Last post - Reflections on what I (re)learnt while being a volunteer

As I promised, here's the last post to share with you what I've learnt from my volunteering year.
To be honest I still find it difficult to sum it up (despite the fact that it finished 2 months ago), nevertheless I will try. :)

In the beginning I didn't have very clear goals for the project, I just wanted to change my environment and see how is life at an NGO and after quite some years in the cold world of big soulless companies, I sort of wanted to regain faith in humanity. (I know this sounds a bit weird, but if you get stuck in a job you don't really like for years, you get burnt out... at least I did.)
Truth to be told I felt sort of stuck personally too: always the same activities, the same circle of people (don't get me wrong I love my friends and family, but I also like meet new people and I felt I just didn't know where and how to do it anymore), the constant itching to go abroad again and all the what if-s and "big questions" of life. 
So yes, I wanted to get out and see what happens. :)

Well, I'm happy so say, that my aim of regaining faith in people was 100% achieved: I've met more great people during this time than I thought I would. They all are special and each have a lot to learn from. Being with them every day (or on a regular basis in case of my "students" and the ones who came to our events) made me see many things differently, sometimes even myself. I'm very grateful for this, because thanks to them I re-discovered some parts of my "old-self" that I needed to see again.
I made some very good friends and I think it's safe to say that my colleagues here became my local family too. However I also realized (again) that nobody can ever replace my family back at home and my closest friends, who all followed and supported me during this experience. Even if virtually, their presence means a lot to me.

Professionally speaking I also learnt a lot, but I don't want to write a list of the things, that's what the CV is for. Working at a small NGO like Ecocompartimos can be very challenging: obviously not the same way as at a big company, but it does have its own difficulties. Money though is also a central item here: not as a main goal, but more as a constant need to survive and keep being able to provide the services to people. This gets frustrating sometimes, because I think an NGO should not be so focused on money... However, in the current world we live in, I understand that this is the only way of surviving. But still, I find it unfair.
Besides the financials, I found working at a small shop very diverse: as we were a small team, I got to do and see a lot of things and Helena involved us in pretty much everything. And she also gave us a lot of space to come up with ideas and make them happen. Though what really struck me was how hard it is there to find collaborators. I'm not sure why, but it seems that in Illescas if you are not an "insider" you can't find anyone to collaborate with. One time we went to a school to offer them free English activities and such things, and after waiting for an answer for a very long time, they just said that they are not interested as they have enough international activities. This was quite sad, since we didn't even ask for anything in return. However there are thankfully a few places that are open to organize things together (like the radio).
One more thing I also liked at Ecocompartimos was that because it is so local, it was easier to see what problems people really face each day and also the positive impact we had on their lives.

And last but not least I've learnt Spanish, this was on my list for quite a while now. :) And not only the language, but a huuuuge amount of things about the culture as well. Not to mention expressions that I most probably wouldn't have learnt otherwise. :)

So all in all I'd say this project gave me more personally than professionally (strictly speaking), but it was actually perfect this way. I don't quite know yet where the future brings me, but I hope I'll have more experiences like this later as well.

June activities part 1 - Ecocompartimos

It's hard to believe, but my volunteering experience is coming to an end... as such, June was a very active month (and full of goodbye events), so I decided I'll dedicate 2 posts to it: one about my last month at Ecocompartimos and one about my free time activities.

The month started with the Toledo excursion I already wrote about, which was a very good start.
Not as much the English playground with the kids that week... I think that was the toughest time we had with them ever. There were many of them and for some reason most of them were noisy and kept fighting with each other. We couldn't get them to focus and play normally, in the end we had to shout at one point to get their attention... it was quite bad, because this way even the ones who wanted to play couldn't. But then the next time most of them didn't show up anymore, so the last 2 sessions we had were calm. At the last one we had a small farewell party kind of thing with food and drinks, and we did some handicrafts with Félix, Amelia, Paula and Daniela, it was very nice. :)

Félix and Amelia gave me the cards they made as a present :)

The second week we had our Spanish exam at UNED... The organization was quite strange, we had to go the assigned center based on our family names and they signed us in by reading off the barcode of our student cards and printed the exam right there... I wonder why we needed to go to specific centers for this. Anyhow the exam was quite easy, I think both the written and oral part went well, but of course nobody could tell us when we'll have the results... so we'll eventually find out if we passed. Or not. :)

