Ribalandia - Exhibition of our EVS experience

In the end of the project we made a little exhibition aiming to express our emotions, memories and inspirations during the EVS year in Ribadavia. I publish the "works"below.

Why Ribalandia? Ribalandia is the country of magic that only exsists if you imagine it and live it, it is invisible for the ones not able to enjoy it and there for everyone with an open heart to experience it. Ribalandia is not only Ribadavia, it includes every moment, every place and every face from the last year...




IVETA KUZEVA - REFLECTIONS

Ortigueira, July 2011
Reflections of music, festivals, the sea and the beaches

San Paio, October 2011
Reflections of mountains, forests, waters and the green beauty of the nature

Oporto, December 2011
Reflections of travels, new places, cultures, languages and knowledge

At home, always
Reflections of people, friends, contacts, exchange and a new home














SANTA VINKLERE

Dieta Gallega

La vida colorada

Mina terra galega

Ribalandia







ALEKSANDR SHELEPIN

Two in green

Snailhead

Act of Food

Rain of colors

Last month, last EVS emotions, last days in Ribadavia…

Incredibly fast year, thinking about it everything passed in a blink of an eye! Who was saying a one year project is a very long term? It is actually flying away - I just got used to everything around me as if I am home… and it is time to go. Already the sentiments begun with moments of remembering, good-bye parties and promises nothing to be forgotten. It won’t be.

This beautiful spring month of March was the last one I officially had in my project’s duration. And it was simply amazing! It started and vanished with visits here and me visiting around. Just like all the rest of the year  and somehow more intense, as for being a great ending of  great period J First to visit me in the moment when all the nature was waking up for the spring, all colored and fresh, was a friend from my hometown, also a traveler and dreamer. He got involved together with us both with Santa in a Wine tourism course in English, organized by the Distance University of UNED. That was an interesting new experience, we spend couple of days in a romantic chateau producing high class white wine, and our task was to make the people relax and speak in English, but together with the walks and the wine-production process presentation that they made for us, it was all a nice weekend. While Nasko, my friend, was still here we also had a visit from the volunteers in Santiago and A Coruna, gathering of the big happy EVS family, playing some music, diving in the lake, walks – all the pleasant activities going together with over 25 degrees heat. Of course the dinner tradition was also followed carefully with the first open-air dinners on the balcony  “a la plancha”.

In the first days of the month I visited Porto once more to see Sashka, whose project was ending already, and Aija. It seemed as a little reunion of the Morroco team plus some crazy Asturians, with whom we were all involved in organizing an Asturian evening with a dinner in Casa da Horta, the cultural association with a cosy vegan restaurant where Aija used to work. It was short, rainy visit, but my admirations of Porto grew more and to the traveler’s diary were added also Tuy and Valenca – the two neighboring border villages on the both sides of the river Minho (the two of them really charming),  which I passed on the way.

Next free days I went to Vigo with my local friend Mercedes (a unique woman, a pleasure to know her) and her daughter, to see the city properly after being here only passing on the way to the beach. We made some walks, museums, fortresses – all that was included in a nice weekend by the coast. With Merce we made also few walks around here, as she is the same explorer as me and we went to investigate beautiful paths in magical forests by the little river Maquians, that also passes through part of Ribadavia. Next on the list was Pena Corneira – an incredible geological fenomenon, hills covered with huge oval rocks, as if it was a stone forest and one of the highest points around Ribeiro. Also this month she brought us to the archaeological site of San Cibran – a pre-roman village from the Castro culture, a visit that revived the sleeping archaeologist in me (yep, that’s my university degreeJ)

Actually, there was one moment when so many things started happening at the same time. Two special friends from Bulgaria, Katerina and Ina also arrived here in the end of the month and got involved in the little craziness of life I had in the last days of March. At work with the end coming closer the tasks were growing in number and after all that was the real deadline if we wanted to do anything more while being here. So the ideas kept on being born and realized, starting with  presentations of Bulgaria and Latvia in the English classes. That was something we wanted to do from the beginning of the project, but never fit into time and schedule, so we finally made it in a short and educational way, but successfully. Then followed a youth forum organized by OMIX in the school, with all the students coming in one of the three sessions in the two schools of Ribadavia – the primary school and the professional college. We presented them the Casa da Xuventude and the opportunities for the free time and for education – both formal and informal, they can find there, also the Youth in Action program and EVS. For me it was a big step speaking in front of more than hundred students in Spanish, something I have barely done in Bulgaria. But after all the tension passes, you realize how useful are big challenges like this one.

