{"id":945,"date":"2021-09-03T13:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T13:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/daniel-the-netherlands\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T12:22:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T12:22:40","slug":"daniel-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945","title":{"rendered":"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized has-custom-border aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel-768x1024.webp\" alt=\"Daniel\" class=\"wp-image-82\" style=\"border-radius:50%;object-fit:cover;width:300px;height:300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel-768x1024.webp 768w, https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel-225x300.webp 225w, https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp 990w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\">Volunteered From SEPTEMBER 2022 TO MARCH 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">2023  It was after finishing my first half of medical school that I decided to take a gap year and spend it teaching at Habibi Center in Athens. Anticipating the well-known challenges and difficulties of teaching and having little prior experience with teaching, I felt at first somewhat unsure and even a little intimidated. But now, looking back, I would not do anything different. My experiences in Athens have been some of my best and most inspiring. The mission and vision of the school, the motivation of the students, the exhilarating feeling that comes with seeing undeniable progress in my students and the whole life in Athens mixed perfectly into a wonderful cocktail that was hard to put down. Indeed, little convincing was needed for me to extend my stay an extra two months. Teaching students how to read and write in English formed a large part of my daily lessons. Expecting the opposite, I was surprised at the enthusiasm, cheerfulness and motivation the students showed. This giving also energy to me, we were every day again ready to tackle the formidable and unpredictable opponent that is the English language. The most rewarding moments were when the students\u2019 eyes twinkled with the joy of knowing and understanding the words they were reading.  I also gave IT lessons at Habibi Center which aimed at giving students the tools and skills to be independent computer users. Here I also learned how important digital literacy is in today\u2019s world and that possessing digital skills opens numerous doors for the futures of refugee youth.  Besides teaching, I learned a lot at Habibi Center. The experienced full-time volunteers revealed to me the importance of teaching how to learn, as opposed to only teaching what to learn. In this way the students learn to be more independent learners and thus gain more control over their lives. I could go on for a while about these things I learned, but, just like my time in Athens, the time has come to wrap up. All in all, my time in Athens will always be a gem among my life\u2019s experiences and I thank all who helped make this time so unforgettable. To all who are contemplating: I would highly recommend it!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) Volunteered From SEPTEMBER 2022 TO MARCH 2022 2023 It was after finishing my first half of medical school that I decided to take a gap year and spend it teaching at Habibi Center in Athens. Anticipating the well-known challenges and difficulties of teaching and having little prior experience with teaching, I felt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teachers"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp","author_info":{"display_name":"juliandeblock@gmail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?author=1"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) - Habibi Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) - Habibi Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) Volunteered From SEPTEMBER 2022 TO MARCH 2022 2023 It was after finishing my first half of medical school that I decided to take a gap year and spend it teaching at Habibi Center in Athens. Anticipating the well-known challenges and difficulties of teaching and having little prior experience with teaching, I felt [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Habibi Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-03T13:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-31T12:22:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"juliandeblock@gmail.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"juliandeblock@gmail.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"juliandeblock@gmail.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cddc1dacef3c6dbb322fd751f14051d8\"},\"headline\":\"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS)\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-03T13:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-31T12:22:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945\"},\"wordCount\":385,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Teachers\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945\",\"name\":\"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) - Habibi Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-03T13:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-31T12:22:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp\",\"width\":990,\"height\":1320},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/\",\"name\":\"Habibi Center\",\"description\":\"Registered at the Registro Nacional de Asociaciones with number\u00a0616525\u00a0- NIF: Numero de Identificacion Fiscal (Tax number Spain): G88234125\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Habibi Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/HC_Brandmark_v03-Color.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/HC_Brandmark_v03-Color.webp\",\"width\":1279,\"height\":1895,\"caption\":\"Habibi Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cddc1dacef3c6dbb322fd751f14051d8\",\"name\":\"juliandeblock@gmail.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/8c09b67156cd72be8631e7d036b30f5b.jpg?ver=1776630402\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/8c09b67156cd72be8631e7d036b30f5b.jpg?ver=1776630402\",\"caption\":\"juliandeblock@gmail.com\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) - Habibi Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) - Habibi Center","og_description":"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) Volunteered From SEPTEMBER 2022 TO MARCH 2022 2023 It was after finishing my first half of medical school that I decided to take a gap year and spend it teaching at Habibi Center in Athens. Anticipating the well-known challenges and difficulties of teaching and having little prior experience with teaching, I felt [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945","og_site_name":"Habibi Center","article_published_time":"2021-09-03T13:10:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-31T12:22:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":990,"height":1320,"url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"juliandeblock@gmail.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"juliandeblock@gmail.com","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945"},"author":{"name":"juliandeblock@gmail.com","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cddc1dacef3c6dbb322fd751f14051d8"},"headline":"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS)","datePublished":"2021-09-03T13:10:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-31T12:22:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945"},"wordCount":385,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp","articleSection":["Teachers"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945","url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945","name":"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS) - Habibi Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp","datePublished":"2021-09-03T13:10:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-31T12:22:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Daniel.webp","width":990,"height":1320},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?p=945#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DANIEL (THE NETHERLANDS)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/","name":"Habibi Center","description":"Registered at the Registro Nacional de Asociaciones with number\u00a0616525\u00a0- NIF: Numero de Identificacion Fiscal (Tax number Spain): G88234125","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#organization","name":"Habibi Center","url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/HC_Brandmark_v03-Color.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/HC_Brandmark_v03-Color.webp","width":1279,"height":1895,"caption":"Habibi Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cddc1dacef3c6dbb322fd751f14051d8","name":"juliandeblock@gmail.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/8c09b67156cd72be8631e7d036b30f5b.jpg?ver=1776630402","contentUrl":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/8c09b67156cd72be8631e7d036b30f5b.jpg?ver=1776630402","caption":"juliandeblock@gmail.com"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/habibicenter.org"],"url":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=945"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1288,"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945\/revisions\/1288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habibicenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}