Spain

Tuesday, November 28

It was lovely to sleep in a little later and arrive for a 9:30 breakfast. This day would end up being very light for us and we were going on an excursion to the village. The rain was a bit of a worry, but we caught the buses at 10:00 and after 4 trips, we had all arrived.

First we had a tour of house built somewhere between 1100 and 1500. It had been turned into a museum and was a tribute to the current owners grandparents who lived in the house. In the bottom level, all the animals were housed. Concealed in the horse manager, was hole about the size of a bowling ball where the valuables would be hidden.

PHOTO OF WALL SAFE

After the war years, when many families returned to the village, a fair number of them found considerable wealth had been hidden in the walls of some of there homes. Some villagers are still living off the proceeds from the finds. The next level had the grandparents’ bedroom complete with chamber pots and tiny or at least very short, double beds. Before electric lights, it was all candles. Even when lights were installed, there was one light that straddled the wall and covered both the hallway and this bedroom.

Down the hall was the best bedroom where you only went for three reasons - your birth, your death or if you were sick. Next to the room was the larder. Up the stairs to the next level, we found the kitchen, an insulated room that acted as a fridge, the outside porch where bathing happened and the butcher room where the pigs were slaughtered (Yes! Two stories up the pigs were butchered). Up the last set of steps to the attic area that housed the workshop and the oven for baking bread and food storage. Fascinating and especially poignant as the grandson of the house was leading the tour.

Next a little time for shopping before we met in the square for lunch. A funeral procession was coming through the square and based on the mourners, we could tell it was for an elderly man.
I found a few little things that caught my eye including the Christmas specialty of Turron, nougat only made in Nov and Dec.

Back in the square and then down the lane to the bodega (wine shop). If you didn’t know where you were going, you would pass most of the locations as they blend so completely into the row of houses/shops. We were treated to wonderful red wine, bread, salami and hams and a fabulous hard cheese. During this stop, we all participated in pouring red wine down our own throats from the wine skin. The aim is to get a thin stream of wine into your mouth, they pull the bag further and further away and count how long you can drink. Early people achieved 8-12 seconds and Pam was the first person and Anglo who broke 20 seconds. The first Spaniard with a high number was Miguel with 25. I accomplished a 7 second drink. The outstanding winner was Bernardo with 52 seconds. Most of us were just a little light headed as we went back to the square for lunch.

Lunch was paella, which I avoided as it may have been the culprit for my runny tummy earlier this week. I ate the bread and dessert that was a lovely ice cream confection. I exchanged interesting book names with Ros from England, Jesus L. and Shannon. We had a fantastic discussion about knowing when you have met the “one”. Two of the four of us have found them. Shannon and I are still looking.

As we had worked and partied so hard the day before, we were treated to an extended siesta time between 3-6

6 – Pedro – Phone session – We worked through 2 scenarios in 20 minutes - Wake up and Throw in the towel
7 – Jesus F. – Pass Out and Scratch the Surface – We had a fascinating discussion about his police work and suicides.

Both these men had wonderful English and great comprehension. It made the time just fly by.

8 – Entertainment – Groups 2 and 3
Group 2 – Fortuneteller –Dani as the fortuneteller with balloon breasts and mysterious ways was the hit. This group tied together many of the facets of PI including taking a toy boy home from Spain, the psychological damage done by too many one-on-one sessions and the birth 9 months after the fact of a very large baby girl named Phil.

Group 3 – What men and women say and what that really means – 4 cross-dressed couples described what the sexes say and what they really means. You can imagine.

As there was time to spare before dinner, Shannon entertained the group with the guitar. A talented guitarist, he played a wonderful melody by a Spanish composer and then a blue composition from a personal friend. Finally, we tried a sing-a-long to a Beatles song, Shake it up Baby. We all started fine, but after the first verse, it was determined that the lyrics off the web were incomplete so we died out.

Dinner – James, Pedro, Jesus L. – We discussed many the wonders of Australia as both Jesus and I had both visited recently been down under. Slight disconnect with James regarding my perception of the inconsistent wildlife laws between the various states in Australia. Once again, my opinions seemed not to be based in fact, but that didn’t stop me from airing my views. I was encouraged to review the US laws that cross state lines before I begin to comment on other countries perceived inadequacies. Thank you! Point well taken.

