denk:mal Bern

We just arrived in denk:mal in Bern yesterday, which is a selforganised school run voluntarily by some young people,
that -at the moment- offers mostly language courses (German, Spanish, French, Turkish, Arabian), computer courses and some other stuff like cinema and yoga - for free.

The courses are organised by people, who want to teach something just because they like to and everybody can join the course if he/she likes to. If somebody wants to teach something the rooms are open to use without a rent.

denk:mal exists since several years now and has moved several times.
This - too small- building was squatted once, but now they have a contract with the city who owns the house, which allows them to use it for a symbolic rent.
Anyhow it is strange that cities don't pay places like this in general... there should be much more, much better, bigger selforganised schools like this, everywhere!






The group organises with "plenums" every week.
They told us there have been more people involved into the project before,
but now the organising group has been getting smaller.

Anyway many different people use the space and you can hear various languages being spoke all the time. From Switzerdutch and French to Arabic, Spanish and Greek...
It is a place to meet and discuss, a place for integration and cooking together ;-)

Sam already had a computer workshop and went to the Arabic lesson, I am busy reading a book about NPOs and their role in the society. Hopefully we will also have a massage workshop in the next days held by another guest.


Even though some people just regard it as "the occupied house",
for us -as for many others - it is a REAL school , a FREE one, and we are happy to have this infrastructure and interesting books here, as well as some courses ...
-and to have people to talk to about selforganised learning, projectmanagement,
and the problem of passive learning consume-culture-attitude the people are used to from normal schools.
And of course we are happy about having a nice place to sleep very far up the stairs in the attic chambre :-)

...Read the rest here!

Les Fermes Communautaires Libres - Clos du Doubs II

clos du doubs PART 1


So, we just left the ecovillage Clos du Doubs to go to denk:mal , a selforganised school in Bern. I am sitting here in the living room now with my laptop on the couch, trying to remember what happened in the last days in Clos du Doubs before all this new impressions of this beautiful project ran over me.

Our last days in Clos du Doubs were full of amazing experiences and full of trouble also...

Well, first: we met Chaques... one of the guys who founded the first community there and also the foundation "Les Fermes Communautaires Libres" which is the owner of one farm place (where one community was living before) and the "maison orange" in St Ursanne (where one community is living now).



Next to "maison orange" is a free school founded by the community, with 12 children, based on the ideas of Montessori and Marshall B. Rosenberg (nonviolent communication). Quite interesting project also...

I wrote about Chaques before in the first article about Clos du Doubs. He was the guy who went with the false beard of a shepherd and all his sheep -and some media people -to the prison where he should go to because not coming to the armee... they just sent him away "come back another time" - whereas the sheep ate all the nice roses etc around the prison :-)

He showed us the farm place where one community lived before and where they are now building a great eco-house out of clay and straw - with a huge window showing the beautiful mountains down in the valley. Nobody lives there right now in this amazing place and Chaques explained to us that they are building up the infrastructure for young people who want to come and create something in this place.


By the time we were there they just had 2 volunteers there, who know about constructing ecohouses. Both come from France, but one now living in Spain. The guy from Spain also invited us to come to his place from December on...

Moreover we heard about Chaques' newest project: he is now building up -more experimentally than for really needing to - a company that makes your car go with 30% water mixed into normal diesel , which saves you a lot of money and CO2 emissions - and, as Chaques says, questions the view on the world that a lot of people have:
if you mix diesel with water it is getting more explosive, not less...

Our view on the world also got a little bit questioned, when Anja who was so happy as she could be going to Sri Lanka with Krishan, our oven building teacher, just fell into deep confusions and depressions and decided to go back home...

For her all the new impressions, the group process being together with so many people all the time on small space and without ever having a lot of privacy or time to rest
- together with some personal problems and and the same time stopping smoking cigarettes
were getting too much and so she couldn't go on with us nor go with Krishan.
She will spend some more days in Froidevaux, one farm of the ecovillage, where they produce mostly sheep meet and other sheep products where also one of the communities that do not exist any more was before, high up the mountains. Then she will go back to Germany.

The two other girls, Kati (the new french girl who had arrived), as well as Astrid (from Austria)
then decided to go on with Krishan to build another stove (to learn more about stove building) and join us again later on.
So Sam and me spent one more day in Nicolas farm all alone with Nicolas...
and in the morning we left we talked with him to give each other some feedback about how all the experience was for all of us. It was tiring for him as for us, but we all won't regret I guess.



