A Ukrainian From Lithuania

 

…just imagine, your friend suddenly sends you the description of some project in Türkiye (the country, which you have liked for a long time already) with an open call for participation. You, in turn, decide to give it a try, still between the exams in your university. You fill in the application form at night and in the very morning of the same day you receive the messages from your future boss & tutor & role model & friend at one face. Interview is completed, and a few days later, right on Christmas Day, like a present under the tree, you got accepted. Now you are a volunteer. And perfectly before New Year celebrations, you have to buy your tickets to so much desired destination after almost 3 years since the last time in Anatolia, and you do that, and you spend all your next days knowing that the coming year is about to start with an adventure and a totally new page in your life.

You pass your last exams, finish local duties in your city, spend last moments with your family and friends before the departure for two months to another land far away from home (it was about to be the longest separation ever). And Day X comes. Night again. You’re at the bus stop waiting for the first transport connection to start the long way (not only in terms of distance). You give hugs and say temporary byes to dear ones you leave here, and say hello to people you see for the first time in a life, who lately will become your new friends, “dream team”, and even family in this project.

Next morning, altogether you take the direct flight from the capital of a nearby country (reached from another capital) to the capital of Turkey, and you land in Ankara, and meet way more people from different countries entering your life to build a special story together.

Introductory days, acquaintances with the crew, excursions around the city, visiting main sightseeing spots, first evening in the office where we’re gonna to spend a lot of time after…

Old town, Ankara Castle, my first mosque, fortunate going up the minaret of the biggest mosque in Ankara with the panoramic view to the whole night city. Life in a special dormitory, adaptation, sharing duties, integration to the local Turkish community. Charming Turkish lessons to acquire a new language. Team-building meetings in the office, evaluations, sharing our thoughts and impressions. Learning responsibility, the sense of team spirit and mutual support. First common brainstorm ideas and released projects. First challenges and conflicts. First emotional shakes.

Visiting numerous Youth Centers and meeting with their heads, giving me inspiration regarding entrepreneurship skills and the direction where to strive for the future. Boosting personal leadership.

Trying the national cuisine, reaching gastronomical heaven. Celebration of the first Birthday of one of the members in our group, my roommate. Meeting our colleagues, Turkish volunteers, on the same evening.

First Cultural Evening about Lithuania with my team.

 Opportunity to visit another corner of Türkiye on the south by the Syrian border, changing own plans and accepting the offer to go there. Volunteering at the farm in Hatay, helping to collect the mandarins growing on infinite fields of the trees. It was exactly 1 year after the earthquakes in that zone.

Crazy swimming in the beloved Mediterranean Sea in Arsuz shore in the evening, catching the waves. Night volleyball. My personal departure the very next morning. One bus, second bus... Sitting at the random cafe of Adana, trying its kebab. Taxi, airport. And here is the ticket.. I’ve been dreaming about for years. It was the ticket to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines… and my flight, and those long-awaited sweet words: “Welcome to Istanbul – the meeting point of the world!” Meeting with my strongly loved people there and so much needed hugs. Next 4 days in the city of my biggest aşk, daily tears from happiness, blessing, delightment, continuous exploration and admiration.

 Way back to home in Ankara, more work, first Speaking clubs and new Cultural Evenings (Georgia, Egypt and Azerbaijan so far). Helping in Lösev (hospital complex for the children with oncology) with humanitarian aid packages.

Playing table tennis, chess, cards, musical instruments in studios and workplace (since we have a guitar right in our office, which allows me to practice whenever I want) and singing, painting each other in the art studio, board- and ice skating.

 

Opportunity to go norther, to Ilgaz, to ski in the mountains. Collecting new experiences in our real snowy fairytale after the summertime in winter just two weeks ago. Feeling the non-linearity of the timeline, when two days feel like the whole month.

More fun and parties. Less sleep. Spontaneous and risky decision to visit Cappadocia at the weekends just in a few days before the expected ride. Planning our group trip only 12 hours before the departure. Another evening of tickets purchasing. And here we go, two days in Göreme, living in caves, walking without any routes in the middle of nowhere, multiplying our collective excitement from every single landscape. Witnessing flying hot air balloons at the sunrise of the next day, and understanding that my another cherished dream just came true, way more better than I could ever draw in my mind.

And now we are at the office. Tomorrow is the Cultural Evening dedicated to my homeland, Ukraine. In a couple of days I already have the trip to another corner of Turkey more than 700 km away. And less than two weeks to stay here left…

to be continued...