Tonight is the beginning of the Secret Friend campaign. I am the secret friend of Tracy, who is James’ wife and in my presentation group. We have been encouraged to do nice things for our secret friend from now until Thursday evening. We are encouraged to not spend more than the price of beer. My brain is whirling to see what might be nice for Tracy.

During dinner the other night, Tracy and I sketched out the outline for our performance tomorrow night, a game show based on Jeopardy with all the questions using idioms. Jez had said that if I type it out, we could make copies. I spent some time working on the order of go, stage directions and who would say what. We will have a moderator, tv host, Vanna White, three Spanish contestants and one over enthusiastic stage mother (me). Went to bed late, but had the script done for the group to review tomorrow. We had heard that one of our Spaniards, Jesus F., might be leaving tomorrow, so we may be one short. We will see tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 29

9 – breakfast – received a lovely glass of orange juice with little orange sections decorating the plate. My first gift from my secret friend. It is going to be a great day. Christine caught me and said that Pedro’s secret friend had requested that most of the women go up and give him a kiss on both cheeks from his secret friend. He received all the kisses with appreciation and calmness.

Also during breakfast, I printed off the script that I had developed the night before. After circulation to the group, they decided that they liked the concept and that we might make minor changes during our rehearsal. We were definitively going to loose Jesus F. from our group, so we enlisted the assistance of Rafael or Rafa, who is a true card for our third contestant. He will be a welcome addition to the group. As we will not have him at rehearsal, we will try and have lunch with him later today.

10 – Juan Jo – Catch on, Twist my Arm
11 – Phone session with Jose – Check out, Drag your feet. Our phone session went fine, I was making reservations at his pretend hotel. As we discussed the phrasal verb and idiom, I could tell we were not connecting. As we walked back to the meeting room, I did a pantomime of drag your feet, which I think, finally led to comprehension.
12 – Walked to town with Paloma for our session – clear up, a hard nut to crack – This was my first walk to town, the weather was fine and it was good to move. We discussed her three kids.
1 – Free time – Post cards and delivery of my note to my secret friend.

Lunch was good as usual with more little squeals of delight or clapping as another gift was delivered. As you looked around, you would see people disappear around the corner together whispering frantically. I had been requested to make some deliveries of drinks or notes to different people. Just as dessert was being served, a delegation arrived at my table and all the Spanish men at my table stood up. Suddenly, I was being serenaded by 4, then 6, then 12 of the Spanish men, as men from all the other tables leapt up and made a semi circle around me. It was absolutely charming and luckily, I have a little bit of it on video. The song was Cabrellitos. The basic gist of the song is - I bring to you flowers, flowers of my heart. If I don’t bring you flowers, it is not that I don’t love you, it is because they are not available. (Apparently this is a popular song to sing while you are at University and go to various dorms and serenade the young ladies). I felt truly touched. I have a suspicion of who my secret friend is, but I won’t know the real name until tomorrow. Based on the song, I suspect it is a Spaniard. Time will tell.

At 3:30 the vast majority of our group went into town, mostly to shop for our secret friends, but also to enjoy the fabulous weather and to see the village in sun. I walked with Roy, James and Tracy the back way into the town avoiding the highway. It was charming with country lanes, cats, moss covered rock walls and alleyways and beautiful colors as most of the leaves are still on the trees. One surprising sight was Chinquapin Chestnut trees, just like we had in our yard in Virginia. How well I remember the spiny seed coats that resemble brown sea urchins with nasty spines. My job in Jr. and Sr. High was to collect the green or brown seed pods amidst the fall leaves so that Dad could rake or mow the leaves. Never my favorite job, but seeing them brought back many happy memories of VA.

Roy and I wandered around the village and he showed me many back roads that I had not explored. I picked up some throat lozenges because more and more of our group is succumbing to the cold and I know that someone will need them before we leave. On the way back, I saw more cats and a lovely black Iberico sow that was very cute and posed for a picture. We arrived back just minutes before we were needed at the group activity.

