Camping, now in Spanish!!

The second round of smallish Spaniards have come and went. Its very strange to look out into a group of people, expecting to see familiar faces, only to have your mind tricked... I see all the same bodies, and shadows. Hear the same familiar voices, and pitter patter of 10 year old feet, but the faces have changed... They have transformed into different smiling faces yearning for knowledge and acceptance...The experiences that you have with the kids is great, although short, and leaves great lasting impressions.

Alberto with his prize horseshoe!

Other experiences besides waking up, singing, teaching, playing, reprimanding, picking up, feeding, footballing, running, and putting to bed the kids has been Ivan. Ivan is probably the most kind and interesting Spaniard, if not human, I have met thus far. Ivan is the Spanish farmhand who takes care of maintenance at Esgaravita and more importantly, the horses. He has joined me and my English teachers here at the farmhouse for BBQ's and drinking on many occassions. (He doesn't drink alcohol, but he gets wasted on Coca-Cola, it really hillarious, its a site to see) He takes care of the farm I am at in addition to a very large horse ranch about 15mins away. This past Sunday he took me, Sara, Camilla, and Pepper to the epica (equestrian center) to get some horseriding in.

Ivan making out with the farm burro, Ramoncito

Suffice it to say, I haven't rode a horse, or anything that resembles a horse(other than my motorcycle, which is very different I've learned) since an awesome Grand Canyon trip when I was approx 12 or 13... Ask my Dad, It was one of those trips that you remember forever.

So I'm sitting on a horse. We're walking along, checking out the Spanish countryside, crossed a small creek, loving life. We start to trot, going good, I can handle it. Pepper's horse, Baraka, is one of the wildest horses on the ranch and doesn't really want to do anything but run. He starts to run... that means we all start to run. Pepper and Sara run off at rapid speeds. I lose site of them as they run full speed into some trees... Of course my horse, Mysterio, follows going pretty fast, at least for me... the trees speed by me... Sara gets hit in the face with a branch, knocking off her glasses and cutting her on the forehead. I see a 15 foot steep embankment to the road. One would think the horse would go up slowly, but he's obviously done this before and hits the hill headstrong. I lean forward, hug Mysterio's neck and close my eyes... Effing crazy horse. We all end up on the road. Looking at each other, wondering what just happened. We headed back to the epica for some beers and to relax. A great Sunday of riding thanks to Ivan. Friday he is throwing a BBQ at the ranch for a birthday and to say good-bye to some teachers leaving for bigger and better places.
Me and a horse... just relaxing...

Camp is winding down and I'm starting to look forward to my life after camp. Heading back to Madrid, and starting to find more work, and plan some travel. Updates to come.

If you around, and in town, let me know, and we'll get down..... brown clown....

-Lo

"Its not the experience you have, but the people you experience it with..." Pepper Walkup the Baraka tamer

Red Hot Spanish Summer...

Welcome back to the Angeloco Spanish Hour... Grab some popcorn...

¨Lo¨ entering one of the many workshops...

The tornado of a week has flown by leaving a warpath ingrained in my psyche of life at camp located in Alcala de Hernares.... La Esgaravita.. All the cliches are true... Everything from 'Ernest Goes to Camp' to 'Red Hot American Summer' can or has happened. Our oldest campers are about 14 years old so we don't get some of the craziest camp pranks available, but it is still non-stop coas- (choas in espanol)...

Yesterday all the campers got in a ton of trouble for taking all of their canteens and having a water fight all throughout the bunks... I found it quite entertaining, but the monitors did not... On top of being an English teacher at camp, I am also a semi-camp counselor helping to organize all the activities these 100 kids do... So yesterday we went to a pantano (small lake) for rowboating, archery, and wall climbing. A good and exhausting day all around.

Tons of camp games such as 'Angels & Demons' and 'Capture the Flag' are played often. Camp romances (twelve year olds holding hands) and rumours are prevalent. I am in charge of the bi-weekly sports outing to the community soccer fields where huge 'partidos' (matches) ensue and a quick dip in the pool afterward. And of course, the big 'buzon' (mailbox) where everyone can have their letters sent to their friends and read aloud to the whole camp... Good times.

The Americans showing the Spainards what a Slip ´n´Slide is...

My class consists of eleven 8-9 year old spanish children who are so fun and cool to hang out with... I've receive several drawings on the white board from the girls, and the boys like to bug the girls while they are doing it. I'm very happy with the group of kids I have to teach and hopefully some of the concepts and vocab sticks... But, I also understand I only have two weeks to teach something in an ever changing camp environment. At the end of the day, the kids are here to have fun during their summer, and keep their english levels consistent with constant usage in social situations... Its a blast.

I never went to summer camp, but now I'm catching up for lost time.... The food is very 'campy'.... As in mass produced... and just tasty enough to be called food.. Sometime the lunch ladies (They serve all meals, but its just easier to call them that) surprise you and know how to make a really good spanish dish in mass quantities. My fellow teachers and monitors are fun to hang around and we work well together... Sometimes you need to just hang out with a couple of people your own age and have a nice cold one after dealing with spanish brats all day... So its good to have them around...

Some of my best campers... throwing up the hangloose sign... since thats all i do all the time...

Fourth of July went off without a hitch... I brought a little piece of the red, white,and blue to camp... We had a true American BBQ complete with burgers, dogs, and Bud. A six pack of longnecks costs an arm and a leg but the nostalgia was worth it...

All is going well. Its hard not to be going well when my biggest responsiblity is to entertain 8-12 years olds in english... sometimes they bug.... but come on... its camp...

Kevin just booked his flight to Madrid... just another brave soul taking up my offer to enjoy the spanish lifestyle.... more to come

"We're not superstitious, We're Catholic" -Katrina explaining the difference between superstition and catholicism.....