Sunday 16 May 2010

Bloggers' Meeting

Before I had this blog, I used to write another one. In Slovene, my mother's tongue. I stopped posting there some time after I started posting here. Just happened.

My brother had a blog way before I did.
Through blogging you get to know people. From their posts and from their comments. There is this blogger, Bin (short for Albin) who writes poetry. And WHAT POETRY! I just love it. So I still sometimes write a comment or two under his posts. Or to my brother’s.

So this blogger, Bin (short for Albin), decided it was time for us to get to know each other. He invited us to get together. It was a very open invitation. It soon seemed there would be about eight or ten people, in the end four turned up – including Bin. And two more later.

It is strange, how you can talk to people easily when you know them from their words already. So we talked over a drink. Then we got into one car and Bin took us to a place he wanted to show us. He planned for the day, you know. Not just the meeting, but what we were going to see and do.

So he took us through this village and then up. And up. On a dirt road. Through the forest. Then he stopped and we walked some more.
We came to this little church. It was built in 1916. During the World War 1. The soldiers built it in memory of their deceased fellow soldiers. It makes you think. There are names on wooden plates inside the church. Hungarian names, Croatian, Slovene, Bosnian, you name it. Austrio-Hungarian at the time. Young men who were pawns on the board of some self-centered old men who thought they had the right to decide about other people’s lives. I don’t know how many died on the Soča front line. A LOT.

Click for a picture

The church is made of stone and wood. And there was a guy who knew a lot about it and couldn’t stop talking. But he was a good guide to listen to.

Click for another one - the amazing interior

After that we descended to the car, had a bite and then took our torches and went on – on foot – to some bunkers. They originate from the time between the two wars when this part of Slovenia was under Italy. So there were these bunkers to protect the border.
It is impressive. We only saw a bit, but it goes under the surface of the ground and it is actually huge. And they had their own little power station. Everything was well built. But they should have never been there in the first place.

Some people want to open this to the public (not just random visitors like ourselves) as a sort of a museum. Others believe it is too painful and should be left as it is or blown up. They were built in order to make the region Italian. History’s a bitch. It can be quite emotional, you know.

We went back to the car, drove to an inn and had a nice meal, talking about all sorts of things. Than our host showed us what he did before he retired (Sixty? Yeah, right! Fifty, maybe. Nope, he’s sixty.) He showed us some really old machinery at the railway station. Fascinating. Since there are really few trains (four or so every day) and because everything works just fine, they still use some of the things that were installed back in 1906. Wow!

By that time, the last two bloggers joined us. A married couple and parents of ten. They only had two with them. They invited us to their home. So we walked again, but not more than ten minutes. Up. Everything is up around here. A nice house, nice tea, the muffins I had made the night before, the cheese and other stuff they offered.

More talk. Some poetry. From a book of one of us. Bin also read a poem. A fantastic one. I really don’t know how he puts that together. My brother didn’t read anything. Me neither. But my brother, too, writes well. Stories. Many like them. So much, that they actually persuaded him to publish them. They’re coming out in a month or so.

After a while we said goodbye and left.
I was the driver. My brother and I got home around eight. Well, he did. I had to continue for 45 minutes to get to my home.
I felt tired but pleased.

I wonder what would I would be doing if I had stayed at home.

No pictures today, sorry. Too many in the past, says Blogger. I'll try to fix that. Be patient. Okay? Thanks.

15 comments:

  1. What a wonderful day. I would love to meet some of my blogger friends.

    That church is beautiful.

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  2. I didn't know there was a limit on how many pictures we can post. I wonder how long before I get dinged.

    They should preserve it as a museum or historical site. I believe the holocaust survivors here have the right idea. Some thought the reminders should be destroyed, but the survivors insist we should never forget. If we forget, we might let it happen again.

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  3. Yes, Ellen, it's nice to put faces to some of the posts. I liked that.

    I think the main point here is, Jen, that it happens anyway - in one form or another.

    The pictures are not just the ones on the blog, he ones from Picassa gallery + the Blogger's omes should not exceed a certain limit. I'll have to clear up my albums, guess. Move them somewhere else.

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  4. That's because you have too many (not interesting) photos in your albums. Make a selection. :P

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  5. A splendid post!
    Came to you via my chum Reya
    always happy to meet new writers

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  6. How nice that you got to meet up with the other bloggers! The church is simply amazing; I've never seen one quite like it.

    It's so cool that you can speak/write in Slovene. Can your kids speak it? I grew up speaking Cantonese, but I've not taught it to my kids.

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  7. Teresa, I am a teacher of English from Slovenia. Where I live, we all speak Slovene.

    The church is also here, in Slovenia, where world war 1 was quite fierce.

    Yes, I also like the church. And the fact that they built it in war time is simply amazing. And they still have service ther sometimes - on important days. And it either catholic or orthodox service. It is because of the different churches the soldiers belonged to.

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  8. Sounds great... I too have certainly met some very weird and wonderful people through blogging!

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  9. It's amazing looking back at how many people I've "met" through blogging. Some I'm no longer in contact with, some I've grown very close to, but it's all been worthwhile.

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  10. It's exactly how I feel, Mo. I'm glad to stop by at other blogs and I'm sure glad when others stop by at mine. And it feels like I know some more than others, doesn't it?

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  11. Minka, I enjoyed tagging along on this interesting blogger meeting. The church is amazing! Perhaps when you get your photos cleaned up enough to post, you could post something from the bunker you describe. I have to confess how ignorant I am in general about the history of your country and region - thanks for giving me such a helpful perspective. (I agree with your perspective on how wars are waged - yet honor the courage and generosity that many soldiers have displayed.)

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  12. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
    I feel the same abou the soldiers, no doubt about that. But I feel it should have never happened to them. Why should young men play the role of pawns on some old imbecils' board? Men who mostly neve saw the frontline, sent them away from the families to starve, freeze and experience the pain of horrific wounds as well as loneliness and terrible loss of their fellows? How does a person get the right to decide about other people's destiny in uch a horrible and rutheless way?

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  13. What a great story. It makes me want to meet other bloggers more and more. Do you follow Brian of Waystation One? He had a real stalker type problem online w/ some crazy person. He doesn't go into too much detail in a recent post but he did have to resort to protection methods. So, I guess we can't be too careful either.

    But your group and your day sounds wonderful and nice and the fellow who put it together must be quite thoughtful. Were you all compatible?

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  14. Errrrr... here... I'll have to tell you more, I guess. I will. I promise.

    Thanks for asking :)

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