Classic vs. Modern – The 2008 Spanish National Magic Convention
by
Martin Kaplan

With ominous dark clouds threatening rain, the 29th edition of the Congreso Nacional de Magia kicked off at one o’clock on Thursday, September 25, 2008 in the City Hall of Valencia, Spain.  After a brief welcoming speech from the Vice-Mayor, all six hundred attendees were treated to champagne and hors d’oeuvres.  From that moment on, we all new that nothing -including the weather – would dampen the spirit of all of us who had gathered to celebrate four very special days dedicated exclusively to magic.

Planning for this event, under the auspices of the CIVAC (Círculo de Ilusionistas de Valencia, Alicante y Castellón) and its President, Pepe Monfort, began in September of 2007.  Their goals were to create an experience for the attendees that were second to none and to establish a standard against which all future conventions would be measured.  It was the unanimous opinion of both performers and attendees that they met their goals and then some.

Working closely with City Hall, the organizers were given permission to use three different venues for both the competitions and the galas.  El Ateneo Mercantil was the site that housed the dealers’ room and its stage was the site that was used for all lectures, as well as the more intimate gala, La Gala Ensalada.  The Athenaeum was founded in 1879 and it is a prime example of classic Valencian architecture.  La Sala Matilde Salvador, housed within the walls of the original University of Valencia, was the site chosen for the close-up gala and, last but not least, the organizing committee was given permission to use Valencia’s oldest theater, El Teatro Principal.  The theater was opened in 1832 and it is a jewel of a theater.  We would get to witness the Maldita Gala, Ilusiones en Concierto and the Awards Gala in this venue.

All of us would get to attend the two galas held in the Teatro Principal, as well as all the lectures.  We would be divided into smaller groups to see the close-up gala and the Gala Ensalada.  So, come along with me and share my experience of this stellar event.

The first event on my schedule was a lecture by The Fat Brothers.  The Fat Brothers are Miguel Ángel Gea, Christian Engblom and Dani DaOrtiz.  Individual performers in their own right, they joined forces about two years ago and have worked extensively in Europe and The Unites States, including a week at The Magic Castle.  Gea, originally from Argentina, now lives in Spain and is known mostly for his work with coins.  Engblom, from Finland, is an expert with cards and is perhaps best known for his Anti-Faro Shuffle.  DaOrtiz, a native of Malaga, Spain, is one of Spain’s most accomplished cardicians.  He is affectionately referred to as a machine or a monster, since many are convinced that he could do a three-hour set with cards and never repeat himself.  I have known Dani for almost five years now and I think that he is well on his way to becoming the next close-up star from Spain.  He combines the best qualities of Ascanio and Tamariz.  He is well versed in magic theory and psychology and his knowledge and execution of technique is second to none.  When you add to the foregoing the fact that he is a very affable young man and always connects with his spectators, you can begin to see why I rate him so highly. Each of the “brothers “ performed and explained one effect.  Gea’s effect was a coins through glass routine.  Engblom did a version of Oil and Water with gaffed cards and DaOrtiz performed an effect where he consistently guessed the two cards that a spectator had cut to from a thoroughly shuffled deck.  They concluded their lecture by offering their new DVD for sale at a special for the conference price.

At 5:00 PM, Dale Salwak, The Gentleman of Magic, was introduced and he proceeded to offer us all a brief lesson on theory and performance, which he concluded by working with a volunteer from the audience to prepare a brief routine that stressed the points that he had made in his lecture.  He then had the volunteer, a young woman, teach the routine to two other volunteers from the audience.  It was an effective demonstration that drove home the important points that he had stressed in his lecture.  What I found to be most valuable was his asking us, when we are performing on stage, to imagine that we are surrounded by panes of glass on all sides and that when we show an object, be it a ball or a fan of cards, we should imagine ourselves pressing that object against the pane of glass so that it is clearly visible to the audience.  Using this strategy, the performer will never block the view of half the audience, nor will the hand showing the object move out of the frame of the spotlight.  Salwak finished his lecture by taking questions from the audience.

Thirty minutes later the space that hosted the first two lectures of the day had been fitted with an impromptu curtain in preparation for the Gala Ensalada.  The term “ensalada” is a play on words.  The normal meaning of the word is salad and the word, in this case, was meant to convey the fact that a number of very important ingredients – the performers – would be combined to present a tasty appetizer for all that was to follow.  The word “sala” in Spanish also means room and that was an appropriate word to describe the venue in which the show was to take place.  One of the scheduled artists, An Ha-Lim, winner of the People’s Choice award for Stage Magic at this year’s combined IBM-SAM convention, was unable to perform due to the fact that his luggage had unfortunately been lost in Paris by the airlines.  Charlie Frye and Company proved to be a very worthy substitute.

Nacho Diago who had won Stage Magician of the Year at the 2007 Spanish National Convention emceed this gala.  In addition to performing several effects he did an able job introducing the aforementioned Charlie Frye and Company, as well as Avner the Eccentric and David Williamson.  I must confess that, watching these three gentlemen perform, I have never laughed so hard and so much in my entire life.

