![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.xacobeando.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220922_194733-225x300.jpg\")
Connections<\/strong>. Every person that participates in ERASMUS+ or ESC projects can tell the same – it is easier to make friendship here. You instantly recognize a person from your tribe – you find each other in a big group – and hopefully a friendship for life is born. Doesn’t matter if you spend together one week or 2 months (as in our case), you bond through the same challenges, common experiences and sometimes even similar goals. If you are lucky enough, you will also have conflicts… and then your connection becomes even stronger. Why? Because it means the friendship is real – you can overcome your differences and accept each other the way that you are. I am fortunate<\/strong> – managed to find people who I can call FRIENDS. I can be vulnerable, stupid, funny and serious with them. We can dance in a techno party, watch a musical on Friday night, travel and just be in silence together – everything feels real.\u00a0 I am grateful!<\/p>\nConexiones.<\/strong> Todas las personas que participan en proyectos ERASMUS+ o CES pueden decir lo mismo: aqu\u00ed es m\u00e1s f\u00e1cil hacer amistad. Instant\u00e1neamente reconoces a una persona de tu tribu, te encuentras en un gran grupo y, con suerte, nace una amistad para toda la vida. No importa si pasan juntos una semana o dos meses (como en nuestro caso), se unen a trav\u00e9s de los mismos desaf\u00edos, experiencias comunes y, a veces, incluso objetivos similares. Si tienes la suerte, tambi\u00e9n tendr\u00e1s conflictos\u2026 y entonces tu conexi\u00f3n se vuelve a\u00fan m\u00e1s fuerte. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9? Porque significa que la amistad es real: pueden superar sus diferencias y aceptarse mutuamente como son. Soy afortunado<\/strong>: logr\u00e9 encontrar personas a las que puedo llamar AMIGOS. Puedo ser vulnerable, est\u00fapido, divertido y serio con ellos. Podemos bailar en una fiesta tecno, ver un musical el viernes por la noche, viajar y simplemente estar juntos en silencio: todo se siente real. \u00a1Estoy agradecido!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mente abierta.<\/strong> \u00a1Qu\u00e9 concepto! Si leyeras las cartas de motivaci\u00f3n de los candidatos a los proyectos CES, el 95% de ellos tendr\u00e1n esta palabra m\u00e1gica. Pero, \u00bfqu\u00e9 significa en realidad, en una vida cotidiana mundana, cuando compartes un espacio de vida y trabajo con personas de diversos or\u00edgenes culturales, sociales y educativos? Lo aprend\u00ed de la manera m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil: ser una persona tolerante no se limita a no decir algo abiertamente racista u homof\u00f3bico. Tambi\u00e9n se trata de c\u00f3mo reaccionas ante la forma de lavar la ropa, el estilo de cocina de tu compa\u00f1ero de piso o el sentido de la moda y la manera de hablar de tu colega. \u00bfTe irrita f\u00e1cilmente el estilo musical de alguien que tienes que escuchar todos los d\u00edas? \u00bfPuedes aceptar que otra persona siempre llega tarde y no verlo como un insulto personal? Estas situaciones realmente te ponen a prueba: tus propios h\u00e1bitos culturales, car\u00e1cter y el nivel de MENTALIDAD ABIERTA. Creo que los primeros pasos para tener una mente m\u00e1s abierta son aceptar que algunas cosas pueden ponerte nervioso y reflexionar POR QU\u00c9 es as\u00ed. \u00bfPuedo comunicarme abiertamente y sin enfado cuando se traspasan mis l\u00edmites? \u00bfPodemos ser amigos si estamos muy en desacuerdo en algo? \u00bfPuedo mantener mis h\u00e1bitos y participar en la cultura local al mismo tiempo? Estas son una de las preguntas sobre las que reflexion\u00e9 durante el proyecto.