SEEDLING Magazine nº05

seedling.

winter 2022 & winter 2023

Welcome to SEEDS Iceland

Founded in 2005, SEEDS Iceland is an Icelandic non-governmental, non-profit volunteer organisation designed to promote intercultural understanding, environmental protection and awareness through work on environmental, social and cultural projects within Iceland.

SEEDS works closely with local communities, local authorities, individuals and other Icelandic associations both to develop projects in partnership, aimed at fulfilling an identified need, and to give vital assistance to established initiatives. Projects are designed to be mutually beneficial to all involved: the volunteers, the local hosting communities and Iceland as a whole.

Our projects in Iceland are supported by the local hosts and the volunteers participating in the project themselves; additionally we receive strong support for our long-term projects from the Youth in Action and Life Long Learning programmes of the European Commission.

Since 2005 SEEDS has hosted nearly 13000 international and local volunteers in our projects all around Iceland. In this time we increased our work with various environmental and conservation projects, we raised the number of projects related to culture, cultural activities, festivals & sports gatherings, and experimented with a number of new project concepts, including language and environmental education projects.

SEEDS enables volunteers to get to know Iceland from a different perspective, to meet the locals and have an insight into Icelandic culture, learn new skills, gain international understanding, make new friends all over the world, and give something back to the environment; thus, the mutual rewards for the volunteers, communities and ecosystems are massive.

We aim to empower, inform and expand the horizons of people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds, to become aware of the world in which we live and to take an active role in its future development. SEEDS provides opportunities to live, learn, understand and

experience, while sharing and cooperating with others from different cultures and backgrounds.

SEEDS main objectives relate to the promotion of: - Cultural diversity and international understanding - Cross-cultural exchange and cooperation - Volunteerism and development of values and skills for global citizen cooperation and earth protection.

Contents 06

The art of finding something interesting in an ordinary place

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Don’t forget to appreciate a tree

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A love letter to international friendships

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Buletin

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Walls of Reykjavík

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Every now and then

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Lullaby of the North

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Share & Learn with SEEDS

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Did you know? 9 facts about Iceland

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Gym routine ideas

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Crosswords

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Editor’s letter

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Thank you

The art of finding something interesting in an ordinary place

by Lara 06

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Imagine your home, your apartment and think about what you own.

The extra piece of jeans, the tenth sweater, all the plants, all the electronic devices, the shoe collection. No matter whether you live - in a loud city, a more quiet countryside or a chill little village - distraction nowadays is everywhere. Distraction belongs to our ordinary, daily life.

Even though you might think of distraction in the sense of noise, it can also be about what you see or what takes away space in your home or life. There are two different movements you can join, if you feel like you want to clear out these distractions and live more calm and focused.

It is about living a simple or minimalistic life.

You may start by living more simply which means to get rid of negative emotion by removing the cause. As a result, you will be able to live life with less stress and make choices which benefit you in the long run. If the collection of shoes makes you happy, keep it, if it doesn’t, donate it.

On the other hand, there is the ideology of living with only the essentials and enjoying life without distractions, which is called minimalism. A minimalist would not own a collection of shoes, even though it might seem to make them happy.

In the end it is not about owning what makes you happy, it is about decluttering your life and living with only the essentials. Essentials are the most necessary material possessions, so that you have more space for the really important things: love, friendship, happiness, memories. Material things are considered a distraction. A good side effect of it will be the impact on the environment, as a minimalist will not have a big carbon footprint with less possessions.

Minimalism has become more popular, not only as a lifestyle, but also in art, music and cinematography as a tool to bring across emotions and to simplify the complex. In art, the “smallest range of materials and colours” (Cambridge Dictionary) are being used to create works, while wider and less filled shots are chosen in many movies.

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Also photographers choose to take simple or minimalistic pictures.

There are Minimalist Photography Awards every year for many different fields of photography such as street, landscape and abstract and many more.

Aleks Baharlo, a photographer specifying minimalism states the field of photography would mainly be about bringing the viewer’s attention to only one object/subject and eliminating white noise. The main goal is to remove distractions, making more simple pictures and working with negative space.