This was my first opportunity to see Avner work in person and I was amazed to see someone do so much with so little in the way of props.  He truly is a master of his art.   Charlie Frye never fails to entertain me with his juggling skills.  His combined routine using jumbo linking rings is always top notch.  What can I say about David Williamson that has not already been said?  His zaniness transcends linguistic barriers and his ability to connect with an audience on a personal and emotional level does not require a translator.  I, along with the rest of the audience, was enthralled by this gala.  There was one more event on my schedule this day, a 12:30 AM lecture by Lee Earle and Michael Mesmer, but a rather full day combined with a twelve-hour plane trip the previous day and a nine-hour time change convinced me to head for my hotel room instead of the lecture hall.

I slept in on Friday and did not make my way to the Athenaeum until mid-afternoon.  At 3:30 I was comfortably settled in my seat, prepared to learn from a master, Avner the Eccentric.  His ninety-minute lecture touched on a number of themes, but the three points that made the greatest impression on me were the following.  The dominant emotion that is present at the beginning of a magic performance is fear and that is true for the performer, as well as the audience.  The task for the performer is to conquer his fear and diminish that of the audience.  When selecting a volunteer from the audience before inviting him or her on stage, it is always best to elicit three yes answers from the volunteer prior to inviting them to come on stage.  This strategy will serve to put the volunteer at ease and will make it more likely that your volunteer will reply in the affirmative when asked to join you on stage.  Avner believes that the performer should never request the audience to give the volunteer a big hand as he or she makes her way to the stage.  In the volunteers mind, he or she has yet to do anything to merit applause and it may serve to generate additional fear and nervousness.  His last point that resonated with me dealt with the respecting of the personal space of the volunteer and strategies that will allow you to get closer to your volunteer without making him or her feel uncomfortable.  Avner concluded his lecture by inviting us to join him in the two workshops that he does every year.  You can check his website for further information.

After a thirty-minute pause, Gaetan Bloom took the stage and for the next ninety minutes demonstrated and explained a number of his very commercial effects.  I was most impressed by his version of Three Card Monte, which makes use of Mylar to do the dirty work and his no reel version of Ring Flite.  When Gaetan finished his lecture, he offered for sale all of the products that he had just demonstrated.  Needless to say, business was brisk.

At 7:45 PM all six hundred convention attendees, as well as a goodly number of the general public were comfortably settled in our seats waiting for the Maldita Gala to begin.  The word “maldita” in Spanish translates as wicked or damned and I think its title was chosen to indicate that we would not see on this bill what we have come to think of as traditional or classical magic acts.  Advisories on the posters outside the theater warned that some of the material to be seen that evening was inappropriate for those less than sixteen years of age.  Some parents who disregarded this advisory, in retrospect, might have wished they had not brought their very young children along.

This gala was hosted by Jandro, a twenty- something comedy magician from Valencia, who has achieved national prominence through his participation in NADA X AQUÍ, a weekly television show dedicated exclusively to magic.  The September issue of Magic Magazine, with Jorge Blass on the cover, did an in-depth article on this program.  Jandro proved to be an amiable host and ended the show by recreating Houdini’s Milk Can Escape.  For me there were two other notable performers in this rather non-traditional show.  The first was Stevie Starr who has achieved notoriety as a regurgitator.  As an unbelieving audience looked on he proceeded to swallow and regurgitate water, sugar, coins, live fish, cigarette smoke, dishwashing liquid, butane and an eight ball.  It truly was a sight to behold.  The other notable performer was the individual whose magic video has had the greatest number of hits on You Tube.  No, it was not David Blaine, nor was it Criss Angel.  It was none other than Ursula Martínez who proceeded to animate the magician crowd and horrify the parent crowd as she repeatedly disappeared and reproduced a red silk from a variety of locations.  Her unannounced appearance was truly the surprise of the convention.

When the show concluded at 10:00 o’clock, we made our way to a nearby park where we would get to witness the preparation of a Jumbo Paella for 600 and then it would be up to us, the magicians and their guests, to make it disappear.  The paella pan was so large that it required a truck with a crane to lower it into place.  It took about twenty minutes to finish the cooking of the paella and within the space of fifteen minutes we all had been served a most generous portion of very tasty paella.  The evening was finished off with a ceremony known as a “quemada.” A “quemada” involves the preparation of a magical elixir made with whole-grain alcohol, sugar, coffee beans and lemon peel.  It is a traditional way to finish off a special meal in Galicia, which is located in the northwest corner of Spain.  The ceremony was hosted by El Mago Antón who was hoping to have Galicia designated as the site for the 30th Spanish National Magic Convention.  The party broke up a little after 1:00 PM and we all bedded down for a night of sound sleep.

Saturday morning came all too soon and I needed to dedicate some time to getting my bags packed for a Sunday departure.  For that reason, I was a few minutes late to David Williamson’s lecture, which was delivered to a packed house.  In the course of his lecture he demonstrated and explained several of the effects he had done in Thursday’s gala.  All this was done to the accompaniment of gales of laughter as David proceeded to enlighten us and entertain us for some ninety minutes.

I only had fifteen minutes to make my way to San Matilde Salvador where I would get to see the close-up gala.  We were both entertained and mystified by the card magic of The Fat Brothers, the coin magic of Giacomo Bertini, the card stylings of Dennis Behr and Iñaki Zabaleta.  Last on the bill was Tom Kennedy from Sweden.  This was the first time I had seen him perform since I only knew of his work from a number of e-books that he has published.  I was most impressed by his Cups and Balls routine.  What made it special for me was the fact that at various times during the routine his shoe appeared on the table.  When the performers had finished taking their bow, I beat a hasty retreat from the performance space in search of a snack to hold me over until that evening’s Gala Dinner.

