We've almost lived in Spain for three full years and it's almost embarrassing to admit that we are still not speaking the language. There are mitigating circumstances, like the use of the Catalan language in most of the daily living here as well as the kids attending an international school where English is the language of instruction. But you'd think after three full years we'd be speaking. And by we I mean them...the kids, because I use what I think of as "functional" Spanish. Not perfect but understandable. And because I go out into the community for things more often I have more of a reason to speak it. So started the plan to send the kids to a language immersion camp. Their Spanish teacher suggested a camp in Salamanca, a city about 2 hours drive from Madrid.
Salamanca has a gorgeous old town which was made an UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988. The buildings are made of a sandstone and they seem to glow in the sunlight. The town's nickname is El Dorado, or The Golden City. It's home to Spain's oldest University, the University of Salamanca founded in 1218. And most importantly it's inhabitants speak what is considered the "purest" form of Spanish. So, in the middle of July we all boarded a plane to Madrid, and then drove to Salamanca.
Camp check in was Sunday but we arrived one day early to get the lay of the land and for all of us to feel more comfortable leaving the kids. And by all of us I mean me. I wasn't going to leave my babies just anywhere. We couldn't actually see the inside of the campus until check in but we did manage a walk by...and we don't have a picture of that. We do have pictures of the rest of the city though...
Outside the Plaza Mayor, which reminded me of Piazza San Marco, only more Spanish.
Inside the plaza....
an old Church in the city...
..
an old Roman church that doubles as a skate park.
The Roman bridge...
A church facade....
An out of order picture of the Church/skate park...
The Cathedral...
Our short tour of the city confirmed that it was indeed a fabulous place to leave the kids. Sunday morning we slept in, had breakfast and went on a short walk that ended at a riverside bar/cafe where we played a few hands of gin rummy before we had to say goodbye to the kids.
The kids were nervous when we dropped them off but we were confident they were going to make friends quickly and have a great time. And they did.
