Letter home to parents

I just wanted to share with you, all of our adventures in Spain. Sadly- this brief summary will not be able to capture all that we saw, and did, but I hope it gives you an insight into the incredible week we had!

Sun January 10th/Mon January 11th Thankfully our departure was smooth. Our flights were on time, and after a brief layover in Dallas the flight across the Atlantic (though crowded) seemed short enough. I had been warned a couple days in advance that Madrid was experiencing a cold snap - that was certainly an understatement. As we made preparations to land most of us thought we had changed course and landed somewhere in Siberia. After landing we boarded a bus and transferred to our hotel, in the heart of Madrid. In an attempt to deal with our jet lag I made sure to keep the kids busy during the afternoon, so we made our way to the Reina Sofia Museum, which houses Picasso's "Guernica" and a wonderful collection of modern art. Following our tour of the museum we took a brief walk to the San Miguel Mercado (a fully enclosed farmers style market) via Plaza Mayor. While there the students had their first taste of Spanish food, including chocolate and churros.

Tues Jan 12 Most of Tuesday was spent with our colleagues and peers at the British Council School. Due it's location in relation to our hotel, the easiest way to get there was by Metro (which was an learning experience). While at the school we performed for the primary, middle and upper school students, shared lunch with our hosts, attended an English class, and enjoyed a traditional paella dinner. Following dinner we had an evening performance for a group of English language learners that attend classes after the school day. For many students this day was certainly a highlight as it gave them an opportunity to socialize with peers, connect with old friends, and meet new acquaintances.

Weds Jan 13 Weds. morning gave us a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep. After breakfast we left for the British Council School around noon, arriving in time to share lunch with our peers. Following lunch we boarded a bus for Avila, a lovely city located about 50 minutes away from Madrid. Upon our arrival the bus driver drove us around the city so that we could admire its ancient city walls. When we reached the Cathedral we were completely amazed. Construction on the Cathedral began sometime in 1095, and as we walked through its old stone breezeways you couldn't help but feel as though you were being transported to a different time. The Cathedral itself provide the perfect backdrop, and acoustics, for our evening concert. We were rather nervous that the cold weather might dissuade guests from attending, but we were pleased by the turn out. The original plan was to have students from the British Council school read poems and appropriate scriptures between our musical selections. Unfortunately those BCS students were unable to attend. Luckily we have many fine Spanish speakers in the choir. Yuvi, Guito, Danielle Scwhartz, David Farley, Junior and Laura Morgan all volunteered to read the planned passages and did a remarkable job! In fact Timothy Jones (the head of the music department at BCS) asked "is there anything your students can't do?" As for the concert itself, over the course of my 13 year teaching career I can only recall one other time (2004 -Madrigal performance at Ground Zero in NYC) when my students performed in a manner that moved me to tears. It was a moment in time that I will always cherish! Following the concert I recieved many wonderful compliments from the audience in attendance. Many struggled with in broken English to express their thanks and appreciation.


Thurs Jan 14 Our plan was to visit the Royal Palace in the morning and the Prado Museum in the afternoon, however for some unexpected reason the Palace was closed to tourists that morning, despite having made a reservation. We quickly regrouped, and took a brief tour of the Almudena Cathedral located next to the Royal Palace. With the remaining time students were given an opportunity to shop and dine in Plaza del Sol - a bustling city centre. After lunch we walked to the Prado Museum making sure to visit some of Madrid's famous building and sculptures on the way (Alcala Gate, Plaza de Cibeles). Sadly - we only had a few hours to explore the Prado museum but we saw many of the famous works housed here including: El Greco- The Nobleman with a Hand on His Chest and The Adoration of the Shepherds, Goya- The Naked Maja, The Clothed Maja, Valazquez - Las Meninas Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights and Rubens - The Three Graces. After our visit to the Prado we boarded busses and headed over to the BCS school for our evening concert with the BCS primary school choir.


Fri Jan 15 After breakfast we boarded the bus for a 50 minute drive to San Lorezo de El Escorial. Now a Unesco World Heritage site, the monastery at El Escorail is teeming with history. Most of the Spanish Monarchs (Bourbons and Hapsburgs) and buried there, and the art gallery houses over 1500 painting and tapestries dating back to the 16th century. Also housed here are construction tools, blueprints, and household goods used during that time period. Since students were given "free" time to explore on their own I thought it might be interesting to give a brief "pop quiz" after our visit to see who was really paying attention and reading the informational boards in each room. I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the students took a keen interest in learning more about where we were. On our way back to Madrid we stopped to visit one of Spain's most controversial places. Built during the reign of Franco the Valley of the Fallen was built using slave labor. Republican slaves had to dig into the side of a mountain to carve Franco's memorial. Though it was originally constructed as a memorial to all that had died during the civil war, the only names inscribe on the memorial are those of Franco and the architect. The memorial was surrounded by mountains and thick forests stilled covered with patches of snow....that the students put to good use. We arrived back to Madrid with plenty of sunlight hours still available so we gave the students an opportunity to choose between visiting the Real Madrid Futbol Stadium or the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum before having dinner.

Sat Jan 16 We left the hotel early in the morning and spent the entire day in Toledo - an AMAZING city located about an hour outside of Madrid. This beautiful ancient city is often sited as one of the only places in the world were the Jews, Christians, and Moors lived in relative peace. While there we visited a metal workshop where Toledo's famous swords, and jewelry are hand-crafted. While in the city students were given an opportunity to visit the Toledo Cathedral,Santa Maria la Blanca - "the oldest synagogue building in Europe that is still standing", and break up into smaller groups to shop and dine on their own. If you have never been to Toledo, you should make an attempt to get there at least once.....pictures can not capture the magnificence of this city! That evening we had originally planned to attend a flamenco show, but when we went to pick up our tickets at the theatre box office we were told that there "was no show". After an hour of google searching Mr. Rowling (faculty chaperone) came across a performance at the Teatro Real - a historic theatre near the Royal Palace - that seemed appropriate. It was "performance art" piece that included an artist and a jazz trio (piano, drums and bass). As the trio improvised the artist painted on large canvases that stretch across the stage. Though the performance didn't appeal to every student it was interesting to see artists and musicians working collaboratively.


Sun Jan 17 UGH! Sunday was a very stressful day!! With the recent bombing attempt, security at the Madrid airport was tight. We went through four security checks including a full pat down and bag check.Even little JP was patted down. Though we arrived over two hours prior to our departure we had very little time to sit and relax at the gate. The extra security also meant that some of the passengers were late to the gate, delaying our plane. Our flight arrived in Dallas with only one hour to go through customs, recheck our bags, go through security and make it to our gate. With 31 hungry teenagers in tow - you can imagine how difficult this was. LUCKILY our flight to San Diego was also delayed by 20 minutes so we managed to make it home. (Though our bags did not!) This certainly wasn't the way we had hoped to end such a wonderful week......but in hindsight it could have been much worse. I could be typing this email from a hotel in Dallas instead of my living room! : )