5 - group activity – Write an alternative ending to the Hockey Sweater using random words that the group had developed. Each member of the group was supposed to contribute at least one sentence to the ending, which had to be 10 sentences long. Our verb- piss off, our adjective – cute, our noun - leopard (that I supplied to the selection of words). Our revision of the story went as follows - Our young boy after telling the curate in the story to piss off was sent to a reform school in Brazil where he was trained as a leopard handler. He took a nasty bite in the rear and was nursed by a cute Brazilian girl who later became his assistant. They became world famous and he always performed wearing his favorite Hockey Sweater.

6 – 8 – Group 4 rehearsal for our performance. We had a fun time getting our play staged and collecting all of our props. The three contestants were very excited to don their partial costumes, Cuti with a camo hat, Gerardo with a Mexican hat, apron, maracas and wig and our final contestant, Rafa as our Japanese entry, complete with camera and Japanese/Spanish accent. After 45 minutes we were very ready and relaxed.

8 Entertainments – Groups 4 and 5

As we had had the performance room to rehearse and prepare and the other group had only the last 30 minutes to rehearse in the room. As they were last in the room, they were the first to perform. They were also doing a game show, but they had chosen the dating game. Very cute and amusing, they incorporated many of the inside jokes including the typical Spanish pronunciation mistake for breakfast, (Breast – f**k) and the now expected and requisite Spanish man-dressed-as-a-woman (Nando) with huge balloon breasts and outrageous purple long wig.

Our presentation went very well, but the longer the play went, the more actor improvements showed up during the show. Two of our performers got more and more exaggerated in their movements and expressions, and our 10-minute show was closer to 20. Well received, we trooped back down stairs for dinner.

More secret friend gifts appeared during dinner including sponsored massages by James (who is a sports massage therapist), beautiful serenades by Shannon, huge wrapped gifts including small bottles of champagne and pate and the best the PEDRO poster with every letter followed by a superlative about Pedro. I have a feeling that the Anglos are spending the money and the Spanish are being ultra creative. All will be revealed tomorrow night so we only have another 24 hours until we know whom to thank.

Thursday, November 30

10 – Jesus L. Walked to town for shopping – Run into, Under the Weather – Health administrator - Lovely man
11 – Omar – Lawyer - Sign up for, Weather the storm – a fan of the US, we had a political discussion on the US’s role in the world.
12 – Free time
1 – Miguel – Turn around, Once in a blue moon – Took the back way into town and found a little old man, who told us he used to be a bullfighter and gave us wormy apples

During lunch today, we had several people leaving, one of them was Pedro, who turned out to be my secret friend. I knew my friend was a Spanish man! After lunch I walked back down the lane between the pastures to take pictures of the waterfall that I had visited with Jose Santos.

5 - group activity – Read the last of the revised Hockey Sweater stories. Then Christine had all the Anglos do musical chairs. During the game if you had not found a chair, you were either given a tongue twisters or a difficult word to spell. If you got them right, you could take someone else’s chair and continue in the game. Christine’s point is that even Anglos have difficulty with pronunciation and spelling. I managed a complicated tongue twister but went down my misspelling Samurai. (I forgot the second a)

6 – Conference call Magali, Raquel and Rafael – Radio interview PI/Sex Education/Lonely Hearts club – This was a scream! Magali was the Master of Ceremonies of PI, Raquel a Spanish participant who wanted to find a nice Spanish husband, and Rafa was from the US (Oklahoma where he had lots of cows). I was the radio interviewer on a live talk show and soon we took a turn from our assigned mission. During my interview it was determined that PI in addition to a language school, also a sex education center and lonely hearts club for people seeking a mate. Rafa was hysterical with his love for his cows and complained that PI didn’t have many cows, Raquel looking for a Spanish husband was encouraged by one of the three callers to the radio show to widen her search and consider other men. Magali kept giggling into the phone, but it ended up that Magali would be changing the housing arrangement so that Rafa and Raquel could be in the same house and both of them promised to keep me posted on the progress of their budding relationship. It was very good fun!

7 – One on One – Rafael, but we also added Hazel and Magali for a 4-way conversation.

At this point in the week, some people were repeating who they had one-on-one’s with as we had lost several Spaniards. There was some thing going on for the Guardia Civil and several of them had to leave before the week was over, including Jesus F. I never had a one-on-one with Raquel, Bernardo or Magali, so I tried to sit next to them at one of the final meals to get a chance to talk to them.