Negative space is the factor differentiating minimalistic from simple photography. If you have a picture, the part of it which is occupied by the subject is called positive space, the “empty” part of it is considered as the negative space.

To create more minimal pictures it is good to start to decrease the content of the images, to take more simple pictures. In general, this field of photography works with several tools.

As a starting point it is really important what the main subject of your photograph is going to be. With the help of focus you can make the background blurry and isolate distractions easily, also zooming in can show details.

At the same time make sure your picture is composed in a way which clearly shows the topic. By that not only the composition is taken into consideration, but also the emotion it should bring across. In order to compose in the best way, the 3x3-grid can help, making sure that one third is occupied by the object, and not more.

A lot of photographers use black and white filters to make any distracting colours disappear. Usually once colours are part of the image, they are ones completing each other (take a look at the colour wheel) to make sure they do not take too much attention.

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Don’t forget to appreciate a tree

by Didac Several months ago I was hiking in a park, near where I live with some friends, and about halfway through the walk I noticed this curious tree, it had a strange curve and I took a photo of it, to remember how I felt when I saw this crooked tree.

When we look at trees in a forest, we see all kinds of trees, it doesn’t matter if they are bent or straight, if they are oaks or pines, if they have bark or not, in most cases what we see is simply a tree being a tree.

Even if we want to go deeper, we might think, “oh, how unique, I love that shape or that curve”, and then start to presume that maybe it wasn’t getting enough light and it turned this way or that way, or that perhaps strong wind or the weight of too much snow could have caused it to bend either way.

We don’t get caught up in the emotions of judgment, we simply appreciate the tree.

Conversely, when we look at humans, sometimes, we lose that appreciation and curiosity for their background and we fall into the trap of swift judgment.

It’s easy to judge and say “you’re this” or “you’re that”, to judge the shape of the leaves and the color of the bark or whether or not they have bark and everything else about them.

But, what would happen if we looked at people like we look at trees? What if we could appreciate people as they are without any judgment?

By adopting a perspective where we see people without the burden of preconceived notions, we could encourage greater empathy and understanding in our interactions with others.

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Just as we embrace the diversity and beauty of the trees without judging them, ourselves strive to extend the same appreciation to our fellow men, transcending the superficial judgments and celebrating the inherent singularity of each individual.

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A love letter to international friendships

by Lara 14

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If we are not cooking, eating, making music or dancing together, we go on trips.

As we started to grow closer to each other and all had some free time, we explored Mount Esja close to Reykjavík, it was our first adventure all together. We climbed onto it’s peak holding onto chains while maybe losing the path for maybe a few short seconds …

As we reached the top of one of the mountains we were only used to seeing from the coast in the city, we were able to look all over the amazing landscapes next to us while chewing amazing banana bread (thank you Katka :)).

Over two other days we rented a really, really nice van with amazing Bluetooth connection (for jamming to our favourite playlists) and started driving from Reykjavík through Snæfellsness Península until Akureyri. This trip enabled us to spend time in beautiful sceneries that sometimes felt like travelling to different planets.

Once we are not on holidays or day offs anymore, the most of us are either in camps, driving around following Oscar’s phone calls 24/7 and doing groceries shopping, or working in the office keeping everything going.

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In those times everybody gives in over one hundred percent, and, even though it can be really demanding, everything works out in the end - þetta reddast as Ivka would say - due to us finding the best solution all together.

That is one of the things that you can count on; everybody will be there for each other and help whenever or wherever it is needed.

Thank you for a time that I will never forget, memories that will stay on mind forever, the best hugs, tears, laugh and talks I had in a long time.

For me it was all surreal, not just Iceland itself, but also the fact that I never get along with so many people at the same time. All of you made me realise so much about myself, made me grow and made me re-think. We are all very different people, have different backstories, ages and opinions, but we are here, taking care of each other and being a family. I feel so lucky to have been here and have no regrets at all.

Take care of yourselves.

See you all over the world <3

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Buletin

by Norbert

Identifying is a tricky thing to do.

For example consider tomatoes: they are by scientific definition a fruit, but a wise person would not put them in a fruit salad.

