Month: February 2019

Another hour of free time this morning allowed me to walk up to the nearby windmills. They have been restored from the originals and look quite good from the outside. However, they are locked so you can’t enter.

 

I brought my binoculars along to do some birdwatching and saw a handful of new birds flitting around the nearby fields. Using the Merlin app, I was able to identify them as a Eurasian linnet, European goldfinch, and Calandra lark. But you’ll just have to trust me on those identifications since I don’t have enough skill to take photos of them.

This afternoon at 5 p.m., the Spaniards each have to give a presentation on a topic they were given. They’re nervous about presenting in English, of course, and many of them are using their siesta time to practice. I imagine that we’ll all probably be celebrating with them at a bar after dinner. Dinner tonight is paella, a traditional dish from Valencia. Since there are a couple of Spaniards from Valencia who will judge whether this paella is anything close to authentic, it will be interesting.

Some more interesting tidbits about Spain:

It’s not afternoon in Spain until lunchtime at 2 p.m. Until then, it’s still morning.

Spanish toilet paper isn’t perforated.

This region grows almonds as well as wine grapes.

 

I have an hour of free time this morning, since there are more Anglos than Spaniards, so we get a break occasionally. I have time to write a bit in the blog about yesterday and today’s activities.

It was a full day’s schedule of conversation and conference call practice sessions yesterday. But during the siesta time, Susan, Elizabeth (both Anglos) and I walked 15 minutes up the hill to the castle. The castle was closed so we couldn’t go in, but it’s an expansive view from the top. I read that the movie El Cid with Charlton Heston was shot at this castle.

At the end of the day, there was an entertainment hour with music and a skit, then dinner at 9:00. After dinner, at 10:30, nearly everyone went to a bar in town (a 3-minute walk) that opened specially for us, and Pete hosted a pub trivia quiz. There were 4 teams of 6 people each and all the questions were in English, of course, although there were also music questions and some of the songs were Spanish. My team didn’t win, but it was fun. A group of us left at 12:15 after the trivia ended, but many others stayed to drink more.

This morning, it was lightly foggy outside at first, but the sun is burning that away fairly quickly. At noon today, after the first two conversation practice hours, we’re all going to a nearby winery for a tasting session. The staff members collected 8 euros from each who wanted to attend, and we’ll carpool there in the cars of Spaniards who drove to Belmonte rather than taking the bus. 

Some other miscellaneous information:

Of the 14 Anglos here, 6 are from the US, 6 from the UK, and 2 from Kenya.

Our hotel was built on the ruins of the oldest building in the town, which dated back to the 1300s. It was first the palace of regional ruler, then later was changed to a nun’s cloister, not a monastery as I reported before. It’s immediately next to a very old church.

In the summer, Belmonte hosts an annual jousting tournament where people wear medieval armor, even in the 90-degree heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a fairly restful night last night (fewer jet lag wakefulness periods), I awoke at 7:30 to another sunny morning. 

The daily schedule at Vaughan Town is fun but long. The continental breakfast buffet started at 9:00, as it will each day, and we’re required at all the meals. We choose our meal partners, but there has to be two Anglos and two Spaniards at each table. We eat breakfast in what the hotel calls The Cloister, which is also where we have some conversation activities later in the day.

Starting at 10 a.m., we meet our assigned Spaniard and have a 50-minute one-on-one coversation about whatever we want. There are 13 Spaniards here and 14 Anglos, and by the end of the week, we’ll have had at least one conversation with each Spaniard. At 11:00, we meet our second assigned Spaniard for another one-on-one. Then at noon, one of the Vaughan staff members met with the Spaniards as a group to tell them about the presentations they will have to prepare and give in English on Friday. The Anglos met with the other staff member to get instuctions on how to participate in practice telephone conversations and conference calls.

Then, in the hour befor lunch, we had a group activity in which groups of 6 played Two Truths and A Lie. The group members have to guess which of three statements you tell about yourself is a lie. At 2 p.m. it’s lunchtime, which is served in the restaurant of the hotel by wait staff. Again, 2 Anglos and 2 Spaniards at each table. It’s a 3-course lunch (first, main, and dessert) in which we each have a choice of two dishes. My lunch today was a lentil and pork stew, then some battered cod pieces, then white chocolate mousse. And a bottle of wine is on every table for lunch and dinner.

After lunch, we get a 1.5-hour siesta time. I wasn’t sleepy today, so I went out and took some photos of the town and castle.

At 5, 6, and 7 p.m., we had more 50-minute sessions for conversation and one practice telephone session, in which we’re given roles to play on the phone, each talking from our room phone.

