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Stately, slender Javier came from the house, bearing a laptop on which a keyboard and headphones lay crossed.
Today I have been tasked to write our mid term evaluation. In my particular case it’s funny because, depending on this week, I can be one month late or over a month early for my mid term, so I either have to possess the gift recalling the cast or to see the future. It has been an intense 3 months and it will be hard to explain how I traversed through them but I will do my best to do so.
I came a few days later than my companions, from Spain after doing a layover in Budapest, so I did the same amount of flights that day that in the rest of my life put together. After a three hour delay I got into my first Bulgarian train, I arrived Mrachenik when there was barely any light to present myself to the rest of the volunteers. This was my very first impression of Mrachenik, a little bit like a noir film.
Before I got used to living with 8 other people, 13 new people arrived. And to be honest it was great, all the people were very nice and I had a great time. But then tragedy struck 4 days into my volunteering, I received the horrible news that my grandfather, someone truly dear to me had died, and that I couldn’t get into a plane fast enough to go to the funeral. That struck me to the core and I think that lingering feelings of that moment will haunt me for a long time. Even with the really kind support of the people and the team it marked the start of a long standing melancholy inside of me. That weekend we had to do a 50km hike, I had done almost no hikes in my life and we had to wake up at 4am so putting all this together it was pretty daunting. But when it was the time for truth… my shoes broke in the first two hours of the hike, fortunately a great companion gave me her hoody lace and we could do a quick fix. And to be honest the rest of the hike was much easier than expected and looking back to it I’m pretty sure that it was because of the company I had, so I’m very fond of the memories I created that day. The next week I visited Plovdiv for the first time but it was to accompany a friend to the hospital so I couldn’t take a good look at the city. Then it was time to say goodbye to the 13 extra people that had accompanied us. It was a sad goodbye in which I tried rakija for the first time and it beat me up.
And then we were 9 again. Life started to stabilize at that moment, but that was good also, for sure it didn’t become boring. I really started learning Bulgarian, meeting the people of the village (they teached me to do banitsa), and I realized how much I love volunteering work, even pulling weeds. I really visited Plovdiv for the first time and I really loved it and it remains as my favourite bulgarian city. We went to Burgas and saw the beach (I mainly slept there) but it was great. Next week we saw the end of the world cup, it was great (specially because Spain won and everyone congratulated the Spaniards, which was very fun, even if I personally don’t like football that much). Next week was one of my favourites, we helped prepare the festival of the village with our own stand, we danced, partied and in general had a lot of fun.
Because we worked during the festival we moved the workless days of the weekend and decided to do our craziest trip yet. We went to Istanbul, and it fastly became one of my favourite cities I have ever seen, massive and full of life. It will surely have a special place in my heart (how much I love baklava is maybe at fault for it). After that we met the wonderful people of the Kloective 15/29 and went to the art festival they did in Dabene. I tried lutenitsa for the first time and fell deeply in love with it. We also visited Veliko Tarnovo, a beautiful historical city.
And with maybe a few weeks in which nothing of notice happened in between that was the standard volunteering time I had, I loved most of it, knowing my companions, sharing laughs, stories and memories. I really forged very strong bonds I know I will cherish through all my life.
But this doesn’t end here the last segment in my volunteering was the vitality vibes project in which another 13 people joined us, so the camp became even crazier than the first time, But it was ten times more lovely than crazy, we did the family and buddy system of support that I really loved, all the people were very nice and I got along with the very easy. The first days were focused on training and it was very enriching. The first weekend we went to Varna, we barely slept but I tried Happy for the first time, a very nice experience overall. The next week there was an illness going around that made us reorganize and even do a little quarantine. I fortunately did not get sick, but it was a weird week. In the weekend we went to plovdiv again and I managed to get some free drinks with magic tricks and this time we focused more on the older part of the city, very nice. When we came back we started disconnection week, my conclusion on disconnection week is that it was much easier than I expected but at the same time less rewarding than I thought. That week we focused on volunteering and we helped Dommlyan prepare a little for their festival. The weekend we visited Sofia and the Dommlyan festival, maybe the craziest part was the hike back to Mrachenik from Dommlyan in the night. But the conversations were very enjoyable. Then it was time for goodbyes, it was hard, I didn’t expect to get attached so easily with the people, I am so happy that I met them but I will miss them so much.
Now I live with another 2 volunteers, for now it feels lonely, but I will see how things evolve. That is the end of my experience volunteering for now, but for sure it’s not the end of my thoughts about it.
I have been told to write what I have learned during these three months, and well, I have learned some Bulgarian, and intend to keep learning it even after I am far from here, I have learned some words in other languages (even a little bit of Georgian). But apart from that I would find it very hard to say that I have learned much else. I am from a small village so pulling weeds, basic gardening and cutting wood, I already knew. During my education I received a lot of team focused formation and I could keep going for a while. But in truth I have no problem with it, because I didn’t come here to learn, I came here to volunteer, help others. With that said I do believe that a lot of skills I have sharpened here, my communication skills in English, my cooking skills, my work ethic, all of them have considerably improved during these three months and I am incredibly grateful to my companions and the team for making this possible.
In conclusion, volunteering in Bulgaria has become a truly life changing experience for me. I know better than to make any expectations but I truly embrace whatever else Bulgaria has to show me with open arms and a willing heart.
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This program is co-funded by the European Solidarity Corps program of the European Union.
Финансирано от Европейския съюз. Изразените възгледи и мнения обаче принадлежат изцяло на техния(ите) автор(и) и не отразяват непременно възгледите и мненията на Европейския съюз или на Европейската изпълнителна агенция за образование и култура (EACEA). За тях не носи отговорност нито Европейският съюз, нито EACEA.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
