the work and the working place

Now it is already time to say couple of things about the work...
My hosting organisation is called OMIX Ribadavia, which stands for "Oficina Municipal de Informacion Xuvenil" (Youth Inromation Centre of the Municipality of Ribadavia). Its main activities are connected with programs and happenings that give the young people in the area the information they could be interested in - about travelling, education, employment, leisure time and more. The aims of the NGO are to provide chances for personal and social development to the youth community through non-formal education and accesible information. It is also an active part of the cultural life in the town, supporting its partners'projects or organizing its own events such as exhibitions, mucical happenings, art workshops. The main working team consists of Manuel, the coordinator of the organization, and the EVS volunteers they host, which means me, Santa and Aleksander (the Estonian volunteer we are expecting the next month). So the daily work takes about 5 hours a day, five days in a week (either morning or afternoon) which we spend mainly in the office, dealing with the current activities. As we are in the beginning of the project with not even basic level of Gallego or Castellano language, it is still hard for us to do many of the tasks... But this is also how you learn. :)))
The office is in the Youth House of Ribadavia, which is quite new - it was officialy opened about 6 months ago. It is a nice and tidy tyipical house in the old part of the town with three floors, enough space for everything, with computers for free internet, lots of informational materials and an exhibition hall. A beautiful one.
As far as the organisation is connected to the council of Ribadavia, we were already introduced to the local authorities that we will often cooperate with.
So! Young people of Ribadavia, be ready, we are here to work hard for you!!! :)))

places, faces, around and so

It has been two weeks since I am in Galicia and I have the mere feeling I already managed to see a lot. The area around Ribadavia is rich with small villages with population less than 300 people, and the distance between them is usually couple of kilometers. So, most of the people here use their car or motorbike and take the curvy mountain roads with amazing views to visit their favorite places or to discover new ones. This is also the usual connection to the big cities – Ourense is the closest one, it takes about 20 minutes with a car or with the train to get there either because of some business or just for a walk and some shopping. To reach Vigo takes some more – the distance from Ribadavia is about 70 km, but then you find yourself in the most populated city in the area with the biggest port; may be a little bit industrial, but still really beautiful place on the ocean coast. And speaking of ocean, it is just awesome how the hilly land dives into the waters of the Atlantic at the waved coastline with white sandy beaches and monumental rocks. The first time I dived into the same waters I simply felt lucky. One of the beaches I visited was close to Cangas, north from Vigo - an area with paradise views from the vertical  shores, definitely worth visiting. There we went together with Santa, Lena and a local friend, famous for his energy and sociability - Manuel, who has made his voluntary service in England some time ago and usually plays the role of the kind host for the new volunteers (the fact that he also speaks English helps for sure J).  In a moment of hesitation about what you can do in a lazy Saturday afternoon, he would be the guide to a new experience. This is for example how I also visited the dam on the river Mino, also few kilometers from Ribadavia, well-known among the Spanish for the water sports. We took a sail-boat and enjoyed the lovely view and the sunny day from the surface of the lake.

The way the locals spend their free time sometimes reminds me of my hometown, Gabrovo, where it just as normal as here to go around to the nearby beautiful places for a walk or for a swim in the rivers. The people are also quite similar (may be only in this region of Spain, I still can’t say more) - warm and friendly. Hm, feels like home…

esta una vida buena

The people in Ribadavia and all over Galicia simply know how to enjoy life. 

From what I have seen by now there are no sad faces on the streets, no rudeness, no stress - especially in the small town, where you have time for everything and all the people know each other. It feels like in a big family, with all the lovely feelings and of course the drama J Many of the locals spend their free time in one of the four café-clubs, almost all of them on the same corner of the street, so that the distance when you change them won’t be exhausting. Aljama is my favorite by now – good music, live concerts sometimes and good terrace for long conversations with the young Ribadavians in “Spanglish” or whatever way of communication you can come up to. The situation with the language turned out to be a bit more difficult than I expected, because it is not that the people here haven’t studied English – they did, they know some things, but most of them just won’t say a word. Still, everyone is really friendly and communicative, random boys and girls just come and meet you, try to make you feel comfortable, a part of the place and its crazy society…

The other thing that gathers the people here are the parties, based mainly on food. How they love food! It surely takes an important part in life and meals are often shared with a good company. It will either be a private barbeque in the forests around or one of the typical fiestas in the region, connected with a traditional type of food – bread, peppers, different meat stuff… Twice a month in Ribadavia is the market day which turned out to be mostly connected with eating pulpo/octopus that is being prepared in many places on the street. The tradition brings everyone out this day to become part of the celebration of life over and over again. We also organize small cooking parties at home, so that the hosts are showing us their cuisine – sea food, toasts with goat cheese and caramelized onion and more and more; and me and Santa, both vegetarians (which simply equals to aliens here) are trying to seduce them with well-prepared vegetarian food J

After the food and the drinks the time has come for a midnight bath in the hot thermal springs, few in the region, where you can simply lay down in the healing waters and forget about everything but the stars upon…

