It has now been five months living here in Wesselburen, Germany where it now feels more like home to me. With not so many crowded areas with people and it can be very quiet sometimes with not so much to do or to look at around here.
To me, Wesselburen is more like a village or my home village in Tonga where you would see kids playing outside at the old Edeka parking lot and having to walk to the Jugendzentrum where I work and people greeting you, „Moin“. However, being here I have been taking long walks some days especially just walking down the streets to catch the sunset and take pictures.
I am very much enjoying my stay here with my „host family- Gisela“ and she has been more than just a host family to me but she has become a mother-figure to me in which makes me feel more at home here despite being very far away from home
Arriving here in Germany after many long hours of traveling from Tonga to New Zealand, then to Australia and then to Dubai and then finally arriving here in Hamburg, it felt like I have travelled the whole world within one day. It was a first great experience to travel internationally out of our small island nations to a completely different environment and culture. However, as time goes by and now it has been five months, it feels even shorter and that one year living here as a youth volunteer feels like it’s not enough. I have carefully learned to adjust to the new environment, culture, people and especially the language.
These five months here has been so great where I have met and made good connections with many people especially with our volunteers from different parts of the world. It is so beautiful that we get to meet each other and talk about where we come from especially when so many people I have met so far do not really know where exactly Tonga is located or what ethnicity I am.
I have also managed to build a good connection and great teamwork with my two amazing co-workers here at the Jugendzentrum. Working with them is so fun and I really love working at the youth center because of how concerned and supportive they are towards me which makes working here in Wesselburen even feel like home at the sametime. Also, at the Jugendzentrum I get to learn so much and have so much fun and getting to know the youths and kids that come in to the center. It feels so great that despite the language barriers we are able to interact and engage with one another just with saying, „Ja or nodding and giving hand gestures to make a statement clear with one another“.
What I have really enjoyed the most is exploring new things especially trying new taste or food. And my favorite German dish so far is the „Heringssalat“ which tastes similar to our Tongan dish called, „Ota ika“ which is raw fish with fresh coconut cream and fine sliced vegetables.
This month of July had been so great so far from meeting more and more people, to taking long train rides to the cities, and to experiencing some fun and adventurous activities and learning more. In this month, I turned 25 and despite being far away from my family, my host family, my amazing co-workers and friends made me feel more at home in which I really enjoyed it.
It was also in this month at the Jugendzentrum, the Summer activities started in which I got to join my co-workers and the kids in travelling to different areas to play and have so much fun with many different activities. I also made my first roller-coaster experience at the „Hansa Park“ which was super scary but I am happy that I get to make the experience here. Last week, I and my co-worker Lena got the opportunity to share with people from the church and elderly people here in Wesselburen our volunteer year and I got to share a little about my country and performed a Tongan dance for them.
It was also last weekend we get to meet all the former and new volunteers in which we had a grill on Friday and the farewell service on Saturday for our new volunteers. This last weekend was great from speaking to many volunteers and also hearing from former volunteers with their experiences was just beautiful and fun.
So far, right now I am looking forward to exploring more places and learning more while being here in Germany and that when I return back home I would love to share my great experiences and what I have learned as a youth volunteer with my church youth, friends and families. Therefore, I shall make a pause here because I have more to experience and look forward too as a youth volunteer and that I make the most of it with the months left before one year comes to an end.
Malo aupito pea ‚Ofa atu,
Ursula Tai 🙂
