I am alive! (Just in case you worried because I haven't written for so long)
As you might know I went on a mid-term seminar two weeks ago that is obligatory for every European volunteer and when I came back I needed to cure a bad bad...bad cold. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...  The hostel "Las Batanes" and four volunteers from Austria, Italy, Portugal and Macedonia "Isabell, look! Our mid-term seminar will be in November!"
"And where? Hopefully somewhere in the south."
"I think it's gonna be in Madrid"
"Awesome! I love Madrid! And it`s at least more southern than Galicia, haha"
"No, hold on...it says NEAR Madrid."
"Oh."
"In Rascafría"
"Where?"
"No, wait...NEAR Rascafría..."
"Oh..."
And this is how we realized that our seminar was going to be in the middle of nowhere. Far from everything. NEAR a village NEAR Madrid with the beautiful name of "Rascafría".
Literally: Rasca - iciness, fría/frío - cold
 We met with all the other participants in Madrid where a coach waited to bring us to Icinesscold. The weather was rather nasty. Cold and wet. And yes, there on the mountain, a few hundred meters higher, there was snow!
We had the whole hostel for us. Over 60 young volunteers from 21 different European countries. This promised to be an exciting week.
I will not bore you with all the details about the seminar, which in addition would fill pages because it had been some intensive 5 days! Let's see if I can cut it down to the most important....
We were splitted up in 4 groups. Each group jad a colour (Yellow Team! Go!) and a personal supervisor and mentor for the following days. In these groups we worked on different topics to evaluate our voluntary service so far using diverse techniques to find the best way of analysing the good and bad things about our EVS and how we could improve it. We evaluated all the different aspects in detail to become aware of what we give and what we receive, the best and the worst, the reasons, the possibilities. The staff was friendly and there for us if we had any doubts or questions. I think I was very lucky with my group (Yellow Team! Go!) because the atmosphere seemed to be confiding and supportive.
| I actually already before the seminar often tried to relfect everything I'm doing here, but I think the seminar gave me another motivation boost in terms of making the best of the project itself. During the seminar I became aware of the fact that everything that surrounds the project work itseld is absolutely great, also compared to what the others told about their project conditions. The flat, Sabrina, the food and money, the time schedule, the tutor...only the work in the office is not quite what I expected. I guess I'm simply not a person that enjoys working in an office (which is something I learned, now!). However, I have the freedoms to shift the work to making more workshops and classes. All that it needs is initiative! Initiative!
| | What I enjoyed the most about the seminar was the possibility to get in touch with so many different poeple from so many different countries. We did some activities all together, were in a group with these people, ate at the same table with those people and shared a room with some other people.
I talked, discussed and laughed with guys from Italy, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, France, Macedonia, Armenia, Germany, Czech Republik, Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Belgum... and I simply loved it. "The aim of the European Voluntary Service (EVS) is to develop solidarity and promote active citizenship and mutual understanding among young people." - http://www.europeanvoluntaryservice.com/what/purpose - To be honest with you, to me this was more like an excuse for just having a great time abroad without spending a lot of money. However, now I have to say that there is a whole lot more to it. I really feel that meeting all these people from countries I wasn't really interested in before, I might have known the name of but actually not much more, from countries that didn't really have a "face" for me, where nobody was living in...meeting all these young people helped me to a whole new understanding of these countries a new view on people, internationality and Europe. It helped me to appreciate the luck of growing up in a safe and rich country and it rose my interest in getting to know all these other countries better. I feel that I grew a bit more during this seminar and I can only recommend to take all the opportunities they offer you and have experiences like I'm having here! You won't regret it!  The cathedral of Segovia We did an evening trip to Segovia to do an activity of visibility of the Youth in Action programme and to have dinner in a restaurant there.
To get to this beautiful town we had to go over the mountains and we passed...Winterwonderland
The canyon of the river Sil
What a beautiful autumn weather! I really enjoy the clear air, the amazing colors, the soft light when the sun goes down. The way the cold wind makes your nose numb so that you have to face the sun to melt the icicle. Unfortunately all this is only given if it's not rainy and foggy, like usually. However, the last few days have been wonderful.
I've been out for some foto sessions. These are my facourite shots:
Inside the old mill down at the river
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Enjoying the warming sun
| Yesterday we went with a friend of Sabrina on a trip to the monasteries in the area north east of Ourense. They all differed a lot from oneanother and I'm convinced the forest that sorrounds them is enchanted!