At 8:00 o’clock I was back inside the Teatro Principal awaiting what promised to be the most magic event of the convention, Ilusiones en Concierto.   In addition to a star-studded international bill, all of that evening’s performers would work to the accompaniment of a live 25-piece orchestra, Latino y La Seda Jazz Orquesta.  The emcee for the show was none other than Jorge Blass, the subject of a rather extensive article in the September 2008 issue of Magic Magazine.  In addition to introducing each of the artists, Yunke, Nestor Hato, Gaetan Bloom, Luis Manuel, Jean Pierre Blanchard and Amos Levkovitch, he did a masterful version of Dean Dill’s Explosion and concluded the evening’s festivities with his version of Snowstorm in China.  What distinguished his presentation was the fact that at one point he levitated about six feet in the air to the surprised gasps of the audience.  The number concluded with the entire theater being covered with snow, which magically seemed to flutter down from the highest point of the theater.

As we exited the theater we were delighted to discover that buses were waiting to take us to the site of our Gala Dinner, L’Hemesfèric.  L’Hemesfèric is one of four very modernistic structures to be found in Valencia’s Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias.  Santiago Calatrava, a world-renowned Valencian architect, designed it and it was opened to the public in 1998.  A better contrast between the old and the new could not have been found as we made our way from the 19th century Teatro Principal to this most modern of 20th century buildings.

When we arrived, champagne and hors d’oeuvres were being passed.  A short while later we were all seated at our tables and were served a very elegant four-course meal accompanied by some of Spain’s best wines.  Later in the evening the winners of contest were announced and trophies presented.  For those who chose to linger there was an open bar that would close at 2:00 AM and for those who were really intent on partying, the festivities would conclude outside L’ Hemesfèric at 4:30 AM.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Awards Gala on Sunday.  I needed to return to Madrid to make my airline connection back to Los Angeles.  As I sat in my seat during my twelve hour flight, I played back in my mind all of the events of the past few days and, in doing so, I realized that I had been privileged to attend what for me was the most magical event in my lifetime of magic.  My heartfelt thanks go out to the Sociedad Española de Ilusionismo and to the CIVAC for a job extremely well done.

Remarks by Martin Kaplan

Cum Laude Initiation

February 17, 2009

I think the last time I spoke formally before this many adults was at my Bar Mitzvah. Some of you may have read about it. Moses couldn’t make it because he was still wandering in the desert. Okay, I exaggerate a bit …but not that much. And I say that because as I sat down to commit my thoughts to paper, I did the math and discovered that I have spent the past sixty-four years of my life in an educational setting either as a student or a teacher. And in those sixty-four years I have always sat on the other side of this lectern, where you are sitting now, and have always been the recipient of the message rather than the deliverer. So, given my experience and given the fact that I am a magician, I know what you are thinking. You’re thinking, “Dear Lord, let him be interesting and, above all, let him be brief. You will be relieved to know that those are my two goals for this evening and I hope to realize both, but, truth be told, I will be happy to realize one of the two. That would give me a batting average of 500 and that’s not too shabby. Especially when you consider that I will have done it without the use of steroids.

Our life is frequently compared to a journey and I, along with those of you who will be honored tonight and those of you who were honored last year, are about to travel down a new road. You juniors will spend the summer thinking about your next steps after you graduate from Westridge. By the first of May you seniors will have a clear idea of where your next destination lies. As of this moment, as I prepare to leave Westridge, I am not yet sure where my path will lead, but I know that many exciting adventures await me.

Keeping the journey analogy in mind, I have decided to share with you some of my thoughts about twelve items or reminders we should consider taking along with us in our metaphorical backpack as we continue on our separate ways. I guess you could think of what follows as Road Food for Thought.

1. Cultivate the ability to laugh at yourself and always remember to pack your sense of humor. They will help get you through a number of the difficulties that you most certainly will encounter along the way. Try not to take what are truly the minor aggravations in life too seriously. As we used to say in the 60′s – that’s the 1960′s – “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Or, as my wife is fond of saying to her best friend, Ruth, “Ruth, lighten up.”

2. Everyone has something to teach you. My students have taught me some of the most important lessons that I have learned in my time here at Westridge. However, keep in mind that in order to learn the lessons that others might teach us, we need to be a good listener and to truly understand what it is that someone is telling us. In addition to processing the message, we need to capture the emotions behind the message. We all need to tell our story. We all need to be understood. We all need people to listen to us and not just hear us. Make every effort to be an active listener.

3. Initially, everyone deserves your respect. That means that, in my book, respect does not have to be earned, but rather it needs to be maintained. It is incumbent on me, as it is on others, to continue to be deserving of that initial respect that was freely given, because, at the beginning of a relationship, no one deserves to be nor should they be disrespected. When asked what the secret of my success here at Westridge is, my answer is always the same. I treat ALL people as people and it makes no difference to me if they are a fourth grader or the Head of School.

