End of the year in Puerto
December was by far the fullest and most fulfilling month of my volunteering journey until now. I decided that instead of going back home for the festivities I’d stay here and have an authentic Spanish experience of this special time of the year. At Casal Jove we didn’t stop working, in fact the workload was slightly higher than usual because we had five days of “Escola de Nadal”, an activity meant for children from three to eleven years old, it’s a space for them to express their creativity in many different forms, from crafts to creative writing, from theatre to cooking. Personally, I found it to be pretty interesting because I was put in charge of “campa”, which is the oldest group, and so far I rarely had the opportunity to work with them given that usually I interact with smaller children or teenagers. Aside from that we also offered a few Christmas-themed “tardeos” in the afternoons, but the most interesting events were the “pre campanadas”, which are parties where people kind of practice for the actual Noche Vieja, there were countdowns and party hats and glasses filled with 12 grapes (or chips). The biggest pre campanada among the ones we hosted was the one for teenagers and young adults, it lasted until 2 in the morning, there were more than 150 people and overall it was a success: music, food and a well prepared talent show made the party triumphant.
Even outside of work I was kept busy, for example, I went to see the Valencia Marathon: I’m not a runner, but the atmosphere of it all was captivating and fascinating, the energy was truly infectious and engaging, the weather also contributed positively considering the temperature was around 20 degrees Celsius! The race begun and ended at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, the collision and juxtaposition of an academic location with an athletic event made it magical.
In my free time I also managed to go to a few museums with a friend I met at the on arrival training, we saw a few exhibitions, but one in particular caught my attention: it’s called “La Ruta” and it’s about the musical, artistic and cultural movement that begun in the Valencian area and spread throughout the region and beyond. After Franco’s dictatorship, people had a massive need to express their freedom to the maximum extent, it brought a lot of creativity and experimentation, but with it came the downsides, such as destructive behaviour and drug abuse. The “ruta del bakalao” is the name that defines the clubs and bars that initiated or that became landmarks of the movement.
Last, but not least, my mom finally came to visit me! I was so happy to see her after a few months and excited to show her around, however my plans had to deal with an unexpected red alert, so out of the three days she was here, only one was suitable for visiting Valencia and we managed to catch a few hours without rain to see Puerto and Sagunto, I tried to make the most out of the situation, but it was challenging. In the end she was happy with what she saw and said she genuinely loved it.
Staying in Spain was definitely the right choice for me, I loved celebrating Noche Buena and Noche Vieja with my new group of friends, on Christmas Day we even went to play Bingo and won a small sum! I enjoyed learning about Spanish culture, traditions and typical foods, I loved the Christmas lights and decorations around town and I had the opportunity to get closer with a few colleagues with whom I truthfully like sharing my time at work and outside. Couldn’t be happier with how this month went, I’m excited to see what the new year brings!