Literally in the same day we made the opening of an exposition we were planning a long time ago and completed as an idea this month. Three volunteers, four pictures each – altogether 12 works united by the title Ribalandia. Me, Santa and Aleksander tried to express what the year here meant to us, what we saw and experienced. I will publish all these pictures in a separate post. This was the first time I was showing in an exhibition something mine, after just the news that some other pictures I was sending to Italy were participating in an exhibition there. It is a nice feeling of doing something good and sharing, at least with the friends that came to celebrate with us and few girls that came especially from Pontereas to see the exhibition. For me it was success, because it was one of the few things we finally managed to do together as a team with Santa and Sasha (even though he is back to Estonia for months already).

Then, after doing some good job (and quite intensively), it was of course time again to make a little trip, and I joined Ina on her way to Aveiro in Portugal, as she was about to make a week there as a WWOOF volunteer in a city garden in the local University. We passed again through Tuy and Valenca, then saw the majestic sunset above the ocean from the train (that could never be forgotten) and reached Aveiro – the Venice of Portugal, famous for its channels and boats, to see it at night. The weekend was all about gardening, village life, great people and good musical jam-session, also the first nights outside for the year, around the fire. We had great time and I came back happier than ever. And it all only became better when I received a call right upon my arrival in Ribadavia from Shell, a dear friend from my Erasmus times from Ireland, telling me that she is also coming to see me in my Spanish home … the next day. So little time and so many emotions! Few days were never enough for me to show my guests all the little miracles of Ribalandia, even though it is a small village with nothing to do in the end of the world J But Shell could be part of one of the last dinners we made at home, and spend together with me a lot of time in my favorite places along the river, following the tradition to play the guitar all the time. She also came in the perfect moment to accompany me to go to Islas Cies – one archipelago of the few Galician islands that is being my travel destination already a year and finally could be reached this Semana Santa. Yes, it happened that we spent our Easter on a paradise island, with one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (according to some statistics) and amazing views of the ocean, the seagulls and crystal waters. Sometimes I stop myself and think - have I ever thought before that a voluntary service would make it possible to be in places like this, places taken out from the dreams. Directly after this we took the bus from Vigo to Porto to stay with Shell in another of my favorite places. I realized I am in love with this city and Portugal in general and so happy for choosing Galicia for my EVS – this way I felt a lot of Galicia, Spain and Portugal at the same time.

And after all these intense emotions, here I am again at my sweet home on the last floor of the Tower, preparing Final reports and trying to figure out of a conclusion how to put in few words all that I have been already sharing here in the blog for a year.  In the end of each project the volunteer should make except for the official Youth in Action report their Youthpass. We are supposed as well to organize everything in the most comfortable way for the upcoming volunteers, which we won’t be able to meet. And now are the last days of doing all these big tasks together with many little ones, connected with leaving a place called Home.  Days to prepare also myself for new beginnings, because I mostly believe in beginnings, not in endings. Days to organize a way to come back here soon to see again Ribadavia and how the life goes on after we’ll be away. Days to meet everyone and to say good-bye. Days to think over everything… or better to stay away from thinking J Days to feel and appreciate.

The fairytale of Ribalandia was in all I have learned, all I have seen, all I have experienced. A year ago I had no idea where am I going to, how it is going to be, what is there waiting to discover. Now I know that basically this all depends on you, on the person itself and how they see the things. Recently a friend said “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. I opened my eyes and heart for all that was experiencing and the reward was the miracle of my EVS. Of course, there were bad moments, hard times, misunderstandings and so on, which I would never mention neither in the blog, nor in front of someone, because I don’t believe they are more important than all the great things.