A lot of things happened in this place:
...arriving there sick ...
Kati from France joining us
...Lena going back to Germany,
... Artur leaving the tour as he felt it wouldn't fit,
... Anna, Sani and Peter leaving to Lausanne because of the starting problems we had with Nicolas,
... Astrid coming back from her trip to zalp association,
...talking the first French of our trip with Kati, Chaques and the volunteers there
...the problems with Anja in the very end before we left

We learned about making ovens there
and a bit about the history of Clos du Doubs community,
about the foundation and the free school.
We learned that our group needs more structure
and a "group rythm"
and that getting up early can be more productive than to sleep long ;-)

Nicolas learned that he should put more clear signs about what he wishes and expects from his guests, but also that it can be just allright to just let things flow...
for instance he didn't really tell us one day what we could help him except oven building...
so we just cleaned up one room ourselves without him having told - which made him very happy.

Maybe we can help him a little bit now with making some publicity for his project...


and telling people that he and the other people of Clos du Doubs are searching people to help for longtime or just for a while to live in the ecovillage and help on the farms.
It's a great place. Go there :-)

...Read the rest here!

ecovillage Clos du Doubs

Clos du Doubs

We arrived at ecovillage Clos du Doubs few days ago

Since then, there has been some trouble - and a lot of good learning experiences!

When we first came here we espected a big ecovillage community,
but we found an empty farm with one single person living here, which is Nicolas,
who has inherited some money and from this bought this farm some years ago.
Nicolas is a guy with a lot of travelling and community life experience
and I think this place here is a really good place for learning a lot of different wise stuff:

For instance: why chairs are making our society sick,
how to build a stove of clay
or about the African languages and how they effect the Africans view on the world ... :-)


We arrived here most of us quite sick
and not very fit to work


So there was a communication problem in the first days:
Nicolas had told us he expected about 4 hours work a day for staying here, having food, etc...
but he also said he wanted us to be happy while working and that this was the most important thing to him - so we shouldn't do anything that we feel it's not good for us

Well, so the sick people stayed in bed and didn't do anything
whereas most of the others were working busily and happily on a stove that is being built here
together with Nicolas and Krishan, who is an oven builder who lives half the year in Sri Lanka and has an Ayurveda centre there


Somehow we fucked up the communication about the people who didn't do anything as they were sick - and we also fucked up the communication among ourselves totally
missing any kind of structure, totally different sleeping rhythms without any meetings of all people, etc...

so Nicolas was very sad and hurt
and told us after only two nights he would appreciate when we leave
as we are costing him too much energy...
in the end 3 people left with the white bus to Lausanne

5 of us stayed - after each one talking with him if that is ok - and are working on the oven still,
sadly making a pause every few hours when our strict boss is telling us again that it is time for tea :-)

Everything is quite fine now with Nicolas and he apologized for being rude
and today actually he has to learn about how to express his feelings without hurting anyone
and told us he is very happy that we stayed
and told us "thank you" for that he could just be like he is
without being punished for it
and that we just took everything as it was, trying to communicate and make the best out of the situation, so that it could be a good learning experience for everyone.
Thanks Nicolas,
for teaching us in your open way, that our group didn't havea good "rhythm" as you called it-
we realised this before, the situation here propably cleared up a lot
and we will work on it :-)
it was all really clearing communication here in this place I guess

Tomorrow we will hopefully finish the stove
and then we will also meet the people
who originally founded the first community here in this beautiful area...
They will come for dinner and hopefully we will by then have the first fire in "our" oven



So, by the way, about the ecovillage Clos du Doubs:
there is basically 3 farms here,
one of those is Nicolas farm.
There have been big communities in the 70s,
but now there is only one community left and in the other two farms there is only few people,
among those mostly travellers and one (or two) people livin there.
The ones who founded these old anarchist communities was Chaques and his sister.
They bought a farm and made a community out of it belonging to a foundation.

Chaques was quite well known for publicity actions,
like goin to the local prison (where he should be sent to because of not goin to the army)
with the beard of a shepherd in his face and with all their sheep goin with him

The police of course sent him away so...
but the sheep had eaten all the nice roses etc in front of the prison

2 years ago Michi and Remo (whom we also met in the Schule mit Herz) and some other people left one of the farms, they told us it was a very nice time and very good place, but not the place where they wanted to get old and so they had to leave...
since then all tries to establish a new community in the old farm house failed

But actually the people here - especially Nicolas - are longing for community
and there is enouph space, food and work for a lot of people in this beautiful place.

