Sweet memories
Part I
In a usual Saturday evening I’m sitting in a quiet park and reading… People are passing by, birds are flying around, children are playing…
– What are you reading, miss? Is it a fairy tale? You know, our teacher always reads for us before we go to bed.
I raise my eyes and see a cute four years old kid looking at me with her huge blue eyes. She keeps asking questions after questions and I keep watching her and smiling with a strange smile. My memories take me far-far away…
Part II
– Will you read for us today, miss Mariana? I want the story that my mom reads for me every evening.
– No, miss Mariana, please read my favorite fairy tale, it’s in this red one.
– Miss Mariana, the red one is a bit scary, I want the one about the little dog. You know, I have a little dog, I take him to walk every morning with my dad.
– I have a little cat, it’s better than your dog. It’s white and beautiful, you don’t have such a cat.
– My mom promised to buy me a dog if I behave as a good girl. I was a good girl last year and I got a bike.
– You know, miss Mariana, I have a big blue car. I don’t like bikes, they have only two wheels and my car has four.
– And I have a yellow T-shirt.
– And I have a doll, her name is Mariana.
– And I have a teddy bear, it’s green!
– My bear is brown, it’s like real!
– My bear can sing. It sings for me when I go to bed…
– Miss Mariana, will you read this book?
– Oh, miss Mariana, it’s not “pikni”, it’s “piekny”. I should teach you Polish, I’ll be your teacher, ok?
Sentences that I used to hear every day… Phrases that are so dear to me… Faces that I will never forget… Memories that are the sweetest ever… Naughty Kacper, cute Emilia, little Gracian, quiet Mateusz, my favorite Piotrek…
Part III
In a usual Tuesday morning I’m sitting at the reception of our hostel and registering tourists as usual… They come and go, ask questions about our streets, city, country…
– Czesc *!
I raise my eyes and see a nice young couple. They ask basic touristic questions about the city and the country. But they ask in a language other than English. I keep watching them and smiling with a strange smile. My memories take me far-far away…
Part IV
Meetings, parties, trips, events, presentations, trains, planes… A new culture, a new country, a new city, a new language, a new apartment, new friends, new… everything… And, most importantly, new people. Those strange new people who spoke a strange new language. Strange and new in the beginning; familiar and dear in the end. The new country became my second motherland, the new city – my new home city, the language – my second language, the apartment – my home, the people – my family. But everything finished after some time, and now… again sweet memories – sweetest ever!
Part V
I did my European Voluntary Service at a Daycare Center in Szczecin, Poland. I worked with 3-6 years old children. I loved them all and I loved my work. I loved the country and its people. I loved everything and I still do!
EVS is a life experience. And as every moment in life, it cannot be only positive, it cannot pass only with smiles, and it cannot run without difficulties. I laughed and cried during my EVS. Sometimes I was happy and sometimes I was angry or sad. I had parties with friends but I also had lonely days. I was happy to be a foreigner there and discover new things every day, but I also was sometimes sad not to be one of them and to be a stranger there. I had both positive and negative experiences. But all those were inevitable, because EVS is not a fairy tale or a movie, it’s life, it’s real, it’s happening. And it happened to me. It came to me but it didn’t go away. It’s in my heart and in my mind. And it comes out very often: as often as I have a contact with any of the aspects that were connected to my EVS. These can be children, Polish tourists, daily conversations, parties, NGOs… Actually, this can be everything, because EVS has no limits as our heart and mind.
* Czesc means “hi” in Polish
by Mariana Vanetsyan, Armenia
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