03/06/2024
Hi! I’m Ana! This year’s volunteer for the Kindergruppe Wasserfloh :)
And now, as summer comes by and my project comes to an end all i can do is make a little reflection about all that this year and how this project has changed me.
These wonderful kinds whom I had the luck to work with have taught me so many things…much more than I have taught them!
When I came I found myself with some kids that I didn’t know yet and now they are like a family to me, their warmth and love have prevented me from freezing during the Austrian winter!
I can still remember how I did not know how to communicate, or which games to play with them in the beginning, and little by little, we started growing a deep connection. How could i now forget the first time they asked me for help, the first drawing they gifted me, the first time they told me that they wanted to play with me, and the time that one of the boys told me that he liked me a 97%
With them, every day is a new adventure, and I love it.
I could tell a thousand stories about this experience and I honestly don’t know which to choose, because all of them have a very special place in my heart, so I will start by a recent one.
Even though we spend a lot of time outside, whatever the weather, now that it’s warmer we stay even more time out in Waldtag.
Every Thursday we go to the mountain, to a little meadow and we have breakfast there and play some games. But for a few weeks, we also stayed for lunch and to tell some stories!
And today something super cool happened! We got to pick ‘’Wald Erdberres’’ and they tasted amazing! Like cotton candy!
It was really an experience to see all the kids running in the field and their excitement faces every time they saw something red among the grass.
And later, we found a snail that dropped an egg! Instantanely our day changed into a care center for snails, and we patiently waited for the egg to open or for the snail to put some more. Sadly none of this options happened yet, but we are still waiting for it and I’m sure tomorrow the kids will come nervous and excited expecting some change with the snails :)
But Waldtag is not the only super cool activity that we make with them, everyday we spend also a day in the garden and a day cooking (my personal favourite) and like this i can show them a bit of the spanish eating culture hahaha ( even though they don’t always like it).
I have to say that thanks to this activities and to the amazing educators that plan them and that I had the luck to work with, the kids discover and learn a lot of super important values and discover a lot of new things, such as how to take care of nature, how to cook, taste new things…
All of this makes everyday different than the day before and so children are always excited to come to the Kindergruppe and see what adventure they will live today :)
I will go home with stories to tell and little crafted gifts like an orange juice cork that I got for my birthday because when it was cold I always said how much i love orange juice and kids came telling me that they were orange juice so I would say that i was going to drink them and play with them.
And the fact that they, after a lot of months, still remember, makes me know that for sure, i will never, never, forget this experience.
