On-arrival training @ the heart of Spain

Even though some time already passed after I have arrived, just like every volunteer going to another country for an EVS, I had my on-arrival training. This is a gathering of all the volunteers hosted in the country , or, in the case of a big country – only a part from it, organized by the National Agency in Spain to prepare the youngsters for their project and long term stay.

Ours was in Salamanca, the province of Castilla y Leon, and it welcomed the volunteers from Galicia, Asturia, Castilla y Leon – mostly the Northern part of Spain. It was me, Santa and Aleksander going together for five unforgettable days. We took a bus from Ourense and on the way we met another volunteer, staying in A Coruna that was going to the same seminar. When entering the neighbor province of Castilla y Leon we could already see why all the local people first associate Galicia with “it is green”. The middle of the country is a never ending plain landscape with dry fields, at some spots agriculture, but mostly … just never changing view of brown-yellow land and bushes. I would say I liked it, seeing it as something new for my eyes, but at the same time I felt lucky staying in the wild Galician county, which matches my idea for nature much more…

The training was really well-done, perfectly organized and so on, I could continue with more good words, but in brief – thanks to the four girls in charge to keep us satisfied and well-informed all the time. In the program we had so many things included, that my head was feeling like a swollen balloon at some stages. From bare necessity facts and explanations about the insurance that we have, the documents that we do, the expectations and fears part and so on, to a well-kept language course, it was all at the right place. Nevertheless, a big part of the educational topics were made to be as interesting as possible, interactive and involving – we created the town of our dreams, in which everyone had their house of the dreams and shared their perspectives with the others. Sharing was the other really pleasant part. All the volunteers made a short description of their EVS project. And that was the moment I felt really thankful again. As most of them were feeling not really happy to be where they found themselves, due to problems with language, integration, the work, their boss or whatever, neither me, nor Santa or Aleksander were able to say anything bad about our life by that moment in Ribadavia. Of course, there were more good examples for volunteers in the right place, it is not that the world starts and finishes with our sweet village, but I definitely realized how much I love it!

This type of meeting is also an amazing chance to make contacts and to get to know so many great people from all over Europe! We had a presentation of Spain, including cooking traditional dishes in the kitchen of the dorm, but also we presented each other our home countries. And had fun, has to be mentioned! On the same training I met the other Bulgarian on a project in Spain, which is my good friend Aleksandra. The never-ending conversations with her brought back my native language in my mind again, on the top of the English-Spanish-Gallego-Russian mess that was already existing. But precious times… Discovering Salamanca with its purely Spanish spirit, with the sound of flamenco, with its night bars, student life, young spirit and beautiful architecture, with walks along the river and sightseeing…

In the last day of the training we went on an excursion in Segovia, a historical town North from Madrid, full of tourists taking pictures of the Aqueduct, the Death woman hills, the Alkazar prison and more and more. A trip in the heart of Spain indeed!

On the way back, when everything was supposed to be finished, the adventures just kept on going. We travelled with the trains, changing in Medina del Campo, truly a town in the middle of nowhere, but at the same time a stop on Camino de Santiago, the pilgrims’ way. For this one hour before the next train, we managed to walk all over the village, to see the waterless river, its churches (of course) and not least – the shop for Bulgarian foods where I bought some white cheese, lyutenitsa and sharena sol to cook for my foreign friends. Running for the train was the normal way the things go when you take your time as a tourist, but after some more emotions on the way it is so much sweeter to be back home.

Home indeed. I actually missed my Ribadavia during this week. Especially the green hills and the deep fresh rivers. Also the feeling to be safe and happy on a place where I was so welcomed and able to adapt in no time. The same evening when we were back another party was taking place in Ribadavia – the Flower Power, when everyone gets dressed as a hippie and the 60s and 70s music is on the stream. Good way to see the same old lovely faces in a new manner :)

The week ended on the streets of Ourense where I took part in the local events on the national-wide protest in Spain, probably also because of feeling more and more connected with this country with every single day here…

Carrilanas

In our strive to be active volunteers, me and Santa got involved in one quite unusual event called “Carrilanas”. This is a race for self-made cars, which turned out to be not so rare in Spain and also Portugal.  Ribadavia is one of the proud hosts of this type of car competition. In the first couple of weeks working here, we were helping for the popularization of the event – from poster and video making (Santa’s part), also facebook maintaining and adding daily new information on the web, to “posters and leaflets” mission around the town . When the big day came (11 July 2011), we were also asked for some help on the place – carrying bottles for example, quite a stressful work J So, in case to be on line all the time if help is needed, we spent most of the day hanging around the town and watching the crazy rally, similar to the one in the “Wacky races” animation … ANY type of cars, bicycles, vehicles and moving objects in general could be seen all during the afternoon going down the steep little streets of the town, trying to take the dangerous curves … and of course not without crashes and spectacular turn-overs! The emotion was big, mixture of real Formula 1 experience and the idea that people are doing it all just for fun! Still, there were real professionals in car construction and driving. Halleluiah! J

