The arrival
It was the first of march when my adventure began. I started from Düsseldorf in Germany with a very nice flight to Athens and then in a small propeller plane to Chios Island. My first impression was, that it was a lot warmer than it was in Germany at this time.
At the very small Airport was Markos, one of the mentors waiting for me. When we arrived at the house, all the girls were sitting at the table in the living room. After I signed the contract, I finally got to know my new roommates.
First working day
The next morning was already my first working day, where I got to know the school with the director, teachers and students. What I’ve recognized is, that the school is very small. Although the primary school ends with 6th grade, it has only approximately 80 students. I really like the morning routine of the school (even if I don’t understand what they are saying). Every day starts outside, or inside when it rains, with a prayer and some jokes from the students. In the course of the day I talked to the teachers. Most of them speak pretty good english. Communicating with the children was a lot more difficult. Since the children are very happy to have some young people to play with, they ask all of us to play tag with them.
The lessons I assist the teachers are sport, art, music, Greek, computer lesson and math. Although I cannot help teaching the students because of the language barrier, I help by making copies, cutting learning materials and keeping the students concentrated.
Every day since I came here I admire the view I have not only from at home but also the school and the way to school.
My first free time
After school we have a few ours until we have to do computer work. During that time we cooked, ate and played games like Uno, Wizzard and Skip-Bo. It was my first day, but I was already very integrated into the group.
My first computer work
Punctually at 5 pm we all were sitting at the desk in our working room, where I got my own working notebook. Since I flew to Chios very spontaneously, I had to do my pre-arrival training. I had tasks like cutting a Video, mixing and cutting a song, edit a picture and some more to do.
My first evening
After my first working day, I spent my first full evening at my new home. We had leftovers from lunch, bread or toast with feta or other cheese for dinner. Before going to bed, we played some more games.
Working at the school after my first day
The working days got only better from then on.
The kids really started to like me: At every break, the first grade asks me to play tag with them, the sixth and fifth grade want to play soccer and the other grades want me to make paper planes for them.
The teachers start to trust me: The teachers began to entrust me with more important tasks like watching the kids for a while or making copies for the next lessons. I also started to help the students with math problems and the kids with special needs start to respect me as assistant teacher. I even got hot chocolate by the teachers.
Also, the gym teacher asked me to help keeping the students in line, when they practiced marching for an upcoming celebration.
Helping kids during lesson: There are a few lessons, in which I really was able to help the students. In math class, I help them with their wrong solved math problems (most in english). In computer lesson, I help them to set up the computer and in art class, I helped cutting, drawing and hanging up the results.
Computer work after my first day
After I finished my pre-arrival training, which took me approximately two weeks, I started working on articles for my personal project (I chose Handball as my personal project), recorded articles for the Chios radio station and wrote articles about ‘the funniest world records’, ‘Why do kids have more energy than adults?’ and a lot more.
My first excursion
Exactly two weeks after my arrival, we went on an excursion with three school classes. The place we visited is the Lovokomeio Leper Colony, a leprosy clinic from the 14th century, that is now left in ruins. Not only the formal clinic itself was beautiful, but also the landscape around it.
The school day ended with an hour of playing soccer. At this day, I was able to bond not only with the students, but it was also a big part of building trust with the teachers.
My free time after my first day
Since we only work 6 hours per day, we have a lot of free time. Most of the time, we all spent it together going to the beach, playing games, playing Mario Card on Nintendos that were brought from home, puzzling, cooking or playing with the dog. But the best time is, when we go to the city. We went to a beautiful restaurant and went to a nice bar. Since all of us are always in a good mood, we made the bar to a dancing bar. As the end of the day / night we ate crepes. And all of this with a view over the port from Chios.
Saturday is our cleaning day. Punctually at 10am we meet downstairs and clean the whole house. Part of this is for example vacuuming, tidying and cleaning the garden. But since we are seven people, we are done very quick and can spend the rest of the day doing what ever we want.
Even if the roads are very small and many roads don’t have a sidewalk, it es very nice to go for a walk or a run. The most beautiful view I had during my first days was from the mountain of the other side of our house. From there, even if I was not all the way on top yet, you can see all over the city and of course the sea.
The project here on Chios is so far just perfect in all aspects. The mentors are nice, the other volunteers are amazing, I love the students and teachers and of course the landscape is overwhelming. Last but not least, the food is amazing. If you are thinking about applying for this project and want an opinion from a current volunteer, than I can just recommend it.