At 8:00, Pete, one of the Vaughan staff, hosted an entertainment hour in which he played the guitar, some Anglos and Spaniards gave a very short skit, and then Pete got 4 of the men to pretend they were a boy band, which was very funny. Then we went to dinner in the restaurant at 9:00. Here we also get 3 courses with a choice of 1 of 2 dishes each, plus a bottle of wine at the table. My dinner tonight was cream of squash soup, chicken wings, and a banana. After dinner ends at 10:00, we’re free to do what we want. Tonight my choice was to write this blog post and go to bed. Tomorrow night, I may walk to a local bar with many of the group. The bar is opening specially for us.

9 of the Spaniards are from Spain’s Guardia Civil, which is evidently like the FBI. 8 men and a woman. It’s been really interesting to hear about their work in conversations. There’s also a Spanish soccer coach from a Mexican team who was recently fired from the team, an HR director from an multi-national car fleet leasing company, and an architect. And did you know that Spaniards are big NBA basketball fans? Basketball is a popular sport in the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This mornng, we left for Vaughan Town, the English immersion school taking place in the small town of Belmonte. After checking out, I walked with another “Anglo” from the hotel at 9:30 a.m. to meet the bus taking us there, which was waiting for the group a few blocks away. It was another clear, sunny and cool morning. There, we met some of the other Anglos who had been at the tapas reception the night before, some of the Spaniard students, and the two Vaughan staff members who are coordinating the session. Weput our luggage on the bus, introduced ourselves to the Spaniards, and got on the bus, pairing up with a Spaniard to sit with for the first part of the 2.5-hour trip.

I sat with Robert, a marketing entrprenuer who owns a successful, growing business. As we talked, we drove through a dry countryside that was mostly flat with some rolling hills and small towns every once in a while. At the 1.5-hour mark, we stopped at a gas station with rest stop and had a half hour break where we could buy drinks and use the restrooms. Then it was back on the bus, this time sitting with a new Spaniard. This speaking partner was Juan Vicente, a software programmer.

At the end of the trip, at 12:30, we arrived at the Palacio del Infante Don Juan Manuel Hotel Spa in the very small town of Belmonte. I hope to describe the town more in tomorrow’s blog. The hotel is built in a very old monastery, with archeologically-dug monastery rooms on display below the ground floor.

After providing our passports to the front desk and stashing our luggage in a big room, we started the first half of an orientation given by the Vaughan staff members. At 2 p.m., we went into the hotel’s restaurant and ate lunch. Two Anglos and two Spaniards at each table, with only English allowed the whole week.

Then, our individual rooms were assigned, we got our luggage, and siesta time! I first walked around the hotel grounds to take pictures, then took an hour’s siesta in my huge, quiet room! Very nice!

 

After the siesta, we finished the orientation and then held two one-one sessions with the Spaniards. Dinner was at 9 p.m. I was really tired since I hadn’t slept well last night. So right after dinner ended at 10, I returned to my room to finish this blog posting and go to bed.

Well, I didn’t get my lost luggage delivered yesterday. It wasn’t delivered until 3:30 p.m. today. So my nice lost luggage man yesterday wasn’t telling me the whole truth. But not having luggage didn’t stop me from doing some sightseeing in Madrid.

After a pretty good night’s sleep despite not having PJs and toiletries, I got up this morning and enjoyed the hotel’s buffet breakfast. It was another sunny day in Madrid, although it started out cool, in the 30s. But even that cool temperature didn’t feel too bad, because it’s dry. I drank lots of water and then set out on the subway to go sightseeing in central Madrid.

I started out in Puerta del Sol, one of Madrid’s many plazas. 

I walked around, enjoying the pedestrian-only streets and main thoroughfares.

Then I reached Parque del Retiro, or Retiro Park. Being a Saturday morning in the sunshine, lots of people were out walking and rowing in the park. Lots of house sparrows, pigeons, and Eurasian magpies active too.

After exploring for a couple of hours, I headed back to the hotel to check for my luggage. It was a no-show until later, but when it was finally delivered, I happily took a shower and changed clothes. Just in time for the 5 p.m. tapas reception for the English-speaking immersion school volunteers at El Balandro, a tapas bar that was a 15-minute walk from my hotel.

At the reception, there were about 30 anglos destined for three different school sessions in different towns, plus three staff members from Vaughan Town, the immersion school. We enjoyed Spanish tapas, wine (both paid for by Vaughan Town), and getting to know our fellow volunteers. Most are American, with a few Brits mixed in. After a couple hours of socializing and getting the details for the week ahead, we headed back to our hotels. I celebrated having PJs and then hit the sack.