Diary of an ESC Volunteer

It’s been already 3 months since my arrival in Málaga, Spain for an ESC project “Let’s Gardening with the Elders” and all I can say is wow, besides the beautiful Malaga I am also in love with this project.

I wish I knew where to start describing, the elderlies really did warm up my heart with their love and their life stories. One of the activities that we enjoy doing with the elderly is cooking, every Wednesday. We do traditional cooking together with mis compañeras Chaime from Morocco and Lusine from Armenia. Besides that we do recycling art once a week, we go to the garden we plant depends on the season and while we do that with them we usually enjoy listening to Sara Montiel (a very famous singer/actress from Spain). Elderlies love her! Every week we have culture day where we share a part of our countries with them, we play games which are stimulating the brain activity and making our dear elderly more active. Bingo is every Friday and it’s a must!

In the meantime, I have improved my Spanish language to B1 Intermediate by attending a three-week intensive course, and now I have more confidence speaking Spanish with the elderly or with the whole world! This year was my first time celebrating Christmas somewhere far away from my home, at first I thought I was going to be alone and a little bit nostalgic, but boy was I wrong I celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas with my fellow volunteers who are also volunteering in Málaga. These past few months I had the possibility of discovering new places and overall discovering Málaga and her beautiful culture and gente muy amable.

The pleasant atmosphere and amazing culture inspired me to go for more and discover the deeper paths of life. ¡Hasta luego Adiós! 🙂

Galina Grkovik