It has been only two months that the
nine of us moved in De Vierslag and we already feel at home here. So many
things have happened during these last two months that it is hard to choose
which one to share.
Hi, let’s get to know each other. My
name is Astghik, but some of the other volunteers find my name hard to
pronounce, so they call me Armenia and I don’t mind it at all. As you can guess
I come from Armenia. For the coming 8
months I, Paul and Hadi will be taking you along our journey in the
Netherlands. Why the three of us? Because we are the members of the promotion
team of the Atlantic Bridge. Paul is from London, England and he studies in
Oxford. At the moment he is gone for jogging as it is his New Year’s
resolution. And Hadi is back to Israel for couple of weeks. That’s why I’m the
first one to write our blog. And actually they expect me to write it well,
because I have worked in a magazine an editor, but it is my first time writing
about my life experiences instead of Hollywood celebrities and fashion. As you
read along, we will introduce ourselves and the others.
When I found out that I was coming to
the Netherlands, I kind of panicked, because maybe it is embarrassing to say
but I didn’t know how to ride a bicycle. So the first thing I did to get
prepared for my journey was to ask some of my friends to teach me to cycle. But
still I was not very good at it, when I got here, and the first month was full
of bicycle accidents and I was always involved in them. That was the main
difference of the lifestyle between here and Armenia.
The next big change was to come to
live in such a small village from the capital of Armenia. Sometimes I feel like
me and the other volunteers are the only citizens of this village because it is
so quiet. But eventually I started liking it. I love living with the others in
the same house, they really became a big part of my life. We were here for only
one and a half month, and then we had two weeks of Christmas holidays. Some
went home, some went to travel in different parts of Europe, I myself went to
travel in Germany, and during this time I realized that I miss these guys even
more than I miss my friends back home.
De Vierslag is a like a world house
and we created our own world in it, sharing everyday life with each other.
Sometimes we realize that we have done nothing but studying Dutch, watching
movies, chatting and cooking together during the previous few days. We have
already celebrated two birthdays together and the third one is Diego’s. Diego
lives in Canary Islands, Spain, and I wish the Netherlands had the same
weather. The thing is that when we were sharing the dates of our birth during
the first week, we realized that he is the only one that didn’t have his birthday
during these ten months, so we chose to celebrate his fake birthday in February
as we had none in that month.
Now I need to go to my second piano
lesson, I actually started learning it here. Matt, my teacher, is a music
teacher from Canada living with us in De Vierslag. He is an intern in Atlantic
Bridge unlike the other 8 of us being EVS volunteers. And he volunteers to
teach me to play the piano. Hope to share more stories with you soon.
