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.

Segovia and the cable car in Madrid

Last weekend I finally got to visit Segovia. It has been on my list for a while, so when my best friend decided to visit me again, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go. :)

The first (and only) shock we had was when we arrived to the train station: it's literally in the middle of nowhere. :) Of course there are buses that took us from there to the center in 15 mins, but I found it very funny that next to the train tracks there are cows peacefully enjoying the day.

The view when getting out from the station: place for taxis, some cars and then fields everywhere with cows

Train tracks to infinity and beyond :)

Me contemplating the questions of life and the future with my coffee while staring at the infinite tracks :)

The town itself however is beautiful: it's quite small, so we could walk around the historical centre in a few hours and it's on a hill (a bit like Toledo), so there are quite some nice places to enjoy the amazing view. We didn't enter the cathedral or any museums as the weather was too nice to be inside (and we were on low budget), but we went to see the Alcázar. It looked very different from the ones I have seen in the South so far: this was more like an enchanted castle (or fort) and in the inside it definitely looks more Roman, with some Arabic influence and knights. :)

The famous Roman aqueduct and the statue of Romulus and Remus

The amazing view from the top of the aqueduct

Plaza Mayor and the Cathedral

Poppies :)

The Alcázar that looks more like a Disney castle :)

Inside the Alcázar: a nice mixture of Roman and Arabic influences 

Our reward from the tower after climbing almost 200 stairs

My favorite statue on the way to the station: a shepherd with a dog and sheep :)

On Sunday we originally planned to go the El Escorial, but we were too tired, so in the end we ended up in Madrid and went to Casa de Campo with the cable car. 

On the way

A very tourist-y thing they do at the cable car: they take some photos that you can buy at the other end when you arrive. Since we've never bought any kind of stuff like this before, now it was time. :)

By accident we found a very nice rose garden nearby the station (at the Parque Oeste side), where they have a competition of new roses every May, so there is a huge selection of all kinds of roses from all over the world. I checked and it is so popular, that rose-enthusiasts can already sign up for the competition of 2017.

Flavors of Spain

I guess I'm not telling anything new if I say that Spanish love to eat. And this is also visible in their cuisine, every food I tried here in the last 8 months was delicious. What I like a lot about the food here is that most of them are quite simple and the idea of inventing them came from the fact that they had leftovers at home, so practically some delicious dishes were invented for practical reasons. :) 

What I also like is that each region has their own specific dishes, so there is much more in Spain than paella (which btw comes from Valencia where I haven't been yet, so I can't tell how the "original" version tastes). Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to try all these dishes as I usually travel on a low budget, but here are a few things I have tried:

In the Northern Part in Galicia and in Castilla y León I had the impression that they eat more meat and potatoes (at least in Santiago that's what we mostly got to eat). In Galicia I tried also a special kind of pepper which is small and green and is quite tricky: some of them have a nice sweet taste and some is hot as hell, so you never really know what you're going to get (needless to say the first one I took was a hot one :P). 

I also tried some ribs there and some stew when I was in Valladolid which were all very delicious, even thought I'm not a big fan of red meat. One of the typical dishes in Castilla y León is the "lechazo" which is the meat of the lamb left in milk for a while and then prepared. I haven't tried it as it is quite out of budget for a volunteer and I also don't really eat lamb, but I still hope that just for my curiosity I get to try it another time I go there. :)

In the South I found that they eat a lot of fried fish and seafood (which are very delicious) and also dishes like gazpacho and salmorejo come from that region. 

Chipirones: super delicious fried squids. :)

From gazpacho there are even more variations, the base is always tomato and pepper, but in the traditional version they add cucumber as well, while in the Andalusian version they add bread instead. 

Salmorejo is something very similar, it's a thick tomato soup with bread and garlic, usually served with some boiled eggs and serrano jam, however I tried it also with potato tortilla. It originally comes from Córdoba, so when we were there I was eating this almost all the time and it quickly became one of my favorite dishes here. :)

The recipe of the original salmorejo on the wall in a small street named after it.

In Córdoba they also make a lot of dishes from fried eggplants, my favorite was with honey. First it sounded weird, but when I tried it I realized that it's a great combination (and you don't need desserts afterwards). :)

Of course here around Illescas and Madrid there are also a lot of great food. :) Thanks to the intercultural chat participants I tried a lot of dishes and thanks to my friend Sandra, I also got to try some home made goodies.

Cocido madrileno made by Sandra's mom: a very rich soup made of chickpeas, vegetables and meat. Once you eat it all, you don't need any second course. :)

Home-made potato tortilla with some hummus and salad

Torrijas: my favorite sweet :)) It's bread dipped in milk with sugar and cinnamon, and then fried in eggs. Super delicious and typical at Easter.

Migas: it's eaten mostly at Christmas, prepared from leftovers: bread, peppers, garlic (this is without meat but some people make it with that as well). The bread is toasted and fried together with the rest of the ingredients.

Natillas: pudding made of eggs with some biscuits

Puches: a pudding-like sweet made with toasted bread pieces inside and spices like cinnamon and anise.

Tapas of various types of ham, some tuna and bread with morcilla (blood sausage).

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.