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 This page is the informal log of my transiency process, in reverse chronological order.
+July- 21 August
+A full month in Lithuania.
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+It has started with an extremely intensive and complex week in Panevezys where i facilitated a project Migrating Birds. The aim of the project was to bring a divers group of people to create ideas and projects to revive the city. The goals where achieved, projects created and participants inspired. But a small group of organising team that we where was left with a bitter taste and completely drained of our energy. My colleague that agreed to assist me wasn't familiar with the methods i was using and was stressing out all the time.The second assistant that was suppose to help out had to concentrate on the other issues that appeared after being too generous to accommodate many wishes of the participants. I was mostly left alone with a lot larger group than agreed and deal with the problems that i had not much experience with (such as writing press reports and so on...).On top of all this during the week we realised how complex the topic we are working is. The city that after independence became ruled by mafia gangs, 3 very large industry sectors collapsed and got abandoned, cultural life that lived only on the legends of a few intellectuals that past away years ago and even a river that sometimes runs backwards against its current... We new this before we arrived but we couldn't estimate beforehand how deeply these problems still are rooted in the daily life of the citizens. (Even the hotel we stayed in is obviously build on illegal money...) How much energy it took for us to keep everyone calm and not start fighting. Well we kept it all under control... Or almost under control. The last evening blood was spilled... and the largest quantity on the mayors jacket. Such a reality check...
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+As part of my transiency i can only say i managed to facilitate the whole event on my own. From the initial design to the implementation. All worked well and gave me a lot more confidence to do this in some less complicated circumstances. And be strict with organisers about things we agreed upon ( number of participants, extra activities, help needed...) Also measure well the energy spend vs getting back.
+On a plus side i've visited one of the abandoned factories Ekranas. I feel very sorry that i couldn't spend more time there in the compleet vastness. The space is huge and so empty like a set for cinema.
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+After that the holiday followed. But it seemed as if all the good weather was spend on the week in Panevezys and all we had left was only dark clouds,rain and low temperature.So instead of settling somewhere we traveled around without meeting too many people. One of the top destinations was a city of Visaginas. It was built as a town for workers engaged in the construction of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (exact replica of Chernobyl).
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+It is a city- museum. I never been in city build only in Soviet style. The development of the city stopped after decision to close the nuclear power plant was taken. So it is really unspoiled and feels like traveling back in time. Even people still dress the same.
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+Another very nice trip was visiting Liepaja in Letland. A small city on the coast of the Baltic sea that survived the war without too much damage. Wooden architecture so nice and warm and almost no people on the streets.
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+-17 July
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+Perhaps the most busy week of the transiency so far. I mentored two people (two sessions each). One of them insisted to have a few session during his Europe visit. I never advised a person that i knew so little about before. I felt it was a risk to go for it and unfortunately i was right...First of all this person didn't know what to expect from the sessions and perhaps thought just being there is enough. That meant working energy had to come only from me. And perhaps this is how paying client-mentor relationship is, but for me it was only a very good test to see if i'm ok to advise someone that i don't feel connected too or i see that the person is not doing much to advance.In this case growing was not there... Another set back about it was a simple task this person had to do to cover his stay at FoAM. He had to paint a wall in the kitchen. When i sow the result (it was really not good) i understood that maybe it should be a test to do before i agree to mentor someone or not. You paint a wall carefully and well- i'll advise you, if the result is otherwise - goodbye...
+Next to mentoring i had a few meetings and a few other things to finish up before i leave on holidays. We also had a short catch up dinner with Maja and Nik. I think i did expect to have more "transiency" talks with them during these months of laying fallow.I'm ok not to have them but do miss them. Especially Friday aperos. I catch myself thinking on what would i tell during our weird and serious conversations and what would i get in the return. This link would be definitely on the list http://boingboing.net/2016/07/08/this-man-has-made-220-videos-o.html
+In the beginning of my transiency i made a list of things i want to do this year. One of the things was going to see exhibitions and shows. So far i failed this part big time. Only the last week that i managed to see one exhibition and one opening. To be honest i realise that i don't want see anything (or very little) at the time. Having time to spend alone has been a lot more rewarding than socialising.
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+In the mean time the garden has left a yellow/blue faze and entered light pink/purple one. Among which flowering at this time is one of my favourite - echinacea. I've been spending as much time as possible butterfly spotting. It is nice to say that i've counted more than 10 different species by just sitting in one spot.
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+-10 July
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+I've started this week with a long weekend living with the family @FoAM studio. I think this year i've used the studio most. As we had agreed with the core team one of the experiments for this year would be "inhabiting the studio". So far i enjoyed all the privileges the studio can offer. I've led here 4 workshops with kids, had mentoring sessions, stayed over night when needed, met friends for lunch, cooked for renting organisations, rehearsed with the group of musicians for the NMi event, danced by my self when no one was here... It is a great great place with lots of possibilities and good infrastructure. When it is not used by too many people it is not so demanding to take care of it. Problems starts when you have to walk around looking for things where someone could have put things or not...  The space was also used by our daughter and her friends when they would go out in Brussels. It is good to see youngsters feeling very exited and inspired by their surrounding.
+Second half of the week i've spend working on the upcoming event in Lithuania called Migrating Birds. This year i have a lot more complicated role than usual with lots of pressure and high expectations. I will have to facilitate a group of people to create prototypes and projects to revive the city of Panevezys. All would be perfectly ok but this week i understood that organisers has no idea what 'm talking about when i say "open space" or "world cafe" and so on... I have to explain every little thing... which is not alway easy to translate to Lithuanian...and being far away makes it even more complicated. In Lithuania almost all work is done by meeting f2f or by phone and not email. This way it is extremely difficult to keep everyone in the group informed about what is happening and make sure there are no misunderstandings. Written communication is very slow and many people don't know how to use it.  After long negotiations we have managed to agree upon general flow and schedule that has to be sent to the participants. I'm sure all will be fine when i will be there.
+As for now it is time to enjoy sunshine.
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+June-03 July
+A week of turbulence and emotions. While the summer is having a major difficulty to come trough the tick layer of rain (wettest June in years!!!) people are getting desperate for warmth. Almost everyone around me is emotional about almost everything. The feeling of doubt is in the air. Many practical things took a lot more of my attention than i anticipated. End of the school year, parental meetings, making choice about further studies of our son, exams and exhibition of our daughter, helping out with 50 wedding anniversary of parents in law and so on and so on...
+On the on the other hand i finally started to work on something that i had in mind since Borrowed Scenery. I want to make a series of portraits and match people with plants. It is also my first steps in Photoshop world. I have lots of doubts about that too... Here is the first attempt.
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