Arriving in Ribadavia

When I arrived at the airport of Vigo on the 3rd of May at 5pm the former volunteer of OMIX, Ares, was going to pick me up. I knew he was Italian, so I was looking out for a typical Italian guy with a piece of paper saying "EVS" or "OMIX" or "Isabell"...well, I learned my first lesson in getting rid of stereotypical thinking. A tall man, about 1,90m at the least, with reddish-brown ponytail and full beard took a few steps towards me and asked: "Isabell?" I liked him instantly. Ares turned out to be a very nice person who introduced me to his friends, showed me around and made it a lot easier for me to start my life here.

We took the bus from Vigo to Ribadavia. On the way Ares confessed that he had asked a couple of girls coming out of the airport, if there name was "Isabell". Aha! That's why he recognized me instantly!

The flat I'll be living in for the next 11 month is on the 8. floor of the ugliest building in town. However, you don't see the outside from the inside!
The view, therefore, is wonderful! Luckily, the weather was splendid the whole weekend and every place looks much more pleasant in the sun than in the rain, doesn't it?

Here in Galicia, the weather changes quite often and there is a lot of rain. It's quite a humid place.

This is why this area of Spain is famous for its wonderful green nature. This region is also famous for its wine. The weekend I arrived, the annual wine festival was held in Ribadavia. It's 50. anniversary to be precise. One of the squares was crowed with people who had glasses of wine in their hands, tasting all the different regional sorts. Ares introduced me to a whole lot of people. Among them also my "bosses" Manuel and Iván, my tutor Luis who speaks German and many of Ares' friends and their families. Everyone was really friendly and tried their best to talk English with me. I hope I will make progress in learning Spanish very fast! I'll do my best!

As a vegetarian I neither eat meat nor any kind of fish or seafood. Unfortunately, exactly this are delicacies in this region. For some people here this is hard to understand. You're ordering a vegetarian sandwich and you get some ham on it..well, but not everyone is like this and as soon as they understood they're trying their best to get you something else. I think I was very lucky to be among so many people during my first days. It made me feel very welcome and comfortable.

I do not have to work during my first week so I had plenty of time to explore the town, adapt to the area, my flat and my working place. When the weather was nice I took some walks up the hills or along the beautiful river Avia.

Here you also have some impressions of the town. It has a beautiful old quarter which formerly was partly Jewish. It has pretty narrow streets and stone buildings which huddle against one another. You can find a few small churches and the ruins of a castle dating from the fifteenth century.

This should be enough pictures for now ;)

Ares went home to Italy on Wednesday. I moved to his room because it has access to the balcony just like the living room. I did a lot of cleaning and I moved the furniture to make myself comfortable. The next days I'm going to stick some posters and other stuff on the walls.

I don't know how often I will be able to blog but I'll make sure I'll keep you up to date!