Spain Trip 2011
DMIS’ Spanish 4th and 5th graders studied abroad in Paracuelles, Spain from May 2 – 17. The students lived with host families and attended the Rodriguez de Celis school, where DMIS Spanish teacher Luis Diaz was once a student! The DMIS students attended a science camp for three days with the local Spanish students in the Picos de Europa mountain range, where they studied astronomy, geology, visited an artisan cheese factory and went hiking through the mountains. During their two weeks in the Cantabria region of northern Spain, they also visited castles, neighboring Celtic towns and other educational destinations.
Check out their Travel Diary below.
May 3
It’s 11 p.m. and this is Luis Diaz and Anna Perez writing from Spain. First of all, we are so proud of our children. They behaved so well and were very nice to each other on the long, overnight flight to Spain. It was difficult to sleep on the plane and we all tried to stay awake when we arrived in Spain. Although our trip has just begun, our children have already experienced several new things. First, there were no mini-televisions on the back of the airplane seats, which made the students very sad because it was a red-eye flight. So we had dinner and tried to sleep right after McKenna opened her first birthday present — she loved it! Now she has a camera for the trip. The best sleepers on the overnight flight were our 5th graders, next to Anna. And even though we did not have televisions on the backs of our seats, we had wonderful air hostesses who gave us tons of presents (mostly chocolate). The students played cards and explored the plane when visiting the restrooms. Traveling overseas was quite the adventure!
We arrived in Bilbao a little too late and there was a group of people waiting for us looking through the window — waving Spanish flags and smiling at us. It was Blanqui and Sito (Luis´ parents), Mari (Luis´ aunt) and Maria and Ángela (Sophia´s host sisters) who could not wait to see her.
We put all the lugagge in the vans and departed towards Reinosa at 6:30 p.m. (Spanish time). We stopped at a resting area to have snacks and they tasted their first Spanish food, Mari had baked an empanada made with tuna (like a tuna pie) along with some traditional and home-made chorizo and bread. All of the children loved it! Their first Spanish taste was wonderful! The pictures below are from that moment when they tasted the Spanish food for the first time. We will enclose more pictures tomorrow.
When we arrived at the school, all of the students were sound asleep in the car. All of the host families came running over to hug our students and to greet them. It was very noisy and I think it was a bit of a shock for our students at first, but it was amazing. Samuel, Liam’s little host brother, wouldn’t let go of Liam’s hand. Later, he informed Liam that he might need to cut his hair, to which the host mother quickly replied with “of course that won’t happen!”
Finally with our host families, we ate Spanish tortilla, Spanish cured meat and we shared the table with lots of children and families from the school.
On a sidenote, we would like to congratulate the Barcelona Soccer Club for their win! All of the children really wanted to watch the match, but we were too busy! We said our goodbyes to everyone at the school and tomorrow will be a brand new day. Everything on the first day went great!
Tomorrow we will all meet at the school at 10 a.m. We will be visiting the town hall at midday.
– Luis and Anna writing from Luis´ kitchen in Salces, Cantabria, SPAIN
May 4
It was our first full day in Spain. Morning faces told us that we are still getting used to our new place, new family and… new bed. We talked to all of the students to check how things went the night before and how did they feel with their host families. They really were sleepy! But everything was good.
School started with some presentations with all the school children (a total of 51 ECE through 6th grade), each DMIS student and their Spanish host sibling. Then we headed to the classroom where 4th graders did Spanish language and 5th graders participated in name dynamics and group games. Our DMIS students are just like their Spanish peers in the class — they get homework, participate, etc. The Spanish teachers are really amazed with our students level of Spanish and we feel very proud!
At the school we really feel at home. When we walked down the hallways, they were full of information and posters about Denver, DMIS and ourselves. They are treating us so well — we feel very special!
We were received by the Major of the Valley in the town hall and we got so many presents! We received guide books, posters and notebooks! The major explained to us the history of the valley and then he gave DMIS a picture with the shield of the valley, it was truly honorable.
We had pasta and Spanish omelette for lunch and they were really surprised to see a full-time cook at school and to see the children actually serve the rest of the students and to have lunch duties (like filling water jars up, serving food and bread and cleaning up) helped by the cafeteria counselors and the cooks. All the food is organic and very yummy!
Right after lunch, they have an extra hour. Children choose to either play outside or do an extra-curricular activity. Yesterday it was karate and many of our students tried it and loved it!