So, as last words I want to thank to everyone that was part of my EVS year – Manuel, Santa and Aleksander, all the other EVS volunteers, all my friends that came to see me, all my local friends (amazing ones!!!) and the people I met on the way. Thank you! And as I wrote already in the first posts: The best is yet to come.

I couldn’t expect more. I couldn’t get more. Hasta siempre, Ribadavia!

The fastest month

I can’t say if it is because of the smaller number of days or because it is one of the last remaining months of my EVS, but February just ran away really fast and left some more nice memories and some sun-tan from the sunny afternoons on the balcony.

Indeed, the spring here already came, and as I love to say it came before the winter. While all Europe was covered by snow, it seems to me I will have to wait till next year to see some. In this distant part of the continent (Finisterra – a town in Galicia, doesn’t bear this name with no purpose) the days only kept on getting longer and warmer. The first days of this sunny month brought here one of my closest friends from Bulgaria who stayed in Ribalandia for two weeks, carrying a part of the distant home closer and enjoying some time here. Together with the joy of having Petra as a part of my year in Spain and share my experience here, I was able to see in practice how much I have adapted to as a resident of Galicia and how convenient  I feel in our sweet volunteer apartment, home. I could show her all my favorite places with the daily walks we had, introduce her to my sweet local friends, and show her the beauty of the ocean … and of course the local gastronomy J Galicia Calidade forever!

The time passed just as fast, Petra went away and the moment has come for the long-expected first big fiesta of the new fiesta year – the Carnivals! For me this type of celebration was something completely new, the only carnival I have been to is the one annually organized in my hometown in Bulgaria – Gabrovo. Well, I was introduced to the catholic tradition of dressing up for celebrating the 40 days before Easter. Actually, in the Hispanic world the fiesta doesn’t go only one or two days, but at some places it is a week, at others – almost the whole month. Well, at least two weekends were guaranteed. In the province of Ourense the Carnival went on from Thursday, starting with a big dinner only for women from town, till Tuesday, an official holiday, including defiles, concerts and crazy costumes… The most impressing part of the festivities was the day we went to Xinzo de Limia, a little town not far from here, famous for its carnival. In Xinzo, Verin and Ourense the carnival has an old and respected tradition and is being celebrated the longest and the hardest. We visited the town in midday, when usually is impossible to see a living person on the street, but during all the week there was a movement of incredibly well dressed-up people of all ages having fun, dancing on the streets, having a drink, taking photos and laughing together. The atmosphere was amazing, totally different world. A curious fact is also that if someone dares not to dress up, but walk around in their daily appearance, one of the so-called Pantallas, running around and making noise with their belts of bells and shouts would take him to the closest bar to be invited for a drink and the brave one will simply need to buy drinks all the day J Besides it is a funny tradition, the Pantallas reminded me a lot of a Bulgarian costume of dressing up in scary costumes and masks called “Kukeri” which also takes place in the early spring in the villages to chase away the bad spirits with the loud noise of the bells. Sometimes I am left amazed with some cultural similarities between places so far away from each other.

So, back to the theme… As we couldn’t stay aside from the big carnival craze, me and Santa joined with costumes four evenings of the celebrations, she – with a little bit more enthusiasm, but above all, with a lot of fun. From the Indian inspirations to a false big bottom, and Santa’s almost professional disguises of policeman, devil and Arabic princess – all types of roles were played, and not only from us. May be what impressed me the most was really the willing of everyone to be part of the carnivals with a more original costume… than the previous year. And the closing party was organized by our boss and the association Arteficial, that organizes the festival. It was an event called Musical Purgatory and everyone should be dressed as a dead music star. So in the bar, with our hand-made decoration of flames, was everyone – from John Lennon and Janis Joplin to Edit Piaf and Amy Winehouse. No doubt, changing identities is a brilliant exercise in the beginning of a new year.

This is how time is slipping away and already the first yellow, pink and white blossoms fill up the air with aroma of spring.

