The voluntary weekend

I am very late with this post. Although I know that it would be possible to change the date of publication, I don't want to. This is the story which gave me the first Christmas feeling this year and even if the whole holiday period is gone now I would like to tell you how I was preparing for it. The first sign for the fact that "it is coming" was not given by the snow or the Christmas songs in the radio, but the public transport company in Tenerife. When the bus is not going anywhere simply wishes Merry Christmas:)

Christmas can never be affectionate without making other people happy. It was very easy to find the people who I want to see smiling this year. The old ladies who we are visiting every week were sitting there with tears in their eyes during the Christmas concert I organized for them. The special part of this concert was that we were singing typical Canarian Christmas songs in Spanish despite the fact that we are from Germany, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary. We spent an unforgettable afternoon with them. Some of them introduced me to their family members, but the most magical moment was still the one when they started to sing the songs with us. This was my main aim with this concert to make them sing and smile.

Another event which prepared me for Christmas was a charity night in the main square of my city, La Laguna. A few companies decided to organize a day when they were collecting nutrition for the poorest people of the seven islands. Anybody could bring any type of food and those who brought something could stroll the red carpet. They collected more than 80 tons of bread, bananas, milk, water, pasta, rice, sweets, etc. I didn't know about this action before, but I was lucky as I live 5 minutes from this square, I run home and took many things I had at home. So I didn't have to miss the red carpet:) Anyway it was a great feeling to be among thousands of people who are celebrating with a small carnival that we can join forces for a really good aim.

With this small experience from the old year I would like to wish you a very happy new year with lots of goodness and helpfulness! And don't forget: volunteering is sexy:)!

La Isla Bonita

That is the name which was given to La Palma because of the beautiful forests, mountains and other green areas it has. AURI, my wonderful hosting organization and work place, organized a 5 days long trip here. This is another experience which is really difficult to describe with words. I will try it but I guess the pictures will tell more this time. We had three amazing natural sights, I would like to highlight them in this entry.

This is the volcano which erupted in 1971 so it suppose to be the "freshest" one. 

And the one with a wonderful view

Undoubtedly my favourite spot was the Roque de los Muchachos

Here at the altitude of 2500 meters, there is the observatory where you can find the biggest telescope of the world.

The expert lady (!) told me that they can see until 30 billion light years with it... Maybe they can see it, but it is impossible for me to imagine this distance...

The very first day we did a 13 km long hiking through 13 tunnels. One of them had a waterfall above so actually we had to wade a small river while it was also falling like a heavy rain, indescribable experience.

I am still huge fun of lighthouses, this one was specially nice as next to the new one we could see the old one too.

Besides the beautiful nature, La Palma also has something really interesting to show. The Salina, which means the place where they are producing salt, is located right next to the ocean so they can lead the water into different pools on different weathers and the help with the sun and wind they can make the water evaporate and manufacture the finest salt. We tasted a special version called "salt rose" which is flowing on the top of the water (unlike the "normal ones" which sit on the bottom of the pool) and has a very special shape. This is one of the most interesting places where I have ever been. It is a simple idea though it's simply perfect!

Sunset above the Salina

When it is ready to be packed:

I was wondering, for how long would this mountain be enough for my mum to prepare my favourite dishes...?!!

Well, as I started this also as a small gastro blog I should not leave out our delicious pumpkin cream soup and goat cheese dinner with candle light in the capital, Santa Cruz de La Palma. Perfect ending.

Tablas de San Andrés

In Tenerife the only place where sometimes you can find snow is the top of the Teide. I will never forget the moment a few weeks ago when we were in the mountains, inside the rural house (vid. Viva la vida nómada!) and suddenly somebody shouted: "Dios mío! There is snow on Teide" everybody run out immediately and we were standing out there in the cold staring at the volcano for long-long minutes. Magical moment. A really special one. 

This means that the concept of sledging also has to be different. Icod de los vinos is a town famous of its wine...except one day of the year when they celebrate the day of San Andrés with a very special event. Namely they take a piece of board and they slide down with it from one of the steepest street of the city. It is a very old tradition which makes the whole place full of life as everybody is participating. The braver ones are doing it meanwhile the rest is watching and eating roasted chestnuts. The event can not be the same without this epicureanism. It is only me who connected this event to the first snow in Hungary (as we are actually doing the same thing on a snowy hill), but originally here it is the celebration of the new wine. This means that we had to organize a trip here for the Erasmus students as all of the wine producers offer their wine for a free taste:)

Not only adults but children are also big fans of the "Tablas". This group was nice enough to lend us their board for a try-out. Marcos (in the middle) was the star of the street as he was the fastest and coolest from all of them:)

And there is the adult version...