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tiempo SOLO<\/strong>. Parad\u00f3jicamente, en este proyecto de EQUIPO tuve mucho tiempo para m\u00ed. Andar en bicicleta, ir a la playa, dar un paseo, tomar un caf\u00e9 con leche en un bar local: me he divertido y no me he sentido solo ni por un segundo. Por otro lado, debo admitir que mi expectativa para el voluntariado de este equipo era tener un sentido de comunidad. Desafortunadamente, no sucedi\u00f3. Tuvimos muchas actividades grupales, pero la mayor\u00eda de las veces \u00e9ramos 3 (por una u otra raz\u00f3n) que en realidad no se sent\u00edan como una comunidad (adem\u00e1s, hacer repeticiones en tr\u00edo no es muy motivador :)). Ojal\u00e1 hubi\u00e9ramos unido los poderes de Neda y Ferrol desde el principio, lo que habr\u00eda creado un mejor sentido de equipo (supongo). Al menos lo hizo cuando nos prepar\u00e1bamos para la EXPOSICI\u00d3N. Y eso me lleva a mi actividad favorita en este proyecto: prepararme para ‘As estaciones do nos Cami\u00f1o’. Me encant\u00f3 que cada uno de nosotros tuvi\u00e9ramos la oportunidad de usar nuestros pasatiempos, expresar nuestros talentos y simplemente ser creativos. Agradecido por esta experiencia y el apoyo de Male durante la misma.<\/p>\n Exhibition ‘The Stages of our Camino’ <\/strong>– the event, organized by us – ESC volunteers – and Xeraci\u00f3n<\/em> in the Civic centre of Canido, Ferrol. It was a creative project, in which we presented our experiences. The volunteers painted, gathered dark stories of Galicia, made creative photo collages & more. My part consisted of photography, storytelling & poetry. I interviewed pilgrims in the hostel of Neda and made portraits of them. In addition, I wrote a metapoem for the Camino. As for many people the Camino de Santiago is a metaphor for life, I thought that poetry should be on the creative process itself. It may be not a masterpiece but it is MY way of expression & I am happy to have received a positive feedback on it. You can find the poem below.<\/strong> The overall mood of this event was joyful, as we would have reached the last stage of the Camino, and now willing to share OUR stories. Thank you to each of the volunteer, you have taught me so much (without even knowing:)<\/em>). P.S. this post is a reflection and naturally, a thank-you letter, thus if you will read it, Fran – I am grateful for your presence, chill attitude, support & all the retakes we made. \ud83d\ude00 Hasta luego!<\/p>\n Exposici\u00f3n \u2018Las Etapas de nuestro Camino\u2019<\/strong> \u2013 el evento, organizado por nosotros \u2013 voluntarios CES \u2013 y Xeracion<\/em> en el Centro C\u00edvico de Canido, Ferrol. Fue un proyecto creativo, en el que presentamos nuestras experiencias. Los voluntarios pintamos, recopilamos historias oscuras de Galicia, hicimos creativos collages de fotos y m\u00e1s. Mi parte consisti\u00f3 en fotograf\u00eda, narraci\u00f3n de cuentos y poes\u00eda. Entrevist\u00e9 a peregrinos en el albergue de Neda y les hice retratos. Adem\u00e1s, escrib\u00ed un metapoema para el Camino. Como para mucha gente el Camino de Santiago es una met\u00e1fora de la vida, pens\u00e9 que la poes\u00eda deb\u00eda estar en el propio proceso creativo. Puede que no sea una obra maestra, pero es MI forma de expresi\u00f3n y estoy feliz de haber recibido una respuesta positiva al respecto. Puedes encontrar el poema en ingl\u00e9s a continuaci\u00f3n<\/strong>. El estado de \u00e1nimo general de este evento fue alegre, ya que habr\u00edamos llegado a la \u00faltima etapa del Camino y ahora estamos dispuestos a compartir NUESTRAS historias. Gracias a cada uno de los voluntarios, me hab\u00e9is ense\u00f1ado tanto (sin saberlo :)). PD Esta publicaci\u00f3n es una reflexi\u00f3n y, naturalmente, una carta de agradecimiento, por lo tanto, si la lees, Fran, estoy agradecido por tu presencia, actitud relajada, apoyo y todas las repeticiones que hicimos. \u00a1Hasta luego!<\/p>\n What was this project about for me? What did I learn? \u00bfDe qu\u00e9 se trataba este proyecto para m\u00ed? \u00bfQu\u00e9 aprend\u00ed?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":3280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","paths-english-way","digital_path-volunteer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.xacobeando.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screenshot_20220921-190156_Gallery-135x300.jpg\")