Since they seemed really tired and the Spanish 5th and 6th graders had drama rehearsal (they are acting in the town´s theater tonight!) we decided to go in our big van back to Luis´ living room to watch a movie and rest. After the rest time, we headed back to school where we rode the buses back home. Our host familes were waiting anxiously to start an evening full of activities (farming, riding horses, biking, grocery shopping in town, etc.). Luis and Anna went to Reinosa to buy notebooks for everybody and to change some money.
The families are writing us and congratulating DMIS families and teachers because the children are behaving so well, they are very polite and kind and Spanish families are really enjoying their new family members.
Before saying goodbye, we would like to dedicate this day to Ms. McKenna Daly, who is turning 10 today! Cake, party and presents to come and then… A NIGHT AT THE THEATER! We will be watching two plays: “Vaya lata de pirata” and “Tres hadas y media.”
We hope you liked our news.
– Anna and Luis (from the teacher´s lounge)
May 5
We celebrated McKenna´s birthday today. We are sure she will not forget this day in her life! When we arrived to the school everybody was already hugging and congratulating her. They had music, world religions and English this morning. During the morning and the rest of the day we met with three different press journalists — we are going to be on the news! They asked the children about Denver, their experience and how they learned so much Spanish. They took several pictures as well.
At lunch time, we celebrated McKenna´s birthday and the principal came to the classroom (as usual at a Spanish school, I experienced it myself!) to celebrate a traditional Spanish birthday — he pulled her ears as many times as the years of her birthday. All the children had signed a tamboreen (typical from the region) and we gave it to her and, of course, presents that came from Denver from her family and friends.
After lunch we had Science and then we went to the computer lab to open our first email accounts, what a great moment! We all wrote emails to our families. We talked about how the Spanish children are different from us and everybody agreed that they are very loud… just like our DMIS teachers! It really is part of the culture… We all headed home afterwards, because our Spanish friends had to rehearse for their drama play at Reinosa´s Main Theater. We all met there at 8 pm and the show was incredible. It was very interactive and you could hear DMIS student´s voices joining the fun.
After the play they all went out to have dinner with their host families. We joined some of them and we talked to the Spanish host families and they are still amazed about how polite and nice all of our students are. We would like to let our families in Denver know that we saw a great change today in the children: less stress, no tummy aches and they all fit in well with the group of Spanish children. We have to say that we feel it is going to be pretty hard to bring them back to Denver!
– Luis Díaz and Anna Pérez (11:30 p.m., Luis´ kitchen)
May 6
What a wonderful Spanish life… good food, good friends and we are starting to be as loud as the Spanish students — first culture shock blocked!
It was a rainy day today in Reinosa, but not in Cabárceno where our students headed for a field trip. I stayed with Cristina (host mom) and Ethan S. in Reinosa because he was having some stomach issues and we visited a Spanish doctor who was again surprised on how well he spoke Spanish. He rested for the day while we kept a close eye (and lots of hugs) on him and kept him warm while drinking some recovery drink.
Meanwhile, Anna and the kids left to Cabárceno, a Nature Outdoors Park, a true jewel of a zoo (biggest in Spain) built on a mountain with so much space for each animal. You can see the webpage here. The bus ride took an hour, but it went by quickly because the landscape is great and the students were chatting with all their new friends – in Spanish, of course! When we arrived we attended the bird’s show. It was amazing, they flew all over and very close to our heads! We also received a magistral class about birds and it was very interesting to learn about the American birds.
Then we visited the sea lion show and our bus driver was actually chosen to be the “volunteer” in the show and it was quite funny. The tricks were impressive and the sea lion seemed much smarter than we first thought. We had lunch (Spanish sandwiches prepared by our host families) at a camping spot. Right there we found a gift shop and did some shopping too, presents for our families but mostly for ourselves.
Tigers, lions, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, hippos, bears and many more animals followed. We actually drove around and did several stops because the park is so huge. Finally, we had a snack and we stopped to play a little bit next to an animal farm and we jumped into the bus to come back home.
Ethan, Luis, Cristina and the rest of the families were waiting for us. Ethan received presents from Anna, Nate and some of his Spanish friends. We did not leave home for a weekend with our families without taking our homework for the weekend. It is actually homework to be done with the families, so it will not be that difficult.
We gave them money to use this weekend and reminded them that Sunday is Mother’s Day in the States. Tomorrow they have an optional activity with Anna and Luis – if their host family does not have plans, they can come with us to visit two little towns next to the coast that are really beautiful. Again, we are so proud of our students!
