I'm sitting in a laundromat in Madrid waiting for my clothes to dry. I'm exhausted, my voice is almost completely gone, and I just had an exhilerating week of conversation and fun with complete strangers!
The purpose of this visit to Spain was to participate in two English immersion programs for Spanish speakers who wish to increase their conversation, comprehension, and presentation skills. The philosophy of the programs is to take an equal number of Spanish and Anglo participants to a fairly remote location, where all everyday activities are conducted entirely in English. There are two companies running the programs: Pueblo Ingles and Vaughan Town. They are essentially competitors, and I couldn't decide between the two, so decided to give both programs a try. Their programs appear to be essentially the same from what I have read. I had a basic idea of what would be involved: breakfast at 9am, two Spanish and two Anglos (english speakers) per table, followed by four hours of one to one conversation sessions, 2pm it's time for lunch (2 and 2), siesta. At 5pm an evening group activity, two more hours of one to one sessions, an entertainment hour, then more two to two over dinner at 9pm, with the day officially ending at around 10:30pm, when the bar would be open and those still willing to chat could do so over a few quiet drinks.
That was the theory anyway. Despite the various explanations on the websites, I could never have anticipated the actual experience. From the initial bus meeting point, where we Anglos had been instructed to “grab yourself a Spanish, and talk his/her ears off on the bus”, I realized that this week was going to be far more complex than I could have imagined. My bus trip was shared with Estrella and Frederico, probably the first terrified Spanish people I have ever spoken to for two hours each. We started off on the basics of family and work, interspersed occasionally with the bonus (for me) of having a tour guide to explain the features of the area, the kinds of wine produced there, the agricultural processes, the history, culture, etc.. Conversation flowed naturally into so many different subjects that wouldn’t usually occur with a casual acquaintance or even possibly with a long time friend.
Our destination was the outskirts of La Alberca, a small historic village in the northwest of Spain. Accomodation was in large apartments shared by an Anglo downstairs, with the Spanish taking the more luxurious upstairs (that's OK, they paid to come here, and they're working!). The complex itself was laid out round a main building which housed the dining hall, bar, and meeting room. My apartment was right next to the main building, and had a nice sunny lawn area where we tended to hang out in the afternoons enjoying the sun. The weather was wonderful the entire week at La Alberca, though felt a little cold to me coming straight from the Florida heat.
The staff was Brian, the Anglo Master of Ceremonies, Mayte, the Spanish Program Director. There primary function was to encourage the group bonding experience and keep the program flowing, and dealing with minor issues that arose during the week (Dr visits, heating issues, etc.) They did an awesome job: the week went smoothly, and the group cohesion was an incredible thing to experience. I would never imagined, without seeing it, that such a diverse group of people could share such an intense experience in such a short time. The conversations were far beyond what I had expected, and more fun than I could imagine. Scattered among the one to one conversation sessions were other activities such as phone and conference calls, group activities and impromptu skits. Though these were a source of fear, they were a great source of amusement for all, even the terrified participants.
Top the whole thing off with some very intense dinner conversations, late night parties, disco dancing, ancient ceremonies, and the very occasional lapse into Spanish (only once or twice), and it made for a very enjoyable, intense week.
I have committed to a similar session with the competitor company starting early tomorrow morning. Foolishly, I did not anticipate how exhausting this would be, nor how many clothes I would wear! Hence the laundromat. When I'm done here I'm going to eat and go back to my room to siesta!
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The hike in was good, and we saw many more other hikers on the trail than last year, which was immediately after a forest fire. This year the ajor trail damage was caused by windstorms. There was an area about a mile long that was constant blowdown of small trees, hundreds of them. It was like trying to hike through pick up sticks. The saddle campground at Hidden Pond was occupied, so we continued on out to the opn campsite by the lake, which I think most of us prefer anyway. There was no drunk naked guy at the Pond this year, but there were at least two other groups camping around the lake. Just as we were setting up our dinners someone called our "Bear" and sure enough a large Black Bear was wandering along the opposite lake shore. It apparently circled all the way around the lake, as someone later saw it while taking a bathroom trip, but it never bothered us.
