Arts Lab 6.0: Yasser Abbas - Month 4

 The month started with the Christmas market, and that was a big challenge for me — the most difficult part — because it wasn’t easy and required working on something I had never done before. After that, we had a workshop with kids at the library, which was really fun, the kids enjoyed it. And we officially got our residence. Kristers showed me how to use the fire staff, but honestly, I forgot how he did it.

Then, each of us started preparing to travel for the Christmas holiday. I went to Italy, and it was a real adventure for me. I learned a lot from this experience — it made me more aware of what traveling really means, what I need to prepare before a trip, and how to organize a schedule of the places I want to visit. It also helped me discover things about Italy that I wouldn’t have known otherwise, like the fact that there are many Egyptians living there.

One important lesson I learned during this trip is that I need to decide on my route before departure and book trains well in advance. I also picked up some Italian proverbs, learned a few cooking techniques, and met many friends from different countries like Argentina, the Philippines, England, and Slovenia. We had a great time together.

After returning from Italy, we had the Armenian night with Sona’s mother, and then we began the Rroma project with workshops for children at one of the schools.

To be honest, my future plan is just to enjoy as much as I can because there isn’t much time left, and maybe also to look for a job or even get engaged.

That’s it.

Report by Yasser Abbas, a volunteer from Egypt and one of the 14 participants in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.