Always a reason to celebrate

Party in the streets

When you walk the streets of Bratislava enough in your spare time, you start to realize: people here like music, a lot. It seems like there is always a music festival going on. Usually, the festival consists of a seemingly impromptu crowd gathering around a random corner of the city center.

Here is a slightly more organized concert, with string instruments and even chairs! The big music festivals are the ones that they really do right--like "Pohoda," the one that my organization is attending the last weekend I am in town. It's an intense 3 or 4-day festival with nearly non-stop music. We will be advertising the League's activities there...buying publicity with a little lost sleep.

Party on the beach

I didn't know Bratislava had a beach! Apparently it does, during the summer. This is "T-Com Fiesta Beach," a corporate-sponsored family fun zone with playgrounds, beach volleyball courts, and a really swell view of the Danube. I went with Katka F. and Zuzka S. to see the beach before the Austrian night of fun described below.

If you just don't look at the concrete footpaths surrounding the beach area, then it's better than Cancun.

Ever signed a yearbook? If so, then this is for you. I found this at the beach--I did a google search, and HAGS is a playground equipment company. Imagine that.

Party with the Austrians

A bunch of us from the League met up Friday night with Hans, Benjamin, and Christian--three Austrian guys who formerly worked with issues surrounding refugee law and who bonded with each other in the process. They were fun guys, and I almost regret leaving the group early at around 3 am.

Before everyone went out, we had dinner. I should note that I really dislike flash photography--I'd rather eat something really gross than ever take a picture with flash. Unfortunately, the opposite happened here. Since I was so hungry, I figured I'd order the one available soup, which happened to have pieces of pig stomach in it. I was doing fine with it until everyone started talking about how gross it was. At that point, I figured I would have plenty to eat if I just focused on the massive pig's knee that a bunch of us shared.

A quieter celebration

Katka and Zuzka told me that this is their favorite street in all Bratislava. With the limited traveling I have done in the city, I can safely agree. We all like it for the same reason--it is almost dead quiet, and there are rarely other people on it. These buildings are mostly either abandoned or property of the church. Some nearby buildings are in a lot worse condition, as they were centrally-owned buildings during communist rule that never returned to their owners (for whatever reason) after 1989. It's quite nice just to be there.

One of Zuzka's clients was very recently granted asylum--the fullest protection that Slovakia can initially offer to a foreign national seeking refuge. Within as few as five years, he could become a Slovak national. Already, though, he has the right to travel throughout the EU as a permanent resident of Slovakia. Apparently, he is a lucky guy--he didn't suffer from much harm while he was in his home country, but he had good reasons why he couldn't go back. Zuzka and a UNHCR representative told me that his case is the picture-perfect example of how the asylum process should work.

His good friend, to whom I have talked several times because I helped do research for his case, only received subsidiary protection (the lower, temporary form of protection that could be revoked after a year). He actually did undergo abusive interrogation in his home country, and he also had a consistent, compelling story as to why he could not return. The lawyers told me that this decision, handed down within a week or so of his friend's, represented the opposite of how the asylum process should work. It's still technically a victory, but it's less than he deserved.

I haven't gotten bored at all with this city. It's nice to walk down quiet streets as well as to see concerts springing up everywhere out of the cobblestone, but what really makes my stay worthwhile is the group of fantastic people who care about each other and their work. I've been told I should stay longer than 2 months, and if it weren't for, I dunno, life back home, I'd be tempted.