Tomatoes are therefore truly neither a fruit nor a vegetable.

Now for a more complex example we can take me, I am part of an ethnic group called szeklers or szekelys. This group of people are Hungarian native speakers who were born and raised in Transylvania, but my Romanian language skills sometimes battle my A1 Icelandic skill.

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I have been taught Romanian since Kindergarten, I have struggled with homework throughout my school career, and yet I do not feel any more Romanian than I feel German. To make things more confusing, sometimes I do not feel Hungarian even if I am speaking with Luca who is from Hungary. I have elements of my life that I would consider “balkan” which is more or less Romanian by source.

For example I have generally been known to be able to fix many things with my “engineering” skills.

I am therefore never really Hungarian nor am I ever really Romanian.

As I have shown by my specific example it is especially not easy with communities and people who are trying to find themselves.

Anya, one member of our Mikla communities in 2023 August-September generation, considers community to be the most important thing for her.

How could we understand something that is so intangible, the question of what this community is?

Let’s say we exchange Javi that left our little group in July with the one that arrived in September.

Both were invited to be “officers” and logistics tasks, both were born in Spain. But the first Javier would probably be confused whenever someone “says can I get a hell yeah?” followed by a unified yell of “hell yeah”.

So maybe it is memes, both in the more known meaning of funny pictures shared in our WhatsApp group, but also the little things that are passed down from one individual to another from one generation to the next.

A few examples: What is our internal name for Eskihlíð, the place next to Mikla where we organize activities for the camp. How we endure the puns that are created by the minds of Felix, Elena and me. How no one can understand whatever Diana and Anya are talking about in the kitchen, on the sofa, wherever. Or Sandra’s capability to make us think “that’s what she said” without saying the sentence.

But there is also generic memetic knowledge that this community has; we know that Mikla up, Mikla middle, and Mikla down are the different floors of our little abode. That whenever things seem to be working as they are supposed to, something will break, how icy the Icelandic pavements can be. How many minutes we give to the camp participants on South Shore, on the black sand beach and what we eat in the little restaurant next to it while they are sightseeing. How we really should organize that one event that everybody wants to happen..

I have skimmed a Duolingo article about how an accent is more than just about the one

speaking, it is also about what the listener of the message speaks as their native language.

They bring up an example of a Brazilian translator who speaks excellent English and yet some native English speakers do not understand her as much as people whose second language is English.

This reminded me of our situation, since none of our native languages is English, yet we may understand each other better than we might have been understood back home, or at least as much. Didac is a great example of understanding someone not because we are such good English speakers, but because we are all still learning it one way or another.

Another language-related specificity of this group of ours is that almost everyone ends up catching some phrases or words in other languages. Margot is learning German, which I think is fitting considering that she is one of the most fair people I know who also says what she really thinks. She could only be beaten

by Despoina with her emotional intelligence packed with objective perspective and way of communicating.

(Me, I just say gelatin with a confident French accent with Italian gestures.)

We could also separate or categorize our little enclave by rooms, or better yet by what they are doing; we have the crocheting team, where Elena EXCELS, or Luca’s single but strong team of needle felting, where they make beautiful birds. Henry, Elena, Pedro, and Felix’s very different but very driven capture of mesmerizing lights and, OBJECTIVELY one of the most creative teams. We also have environmental camp leaders who put the “mental” in environmental with their different meditation or nature connection workshops.

There are also the officers of the bunch, held together by Javier’s pasta and tricks up his sleeves to get you in one of the few classic games or Diana’s organizational skills or Anke’s devoted search for events or special ways to make our camps a little bit different each time.

Lastly we also the Logistics team consisting of the driven, or driving Andrea, who has all the energy needed to make things happen, and do so with a smile on her face.

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Maybe identity is more about how you are perceived.

There is always a contradiction of what one sees himself to be and what one is seen as.

I know for a fact that what people see me as in Mikla gives me peace and gratitude. It might be a different person from back home where I had to deal with the stress of everyday life and being in the safe zone of my original community.

