5th day

Christmas party in Winter Wonderland

This whole week we have been preparing for the winter wonderland party. During this day there were several activities. We had face painting, sport and games and even papa Noëlle from the North Pole. In the morning we divided the group into 2 teams, team 1 was going to finish decorating house Elea in a winter wonderland and team 2 was going to help to decorate the street where the party would take place. In an hour we finished and we could start with the activities, as more and more kids showed up.

I decided on helping with face painting, we had three looks; a reindeer, Santa, and a Christmas angel. The kids loved it...but not just the kids soon also parents and other adults stood in line to get their face painted. With this activity, I learned that body language again was really important cause they do not all understand English. Also, you have to be very strict with the children, a sweet no won't do anything, you have to be firm and not warn 3 times. One time is enough and if they still don't listen you have to move them away. Otherwise more and more children will do the same and before you know it you have lost control. 

In the Elea house, Santa (Ali), was handing out presents to all the kids. Afterward, we heard that over 300 kids came to see Santa. 

After the face painting, I had a break and walked around the camp with another volunteer, Manuel. We got some falafel from a resident on the camp. They cook it all fresh and taste really good. They only ask for a big falafel €1,50 and when you want to give them a tip they don't accept it. They seem really to enjoy cooking for us, and getting asked for a cup of tea is not strange.

In the evening we had a dance battle between the kids, I was one of the judges. With the dance battles again the different cultures came together. A big crowd started to form and everyone was cheering. There were three winners and they got a glass filled with chocolates and pencils. It was nice to see that they shared it with the other kids as well.

The dance battle eventually transformed into a dance party, what I noticed was that it was only men who were joining the party. I'm not sure why women weren't there. They all danced a traditional dance, which was cool to see. 

We, as volunteers, in the meantime cleaned house Elea, because on these last two days of the week we will have a bazaar. Residents can get clothes and other stuff that we got from donations. It makes me realize that giving to NGOs is very important, and money isn't always the best solution.

We ended the day by going to a bar with the other volunteers and some residents. There we watched the El Clasico game, which was fun because we all were for different teams and it could build some tension. Unfortunately, none of the teams won. After the game, I called it a night and took a taxi home.  

Temperature: 17ºC