A new place to live

 Hi, my name is Marta and I am a Latvian girl living in Berlin, Germany. I have been living in Rustavi, Georgia for 6 months. Six months may seem like a short time but if you think of it as half of a year it might seem kind of a lot.

Moving to a different country, kind of far away from home, gives you a lot of insight into so many things, not only about yourself but also about work and future work opportunities. It is a great chance to get to know yourself better and experience a whole new self.

I’ve been working on many things, helping out at schools leading German classes, teaching English at a kindergarten, helping out at youth exchanges, leading an English conversation club for kids, diverse arts & crafts workshops, planning events and participating in writing a project. It’s quite interesting to try out so many things and find what you want to work on. Especially seeing when the work you did is showing progress with the people you are working with and seeing them enjoy the activities you prepared.

I will be honest, these past six months have been a rollercoaster of emotions. There have been times when I felt as happy as I can be and there have been times when I had panic attacks and cried for hours in my room thinking that the only option was to quit and go home. But this is exactly what volunteering is, volunteering is to fully step out of your comfort zone, to fully feel how it is to be independent, to feel how it is to establish a life away from home and how to integrate yourself into a completely new environment.

It has been a great time so far and I can’t wait for the surprises the next and last three months are going to bring to me. I’m excited about the upcoming projects and the adventures that are going to come along with it. I’m excited to spend time with people that have become close to me. Nevertheless, I am also happy to go back home.

My new home in Rustavi

Hi, I‘m Miron from Berlin, Germany and I have been volunteering in Rustavi for two and a half months now. I must say, I can‘t believe it has already been this long and I think the reason for that is that the people here were really welcoming right away.

Most of the other volunteers were already here for some time, so they could show me around and introduce me to things that are really handy to know here.

The two volunteers I arrived with, Magda from Poland and Julia from Slovakia, are my lovely roommates.

Other than the volunteers, I‘m in daily contact with our coordinator but also with local young people who come to GYE for our clubs and events and have become really good friends with them.

In my experience, Georgian people are often very hospitable and welcoming right away. In my second day, my neighbor already invited me for some coffee to her flat.

Regarding my activities in GYE, I already mentioned the two biggest parts. In the weekly clubs, we offer mostly non-formal education like language clubs, improv theatre, or handicrafts, but we also just do activities like playing football or frisbee when the weather is good (which it is most of the time!).

The weekly event is very often about a recent national holiday or an international celebration day for a certain topic. So we had events for women's day, Valentine's Day, or the Chinese/Lunar New Year, for example!

Other activities I do are going to the disability center in Rustavi once a week - which I really enjoy - or going to the local schools once in a while to give German lessons or help the teacher with the lesson.

Two exciting things coming up soon are the two camps all of us volunteers are planning for the summer: The Ukraine Camp and the annual summer camp! This year, the summer camp theme is Greek mythology and revolves around the ancient Greek gods, which will be so much fun! :)

All in all, I am really happy to have chosen Rustavi and GYE as the places I live and work for the next couple of months, as it has already given me so many nice experiences and I got to meet friends for life!

ეკა თევდორაშვილის მოხალისოებრივი ისტორია ხორვატიიდან

გამარჯობა, მე ეკა ვარ, საქართველოდან და 10 თვე გავატარე ხორვატიაში მოხალისედ ასოციაცია „ბიომ“-თან ერთად. პროექტის დასახელება იყო “Volunteer for nature” – ანუ იყავი მოხალისე ბუნებისთვის. შესაბამისად, ჩვენი სამუშაოები ეხებოდა ბუნების დაცვას, ძირითადად ფრინველების განხრით.

პროექტში მონაწილეობდა 4 სხვადასხვა ქვეყნის წარმომადგენელი და თითოეულის დატვირთვა ხდებოდა საკუთარი ინტერესების, შესაძლებლობებისა და გამოცდილების გათვალისწინებით, ასოციაციის საჭიროებებიდან გამომდინარე. საკმაოდ დიდი დრო გავატარეთ ხარვატიის კუნძულებზე - ლასტოვოსა და ცრესზე, ასევე კონტინენტურ ნაწილზე - ზაგრებსა და უჩკაზე. ვიღებდით მონაწილეობას სხვადასხვა საველე სამუშაოებში, რაც მოიცავდა ფრინველების გამრავლებისთვის უსაფრთხო გარემოს უზრუნველყოფას, ორბების გადარჩენის ცენტრში მოხალისეობას, უჩკას დარგოლვის ბანაკში მონაწილეობის მიღებას და მის გამართულად ფუნქციონირებაში დახმარებას, სხვადასხვა ფრინველების მონიტორინგს და ა.შ. 

