July 18-31 Jezeri Castle Workcamp, Czech
Republic
We had absolutely no idea what to expect when
we applied for this random project through Volunteers for
Peace. We knew the purpose of it was to renovate a castle in the NW corner of the
Czech Republic, but we didn't know what "renovate" really meant. Our
construction skills were a little rusty. We didn't know how many people would be there
with us, and where they would all be from.
When we got off the bus in Cernice, the village
below the castle, our worst fears were confirmed. There was no shuttle, and we had to walk
uphill 5km to the castle with our packs. Half of the group wound up on the bus with us, so
the climb provided a nice opportunity to bond.
It turned out to be two weeks of working hard
and playing even harder. The group consisted of five guys from Spain (Ernesto, Adrian,
David, Jorge, and Antonio), five people from France (Sandrine, Sylvie, Marina, Jerome, and
Thomas), one woman from Finnland (Maria), three from Germany (Susann, Franziska, Connie)
and three people from our host country: Czech leaders Martina and Lubos, and Marcela. Oh,
and this relatively old American couple.
We basically worked to clear out a forest
behind the castle, did a lot of raking and gardening, and widened the path alongside the
road leading to the castle. We chopped wood, separated it, and helped prepare the castle
for the winter months. Everyone also got "kitchen duty" for a day, and had to
set and clear the tables, wash dishes, and if they were really unlucky, peel potatoes for
several hours.
The funniest part was that amidst all of these
people from all these nations the selected language of the workcamp was English. It was
obviously easier for us, but kinda sad too. This is why foreign languages suffer in our
schools!!!
The typical day started with breakfast, then
several hours of work, lunch, siesta, several more hours of work, dinner, and playing pool
in the part of the castle known as the pub. We slept in 3-5 person dorm rooms in an annex
of the castle, and ate all our meals in the pub. We cooked food over a bonfire for dinner
a couple nights, and walked down to the pub in town a couple nights. The musical group
Queen was quite popular with the staff of the camp, and several late nights were spent
singing and dancing to many classics.
Our leaders Martina and Lubos organized a trip
to Prague for the weekend. Fifteen of us stayed in Lubos's flat and had a great time
tasting "traditional Czech" food, walking around the Charles Bridge, seeing the
famous clock, and even had a picnic in the park. We also went to a great wine bar and then
danced-till-dawn at a popular club.
Our group was great and everyone got along
really well. There were even some "defectors" from another workcamp that showed
up one day. Their camp was so bad they left in the middle of the night!
We ended the week with a pool championship
tournament: Sandrine and Antonio nipped Dave and Marina in the championship game, but
Kelly and Jorge had some rough luck in the qualifying rounds.
Unfortunately we had to bail a day earlier than
everyone else to get to Sweden in time to meet Kelly's family. So we had a separate
goodbye party on Thursday. Something strange was going on...Dave noticed several of the
guys turning their heads or running away when he walked by. Later, we walked into the pub
and thought that something seemed a little strange. Jorge, Antonio, Ernesto, and Thomas
had blackened glasses and goatees drawn on their faces, they were wearing baseball caps
backwards, and they had makeshift long hair attached inside their caps. They were dressed
up like Dave!!! The real Dave got there and it took awhile for him to catch on. When Kelly
arrived, they tried to have her select which one was the real Dave. It was tough! They
were hysterically funny and quite inventive.
After two weeks eating, drinking, sleeping, and
working with the same group of people it was tough to say goodbye. Again, we were glad for
the Internet as a way to keep in touch. Check out our Official Jezeri Workcamp
photo page for even more images of the project.
