Slovenia

Memories from a study visit to Estonia 

My world revolves around a small, dark office and a home full of children, one of whom is always coughing or being sick. The trip to Estonia was consequently very refreshing. I knew nothing about this Baltic country, but the northerners proved to be excellent hosts. We learnt that Estonia is more Slovenian than Slovenia: there are even fewer of them than us, their language is even stranger than ours, they sing more often than we do, and they were once part of an even more 'wasteful' confederation than ours. Since their country is considerably more economically stable than ours, I'm afraid that Slovenia is only ahead in suicides.

Did the seeds of knowledge fall on fertile ground? Indeed they did. Thanks to the excellent company, our journey was both pleasant and useful. We also watered the seeds with Estonian beer, but not to excess. Even within the Slovenian team we swapped a great deal of information. I learnt how adult education centres are organised; they are very important but had completely failed to appear on my radar. Of the foreign delegates, I was enthused by a French lady who had to learn to read and write again from scratch after a stroke, while among the Slovenes I most admired SIAE award winner, Ana Kruder. Belying her age, Ana exudes exceptional energy, and it is clear that she has truly revolutionised lifelong learning in Slovenska Bistrica. On the other hand, I learnt how far apart we are when a Turkish delegate and I compared figures on typical salaries - in Turkey, 260 Euros. Turkish delegate Abdul is the head of an institute that each year assesses the mental disabilities of 3,000 children, but he doesn't speak English, so it's understandably very difficult for him to obtain new information. At a time when it seems that Greece will flee the European Union at any time, Turkey seems even further away. We will not be able to solve global challenges in isolation, so we've got much work awaiting us.

Estonia was an excellent experience. I managed to find a whole bundle of Estonian comics for my collection. My suitcase was full, and it was time to go home to further sow the seeds of knowledge!

Ciril Horjak (ciril.horjak@gmail.com), comic artist and illustrator, 2010 SIAE award winner