Back and Forward

A new morning, a new day and a new year - the first of January.  I wake up, look through the window and see the palm trees in the garden of the Royal palace in Madrid. Good place to start the year, no doubt, with the sun shining above the sleepy city and two Bulgarian volunteers going out for a new-year walk and shopping.  Me and Aleksandra spent the most Bulgarian New Year in Spain ever possible, celebrating together with few more people from our country who study in Madrid at the moment. So, instead of one, we had two new-year comings with the hour difference and the obligatory speech of the president, the fireworks and the traditional banitza.

As after Morocco we stayed couple of days more in Madrid for the celebrations, it was time already to go back to Ribalandia. Actually spoiled by the reat time I had and the 30 C temperature in Africa I felt as if it is a tough task. But coming back didn’t turn out to be something bad, because many holidays and celebrations were on their way. First on the row were the Days of the Three Wise Men (Los Reyes Magos), which was quite surprisingly for me celebrated even more than Christmas – for example this is the day for the children to receive their presents from the Kings who, according to the Bible, reached the cave where the little Christ was born. On the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th of January the village was once more occupied with parades, holiday lottery and spectacles. Those days we had here two of the EVS volunteers in Padron (close to Santiago de Compostela) visitin. This type of visits is definitely popular among the volunteers, due to this special relation you have with the others sharing the same experience. Many nice international friendships are always created, and going to some country for an EVS guaranties meeting people not only from this same country, but from all around… the world.

In the same weekend of the Reyes we had once more a poetry recital of Jaime Moreda with visuals that Alexander had made before he went away. So it was up to me and Santa to replace him this day and we did it with pleasure. It was a nice experience for me, even though not many people came to the event. That was the day of my name day as of course it is something I could celebrate only in Bulgaria with the people that know about it.

January is in general my private month of celebrations, as my birthday just follows the next week. On the day I only made a little dinner for the few friends that are around in the winter. Because it turned out to be true that there are some periods during the colder months when even the few people left in the town stay more and more at home and it is usually much more quiet. So, the idea of celebrating my birthday somewhere more alive and fun came logically. It was about a time to finally go to Barcelona as it was a dream of mine for a long time and the perfect moment came when a friend of mine from Bulgaria (who has a birthday on the same date) decided to come with five more girls to Spain to celebrate it. Not just in Spain, in BCN… I simply fell in love with this city. Toether with the shinin sun I had the best company to enjoy my time. First I met another Bulgarian friend and few from Ribadavia who live there, and when the others arrived we had our room in the hostel, the touristic walks and all the fun that we could, including an incredible rental-bike-route in the last hours there. And yes, it was Barcelona, but the other thing that made me so happy those days was the feeling of the strong connection I have - despite of the distance, with my friends back in Bulgaria and the joy of sharing few days of my EVS year of miracles with them.

With this trip all my vacation days (because every volunteer has two days of vacation for each month of the service) were over. I came back at home realizing that I had made my last travel during my stay here. And at this same moment the visits in Ribadavia started – as they say “If Moses doesn’t go to the mountain”... the friends will come to Ribadavia J In the last week of the month we had once more other EVS volunteers visiting, this time the ones from Gijon (Asturias), as the boy is from Latvia and they also made a good “common-background” friendship with Santa. This is also a thing I can notice every time I live outside my country and meet so many foreigners – all the people love to meet someone with whom to speak freely in the language of their thoughts… 

So, as we were expecting a quiet, even boring and cold winter, it didn’t really turn out to be like this. Together with all this movement, at work I was always occupied as the first deadline of the Youth in Action program (1^st February) was coming closer and we were applying for partner’s projects and those of OMIX itself. Both of me and Santa started this month the big search of the future. It was really a month of looking back and forward, realizing that the end of our year of voluntary service is coming and wondering what comes after. I was amazed by the number of different ideas for my own future, as travels and education and work and more volunteering were all there… One of the reasons I wanted to make this “gap year” was to decide where to go after. Well, in the end, I am even more confused, because from all I keep on experiencing I only realize how many things there are to be done, how many places to be seen and people to be met! So the mission of making future plans wasn’t successful, but what matters more is that nothing is over yet…

The proper end of a year of travels

When I came in Ribadavia it was summer, it was hot and beautiful, it was funny, entertaining and everyone was telling the legends about the winter when “nothing is happening” to prepare us for what is coming. The cold, moisty and rainy winter when everyone stays at home and there are no opportunities to spend your time nicely… Well, it was clear that the words of the locals complaining about the winter are quite exaggerated as it didn’t seem serious that 5-10C is a really low temperature. And now it is proved, it was all legends, my winter is like no winter at all by now.