As far as I know I am Norbert - one part of many SEEDS. A growing spiral that is always going upwards even if there are bumps in the road. I am “Transylvanian” and on my ID it says Buletin, which I find funny, since I like to think as we are punching holes into each other as BULLEtin board and I know if I were to yell “can I get a hell yeah?”, I would have some people all over the world making weird noises.

There is a place in Iceland, in a city called Reykjavik, on a street called Miklabraut, on the upstairs of an apartment, in the living room where there’s a blackboard where all passing souls will eventually end up leaving their temporary mark.

That is a symbol for those staying of things to come and things that have passed. I will leave my favorite saying on that blackboard as a goodbye.

“They tried to bury us; they didn’t know we were SEEDS”

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Walls of Reykjavík

by Anya 22

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Every now and then

by Elena standing still, perceiving with all senses the snow softly falling, making all surroundings go quiet, the wind making your cheeks blush, you realize just like snow slowy melting in the warmth of the sun things pass. but the memories you make, the feelings you sense, the people you connect with those are the things that stay. so stop every now and then and feel.

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Lullaby of the North

by Pedro 28

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Share & Learn with SEEDS

by Eniko Before I started my project in Iceland I didn’t really have any idea how it’s gonna be living in an intercultural environment for 6 months.

I was just curious and open to every new experience.

With this article besides the main topics of the camps (environmental protection and photography) I would like to share what else you can learn about if you join a project with SEEDS.

Everybody can connect and relate to each other somehow At the beginning of the camps we do icebreaker activities with the participants to get to know each other.

For example we give them 5 minutes to bring 3 items that describe them. How they characterize themselves and the underlying content associated with each object tells a lot.

One of my favourite moments was when a participant pointed at herself and said “I brought myself, I’m proud that I was strong and independent enough to come here alone to make one of my dreams come true”.

Another game that a former volunteer showed us: we divide them into groups of 3-4 people.

They have to collect as many things as possible that are common in everyone and find one that is only for that person. That way, it won’t be so difficult to find a topic and start a conversation later on.

Also, they can see how much they have in common.

“I learned more about the world in 6 months than I did in 17 years at school.”

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New recipes and techniques

Learn about each others culture

Intercultural dinners are one of my favourite parts in the camps.

The flavors of the world mix on your plate, from the Spanish tortilla de patatas to the spicy Korean noodles until the French crepes.

This game allows us to understand other cultures and break down the stereotypes.

Sometimes we have one big dinner where every nationality cooks something from their country, or we divide them for every evening.

It is always interesting to see the process from panicking to creating something special.

For one week the participants can try the vegetarian lifestyle, as a result they have to cook without using meat.

Most of the traditional cuisines contain meat in main dishes but at the end they always find a solution to replace it.

During these dinners we also show our favourite songs and have a great party and later we share the recipes in the group chat.

Tell us about 2 special places in your country After this session I always realize that there’s so many beautiful places that I haven’t seen yet and my bucket list grows at least with 3 new destinations.

Show us someone who is a great role model in your country Personally I love to hear about what values are important for them and what makes someone a great example to follow by others.

Tell a stereotype That’s the funniest part. At the end of the session everybody bursts out laughing about what people think about other nationalities’ habits.

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Inspirational discussions When I planned my workshop in September, I didn’t think that every time I finished a session, I would get so much new inspiration that I would always change my presentation a little.

Every group is different, I was constantly surprised by eureka moments that encouraged me to improve my basic concept. Many times I felt these conversations were a turning point, because intellectual brainstorming gained ground here, along with lots of fun and laughter.

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It is a heartwarming feeling that they appreciate the hard work of the camp leaders and the insights of their group mates.

Sometimes, weeks or months later, I receive a message from former participants that are inspired by the knowledge gained during the camp and they are trying to incorporate practices into their everyday lives.

Informal education and community life Living with at least 10 more people can cause unexpected situations but these cases usually create bonding moments. When they brainstorm together to find a solution brings people closer to each other and learn more about respect, acceptance and understanding others.

I am incredibly grateful to the SEEDS team for choosing me for this project. I learned more about the world in 6 months than I did in 17 years at school. These kinds of international activities prove that it doesn’t matter where we are from, everybody can teach and learn something from each other.

