Tamjdem together with a spirit of Goethe in mysterious Hartenberg
The first weekend of May 2011 was a perfect time for going outside the city to enjoy the wonderful spring weather somewhere in the beautiful fields and forest of Czech Republic. The best way to have some nice rest, to be productive, positive and contribute to some good purpose all in the same time is just to join the “Tamjdem”. Simple as that! In the end we where 13 people with different ages, nationalities and backgrounds, but with the same simple idea in mind.
Our adventure started in the bus station Florence in Prague where we all met guided the nice map Gabri, the main organizer of this Tamjdem, had made for us all. J Part of us already knew each other from the previous Tamjdems, so already from the beginning the atmosphere was easy and warm as in the bunch of old friends. This was a promising beginning! Approximately 3 next hours were spent in the bus enjoying each others company, nice chats, some powernap and of course the seats we got (as our organizers were smart and caring enough to reserve the tickets in advanceJ). After getting out of the bus in the middle of nowhere we had a great chance to have some walk and move our after-long-sitting-numb buttocks. Forest, meadow, village, meadow, spooky houses, bridge with a view to green glen… and old, mysterious ruins. There it was – Hartenberg castle! We were of course kind of disappointed after getting to know that we will not be sleeping in this antique-flavored place, but instead of that in the nearby home of Honza – one of the most dedicated workers (and for sure the coolest hippy of this areaJ) of castle. But after we entered his home all disappointment was gone. Total bohemia is the only word which comes to mind for describing the place. It was cool! The same as the local pub we visited later. We were very lucky to be there directly after Czech ice hockey team won Slovaks in world championship and to experience unique atmosphere as the air in the pub was full with joy and pride.
Next morning inspired by the history of Hartenberg, especially the story about Goethe and his unanswered love, almost with the same determination as Czech hockey team we started our mission. Our main tasks during this weekend was to align the floor in one of the rooms of the castle, to clean old bricks and clean all the weed from patch on one side of the castle and bring a new soil there, so it could be possible to make a nice garden. During the Saturday we did a big part of all we had to do and got even more determined to finish it all and maybe even manage to do something more. To be able to do that and gain some energy for the next day, we had a fantastic evening program outdoors starting with the small walk and chill-out in the meadow near the river and continuing with the dinner near the bonfire, grilling of sausages and bred (which was a new experience for some of usJ), playing Mafia and singing along with the drums played by Honza. After one more night spent on the mattresses on the second floor of Honzas house we were full with energy to continue working and even to see some nice view and get some adrenaline by visiting old tower of the castle afterwards.
Honestly saying from the beginning the tasks delegated to us in Hartenberg seemed very easy and not time taking, but in the end we even left more sweat there than expected! But in these two days we managed and could be proud of ourselves, even though there’s always the feeling that it was possible to do even more… But it’s bad to be egoistic; something should be left for the other volunteers too! J And we are pretty sure this is not the last amazing Tamjdem in Hartenberg, as there is still a lot of work to do to sea this historical building in the full beauty again!
by Zane (volunteer, the participant of this Tamjdem)