First of all, outside it is still as green as it was in May, even flowers are still blooming on the streets;  yes, sometimes you get tired of rain, but still I have some ten from the sunny days… and nevertheless it doesn’t really feel as if the fiesta has stopped – just got less intense than in the summer.  

December was as vivid and colorful, just as warm as my never-ending summer of 2011. It started with a breath of a culture, as I visited the one of biggest cultural events in Galicia, called Culturgal in Pontevedra in the first weekend of the month.  I really got thousand ideas with information I got from what I saw at this huge expo of all types of art creators, promoters, producers, publishers and media… Cultural life has always been my strongest passion and I enjoyed a lot getting to know how it works in Galicia, as an example of a now-developing industry, especially when the promotion of it was live, with concerts, readings, interviews, theatre – three full days.

The week after was the so-called Puente, a week  with two Spanish national holidays in beneath, which the students love a lot because they usually get it all free, as well as some workers. In this week Casa da Xuventude was working, but the vacations still worked for a long-expected trip that I made – going to Portugal, visiting Porto for a day and a family friend in Lisbon. His family I was staying with were really good people that were all the time taking care of me and showed me the Portugese capital and the area around it. As I expected, I fell in love with the country, its cities and coast, even though nothing really surprised me after living almost on its border line. The Northern Portugal sure has a lot in common with Galicia, both as a culture and outlook. Porto though is a city to be experienced, as it is unique, one of those cities which have not only beautiful views and tourist attractions, but also a character, it feels to be alive, with its own artistic appearance.

Lisbon gave me another feeling, as being also a big capital city and as I am used to a much smaller city-sizes now… But in one word it is also a charming, beautiful place and the glory of its past still makes it look proud and royal. For years I was eager to see those both cities and to walk through their little steep narrow streets all over… My hosts took me to many little beautiful villages and spots around there, my volunteer foot also reached the most western point of continental Europe (Cabo da Roca) and the beautiful hills and coastline (where people keep on riding surf in December) North from Lisbon, the palaces of Sintra, the port of Cascais, the city of Setubal and its surroundings, lighthouses, monasteries…

It was a trip of short duration but with full program, great impressions and feelings. When I came back to Ribadavia though I didn’t enjoy long my good memories  as Aleksander was leaving and we had to say good-bye to a work and a living mate. The sad truth – the volunteer colony in Ribadavia lost a member.  Soon after we had to start the selection process of the EVS volunteers after us with the thought that neither Aleksander really wanted to leave, nor me and Santa want our project to come to an end. But this is how life goes, changes are more than necessary…

In general at work also it doesn’t feel as if in the winter there is less to do, as now I dare to do much more and stay occupied all the working hours. Truly, the knowledge of the language would be a plus in my application but I am grateful that I was given a chance to learn it here and as I already have the basics to communicate with the youngsters coming to Casa da Xuventude, to work better. The tasks also grew in number, including translations, phone calls, also I made a pre-departure training of a girl, soon about to leave for her EVS in Slovenia, another boy that OMIX had send has returned and thus the EVS wheel keeps on turning...

And the cherry on the top of all the travels during all this year going around Europe, was a travel I made during the Christmas holidays to Morocco. As is it not connected neither to what I do in my EVS, neither to what I discover from Spain as a culture, language and places, it was also a trip I used to dream about and that I knew will come true once I come closer to this part of the continent. Africa is a must see, a different world, which opens one’s eyes for many things. From Marrakesh’s square and its fairytale creatures, to the colorful markets which are swallowing you and  then spitting you out tired of all the colors, goods, smells, bargaining and shouts, to the poor dusty neighborhoods with children playing football with no shoes, the women with their vain on motorbikes, the traffic following no logic and the extreme sport of crossing a street, all the people with no-existing professions.. to the fish market in Essaueira, the seagulls and the chickens on the roofs. It is all beyond the imagination of a person from Europe, always surprising and so intense. But the best part definitely was visiting an oasis on the way from Oarzazete to the dessert, where only berbers still live as they used to do thousands of years ago in their cub houses, baking pottery and washing their clothes in the river… Well,  the more I write the more I realize how impossible it is to give in words all my impressions, but I am more than grateful (mostly to our friend and host there, Jamal, without whom it may be wouldn’t be so) for what I had to experience, for living in the magic of Africa for though only for a week...