NUMBER ONE: NUMBER TWO: NUMBER THREE: NUMBER FOUR: I have been thinking about my conversational skills. I can have a vivid conversation with people I know and people who are open and willing to talk to me. I understand jokes and can be funny myself. However, it is much harder to speak with someone who is not interested in talking to me. They often (probably unintentionally) make me feel ashamed for my accent and for the words that I don't know. As soon as I feel comfortable though, I can confidentally talk without any problems.
Sabrina and I talk in Spanish of course and we understand eachother perfectly. Altough we might be using words from time to time that nobody else has ever heard before ;)
 The "Noite Meiga"! This is how they call their Halloween here. It is the Galician expression for "Witches' Night" and we celebrated it on the 2nd of November. There is no Trick or Treat but people dress up as corpses, ghosts, vampires and witches to crowd the Plaza Mayor, visit the tunnel of terror, watch the concert and dance in the pubs. Sabrina and I helped taking pictures of the people who came to the facepaint room to get...well...mostly severely injured!
But, to be honest, we did not look very healthy ourselves:
There was this woman. She passed by, looked at us, put on a face of plain disgust and made this sound...pretty much like "Bouwah!". What more could you wish for?
The eyes are made of ping-pong balls. We found the aprons in the flat. Some old forks. Some old spoons. A little bit of flour and water. A little bit of red and black paint. And a lot of fun!
There also was a competition of Jack O'Lanterns. I decided to participate and I wanted to create a very special pumpkin! So I bought an overpriced pumpkin and some cheap carving tools.
And guess who won the competition! The award was a Noite Meiga bag, badge and shirt, a bottle of liqueur of herbs and a diploma. I will probably never make an ordinary Jack O'Lantern again!
Prepare yourself for a whole bunch of pictures!  Last week Sabrina and I attended the photography workshop of a photographer from Ribadavia. (This one on the left and the pictures of me which I posted further down were taken by him. Visit his website: http://www.garabato-photo.com/ !) The first five of the six sessions were theory. José told us about different kinds of cameras, how they work, picture composition, do's and dont's in photography, ... and gave us a short introduction to Lightroom which he uses on a regular basis to sort out and work on all his pictures. On Saturday then we went on an excursion to put into practice what we learned. It wasn't really a good day to take pictures. Very humid and foggy, but still, it has been the best part of the workshop! Here are some of the outcomes edited with Lightroom:
The old lady who lives in this house is always cleaning the walls and the cobbles. Do you see the clean frame around her home? Depth of focus!  (Un)fortunately the battery of my camera died right in the beginning of the session (how embarassing...) and José kindly gave me one of his cameras. He later put a close-up lens on and I just love the pictures you can take with it!
I'm blown away by the details this camera is capable to reveal.
On the left you can see Sabrina's rigth eye. Isn't it impressive?
The classical spider's web with waterdrops: delicate and beautiful.
In driftwood you can discover the most unbelievable shapes and figures. The little things that make me smile:  What happened to our poster? Did someone...wait...what?!
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We decided to call it "Ximo" ;)
 Sabrina The last weekend we have been to A Coruña at the north coast of Spain. Sabrina came back from her vacations in Andalusia and visited Luismi who is studying in A Coruña. I joined them for the weekend and we did some rainy sightseeing during the day and went out at night. I really needed to be in a city for a while (altough A Coruña is not very big). Just stroll through the streets, watch the people, look at he shops...you learn to appreciate those things. Well, despite the stormy (but typical) weather we spent a very nice weekend!  Yesterday we had a meeting with all the people interested in the workshops we are planning to do and the next week we are going to start! There will be weekly classes of English, German and Photoshop and a crash course of Japanese and one of Italian. As the people have to work or study in the morning, we are doing the workshops in the evening. I'm looking very forward to them!
If I don't keep myself busy I become a little grumpy and homesick.
This week I attend a photography workshop from one of the photographers in Ribadavia, José. Finally I can learn some skills from a professional. And I'm proud to say that I don't have any difficulties to understand what he is explaining!
