English Immersion adventures in Spain

Volunteering for an English Immersion school in Spain turned out to be an amazing, intense and heart warming experience in the mountains of Corzola….a 5 hour bus ride through the country side through winding mountain passes of the Andalusia area of Spain.

The most surprising sights for me were millions and millions of olive trees, miles of them, rows of them, criss-crossed patterns of them as they were planted in opposite directions to protect the land erosion or defining the boarders of different plantations. I was mesmerized with the patchwork quilt designs as my eyes scanned miles of vistas on the bus ride up the mountains. Wisconsin has wheat fields and corn field and vast expanses of soy bean fields. Spain has Olive trees and grape vines.

Every minute I was learning something new on the 5 hour journey from Madrid to Corzola during conversations with other Angelo volunteers from Scotland, Ireland, England, Malta, Canada and only 2 of us from the USA. Some of them had volunteered before and were giving us some new insights to get prepared for. We had all stayed 2 days in Madrid and first met up for lunch of the famous rice and meat pallea and then a flamenco dance performance before we received our orientation instructions and preparation for the Diverbo English Immersion experience. Some of us continued to walk around Madrid and tour the palace or museums as they are all free and open until 9 pm. I preferred to mingle and walk the streets of people wandering and chatting as it is a most social experience to enjoy the “street life” of Madrid. Main streets are totally blocked off so that waves of people wandering and laughing and chatting can be totally enjoying the social connection that happens every evening on the streets of every city in Spain.

I was thrilled to see thousands of people out walking and enjoying the brisk, fresh weather and the enjoyable serendipity of stopping to chat and catch up on “caring” about each other or have a glass of wine and some tapas together in the joy of the moment and the pleasure of conversation ….quite unlike the American pass time of sitting in front of the TV and desperately flipping channels to be entertained….while not talking to each other.

The very first day we settled into our rooms and then met up for some light tapas (a variety of appetizers, wine, olives, cheeses, pates….what wonderful pates. I never liked liver so much….they are true artisans of liver spreads.)

The most difficult adjustment for me was eating dinner at 9:30 PM. My usual pattern is dinner at 6 and I was diligent about eating nothing after 8pm. Aaargh….. Now lunch was at 2pm and nothing until dinner…a big huge , 3 course dinner at 9:30 to 11pm including salads, appetizers, soup and then a main course of fish or vegetarian or game with choices of foul, pork or wild game. This was an area famous for wild game and wild boar and venison (deer) was on the menu. Every morning we could make our choices from a nice variety of offerings for what we wanted for the 3 course lunch and the 3 course dinner. Breakfast was a vast array of buffet at 9 -10 am.

After about 4 days I gave up on eating much at the dinner meal and just choose a salad course. My body just wasn’t adjusting easily to eating large meals that late and I sure didn’t want to waste big portions of salmon or various offerings of other very fine fish or meats.
These meals were wonderful and accompanied by free flowing wine and would have easily cost $60 to $100 per meal at US prices in a fine dining restaurant. But the conversation was the most nourishing part of every meal. We would take long enjoyable hours for the meals igniting laughter and chatter about travel experiences and the sharing our life stories from all the different countries.

Each day would start with conversations only in English at breakfast and then one on one conversation with a different Spanish person changing every hour between meals. We could go for walks on beautiful winding paths through the forests and over bridges to find waterfalls and awesome scenery that was still tinged with autumn colors. We could also choose to sit on sun drenched decks or balconies as we chatted and enjoyed beverages and a good dose of sunshine and vitamin D.
Our evenings were occupied with fun group activities lead by very talented and high energy group leaders and an acting coach who would choose some people each day to create a hilarious skit that always kept the laughter rolling and our energy high.

I enjoyed every experience and I never in my life enjoyed so much conversation. Every person was interesting and eager to practice their English and improve on their conversational ease and they were happy to be corrected so that their accents could improve.

Of course they found out about my book and many of them bought the books I had brought with me and I am thrilled to say that many more are still ordering the books on Amazon. I love the e-mails I am getting from them telling me how much they are enjoying my adventures in Turkey in “Diary of a Turkish Wedding” Thanks to them my book has now gone International and I am thrilled.