To learn without learning, learning to learn

Recently all around the youth informational media the leading news was about the upcoming transformation of the youth programs of the European commission. The idea is that from 2014 a new program, called “Erasmus for all”, will start and it will include the nowadays Lifelong Learning Programs (such as Erasmus, Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci and more) and Youth in Action. There is already kind of internet strike against this idea. And as a volunteer at this moment and an ex-Erasmus student I can clearly see why.

The education that a person gets in the university, while studying on terms the basics of a certain profession, has nothing to do with the other one, the so-called  “non-formal education”.  What it means to me, after some more than 12 years participation in non-governmental and non-profit organizations… It is the attractive, funny, innovative, fresh and thus quite efficient way for the people in their young years to learn from practice and experience, mostly from each other - something that usually lacks in the state educational system. Non-formal education could be the everyday life as well, especially when you are put in front of new challenges or possibilities. Youth in Action gave me and many more people that have been EVS volunteers one unique experience, connected strongly with the process of non-formal education.

To learn is something we do all the time, without realizing. One of the things that an EVS volunteers gets from doing his voluntary work, is the so-called Youth Pass. It is the experience you get written black-on-white. In other words, the formal document of the non-formal education.  This is why the Youthpass, written by each person for themselves, is meant to have a big importance.  So the institutions responsible for the volunteers are usually doing their best to educate everyone in a slightly unusual thing – the idea of “learning to learn”. Basically none is taking this seriously in the beginning, but at the moment I started appreciating the things that I had only the chance to start or to develop here, I saw it is may be not just a bunch of complicated words as it first seems.  And after all, sometimes, in the rush of the time, day after day, year after year, it is good to stop, to look around and to accept all the things you can get by this life, because it is easy for them to slip away by the time you don’t pay attention.

All those philosophical thoughts are coming to my mind mainly because all the time, just like all the people, I am forgetting how fast everything is going, how impermanent experiences like this one are. And it is good to take the maximum out of it. The maximum out of the places, the people, the conversations, the work, the time, of yourself.  In a few days  Aleksander, the Estonian flat and work-mate is quitting preliminary his voluntary service. This was a little shock when I first got to know it. Of course, it is for a serious reason and he is making the best decision for himself. Also very soon we will have to choose the next volunteers for our project after us. Isn’t it amazing how fast things come and go?! So, first thing I would say I have learned - to appreciate. And to live NOW.

Another thing that you learn with everyday is communication. Yes, we communicate since we are children, but usually with people like us, with the family and the friends and the colleagues we choose. But part of the informal education that you receive as a volunteer I believe is the fact that you start to communicate with people that you haven’t imagined before, with characters and personalities so much different from yours! Our cozy volunteer flat on the last floor of La Torre is a perfect example. The three of us are incredibly different persons, from different countries, different background, different past and a common present, which in the normal life could possibly know each other, but wouldn’t think to spend together almost 24 hours/day.  Except for the flow of information you get from a new person, there is also an important  impact on your perceptions about cultures, emotions, lifestyle and a new point of view on life and how colorful it can be.   Both the good and the bad moments we have together are leading to something, and it is called experience. And this I do not only see at home – the friends and people I meet every day at work or at a party are so much different, everyone with their story, with their life and so much to tell you about. And I am thankful for meeting all this variety of characters, spending some time with them.

All those positive things and many more which I don’t want to describe in details now,  are the reason I stand against mixing up university with EVS. Because in this is in two word what is about to happen if the new program starts working. Of course it has the good points, but as long as Youth in Action is an independent program, the necessary non-formal  education will be the leading topic of many more youth meetings and partnerships.