8 - Entertainment – Groups 6 and 7 and the entire group of Anglos singing leaving On a Jet Plane. We had been warned that there are usually many tears on the last day of the program and this had some of us a little misty already during the song.

We were bused into La Aberca for our final dinner in town. We were in a lovely room and after dinner, all the Spaniards sang a wonderful good-bye song during which Lourdes danced.

Best Smile – Cuti
Best Laugh – Trudi
Best Dancer – Lourdes
Best Actress – Paloma, I was awarded a 2nd place tie with Nanda (Fernando in his cross-dressing role)
Best Actor – Nando and Dani
Best Improv - #2 – Fortune Teller
Most entertaining Anglo – James
Most entertaining Spaniard – Omar
Most Improved English – Jose Santos

They had opened the town disco for us and we arrived at Midnight. There were several ladies dancing as a group. (I have noticed as I travel around the world that in many countries people dance in groups, without specific partners. I have also noticed that a lot of the world whistle or sing their way through the day. Does that happen in the US?) I was pooped so I was on the first bus back to the lodging and we left the Disco just before 1 am. I was in bed by 1:30 am.

Friday, December 1

We lost a lot of Spaniards this morning during breakfast so our ranks were dwindling. Lots of hugs and goodbyes.

10 – Group Photo and course evaluations
11 – One-on-one with Fermin
12 – Graduation ceremony – we all received certificates.
1 – Lunch – Jose Santos, Sally, Magali

PHOTO _ GROUP

Can you find me?

We loaded on the bus by 2:30 and the ride turned out to be very hot with most of us napping. I spent some time chatting with Shannon and Phil and then after our stop, with Jose Santos. His English has improved exponentially since our first bus ride and he very much deserved his award last night. As we were getting close to Madrid, I looked at him at one point and said that I time was almost over. He said but it is only almost. What a lovely energy he has.

Our party arrived at 7pm in Madrid and many taxis refused our group, probably due to the amount of luggage. Shannon and I shared a cab. Shannon and girl friend will be in Philly in Jan. Hopefully we will be able to meet up at Annie’s

Info from Spain

Spain drives on the right hand side of the road.

The right hand ring finger is the wedding ring hand except for Catalan where it is the left hand.

Common English pronunciation mistake by Spaniards – beaches and b**ches, also sheet and sh*t.

i.e. Da b**ches en Spain r berry berry nize.

What I learned at Pueblo Ingles

What a wonderful experience! It was fabulous to be around such diverse and interesting people. These people were working hard to be better at something and everyone was interested and anxious to help them, while having a good time of course. It was fun to be back in a larger community, and yet have the opportunity to remove myself when I needed.

I had a few surprises during this placement both physically and mentally. Getting sick could have been just a build up from 5 months straight of work with limited breaks, but it was also a signal to me that I might not be seeing things clearly. I have had the beginnings of feelings of inadequacy and nervousness about not knowing exactly what I will be doing when I get home. When I have a moment, I try and look ahead and envision what I want. Nothing is coming right now, which tells me my mind is not quiet and ready to accept input from the universe.

I had several disconnects with people over the last few weeks not only in communication but also in the flow of the trip. In my tired state, they seem bigger than they probably are, but again a signal to me that I am not creating positive experiences for myself.

I leave Spain feeling that I am very much the same person that I was when I left the US 11 months ago. Currently I can list many of the things within myself that I had hoped would grow and mature, but what I see are the judgments and smallness that still remains. I don’t feel I am being down on myself, but I am looking at what is currently in front of me. It is my choice how to view it, and when I don’t select the highest level of self-love, then I get what I create.

Just another example of wherever you go, there you are!

Thank you Spain and Pueblo Ingles. I had a marvelous time and I will be back again!

Entry # 31A – Arriving in Spain and Pueblo Ingles

31A – Arriving in Spain and Pueblo Ingles

Wednesday, November 22

I did my typical procedure when I arrive in a new country early in the morning - customs, immigration completed, I found a free map from the tourist information desk, exchanged money and went off to find breakfast.

I decided that I would most likely get a better deal exchanging my money in Spain as they would need Rand, so I waited until I got to Madrid. During breakfast of yoghurt and coffee, I consulted my map and found the three locations I would need in the next two days; my lodging, the welcome lunch and the bus pick up location. Luckily, I was within walking distance for my lunch and a quick taxi ride for the bus pick up.