– Luis and Anna
May 7 – 11
After a few days spent in a camp in the Picos de Europa mountain range, we are back home and finally technology is close to us again! The trip was amazing but we were ready to come back and write emails, hear family voices and so on. It was sunny and nice and we ate great at the camp. The only thing some of them missed was sleeping, because — part of our cultural shock — Spanish children are louder and they like to talk at night with their friends instead of sleep. So the first night we did not get too much sleep, but the second one… it took all of them just five minutes to fall sleep! However, most of our DMIS students did not feel the cultural shock and joined the chatting and flashlight playing with their new Spanish friends!
We had a wonderful time! We made bread, honey and cider, all-natural and with traditional machines that our great grandparents once used. We climbed and hiked two mountains. The first hike path took us to a cave (where we saw wild bats) and the second one to a traditional cheese factory. You may get a treat from your children when they come back — the cheese was delicious! On the way, we learned how mountains form, how the cave was actually under the sea and the shapes were formed by sea water, how animals are born, live and die in the mountains and how to check if river water is in good shape to drink or water plants.
We also played several games with our Spanish friends and became much closer — it is truly amazing to see how our DMIS children socialize with the Spanish children and enjoy every minute without noticing how great their Spanish skills are — they are acquiring new vocabulary and growing everyday.
We have more adventures to describe, but they will have to wait for tomorrow! We have many pictures to send you from our adventure in the mountains! Tomorrow morning we will touch base with you again!
– Luis and Anna
May 12 – 15
We are sending more pictures from the camp — we had so many! We only have a few more days to go on our trip! We will all sleep at Luis’ house on Monday so that we are ready for our very early morning flight on Tuesday.
The students are with their host families this weekend. Families had plans and wanted to share these two last days with them. I will pick up some of them this afternoon to go to Abiada (the town where most of them live) so that they can play together. The weather is not that nice right now — rainy and cloudy — but we are still enjoying our experience in Spain!
Yesterday, we visited the castle of the valley. We celebrated a traditional day with music and then we visited the castle. It was really interesting, the traditional singers even sang a song in English as a gift for us!
The pictures below are from the workshops at the camp in the mountains. As we told you, they made honey, cyder and bread. Everything was so tasty and best of all, it was natural and home-made. We will send more pictures tomorrow!
– Anna and Luis
May 16
SUITCASES, SUITCASES AND MORE SUITCASES… This is our life right now. The children are looking for gifts for you all using their Euros and trying to fit everything in their suitcases. Everyone is coming to Luis’ house today at 8 p.m. We will say our goodbyes and will sleep here to leave early tomorrow. Everything is ready.
We are enclosing two slideshows this time. One shows pictures about how we shared our culture at the school and regular school life pictures of different moments. Spanish children had the chance to see how we live in the States, and they even got to hear us speaking in English during their English period.
Also, you can see what we did on Friday. We were not aware, but the school had prepared a traditional day for us! Many students came to school wearing the traditional costume and we headed to visit Castillo de Argüeso (a castle) which was amazing. There we found McKenna´s host mom who works there as a travel guide. She showed us the castle and told us all about the history. We were visited by some of the most famous folk singers in the region and of course, by the journalists again. We are bringing back the Spanish news with us! The singers were truly impressive and we really enjoyed it. Teddy even tried to play a traditional instrument that looks like the violin, but it is quite different as he found out. Anyway, here is a great slideshow documenting our experience:
And then, the rest of the weekend passed quietly. Everyone stayed with their host families. Teddy celebrated the host grandma´s birthday in Abiada where he met Liam and Ethan and spent the afternoon playing with a few other children from the school, host families and myself. Nate went to Santander to watch a soccer game and do some shopping. Anand went shopping as well and McKenna went to a small town´s festival. Sophia went hiking to visit a cabin– the host families took our children to do so many things!
Today we are going to Reinosa for a little bit. We are visiting the town´s market, which is truly unique, and then we will have tapas for lunch. After school, our students will spend the afternoons with their host families and then they will come here. Hopefully the goodbyes go well, although I already know the families are so sad! Everybody is asking for one more week — even the children! We will see you all tomorrow back in Denver!
– Luis and Anna
May 22
Little by little we have come back to our daily life as we think about our experiences in Spain. We are still dreaming of how great everything was and how Spain truly touched our students’ souls. Below is a slideshow entitled “People who touched our hearts” in honor of all the wonderful host families, teachers, city officials and others who made our time in Spain so memorable. ¡Muchas gracias!
We hope you enjoy the photos!
People Who Touched Our Hearts in Spain
– Anna and Luis