Open-mindedness<\/strong>. What a concept! If you would read motivational letters of the applicants for the ESC projects, 95% of them will have this magical word. But what does it mean in reality, in a mundane everyday life when you share living & working space with people from diverse cultural, social, educational backgrounds? I learnt it the hard way – being tolerant person is not limited to not saying sth openly racist or homophobic. It is also about how you react to your flatmate’s way of doing laundry, cooking style, or your colleague’s fashion sense and speaking manner. Are you easily irritated by someone’s music style which you have to hear everyday? Can you accept that another person is always late and not to see it as a personal insult? These situations really test you – your own cultural habits, character and the level of OPEN-MINDENESS. I believe, the first steps to actually be more open-minded are to accept that some things can actually get on your nerves and reflect WHY is it so. Can I communicate openly and without anger when my boundaries are overstepped? Can we be friends if we strongly disagree on something? Can I maintain my habits & engage in the local culture at the sime time? These are one of the questions I reflected on during the project.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.xacobeando.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220912_164423-225x300.jpg\")
SOLO time<\/strong>. Paradoxically, in this TEAM project I had a lot of time for myself. Riding a bike, going on a beach, taking a walk, having cafe con leche<\/em> in a local bar – I have enjoyed myself and did not feel lonely for a second. On the other hand, I must admit that my expectation for this team volunteering was to have a sense of community. Unfortunatelly, it didn’t happen. We had a lot of group activities but most of the time there were 3 of us (for one reason or another<\/em>) which didn’t actually feel like a community (also, doing retakes in trio is not very motivating:)<\/em>). I wish we would unite Neda’s and Ferrol’s powers from the beginning, which would have created a better sense of team (I suppose<\/em>). At least it did when we were preparing for the EXHIBITION. And that leads me to my favourite activity in this project – preparing for ‘As estaci\u00f3ns do nos Cami\u00f1o’. I loved that each of us had an opportunity to use our hobbies, express our talents & just be creative. Thankful for this experience and Male’s support during it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.xacobeando.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/20220922_201959-1-300x224.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI<\/h6>\n
Maybe I should write a poem for you<\/h6>\n
Hoping that Galician sirens could be my muse<\/h6>\n
Walking the way initially to beat heavy blues<\/h6>\n
Yet I may ask the Universe for better clues.<\/h6>\n
When the world seems to be spinning out of control,<\/h6>\n
Walking restores one\u2019s inner peace.<\/h6>\n
Every pilgrim agrees: Camino leaves you at ease.<\/h6>\n
Your knees may struggle, your feet may ache<\/h6>\n
But the soul is free as ever<\/h6>\n
It finally takes a break.<\/h6>\n
II<\/h6>\n
I will invite you to take a rock<\/h6>\n
while you will think and you will walk.<\/h6>\n
Hold it tight, then let it go.<\/h6>\n
Leave it on a milestone and carry on.<\/h6>\n
III<\/h6>\n
You\u2019ve been dreaming of Camino<\/h6>\n
But which one \u2013 English, French or Primitivo?<\/h6>\n
One is for meeting new friends, another \u2013 the God and the latter<\/h6>\n
will offer you cliff and a mirror \u2013<\/h6>\n
your task is to look and reconsider.<\/h6>\n
IV<\/h6>\n
You went on the way<\/h6>\n
In search of the answers<\/h6>\n
In attempt to find the light<\/h6>\n
Instead you found yourself.<\/h6>\n
You are the answer &<\/h6>\n
You are the light, my friend.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"