Thus, realizing all the good points of being here is making me feel much more comfortable. In the last month I also spent a lot of time by myself. I really needed a rest, a little break from  moving around in the last months. This gave me the chance to do exactly what I was speaking about – to look around and value the things. It is important for a person if they want to develop also to have time about it… Unfortunately in a country like Bulgaria it is hard to be part of the society, to work and still to have time for yourself. This is why I give a specific importance of my year in Galicia, a time to enjoy.

Of course, also came the moment to ask myself if I miss my country. And to be honest… I don’t, not even a little bit. Because the thing I miss are mainly my friends and now I know I will meet them around soon. About the family - it is amazing  how sometimes you need the feeling of being part of a something, of a group of people to love, to support and to care about. But also such a feeling could be taken from an experience far away from home. An amazingly sweet feeling gave me a visit in Asturias for a second time in the middle of November. I visited my friend Aleksandra in Oviedo, who had her mother staying for some days. It was a really pleasant  weekend, the friend, the mother, the slow  walks around the hills over Oviedo, the touristic visits of the town, and also Gijon and most of all - the big happy family of Erasmus flatmates as well, spending time together, playing music and having fun. This easily becomes an alternative family, if you let it be.

The idea of self-development that has obsessed me a little bit recently made me also start visiting French classes - something I do with a great pleasure because of the language itself and also because of the comfort of having them for free in the office of OMIX with the best teacher, a friend of mine called Susana. Travelling together with her is just as nice! In the end of November  we visited together Barcelos and Viana do Castelo in Portugal so that she introduced me to some old friends of hers. Susana is an interesting example of a local person with an objective point of view about Galicia and Spain that only a foreigner could have. Or, such as in her case, a person that travels a lot and that has lived in other countries. And I find this a really important thing – to be able to THINK about your home as a place, to have an opinion, not only loving it just because you are supposed to. This is another thing you learn with the chance to live somewhere else. Back to the topic – viva la Youth in Action J 

what autumn have brought...

It is obvious that after already 6 months of my EVS I pay less and less attention to writing in the blog. But I find it pretty normal – the initial excitement of my new life has slowly turned into a quiet satisfaction. I feel already so much used to everything around and, thinking about it, I am grateful for choosing a project of one year. Actually, I would recommend to all the future volunteers to search mostly for that duration of their project. It simply gives you the chance to adapt first, then to get into the language and the way of life and after both the pleasure and the work become much more satisfactory.  After all, this is one of the best things about making a voluntary service – it is a period, in which the process of learning is based on the living experience, having enough time to do whatever and combining it with some volunteer work. That I would call learning directly  from the source, from life, from the simple communication and even only from observing.  What I mean…  for example for me the experience of living in such a small place as Ribadavia for longer period  is something I am living through for the first time. I have also never thought that I will have some friends, with whom I would only communicate in Spanish (together with all the mistakes I make of course :) ) ! It feels some much different to what I am used to and at the same time … I love it!

But anyway, back to the monthly report of the events for October…

First are appropriate to be mentioned the achievements of the three brave young volunteers in Ribalandia… In the beginning of the month Casa da Xuventude welcomed one exposition of a young painter from nearby, a girl with a lot of talent but with no individual presentations by now. She was really happy to have the first chance to show her works, and that was moer than enough to make this exhibition worthy taking place! The initiative was lead by Santa. Meanwhile, Aleksander was working on another cultural event in the town. He collaborated with a local young poet, called Jaime to prepare visuals for a literature reading, organized in the honor of a poet from the previous generation. So one warm October evening a bar at the central square of Ribadavia hosted  a world of imagination, words and beautiful slides that we had painted together at home previously.  I was as usual in the whirlpool of organizations, projects, events and activities and also was really glad with the help I gave to some young people with ideas, consultations and information; and of course with the boy that already arrived for his one-year stay in Italy for making EVS – a chance he didn’t know about just 2 month earlier! Similar satisfaction of being helpful I usually feel after the English conversations/classes that we still successfully give in the office twice a week.