In the camps we offer different interactive activities to improve our knowledge in many fields.

Just a few examples of workshops that I was lucky enough to participate in: how to make your own plant based milk; recycling techniques; what sustainability means in countries; beach clean-ups; discussion about how to make environmental awareness more attractive; watercolour painting; Cantonese writing; learn words and sentences in other languages; traditional dance moves; photography basics and compositions; night photography with light painting; minimalism in photography and I could continue this list.

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Did you know?

9 facts about Iceland

by Anais 38

The Icelandic Elves Have you heard about elves? Yes, but Icelandic ones?

Many Icelanders still believe in them, here they are called «the hidden people». In 1998, 54.4% of Icelanders said they believed in elves, and of course there are varying degrees of belief.

«There is a belief that building roads through elf territory can result in terrible consequences, and the Icelandic belief in elves is so strong that the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration department has a five-page standard reply for queries and complaints about elves».

Icelanders are always outnumbered Iceland’s population is only around 375,00 people, and most of them live in the Reykjavik area. Icelanders will says «If you count all Icelanders that have ever lived since the settlement of Iceland in the late 9th century, the population does not reach one million».

have a dog since the rules have luckfully changed, owners have to get permission from the city and pay some fee. That may have helped the cats: there are 1 for 10 habitants in the city!

Takk fyrir síðast When Icelanders meet again after a party or a gathering, we say “takk fyrir síðast” or “thank you for that last time”. It might sound odd but it’s a way to acknowledge that we did really enjoy the last time we spent time together.»

The most northerly Capital Iceland has the most northerly capital city in the recognized world capitals, even though Reykjavik is located under the Arctic Circle.

Iceland state-run milk store

Nowadays, Iceland is a very touristic country, so it can be crazy but it is true: in one year, there will be around five times more tourists than Icelandic population !

Between 1910 and 1977 in Iceland, it was only possible to buy milk in state-owned milk stores, initially opened as an answer to an increasing demand in cities.

But there were a lot of complaints about opening hours and they ran out of milk so on the 1st Feb. 1977, the last state-run milk store closed.

No TV on Thursdays and in July

Beer was banned until 1989!?!

Until 1966, Iceland only had one TV channel.

It was called «The TV» and only broadcasted on Wednesday and Saturdays, and expanded to all days except Thursdays. And for July? It was obviously because it was a month off for everyone.

In 1915, a complete prohibition was in place across Iceland until 1935, but beer remained banned. The beer ban was lifted on 1 March 1989 and…. it gave birth to the «beer day», celebrated at the same time each year. It’s not that big of a party and you can still enjoy drinking beer like a Viking all year of course.

Then, “The American TV” from the American army base in Keflavík appears. In 1983, “The TV” finally was available in July and starting October 1987, Channel 2 was founded and TV started broadcasting on Thursdays as well!

Dogs were forbidden in the capital In 1924, a complete ban on dogs was applied in Reykjavík city area. Why? Simply because having dogs as pets increased cases of fatal tapeworms in the city, since it was passed on from dogs. And nowadays, even if you can

First Parliaments in the World While a lot of countries were monarchies in Europe, Iceland already had «the Althing» (the name of the parliament) around 930 AD. And the specificity doesn’t stop there: it was also formed in Þingvellir, near a lake and near where the two continental plates meet!

Nowadays, there is a national park in this area, and a flag still stands at the original spot of the first gathering.

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Gym routine ideas

by Javier 40

WARM UP.

This warm up consists in 10 min row; 2 min rest; 10 min crossfit bike; 2 min rest.

You can continue with articular movement and after that you have 2 min rest.

EMOM.

It’s a type of interval workout commonly used in various fitness routines, particularly in CrossFit and HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) workouts.

In an EMOM workout, you perform a specific exercise or set of exercises at the start of every minute, aiming to complete the designated number of repetitions or a specific task within that minute. Once you’ve completed the required work, you rest for the remainder of the minute before starting again when the next minute begins.

AMRAP.

