Ciudad Real 2024

 ¡Hola a todos! This week we've been super busy with all sorts of activities, and I'm excited to share them with you all! To start, on Wednesday we had another chance to practice what we'd already learned of the jota manchega and sevillanas , and the students have already improved a lot! Take a look: It also rained later that day, and some students decided to celebrate: Then on Thursday we spent the evening with some new friends from Laborvalia, an organization dedicated to supporting the disabled community of Ciudad Real. They taught us a few new games that we had a lot of fun playing, and the evening ended with everyone dancing to a song that everyone knew, the Macarena. You can find some pictures of the experience below!       The winners of our games: We also went and saw a movie! This was an optional excursion, and 16 of us went to see Del revés 2 (Inside Out 2) together on Friday. It was a great time, and we loved the movie!   That's it for now! Next time I upd

 ¡Hola a todos! Last week, the students got the chance to learn a little bit more about the local culture of La Mancha, this time through the language of dance! We're learning two dances: the first is called la jota manchega , and is a local variation of the jota, a folk dance that you can find in many areas of Spain. The second kind, called sevillanas, are native to Andalucia, and specifically (as you might have guessed) to Seville and are closely related to flamenco. If you're curious what these dances look like, you can see some examples in the videos linked below: La jota manchega: Sevillanas: We began learning these dances last Friday, and will continue learning more this week! Check out some pictures of the group during our first lesson, along with our instructors Paula and Paula (yes, really!):

 ¡Hola a todos! Not every day here in Spain involves a grand adventure to somewhere like Córdoba, but that doesn't mean we're not still having fun! In addition to their classes on Spanish language, linguistics, literature and culture, the students have spent a lot of time getting to know each other, playing games, and finding all sorts of ways to be active and creative. Every day we spend the afternoon (or, if it's shaping up to be a very hot day in Ciudad Real, the morning) participating in activities like sports, theater, choir, dance, and art. And in their spare time, everyone has gotten into card games like Uno as well as games they probably haven't played since they were little, like "Heads Up, Seven Up" and "Duck, Duck, Goose". You can see a little more in the pictures below (with captions explaining what we were up to!) I'll see you all again next week to tell you all about our experience learning two traditional Spanish dances: the jota m