Sometimes we would dance and party even after the 11pm finish of the evening meal and we often talked until 1 or 2 AM. Salsa dancing was a great treat after all day of brain grinding with conversation and problem solving in the evening activities and skits.

For me the true richness of the travel experience is interacting with the people and learning about them and the culture. This was a more rewarding and rich experience than any of the cruises I had ever taken because I was immersed in the culture and nourished by the warmth and friendship of the Spanish people. I enjoyed every minute of it and I must admit that it was one of the most intense programs I have ever been active in. I will do it again because I enjoyed the energy of the Spanish people so very much and I loved the culture. I will never do 2 weeks in a row again. Just too intense and exhausting.

My pleasure of the experience was magnified by a generous offer from Susanne to come to her 4 bedroom home in Alicante,….another 7 hour bus ride in the opposite direction of Madrid. She and I had really connected in a conversation about the “laws of Attraction” and she had been reading some books and wanted to learn more about it.

Being with Susanna and her BF Antonio was like being HOME. I can hardly explain the immediate connection and totally enjoyable 4 days I had with them as they showed me every thing they could think of in Alicante and Elce…world famous for the wide variety of palm trees and the shoe making industry that used to support the entire area until it moved to China. We walked for hours on a lovely sunny ,warm day at the Santa Barbara Castle with Montana, from Canada and Maria from another city near Alicante. We spent hours at the Castle on the mountain overshadowing Alicante and then walked the famous Esplanade along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The next day we walked all over Elce and went to a huge outdoor farmers market (like 7 mile fair) and then they took me for a wonderful dinner at a chinese restaurant and that was a thrill because by then I was really bored with the Spanish food. The meals were good but very bland. I always had to hunt down the waiter to give me pepper and they use white pepper...not black pepper. They just don't use much for flavor and nothing is spicy.

I couldn’t stop the tears as I said goodbye to Susanna as she was preparing to teach school that day and Antonio had the day off so he drove me to the train station for my next big adventure. 360 mph on the High speed train between Alicante and Madrid. That experience had been on my bucket list for a few years and now I have accomplished another milestone. I have now visited 4 more cities than I thought I would in Spain. I am so very glad that I followed my inner voice and booked an extra 5 days for magical adventure (unplanned)on my Spain journey or I never would have been able to spend this very special time with Susanne and Antonio.

A 2 hour high speed (350 mph)train ride deposited me in the middle of Madrid and I spent from 1:00 PM to 11:00 PM walking from the Palace around a total circle route on the main streets circling the city center. I stopped a few times for tea to warm up and watch the people….the most amazing thing about Spain is the people and the social culture of enjoyment.
The best part is that I spent less than $500.00 for 3 weeks in Spain (plus the airfare) the 2 weeks at the resort in the mountains was completely paid for and the transportation to and from was paid by the English Immersion school. Returning to Madrid from Alicante I spent $120.00 on the high speed train for a first class ticket and that included a meal. Spent about $100 on Christmas presents and the rest was 2 nights in hotels a couple of meals and taxi from the airport in Spain.

Spain….WOW ! It was a grand and expansive experience.


Read more about adventures in Spain in my book "Mirror,Mirror"  the chapter... Majorca magic
 http://www.amazon.com/Sunni-Boehme/e/B00A3YGFD4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Finding God in Action 2013

How did my life get better today?

I met God in Action.

I was walking into Pick and Save and there was a man all bundled up ringing his bells for the Salvation Army with such gusto that it moved me to take action. Instead of waiting until I came out I reached into my purse and took out money to deposit on the way in. the way that he looked directly into my eyes and thanked me just touched my heart. I felt the warmth and energy while I did my shopping and decided to give all my change from the purchase into the red pot again. Again there was a beautiful exchange of gracious humility and thankfulness. I put my groceries into the car feeling so warmed by the interchange that I decided to take some dinner and a hot drink that I just purchased for myself back into the store front and give it to him. The look on his face was priceless and he hugged me and thanked me for thinking of him. It's 20 minutes later and I still feel like I was hugged by God.....and so happy that I took a little extra time to acknowledge the God in him. Give what you can ....when you can and you will be rewarded with riches that will fill your heart with love. I feel richly rewarded.

If you enjoyed this, and want more finding God stories. Check out my book Mirror Mirror - http://www.amazon.com/Sunni-Boehme/e/B00A3YGFD4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1