I don’t remember the Madrid airport from the last time, but it appears very new, very clean and full of the color green. We walked for miles as we exited the plane through vast walls of pale green glass.

As I exited to find my taxi, I was met with a line of at least 200 people all queuing for a cab. I timed myself and within 10 minutes, I was in my cab a heading into Madrid

PHOTO – taxi queue

Madrid is very clean, spread out and has lovely balconies on most of the buildings. It really reminds me of Paris, except it is missing the tower and the river through the middle of it.

My lodging at the Hostal Lido is basic and clean and on a side street. As I got out of the cab and into the lobby, after I confirmed that this was the correct location, I approached the elevator. It was tiny and would not fit my bags and me at the same time. I proceeded up the stairs, when I nice Spanish Man stopped me and helped me with my bags. My Spanish is coming back quickly and I feel much more confidant about speaking it now.

I took a wee nap as I was bushed after two days of late nights and not much sleep and went out at 3pm to see what I could. I opted for the double-decker bus and took both routes to get the lay of the city. The city is currently getting ready for Christmas and every plaza (and there are lots of them) and main street has people hanging lights or decorations. I decided after my bus ride to see the Palace Real (Royal) tomorrow and go back to the Plaza Mayor where I had visited last time.

I was cold after the ride on the top of the bus and found a Starbucks. I mainly went in to see if they had WiFI, which they have had in other counties. No Wifi, but I did get a latte. On the way back home, I located an internet café just around the corner from my place and went in to check in with my mailbox. The café also has business supplies and DHL, so I will use them when I return for one night to clean out my luggage before I move on to Romania. I also bought a pencil as I have had difficulties with my suduku when using a pen. After the fact, I realized that I had bought a pencil and a sharper, but my pencil has no eraser. ????

Thursday, November 23 – Happy Thanksgiving

As I began walking to the Palace and the Plaza, I was keeping a lookout for a store that I spotted from the bus yesterday. It had lots of purses and luggage and I was hoping that it would have a little leather wallet similar to the one that I am carrying that is falling apart. The Plaza Major is not as large as I remember it, (Ah, youth and your eyes) and the center was loaded with trucks unloading decorations. Not the picture I remembered. I walked the perimeter and found an incongruous Ben and Jerry’s store at one of the corners. I also found breakfast of coffee, juice and the mandatory churros. Fried bread in little sticks that had my stomach rolling within 3 hours. Oh, well, it is tradition, so I had to try them.

I found a wonderful music store on the way to the Palace that had a marvelous display of all types of instruments in their windows. Did you know that a form of the bagpipe is traditional in some Spanish music? Neither did I.

The Palace Real is large, white and the official residence of the King and Queen of Spain, but they don’t live there. They only use it for state functions. I rented the audio phone and wandered through the rooms. Beautiful and brightly decorated, I bought post cards instead of trying to capture them on my camera. In addition to the official apartments, there was a temporary art display (not that interesting) and a wonderful display of old jousting equipment and suits of armor. I left the Palace in drizzle and began walking to lunch.

Casa Patas is where we would meet for lunch and a flamenco show. The group is made up of Canadians (8 from the same book club), Brits, Aussies, Welsh, and the US. There will be 25 Anglos and 24 Spaniards. The staff is Scottish, British, and Canadian and they are all former volunteers that so loved the project after their week, they decided to stay and work in Spain. Lunch was Paella, the national dish, and it was wonderful. I told someone that the last time I was in Spain, all I ate was arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) because that is all I knew how to order. I was determined to eat more widely this time. Our Flamenco show turned out to be a guitarist who was amazing. I sat close enough so that I could watch his hands as he played. It was lovely. I will definitely try to find a CD with flamenco music before I go.

After lunch and the show, a group of us went out to a bar and I got a chance to spend more time with some of the participants and staff. Trudi, her brother Phil and Phil’s son, Shannon are originally from Texas. Trudi and I found out that we have the 1300’s of Logan Street in Denver in common in that she is a consultant for Starkey International, the butler school right next to PERA. Small world. She is lovely, vivacious and will be good fun. Phil is a card and has done Pueblo Ingles (PI) 5 times before. I think he likes it. Shannon, who is living in Alaska and was a former rock band artist, fire fighter and currently is a university guitar teacher and works during the summer for Alaska fish and wildlife counting salmon. Others around the table were Luke and Jez (both staff from England), Richard (former volunteer and currently a makeup artist for the Lion King in Germany), Christine (staff from Canada), Enya (staff from Scotland) and two other people that I can’t remember. Very smoky as Spain still had lots of smokers and most of the staff also indulge, but good fun and lots of lively conversations.

