Yes! One more country I have conquered! 
Just kidding ;) I've been to Portugal. Our tutor Luis took Sabrina and me on a short trip down the river Miño and across the border. We did "village-hopping" until we reached the coast. Unfortunately the weather was a bit rainy but still, it has been a nice trip! The small Portuguese towns are adorable and not so different from those here in Galicia. We went along the border and it was noticeable how many fortifications there were on the Portuguese side. It seems like they really needed to protect themselves from Spanish attacks in the past!

Reaching the delta of the River Miño we went home via Baiona at the coast, where you can find a huge fort at the sea and a replica of one of the boats of Christoph Columbus, the Pinta, which has been the first one that announced that they found land on the other side of the ocean back in 1493.

Nearly two weeks ago there also was the "Festival Arteficial", a music and art festival in town. We helped with the preparation and we sold tickets during the event. I don't have fotos of the concerts but there will be a video and I can post a link of it when it is finished so you get an impression of what it was like :) 
I do have some pictures of the fair, though. We also organised a little music and painting workshop where everybody could simply let out their creativity :D 
Additionaly we installed a table called "A Casiña de Cambio", the little house of exchange. It is an idea I got from Germany and I would love to implement it here in Ribadavia. The concept is the following: If you have anything at home that you might not want anymore, you can put it in the house of exchange. And if you spot something you like, you can take it with you! I think it's a great idea to animate people to be active in a way that is not limited to the world of enrichment and profit. We now put all the stuff in the office to have the "house" here, created a facebook page and if the people like and use it, I plan to built a real little house of exchange in the streets of Ribadavia! Let's see how it goes!

Next time I will tell you about the "Festa da Istoria" which starts today!

The super hot days are over, we enjoy the summer with only over 30°C every day, we have two fans in the flat and from time to time exciting summer storms! It's awesome to watch them from our balcony. The first and strongest one was just crazy! There were raindrops flying up instead of down and evevn big hailstones (remember...over 30°C!) I tried to catch. Sabrina made a nice snapshot of this :)

Aren't these clouds impressive?

But I digress...what I actually wanted to tell you was a little bit about my work here. So, here we go!
According to my "Activity Agreement", in which all the terms and conditions of my EVS are stated, I have to work 5 hours a day and 5 days a week for the office. This means Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 14:30. Sabrina (my flatmate) and I walk to work. It takes us about 10 minutes. 
A big part of our job is office work. OMIX coordinates exchanges and projects for young people from this region here and sends them abroad. For this we have to apply for projects, find participants, organise their travel, prepare them, etc. So there is quite some mailing and paper work to do. This is the not so exciting part of my job. 

We also do language classes. The English classes already started (twice a week for one hour), but they are rather informal with games, songs or funny videos. Next week I will also start with German classes for traveling and the week after Sabrina is going to begin with Italian classes. In August I want to do a Japanese class, as well. Soon, there will be a movie night with films in English every Wednesday. 

At the moment I am doing a three day workshop "Creative Writing" in both English and Spanish. It is some kind of "Loesje"-Workshop. If you're interested in what this is about klick here.
All the workshops and classes we give are free of charge for the people.

And for all these activities we are designing poster to put them on Facebook or our website.
If there is an event (a band contest, for instance) we film it and cut a short video to upload on YouTube.

Well, this is basically what I am doing here :)

The night of 23th to 24th of June is called "San Xuan" and here in Galicia it is a magical night! 

It was the night after my adventure on the Cies and I surfed the couch of a young marine biologist from Vigo, Noelia. She and her parents warmly welcomed me in their home and showed me the traditions they do in the night of San Juan. 
We collected all sorts of herbs, grases and leaves from their garden until we had a fragrant bunch of plants which we then put in a tub of water. We left this outside over night. It is thought that the herbs and the water absorb the magic of the moonlight and in the morning we washed our faces with this essence for good luck.

We also went to the beach with some of the other couchsurfing guys that night. People built up a huge pile of wooden things with a pole in the middle on which they hanged a straw man. Everybody wrote snippets with all the bad things they want to forget and get rid of to burn. So did I. At midnight they lit the fire and it was just huge!

At the beach there also were a lot of fires burning. Smaller ones, with people sitting around them laughing, chatting and singing. If you jump three times over the fire, you can wish for something! 

Offshore of the west coast of Galicia the "Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park" is situated, consisting of three archipelagos. One of these groups of islands is called Cies and I spent wonderful three days there camping with a group of couchsurfers. 

(Couchsurfing - for all those who have never heard of it - is a communtiy of people from all over the world who enjoy travelling and meeting others. As a member of this community, you can host couchsurfers and surf other people's couches, you can participate in meetings, find people to show you around a place or just meet for a coffee. By "surfing someone's couch" you do not only have a cheap accommodation but also the chance to get to know whatever place you are visiting much more intense and to get in contact with interesting and open-minded people)

So. Nearly two weeks ago some couchsurfers from Vigo organised a big meeting on the Cies Islands. Around 50 People from all over Galicia, all over Spain, no actually all over the world gathered to spend an awesome weekend in an awesome place. 
For me this was a great opportunity to meet some new people and see some more of Galicia. And I gotta say, the Cies are simply magnificent!!! There is no traffic on these three Islands and there are also no people living there. The many visitors who come daily with the ferries can eat in the two restaurants and also have the possibility to camp. 
The great thing about camping there is, that early in the morning and later in the evening, so before the first ferry arrives and after the last one leaves, there are not many people at the beach or on the hiking routes and you can enjoy the beautiful nature all by yourself.