4. Happiness comes from within. It is not a cloak that we can wrap around others. We can cheer people up. We can make them smile and we can make them laugh. However, no matter what we do, we cannot make them happy. If your goal in life is to make your daughter or your friend or your partner happy, you are doomed to failure. That is something they need to do for themselves. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Happiness is not a goal, it is a byproduct.”

5. Seek to uncover your passions. Discover what it is that really animates you, that really motivates you, that truly brings you pleasure, that makes you feel vibrant and alive. I shudder to think who I would be without my passion for magic, for Spain, for Spanish and for teaching.

6. Do not underestimate the importance of the little things in life – a smile, a hug, a please, a thank you. They enrich our days and they enrich our lives. They are the bases on which relationships grow or whither. To greet someone by name empowers people. It let’s them know that they are known, that they are not just one of the multitude, that they are someone.

7. Be here now or, as a friend of my wife is fond of saying, “Make sure your head and your feet are in the same place.” We are often so busy planning our future that we forget the present. We constantly pass up opportunities to be with our family, our friends or our loved ones because we are just too busy. Sometimes we even forget to make time for ourselves in our overly full day. Then comes that moment when we stop and ask ourselves, “Why am I doing all this?” “What’s the payoff? These are excellent questions because it is the love; comfort and understanding that we receive from our friends, family and loved ones that help us feel good about ourselves and give life its meaning. One of my favorite quotes continues to be, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.” This quote always makes me think of a memorable meal that I had in Spain with one of my best friends. At one point I looked at him and asked, “Shouldn’t you be getting back to work? His response was an eye opener. He said, “Not really. My work will be there tomorrow, but you won’t.”

8. Be worthy of other people’s trust. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Stephen R. Covey in his best-selling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People writes about the need to establish with others an emotional bank account that we pay into regularly. The currency of that account is trust and the more deposits you make the better and stronger a relationship becomes. If you overdraw that account, you jeopardize your relationship with others. They will no longer take you at your word. They will no longer believe what you say. They will no longer believe in you. On the other hand, if you have a large surplus in your account, it will see you through those times when you make mistakes- and we all make mistakes – provided that you acknowledge those mistakes.

9. Be your own genuine self. As you may already well know, this is easier said than done. Just who is your genuine or true self? Is it the self your parents want you to be, or is it the self your teachers want you to be? Maybe it’s the self your friends want you to be. Or perhaps it’s the self that society wants you to be. Maybe it’s the self that Westridge wants you to be. Maybe it’s some of each. Maybe it’s none of the above. Wherever the answer lies, it is your responsibility to discover your true self and discover it you must. So the question remains. Who are you? What is it you love? What is it you value? What is it you cherish? What is it you espouse? What is it you are willing to defend? Who are you? I honestly cannot tell you how many times I have been asked why I am so nice. The answer is very simple. I am so nice because that is who I am. As you may have already discovered or as you will soon discover, there are three basic questions in life that we all must answer. Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? It is clear that all three are inter-related, but the first must be answered before we can answer the other two.

10. With time, as you look at the canvas of your life, you will realize, as I have, that it is populated by acausal events. Acausal events are events that happen to us that cannot be attributed to a conscious or unconscious choice and show a pattern that cannot be explained away by attributing them to chance or happenstance. If you were a Jungian you would call it synchronicity. If you believed in destiny, that’s what you would call it. No matter what you wish to call it, I can point out, at least twelve acausal events in my life that clearly show me what it is that I was meant to do and who it is that I was meant to be. Why was it in 1960, when I was a sophomore at Boston University, needing a fifth course to round out my schedule, I decided, if that is indeed the correct verb, to take a beginning Spanish course? I had no previous interest in the language. No one in my family or circle of friends was of Hispanic heritage. In truth, I just wanted to finish registering for the semester and get the heck out of that building. Had I not signed up for that course at that point in time, I doubt that I would have ever considered taking Spanish again and had I not signed up for that course, I would never have been a Spanish teacher and I never would have met my wife of almost 44 years. There are other acausal events in my life that explain why I am a teacher, a translator, a writer, a magician and an adopted son of Spain. All of this is to say that we need to take advantage of every experience with which life presents us, because it is only later in our lives that we will be able to put them into a context, as we attempt to discover what it is that we are meant to do and who it is that we are meant to be.

11. Patience and persistence are two qualities that we should all cultivate. These two qualities are probably the key to why I am a successful teacher and why I am who I am today. It is only by being patient, perhaps overly patient, with our students that we can give them the time and space to develop their true potential. Learners send themselves a goodly amount of negative messages. We, as teachers, should never add to that list. The undeniable truth about teaching is that some students get the concept more quickly than others. The true test of teaching is what you, as a teacher, do to ensure that everyone “gets it” to the best of their abilities. Being patient is a virtue that is worth cultivating in all our relationships. We need to recognize that we are all works in progress, no matter what our age. I am constantly reminded of the need for patience when I recall a thank you note that was written to me by a former student. It read, “Thank you for believing in me when I couldn’t. Thank you for believing in me when I wouldn’t. Thank you for believing in me now that I can and do believe in myself.”

12. Love is not finite. Love is infinite. The amount of love we are capable of giving to others is limited only by ourselves. Life does not impose any limits on love. Is it possible for me to love all the members of the class of 2009, as well as all the students I currently teach and all current students whom I have taught? The answer is a resounding yes. And I am not even counting the other members of this community for whom I have a great deal of love and affection.