The mountains and nature are amazing
and life is very quiet up here...

We are enjoying it
and having long discussions about why most people prefer living in big cities
to this clearness up here...

and - even though we know that life here means hard work too (well, about 4 hours a day ;-) )
- in a way can't really understand it ...

-Anja

CLOS DU DOUBS PART 2

Falling ill
05.11. As we don’t wanna use word – problems – by itself (positive thinking, hehe), then I should say - we are having right now new challenges here:) One by one and by now almost all of us - we are falling ill,,, :/ It is kind of hard to be with our ideas on the move when the nose is full with shit and stuff. And as everywhere we go we are also helping out with many things which mostly takes physical power – it’s hard,,, At some point it feels that it has been just too much,,, And if you believe that the body is connected with your mind and all what comes from mind reflects in your body then it’s getting even more interesting. How much in common we actually have and how much of this collective unconsciousness works for us. I would say we are on the same flow for sure :) Just not sure where it will bring us…
06.11. Only today I realized why I wrote this previous text yesterday’s evening, kind of with no purpose as it doesn’t really fit anywhere, more just like reflecting my emotions. Now I know, as this morning came with some unexpected changes for all of us… We had some really tough morning – Nicolas wanted us to leave. Partly all this messy situation was connected a lot with us being ill – if you look for the root of this problem. And whether you look at the illness as a physical or mental weakness, he didn’t like it and made his statement clear for us. Then the situation started to unfold and even like reflecting us as a group he pointed out our strengths and our weaknesses. That was a gift – something we really needed at this point, and hopefully it will bring in us some good input in the future. Present situation also changed. As a result of what happened Arthur left our group, but the rest of us split in two groups – one left, going further, but other stayed after some negotiations with Nicolas till the moment the stove will be finished. We didn’t expect this to happen with us, however I really think that what happened, happened for good and all of us can learn something from this and as well that this really will change things for good in our future.

-Sani

...Read the rest here!

Schule mit Herz

Three of us arrived in the Schule mit Herz
("school with heart") yesterday,
while the others are still up on a mountain catching goats from Hof Allne Wind

Today Aris from Solvenia arrived here to meet up
and make an interview with us for an article for Slovenian newspaper and for Euro 26 (a European "stupid" as she sais travellers newspaper that sometimes does have some useful stuff in it also and that is published in almost all European languages).
We met her through couchsurfing and she also wants to travel with us for a while later on,
but first she'll have to go back to Slovenia for a while.

When we arrived here in this beautiful place in nature,
far off from any towns and cities,
we had big expectations about this school,
that is influenced by the ideas of Sudbury Valley School.

But first thing we had to realise is,
that is is a school without any pupils up to now.


The idea to built up a free school in this area came up 2 years ago,
since then the people have put a lot of effort in organising money and support for the school, setting up conceps and getting permissions.

They have everything now, nice school building, money, permissions ... but no pupils yet.

Irene, who is something like the leader of the school, explained to us
that many people were interested in the beginning
and there is still a lot happening, like parents visiting the place, etc...
but that many people are quite afraid of letting their children be in such a pioneer-project,
as one -of course- can't really tell if their concept will work
and especially if the children will ever have the right exams to go to universities, etc.

The concept os Sudbury Valley School is nothing new and unproved:
there is around 30 or 40 schools worldwide that work with the concepts of this 40 year old school in the USA and define themselves as Sudbury schools.

Sudbury schools are based on the idea,
that every child knows exactly what he/she wants like any "grown up" human being-
and should have the freedom to chose what and if it wants to learn, to play or do something else.

The idea, that children should be given all the time they need
to develop interest in things in their own speed...
Children WANT to learn and don't have to be forced to do it, their natural curiosity makes them want to learn anyhow...

So well, even though the experiences of other also called "democratic schools" already proved
that it can definetely work to let children learn whatever they like,
the Swiss people in this region seem not to be convinced yet and
this school will need some more time to get going.

But Irene, Lena and the other people here are quite optimistic about the future:
It's all just a question of time.
Til then they are livin in this big building as an age spanning community of women
and preparing for the kids to come...

