I am living in a Ladies Hostel in Pondicherry, together with 3 other German volunteers. My first working place was the Tulir Uthavi Karam Foundation but some weeks ago I changed it to the Sri Annai Raani Convent Higher Secondary School in Katterikuppam (a small village 1 hour away from lovely Pondy). There, I teach the students from LKG to 5th Standard in spoken English.

Teaching these young students can be really challenging sometimes, but I think the more I teach, the better I become. The students enjoy creative methods like role plays or games a lot, and are really motivated to communicate. Due to the distance between my home and my work, I travel a lot by the local buses, which is a thing I really love. In my native country, Germany, it is boring to take a bus, but here in India, bus-riding is really a pleasure. Loud music will be played and because of the missing doors and open windows, you can feel the wind on your skin, what is pretty nice.

Travelling is cheap in comparison to Germany, but India is so huge that you could travel for 10 years straight and there would still be places you hadn’t seen, and our time is short. It is really hard to make a decision to which places you go and to which places you can’t make it, because there are so many beautiful and interesting things.

All in all, I can say that I definitely have learned through my volunteering service that there is so much more to learn, to experience, and to understand. Even if you think you have seen everything, India surprises you, every time new!