And just like every car race should finish, in the evening there was a celebration in one old church, nowadays used for any type of public events and meetings. Local white wine and traditional empanada, video memories from the day and Santa kissing the winners when getting their prizes, this is a true volunteering …

At the same time the town was celebrating the days of San Antonio. Every saint needs a day in the calendar for the villagers to gather, eat something in their honor and have fun. We could enjoy the amusing concerts of two bands that took us back to the early 80s as well as a park-house-party (what a combination). Viva el verano!

Galicia from the inside

It's been a month... It is amazing how time just means nothing - it was really fast month and at the same time so many things happened!

Two days ago we welcomed the third EVS volunteer - Aleksander from Estonia. I catch myself trying to see the things the way he is seeing them now, as if it is for the first time. And this is how I realise I already have the cosy feeling to be at a place I really feel close to me. As we already started working, me and Santa created a pleasant everyday life with working in the office in the mornings and homy afternoons. The interest in doing our work is getting bigger and bigger as we move forward in the information and managing our tasks. She is mostly doing the design work - posters, videos and such for different purposes. And I play the role of office worker, helping for the internet appearance of OMIX, including staying it touch with partner organisations and making new contacts, applying for projects, answering the e-mails, information spreading and more. The last week we also moved big part of the archive of OMIX from the place the office used to be before the reconstruction of the current Casa de la Xuventude. This also led to putting the things in the office in a new order, cleaning up, making recycling bins and decorating. Office should also feel like home, right?

So, the days that we are free to do whatever else are the weekends. And as it is summertime, some of the weekends happen to be even busier than the working days. Busier with getting to know Galicia from the inside. In the months between May and September each village has its festa, also all the musical festivals both for traditional music or contemporary artists, all the events, celebrations, religious holidays and so on are fighting for their place in the calendar. It turns out that there are so many things happening at the same time that you feel it is impossible to chose what to do and where to go. So usually we rely on the choice of our local friends that just bring us to the best place and take a good care of our stay there. One of the weekends we visited a village gathering in the nearby pueblo Barcia. As one day is not enough, the Galicians make the celebrations last for the whole weekend, starting in Friday. On this type of festa all the locals, even the ones that live away, are coming together, eating, showing off with their home-made wine, dancing and simply having fun. The octopus and the Spanish music are essentials as well. You can end up in the middle of the night dancing together with children and elderly people that you just can't separate by the emotions they put in dancing. The noice of people singing and talking loudly just the way the Spanish can do it stays in your mind for couple of days after. More or less this is simply the best way to see the real nature of the local people - the ones, living in the little villages are the ones that have kept the traditions and the true spirit of the local life.

The same weekend me, Santa and Lena also rested from having a party with the first hiking route to explore from the many hiking paths all over Galicia. We got to know about it from a booklet with all of them described. It turned out to be just a walk going around the nearest hill, but some good views and some refreshing rain were all the time supporting our steps in the beautiful forests.

When me and Lena went to pick up Aleksander, we used the chance to go around Vigo, so we visited friends of Lena that have a house nearby Bayona, a sea-side resort that have the atmosphere of common touristic place. But the landscape around it is just amazing, green hills, rocks, sunset over the ocean... Pure beauty. The views here sometimes remind me of the ones I had the luck to see in Ireland. Yes, the Galician culture has celtic roots as the celts had a very strong presence in this land many centuries ago. The most beautiful ancient archaeological sites are of celtic origin. But you can best feel the celtic roots of Galicia mainly when you listen to the traditional music, played by gaita (the Galician pagpipe), tin-whistle or a violin. The rythm just makes you dance, it has the depth of the celtic music and the exuberance of the Spanish and Portugese. The coctail of cultures together with its uniqueness makes this place just like no other... This we felt really strong when visiting the festa in Poio, nearby Pontevedra, also on the coast. It was mainly gathering of bagpipe-players, organized by the local school for traditional music. Food, drinks, music, dances, beautiful landscape - it seems I need to repeat the same things all the time :) But memories stay unforgettable. As is was the first day of Aleksander we just couldn't miss to continue the Saturday evening in Pontevedra, and to experience the crazy night life that Spanish are famous for, guided by our friends, two magicians that had their show on the festa during the day. Kind of magic all the time!