Almost 4 months have already passed since I started living in India. It’s unbelievable how simultaneously fast and slow time can pass when you get to learn something new every day. I live in a village in the beautiful Pondicherry, which is located at the eastern coast of southern India. Through my local Coordinator, who lives in my direct neighborhood and the Students and Staff of the Jayadurga Hr. Sec. School (my project) I get to know small pieces of Indian Culture day by day, learning about people’s norms and values and the way life is perceived here

Although in comparison to Germany life here seems way more simple, I learned that it doesn’t always have to be that complicated to actually work in the end and I discovered that you get creative very quickly when some resources are limited, finding your own way of handling the situation. In addition to that, the sense of community I was able to experience here is very strong, getting together as a society rather than putting the individual in the foreground and blindly persisting on your own wishes. At my project, I usually help with the students of the pre-school classes (where I spend most of my time), assist the teachers during lessons in English and teach ‘Spoken English’ lessons from the 1. to the 8. Stand.

Although I face new challenges everyday and often fail at first, in the end I manage to overcome them and grow, gaining more experience. Since I live in a rural area trying to learn Tamil and communicating with some people of the village is still a big issue for me. This however gets washed immediately when I see the shine in the people’s eyes and excitement when I actually try to speak Tamil, making the efforts totally worth it.

One of the things I adapted to most in these past few months is to live in the moment and to just roll with whatever is happening at the moment, as surprises are waiting around every corner. This way of discovering something new actually grew to me a lot and I started to cherish this spontaneous mentality. Many people I met until now are always full of energy, often making me fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day; but at the same time this also means that it was a successful one with many new impressions and a good time.

I don’t feel like the contribution of my work here is actually necessary, but maybe beneficial in some small parts; as it can be the small things that can actually impact someone’s life in the end. Until now my stay here was definitely an adventure and looking back I would not want to miss a single day of it; looking forward to the days and months which still await me.