We are spending lots of time in the bureau
enjoying to have as much internet as we like
and be such a small group for a while
- int he meantime having some nice discussions about indigo children
and the new learning and living life-
that has to and that will come, slowly but surely :-)
sudval
sudbury
summerhill uk

...Read the rest here!

Gasser school

"There are no small children but just great human beings"!
We met Marianne Fischer, the teamcoordinator of this privat school, for the first time to arrange an appointment when to have a guided tour through the schoolbuilding. This was already an impressing exchange about our ideas and we were couriously looking forward to met her again, to get to know more about her way of teaching, being and learning, which is based on the ressourcive padagogy, the flow pedagogy.
The whole idea of their way of working with children is grounded on the groth and greatness of every single person, so as on one hand everybody is great, on the other hand everybody needs to learn something, if as grown up or as child. While stateschools mainly work on the level of notes, thinking, pressure, success, knowledge and work, freeschools include the second level of personality, individual needs such as learning rhythm, interests etc. The Gasser school mainly works on the third level, the energetic level, that which tries to reach above human beeings - divineness in the here and now, happiness, life power. This means, that they communicate on an energetic level with the children. To insult others or to hit others is taking their energy, so always when this happens, it belongs to the schoolculture to give this energy back by finding something great in this person and tell it to him or her. It is not a discussion at all that there is something great in every person. Following this "rule" no teacher is scolding pupils or telling them what to do or not to do. One good example of this is that when they meet in a classroom to work together everybody who feels ready to start, is present with his/her mind, feels serene enough to start, just lifts up his or her hand. So slowly this readyness spreads and when everybody has lifted up his or her hand, to say that he or she is ready to start, including the teacher, they start. This ritual enables everybody to decide by themsemelves when they feel ready and are not manipulated by others.
...
to be continued...:)

...Read the rest here!

Travelling School of Life-Workshop in Glarisegg

Today we made our first workshop on education networks /travelling school of life in the Schloss Glarisegg.
There were 6 people - 2 community members, one aura healing therapist from the nearby village and three people working in the Gasser-school in Glarisegg.

We started with a little game - everybody should write down 3 skills (s)he has
and 3 things (s)he wants to learn.
There was a lot of different skills, from healing to project management, from photography to Spanish...
It is always amazing to see that even in small groups there is always interests and skills fitting together... and that very often you could just off from the workshop start a learning group with someone...

They were all quite interested and open and we will propably meet up with the aura therapist woman to learn from her. She also gave us a contact to a friend od hers who also wanted to build up a learning network but never started as there were no people with him...

We also talked a little bit about the Gasser school
and discussed about alternative education and economies...

When asked what possibilities of selforganised learning there are and there could be in Glarisegg, the community members told us that living in (this) community anyway means learning and having to learn a lot :-)
But up to now there is not a lot of skillsharing groups in the community, as there isn't so much time for it in the daily working life and routine...

When I asked them about possible low budget learning for visitors in this expensive place,
they said there is not a lot going on yet, although this kind of learning does happen sometimes (e.g the instrument builder had someone learning at his place and helping him).
This also might change in the next years, as the community is still building up... so in a few years there might be more possibilities for travelling school of life as well...

---Anja

...Read the rest here!

Schloss Glarisegg

Their Website > Schloss Glarisegg

Since 3 days we are in the area around Schloss Glarisegg,
a community in an old castle nearby the lake of Konstanz.

When we left at Antonios (humanshope) place in Keswill
we knew that we would get a whole house (in exchange for helping the owner with his project) in Steckborn nearby Glarisegg from Sunday 19th on.

But in our decentralized organisation chaos we had made a date with Kathrin (a Glarisegg community member) to show us around the place on the 17th,
why we had to come 2 days earlier
and so there was another 2 nights to spent somewhere else than in the house...





We thought that it propably wouldn't be a problem to stay somewhere in Glarisegg for those 2 nights,
as it is such a huge area: really beautiful nature with the lake and a forest, several houses (like living houses, guest houses, seminary spaces) and a campside with tents, a yurt and a tipi...

But first answers we came across in "the community" (when asking if it would be possible to stay for low)
was that it would at least cost 10 Swiss Franks per person
just using the toilets and showers (even staying in an our tent/bus)
and the excuse "if you would have asked earlier maybe it would have been fine
but I cannot decide to let you stay without asking the community".