I got back to my room by 8 and turned in early, as I need to be up, showered, packed, checked out and breakfasted by 9:00 am tomorrow.

Friday, November 24

Check out and found that my wonderful sister had paid for my hotel room. Do I have the best sister or what? Found a taxi to the Plaza Chamberi where we were to meet the bus and I appeared to be the first one there. Finally located other PI volunteers and left my luggage with them to find coffee for Sally and myself who is from London. Found a local café for coffee and located the rest of the herd swilling coffee. It was overcast and a little drizzly.

We loaded on the bus and found that we had 6 Spaniards who were also coming with us. My seat partner was Jose Santos, a young man with beard and long hair that sort of looked like Christ. His English comprehension was very good, but he was shy about speaking and a little slow to begin. I found out that he is a computer programmer and a Madrid Rat, meaning he likes the city over the country. Our bus stopped at 11:30 in Avilla for our only rest stop and a light lunch. Jose bought me a coffee and I bought him my new favorite candy, Kinderjoy (the chocolate egg with a toy surprise). From our stop, you could see a small monument with 4 columns, which is where St. Teresa of Avilla had her visions. The wind was fierce so most of us huddled inside until it was time to get back on the bus.

After our break, the Spaniards were encouraged to talk to someone new, so I was by myself for the rest of the trip. LOTS OF RAIN as we approached Salamanca and lots of standing water in the low-lying areas. The countryside was lovely and rolling with lots of trees and farms that mainly seem to be free-range pigs and bulls. I learned later that they are called Iberica Pigs, they are predominantly black and are fed on acorns. The pork from these pigs is considered a delicacy and is more expensive that the Serrano pork, which is usually commercially fed.

2pm we arrived in La Aberca to lots of RAIN RAIN RAIN. We all took our luggage and waited outside on the porch trying not to get wet until they called us to go to our rooms. As I watched the pairs of people going off to the different cottages, I asked the universe for a room next to the main meeting area and a room to myself, as I could tell that my cold was progressing. I was the last one to be given my key and I was placed in cottage number 24, right across from the meeting room with my housemate, Fermin (50’s business man), who had been on the bus with us and who would be living upstairs from me. I did not know until I got into our house that everyone has his or her own room. Thank you universe!

There are 25 cottages in the hotel complex. Each little house has two floors. The Spaniards are upstairs and the Anglos are down stairs. Each of the bedrooms has its own bathroom with showers and lovely hand made bedspreads on the beds. There is a common living room and little kitchenette, tv and phone. We will be called at 8:15 on the phone every morning for a wake up call and again at 4:30 in the afternoon to bring us back after our siesta.

Next came lunch and based on the room arrangements and the quality of our food, I could tell that this will be my most luxurious of all my placements. We had a welcome siesta session until 6pm. When the phone rang to call us to dinner, I was a little disoriented. We found that the phone rings about 6 times, not quite enough time for either Fermin or I to get to the phone to listen to the automated recording. If you don’t answer in time, the phone system waits about 2 minutes and tries again. If you don’t catch it, it rings louder the next time it calls. We plan to try and get to it at the first ring from now on.

We met back at 6pm and had a session of human bingo, where we had to find someone in the room who fulfilled the question in each of the squares. Some of the people we had to find included someone with a tattoo, had bungee jumped, was a Libra, did not own a cell phone, played a musical instrument, or spoke more than two languages. It was a fun 30 minutes getting to talk to most of the people in the room. We had several people with the same first name (i.e. we have 3 Jesus, so they are labeled Jesus F., Jesus L., and Jesus S. We also have a Susan, Sue and a Susie. During this time, we were all given a Pueblo Ingles fleece jacket which most of us donned immediately as it was still raining and cold. We also received the blue Pueblo Ingles exploding pen. When you go to write with it, the spring is so strong it rockets the top off the pen and all the contents fly through the air. If you are lucky, you can find all the little pieces that are required to make the pen work.

