To some it may look like a fight against the windmills, however our solidarity volunteering adventure in the Castilla-La Mancha region has a lot more depth than the one of the local hero, Don Quixote. Yes, our activities are based on an imaginary concept and yes, we provide a non-ordinary setting for educating, but our mission has noble roots and is oriented towards improvement of the society. By organizing urban and rural camps for youth, our goal is to substitute the melancholic summer with a positive atmosphere and contribute towards a world where creativity is included into the everyday life of the younger generation. Ecocompartimos invited 10 ESC volunteers from 7 different countries to develop and implement activities based on non-formal education and colorize the summer for the Spanish youngsters. The invitation was hard to resist so………. WELCOME TO OUR STORY.
The project started on the 13th June in the underground of Madrid where the participants met before their departure to Toledo. I will do my best to visualize our arrival to Toledo.
*Khmm khmm* (deep voice): Can you imagine yourself as a part of a first person-video game with a medieval theme and you are surrounded by historic architecture and you just can’t move your gaze from the legendary castles in every corner of the city that once was the Capital of Spain? I can go on and on, but I think you got the point. As a cherry on top, the group was left speechless once again when we were shown the place that we are going to stay in. Welcome to our Castillo, San Servando.
Our activities were facilitated by Helena, Erika and Fatima, who provided all the necessities before our arrival in Spain (believe me, it was tough) and welcomed us like royals. Along with our Spanish participants, who took care of our basic español, the group was ready for the on-arrival training in which we gained the necessary skills for organization of a youth summer camp.
I-day
The project started with activities for getting to know each other. By presenting our personalities, sharing stories from childhood and explaining our cultural background, the group got closer and already started to breathe in harmony. On the first day, the group got insights for the opportunities that Erasmus offers such as the Youth Exchanges, Training Courses and the long-term ESC volunteering possibilities. The day was wrapped with an inner journey in which the participants privately wrote their reasons for joining the camp, concluded their goals for the summer camp and predicted the future self after the ESC is finished. Afterwards the participants had to come up with concrete steps that should be taken in order to achieve the aims for the future.
We-day
Like every day from the training week, the morning was fulfilled with energizers from Fatima. She tested our teamwork capabilities and prepared us for the we-day. Next on the menu were the blindfolded games in which the participants had to create an ideal square from a rope in our hands, using only our voices. The power of the team was examined once again, in an activity where the participants had to flip the sheet (not switch), on which the whole group was standing without touching the floor. The group learned more about the cooperative and the collaborative method of teamwork and their appropriate utilization based on the given situation. Team spirit was high and the preparations for the summer camp began. By a huge brainstorm (luckily no one was hurt) the group started sharing interesting ideas for educational activities based on NFE principles.
Culture-day
Throughout the energizers for this day, the group started habling (speaking) español by presenting their appearance and sharing the stage with other like-minded fashion gurus. Entre nosotros, the group shared some stereotypes of their country and exploited the rotten character of the prejudices. This practice was ideally tempted for the Intercultural Dinner that we had at night, which is not going to be explained in this article since it would take a whole day to read (if you’ve never been to an intercultural dinner in Erasmus, I highly recommend visiting one – and bring your dancing shoes). In the second part of the day, the group was introduced to various styles of learning and found the most appropriate channel for processing information most efficiently. Erika tested the group’s memory capacity by asking us to remember a series of words by listening, hearing and looking, in which every person used its own strategy to recall the appropriate words. The point of having a good memory is to play smart and create a story out of the things that you are trying to remember. In the last activity of the day, the “tribe” found itself on a deserted island in which the only way to survive was by nurturing a friendly and openhearted relationship.
Creativity-day
As the name of the day says, the energizers boosted our creativity when the group created a continued song starting with only 1 vocal and ending with a harmony consisting of 10 tones. After an introduction to the term creativity, the 2 teams had to create a short video. We were not given any topic, but fortunately the castle was an inspiration itself and the groups created one romantic and one action movie. We used our creativity to produce stylish clothes out of recycled materials and had the chance to present them on the Toledo (San Servando) fashion night. Every participant had the opportunity to write their schedule of weekly activities in order to sort them by their character and make a pie chart divided in 3 groups: activities I like, I don’t mind and I don’t like. This was an important step in shaping one’s perspective of how we spent our time.
Treasure hunt day
This day was probably everyone’s favorite because this was the first time we got to see Toledo in the daylight. We were split into teams, and we were given a list of attractions to find and tasks to fulfill while exploring the city. Basically, the day was a mixture of running between El Arco de la Sangre, the Jewish quarter (where we actually had to speak to the people in the Jewish museum to fulfill our task), and the Mezquita de la Luz. The day continued with a frisbee game in the burning sun for half of us (where we had some bee problems) and a long siesta for the others. In the evening we had the pleasure of having a guided tour in Toledo. We found what Mudejar is; we looked through the world’s smallest window; we saw streets that were closed with doors; we learned more about the creative use of living space in the city and why it was needed in Spain’s former capital.
Museum day
This day started with us starting to plan the Illescas camp for the following week. We did some great brainstorming, we heard about everyone else’s ideas for activities, and we started creating our weekly program. Afterward, we left for the Army Museum in the city. We learned a lot about Spain’s whole history, not only about the army-related events, and we had our heads twirled by the countless portraits of the royalty of Spain. From the side we must have been an interesting sight: we were all tired, distracted, hungry, but still going and still wanting to see more. We went back from the museum in the afternoon, and we were thrilled to find that the swimming pool that we had a whole week was opened for the guests. We spent a nice afternoon in it, and we were getting ready to go to El Greco’s museum when we had a small incident with a member of our group. She had fallen and had sprained her ankle. As a result, some of the people went with her to the hospital, while the others went to the art museum. The single hour there actually wasn't enough for some of us who were really taken aback by the art. During the night we were surprised and excited to find out that there was going to be a flamenco charity show in the backyard of the hotel. We had a wonderful experience there, and the day ended with us being happy and dancing to the fading sounds of the flamenco.
Moving out day
This day we dedicated ourselves to the evaluation of the week we had in Toledo. We were all content with our week, a little sad to leave the medieval city, but also excited for the future. When we were moving out, there was a lot of dragging our enormous luggage back and forth. Half of us traveled in a car, but half of us had to catch the bus and walk around with our suitcases.
Soo, that's it for now. But our adventure has just started, so be prepared for our next article!
- the team of INTERcamp
