This year has been an atypical Christmas. The covid and restrictions are still with us but thanks to our friends and family we have spent a holiday full of beautiful and unforgettable moments with our people.
Some volunteers have returned home for the holidays while others have remained here in the city living an different Christmas away from their families but surrounded by their new one, the one we are all volunteers are creating.
Trips, hugs, nights full of dances but above all a lot of love are some of the things that have characterized our Christmas so we did not want to leave without telling you how some of our volunteers have spent the holidays.
Carmen Romero
After 103 days full of experiences, laughter, shared moments and the occasional nostalgic tear, it was time to return to Spain for Christmas. I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to it because I was longing to see my parents, friends and spend those special days with my loved ones, but my heart was divided. It wasn't easy to change my routine again, to say goodbye to my flatmates (even though I knew I was coming back) because I adore them, to leave behind the anonymity I enjoy in a foreign country and return to my village where everyone knows each other.
Between the bus and the plane I spent the whole day travelling, but it was all worth it when I received my father's hug at the airport, I was home again. If I had to sum up my Christmas I would say that it has been all about making memories for when I have a bad time away from home. I have saved all the smiles from my friends, I have received all the kisses I could from my mother, I have loved every minute with my brother and I have reminded them of how much I love them, which never hurts.
It is true that I have not made any special plans because the situation with the Coronavirus in Spain is really worrying. Many families have not been able to celebrate the special days by having dinner together, many parents and children have been confined to their rooms eating grapes (a Spanish tradition to celebrate the end of the year) in loneliness and the children in my village have not been able to enjoy the parade of Three Wise Men. I have to be thankful that despite the difficulties I have had dinner with my family on important days, danced and laughed with my friends (maybe not at a big party, but the important thing is the company) and remembered what it feels like to be surrounded by your loved ones.
It may seem exaggerated because I've only been away for three and a half months, but the truth is that I've studied my degree in a different city from my own, I've been working away from home all summer and I haven't spent 20 days in a row in my hometown for a year. This doesn’t mean that I want to go back, far from it. I consider that everything in life has a time and now at 22 years old I just want to live, travel, go from one place to another and not settle down in any particular place.
Being in Spain has made me realise how much I missed my mates in Szczecin, my life here, what it feels like to meet different people every night and to deal with the difficulties of a language that is not my own. I am grateful to be able to live this experience and I can't wait to see what 2022 has in store for me, I am ready for anything!
Davit Darsadze
I was in Arabia for the Christmas holidays. There I met my brother and his friends on New Year’s Eve. The people there were very kind to us. It is always warm there, even in December you can swim in the open pool. I made African friends who had great respect for us. It was the best New Year holidays for me.
Beatriz Matos
My Christmas was different from the usual because I didn't spend it with my family. instead, I was with other volunteers on the 25th but some didn't even celebrate Christmas or didn't celebrate Christmas on that day. it was a little sad for me not to have my family, but it was good to bond with the other volunteers. the new year was very funny, we made typical food from each country, and we celebrated as a big family, I'm sure these two days will stay in my heart.
Juande Toral
My Christmas in Spain has been a bit strange this year. The situation with the COVID wasn't good and this has made the restinctions in the country very difficult and also the increase in the number of cases of the coronavirus has meant that I have not been able to visit some of my friends and family over Christmas who I was really looking forward to seeing again.
During the Christmas holidays I took the opportunity to enjoy my friends and family and to eat all the typical Spanish food that I miss so much here in Poland. I really missed paella and and my mother's famous stuffed meat recipe ahahah.
Besides, when we came back the weather was really nice so we could make the most of the days and I could even sunbathe a bit. I hope I've got a bit of a tan ahah.
These three weeks of holidays have helped me to rest, read a lot as it is one of my passions, enjoy with my friends and fam and recharge my energy to come back ready to enjoy the rest of the experience here in Szczecin.
Sören Daehn
I spent my Christmas days with my family in Germany in beautiful weather with blue sky and snow. It was very nice to see the whole family again and relax a bit. Christmas itself is very similar to the Polish Christmas in the part of Germany where my family comes from. The children get their presents on the 24th and on the 25th and 26th we eat with all the family together very tasty and opulent meals, with potatoes playing a big role, just like in Poland. Then I went back to Szczecin, but with my parents, and I spent the remaining days until New Year's Eve showing them the city and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the weather was very bad, cold, rainy and foggy. Exactly the opposite of what we were to experience on New Year's Eve: suddenly, two-digit temperatures and the New Year could be welcomed without a thick winter coat.
All the volunteers who decided to stay in Szczecin were celebrating it together and it was a great intercultural experience. Everyone brought different food and with this and other things we were celebrating and learning about each other cultures.
All in all this Christmas and New Year was a very different and probably unique experience, but one of the best of my life.
Ika Chukhua
This Christmas Day was completely different because I am very far from my country with new friends who are also in my condition. Nothing in life is easy and sometimes we have to make changes. Of course being with family is quite enjoyable, however this experience is no less exciting and memorable.