The one challenge to some of us will be our meal timings - Breakfast 9am, not bad, lunch 2pm, okay and dinner at 9pm. They claim we will be so busy that the time will just fly by. We will see.

My stomach was rumbling most of the day and I had my second-for-the-year case of diarrhea. Not as catastrophic as the one in Peru, I had several trips during the night to the little room, but managed to sleep in between. I was also on the way to developing my first real cold for the year. Probably a combination of exhaustion, 4 nights with poor sleep and the change of temperature and from summer to winter within 2 days.

Saturday, November 25 – Rice, I will have Rice, Thank you.

Runny stomach and cold in full glory today. Carried Kleenex wherever I went and felt ookey. We received our general normal schedule for the next few days.

9 – Breakfast – first conversation of the day – tables of 4 with two Anglos and 2 Spaniards
10, 11, 12, 1 – One-on-one with a Spaniard, with some hours of free time depending on the day. Some of the sessions might be a telephone conversation or a conference call with three Spaniards and one Anglo.
2 - 3:30 - Lunch – more conversation – tables for 4
3:30-5 – Siesta – YAAH!!!!!!
5 - Group activity
6,7 – One-on-one sessions
8 – Group activity or evening presentations
9 -10:30- Dinner – more conversation – table of 4
10:30-1:30 - Liquid English – social time, party or off to bed

During each of the one-on-one sessions, we were asked to explain and use in a sentence an assigned phrasal verb and idiom. Formal English lessons were a very distant memory for me, and I honestly did not remember ever being taught phrasal verbs. In the blog to come, after the Spaniards name, there will be the phrasal verb and idiom that we worked one.

My specific schedule for today was -

10 – Jesus S. – Read between the lines and Ask for - Very vivacious and funny guy.
11 – Free time - rested
12 – Maite – Blow Out and On Edge – Worked for the truck division of Volvo now owned by Ford – discussed the loss of her husband and her child.
1 – Gerardo – (sorry can’t remember the phrasal verb or idiom) - Auditor for Deloitte – discussed our mutual admiration for the LOTR Movies

5 - Group activity – 2 truths and a lie – 4 Anglos, 3 Spaniards – we had to come up with 2 statements about ourselves that were true and one that was a lie. My three statements were I had one brother and one sister, I had lived in Thailand and that my father was in the Navy. The others in our group would ask us questions to see if they could tell which one was not true. When the other Anglos were talking, I totally missed guessing on all the other Anglos and every one missed my lie. We never even got to the three Spaniards.
6 – Fermin (my roommate)– Think Ahead and Think on your Feet – We discussed the history of Salamanca
7 – FerNANDO - Blow up and Crack a Joke – Guardia Civil, Environmental issues

8 – Entertainment - Car problems in Spain, Shared Birthdays, Rain Storm

The entertainment was a humorous play acted out by several of the participants about the dangers of pickpockets in Spain. As they moved so quickly, we could not see the true action, so they kept rewinding and redoing it in slow motion. The actors were fabulous. (We would see a lot of the actions, costumes used, and key phrases and words over the next week).

The rainstorm was another group activity and was amazing. Jez lead us through four different movements done in unison and if you could close your eyes and listen, it very much sounded like a rainstorm approaching, in full bloom, and then moving away.

Due to my head cold, I have been asking that the one-on-one sessions be at my house in the living room. It is much quieter and I don’t have to shout to be heard. The group rooms can become very noisy with 24 couples trying to talk. Many groups opt to take walks in the neighboring countryside. Until I feel better, I will remain inside.

I ate rice all day and tea, which was fine and all I wanted.

Sunday, November 26

Stomach settled and I decided to eat the meals today. During the breakfast hour, the menus for lunch and dinner are posted. There are two options for both starters and mains and you indicated the letter of your selections next to your name. Then, at the meal, you pick up the colored tags for your selections and put them at your place setting.

10 – Telephone Session – Cuti – Guardia Civil – Put Away and Raining Cats and Dogs – We each had a little script and he phoned me from his house. Our topic that we selected was that I was calling about finding a place for my daughter, Felicity in the summer Spanish language course. He was excellent and would volunteer information and expand on the topic without nudging. Very fun.

