Taking this decision to be a volunteer was one of the most encouraging things I did in my life. Being a part of the SFERA International Organization in Bitola, North Macedonia, made me put faith in all my future decisions. So I want to tell you a little about my first month of volunteering. I came at the beginning of October 2019, and I will stay for 3 months. Our duties will include working as English teacher assistants in a primary school for children twice a week and doing office work the rest of the time.

First of all, I would like to mention that the most interesting thing about this experience is meeting new people from different countries. I mean, I don’t have a routine because every day in my life is a new exciting story.

Our first days in the school were great, with a very nice teacher and nice students who I loved. We began working with school teachers on various lesson subjects such as history, Macedonian, English, and so on, and we gave some presentations about Turkish culture, traditional food, and tourist attractions. We did this and much more, with varying grade levels. I can assure you that it was amazing to feel that all the students were happy to meet you.

Also, I can tell you about our time in the organization’s office and the things we do. The organization prepares a lot of Erasmus+ projects, and we help them with that if needed. They always have different interesting workshops in varying areas, and sometimes we join them as participants, and sometimes we do the workshops and invite people to participate. We had an intercultural night as a Turkish team with others from Spain. We talked about both of our countries and presented multi-traditional foods.I recommend that everyone attend these events and participate (don’t be afraid of meeting people from different cultures; trust me).

Last, I can tell you about some of our time out of work. Bitola is a small city in North Macedonia, and I like it because I don’t like huge cities such as Istanbul and I hate being crowded. So this experience came to me at the best time to go far away from Turkey and relax somewhere. Macedonian people are so friendly and kind, and I knew that before because I met some friends when I was studying in Turkey. Also, we started to have Macedonian language lessons, and I love this part because I love learning languages. It’s similar to the Serbian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, and Russian languages; I haven’t found it difficult so far, and I’m grateful to receive all of these benefits from my three months of volunteering. Of course, I will write to all of you again next month and tell you more about my life story in Bitola. Wait for me…