Off to Pueblo Ingles

Tonight I am feeling a mix of emotions as it is our last evening in Madrid. I’m filled with excitement for the new journeys ahead, but leaving this familiar city where I have learned and grown so much is bittersweet. My head was buzzing with many thoughts and reflections today as I walked the city streets for the last time. I look forward to sharing a bit of what I’ve discovered, but tonight will not be the time as we’ve had a long day of packing and transition, with a big day of travel planned tomorrow.

Today Travis and I attended our orientation luncheon of Pueblo Ingles. Beginning tomorrow morning at 9:00am, there will be no Spanish words departing from our lips. We are not allowed to speak anything but English for the next 8 days, as we volunteer in this English-language immersion program for Spaniards seeking to improve their beginner/intermediate English. As we’ve briefly explained before, the purpose of this program is to provide conversational teaching to native Spaniards, ranging from a variety of ages, backgrounds and professions. In fact, many Spanish companies send their employees to this program to improve their language. We will be sharing our time and our life stories by making new international friends in a pleasant, bungalow-resort setting in the small, historical, mountainous town of La Alberca in the northwest of Spain. And what’s the best part of this all? It’s absolutely free. We volunteer, they provide accommodations, food and a promise of a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After learning today that we will probably be spending over 100 hours in conversation this week, this is sure to be very unique! There are 16 volunteers and 16 Spaniards. We met the “Anglo” group (English speakers) today over a traditional Paella lunch with a Flamenco performance. The group members come from a variety of professional backgrounds, with the ages ranging from 20’s to 70’s, and a good representation of England, Whales, Ireland, Canada and the United States. Tomorrow we hop on the 4-hour bus ride and the talking begins straight away as we’re paired with the Spaniards to sit by. Over the course of the next 7 days, our schedule includes 4-6 one-on-one hour long conversations with each of the 16 students, meal times together, planned group activities, entertainment and even phone conversations and conference calls to provide opportunities for them to practice their listening skills.

Being that we will be in a remote location with limited internet access this week, we’re not sure how much blogging we’ll get around to. But, please hang tight as I’m sure we’ll have many stories to share when we’re back online. Finally, don’t forget to vote next week! With the election news, I’m sure it will provide for an interesting topic of conversation this week in our international setting. Hopefully we’ll have access to the news to get the results!