EVS in Santiago de Compostela

Intercultural days The month of May for all the volunteers was marked by different intercultural activities. Starting with Don Bosco and then there were or will be international evenings, concerts, etc. almost in each of our centers. Of course according to spanish traditions any "fiesta" can´t be without food, that´s why for several weeks already we have the permanent impression of cooking always. But thanks to it each of us has already his own specialty. For example the one of David is “kish lorraine”, Marinne is a specialist of chocolate cakes, Fritzi – of meatball, etc…Well, after our EVS we can open an international restaurant in Santiago. Yesterday it was Conxo´s turn (means Fritzi and me) to organise an international night. From the morning we had a very busy day with a lot of difficulties with shopping, two hours running and searching for products in Corte Ingles (a huge supermarket), tree hours in the kitchen cooking several things in the same time and many other smal...

The past few days were full to the brim (and a little bit over).  Wednesday last week we said goodbye to Rikke who quit her project a little bit ahead of time.  For the farewell party we prepared a couple of video clips to say ‘hello, pleased to meet you, goodbye and good luck’).  Work on these (as well as the idea in the first place) was Marine’s - poor girl spent hours putting the whole thing together.  It was a great idea though, and great fun as well.  The first clip was a kind of photo slideshow from the past months:  12 volunteers from different countries living and travelling together;  experiences together pile up.  The second clip consisted of us on video (with Fritzi’s lovely Canon Ixus).  Dancing in Plaza Quintana was a funny experience! Then on Saturday Spiros returned from his visit to Greece.  He said he had a great time and was also glad to be back to Santiago and his project.  It’s a beautiful feeling to come back ...

Hello! I’m Lena, “la morena” (dark-haired one). One of two Ukrainian Lenas which came three month late after a lot of adventures with Spanish Embassy. But it was worthy it and now I´m VERY VERY well here in Santiago enjoying the life with other volunteers, my project and unforgettable travels all over Spain!

Can you say ‘kniga’? Kniga And you, can you say it? Kniga And so Lena went on, asking each one of us in turn to pronounce this strange word.  Kniga?  What is this?  In the end, when she was convinced all of us could satisfactorily pronounce kniga, the multi-lingual chica explained what all this was all about.  She had her weekly Russian class and her students couldn’t get their tongues around the word ‘kniga’, which is Russian for ‘book’, and she spent the best part of the hour-long class trying to get her students to say ‘kniga’.  She was really pissed off about all this, poor thing.  But, that’s how life is, giving language lessons is not always easy even if you’re a native speaker.

(Random Conversations ...) S: ‘I find the Atlantic too cold.  Last time I attempted to swim in the Atlantic my feet froze, they were so cold it hurt and I could barely move.’ C: ‘Yeah, it’s cold but I don’t really mind it.  The North Sea is even colder man!’ S: ‘But I’m used to the Mediterranean hombre.  It’s a nice warm pool.’ J: ‘I like the Atlantic; it’s nice and cool to take a dip in.  I don’t really like the Mediterranean.  It’s warm, like everyone just took a piss in it.’ Cheeky buggers .....

(Conversations from Flat No 32 1º - Episode 2) S: How was the Voluntary Work Congress? E: Good, good, it was quite interesting.  I met Hugo and his Italian girlfriend. S: Who's Hugo? E: You know Hugo ... S: I ain't got the faintest ... M: Hugo - C: Hugo! L: Hugo ... S: Of course! Hugo! Communication doesn't always need too much explanation ....

“Hello My name is Joe And I work in an iron factory. One day My boss came up to me And said ‘Joe, are you busy?’ I said ‘No’ He said ‘Give me a hand’”   Gathered round in a circle we all extended an arm.  And the other, repeating this rhyme again and again.  Changing the last line, we extended a leg, then the other (skipping from one foot to the other), then our bums backwards and finally our tongues!  We finished this short activity replying to the boss “I said ‘Yes!!’”   This was just one of the many short energizers we had all through the seminar.  In the end we were all calling Toni ‘Hey Joe’ - that became his nickname for the week lol.  In my group (the ‘reds’) each session started with an energizer.  Great, no?  We had kung-fu laughing matter, a horse-riding sketch and a short drawing session (I leave to your imagination the portraits of each other we came up with).  Kiko, the ‘formador’ leading the group I was in, is a great perso...