That week Helena organized a little surprise party for us too. Sandra invited us out for Friday night for a drink, then all of a sudden Helena, Mabel, Olga and Mari Cruz (from our English class) showed up and we had a very nice evening together. I had some suspicions earlier that something's going on, but I wasn't sure... I really appreciated the gesture. :)

Smily faces :)

We also had our usual English classes in June, though the fact that summer is here is very visible: from the once 10-12 people group we had, now we usually have maximum 4-5 people showing up (and they arrive late too)... Well, last week we actually had only 1 person. :P So I guess everyone is already in vacation mode, nobody wants to be tortured with English anymore hehe. Anyways we have a farewell party in the next class, I hope at least for that I'll get to see them again. :)

There were the usual 2 intercultural chats as well, one about the future and the last one to say goodbye to that group too. We were not many, but the "hard core" was there, so we got to enjoy their company for these last times and we could say goodbye to them.

The last intercultural chat

I'm also about to finish my mosaic classes, but of course not my latest work... I guess it'll take another few months, but now that I know the technique I can finish it by myself. :)

And last but not least, this week was our last week with Helena and Mabel, since they will not be here next week when we leave... so on Friday we had our goodbyes with them (or better say "see you soon" as we'll see each other again very soon), it was very intense and emotional. We got a surprise: a textile bag with our names and a book made personally for us, with everyone writing/drawing something personal in it. It is a great gift, I honestly don't think we could have received anything nicer than this.

The cool bag and some pages of the book :)

A collage of photos I made as the cover of a small photo book I prepared for Dilya, Helena and Mabel as a little gift. :)

Activities in May

It's very hard to believe that May already passed by and I'm almost at the end of my project already... anyhow, let's see what happened! :)

At Ecocompartimos I'd say things go "business as usual": we had English and the kids (this time I finally have a pic with them thanks to Dilya :)) and had the 2 monthly intercultural chats as well: the first one about life after death which was not a very intercultural topic, yet it was really interesting. A lot of people came, so we had a lot of controversial opinions and points of view. The second one was about movies: it went like the one with the books, everyone recommended a movie (or two) from his/her country. I'm looking forward to watching them. :)

Our group of kids

Talking about life after death

Besides these, we had a fashion photo shoot: Dilya, Mabel and I dressed up in some of the clothes we have at the shop to promote a bit our "spring collection". It was a lot of fun and the photos look like they are from some kind of magazine. ;) Also now I know how painful models must feel in those shoes that don't quite fit but look nice on the photos.... :P

Here are some of the final pics:

And some from behind the scenes:

I also helped Charo (our Spanish teacher) in taking over the Banco del Tiempo tasks. She already started to coordinate some things and I'm happy to see that she likes it (and the task suits her too). 

I was asked to continue with the quilling/creative classes for May within the Banco del Tiempo, so I had 3 more sessions. At the last one the girl was so nice, she gave me some of the pictures we made together as a present. And we also agreed with her and her mom that we'll get together some time in June before I finish my project to have lunch together. :)

From personal perspective May was again an active month: the weather felt like summer already, so everyone got active. :) 

At the second weekend we went to a Soul Food picnic in Retiro with Dilya and Amber: there were around 50 people mostly from the USA, bringing typical food from the Southern region: banana pudding, fried chicken, mac and cheese, stuffed eggs and many more.

The day after I went again to eat: this time to a street food festival called MadrEAT. It was very nice: there were trucks all over the place with all kinds of food and drinks. The only bad thing was that we had to queue for everything, as there were many people. However the location was perfect, because it was shady and there was a lot of space to sit down in the grass. :)

Cool food trucks

After the festival enjoying some pancakes with milkshakes :)

The third weekend of May was a huge celebration in Madrid: it was a holiday of San Isidro, so there were all kinds of festivities all over the city. We went with Michaela and Filiz to walk around a bit and ended up in a concert at Plaza Mayor. A famous singer called Ainhoa Arteta was singing first some opera songs and then zarzuela (which is similar style to opera), it was very nice.

Plaza Mayor packed with people

And finally at the last weekend of May we had 2 farewell parties: first for Amber on Friday, as she left to enjoy the summer in Italy in a summer camp. And then on Saturday for Filiz, who'll go home to Germany in a few days, because she finished her project. I'm sad that we already had to start this "farewell process", but on the other hand most probably in a few months I'll see the girls again.

