Nai-publish: 07.10.2022
It's been 38 days since I've been living in Premiá de Mar. I had originally planned to write a blog post every week but so far, that hasn't worked out too well. I live in a shared flat with my fellow volunteers, just 10 minutes away from the beach :)! I always thought I was not a beach person because I hate sand, but here I've been going to the beach almost every day, which has been very relaxing for me. During the week, I work every day from 09:00 to 16:15. At the beginning, the working hours were different, but since I don't have a lunch break, I was able to negotiate other times. The school is a huge old villa with a very large property and many opportunities for the children to play. I really like that, although about every 3 days there is a toilet or sink that is broken. The food at the school is completely vegan and gluten-free. It tastes pretty good. The most demanding part of my work is preparing the children's meals and eating with them. I'm on duty for about three hours. Several glasses have already been broken, children wanted to climb out of the window, a tissue was burning, and oil was spilled on the floor. So sometimes it's quite chaotic. But the mornings are varied and relaxed. I play the piano in the eurythmy class, prepare watercolor painting classes, play outside with the children, quickly buy something for the school, or laminate name tags. Real moments of happiness are when children take my hand or are happy to see me and hug me for a long time. Every time that happens, I'm in a good mood all day long. The working atmosphere here is great. Everyone is very nice and interested in making you feel comfortable. The coolest thing we've done so far was a trip to a bird park, although the tour was completely in Catalan, I found it very interesting and the birds were very impressive. I'm getting along better with my Spanish skills than I thought. Today, a supervisor told me that I have already improved a lot. That really made me very happy. On the weekends, I often go to Barcelona or do things with other volunteers or my flatmates. Barcelona has enchanted me. The city is beautiful and there is still so much that I really want to see. This week is the first week where I have the feeling that I have settled in somewhat. Before, I couldn't relax and constantly wanted to do something productive, and my mood went from being extremely cheerful to sad, but right now, I feel very good and also take some time to chill. I'm looking forward to you following my blog, and I promise I'll try to post more regularly from now on 🌊