I also finished the promo video for the Youth House! What do you think? Everything you see is self-made and self-taught and keeping that in mind I think the outcome is quite satisfying. These days I still have to create Spanish subtitles and upload a second version. And to finish this post an "of-my-life-experience":
Yesterday night it poured as if the sky tried to drown us all and I experienced the longest power blackout of my life!
1 and 1/2 hours!!!
This is 90 minutes...
or 5400 secondes...
...without electricity.
Actually very exciting but a tiny little bit bothersome when you just started painting something...
After the wonderful week of sun and rocks and vultures I visited some other volunteers who I met during my on- arrival seminar in Valladolid in May. They work in a small village called Frómista in Castilla y Leon. Miriam from Italy, Clara from Denmark and Tom from Germany. Frómista is part of the famous Camino de Santiago so many pilgrims from all over the world visit the village every day. The three volunteers help out in the tourist office, the care home for the elderly or the culture/youth house.
 I accompanied them to their work to see what their EVS is like. My final conclusion was that both project have their good and bad sides. I really liked the actual project work the volunteers are doing in Frómista. It is a bit more diversified and I really enjoyed the morning I worked with Clara in the care home for the elderly. We made little chest nut figures with them. I definitely prefer doing thins like that, where you are active and moving and talking, to doing office work. Furthermore the overall atmosphere there was different. Here in Ribadavia it feels like being actual at work. So I start at 9:30 and finish at 14:30. Punctually. The typical officer worker stereotype.
In Frómista on the other hand I simply liked to help as much as I could and I didn't check the hour. If there still was something to do I wanted to stay until it was done. You truly are a volunteer!
| However I also noted a lot of very positive aspects of the project in Ribadavia. And this is not so much the project itself but more all the other things around it.
General life.
I might not feel like a "true volunteer" here in Ribadavia but therefore I start to build up a real life. With friends and leisure time and sports...I guess in a project that lasts a whole year it might be better like that (Tom, Miriam and Clara are volunteering for 6 month). It is, like I said, a different atmosphere.
Our flat.
It's a little bigger and a little nicer than the one in Frómista. I mean, come on, I have my own bathroom! What more can a girl possibly want ;)
The town.
Ribadavia might be small but Frómista is even smaller. Here we have a lot of events and festivals going on (at least in summer) whereas in Frómisa they celebrate only one annual festival.
The working hours.
Miriam, Clara and Tom have to work a few hours in the morning and a few in the afternoon so that in the end you have the feeling of working the whole day through.
Being only two volunteers.
Nearly the whole day the three of them work and live close together and they come along surprisingly well which is not self-evident. I think because of the fact that they are always in a group I imagine that it is a little more difficult for them to get to know the young people of the village. Being just two girls might make that easier. We have some friends here who have a car so that we can also go and visit other places with them. And this leads me to my last point.
Travelling.
Sabrina and I had a lot of chances to travel and to get to know Galicia. This is something I sincerely appreciate.
I consider it very recommendable to check out other volunteer project to become aware of what you have, what you don't have and what you might be able to change to make it better. Apart from that it is always great fun to spend time with other volunteers!
| | During the first two days in Castilla y Leon we had fascinating weather. Due to the landscape, a wonderful high plateau, the clouds drifted very low above the ground and the light was perfect to go on a little foto session. And this is exactly what I did!
I proudly present the results:  This church is worth a visit! The little dots you see all around the roofs are actually figures and all of them are different.
What a breathtaking view! One week with my dad hiking in the Picos de Europa right at the borderline of Asturia, Cantabria and Castilla y Leon. We met in Oviedo, rented a car and drove along the northern coast of Spain to a little submontane town called Potes. I went by train to Oviedo which is (compared to Germany) very cheap but a little more difficult to book, if you want to have the best price. And who doesn't? If you, for example, have to change trains and you've got less than an hour to do so they mark it with big red letters on the website. At home I sometimes haven't more than a few minutes to run from one platform to another. I enjoy discovering small differences between my home country and Spain like this one, for instance. I think it definitely tells something about a country and its people. The Spanish also have a special word for "getting up early" which is "madrugar". So getting up early might be (or might have been) something unpleasant and worth to be especially mentioned and therefore they have an own expression for that. However, these are only speculations! It would be interesting to know where this word comes from.
