Comenius infection...

I have been asked many times – why on Earth did you take another Comenius project? Didn’t you learn anything from your previous two? Do you really want to spend countless number of sleepless nights wondering how the hell are you going to complete all the tasks needed? Or ponder endlessly around the question of who’s going to do what, ending up doing most of the things yourself anyway... Do you? Honestly? Yes, I do. I have the button of unstoppable thoughts inside my head and it’s turned ON. I haven’t been able to find the OFF button... In all the craziness and endless lack of time, there is something about all this Comenius stuff what I need. For myself. And that’s PEOPLE. Comenius people.

It’s so heartwarmingly amazing to observe how complete strangers meet each other for the first time, how they change, get molded and twisted for the purpose of fulfilling project tasks. How all their differences and prejudices, which could be seen as monkey wrench in the works, one minute start to act as building blocks of the yet unknown puzzle. And this moment you feel that you could do anything. Together.

There is no better reward for the hard work than meeting new people. The unimaginable amount of energy they give, new feelings they awake, new thoughts they generate. I have always believed that Comenius people are somehow a bit weirder than normal teachers. Not strangled by rules and stranded by prejudices. Because they are. You don’t really expect that a Norwegian man would be among the first ones on the dance floor... or Polish girls so damn joyful even without Bolinka... or otherwise modest Spaniards sharing their thoughts about something so emotionally that you can almost understand them although they speak in Spanish which is Chinese for you... or find out that behind reserved look and behaviour there’s a person who can feel the places talking to her just like you yourself... or to your ultimate surprise find out that someone else is having as quirky sense of humour as yourself... or look inside dark brown eyes and see your own yearning for human touch and kindness... or feel the warmth in someones voice then she promises to make you a cup of coffee with her own little hands... or hear the real appreciation if someone says that he thinks you are a bit crazy... or see the tears filling the sweet one’s eyes then saying farewell... or feel the sadness in the face of someone whom you probably never ever meet again... It makes me intoxicated, being among my new distant friends. This is my reason for doing Comenius.  And it’s probably good that we need to spend number or weeks far away from each other, otherwise I would need to be institutionalized. After digesting all these feelings and energies I promise to behave next time we meet. At least first few days...