EVS in Santiago de Compostela

During Easter we had a family reconciliation campaign of 4 days with different activities organized for outside activities counting on the possibility of good weather, as well as on bad weather that made us stay and have fun in the center. The activities took place in the library (animation for reading), in the playroom (board games and workshops) and on the covered court (basketball, football, skating and other small games). All the activities were carried out by different animators because everyone had their own task when performing the different planned parts. We made three visits the first three days: the first day we went in search of fountains in the Park Bonaval, in the street of Virxe da Cerca and in the Plaza de Cervantes. The second day we went to several squares (Cervantes, Obradoiro, Azabachería, Quintana) of the old town looking for different gargoyles because it is always good to look a little more at the details. The third day we went to the Faculty of History t...

On March 15 we attended to a meeting organized by the Ministry of Social Policy through the General Directorate of Xuventude, Participation and Volunteering. The meeting took place at the Faculty of Economics and Business at USC where the European volunteers (Jessica and Imola), our coordinator and a Spanish ex-volunteer we were all present. We had to give information about EVS, publicize a little bit this type of mobility program which seems to me a very good idea because being volunteer is more valid to provide information about certain things. Unfortunately there were just a few people and I could not test me many times about my ability to explain but still I count on a very good experience. The first time, we attended a speech with the theme of mobility Experiences of mobility abroad, factor of success in the labor market which was interesting to see the different possibilities and difficulties in finding a job that is more difficult every day. After that there wer...

In Galicia, February is definitely the month of Carnival. A lot of galician cities are indeed well-known for their carnival like Xinzo de Limia, Laza, or Ourense. I was in Ourense. I was really surprised and enthusiastic to see everyone disguised in the street, people there really like to do things big ! In the center Don Bosco, monitors and children also like to celebrate Carnival. We started to prepare the carnival parade one month ago. We decided to choose the Olympic Game as the theme of our group. As a consequence, with a lot of paint, cardboard and imagination we created all the equipement needed : a television camera, an olympic torch, flags and various sports accessories like weights and discus. With the children of the center we also did traditional masks for this occasion. All was ready for the carnival parade ! On February, the 9th we participated in the carnival parade organised by the city council in Santiago de Compostela disguised in Don Bosco champions ! Except t...

Every year, the Center Don Bosco offers a free awareness campaign and this year I had the opportunity to help planning the activities and the whole project and I keep participating in the sessions of 1 hour or 1,5 hour. After having our more or less filled up calendar about the consulted hours with the schools, the learning process and fun could have started with the children of different schools. The fact that we received children aged between 7 and 15 years old incited changes in our activities in order to have as adecuate activities as possible for every ages counting on the differencies of interest in the different games and activities at every stage of our life. This year's topic was the emotions what was a really good choice in my opinion because most children knew the new animated movie of 2015 called Inside Out. It was a good start because they might have been reflecting without realizing it what meant help in the collaboration. Now that I have spoken about the les...

November 28 th , 2015 I had the opportunity to assist to the VII EMAX what this year was organized in Padrón. The event gave space to share experiences associatives and publicize the developed work of the associations in different areas. The aim was to create a space of reflection where can be ciculated the importance of the no-formal education, the participation and the compromise of the youth as much in nivel individual as through associations. How is it for a european volunteer? This is a really good opportunity to meet local volunteers like european volunteers of other associations and we have the possibility to deepen a little more in our center's activities or to get know the activities of other associations. It can be useful, especially, if we have to give some information about our hosting center with our quite fresh knowledge because it helps me to know more about it or to know better what is it about. The conferencies were in galician a...

Magosto is usually celebrated between 1st of November (all Saints) and 11 of November (San Martín de Tours). It is the best period to celebrate Magosto because it corresponds to the season of chestnuts. In the center Don Bosco, we started to collect chestnuts with the children one month before the celebration. On Saturday, November 14 th the whole team of Don Bosco (monitors, supervisors, coordinators) realized the celebration of Magosto. We prepared traditional games before and children or other motivated participants were expected from 5 pm. The event started with the traditional games and then some memories about last year were recalled in the theater by the director of Don Bosco. Also there was a performance realized by the participants of a leasure time course . To finish the celebration in a good way, chestnuts were offered to every participants and also there were scouts selling “piedras de Santiago” to finance some of their activities. ...

In the opinion of the most experts, the On arrival training is always very impressive for the new volunteers. Probably, many people has already decided to write a few words about this event but I also would like to share my thoughts. We had three incredibles trainers/formers who were highly prepared for any kind of question or situation. But, why do we need so much this training? For me, firstly, it was a good training because we meet other current volunteers, we get to know a bit their personality, their activities/ project, but it was also good think about our rights and duties or getting to know the organizations that can help us if we have problems during our stay. Of course, there are different types of problems and this training also helps us to be able to distinguish them and to know what could be the appropiate solution. Also, it is very important that we get to know better our personality, abilities, knowledge and aims. As this event brought 18 volunteers (17 in Galicia, 1...