In conclusion, let me extend my congratulations to my fellow members of Cum Laude, both old and new and let me extend my thanks to the other members of this community – parents, faculty, administration and staff – who have assisted, encouraged and supported us on this leg of our journey. In all sincerity and honesty, I cannot think of any other place where I would have wanted to spend these past twenty-six years. Lastly, let me thank all of you for believing in me even though you have known for a long time that I can and do believe in myself.

As many of you know, this is the fifteenth group that I have lead to Spain.  I have done this over the space of thirty five years.  Although I have had the opportunity to travel with many outstanding individuals who took maximum advantage of their time in Spain, I have to confess that this particular group os the best group I have ever traveled with.  Groups are a mystery.  After all these years I am still unsure about what it takes to make a group function as a group.  In the end, it comes down to the individual and whether he or she is willing to do whatever it takes to make the group function as a group.  I have no doubt that when we started I was dealing with thirteen unique individuals.  Some were shy, some were outgoing, some were questioning and some were fearful.  Be that as it may, everyone was able to step up and do whatever was necessary to make these thirteen individuals function as a unit.  It is a well known maxim that groups form or do not form because of or in spite of the leader.  I have no doubt that the pre-trip preparation laid the foundation for this group to form, but it was the willingness of each individual to contribute that made this group work.

The girls’ teachers at Sampere were in love with them.  Our students were well prepared and, in class, they were attentive, cooperative and always maintained their sense of humor.  In addition, they were very responsible.  This was the first time that so many students formed such a strong bond with their host families.  Several of the girls prepared meals for their families.  Some of them wrote very appreciative notes.  Others found a significant gift to give to their family.  One of the señoras allowed as how she had always been reluctant to host Americans, but our girls helped change her mind.  She confessed, half jokingly, that she would like to adopt the two girls who were staying with her.  On our group outings the girls were always good humored and good natured.  They never complained about having to walk so much or having to take yet another picture.  They had made up their collective mind that they were going to enjoy everything we did and indeed they did.  Each and every one of them moved away from their comfort zone and were willing to risk.  As a result, the girls who returned home were quite different from the girls who left LA on June 12.  In the process, they gained a sense of perspective that will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives.

As I conclude, I would like to thank my co-chaperones, Sabrina León, Bill Harrison and Bonnie Martínez.  I would like to thank all those individuals at Westridge who helped me to get this trip underway. Lastly, I want to thank my wife, Susan, whose understanding, support and love always stand me in good stead throughout this journey. ¡Hasta la próxima!

“Now I realize that the best way to learn a language is to listen to it and be forced to speak it.  After this trip, I will remind myself how important it is to hear and speak Spanish in order to improve.  I enjoyed how class demonstrated not only the importance of grammar, but how important it is for all of us to practice our grammar through conversation.”

“I developed a greater appreciation for history, Spanish culture, art and architecture, all of which are interesting and phenomenal.  My favorite excursion was to Aranjuez.  I loved the intricate and extravagant details of the Palacio Real.”

“But, the things I did with many people, either organized for everyone or spontaneous, provided me with a great time.  I loved the Retiro and I really enjoyed the time many of us spent there together either playing games or talking.

“Just as I had expected, this whole trip was an amazing experience.  I learned a lot of Spanish and a great deal about culture, history and art.  I learned about living in Europe, adjusting to new customs, and spending a great deal of time with a small group of people.  I will always remember this trip and I hope to be able to come back to Madrid in the future.”

“When I came to Spain, I was hoping to become more confident and fluent with my spoken Spanish and to experience the culture of a foreign country.  However, I have gained much more from this trip than I ever expected.”

“I have noticed that it is now much easier for me to express myself while using various verb tenses, and even the forms of irregular verbs come more easily to me while speaking, due to frequent use.”

“One part of the culture in Spain that I will miss when I return home is all the walking and the good public transportation.”

“One thing that exceeded my expectations was the more social side of this trip.  I became closer with every person in the group, even people who I never really talked to at school.  I go along with everyone and it was fun to be able to share an amazing experience with everyone.”

“Basically, the main reason why my experience in Spain has exceeded my expectations is because it has assured me that choosing to come here was the right decision for me.  I had never been to Europe before and this truly is a once in a lifetime, amazing experience.”

“I have even dreamt in Spanish a few times during the trip and I guess I take that as a sign of affirmation that I should continue with Spanish.”

“I remember one of Fran Scoble’s speeches when she talked about experiencing times when you can say you are absolutely, truly happy.  I have found more of these moments in this month when I am truly happy than I can count.”

“As for home life, I am very glad we were given the opportunity to live with a family.  To me, this helped me get a really unique experience where I could be fully immersed in Spanish culture and habit.”

“I now have a greater appreciation for language and language learning by living the life of a Spaniard, rather than talking about it in a classroom.  I am more confident in my Spanish and feel I can carry on a fine conversation with a Spanish speaking person whether in Spain or in California.”

“I feel I have grown more independent.  I found myself able to navigate using any map, figure out the metro system in a couple of days, walk aimlessly (while of course knowing where we will end up) through the gorgeous city of Madrid with one of my best friends.  I feel I am bringing home more trust in myself and without the constant help that parents love to give.”

