Armenian volunteer in Poland.

   A day of travel and you are in the other place, you see other people speaking in different languages, not as you were used. And it’s fine. I already met many new people, learnt new things, I saw Baltic see, seagulls, it’s fantastic. I have my little flat in Sopot next to the beach. My flat mate is a Romanian girl. She is nice. She is a therapist. I am lucky with her: she is sharing with me her experience.

  People said that I’ll need months to adapt to the new environment, but it’s my third weak here and I feel like at home. It’s because of people working and living with me. Yes, they are so polite and friendly, I like it. I see I’ll have a huge experience in everything. And I think it’ll be gained through the challenges.  The first one is language: “English, please”, or “Ja ne razumem,  po poski” )))).  I have my polish classes, but children in the center also teach me Polish with the great enthusiasm.   I teach them English, but looking for ways to make them to be interested in it; they like games. At first we need understand each other; it’s the barrier that I am trying to overcome.  I have some ideas, but I must change them, improvise for their age, interests….. I have time to know them well. 

Some days before there was an international party. I liked it. The next time I am also going to introduce my country, people are very interested in it.  It’s nice to meet people from different countries. We discuss our national traditions, youth life, languages, and food. We discovered that “shal” (a cloth on the shoulders) is the same in Armenian, Romanian and German.  We are going to have a photo with our shals))))).  And food: I didn’t like to cook in the past, but now I do it every day, it’s interesting to try new things, we share our national dishes.  They liked apricot muraba and honey that I took with me from Armenia))).

  We are going to have our on arrival training in Warsaw, then Christmas.  So it’s only the beginning of my voluntary history.    It’s nine months traveling along the life and countries, which enriches my life with experience, people, friends…. 

 Anahit  Nerkararyan