When I realised that the time to write the second report had come, I suddenly got a bittersweet feeling; bitter because having to write the second report means that a. the project is finishing soon and I have to get used to the idea of having to say goodbye in less than 3 months, and b. because I have to figure out what to do with my life after this one-year experience is over. But the feeling was also sweet because I now get to reminisce and appreciate the good things that have happened in the past months during my time as a volunteer.
The second half of my volunteering experience had a bit of everything, the light and the dark, the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the new and the old.
Autumn and winter hit hard. The lack of sunlight, in comparison to the very bright and sunny spring and summer when the sun was at some point setting way past 22:00, was a big change. Grey skies for days and days without an inch of sunlight beaming on us and then all of a sudden the sun started setting after 16:00 and peaked out of the clouds from time to time and lifted this veil of darkness (literal and metaphorical). The beautiful thing in all of this is that during cold weather and dark days people tend to get closer, because we are mostly stuck at home. I have some of the best memories of this volunteering experience during autumn and winter with my flatmates and other volunteers (some old, some new) sitting around a kitchen table, talking for hours over some charcuterie board with cheese, weird garnishes and condiments, or over a hot beverage, sharing Christmas dinner together, or making puzzles and origami until late at night. In general I am very appreciative of the fact that due to this project lasting such a long time, you actually get the chance to start bonding with people more deeply, even though it hurts to say goodbye to them even more at the end of each other’s projects.
Other than that, things also improved in the flat; the heating system was finally fixed! Unfortunately we had a major door crisis, when our lock got stuck and the landlord and his house care-taker were very unprofessional and non-cooperative which caused a lot of distress, but at least we are supposed to change a flat soon. Even though I will barely experience the new apartment, I wish my other flatmates, who will actually get to enjoy it, all the best!
When it comes to the actual volunteering activities, I have really enjoyed my tasks in the past months. I got the chance to attend more concerts and other events and take more pictures which was very interesting and rewarding. I even got to create a looking-back-to-2024 video with all the content I created since the beginning of my volunteering which was very fun to edit. I also feel like I became more comfortable in my workplace and can now understand more of what is happening around me due to improving my German. Speaking of German, we also started having German courses on the second half of my volunteering programme, which is nice. Not everyone is on the same level and sometimes we are too many people in the class and we cannot all take turns to practice speaking so much (which doesn’t make it very helpful if you are looking to improve your speaking skills like me) but the teacher is very nice!
All in all, the second half of my volunteering had a lot of beautiful and wholesome moments, new experiences and hard good-byes. The difficulties that came along the way I tried to face in the best way possible. Now what matters is to see how (or if) this experience can help me find my path afterwards.