I find it important to emphasize that there are serious injuries every year so don't try this at your home city!:)

Getting older...

My 22nd birthday in pictures and in few words.

My amazing friends prepared the perfect birthday breakfast con un montón de corazón:)

Ocean. Sunshine. One of my favourite books. The ingredients of a perfect (birth)day.

For lunch we had this special extra yummy cake

And yes, believe it or not, I am that super lucky girl who has two cakes on her birthday:) <3

And the most beautiful handmade present, a book where I can lead my life, impossible to explain how brilliant present it is, simply a super creative and amazing surprise:)

I am so grateful for all of these! Thank you guys:)

Residencia de los mayores

As a European Volunteer I need to prepare my own project during my voluntary service. In Hungary I am volunteering with children so I decided that here I would like to work with elders. We started to look for the perfect nursing home with my flat mate and very good friend, Iza. Finally we found a small one with not too many residents, we talked to the director and they were absolutely open for all of our ideas and initiatives. So we spent the first day with them on Monday, we had a small gymnastic in the morning and then we prepared Christmas cards and Christmas tree ornaments in small groups. It was such a nice feeling and actually not much different from the way how I spend my time with children.
This process of life...when we are children we need help with walking, eating and entertaining. Then after 70 more years we need all of these help again... We discussed this beautiful circulation of life with my walking lady, Justa, who is exactly 90 years old, but as fit as a teenager. It was a great pleasure to listen her stories from her childhood and about the years she spent in Switzerland. We laughed a lot together, especially when the nurse said that we can go out to the street so: "Justa leave your walker here". She immediately left the aid, caught my arm and wanted to start. When the nurse arrived with the wheelchair we all broke into laugh as she wanted to give her a biggest help while Justa wanted to walk without any.

I can't wait to go back again! This time we will start to decorate the residencia for Christmas...

Viva la vida nómada!!!

I have never explained you why EVS is so extremely fantastic! Probably you can see many advantages of it from this blog, but there is one important thing which I have to explain. What I love the most is that in your everyday life you are living with certain limits, you believe that these belong to you. But one day you wake up, there is a great opportunity which gives you the chance to cross all of these lines. You mustn't miss it! You have to forget about your fears and comfortable routines.

One of the best examples for this was our teambuilding weekend. I have to admit that sleeping in my own warm bed, having a nice hot shower before I go to sleep, switch on the heating when I am cold or eating my delicious bread prepared by the baker always belonged to my accepted needs. These make me feel comfortable and home. I always felt that these are things which I don't want to give up (not even for a few days) what's more, which I insist upon! Last weekend I crossed this boundary of mine...

                 

We arrived to this "handmade" house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by this breathtaking view:

             

We had different teambulilding games, but for me the nicest and strongest teambuilding element was collecting wood for the fireplace and for the oven and preparing our own bread.

That amazing amount of wood which this thing can eat...

This is our own Teide from flour...very bad people are playing with the food:)

And the result:)

And I thought that I had already seen beautiful sunsets before this one...

Good morning volunteers!

Almost three month ago we arrived here so it was just on time to participate in the Arrival Training for European Volunteers:) This event was held in Candelaría (slowly I spend more time here than in La Laguna), in a 4 starts hotel. I don't remember when was the last time when I ate so many delicious things namely we had full board: all you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yes, I know Marci, it would have been your heaven:)!
This made it very easy to prepare the perfect birthday breakfast for Marie (which happened to be on the last day of this "holiday"). From my many German friends I have already learned that this is an essential element of a good birthday. 

Marie's Birthday Brunch Table

We prepared lots of surprise for her during the day including the inevitable video about her with some embarrassing pictures:) 

Here she is trying to understand our birthday wishes which we all wrote in our own languages to make it a little bit more difficult for her:)

During this week I had my third visit to the Teide National Park which is always a big surprise. I have never seen this place twice the same. This time we had cloudy weather next to the ocean but glare above the clouds at the foot of the volcano.

Above the clouds

The coldest sunshine ever:)

I have to write a few words about the organizers who made this event so special. I have to emphasize that this was not a holiday (even if it felt like:))!! This meeting had important aims and most of the topics really made me think. One of my favourites was when we had to make a city based on the European and our own values. It is always a great pleasure to think about something new which I have never had in mind before. And to design a city (and also to build it) is definitely a thing like this.

Finally it became a little bit utopian

At the end of the week we made a lot of new friendship so the bridge has been built between the volunteers of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, hopefully we can mutually visit each other in the upcoming months.
Finally we had a random salsa class...to make the experience unforgettable! 

In few words: fantastic people, incredible food, super cool activities and such a great weather!