ზაგრებში ვეხმარებოდით საოფისე საქმეებში, შეგროვებული ინფორმაციის გაციფრულებასა და ანალიზში, სოციალური ქსელებისთვის მასალის მიწოდებასა და ჩვენი საქმიანობის პრეზენტაციაში.

პროექტის ბოლოს, შემაჯამებლად, შევქმენით ვიდეო ანიმაცია ჩვენი მოხალისეობრივი საქმიანობის შესახებ მოწოდებით, რომ ყველას შეუძლია იყოს მოხალისე ბუნებისთვის https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbB1e25bL1w

ასევე ბლოგი, სადაც უფრო დეტალურად შეგიძლიათ გაეცნოთ ჩვენს თავგადასავლებს და პროექტებს, რომლებშიც ვიღებდით მონაწილეობას https://escvolunteeringfornature.wordpress.com/

MY FRENCH STORY - ANI KURTANIDZE

After I got involved in a two month volunteering project in Greece, my dream was to live in Europe. The easiest way to fulfill this desire was to volunteer again, but this time for one year. Like that, I’ve been in France for almost three months now and I am a volunteer at CCPR.

At the same time I am a volunteer in the college MFR in Ribérac. My mission in this college is to promote Georgian culture through various activities.

My students do not know about Georgian culture, history and everyday life. so I have a very responsible job to represent our country in the right way. I try to show my students everything that Georgians are proud of -dance, song, dishes, traditions and so on. The Georgian alphabet and dance makes a special impression on them. I also help my French students to improve their English level.   

I am the only Georgian who has ever been in this project, I am kind of the ambassador of Georgia in Ribérac. (Haha)

Another mission of mine is volunteering at Café linguistique. Where we motivate people to improve mostly English, but other languages too, through various games and activities. There we have a very friendly and fun atmosphere.

I like the French language very much and I also attend French lessons. My students tell me that I have good pronunciation, I think they are encouraging me, that is really sweet. J

 There are still 9 month ahead of me and I think I will accumulate some pleasant, useful and interesting experiences. I feel how I grow personally in this project day by day. It’s always like that, you will find and look at yourself with different eyes in a foreign country and start learning about yourself again, and that’s really cool. J

Last but not least, if you have a dream to follow them, nothing is impossible. J   

Great time in Georgia

Hello everyone, My name is Annemarijn and I am a Dutch ESC volunteer in GYE in Rustavi, Georgia for four months. Right now I have been here two months and I am going to tell you about my amazing experience so far!

In these last months I have had so much fun working at GYE. My colleagues are really nice and we always have a good time at the office. At times we play games with each other or just talk in our work breaks.

I give English conversation three times a week, once with kids and two times for youngsters and adults. With the kids I play games and make drawing while learning English. With the older group I talk about a lot of different topics, like traveling, the school system and sometimes just having fun like friends.
I also have drawing club for kids. The club is before school at 11 o’clock. We usually search for a drawing video on YouTube and go through the process step by step. The kids don’t really speak English so we communicate throughout hand gestures or someone translates between us. This can sometimes be difficult because there can be easily some miscommunication, but it is also a fun challenge and I learned that you can come a long way with just hand gestures.

Four times a week I go to a kindergarten in Rustavi with one other volunteer and we teach the kids some English by playing games or watching short movies and reflect on them. The kids can be very energetic and a bit too much at times, but they are also very sweet and really enjoy our lessons. So all together it is a good experience!

Two times a week I have Georgian lesson with an amazing teacher. We practiced what we learned the last time, learn something new and laugh a lot while doing it. Georgian is a difficult language, but I do really like learning it. Because you need the language much, you see your own progress very good and gives me motivation to continue.

On occasion we have some Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges or other types of projects, for example a Christmas market or setting up summer camps, and we all help to prepare and run them. These projects can be in collaboration with the Scout Center in Rustavi. Then it is even more fun because we get to work and hang out with all the volunteers.

My apartment is a 1-minute walk from the GYE office. I live with two other volunteers, one also from GYE and the other from the Scout Center. In the beginning some of us had to get used to living together, but right now it is really nice. The other volunteers are in the apartment across the hall from ours, so we hang out a lot and have so much fun! I really like everyone here and have made some really good friends. Not always everyone gets along, but we try to talk about it and fix it. So it doesn’t become a problem and up to now it worked.
I am truly enjoying the variety of nationalities I have met, because you learn more about the way things go in other countries, the culture and some national traditions. Even games or food can be so different, but so much fun to try!

Georgia is such a beautiful country, the nature, people and of course the food! I never thought I would feel so much at home here, as I do. Georgia really got a place in my heart and I will definitely visit it more often after my stay here. I am so very grateful for this amazing opportunity and know that I will remember this for the rest of my life!