I’ll especially highlighte New Year's Eve as this day was loaded with news and expectations. In general it is my personal tradition to buy special gifts for my friends whom i live according to their taste and this year wasn’t exception. In the morning I started making presents for them. And in the evening prepared Georgian dishes for New Year’s Dinner( I note that this is the first time I baked in person).The night was full of joy, happiness and motivation.
However, it did not end there, we decided to go out to Polish society, for example, to the disco and completely empty the energy we were soaked with. We danced a lot, sang and laughed. It was one of the best times of my life.
Natia Lursmanashvili
Hello, I’m Nati, Georgian volunteer here in Szczecin and I’m going to tell you a bit about my polish Christmas and New Year’s Eve experience. So, let’s start….
To be honest, celebrating Christmas in Poland wasn’t too much different of what I was doing before, it was a cozy evening with other volunteers who stayed in Szczecin for the holidays, we talked about how to celebrate Christmas in different countries and cultures, but I have to say that more or less the best moment from the 25th December was,, Dixit”, an incredible game for your imagination.
And, what about New Year’s Eve? Yeah, I spent that day still with the same volunteers, but this time it was more funny, we have cooked different kind of meals and before midnight we were dancing (haha, even Georgian dances, “Acharuli” , ”Rachuli”) and singing so much. So, now I can say that it was one of the best nights I’ve already spent here in Szczecin and I am waiting for many more to come with my beloved friends from different countries.
Erika lo Schiavo
The time I enjoyed most during Christmas holidays have been the week I spent in Prague. Instead of going to Italy, I decided to organise something special for New Year’s Eve week (28th December- 4th January); in this way, I had the chance to come back to my habit of waiting for the new beginning abroad, interrupted because of the pandemic. And I shared this adventure with an Italian friend that I hadn’t seen for seven months!
Visiting Prague looked like wandering around streets full of magic: in fact, Christmas atmosphere makes the squares, the pubs, and the monuments extremely bright and lovely. It’s a very active and expensive city where you can easily find events in English and places to visit that satisfy all types of interests. The experiences I enjoyed most have been the visit to Frank Kafka Museum, an interesting jump into the sensitivity and the tenderness of this writer, and the “Blood, Love and Rhetoric” Improv Comedy Theatre proposed by The BLR Comedy Brew, a brilliant English-language performance entirely made up in the moment by using public inputs. We found out that their performances take place every Thursday in a teahouse called “A Maze in Tchaiovna” known for social gatherings such as workshops, live music, and art exhibitions, and where you can find rooms hidden behind a bookshelf or a fridge. Such an amazing place!
For New Year’s Eve, my friend and me decided to go to Manifesto Anděl, a gastro and cultural market where we enjoyed fresh cocktails and tasty food, with pop background music handled by a DJ and a saxophonist: we met people coming from Prague and from other countries and we had lot of fun dancing all together!
Despite of the current situation, I’m glad to have seen my friend that brought me a piece of Italy, and I’m grateful we have been able to organise this trip, to discover a new place and to share a special moment, another brick to our friendship.
Alexandre
I mostly spend Christmas with my Parents and my little brother. It’s the occasion to be all together again because now me and my brother are in other town for the studies, and he rarely comes back. We had fun playing videogames from our childhood, it was very cool. Sadly, my mother had to work on Christmas Eve so it was only the 3 of us, but we still had great food and a great time, and spent the 25th with my mother so we were all in a good mood. Also, I tried for the first time to make gravalx salmon to eat during christmas and new year and it turned out pretty good so I was really happy.
Óscar Torres Urbano
I spent Christmas with my family in Spain. I arrived there and I took the chance to visit some teachers from my high school, it was a little bit sad due to many of them are already retired. I also went to see the archaeological sites of La Araña when I did my practices two years ago.
On 24 we were eating with my aunt, my uncle, my cousin and their dog, my parents and my brother. Unfortunately my grandma and my grandaunt couldn’t come from their village because of the pandemics. It was really sad for me because due to my stay on Poland I didn’t know when I could see them before leaving.
The rest of the week I spent time with my friends and I really enjoyed it, I didn’t know how much I was missing them until then. On 31st we spent the night with my aunt again and we ate the traditional luck grapes, well not me because I don’t like them. It consists in eat 12 grapes when the clock in Puerta del Sol (Madrid) is pointing the 0:00 of the 1st day of the New Year.
On 6th we celebrated the Three Wise Men and we were giving presents between each other because in my family we prefer to give it this day and not in Santa Claus, when we were little yes but not anymore. My sister gave me a new Vans and I gave her a new earring and a necklace that she loved, even she cried because of the emotion.
On 7 Friday we decided to visit my grandma and give her a surprise, so we spent the day with them, also my grandaunt. On Saturday we did a Secret Santa with my friends, we were eating in a famous Argentinian restaurant and later we went to grab some drinks and also to a disco.
Finally, the other days passed fast and I came back to Szczecin on 10 th, my return to Spain make me really happy and spending this time with my relatives was such a cool.