“This trip has opened may doors for me.  I have become more interested in language and, even though I was curious about countries and cultures outside my own before, this trip has heightened my interest in something I could continue to study in the future.”

“I feel that being here in Spain has taught me to accept new cultures, be open to new things, and, most importantly, I have matured and become more independent.”

“They (our teachers) brought both young and sophisticated culture to the table and the most interesting material they taught me was colloquial speech and slang.  I felt very Spanish knowing slang.”

“I realized that I want to learn about new cultures, but not in a tourist way.  I want to live the lifestyle and join in it.”

“Also, being on my own has taught me strength, independence and maturity.”

“I really felt in charge of my own life.  I was in charge of expenses, my eating, and making my own decisions.  I am so grateful that my parents and my school were able to provide this experience for me.”

“I hope and believe that this journey does not end this week.  It has opened up a door into my future and it will facilitate my imminent desire to immerse myself in other cultures.”

“All worries and fears aside, this trip has no doubt been a major highlight in my life and the lessons I have learned are priceless.”

“I never thought that I would learn so much about how to handle stress and converse with people from around the world in only one trip.  I have also learned to stand up for something I believe I deserve and to take a bit of a risk in the pursuit of achieving what I believe is right.  This lesson will remain with me forever.”

“The amount of culture I have soaked up throughout this trip is almost insane.  I feel more cultured in Spain than I do in the US.”

“Words cannot describe my appreciation of this journey, for it has been a priceless trip and learning process.  I am sure that the values I have picked up in Spain will stay with me throughout my life and the material I learned in class will not be forgotten.  This trip has inspired me to use the Spanish language in whatever my future holds, and I will definitely return to Spain no matter what.”

Here is the second of three installments of student reflections.

“However, after learning about all this culture, I have realized that the one thing I learned most about is myself – my likes and dislikes, the way I interact with others, how I deal with situations (either with friends or strangers), and, most importantly, how I view myself as a person and how I look at life….This trip has changed me as a person in so many different ways and I am so grateful to have been able to experience everything that I did.”

“The very few moments that I did become homesick, I would make myself inter  act with others so that I could get my mind off of it so that I could enjoy every moment of this trip.  And it worked!”

“Before this trip I was never very comfortable interacting with people, but now that I have been doing it for the past month, I know that I will not be as anti-social as I have previously been in my life because life isn’t nearly as fun if you are only keeping things to yourself.”

“Now that I finally do have a better idea of who I am, I am so much more comfortable and confident in myself, which is such an amazing feeling. Now that I feel comfortable, I am no longer holding things in and this has made life a lot more enjoyable for me.”

“Here in Spain I look forward to everything I do – go to school, go to museums, relax in the park, eat tapas, walk around the city, go swimming, take a siesta, etc..”

“I am hoping that I will be able to make some time for myself at home to do the things that I do here, because I love feeling this relaxed and happy about life every single day.”

“I am happy we went to the Prado Museum and went to see Velázquez’s paintings.  I always see his famous painting with that little girl in the middle and the reflection of the king and queen in the mirror and Velázquez himself in the background, painting.  I’ve always seen pictures of this painting and it looked amazing in the pictures.  But, seeing this painting in real life, in its actual size was truly amazing.”

“I really enjoyed the food here.  I love tortilla and paella.  I do not know what I am going to eat when I go home.  The food at home does not compare to the food here.”

“I have realized that as much fun as I can have with my friends, I do need times when I need to get away and be by myself.”

“Even though I miss home, I would definitely do this trip again or I would like to come back and stay longer, maybe with my sister.”

“I absolutely loved this trip.  I am so happy I signed up for it.  I cannot believe I even questioned going on this trip or even was hesitant to sign up for it.  I feel a lot more comfortable with my Spanish.  I understand it better and I love it so much more.”

“By going on this trip I have been able to grow, develop and change significantly.  Staying with a family and being immersed into the Spanish culture has benefitted me tremendously.  Staying with a family was the best part about this trip.  I liked talking to my señora and having conversations for more then five minutes.  At the end of this trip I can now have a conversation in Spanish and understand what is going on.”

“Our day excursions that we took to Spanish comedies, musicals and plays was a really great way to expose us to the culture.  These kinds of activities we did were not tourist-like and it made me feel as though I lived in Madrid.”

“If I could I would stay in Madrid the whole summer because I have fallen in love with the city and I have learned where everything is.”

“This past month has been one of the hardest, most rewarding months of my life.  I’ve learned so much about the world, but even more about myself.  This trip is definitely not what I expected, but, because of that, I have learned so much more.”

“In the past month I have learned more Spanish than I ever thought possible.  School was great and something I looked forward to every day.  I really liked the teachers and how, in class, we could just talk and not have it be so structured.  It was great to learn Spanish in Spanish and not have everything be about translating.”

“I was proud that when we went out we never had to ask for anything in English and were able to get by speaking Spanish everywhere.  I now feel so much more confident speaking Spanish and understand so much more.”

“It was hard not having my own space and freedom to do what I wanted, but I learned how to make sacrifices and work together with other people.”

“In the past month, I have been more independent that I ever have.  I’ve lived in a household without my parents, gotten to where I needed to be everyday without the help of an adult and managed taking care of myself.”