I guess the best way to tell you about my trip is showing you the pictures! So here we go: These mountains are simply fantastic and we had a great time! Most of these wonderful pictures were taken by my dad :) If you would like to know some more details about the routes or something else, because you might be interested in going on vacation in the Picos de Europa, don't hesitate to contact me!  Walking trough the light of the setting sun on our way back from one of my best mountain hikes. Tired but happy After the holiday with my dad I went directly to a village called Frómista in Castilla y Leon to visit some other volunteers. I tell you all about it in the next post!
One and a half weeks ago Ribadavia celebrated the "Festas Portal". It has been the last summer event and this means autumn is coming. BUT although people said that Galicia and the north of Spain, is a cold and humid place, I am still enjoying a hot long and wonderful summer! Not even at night the temperature drops under the 10°C mark and the midday sun still has the strength to heat up the air to 30°C.
 Do you see the smoke on the horizon? Yes. That's fire. In summer it is normal here to have bush fires from time to time. They are not as devastating as in the south of Spain, but still, they exist.
Let's get back to the "Festas Portal". Every village, town and city here has their own celebration which is closely connected to the saints. In Ribadavia we had a little fair with games for children, fireworks (the Spanish seem to really love them), some street theatre, music, a carpet of flowers and the traditional procession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the same weekend also my birthday took place. I had a little something for dinner the night before with some friends and the weekend after Sabrina and I cooked some delicious homemade food for some other friends who couldn't come the weekend before.
It is a little strange to celebrate my birthday here and invite people. By now I indeed know a lot of people in Ribadavia but nearly nobody good enough to invite to a "birthday party". So Sabrina and I thought we might just keep it a little less "official" and invite them nevertheless. We spend two amusing nights :)
I also received much more letters and pakets from Germany as I expected and I got very excited about it! (So I'll abuse this blog now to send some thank you kisses home!!!)
Here is an interesting thing about the local post in a small town. Most of the pakets have been sent to my address in the "tower". However, I am not at home in the morning and for some reason the postmen know that and also know that I work here in the Youth House and so they brought all my mail to the office! How great is that? And to give you some summer feeling: a few pictures of a day in August we spent in Prexigueiro, a village not too far from here with a wonderful river and awesome hot therms we surely will visit a lot in winter. I always wanted to do that! Swinging with a rope into a lake I mean. And the rope did NOT snap! It's great fun! On saturday I will meet up with my dad in Oviedo and we'll spend a week hiking in the Picos de Europa. After that I'm going to visit some friends I met during my preparation seminar in their little village. Vacation! Yeah!
And when I come back in October Sabrina and I are going to restart the workshops and classes here in OMIX. See you then!
"Estoy vivo! Estoy vivo!" He hops out of the orange supermarket trolley he had been surfing and runs across the campsite. Grabbing a selfmade poster from a cardboard box which shows slightly obscene offers at low prices he repeatedly screams "I'm alive! I'm alive!" and jumps up and down like an overly excited boy. Then he raises the old piece of cardboard over his head and walks on as if nothing happened using the poster as a sun hat.
It's the day after.
The day after the big medieval festival here in Ribadavia. I went to town around noon to check out the damages of the last night. The streets have already been cleaned, the market stands removed and on the campsite people where packing their belongings to leave.
It has been a vibrant festival. People from all over Galicia filled the streets and made Ribadavia appear to be a different town. Over 40.000 visitors according to the newspapers.
It began on Friday with the market, food, some acts, a concert and a pyrotecnic show illuminating the old castle. Saturday then most of the visitors came. You could watch were the birds of prey, a tournament, archery, competitions, reenactments...more shows, more music and more food.  We helped out in the bank Saturday morning. They created a special currency for the festival and people needed to change their Euros to "Maravedis".
While the Maravedis coins remain the same, the notes are printed with a new design every year. With this new currency money for the implementation of the festival is gained if I understood it correctly. The entry is free of charge.
I made my costume out of stuff we had in the flat and clothes of my own. It was a very hot day and I was happy that I did't wear an armour like some others did!
For you to understand what I mean by "Ribadavia seemed to be a different town": I enjoyed the weekend a lot! Since I did not get as drunk as many others I only needed the Sunday to recover. It's a shame that the festival only lasts one (okay, one and a half) days. I think, with all the effort they put in organising this they could easily expand it until Sunday. Although it would probably be a day for the kids...all the other visitors would still be dead from Saturday night ;)
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!
On foot in Spain and one in Portugal!
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!
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