My EVS in Andalusia 2

I finished the first blog entry with our wonderful Spanish weather: sunny and warm every day, chilly only overnight…but there is something I have been keeping from you till now:

It is actually icy in our flat...What a perfect reason to present you a very special object of heating in our living room: The table!

“I don´ t understand”, will surely be your first reaction...at least it was my mum´s, when I randomly dropped a sentence about this subject. Don ´t worry, it´s actually very easy:

A table with a kind a heating lamp underneath, covered by a blanket one can put on the knees while sitting on the sofa or armchair. (see pictures) Nothing could be more comfortable and effective!

Something else we learned exceedingly quickly, was to copy the Spanish attitude towards time. Because, in Spain the clocks tick much more slowly. You have an appointment at 10? It is completely sufficient to leave the house at 5 past 10. Even then, you might still be too early.

An appropriate example was our cooking course: It took about an hour to start, not only because people were coming late, but as well because it was impossible to make the 20 Spanish (grown up) woman stop chatting about whatever topics and concentrate on the course. This undisciplined cheerfulness and nonchalance can be a challenge for me, a personification of the German cliché of punctuality and discipline. But certainly not always.

Friday evening, after two hours of exhausting Spanish classes, I went to the pub with my Polish, one of the Turkish and a former German volunteer who had come to visit her Spanish boyfriend. Our jolly circle, busy exchanging anecdotes, was unfortunately clouded by the horrible occurrences in Paris that were communicated on TV.

Saturday, we went to an excellent theatre play in our village, called “Un dios salvage“ (engl.: “Carnage“). Originally the title of a French play, you might know it better from the famous Roman Polanski film, starring Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Walz and John C. Reilly.

After a moving minute´s silence for the Paris victims, the four characters started arguing in a hilarious way.

Sunday morning, I went for a 1,5h trek up one of the mountains again, while my Polish flatmate went to church. After lunch, we decided to go to Somontín, a village located on the other side of the valley, half way up a mountain. One can see it in the distance from our flat. The way, however, was much longer than we had expected... After 3 hours of walk in the blazing sun, through olive, orange and lemon tree plantations (we obviously pinched some fruits), on dry fields and along an endless seeming road with countless turns, we arrived there absolutely knackered. But at the end, we got rewarded for not giving up to soon (as we almost did). The juice and seafood tapas we enjoyed to regather our strengths were delicious. Somontín is an absolutely picturesque place, with a view over the entire valley. And the way back downhill, with a very pretty sunset, took us only half as long...It was totally worth going.

Monday, we planned to go to the pub again, but the evening turned out to be much less flippant than that! Sitting around the table heating, equipped with a glass of white wine and some crackers, we started talking about the recent news, about (teaching) Religion, (the existence of) God, Terrorism, Fundamentalism, the immigration wave and a changing world in crisis…a Polish, a Turkish and a German volunteer, three different countries, languages and beliefs, proving how easy it can be to exchange thoughts and opinions peacefully.

May cultural exchanges like the EVS help spreading this plain truth.

I certainly am looking forward to more wonderful conversations of that kind…