“On this trip I had the opportunity to be with people that I am not usually with.  I made new friends and met new teachers.  I learned a little how to open myself up to new people and not be afraid that they would judge me.  I’ve learned a lot about the people around me and made friends I would not have made before.”

“Aside from learning the language, I’ve learned so much about Spanish culture. I loved going to the museums, eating authentic food, seeing concerts and shows, and just taking in Spain.”

“ I definitely think I have changed in the past month.  I am much more confident and independent and I can do more things for myself.  I have learned how to live with other people.”

“Spain has been one of the most fabulous, life-changing opportunities I have ever experienced.”

“I have become more comfortable with talking about my feelings.  Spending time with people for 24 hours every day has helped me be more confident in myself and has helped me act my own way, and not conform to other peoples’ actions.”

“When I come home I will definitely be sad because I will not be able to order food, ask directions or buy clothing by speaking Spanish.  Never before this trip would I have had the confidence to walk up to a complete stranger and talk to them in Spanish.”

“Looking back at this trip, I think it has helped prepare me for college.  In college you need to be able to get to class on time, manage our own money and live with new people.  The Spain trip has resembled that exactly.”

“Although I can’t wait to see my parents, I never want to forget the time I have spent in Spain.”

‘The kind of independence I got was knowing I could be away from home.”

“This trip is the longest period of time I have been away from home and, on top of it, not only is it unfamiliar territory, it’s a totally different culture and language.  Being in Spain for a month has helped me calm some of my fears about college (which even though is still kind of far away, is relatively daunting).

“Another thing this trip helped me with was tolerance….This trip reminded me how hard it is to learn a new language, especially the older you get.”

“My relationship with the Spanish language has changed significantly throughout this trip.  I’ve found myself spewing out sentences with proper grammar without thought (as opposed to my usual Tarzan-like fragments).  Along with speaking, my understanding has taken significant strides.”

“It’s extremely difficult to sum up my personal experiences with this trip.  Two journals filled with thoughts explain only the surface.  I loved every bit of it.”

“Before, I was simply learning (Spanish) because it was requires at school.  I never really thought about how useful it is and how cool it would be to speak it fluently.”

“I have fallen in love with the culture and the “españolas”.  I love the pride they have for their country.”

“In regards to discovery of self, I have learned to be more open and light-hearted.  I am a very sensitive and emotional person, most of the time, so some times I overreact over little things.  I was worried that this would be one of my downfalls on this trip, but instead I learned to understand myself better in that respect and to change, in some ways, for the better.”

“I always thought friendship meant always spending time with your friends and keeping one another entertained the whole time.  I’ve come to realize that being friends does not mean having to do something all the time and talking every single second.  I actually really appreciate the moments we aren’t talking.  I like the way we can just sit on our beds and read/write/listen to music by ourselves.  We do not have to engage each other in activities or conversation all the time.  I’ve discovered that friendship is being able to communicate and tell each other what we’re thinking, even of the other may not necessarily want to hear it.”

“This has also been a good time for me to realize how much I appreciate my parents.  I definitely take them for granted, but not having them here allowed me to see how much I really miss them and love them.”

“I’ve learned to be more of a leader and more assertive in what I want to do.”

“I’ve come to value trust and honesty a lot more.”

The immersion program in Spain is different from any other trip that Westridge offers or has offered.  All other trips involve travel as a group with limited, if any homestay time.  Students usually stay in hotels, travel by bus, van or train and eat as a group.  Free time is very limited.  The opposite is true for Spain.  Although we do have a goodly number of group activities planned, students are responsible for getting themselves to the assembly point.  They do live with families, they do have a goodly amount of free time and they are responsible for managing their time and their money.  Given those differences, the qualities that the group leader of this trip needs to possess are quite different from the qualities needed on a trip that is essentially organized by an outside agency.  The group leader must have good organizational skills, as well as being fluent in the language of the host country.  The group leader should also possess a good knowledge of the host country’s history, culture and Culture.  Culture with a small “c” refers to customs, habits, beliefs and the living of everyday life.  Culture with a capital “C” refers to the art, music and literature of the host country.  If there are gaps in the knowledge of the group leader in any of these areas, the ideal solution is to seek out chaperones whose knowledge and experience with complement that of the group leader.  Keeping the foregoing in mind, the group leader must also possess good interpersonal skills and good communication skills.  He or she must be a good listener.  Most important of all the group leader needs to enjoy the trust of the participants, the chaperones and the host institution.  Without that trust, the expected outcomes of this experience will not be realized.  If growth is to happen, the participants must risk.  Risk will not happen without trust.  Trust is not given, but, rather, it must be earned.   The group leader serves as an anchor that helps ground the whole experience.  The group leader must be willing to be available to participants at all times of the day.  It is the group leader who sets the buffet table at which all participants will dine.  Given the multiplicity of choices, each participant will have a different experience, but the hope is that each participant will experience growth in her linguistic skills, growth in her knowledge of the host culture, growth in her knowledge of herself and a concomitant increase in self-confidence.  It is also expected that each participant will gain a sense of perspective that will permit here to appreciate both the host culture, as well as her own culture.
When in Spain, my jobs consists of being a liaison between the host institution and the students.  It is my job to make sure that the language placement of each student falls within the correct parameters and that each family situation suits the students’ needs.  This year it was necessary to change two of the housing situations.  The first change was due to incompatibility between the students and the host family and the second was occasioned by an unexpected family emergency in the host family.  The weekend excursions are determined by the school.  All other entertainments and excursions are determined by the group leader, in consultation with the chaperones.  The goal is to achieve a good balance between scheduled time and free time and to make sure that there is enough down time so that students do not exhaust themselves.  The group leader and the chaperones are present at the school during the three and a half hours of instruction.  This allows us to check in with the girls every morning and get a status report.  Additionally, the group leader always needs to be available by phone to respond to the concerns of parents and, more importantly, to those of the participants.  This trip I logged close to one hundred calls.