11 – Jose Santos – we walked and talked – Put off and In the Dog House – A self proclaimed computer nerd, we discussed his culinary abilities, dating and family logistics. It is fall in Spain and when the sun comes out, it is beautiful with lots of orange and brown hues. We walked down a back lane along stonewalls that separated the pastures to a small waterfall. The water was not too cold.
12 – FREE time - took some medication and rested. Felt much better
1 – Lourdes – Put on and Shake a Leg – Fire Station Administrator – Evolution of Spanish Language and English slang for going to the bathroom. I.e., when is it appropriate to use the word pee?

5 - Group activity – Book Club – The Hockey Sweater – Lead by Sandy, we went through questions about the Hockey Sweater Book, and then the group moved into a political discussion about Quebec in Canada (and its hopes for independence) and the similarities to the Basque region of Spain in relationship to the rest of Spain.
6 – Dani – Call on/off and Down the Drain – Accountant – Continuation of the political discussion, he recommended the book, Cathedral of the Sea, a novel about Barcelona
7 – Rafael – Call up/back and Jump the Gun – Security Royal Family and Bomb Squad – This man had not spoken English in over 3 years and was amazing. He has had the most incredible serious of jobs as the chief of security for the Spanish Royal Family, international business man in South America for multiple years and chief of the bomb squad in Madrid. Rafa, as we all began to call him, is a HOOT, very lively, always ready with a smile and a joke and an absolute pleasure.
8 – Entertainment

Group 1’s presentation was a news program about Pueblo Ingles, very good. Thinking back, I wished I had been in group one, if only to get the presentation over with early.

Bob, a returning PI Anglo lives in London and is a balloon artist and talked about his work and passed around photos of his more elaborate works of art.

I had told Christine, our Master of Ceremonies, that if she was stuck for entertainment, I would be happy to do a monologue. I did Annie from Quilter’s, and I am sure most of the Spaniards found it very difficult to follow, but the Anglos enjoyed it.

Jez lead us in another group activity that had us on our feet doing weird movements and chanting a rhythmic nonsense verse - A Tea Ta Too

After dinner – the Quemada Ceremony – Grain alcohol, sugar, coffee beans, lemon rind and incantations from two Spaniards and one Canadian (dressed up and reciting poetry) to drive off the witches. The lights were turned off as the stuff boiled in an open skillet with a blue flame. Very strong stuff, I took 3 sips and went to bed. Apparently I missed the dancing that happened before they closed the bar at 1:30 am.

Monday, November 27

Stomach fine – cold has progressed and is now a dry cough

10 – David – Boil it down to and Hard Pressed - Guardia Civil
11 – Enrique – Break Down, Come in Handy - Banker
12 – Free Time !!! – catch up on the blog and tea
1 – Free Time but I went to the presentation of some of the Spaniards. Jose Santos (Mafia Game), Jose (Shopping Center development), Fermin (Toledo) and Jesus S. Jesus did a fabulous PowerPoint that incorporated the book, the Hockey Sweater and one of our idioms Read Between the Lines. Brilliant. I hope to get a copy of it.

3:30 – Short meeting during our siesta time for Group 4 to discuss our presentation for Wednesday night – rough start but we ended up with the plan to develop a jeopardy game parody using idioms and phrasal verbs.

5 – Group Project – Each group had to Invent a new product and then present it to the group complete with product, slogan, jingle, poster, and 30 second advertisement. Our group developed the magical PIG Hat – Pueblo Ingles Gorro – Gorro is another name for pig that is the emblem for the region. A fun project
7 – Luis – Take Care of, Spread Like Wildfire - Chemical Engineer – Formerly from the Basque region, he is very hard on himself and is rather a perfectionist and kept consulting his Spanish/English dictionary. He has a heart of gold and once he lightened up, his conversation really flowed.
8 – Free time to get ready for Miguels Birthday party

Dinner – sat in our group and Tracy and I roughed out our sketch for Wednesday night - Idiomepardy

Miguel’s birthday celebration – Miguel from the Guardian Civil turned 29 today and we had a small party for him. He received some presents, including a dancing partner made totally of balloons from Bob. I danced until 12:30 including line dancing, pasa double, disco and group boogey. Fun, loud and highly entertaining. Some of the group did not make it to bed until very early!