We Do Adventure

I guess it was iTunes that began the new music Tuesday thing. I'm sure the back in the days when Our Price existed you'd go and buy new singles on a Monday. Times change and Tuesday's it is. While I can have few complains about iTunes' service the Tuesday thing is slightly annoying. Monday's are often a day off – we work most weekends – and therefore an ideal day to go previewing new releases. Obviously, I'm ultimately the winner the way things are as the chance of impulse buying a new release is effectively removed. And for that my wallet is thankful! Throughout this summer Tuesdays are our music day. We didn't want to stop music courses altogether over the holidays so we set aside Tuesdays as the day to teach. This morning I've taught keyboards, guitar and bass guitar. I will be back in this evening for more lessons. All of us on the Novi Most team in Jajce teach music, all of us have students at different levels. Some came to us with a little ...

Last week we were part of a guided walk up one of the mountains that surround Jajce. Like in much of the rest of the country, you don't go for walks in the countryside without consulting local knowledge. Bosnia and Herzegovina still has an unknown number of land mines unaccounted for, despite it creeping closer to two decades since the end of the war here. Some are in marked mine fields; many are, at least assumed to be, still scattered indiscriminately in areas where fighting took place. It's not something you take chances with. As we hiked up in the hot sun we stopped in a bit of shade on the edge of a forest clearing. Here our guide pointed to the shallow hole in the ground that you might be able to make out in the picture. This was part of the frontline in the fighting that went on around Jajce. It was here that two guys who'd sat next to each other at school killed each other; a story horribly reminiscent of lyrics from the song Crazy by Seal. “One of them...

Sunday was the culmination of many months of work for Rowan. Preparations for the Neverland street art day in Jajce had seen here crocheting long into the night for weeks, as our spare bedroom became an Aladdin's cave of inspired creations. There had been workshops in the local cultural centre, giving young people the chance to create, and craft parties for the twenty and thirty-somethings. What all this hard work needed was a good day to show it to the world - or at least the local community. It got it: a day, if anything, too good. Last year's event was interrupted by heavy thunder storms, this year the sun beat down unrelentingly and it was hot. Decorating the town started at 7am, the art intended for people to take was put out about midday. By the time the day finished with an outdoor acoustic concert almost everything was taken.

Despite the pretty picture you see here we, like much of Europe, is waiting for summer to really start. This was two weeks ago, at a Novi Most team retreat in Gradac, on the Croatian coast. It was warm enough to swim, so we did as we don't get so many chances to get to the coast now we live in Jajce. Back at home we have begun preparation for winter - yes, already! Five metres of chopped wood arrived yesterday. It's now neatly stacked in the area our our front door. When summer does arrive it'll dry it all out nicely so it's ready to burn. The church building where we run our Novi Most courses has new double glazing which should both keep out the cold and hold the heat for longer. We can look forward to warmer teaching this winter. But, having said all that, we want to enjoy a long, hot summer first!

By now friends and followers of this blog who like the Novi Most Facebook page will be well aware that the organisation is making the most of the opportunity afforded by social media to get the word out. This is important. We who are involved in the work know it's needed, and appreciated, work that's making a difference. However we also know that if we don't explain that whats and the whys of it the details can be hard to second guess from the other side of Europe, less so from even father afield. That's the idea behind the series of short videos Novi Most is releasing: concise presentations of the issues affecting young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and what Novi Most is doing in response. Having worked on putting these, and the accompanying photos, together it's good to seem them being shared and commented on online. Social media provides a great opportunity to share a story at the click of a button. We want to make the most of this opportunity. But we are al...

Things have been a little quiet on our blog for the past couple of weeks. That's usually a sign things are not quiet in our offline existence - and this has certainly been no exception to that rule. April has, thus far, consisted of scaling the steep learning curve of handling a DSLR for the first time, racking up the road miles around Bosnia and Herzegovina and hours of editing video footage. Tomorrow Novi Most, the UK-based charity we volunteer for, will begin releasing the first of the new photos and videos I have been working on. Whether you're a fan of Facebook , Twitter , YouTube or good old-fashioned websites you'll be able to get a fresh insight into the important work Novi Most is engaged in.  My hope is these new videos, images and editorial help increase people's understanding of the issues young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina grow up facing. Until tomorrow, here's a teaser...

We've been hearing reports of heavy rainfalls and flooding from around the country. In Jajce we've had rain but have to feel we've escaped lightly. However, today the Pliva was running high through town, turning the weirs into wild white water. By the time the river rushed over the waterfall things were crazy indeed. This view is always dramatic, always worth a photo. Today video was the only way to do it justice.