So we -dissapointedly- decided to spend the first 2 nights on the beach that belongs to the Glarisegg community
and felt a little bit strange among those rich "yuppie-hippies"
living in a big castle with own beach and not wanting to share with us poor idealistic travellers... ;-)

But when we came to talk to Kathrin about the project and community
we also learned to understand about the financial and commercial situation of Glarisegg (I will tell more later on)
and when we joined a celebration taking place in the yurt in the first evening
we saw that there still are lots of open, helpful people around there - and we were allowed to stay in the yurt in the end.

The community exists since 5 years and is based on 5 main ideas/projects:
a) an own school (GasserSchule, flow-pedagogy)
b) seminaries and guests
c) therapies
d) arts and culture (Kulturlabor) and
c) the community itself.

There is no common "religion" /... , but everybody can live however and believe whatever (s)he wants. Also, like Kathrin said, they are always trying new methods and structures of organisation.
(For such a young community it seems to be quite well organised anyhow... )

The community consists of around 30 members and some children, there are always lots of guests and guest workers around. Most of the people living there are around 40, there are only few young people and children there.
The community members meet 3 times a week to talk about organisational and emotional stuff, which is the main communication plattforms and keeps information circling.

Kathrin told us that there shouldn't be any destructive talks in the circles
and that people would try to talk only about their own feelings without accusing each other,
whereas Marianne Fischer of the Gasser school (who is not a community member any more)
told us that she stopped going to these circles
as she felt depressed about the way of communicating and complaining about each other in there and that it was too tiring for her and just taking too much energy.

Some of the community members rent workshops or seminary spaces within the community and work there, some work "outside".
The community is financed mostly by renting space out to guests. There is also a shareholding society to finance the place, in which people can invest their money directly in sustainible living and culture by supporting the community.

The people in Glarisegg are not self-sustaining, there isn't even a vegetable garden at the moment, but interacting and trading with local organic farmers.

It seems there are a lot of spiritual/"esoteric" people there and so are the workshops, seminaries and therapies offered there (e.g. schamanic healing, spiritual sexuality, Tai Chi, Tibetan Tantra, coaching in relationships, family therapies, contact improvisation, trance dance, ...)

To become a community member you have to live in Glarisegg for three months as a guest worker, which means you pay 15 Swiss Franks a day (including organic food) and work 5 hours for the community. After this time the community decides if you can stay longer, after half a year they decide if you can come to their circles/meetings.
After one year you have to start to invest into the community, which is 21.000 Swiss Franks within 3 years (500 Swiss Franks a month) - payable in work, goods that the community needs or in money. Plus you have to rent your room and any other rooms like workshops etc.

This prices and strict conditions are only understandable if you know that this beautiful peace of land with all the houses costed 3,3 million Swiss Franks to buy (which is actually cheap for the region!)
and that e.g. heating the old buildings (which is mostly not living space but guest and community space!) is 600 Swiss Franks a day!!

Even though deciding to move to this mega-project seems to be an expensive decision for live there is at the moment lots of change going on. Many new people are interested in becoming a community member and some of the people who started the project are moving out for different reasons...

Some more impressions and pictures in my mind:
People still seem to have time to talk while working...
people walk slowly...
people do Yoga at the beach...
many of them seem to be amazingly passionate with their work...
and they are open towards you if you are open as well...

To come to an end: in general Glarisegg seems to be a quiet and spiritual place,
that -in it's own quiet, slowly and spiritual way- brings inspiration, healing vibes and changes to the people of the regional area...
at least to those who can afford...

---Anja

...Read the rest here!

travelling school of life .... and the THROW-AWAY SINGLE-CHILD ONE-NIGHT-STAND PUSH-UP SCROLL-DOWN CLICK-AND-BUY-SOCIETY

> written on the 17. Sept 08:

In about 2 weeks I'll be gone away from here.

I'll be leaving my life here in Germany.

I'll be travelling and experimenting with something new...

I'll be travelling round in a group,

learning from my travelling mates and from others,

exchanging skills and knowledge,

trying to network and promote ideas, visions, dreams...

trying to make people be heard,

trying to bring new and old ideas together

and let them melt together into something ... well, better :-) ...

bring the positive news back to the media

and some hope to the people out there in this planet...

I'LL BE TRAVELLING...

But right now I am still here,

sitting in the underground train in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, Europe...