Chaperones stay at Apartamentos Recoletos, which is designated as an “apartohotel”.  It offers studio apartments for either a long term or short term stay.  Its prime attraction is the fact that it is five minutes from school.  The studio apartment is quite small and includes a bathroom, a small galley kitchen, a sitting area that accommodates a loveseat and little else, and a sleeping space that accommodates a double bed and a night stand.  It is the equivalent of a two star hotel and it has the feel of a college dormitory.  Depending on who is at the hotel, it can either be very quiet or very noisy.  The chaperones make use of the galley kitchen to prepare our breakfast and lunch.  Given the decline of the dollar versus the euro, it is no longer possible to each lunch at a café or restaurant.  Chaperones will go out in the evening to get a bite to eat, but we rarely go for a sit down meal.  The evening feast almost always consists of tapas.  Each of us spends our free time in a variety of ways.  Most of my free time is consumed by the blog and the processing of the photos that I take so that I can upload them to the blog.  WordPress allows one three gigabytes of storage space, but it has difficulty with large JPEGS.  I spend the rest of my time at a nearby gym, shopping for material for my Spanish classes at Westridge. and visiting with friends.  Inevitably, I am asked to do some magic for friends and friends of friends.  That allows me the opportunity to work on my Spanish patter.  Patter is essential to the effectiveness of any magic effect.

I have gone on a bit more than I had expected to, but I hope that is these two posts I have answered most, if not all, of the questions that I have been asked over the past few years.

Planning for the Westridge Summer Immersion Program begins in August with an e-mail to the Estudio Internacional Sampere in which I request a quote for program costs.  Once I have that number I make a phone call to European Travel and talk to my favorite travel agent, Von.  I ask him to ballpark for me what he thinks transatlantic fares will look like for June.  He usually comes within fifty dollars of the actual cost.  Once I have those numbers, I sit down and plan out a budget, taking into consideration all other attendant costs.  I assume that there will be a group of ten and so I divide my budget number by ten and that determines the price of the program for the upcoming summer.  My next task is to sign up the chaperones for the trip.  I begin by asking my Spanish colleagues if they might be interested in chaperoning for two weeks.  Depending on how many responses I get, I go outside the department to recruit the remaining chaperones.  The next step is to prepare the publicity campaign.  That means making up brochures and signs, coming up with a concise description of the program and the sending of multiple e-mails.  The recruiting process culminates in November with an interest meeting for both students and parents.

That meeting is inevitably followed by a flurry of e-mails from parents who were unable to attend or who have just found out about the meeting.  The next step is the issuance of contracts, followed by collecting deposits in December and the remainder of the fees in January.  I am the trip’s accountant and I am responsible for all deposits and withdrawals.  In early January I make all the plane reservations and inform Sampere of the size of the coming summer’s group.  Given the fact that I have been working with Sampere for almost thirty five years, I have earned favored nation status and that is the main reason why the only high school students who attend classes during the summer are Westridge students.  They are always the youngest students at the school.  Now that the critical elements of the trip are in place, my focus changes to getting the parents and students ready for the upcoming trip.

In order to that, it is necessary to keep in very close contact with parents by e-mail and phone to inform them of where we are in the process and to answer any questions that they may have.  An orientation for both parents and students is usually scheduled for April and that is when we discuss the parameters of the trip, the rules that will apply and those things that the students will need to pack for the trip.  Soon after that meeting, I will usually make the arrangements for transportation from Westridge to LAX on departure day.  It really is imperative that the trip begin soon after graduation.  By finishing in mid-July it affords students with enough time to do whatever they need to do before school starts in late August.  The final step in the preparation process is an orientation for students the Tuesday before departure.  It is an opportunity for them to ask questions and to talk about the concerns they have for the upcoming trip.  I usually invite previous participants to come to this meeting to talk to the girls and to answer their questions from the perspective of a participant in the experience rather than a planner of the experience.  When that meeting ends, the only tasks that remain are to finish packing and to get to school on time for the bus that will take us to LAX. In the next installment I will talk about what I do once we are in country.

When we arrived our table for sixteen was all ready for us.  We started our meal with some “pan con tomate”, followed by a delightful Mediterranean salad, grilled vegetables, two vegetarian paellas, two seafood paellas, and then our choice of dessert.  In typical Spanish fashion we took two hours for our lunch.  The discussion at the table was very animated.  The meal culminated with a little surprise.  Grace, Kimi and Shelby had made bracelets for every member of the group and presented each of us with our own unique bracelet and a little note along with it.  It was the perfect ending for a perfect meal.  In the posts that follow, I will share a number of observations with you about our group.  I will share them with the group tomorrow and will then share them with you.