Elene Esakia ESC Story from Lithuania

My name is Elene Esakia. I was a volunteer in Šiuauliai Dermes school. Šiauliai is 4th biggest city in Lithuania. And my school is only one which takes kids with special needs from all aver the country. This means that we have dormitory in school territory where students live and where I lived for one year. 

To explain more clearly it is little Hogwarts located in Lithuania where special kids study and very kind teachers teach. 

My work started from 2 o'clock. At mornings I had a free time so I was walking around the lakes, after that my shift would start and I'd go to very educational classes with my kids. I'd take care of them and also learn something new by myself. We had lessons in dancing, florists, crafts, ethnography and sports.

Those classes helped me to create my own personal project. I sewed a Georgian national dress on a doll, painted an old guitar in old Tbilisi views, and created a book about Georgian alphabet. Unfortunately in the middle of my project happened world pandemic and everything got closed. Our organization took care of us, I had to stay one more month because there were no flights, but our coordinator did everything she could for us to be comfortable in different country.

If you'll apply for Siauliai Dermes School as a volunteer believe me you will spend a very beautiful one year in a very beautiful and hospitable Lithuania

Tamar Giorgadze ESC Story from Spain

I am Tamar Giorgadze and I am volunteering in Málaga, Spain.  I was really lucky to find this Project in the most beautiful region called Andalusia. A year ago I decided to get out of my comfort zone and looked for new opportunities. I think my volunteering time is really special, because of the following  reasons: 1.  I was lucky enough to have working experience which is related to my profession. 2. I am among  the volunteers who are doing their Project during the pandemic. 

I work in the organization which empowers people and supports social inclusion.  I work with homeless people, with immigrants, women who are victims of trafficking and with people with different kinds of vulnerabilities. Usually I help them to get information about social services and resources, so they can find a job and integrate in the local community. Also I organize activities to help them develop their employment and social skills, going to the houses where immigrants live and helping them in their daily life. 

This is already my 8th month since I have been doing my volunteering.  For me it is divided in 3 parts: 

Time before lock down:  adapting period, because living in the new country is related to new challenges like getting to know the culture, organization, people, learning and finding out the ways to communicate with users and colleges in a language I did not speak very well. 

During lock down: On 13th of march the organization stopped working because of corona-virus and after two days the whole country was in quarantine for 3 month. We were not allowed to leave the house at all, just only to buy the food. There was a lot of fair, uncertainty, confusion. It seemed really hard to stay at home under these circumstances. But on the other hand I was lucky enough to have amazing flatmates. We always tried to support each other, and were organizing activities that could help us to overcome the situation and my organization always was for us whatever we needed.  Also this time was a great opportunity to concentrate on learning the language. During this period I was working from home and had online sessions with my users. 

After lock down: It is hard to describe the feeling when you are allowed to go out even with the limited hours just for a walk.   Slowly life went as normal as possible. But it was really strange to face the new reality. Still it is not completely allowed for volunteers to work from the organization (in order to eliminate risks), so I continue my work from home but also have face to face meetings in the office or in the houses of my beneficiaries.  

During my free time I attend cultural events, go to the beach and travel as much as it is possible under this situation. Of course to follow the safety rules. 

This Project is one of the best experience. I live in a diverse community, face many challenges, growing personally and professionally, getting confident and the most important having new friends from  around the world. 

Laul eestimaast or how I discovered Estonia.

Tere! This story started exactly one year and a half ago, when I was in need of something new in my life. I tend to change my life much often, but now I was looking for some extreme and dramatic change. So, one day in march, I found the EVS (now ESC) volunteering project in Estonia. I used to be a volunteer in AIESEC in Georgia from 2015, on different positions, so going as a volunteer wasn't a big change that I was looking for, however, the only things I knew about Estonia, is geographical location and the fact that it's EXTREMELY cold there in winter. After Georgian summer, that definitely sounded like a very big change for me, so I applied immediately and got accepted after 1 month! 

After a few months, on 3rd of September, I was standing in Batumi international airport with a big suitcase and a winter coat in my hands. I still recall the looks on me that day, as outside was 35 degrees and I was dressed like I just arrived from the North pole. Nevertheless, my decision to have my winter jacket carried by hand was one of the smartest ideas I ever had - as soon as we landed in Tallinn Airport, the cold breeze of the wind welcomed me and reminded, that I have a very big and hard winter to go through. 

I clearly remember the feeling of the first month - I was feeling like a tourist with a long term stay and even small things caused a big excitement in me. However, this excitement faded as soon as November - the darkest month of the year knocked on our doors. I had no idea that in Estonia there are white nights or dark winters. The fact is, that day becomes really small in winter and the sunrise usually is after 9am and the sunset around 4pm. So, basically, if you work in Estonia, you go out in the morning in darkness and when you leave your work, it's still dark. Seems very depressive - yes it does! In reality I filled up the lack of sun and warmth with the love of the kids in my Kindergarten, Vitamine D (which is essential in winter!) and long movie nights and cozy blankets. 

One of my big expectations this year was to see a snowy winter, but it almost didn't snow at all! Without snow, the humidity was really big and I was feeling cold in my bones, that's why every month in winter I escaped to some warmer country - once to Malta and twice back to Georgia.

Covid-19 crisis was really intense. Estonia didn't have a tragic situation, however there was more panic in people - everyone buying a lot of stuff, if someone sneezed on the bus, the whole bus was looking at this person and running to the other part of the bus away from him or her. However, this panic also faded away much quickly and everything became back to normal in a very short period of time. If you are interested, how I did my project during corona, please view this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R30KlRGGUdo 

About her majesty - the Baltic sea and summer: I was really tuned for summer this year, especially after cold and dark winter, however the winter lasted until the middle of May and I got used to cold weather very much. This summer, it was only for 2 weeks the temperature above 24, however the other days it's chilly and a bit cold for me. 

Even though summer did the early spring's job here, I had the opportunity to swim in Baltic sea several times (even though the water was cold) and really enjoyed it :)

My project is finishing in a few weeks, if I had the opportunity to go back to march 2019, I would apply for Estonia once again. YES, I had a lot of difficulties with too much nationalism in estonia and the understanding of the project description by the kindergarten, I got enormous love and emotions from kids, learned the essential parenting skills for future, decided to continue  my life in Estonia for 2 more years ( for University), got involved in activities of Georgian embassy and Georgian NGO's in Estonia to spread the awareness about Georgian culture and found the love of my life. 

So, if you are not looking for another entertainment and easy program, but are looking for a life changing opportunity, Tere Tulemast Eestis! 

Anano Iashvili