BIENVENIDA / WELCOME

An early morning flight, turbulence, clouds, delay… I recognized we are already passing over Galicia by the view out from the window – it had turned into a fabulous landscape of green hills, long rivers and thick forests; all I knew from people that had been in this part of Spain before was that it is simply green, nature is alive all through the year, and really beautiful. And there I am on the airport of Vigo, meeting Lena –a German girl, one of the volunteers before me,  who came to pick me up together with two of her local friends. In the car to Ribadavia I can’t help looking out of the window again – the view is really impressive and it is garnished with the warm welcoming of the people, all really positive, natural, good-hearted. For the first couple of hours, before even reaching my new home, I am already introduced to about fifteen of the locals. And I was fast to be introduced to the traditional drinks for the region, which turned out to be deeply respected by the galicians. Liqueur Café, Crema de Orujo, Liqueur de Herba – three types of drinks that are not to miss. J

But at the moment of bigger importance is how I finally reached my home – a huge flat on the last floor of an old-school 70s building, called “El Torre”/The Tower. In my room I found a note, saying “Enjoy your life in Ribalandia”. After I walked out on the balcony, I was already sure that I will. The balcony is the place where I spend most of my time at home; the balcony turned into the an open-air place for internet, Spanish classes, meals, morning tea or coffee, a book, talks – everything, and most off all simply observing the whole town…

The town… It is a small bunch of tile-roof houses, huddled between the green hills along the river Avia. It has a romantic old town - the Jewish quarter with narrow paved streets, tidy stone houses with doors instead of windows and a sweet old-style bakery for traditional cookies. Plaza Mayor is the main square, occupied by the numerous chairs of the cafeterias, inviting you for a glass of wine and tapas for free. The region of Ribeiro is famous for the good wine and the typical type of garden here is the wineyard. The castle stands proudly in the centre of the town as well, and it’s often to see remains of the walls and portas of the old fortress dating in 15^th century, when Ribadavia was the capital of Galicia. This is the reason to be also the host of one of the most spectacular historical festivals in Spain – Festa da Istoria. There are many fiestas in the town during the summer, it is also hosting an international theatre festival, but later I will come back to this, when the time for them has come. Over the streets and the houses often could be heard the song of the bells of one of the 8 stone churches. The whole village stands on the banks of the river and it thus plays a big role in its life. While walking the sandy path along the clear deep waters you see people having a sunbath, fishing, running, walking the dog, children playing on the remains of a watermill and the whole atmosphere is still so peaceful and quiet.

I felt totally satisfied with the place I chose to come; I felt actually blessed.

On the second day I met the second volunteer at the end of her project – Kadi from Estonia, which also introduced me to some of her friends… They started getting more than I could remember! But above all I also met the sweet girl I will share this whole experience with – Santa from Latvia. After a short talk during the morning striving for tea, we both were sure I will have lots of travels and joy in the next year…

(to be continued J)

EVS?!?

So, this is how the story goes from the beginning of my EVS experience.

In two words, EVS (European Voluntary Service) is a part of Youth in Action program that allows young people to live in a different country for some period, either less than a month or up to a year. There they both work on a project and learn – languages, cultures. The projects are in many spheres – social, environmental, cultural, etc. There is a link for the full information. Later I will probably come back to it and say more…

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/youth-in-action-programme/doc82_en.htm

I was ready to make my voluntary service for years, as I decided to get first my Bachelor degree in Sofia University (in Archaeology). As soon as that happened I already had the positive answer from an organization in Spain – OMIX Ribadavia. When I was searching for a project the main things I had in mind were: first, the topic of the project, which I wanted to be in the Art and culture sphere (youth organizations, non-formal education, art events, this kind of thing); and second – the place, which I really wanted to be in Portugal or Spain. So, as I was approved for another project which failed, in the same day I found the one in a really small town in Galicia, Spain, close to the ocean and the border with Portugal. I applied and one happy shiny summer day, while I was on the beach, I had a call for telling me I was approved. Ever since everything just showed this will be my project for sure.And still I didn’t know so much about the place I am going to. And I did't want to have any expectations.
                                                                                                                       

Now, some days since I am here, I can already share how it feels to be a volunteer in Ribavadia…

as in a fairy tale

Once upon a time, in a charming little county on the west coast of the deep Black sea, a girl with dreamy eyes was trying to solve the eternal questions of time, meaning of life and all the other cliches that always appear to be meaningful. As far as she couldn't, she could only decide to wake up every morning with a smile on her face just because life is beautiful and each second is precious, and belief, that the best is yet to come. As it usually happens, person that has the will to live also has the will to travel, to make changes, to discover, to learn, to experience, to create, to give and be given...
This is how one day this girl wakes up in a room with blank white walls, goes out the door of the balcony, sits on a chair and observes for hours the tile roofs of Ribadavia, huddled in the beautiful valley of Rio Avia.