Wednesday 21 October 2015

Little differences

For me, being the second time living in Portugal (I lived here for almost one year doing an Erasmus exchange), it could seems that I'm used to everything. Well, I'm sorry to say that that's a bit far from reality. Again, I'm also facing kind an adaptation process, not because of the country as it happened in my first time here (although Spain and Portugal are almost brothers) but the little differences between urban and countryside life.
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Para mim, viver em Portugal pela segunda vez (já vivi aqui quase um ano, quando estive a fazer um intercâmbio Erasmus), poderia parecer que estou acostumado a tudo. Contudo, a realidade não é bem assim. Estou novamente a entrar num processo de adaptação, não por causa do país, como aconteceu na primeira vez aqui (embora Espanha e Portugal sejam quase irmãos), mas pelas pequenas diferenças entre a vida urbana e rural. 


Coming from a big city as is Madrid, the live in a small town as is Arcos seems a new challenge for me. Especially if we think that in Madrid I used to have everything near by hand; shops, entertainments, information..., even bureaucracy. Now, just as an example, just to go to the Spanish Embassy to register, I have to ask for a morning off, take the bus and go to Porto, which is 90 kilometres away. But I can consider myself lucky for living such close and go back in the same day.
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Vir de uma grande cidade, como é Madrid, para uma pequena vila como Arcos parece-me ser um dos grandes desafios para mim. Especialmente, se pensarmos no facto de que em Madrid estava acostumado a ter tudo muito perto de mim: lojas, entretenimento, informação… até a burocracia. Neste momento, por exemplo, tenho de pedir meio-dia livre na Associação para ir à Embaixada espanhola para fazer o meu registo, visto que, se encontra no Porto, uma cidade a cerca de 90 km de distância. Contudo, acho que posso considerar-me um afortunado por poder viver tão perto e poder voltar no mesmo dia.



That lack of closeness isn't bad at all. I'm realizing that there is a lot of things that I don't need right here and right now. Maybe it's because the life here has another speed, more calm and relaxed, which I only had enjoyed during my summer holidays. Every place in Arcos is just 10 minutes away walking. Everything, but the supermarket, which is 5 minutes... by car. But we have a groceries store just 5 minutes walking from our place, so no problem there. And, apparently almost all the bars and pubs of Arcos are just below our home. If we want to relax drinking a coffee or a beer, we just have to go downstairs.
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Esta falta de proximidade não é necessariamente má. Estou a dar conta que existem muitas coisas que não preciso agora mesmo. Porventura porque a vida aqui tem outra velocidade, mais calma e relaxante, coisa que só tinha desfrutando durante as minhas férias de verão. Todos os locais de Arcos ficam a 10 minutos a pé desde o nosso apartamento, exceto o Pingo Doce que são 5 minutos… de carro, mas isso não é um problema, temos um Minipreço só a 5 minutos a pé desde nossa casa. E, pelo que tenho visto, quase todos os bares e pubs dos Arcos estão mesmo ao lado da nossa casa. Sempre que nos apeteça relaxar, beber um café ou uma cerveja, basta descermos as escadas do prédio.



There are some more advantages. As here live less people than in Madrid (obviously), most of the town services are quicker and even usable. The swimming pool is almost empty, so I have a lane just for myself (I can swim without have to pass over everyone slower than me!!). And mostly all the queues in the shops are smaller and faster. Sadly, there are other who don't work in the same way: I've already waited one week for my tax number, and I think I will have to wait some days more to get it. Hopefully, this is one of the things I don't need right now, just to open a bank account as they can't use my Spanish one (thank you, European Bank "Union").
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Existem muitas outras vantagens. Aqui moram menos pessoas do que em Madrid (óbvio), a maioria dos serviços ao cliente são mais rápidos e prestáveis. A piscina está quase sempre vazia, tenho uma raia só para mim (posso andar sem ter que ultrapassar aqueles que são mais lentos do que eu). Quase todas as filas nas lojas são mais pequenas e rápidas. Contudo, existem outros serviços que não funcionam tão bem: estive uma semana à espera para obter o meu NIF, e acho que vou ter de esperar, pelo menos, mais uma semana. Felizmente, essa é uma das coisas que não preciso de momento; é apenas para abrir uma conta bancária, porque não podem utilizar o meu número espanhol (obrigado, “União” Bancária Europeia).


Anyway, if I only can write three paragraphs trying to describe my problems, and most of them are good things which I'm happy/agree with, then that means that everything is OK. I'm enjoying my first days, rediscovering everything, especially the taste of Portuguese wine and food: this is the land of Francesinha, probably the best sandwich in the World.
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De todas as formas, se só consigo escrever três parágrafos a descrever os meus problemas, e a maioria deles são coisas boas, isso significa que tudo está bem.
Estou a desfrutar dos meus primeiros dias, a redescobrir tudo, especialmente o sabor da cozinha e dos vinhos portugueses: esta é a terra da Francesinha, para mim o melhor prato do Mundo.


It's another life. "É outra vida".

Monday 19 October 2015

Hello, it's us!

Welcome to The Volunteer's Backpack! 

This is a blog made by volunteers for volunteers. Maybe the backpack is a familiar object to you, as it is for us, and that's why we choose it for the name. You can put almost everything inside: clothes, food, notebook, computer... But especially, you can put inside memories, experiences, culture, advices... Even friends if you try!! All the things we need to enjoy one amazing trip, or one amazing life.

We just begin to live that amazing experience last week, as we starting to do a European Volunteer Service project in Arcos de Valdevez, a village in North Portugal. We will be here for the next nine months, and we will develop some activities, workshops and other tasks in a Juventude Vila Fonche's youth centre.

Since one of that tasks is spread the word about the EVS and other Erasmus+ and Youth in Action projects, we want that this blog to be a journal of our experiences and our daily life here in Arcos. Also, this may be a useful tool for you, the people who are thinking to take one adventure like ours. That's why you will find here interesting proposals and advices, with the memories of former volunteers and our learning, as well as volunteering opportunities that can do in the near future.

Our little family of editors is formed by one polish girl, one french guy and one spanish guy; you can read more about us following this link. We will write articles in English and also in Portuguese, as soon as our language skills be good enough for that. Unfortunately, we can't say yet when will you can read new entries, but for sure you will find something new every week. In case you don't want to miss anything, you can suscribe to our blog via RSS with a button that must be somewhere in the page.

Stay tuned for more rock and roll!
Agnes, Emile & Jorge