Volunteer Paula and the story of her first 4 months in Spišská Belá, Slovakia, at FACE CLUB
Half a year ago, like most of the world, I was sitting at home thinking about my life. I wondered what I wanted to do with it. Without thinking long, I realised I would go on a volunteer project. I applied to several projects that interested me, answered questions and did a few video interviews. Two months later I was packing my suitcases and setting off on a year-long adventure. Of all the available projects, I chose a youth club in a small town in Slovakia, Spišská Belá.
From the moment I first stepped off the train, they welcomed me among them. Even outside working hours I am not alone. In the first days my new friends showed me the town and its surroundings, and we also made several other trips to neighbouring towns.
A summer full of experiences
Since I arrived at the start of summer, I had to get down to work as soon as possible, because summer at FACE CLUB is packed. The first thing I did here was, of course, organise an international evening, at which I introduced local young people to Latvia, our food and culture. Then I went on a training with other EU volunteers who had arrived in Slovakia at about the same time as me. Then it was time to organise an English camp for 15 children aged 6 to 12, which seemed impossible to manage in under two weeks, but everything went well and I had a great experience and learned something new.
For the rest of the summer I helped improve the FACE CLUB garden, prepared various activities for children and young people, started learning Slovak, went on a trip to Bratislava with other EU volunteers, led a second English camp, welcomed my family to Slovakia, and finished off the summer with a trip with friends to the Czech Republic.
New international volunteers join the team
At the end of summer we also welcomed a second volunteer, Pinja from Finland. I won't lie – it was strange to start living in the same flat with a stranger with whom the only possible common language is English. But now that we have got used to living together, a third volunteer, Alex from France, will soon be joining us in the shared flat too.
English lessons at primary schools
Since children and young people spend most of the day at school these days, we are sometimes there with them too. For the European Day of Languages we visited a school and told the pupils about ourselves, the country we come from and our mother tongue. We are also starting to go to English lessons regularly. We will try to improve the pupils' English in a playful way.
Homesick?
When I was leaving Latvia, it seemed that the biggest problem for me would be being away from home, but because every day is full of new adventures, there is no time to feel homesick. I am glad that whenever there is a chance, I can meet people I know who come here as tourists, or when my family sends a parcel full of sweets and bread from home, or when my friends come to visit to celebrate my birthday with me. Then, in the middle of all that, you forget to be homesick. But once in a while, when sadness comes, all I need to do is pick up the phone and start a video call with one of my loved ones.
Time flies on the wings of the wind and I have already been here for more than four months! There is so much more I still want to do! But when I look back at the past months, I also see how much I have managed to do, experience and learn.