But the weekends remain to be my favorite time of the year J My mission to get to know the world around brought me in the first weekend of October to the last fiesta for the season – the celebration of San Froilan in Lugo, one of the bigger Galician cities (still not really big), the last one I still hadn’t been to. The event itself was the next prove on the row for the Spanish passion about the Fiesta – 8 days full fiesta program with concerts and events which brought huge amount of visitors in the town. And the town itself is beautiful! It is known for the unique fully restored Roman wall, surrounding the beautiful streets and houses of the old town of Lugo, famous touristic destination as well. During my experience I could experience also the Erasmus spirit once more, together with people from Brasil, Peru, Mexico and Ecuador… Quite colorful experience! On the way back I stopped for a train change in Monforte de Lemos, another small, but beautiful Galician town, and walked there for hours in a quiet Sunday, being a proper tourist with my camera J

Next weekend, I kind of unexpectedly found myself in Madrid, where we made a little Bulgarian reunion with my friends. Meeting periodically people that I know from before and communicating freely with them in my language is a good moment to look from aside to all the experience I get here, as sharing always makes the things more real. We spent great time together, as usual, and also got involved into the protest movement that is spreading around Spain (and not only) since May, soon after I arrived here. The 15 of October flooded the wide streets of the capital with uncountable amount of people, in a peaceful walking demonstration for a change in the messed up system of society and politics… It is hard to say if all this actually leads to something… but the emotion to be in the middle of this crowd of people, gathered with the one idea, and smiling, so much different than the usual way they all are frowning and pushing each other on the street… There was something special! Actually in  those 3 days in Madrid I managed to see a lot, the long walks helped to get to know all the centre, some interesting neighborhood, parks, squats… And to be honest, I loved the feeling to be in a capital with the taste of the big city, so much alive, intercultural, interesting; moving with all the little people going all around, breathing with them, speaking with their voice and with the noise of cars, traffic lights, ambulances, street musicians… and to know, that I am not to stay in this mess, but enjoy it for a while and get back home in my quiet little place.

Next weekend on the go and another amazing place to be visited. After not seeing for a long time Barcia, the first person I got to know when arriving here, this weekend we visited together a friend living in Baiona, a beautiful town on the coast which I have probably mentioned, because I have been there twice before. But never before I visited  a place in the mountains above it called Muinos with beautiful old stone mills, situated in a row down the hill following the stream of a little river. Same day we also went to a place I wished to see already some time ago – the point where the river Mino, the big one passing next to Ribadavia and later becoming the border with Portugal, flows into the ocean. This can be observed from a high hill called A Guarda/ La Guardia at the corner of the land, with an enchanting view. Centuries ago the celts chose to build there a village of theirs, which is nowadays one of the most visited archaeological sightseeings in Galicia (together with the Muralla, the wall, in Lugo).

Adventures are not only to be taken far away from the place of residence though J The love for hiking brought me and Aleksander many times this month on nice autumn walks around – to the hot springs of Prexigueiro, to the nearby villages, and our latest discovery - some marked touristic routes such as Ruta Verde – 35 km along river Avia, and Ruta Azul – 27 km along the river Mino.  A daily hike such as those is full pleasure, consisting of movement, precious views and getting to know all the surroundings.

Ribadavia was also once more in fiesta mood in the last Saturday of the month. The occasion - Noite Meiga, or Helloween in Galician style. And as here they are quite respected as part of the folklore, it is the fiesta of all the witches, together with the vampires, corpses and all the scary fantastical creatures one could ever imagine! And after a perfect preparation almost everyone in the village had an amazing costume or at least professional make-up and was part of the common celebration of the evening. There was a defile of the all the scary creatures, a pumpkin face competition,  the biggest queimada on Praza Maior with a theatre show and more and more… Town was back to life again, streets and bars filled with people (or zombies and beasts), a good concert of a new local band gathered big audience as well. I was amazed once again – not only by the realistic make up that gave me the goose skin, but mostly about how seriously the fiestas are taken… People definitely  know how to enjoy, each time of the year J