“As Many Rounds (or Reps) As Possible.” It’s a type of workout structure commonly used in various fitness routines, including CrossFit and circuit training.

In an AMRAP workout, you’re given a specific set of exercises to complete within a set time limit.

FOR TIME.

In a “For Time” workout, the goal is to complete a specific set of exercises or tasks as quickly as possible, with the time taken to finish recorded as your score. *. I recommend you use a guide for the weight.

This workout should be challenging, but the goal is to finish. You can adjust the weight as needed. **. In this exercise, you may need to push yourself a bit because it involves a few repetitions.

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Welcome to SEEDS (15’’ rest in between) 10’ row 10’ assault bike 45’’ plank 45’’ lateral plank 45’’ lateral plank 45’’ crunch abs 45’’ touch your ankles 45’’ moutain climb 45’’ leg in side 45’’ leg out side 45’’ plank up and down

Monday

EMOM 12’ Hollow Rock - 20 rep DB Snatch* - 20 rep Moutain Climb - 60 rep DB Push Press* - 20 rep

Tuesday

AMRAP 16’ Wall Ball* - 15 rep Ketlebell Swing - 25 rep Thruster* - 10 rep Burpees - 10 rep

Wednesday

REST

Coco’s food

Charge the E-Van

Bakeries day

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Thursday

AMRAP 8’ Deadlift** - 9 rep Clean** - 6 rep Front Squat** - 3 rep

Friday

FOR TIME Toes to Bar - 21/15/9/3 Box Jump - 21/15/9/3 Pull Up - 21/15/9/3 Front lunge - 21/15/9/3

Saturday

FOR TIME 500m Run 40 Burpees 50 Wall Ball* 60 V Sit Up

Sunday

REST

Yaris on a hilly road

Send Friday List

Camp preparation

50 Wall Ball* 40 Burpees 500m Run

Bakeries day

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Crosswords

by Anais

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Vertical 1. The first name of the creator 2. The city where we are based 3. The kind of camps that are offered in summer season 5. The kind of association SEEDS is 6. The kind of issues SEEDS is interested about and acting for 7. The most beautiful country ever to do an ESC 10. It is a kind of art; SEEDS offers workshop about it and you can improve your ....... skills !

12. One of the main supporters

Horizontal 4. What people working for SEEDS are doing 8. Kind of diet that SEEDS promotes and applies to its camps, more respectful of environment 9. Most of our volunteers are sent here thanks to an European Youth program, which is ....

11. Our volunteering participants, our volunteering leaders and office team makes SEEDS .......

13. What SEEDS built through camps, activities, etc between participants & people interested to join 14. A worldwide NGO who owns some shops in Iceland and where our volunteers often take shifts to help

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Editor’s letter One of my biggest dreams when I was a kid was to work in a magazine and ever since, everytime I have the opportunity to be part of a project of sorts, I take it.

I arrived to Reykavík in September and from the beginning of my ESC experience, I knew I wanted to make this magazine edition my personal project.

The process of making this digital magazine come to life was so interesting and beautiful and unexpected. Nuno, from the Winter 2022 generation, reached out so we could combine articles from both our groups and I was so happy about this. Even though we never met, we share a lot of the same feelings and love for SEEDS, Iceland and Mikla.

I hope you appreciate this edition and that it inspires in any way. I hope it reminds you to look for beauty everywhere, to hug your friends and to take care of your dreams (they matter so much).

Thank you to everyone involved - seeing your perspective the world has been so special and inspiring. It was a pleasure creating something that combines beautiful art made by beautiful people.

Thank you to Katka - your constant support and feedback was essential.

Thank you to Oscar - for allowing me to have this safe space to create freely.

Thank you to Carolina - your talent for choosing the people who will become a family will always be astounishing to me.

Thank you to my generation - I will miss you deeply and will take what we lived together everywhere I go.

See you somewhere around the globe, Diana

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Thank you Cover photograph: Yue Zhang (SEEDS 070) Contributors: Anais, Lara, Eniko (Winter 2022 generation) Elena, Anya, Didac, Javier, Norbert, Pedro (Winter 2023 generation)

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