April activities

I think the highlights of April were my Easter trip and my workshop that I already wrote about, but of course there were other events as well last month that worth mentioning. :)

We had the usual two intercultural chats (this month we actually managed to have them without the incredible amount food we always have :D): the first about sports and the second about literature, which was I think the best one so far. :) We didn't just talk about literature in general, but as the 23rd of April was the day of books, everyone had to think of a book of his/her country and tell us a few things about it. 
As a 'bonus' the volunteers in Numancia - Filiz and Emmi - joined us and also another Romanian volunteer - Mihaela - who just started her EVS in Esquivias, so we were a more international group this time. :)

Our very international charla

Girl power: Emmi, Amber, Mihaela, me, Dilya and Filiz

Apart from this we had the usual English conversations and games with the kids from what I still have no photos from, since being with them usually consumes all my energy, so I never remember to take photos. :)

One Wednesday after the games we were making some jokes about spying on Paula's (on the right) dance show, so we got "disguised" :)

Also this month I got a bit more active within Banco del Tiempo: I delivered a powerpoint-excel training and a quilling session, so I now I have a lot of hours that I don't really what to use for... yet. :) Also as Sandra got a job and is now very busy it seems that I'll get more involved with Banco del Tiempo things... it's a new challenge. :)

And last but not least another highlight of the month: at the end of April I got to spend 10 lovely days at home with my family and friends. It was great: we celebrated my father's birthday, mother's day, I got to see my best friends and we even went to Romania for a couple of days to visit some friends, so I had a wonderful time.

February activities

And here we go again with the summary of the month! :) The highlight of February was definitely the mid-term evaluation in Mollina and then the trip to Málaga, but besides this we had some other things going on too.

First of all we managed to "finish" the YouthPass wall, or well, at least to update it until the end of January and then of course we'll keep on adding the upcoming activities.

We also started with the "English playground" on Wednesdays: we play different games with a group of kids these afternoons. So far it has been quite successful, they seem to enjoy it. Though it is a challenge to make them speak in English. :) Plus they are quite a big group (around 7-8) and quite active, so it also takes a lot of energy to pay attention to them and try to keep them from shouting hehe. :) But it's fun, so far we played for example home-made Scrabble, Twister, Activity.

This month we had again 2 sessions of the intercultural chat series: one about Carnival and the other one officially about arts - practically we spoke more about traveling, but it was still very interesting. And of course at both we had some food - I think it's now kind of a tradition that we always have to eat something while chatting hehe. :)

Enjoying the Russian-style pancakes (typical food for them at Carnival) and some natillas con galletas, which is like an "egg-pudding" with biscuits.

In February we started with the Spanish courses finally. Charo, our "veteran" English student was kind enough to offer organizing conversation classes for us, so with her now we are finally having some classes and learning things. :) I think I haven't written about our struggle with the Spanish course yet... long story short: we subscribed for an official on-line university course that in the end doesn't exist and they refuse to give us our money back so far. The battle is still ongoing, so fingers crossed, I really hope to get our money back in the end, even if it takes long.

And last but not least, we organized our very first EVS preparation session this month! :) (well first since September and first where it's not me who is being prepared) There are 2 girls, Irene and Beatrice who went to Poland for a 10 months long project, so before leaving we tried to give them as much practical advices as we could and also shared our experiences. Of course it was also fun and I hope it was useful for them and they will enjoy their projects. :)

January activities

And again another month passed. Even though January was a quite slow and quiet month (at least the beginning) it went by quite fast.

The first week of the month was quite interesting as here there was still a Christmas atmosphere until the 6th, when the Three Wise Men (Los Reyes Magos) came and brought gifts just like Santa Claus in December. :) This was even a bigger holiday then Christmas itself, so everyone was very excited about it. For me this was a little unusual as normally holidays end with New Year's Eve so after I'm not very much in a Christmas mood anymore, but it was nice to experience something different. We also ate some roscón which is the traditional sweet cake with whipped cream to eat on this day. :)

Roscón

The Ecocompartimos team enjoying the roscón :)

After Reyes life kind of slowed down, so there were not so many happenings: I finished the translation of our new website to English, we were planning our activities for February and also used this quiet time to finish our YouthPass wall, tadaaaaa:

