service?

This weekend a few of us "volunteered" for an event called Dance for a Cause. People would pay 10 euro to participate in as many dance/aerobics courses as they would like for a day. The money would then be donated to two separate cancer organizations that specifically work with children.They even had a kids area where the kiddies could play, hear stories, get their faces painted and many other fun activities. Naturally I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful event and soon was chosen to be the leader/organizer of the other students in my program who signed up to volunteer. I was SO stoked to be able to sign up to volunteer because this past year, volunteering has become an essential part of who I am. I had the responsibility to get everyone together in order to commute to the location and divide the team into groups to work the different shifts- one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

When we arrived, we were instructed to hand out flyers and stand around the stadium directing people. It was really tough and frustrating for me because these tasks required interactions with the people we were trying to inform about the event- and they all spoke Greek. My Greek is not even close to being good enough to understand substantive conversations, so we all had a hard time with this. I felt as though my abilities as a volunteer were not being used to their proper capabilities. There was a lot going on, and I felt as though I could have contributed more if I was asked to complete manual labor or some form of activity that required me to really do something. There weren't many people to hand flyers to in the area because the stadium was located in an awkward area and the language barrier just proved to be too difficult. I didn't know what the people were asking, so most of the time I just pointed while they stared at me aimlessly. Our shift was from 10-3p.m. and I have to admit that I didn't feel as though I contributed at all. I was really frustrated and almost left early. I recognize that big events are stressful and a lot to handle, but the woman in charge didn't listen to what I had to say about what I could contribute and as a volunteer, I didn't feel put to good use. It was a tough day and I was really challenged to stay positive.

my team! 

lovelies waiting for the tram <3

peace and friendship stadium

area for the kiddies.

i wanna jump!

face painting :D

While our actual contribution to the overall event seemed to be not as great as I had imagined, we were able to meet some great new friends. The students pictured below all go to the same school and made our day that much better. They were telling me how their school requires 150 hours of 3 things: 

1). action- i.e. sports/exercise

2). service-i.e. Dance for a Cause/ beach clean up

3). creativity- i.e. arts/music

I thought that was absolutely amazing! Having such requirements encourages students to be more well rounded and connected to their community in a way that doesn't really happen during the high school years. I'm glad we had the opportunity to share experiences and have first hand encounters of internationalism. I spent a greater amount of time with the two guys in the front- Frank and Chris. They were some funny characters and really brought me back to my high school days. Ha, how long ago that actually was!

new friends! [bffl Frank on my right and Chris to my left]

I think it's experiences like this that really make me look for the positives in anything I do. The day was trying, but I met new and wonderful human beings.