I remember being last Spring in rainy England, thinking “What shall I do with my life”? Then, I had an Eureka moment: The European Voluntary Service! I remembered about the ESC and I set out on my search for a nice project.At first I encountered an opportunity in Leipzig, conducting art workshops for children. Oh, Leipzig… I still remember how in 2019 I was about to go there as an Erasmus student when a shameless (but smarter than me) student got the place for having better marks. Wanting to find closure for that old scar I applied for the offer, got through the interview and I was about to accept when… out of the blue I find an offer from a previous year to work at a Waldorf school in Bremen. A Waldorf school! I could simply not let that opportunity pass. They had not even published the offer for 2024 yet, but I chose to wait and have faith (and well, do some phone calls and send some emails to persuade whoever could be persuaded). I was lucky (or very persuasive) and, a few months later there I was, in Bremen.
It does feel surreal. To remember myself as a kid, when my father soaked my hair in that annoying Weleda™ lavender oil. Or as a teenager when, out of curiosity, I peeked into the writings of Rudolf Steiner, this weird Austrian pseudo-philosopher, polymath and mystic who designed Waldorf education. Or even in my later years, in which, motivated by my discontent with conventional education I read book after book about alternative education, Waldorf being one of the common denominators.
And here I am. Forever defeating fantasy and disarming idle thinking with the truth, the truth of working at a Waldorf school. So, what is it like?
The Freie Waldorfschule Bremen Touler Straße, in which I work, is the oldest Waldorf school in Bremen, and it shows. How, may you ask? The building. It could not be more Waldorf if it tried to. I do not think I will ever get tired of looking at its beautiful architecture, with its rounded and warm forms, as a wooden beacon of an idealistic caretake philosophy of children unspoiled through the ages, forever hidden within a residential neighbourhood. The school has a big playground next to which there is a far more modest little building with its own small playground. That is the Hort, where I work.
The Hort is the place in which some children from grades 1-4 go after 11.30-12.30, when their classes end. There they eat, play and do their homework (hopefully not all at the same time) until 16.00, although most children are picked up earlier by their parents. Together with my team we organize the place, play with the children, help them with their homework and try to solve conflicts when they arise (and trust me, they do).
Apart from the day-to-day job, there are also opportunities for deeper engagement with the school, such as helping with setting up exhibitions; helping at fairs; doing some skating classes on Wednesdays… And do not get me started on the events that are scattered through the year. If you engage with all these offers, you merge little by little with the community, you understand its culture, rules and its challenges. And that, I feel, is how you really become a part of it and appreciate its unique beauty.
It may sound like an easy job, one in which you can just relax and have fun. But, although it is full of wonderful moments, it is also very consuming. It is definitely not the kind of project I would recommend to someone whose objective is to go to as many parties as possible. It is a job that demands that you give your entire self to it, which usually leaves you thoroughly wrecked during the weekends and not so much in the mood for leaving your bed more than what is strictly necessary.
And, of course, there also are difficult moments. Times in which you feel you are not giving enough, or that you are experiencing some difficulties. And times in which the community that has welcomed you suffers an unexpected loss and you are in the middle of things and do not quite know what to do to comfort others.
It is during these moments that one learns to appreciate the people around you. Sandro, Ferhat, Eric, Clara, Maria, Antonia thank you all so much for your friendship. Thank you Jegor specially, for welcoming me so warmly into the country. And thank you Andreas, Sonja, Ruthi, Noah und Chef for opening me the doors of your home, that is a gift I am forever grateful for. Thank you too to the people in my team. Luza, Stine, Akje, Sophia, Jonas, Martin, Aura, Ifigenia, Bernadette… You are so many that is not easy to remember you all. Still, thank you for daily work, for your effort, for your presence.
As you can see, I am not alone, but it is still hard. Because when one chooses this way, the way of trying to become what the world needs, not everything will be pretty. You will experience the world’s inherent imperfection but, above all, you will realize your own inherent imperfection. You are not a hero, a genius or a saint. That is why waking up every morning and going to work, and trying to do it as well as you can, is such a feat. And it is through that decision ─waking up every day and going to work─ that not being a hero, a genius or a saint, you will give something beautiful and worthy of its price to the community that you have been lucky enough to be a part of. And that is what it is all about.
Gabriel is hosted by Freie Waldorfschule Bremen on our project co-funded by the European Union.
