“As you grow older, you’ll find that the only things you regret are the things you didn’t do”
In the year 2022, I graduated from school after 13 years of studying and was more than excited to leave. Not only did I want to expand my horizon and see what is outside of my small city but I was also very eager to learn for life instead of for exams. Even though I was always the kind of person that would get homesick easily I didn’t let that stop me and accepted the chance of a lifetime to live on Chios Island for a year. I packed my whole life into a suitcase and drove to the airport with my parents. Saying goodbye to everyone didn’t seem sad, because it didn’t seem real, it was like an actual dream coming true. The moment everything hit me was when I had to leave my parents behind at security and had to keep walking alone. When I think about it, it was actually a very dramatic metaphorical moment. Anyway, I said my goodbyes and kept walking towards the year that I knew would change my life.
I have never flown alone before and was just a little bit scared but as soon as I saw the ocean over Thessaloniki every worry I had disappeared and the excitement took over. When I landed on Chios Island the warm sun and the beautiful mountains welcomed me with open arms. When I left Germany in the morning it was only 5°C, but now, even though the sun was setting, it felt like summer. As I stood in the small room with only the handful of people that fit on the small plane waiting for my suitcase, my biggest worry was who was going to pick me up. Every time somebody left the arrivals room and the doors opened I tried to catch a look outside trying to recognize a face from the Skype call two months ago. One of the mentors picked me up and we drove in his fully packed car to the house. We drove by the ocean and I remember thinking “if I stretch my hand out far enough, I can almost touch the waves”. The water was blue and clear and less than a meter away from me. It sounds cliché but that route, which I would drive countless more times over the next weeks, felt like straight out of a movie. With the windows down, hair flowing in the wind, on to a new adventure. When we arrived in the city of Chios I was impressed by how big and full of life it was. Before it was always described as very small and “there is not a lot to do”, but all that I could see were countless restaurants and bars, filled with people, music and laughter, shining bright in the dark. We arrived at the house and after doing the paperwork I got to meet the other volunteers. Never before have I been welcomed so naturally warm. Before I could realize it, my first evening was over and I was lying in bed, waiting for what was going to come.
Of course, the first ‘real’ day was difficult; we were still strangers after all. But the palm trees on the side of the road made me feel like I am in paradise while the boats in the port peacefully moved with the waves. Then, on Saturday night, we went out and suddenly I found myself dancing to cotton eye joe in a bar that we now lovingly call “Old man’s bar”. Every worry I had about not fitting in with their group, if they’ll like me, or if I will like them faded away together with my first weekend.
The next day it was time for the first day of school. I didn’t know what was awaiting me as I walked in the direction of the school with Jule and Melse and one of the mentors. These walks have since become the best part of the morning, even though I am not a morning person; these two make it worth it. Once we arrived, they told me that I would be in the 3rd primary school with Melse. We met the director in the school and he told me to follow the English teacher for the first lessons. When I think back to it now, I can still hear their excited screams when they found out that I am from Germany. I was overwhelmed with many names of many different faces and the kids tried their best to learn my name as well. The first day, let alone week, wasn’t easy. I had to find my place in the school, in the classroom, with the kids and with the teachers. And even now, 4 months after I first arrived, I am still struggling sometimes. The language barrier makes a lot of things more difficult. Sometimes I wish I could tell them something in my native language and they could understand it. But it also makes it special in its very own way. In every English lesson I get to spend with Ms Effie I learn small words that the kids are learning in English. During the P.E. lessons, Despina would tell me new words in Greek and I would tell her words in English she doesn’t know. Things that are said twenty times a day are slowly making their way into my memory and now that I don’t have to worry about final exams anymore, my biggest worry is if I will promote on Duolingo this week. While the kids proudly come up to me and say a small sentence in English, I feel proud every time anyone says something in Greek and I can actually understand it. Or the one time I could even answer a question a girl asked me.
What impressed me most is the kindness that everyone has welcomed us with. Every person we meet is genuinely interested in what we are doing here and where we are from. Everyone greets us, every single day, with the same enthusiasm as on the first day. Even in situations where they wouldn’t have to be nice, they offered to take us home safely, show us other parts of the island, offered us food or invited us for tea. Even if communication with words isn’t always easy, the people make us feel welcomed and at home.
The last 4 months have brought me more new experiences than I ever thought you could have in such a short time. Seeing the ocean on the way home every day still brings me back to the first time I saw it, not knowing what was to come. I hope I never get used to eating crepes at the port at 2 am, singing in the kitchen while cooking, brushing our teeth together, the excitement when we get sesame bread instead of normal bread, getting ready together to go out or the chaos in the kitchen when everyone is trying to make breakfast.
This was only just the start of my adventure and I know that there is so much more to come.