What I really love about these islands is that they have a little bit of everything: white sandy beaches, rugged cliffs, high eucalyptus forest... 
The following photos were taken in the evening and I really like the soft light.

I can just recommend you to spend a night in this magical place! 

Two week ago there was a big Roman festival taking place in the city of Lugo in the north of Galicia, called "Arde Lucus". The old town there is sorrounded by a massive wall and that weekend all the people inside were dressed up like the ancient Romans. Music, parades, plays, traditional food, markets...the place was crowded! 
It was like a huge medieval market, just...well...Roman :D

Every year when summer is about to begin people organise a soap box derby in the streets of Ribadavia. "Carrilanas" as they are called here. A route through the town is blocked off and with a lot of clattering the soapboxes roll down the streets. The harder they crash the louder the crowd cheers because that, of course, is what they want to see!

I tried to upload a video but I didn't manage it. I would have to upgrade...sorry!

Yes, I know it is difficult to be a vegetarian in Spain. And, no, it is not impossible!

The fact that I eat neither fish nor meat does not mean I can never go out for dinner. The variety of food is simply not that big. It's true, though, in Galicia you don't find many vegetarians compared to Germany, for example. 
In Ribadavia are a couple of normal Spanish Restaurants and one Italian Restaurant. 
As typical for Spain, you can order a all kinds of tapas. They are served on big plates and everybody at the table can have a bit of everything. Mostly that's jamón (ham) and queso (cheese), ensaladilla rusa (a salad with mayonnaise and tuna), pulpo (octopus), gambas (shrimps), tortilla, ensalada (normal salad) and empanada (some kind of big pastry or pie with meat or tuna filling). Sometimes there are also croquetas or mushrooms for me. And there is always bread with it. Afterwards, the people like to drink a shot of either licor café, licor hierbas or licor créma de orujo. Everybody has a favourite. I like the herb one the most. It's quite strong but the crema one is too sweet and I don't like coffee.

Here, the people eat very late and also party very late. So dinner at 10pm is absolutely normal and if you go to  a bar or club before 1am you will probably be the only one. Therefore the night ends at six in the morning (of course I'm talking about the weekends here). Unfortunatly, there is no club to dance in Ribadavia but a lot of bars to sit and have a chat and a drink. 
I will tell you a bit more about parties and music some other time!

At home I cook for myself and I have to say, I quite enjoy it, now, that I figuered out how to use the gas stove and oven without burning down the kitchen. I find everything I need in the supermarket and I can easily cook bigger amounts and put some of it in the freezer for another day. The water from the tub is not very good but we have a well with tasty water just a few meters down the road.

Two weeks ago I've been to the famous city of Santiago de Compostela! It is the capital of Galicia and the destination of the Camino de Santiago. 
My flatmate's friend dropped me off, because he had an American Football match in Santiago and I could spend the day walking around in the beautiful parks and the famous historic old town. Santiago is very touristic. Souvernir shops, pilgrims, restaurants with traditional food, pilgrims, bars, pilgrims...but there is also a university and a couple of wonderful parks with big old trees, which I really loved (mainly because the weather was so nice and sunny with a pleasant warm wind) Outside the old town, it's rather quiet, because the tourists stay near to the cathedral.

The team of my flatmate's friend won the match so afterwards we had dinner all together.

As soon as I catch up with all the blog posts on my trips and so on of the last weeks (which actually isn't that easy because they don't get less ;) ) I will write something about food here and my work and just more general daily things that might be interesting!

On my way home from Madrid I had to stop in Valladolid for a few hours. I went to the "Campo Grande" which is a big park in Valladolid. I really enjoy wandering around in such green spots in the middle of a city. This park is famous for its peacocks. I love these gorgeous animals. They are amazingly beautiful! I have never seen one spreading its tail, though. However, on this lovely day...

I just couldn't get enough!

Photographer's heaven :)

After the week in Valladolid I went to the wonderful capital of Spain, Madrid. My aunt and uncle were visiting a friend there and I could stay at her house, as well. It was quite centrally located and so I could easily reach all the important sites of the city. 
The weather was simply splendid! 
I also visited the "Prado" one of the famous arts museums of Madrid. I owed this to my arts teacher from school, I reckon :)

When you travel alone you easily get into conversation with all different kinds of people. In Madrid I met a man in his mid-fourties on a bench. He was walking his dog and I was taking a rest. We started to talk, his English was quite good, because he has been to America for some years or so, and he told me his philosophy, how he achieved to be happy and eventually basically the whole story of his life. I couldn't quite believe it, though. It sounded made up, like in a drama or a hollywood movie. He told me he was an opera singer but has not always been one. Before, he studied in Italy, got a good job, was handsome and had a wonderful girlfriend. However, he wasn't happy, his girlfriend left him and he had to face serious problems. So he decided to start a whole new life and become an opera singer. When he was a little kid he had watched an opera and had been very impressed by the performance. He took this childish excitement and used it to fulfill his dream. And now, he sings in leading roles in the opera of Madrid and also abroad.
Sound very magical, right?
He gave me his name.
I googled him.
It is true.
He is an opera singer.

I still can't quite grasp this whole thing. It's just too fantastic...maybe, I should write a book about him!

I am a big fan of black and white fotografs. So, here you go!