s a better way to bond with your kid than doing something fun? You tell me. Some of these kids were too young, so they will probably not remember this day at all, but the parents might. Anyway…they were entertained for that one hour, and the kids got tired out from the activities, so what more could you ask for?
Saturday
Saturday was a special day since all the activities, the two of them, were held just by volunteers. We had Scout Games organized by none other than Angel, and Make Your Own Bookmark led by Nadia with the support of Marija. I didn’t even need to be there that day, but with everyone going, I didn’t want to miss on all that fun, so I came to the park anyway. I arrived a bit late and was told by Blaž that I had missed an amazing speech in Croatian from Angel.
There was no point in crying over a spilt milk, so I focused on present. That present was Angel and his games. With the help of Blaž who was sometimes translating for the kids, Angel made them play various games, both children and parents joined. As I have already said, Angel reminds me of a golden retriever sometimes. That’s probably his playful side coming out, so it is no wonder he is good with kids given he himself enjoys playing games.
Later on, the bookmark workshop started and the girl duo was prepared. It was really funny to listen to because Nadia was giving instructions in Croatian. But she did not know some specific words and used the English ones instead. Hearing ‘blanket’ and ‘shade’ in the middle of a Croatian sentence made me all giggly there and then. Since all three of them were busy, I decided to lend a hand and grabbed the camera to take some pictures and videos. At one point I even climbed a tree to get a better angle for the shots. The best pictures you can find here on our Facebook!
All in all, it was an enjoyable series of events. Given how often I was behind the camera, I decided to also be the one to make the video of the whole event which you can watch here. Hopefully, I managed to capture the mood present all throughout. Don’t miss the next year!
Bran
