SVE Experiences.Our EVS volunteer in the Czech Republic, Elvira Abellán, shares one of the experiences that her volunteer project has given her: a meeting with the Czech Spanish-speaking community.

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Spanish days in Náchod

Without a doubt, the best of the volunteer experience is to meet people and places. In recent months my volunteering is full of trips, inside and outside the Czech Republic, and one of them was to participate in an event about Spanish culture in the small town of Náchod.

At the beginning of April this event took place, “Spanish Days” (Španělské dny v Náchodě), in Déčko, in the city of Náchod, in the Hradec Králové Region, located in the northeast of Bohemia, very close to the border with Poland. It was organized by Lucie Pavlíčková, a Spanish teacher at the Jiráskovo Gymnázium Náchod educational center, and David Montes Vázquez, a European volunteer at Déčko, a youth organization whose main activity is regular work and activities with children, youth and families. They also organize summer camps, activities open to the community, parties, seminars and cultural events such as this one, in which different activities were carried out to bring a piece of Spanish and South American culture to Náchod.

I was very surprised by the building and the level of involvement of the youth of Náchod in this center. The place is a kind of house on top of the mountain, surrounded by gardens and tracks for sports activities, it was full of children and parents.

A sign that they know what they do and they do it well is that many of these parents once came here as children and now bring the new generation. Our role in the festival was to introduce ourselves, talk about our place of origin, our motivation to be here, what the experience and the country is like and have a little discussion with Spanish speakers in the area, much more than we know. can think. And it is that among the Czechs Spanish is quite popular. But I have to say that we didn't make it very easy with such different accents. We were 4 volunteers, from Galicia, Granada, Segovia and Luzka, the super-motivating Spanish teacher, invited us to her Spanish classes at the institute to speak with the Spanish students. We also took the opportunity to talk to you about European volunteering and its advantages and to encourage you to do an EVS in Spain, which would finish perfecting the language.

Between class and class we had time to talk with Luzka about the cultural differences that the Spaniards found here and she told us about her experience when she lived in Spain. It is very curious to see how what one may think is the most normal thing in the world to another is strange.

It was also a good opportunity to meet with other volunteers, talk about our time here, see how their day to day and how their organization works, join a small group of Spanish in a small kitchen to talk, cook, eat and have a long table together; something the truth was missing. There was even time to enjoy nature (taking advantage of the explosion of spring) and hiking on foot to Poland, do not panic, the nearest Polish town is 7 km away.