Istanbul was once Konstantinopel, Izmir was once Smyrna The time of our arrival has passed. I feel now completely set here, like I’m fully at home. But when you reach this point of a stay, one could guess that things get boring, that everyday looks the same and you can not find excitement in your everyday life. That’s not the case for me here in my volunteering in Izmir. When they asked us to write our second report, I was so perplexed: “Already? Wasn’t it only yesterday the last time I sat down to type my last blog entry?” I can only repeat myself by saying, so much happened here and it feels impossible to summarize my experiences here. Every day holds another surprise. When a week finishes, I look back and see that as good as nothing went as planned but that it was still very eventful.
In December Giovanna and I visited Istanbul for a week. I couldn’t realize it, until I was standing there at the Sultanahmet Square, looking up to the Hagia Sofia and getting overwhelmed by all the history surrounding us. Do you know this thought, of being amazed that you are walking the same streets and places as people thousands over thousands of years? And wondering, who was living and dying at the
very exact place you are standing right now? Istanbul is a city overflowing with history.Originally known as Byzantium, it became Constantinople, when Emperor Constantine the Great made it the capital of the
Eastern Roman Empire. In 1453, it was conquered by the Ottomans and became the heart of their empire. After the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the capital moved to Ankara, but Istanbul remained the country’s cultural and historical center. We totally loved it there! This is what a metropole looks like. It reminded me of my home, Berlin, with all those crazy people, the lights, the vibe. There was so much to
do and to see, it was incredible. I never saw such beautiful mosques as there, every day at least one. Considering that I never visited one before, I really became a fan and we also met many nice women there, who explained to us so much about their religion. Giovanna converted basically. Another lifelong wish of Gio was fulfilled when we went to a Saint Levant concert (so so cool!).I felt so sad to leave, I had the time of my life there.
After a trip you’ve been looking forward to for so long, there’s always a short period of sadness when it’s over, right? I’m not the only one with that feeling. Then Christmas time soon arrived and I became very homesick, because I decided (for reasons I no longer understood) to not go back to Germany. I constantly compared everything here in İzmir with how it would have been at home: how our flat would be decorated, what music would play in the stores, what traditions we would follow. I put a lot of effort into creating a Christmas atmosphere—we baked cookies, watched Christmas movies, and decorated a little—but most of the time, I was just pretending.I was just craving a hug from my mother. In the week before Christmas, I went kind of crazy. I was seriously considering paying way too much and to wait way too long in random airports just to arrive back home. But in the end, I had such a nice evening with our volunteering group. In fact, that Christmas was one of the best I’ve had in a long time. Sometimes, you need to come to the conclusion that just because something will be different than it has always been doesn’t mean it will be bad.
2025 came to an end, and we welcomed 2026 together. We went down to the seaside to watch fireworks that never came. Instead, people released lanterns into the sky, just like in the Disney movie Rapunzel.
January feels like a never-ending month to me. So much happened, and yet at the same time, nothing. When friends asked how everything was going, I listened to my inner voice and realized—with surprise—that I had reached a sense of normality. But I am a very active person. I always need to do something, otherwise I have the bad habit of thinking that I waste my time. So I made some daytrips and joined
events to break through my routine: I visited Manisa on a very cold but sunny day and met some super nice old people with whom I played okey, I went to art galleries in Göztepe, we went bowling together, a friend invited us for turkish breakfast (wow, just wow), Gio and I went to Sasali and I also got to be a guest in a Henna evening and in a turkish wedding. Going to a Turkish wedding has been on my bucket list for
my stay here in Turkey since the beginning and it exceeded my expectations. It’s so different from weddings in Germany, because there are special rituals and dances, there are so many people, particular clothes. During the festivities everybody was so welcoming and nice to me, I felt very included.
Also of course workwise, life didn’t stand still, well a bit, but now new projects will start next month, which I am looking forward to. In January we started office hours, which I am not the biggest fan of, to be honest. I had some talks about it already because I was not satisfied with it, but many workshops were cancelled for the reason of exams time or vacations. This was frustrating for me, but it’s not like we did
nothing. As with the democracy workshop, we did one about gender equality in a different high school. It was interesting for us to see the point of views of youngsters and to also encounter sexistic mindsets already at an early age. Additionally Shayen and Oliphie implemented their “warm paws” workshop, where
we built houses for the street cats of Izmir out of cartons, blankets and trashbags. Lastly this month also the German Cultural Night took place, which was a full success in our opinion. We made presentations, played games and we cooked so much food.
To bring this blog entry to an end, I would say that I’ve had countless valuable experiences over the past few months, and my friendships have grown deeper. Here, it feels impossible for nothing to happen—there is always something going on. And I take it all in, in the good and in the bad.