I can tell my story started from the Moment the plane landed in Vilnius. It was the 10th of January almost 3 months ago. From this moment I knew I had an amazing time ahead and I was not wrong. On the next day my coordinator took me to my work place at the Technic Center where we met my colleagues, children and the staff.
It took me about two or three weeks to adapt with the new workplace, new people, new environment and the harsh weather of Lithuania, coldness and frost. The month started with already planned classes with children who are taught robotics, coding, new technologies, inventions and new programs. It was a wholly different experience for me. I've never been in touch with coding and programming. I had to learn everything from the bottom. We also had some chemistry and physics as well as some crafting classes. We are of course made robots again. I spent some time with all the volunteers and they are amazing, adorable, intelligent people. We plan meetings together, we moderate conferences together, we plan Mutual projects together which are going to be about minorities, their rights and future possibilities in post-soviet societies. In February , pretty much everything was the same. There are classes which are already planned. I have to help teachers check for supplies, charge all the robots and iPads, and come up with some new ideas regarding the follow-up classes.
In the beginning of the March 4-5 days we had on-arrival training in Trakai (Lithuanian Bakuriani) . I met so many new people and new volunteers from other cities like Kaunas, Klaipeda, Panavejis and Vilnius. We spend time together. We came up with new ideas. We exchanged our opinions regarding their personal projects. In the end I got acceptance from some volunteers that we are going to plan one project together which will not be a personal project but a group project for all volunteers.
After we arrived it's been kinda ironic. because we live 3 together in my apartment, me, one from azerbaijani, one from Turkey. In February Turkish girl had covid, in march azerbaijani girl got positive and now I'm infected too, so Covid doesn't give us any chance to travel around to see new places, at the same time the weather is not perfect shining, it's always cloudy and cold that we are waiting for summer to come.
One of our teachers' ideas was to create a Lithuania country shape from computers and electronic details. I loved this idea from the moment she told me and we started working on the project. It was from February till March 11th. On March 11th Lithuaninans have another Independence Day. to be exact its independence restoration day. so this project took us 2 weeks to prepare all the materials for the shape, To make that shape smooth and representative. The project was so massive, the shape is about 2 meters in length and 1 meter in width. It drew the attention of national television and we were on one of the afternoon programs. The teacher and I were talking about how we did it, what the main idea was, what challenges we faced and also I mentioned about volunteering, the awareness in society and what volunteering means in general. so many people do not know about it as I'm not living in the capital. I live in a small city called Siauliai. We also mentioned the war in Ukraine. This topic is crucially important for Lithuanians as well as for Georgians because North's neighbor is Russia for us, and Lithuania has borders with Russian plus Belarus.
I also have to mention my presentation which took place on 24th of February in one of the schools our Center has educational activities. I explained to little children where Georgia is, what language we speak, what Georgian people actually look like, and how the Georgian alphabet is completely different from everyone else's. They got so interested they learned some Georgian words such as, Gamarjoba, Madloba, Nakhvamdis. After that we had some quiz about Georgia, main questions like what the currency is, what the capital of Georgia is, what language we speak, and so on. The winners got some Georgian coins as a souvenir and they were so happy. With Legos we built Lithuanian and Georgian flags.
I also have to mention the interest people show when I say that I'm from Georgia, but actually I don't say that I'm from Georgia I say I'm from Sakartvelo, and they know what I mean by that because Lithuania is the only nation which decided to call us by our own name, as we call them by their names and it's Lietuva, not Lithuania. I feel included and warm-hearty welcomed here.
I was planning a new lesson for kids in second and third grades with robots. Oh, they have to code the way on Georgian maps. For example they have to go from Tbilisi to Kutaisi or from kutaisi to Batumi, but it will be on a code map with robots, they have to use some symbols, front, back, turn and recording puzzles and get their own way through. Now I got tested positive with covid-19 so probably I have to stay at home for the next two weeks and I will have some time to think about and get my project more sophisticated and come up with new ideas as well.
While I'm volunteering here I also study in Georgia Ilia State University online and this is 1 + challenge for me too. Maybe because of the distance, time difference and that overlapping schedule. But I do what I love the most, I talk with children, I'm in a creative environment and I meet so many new people who are absolutely adorable. In the meantime I made friends with future leaders. I would say as currently we are working on projects which will help European solidarity Corps raise their standards. To make it short everything is going great and we keep working. So my project is supposed to be 1 year. It's been just three months. I have nine months left. One fourth of my project is already covered and I used this period to get used to the environment, people, social rules and the country in general.