WELL, PLANET EARTH IN THE END...

It is the first day after summer vacations finished

and all around me there is young students coming back from their first day of hell

after a long paradise season

-that's what it seems at least when I hear them talking.

"How was your first day" I hear one boy saying with an ironical smile.

"Great" the other one replies with sarcasm

and makes a face like he has been punished damn strongly.

I am sitting next to a group of girls around fourteen,

each one of them is wearing earphones listening to I don't really wanna know what kind of music.

Every once in a while they talk something about clothes and about

what-I-wanna-buy-next-in-which-shop...

Actually it's more shouting than talking

- or at least it's much louder than it would have to be

if they just took their earphones out for a second!

I think back...

Back in the time I went to school (which is only like 3 years ago)

I felt so ... caged...

into something strange I couldn't really understand...

and couldn't say why I was put in that cage,

couldn't even find words for it

- as it seemed so ... normal... to me to be caged.

When I look back on that time now, I gotta say: YES, I WAS IN A CAGE!...

and even though nobody r

eally ment to steal my freedom for bad reasons or doin me wrong

(-no, they ment to do me good!-) it was still a prison with no way out.

Everyday standing up in depression,

all day hanging round with

people not interested in what they were supposed to learn

but all of them feeling caged in a prison like me...

and not finding words for it.. and fleeing into glitter-glimmer-media-worlds...

making fun of everybody telling them (in one way or another) that this virtual world is no way out...

People kept telling me (-and they still keep

on doing that-) that I can be happy,

that I had the chance to visit a school,

that I had the chance to learn something...

And, yes, in a way, it's true.

Maybe I did learn a lot and I can be happy...

But the same people - and that made me wonder -

were telling me also that this time in school was

supposed to be the freeest time of my life and later, when I'd be older I'd think back upon this time

and know what it was worth...

SO YOU KNOW WHAT? I AM STILL HAPPY THAT IT IS OVER!

No, it was NOT the freeest time of my life.

And if there is people saying that and really meaning it,

really being even more imprisoned all the rest of their life,

I am feeling really sad and sorry for them.

Maybe I am just not grateful enouph...

maybe I should think back and say,

"how happy I am that I could go to school and learn so many things...

poor kids in Afrika do

n't learn anything at all"

But -oh what a question to ask- maybe I could have learned so much more, if I wouldn't have spent so much time in this place called school... wouldn't have spent so much time with people, that I didn't really like and that didn't like me and that couldn't teach me about life but only about theories... And wouldn't have been forced to talk so much about so many things that I didn't want to talk about and that I forgot again already, or at least 73,48 % of it?

Yes, sorry for asking these kinds of questions and not just being satisfied and happy but I'm young and it's my duty to criticize you, .... you, that you set up this system before I was born:

IS THIS KIND OF KNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE NOW REALLY WORTH THE PAIN I FELT

FOR YEARS? COULDN'T I HAVE HAD THAT KNOWLEDGE ANY OTHER WAY?

Yes, I am overreacting, Daddy...

No, I was not beaten up in school like you, Daddy, thanks for stopping that at least...

But didn't the struggle in the 70s only change

some aspects of school on the surface

and didn't it leave the concept of forcing young

people to learn things they don't wanna learn

"cause they don't know what is good for them"

untouched?

STILL, WHAT ABOUT CHILDRENS RIGHT OF FREE CHOICE that grown-ups claim to have?

What about years and years that they don't have any other choice than hangin out in that strange places which are supposed to make you understand life better and help you find your way - and fail so much in that for so many people?

Why are children put under this pressure and for what? Just for functioning in this

THROW-AWAY SINGLE-CHILD ONE-NIGHT-STAND PUSH-UP SCROLL-DOWN

CLICK-AND-BUY SOCIETY ?!?

Just for knowing how to send applies to

an entreprise,

but not knowing how to plant a car

ot or interacting in community?

Just for being so much alieniated from their feelings,

from their roots, from earth and sky, fire and water

and healthy families and communities?

Ok, you are right when you now you ask: ISN'T SHE A LITTLE BIT TOO MUCH COMPLAINING?

Didn't she benefit a lot from this system? Isn't she -for instance- from Germany and doesn't she seem to speak English quite well for that...? Doesn't that help her a lot now?

