Dear Regensburg, I’m here

Those are the days  and there’s no doubt
(Translated from the original Das sind die Tage ohne Frage)

The station in front of me,
The train is coming to its track.
This is how it’s going to be one day
Me and a lot of people are getting off today.
  
Looks like in a city
That’s for me,
One big maze.
 
After the first few days,
streets get their names.
 
Day by day, you get to know more,
what it’s like to be in Regensburg.
Despite its name, it rains here
As much as elsewhere.
 
How many languages, so many people.
Actually, not at all -i t’s always more
Languages than people.
In Tandem, both Czech and German are spoken.
 
That gives rise to new words.
There is neither
magic nor rocket science.
 
And that’s kind of what it looks like
In Tandem, an ordinary day.
Wordplays and fun,
But there’s also a chair in the office,
on which I’ve been sitting
And working for long sessions,
to compare Czech and German expressions.
 
When everything is new to a person,
It’s not always easy.
When things go wrong,
Everyone knows exactly
Where the wind blows from.
But with one great contact person,
(And just to be sure, I don’t have just one,
But I have them four)
Everything’s going more than just fine.
 
And you know what?
You learn best from mistakes
And you get to experience the most important part of it,
And that’s a lot of fun.

That’s what my first days in Regensburg were like. More than half a year has passed since 15 September 2023, as I arrived in Regensburg to spend a year as a volunteer at TANDEM – the Coordination Centre for Czech-German Youth Exchanges. I wanted to write a blog post about my stay in Regensburg earlier, but… And now there comes the (probably) expected excuse that I didn’t have time. An excuse that is partly an excuse, but partly really the reason why I’m only  now starting to write my first post, even though I was really looking forward to it. The last few weeks have been incredibly busy in terms of my volunteer service, and I’ve been traveling a lot. But more about that later.

As I write these lines, I am sitting in the bistro Mezi Řádky (bistro Between the lines) at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. Prague is one of the places in the Czech Republic and Slovakia that is home for me. And the bistro “Mezi Řádky” is one of my most favorite places in the whole world, so the choice of a place to start writing my first blog post was clear. By the way in the summer of 2023, it was here at bistro Mezi Řádky , where I decided to volunteer at Tandem. So here we go. I still have a few hours before I have to rush to the main station so I don’t miss my train to Regensburg.

From the first days to everyday life in the Tandem Office
When I arrived in Regensburg on 15 September 2023, the weather was beautiful. The sun was shining, and while I was sweating in the bus with two heavy suitcases and an equally heavy backpack, people were swimming in the Danube. From the window of the bus I watched enviously those who didn’t have to carry any luggage and instead of that they could fully enjoy swimming in the river. I wish I could join them, preferably now, I thought to myself. But that day I had important duties to attend to. I had to find the Tandem office, meet my new colleagues, pick up the keys to my new apartment in Regensburg, and much more.
Doris and Steffi were the first colleagues I met in the office. They greeted me very friendly and offered me strawberry cake and fruit, which pleased me a lot. Then they showed me around the office and I met the other colleagues, Kathi, Lucka and Míša.
After we had introduced ourselves, Míša gave me her mobile phone number and said I could contact her if I wanted to do something together this weekend. Moments like that always warm your heart- especially when you’re in a new city where you don’t know anyone. After handing me the keys, Steffi helped me to carry my luggage to my new apartment. How nice of her, I thought. The one-room apartment I will be living in during my year-long stay in Regensburg is located on the outskirts of the city. At the end of the day I was full of impressions and also tired, in fact really exhausted. But at the same time, I was filled with inner peace and went to bed feeling good that I was right here.

Although Tandem’s office is centrally located and actually easy to find, with my poor orientation the first few days were a real challenge for me to find the right way to the office. Today I can laugh about it, because the office is really only a five-minute walk from the Arnulfsplatz bus stop where I get off the bus every day. But I can empathise very well with my former self and I appreciate very much that there was and there is always someone who can show me the way. The people here are generally very friendly and happy to help. From time to time I meet even passers-by asking me if they can help me when I’m looking for a particular street in Regensburg and I look really desperate. For example, a nice older woman showed me the right way to the office when I was on my way to my first Gesamtteam-meeting of the whole Tandem team.

The entire Tandem team in Regensburg meets regularly – approximately once every three weeks – to discuss current topics in their respective areas of work and to gather information that is relevant to all colleagues. The whole team was one of the first Tandem routines I became familiar with. I was also given access to various computer programs that I need to work in the office – including the DINA.international platform that is used for video conferencing. During the first few days, I gradually got to know the working fields of my colleagues. And I was pleasantly surprised to find out how much support there is for the Czech-German youth exchange. In addition to after-school and school programmes, there are also programmes for pre-school children. During the introductory meeting I heard the term “Sprachanimation (language animation)” for the first time. What does come to your mind when you hear the word “language animation”? It’s actually a playful method of introducing people to a foreign language and breaking down language barriers. Usually you stand in a circle and sometimes language animation also involves dancing and singing. At Tandem, one experiences  language animations quite often, whether on business trips or in team meetings.

After gaining an overview of the work in Tandem, I could start my real volunteer task: the ahoj.info project. I’ll tell you more about it in my next post!