Now we have the first 5 months of our project nicely documented on the wall. :)

In January both our English groups got very active, we had a debate event together with the English reading club of the library and people enjoyed it so much, that now they are even more motivated to learn with us. Not to mention we have some new people in both our morning and afternoon groups now. And we are all looking forward to the next joint event together. :)

My group at the event of the library 

The whole group :)

We also had another intercultural chat about childhood experiences, it was a very nice one, 5 people came with quite different backgrounds and ages so we could all share a lot and had a nice diverse and funny discussion. :)

During the last few weeks of the month we got quite busy with Erasmus+ things (as the last deadline for presenting projects was the 4th of February); we helped Helena with selecting the new volunteers. It was so weird to think about this, as September is so far away (and also July when our project ends) and to be honest I don't really like this feeling of "getting replaced" hehe. :P But I think we managed to find some great people in the end, a Serbian guy and a Slovenian girl. :)
We had also a chat about volunteering and Erasmus+ in the Youth Center. It was quite nice, around 12-15 people came. This was the first time I had talk in front of people in Spanish, so I felt a little nervous about it in the beginning, but when I started talking and people started to ask questions, then I actually got to enjoy it. :)

Helena explaining to the crowd :)

Aside from work the month was a bit more active, though also not that much. At Reyes I went to Toledo with Sandra and her boyfriend Cesar to see the Belén (nativity scene) of the year and a parade. The Belén was very impressive, it took up an entire room and every single detail was very worked out. On the other hand the parade was quite disappointing we had to wait a lot and it was quite small. Nevertheless I had a good time. :)

The Belén of the year

Also we met with Filiz and Emmi (the other volunteer girls from the neighboring village Numancia) and Amber (an American girl we met here in Illescas) to go the El Escorial together for a day. It was very nice, though we arrived very late so we couldn't enter the monastery. Instead we walked around, enjoyed the view and had some pastry. :)

 
Last but not least I had my birthday in January, that helped me to move on from my "winter coma". :) I usually celebrate it with my best friends and my family, but this year unfortunately I didn't have the chance. However I feel very grateful because I got a lot of messages and good wishes. Dilya and Helena were super nice and thought of me with some nice gifts too. And my family also surprised me a beautiful bunch of flowers, which was a huge surprise and made me very happy. :)

November activities

November has been the busiest month since I'm here! Don't take me wrong, this is not a complaint - on the contrary, I enjoyed it a lot. :) I already wrote about our "fame" and about my travel to Lisbon, but many other things happened too.

We had 2 more of the intercultural chat series: one about music and dances, the other about what makes us ashamed and proud of our countries. Unfortunately not so many people came as for the previous occasions, but we still had a great time.

Besides we started to make a "YouthPass wall" in the shop, where we put photos and adverts of all the events we organized since we're here. It will make the place look better and also will help us remember more the activities in the end when we will have to write the YouthPass, hehe. :)

I also started a Christmas decoration workshop: we have been promoting it for a while already, but there wasn't much interest, so I was very happy when someone finally signed up. :) We began by making Christmas decoration with quilling and already finished the first piece. Furthermore the lady attending liked very much this technique, so next week we'll create some more things. :)

Speaking of creativity, I started workshops with Helena's and Mabel's children too once a week. I have to say this is a big challenge, as I'm usually not good with kids - or well, at least I haven't worked with them yet that much. So far we did origami stars (which turned into flowers in the end as the girls were really creative :) and this week I showed them some quilling; they enjoyed that too. Next week I want to do some Christmas stuff already, let's see where their creativity brings us! :)

And last but not least last weekend I had another trip: this time to Valladolid. Helena and her family planned to go there and they offered a seat in the car, so I thought why not. :) I found a cool host, Alberto, on CouchSurfing who showed me around a bit, took me to eat some local tapas and even introduced me to some of his friends, with whom we ended up going out on Saturday night, so I had a great time. :) The trip to Valladolid and back was fun too, we played games in the car, which were super entertaining, although I was the weakest link who constantly broke the fluency of the game, as my Spanish vocabulary is not that extensive yet. :)

Plaza Mayor

Autumn colors in Campo Grande 

Royal peacocks in the park :)

Enjoying the sunshine after a day of constant rain

San Pablo church

Beautiful interior in Museo Nacional de Escultura 

Christmas lights in Plaza Mayor