Yeah, right, I learned most of my English in school. I am happy that I had some quite cool English teachers (compared to other subjects where I didn't learn anything at all for years because of opposite reasons)... And I know that in the end I am lucky and it could have been all much worse, for sure.

But you know what?

After I finished school I couldn't really speak,

and I learned to use English only while travellin' round and talkin' to people

- without that propably I wouldn't dare to post this text on this blog

still believing my English sucks to much

(like they were trying to make me believe in school)!

By the way, I learned to communicate in Spanish within a few months just by travellin in Spain and learning in a book by myself...

Travelling taught me so much in my life...

AND THE BEST SCHOOL I EVER VISITED WAS THE SCHOOL OF HITCHHIKING

When you get to talk to a lot of different people, that really makes you broaden your horizone and see what possibilities there are in live and that there's many ways to go...

Thinking about it over and over again

I came to the conclusion that the child in Afrika

that doesn't go to school

and me that I went to a school that I hated

both have the same problems in the end

- cause our problems have the same reasons....

and I decided that if I change the situation for me,

it might help this child, too...

When I met the people of the "travelling school of life" in Austria about 2 years ago I suddenly knew what I wanted to do in my life... (-well, maybe not all my life, but for a while):

Help building up an alternative learning and teaching system, that can first be only an addition to the regular school system, but once maybe even be much better than that...

WE ARE FAR AWAY FROM MY DREAM

- in which there woul

d be no depressed kids

in the Underground complaining

about their teachers,

but happy young people travelling and learning,

first in smaller circles (maybe learning from different people in their village or from travellers coming by that village from somewhere) and then in bigger and bigger circles around the globe spreading infos, skills and knowledge all around the world...

I don't know if that dream is realistic...

I don't care in the end.

What I know is that the only real motivation for me

to learn

is when I really want to know something.

Not the test next week and not the arguing teacher

but only my own mind.

And what I also know ist that especially nowadays it is easily possible to learn completely self-organised in an autodidactique way - if first you know how to do it and if second you have people that support you in that and not just tell you you are crazy.

Since three years I am learning in an autodidactic way... mostly studying "alternative economics" and "projectmanagement" -which means I deal with developments in the

organic / fairtrade /"lohas" and open source /solidarity economy - szene(s),

also watching developments in the web 2.0 (social networking for various reasons etc)...

I am also trying -with some likeminded friends-

to build up solidary economy infrastructures

that I can one day earn a living from...

and live and be free the same time

Moreover I am studying e.g. arts, politics, psychology

and some other subjects

(well most of them more on the surface but still deeper than the average German I suppose...)

I learned a lot in the last years in this autodidactic way and I think there is already many things that I could teach to people... and of course still I got a lot of things to learn.

SO WHY I GO ON THIS SKILLSURFERS TOUR IS I want to share ideas and visions with people,teach and learn, being a student and a teacher at the same time.

THE NAME "TRAVELLING SCHOOL OF LIFE"

was invented by some young people moving around

in Europe as a group,

visiting ecovillages and organic farms

to live and learn there together

as a self-organised learning group.

We kind of like this concept

(that is only one aspect of what "travelling school of life"

can be and mean!)

and so we thought we could do the same thing

on a much larger scale, which means we do not only want to

visit ecovillages and farms, but also political, cultural and social projects/NGOs,

as well as entreprises or collectives or other institutions e.g. alternative schools

and individuals who are having the same "curriculum" we have.

We want to talk to them, do workshops and share ideas and visions to then spread what we learned

in the other places that we visit.

We wanna motivate people to take back their education in their own hands again

- because we know that it is possible

(though of course you need some self discipline

and this can be harder than just consuming what teachers present to you in schools

and you have to learn how to learn first)

Of course we also want to talk about subjects that matter for our personal "curriculum",

like e.g. I want to learn about alternative economies

and build up solidarity economy connections and cooperations...

We also wanna learn about permaculture ,

about how to do electronical/ experimental music

and many other things...

WE'LL BE TRAVELLING

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN TEACH TO US! :-)

So that in few years,

maybe I won't be ashamed

sitting in the Underground

with some flyers of "travelling school of life" in my backpack

not daring to give them to depressed kiddies

or talk to them about their learning dreams...

BUT MAYBE ONE DAY I CAN TELL THEM..

"WELL, YOU ARE NOT SATISFIED? THEN GO TRY SOMETHING ELSE!"

...Read the rest here!