Eight Days in Spain with Pueblo Inglés

16Oct09

Published Nov/Dec 2009 by intravelmag.com

How to stay in a luxury mountain resort without spending a dime.

How about a holiday in Spain, free of charge, including your own comfortable room with a superb view over the mountains or the ancient town below, hearty breakfasts and gastronomical lunches and dinners with red wine from the very same region, a lovely swimming pool, and splendid weather? And on top of that, the opportunity to get acquainted with 20 highly motivated Spanish professionals who would fill you in on “everything Spanish”, plus another 20 interesting Anglos from all walks of life and every corner of the English speaking world? “Great”, you may say, “but….. what’s the catch”? Well, it’s hard to believe, but all you really have to do is hanging out with your new friends and converse with them in your native tongue, English!

As soon as I heard about the program of Pueblo Ingles, a Spanish organization that pairs English speaking volunteers with an equal amount of Spaniards who are eager to improve their conversational English, I could not resist the temptation and signed up for a week in Spain in the month of June. The only requirements were: NOT speaking Spanish, enjoying meeting and talking with new people, and making one’s own way to and from Madrid. Although the program does not come cheap for the Spaniards – mostly executives with an intermediate knowledge of the English language, and often sent by their companies – , the Anglo group is paid for their contributions with free room and board. The program runs in various venues throughout the country (small villages close to Salamanca and Soria in the North, and Jaen in the South), from January until November. There are also teen camps during the summer months.

On the first day of our program, all participants gathered in the early morning on the pavement of Calle Almagro in downtown Madrid. From there, a bus would bring us to the ancient mountain village of Cazorla in the province of Andalucia, about 4 hours south of Madrid. While waiting for our transport, most of the Spaniards clustered quietly together, obviously intimidated at hearing all the different English accents around them from 20 Aussies, Brits, Irishmen, Texans, New Yorkers, and Canadians. “That was not exactly the English we had learned in the classroom!” would be their comment on the variety of pronunciations and slang words they suddenly heard that morning, some time later that week. The engaging program directors had no pity with their timid compatriots, however, and cheerfully enforced the “no-Spanish rule” as soon as we boarded the bus, making sure that each Spaniard was seated next to an Anglo. That soon broke the ice and paved the way to what was still to come: an intense week of non-stop English conversation and the forging of new, close friendships between people ranging from 20-something to over 70.

Upon arrival, we were each assigned a room en-suite in one of the villas of our 4 star hotel, from where we could enjoy wonderful panoramic views: an old castle in the mountains, the white-washed medieval town of Cazorla, and the sierra with its endless rows of olive trees. As soon as we were settled in, lunch was served in the cosy dining room, an encouraging introduction to the excellent food that our imaginative chef would conjure up for us three times each day during the week to follow. His menus would include regional specialties from all over Spain such as the Asturian fabada (peppers, white beans, and chorizos), the cocido from Madrid (various meats with tomatoes and onions), and the well-known seafood paella from Alicante. Seating at the small tables was arbitrary, as long as we made sure that Spaniards and Anglos were evenly divided. Wine was included both at lunch and dinner, and helped further loosen the tongues of those who were still a bit apprehensive or wondered if they really had made the right decision to participate in this luxury “boot camp”. But by night, at the open bar downstairs, even the most reluctant Spaniard was won over, and many interesting and engaging conversations continued until the wee hours…..

Each day, wake-up call was at 8.15, followed by a lavish buffet breakfast. Then it was up to the announcement board in the entrance hall, where we would have to mark our choices for lunch and dinner, and would find the schedule for the rest of the day. The program included several daily one-to-one conversations of one hour each, carefully planned by the program director in order to give every Spaniard the opportunity to meet with each Anglo participant. Topics were of our own choice, and varied from sharing information about our jobs and families to discussing issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and the tumbling economy. But we also learned a lot about Spain itself! Miguel, a scientist and connoisseur of wine from Oviedo, talked about apple cidre, one of the main products from Asturias; with Isabel, an executive from Sevilla, I compared the similarities and differences of mortgages in our respective countries; and Alberto, a paramedic from Madrid, taught me the first steps of the paso doble. As most Spaniards loved walking, many conversations also took place on nature paths or on the way to and from the village. Others resorted to the shaded patios and the lovely terraces of the hotel overlooking the surroundings, or even paddled with their feet in the swimming pool while sharing Spanish recipes or discussing the latest victories of tennis superstar Rafael Nadal.

After lunch and the short siesta that followed, we continued with little group discussions on assigned topics such as the threat of terrorism and ETA, what we would do if we would win the lottery, the pros and cons of assisted suicide for the terminally ill, and whether children have any rights to privacy. As the small groups were always made up of men and women of different nationalities, ages, and convictions, we often had heated debates with most interesting differences of opinion!

To bridge the gap between late afternoon and dinner (consumed between 9 and 11 pm), there was often entertainment in the form of short presentations by participants, songs, and hilarious skits or silly games which, although they sometimes went beyond our comfort zone, were often so funny that we repeatedly laughed ourselves to tears. At the end of the day, the better we all got to know each other, the longer we kept lingering over coffee after dinner, or chatting over a drink in the bar or on the terrace. In a few days, everyone seemed one big family!

To break the daily routine, the program directors made sure that we also got some surprises such as the guided stroll through historic Cazorla, the mid-week and farewell dance parties, the chef’s show of preparing paella, and the Galician queimada, originally a Celtic pagan ritual, whereby witches chase away the bad spirits through conjuros and a fire drink is prepared by stirring in a pot with burning orujo, the typical liqueur of Northern Spain.

Although the Spaniards got more and more exhausted in this total immersion setting over the course of the week – some of them starting to complain that their brains simply could not take anything in anymore, others admitting to even dreaming in English -, their conversation skills improved drastically, and by the end of the week they were as comfortable speaking with their new Anglo friends as talking between themselves in English. And while last day’s goodbyes were certainly bittersweet, we were encouraged by the fact that Hector now felt comfortable to begin his trip through England, that Anna was sure she would shine during her presentation at an upcoming international conference, and that Gregorio was confident he would finally be considered for the promotion he so much desired.

As for the Anglos, the backpackers from Ireland continued their European tour, the retired Aussie couple set out for the coast of Southern Andalucia for an extended vacation, the actress from New York decided to try her luck in Barcelona, and some others feasted their last night in Madrid’s many tapa bars before catching their next day’s flights home. Despite our many differences, there was one thing we Anglos all had in common. Feeling tremendously enriched by the experience and the many close friendships we had formed in such a short time, we all vowed, without one single exception, to sign up again as a Pueblo Ingles volunteer in the year to come.

For more information and registration: www.puebloingles.com

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