The first Christmas of a Muslim family in Istanbul

A cozy living room in one of the Westernmost parts of Istanbul is delightfully filled with Romanian Christmas carols. Around the dining table full of goodies, six people are enjoying Christmas Eve together. Everyone is as happy as one should be at Christmas, expressing gratitude for what they have and looking back to what this past year has brought to them. 

For four of them, it’s their first Christmas. The other two are me, Ioana, and my new friend, Iulia. We’re doing our short-term EVS* in Istanbul and, since we get to celebrate Christmas here, we decided to prepare a nice dinner and invite our coordinator and hosts to join us. They are Muslims, so they don’t celebrate Christmas, but they happily accepted our invitation. They enjoyed the food, the carols, our tales about Romania and our traditions, and just being there together. At one point, they even videocalled their relatives, to show them the small party we were having. I’ve rarely seen such happiness in someone’s gaze.

We didn’t communicate so easily, since they didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Turkish, but the EVS taught me that you don’t really need to speak the same language to get along with others. The EVS actually taught me a lot more and left a deep mark on me, and it was definitely one of the best experiences in my life. Not only was I in Istanbul, my favouritestestest place in the world, but I also spent my days there teaching middle school and university students, organising and holding workshops, engaging in social activities, recording audiobooks, and doing graphic design and social media management. 

Celebrating Christmas together with a family of Muslims was a cherry on top of a cake with countless cherries. The whole volunteering experience was a blast for me and I could never recommend these mobilities enough. If you haven’t done your ESC yet (it’s not EVS anymore, but it’s super-super similar), go for it! 

*European Voluntary Service