We finished another wonderful week of Vaughan Town el Rancho Hotel in Torrecaballeros, Segovia, Spain. Such interesting and warm people.
Aurora from Avila, married to a widower. Now she has a big home in Avila and two step-children. Her grandfather was a Legionnaire. She wants to make the world a better place.
Jose Manuel from Madrid who works in internet advertising and marketing - I love his idea of holding Vaughan Town where we can ski or where we can scuba dive (how about a one on one underwater?).
Esther, born in Colombia, lived in Curacao and several places in Europe, including now in Valencia where she gives tours. Great salsa dance leader and much fun to be with.
Andrew from Portsmouth, England. He is such a delightful and energetic young man. I love his piano playing, guitar playing and his playful spirit. And he displays amazing maturity for someone so young.
Trinidad (Trini) from Alicante and Murcia - a part of Spain I need to visit. How nice that she has come to Vaughan Town twice now.
Sandra is a dynamic young woman, born in Alexandria, Egypt and now lives in the US. She speaks Arabic, knows how to belly dance, is a true romantic. I hope she will visit us in Vermont when she is in Albany.
Borja works at the el Cortes Ingles travel agency and has many great suggestions for future trips within Spain. I hope he realizes his dreams and can move up in the company.
Rafael is a university lecturer and an economist for a bank. He is very smart and well spoken. I loved his presentation on math and numbers.
Ruth hails from England but has traveled the world, and has lived in Indonesia. I did not get much chance to talk with her, but would like to learn more about her travels. She is very energetic.
Stewart is from Scotland and has the best haircut, next to mine. He now lives on the island of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands. We shared many fine jokes over drinks.
Carmen is an account manager and has taught flamenco. We had many wonderful discussions and she is a very warm and kind person. She also wants to make the world a better place for all.
Isabel loves travel and has been to Kyoto, Japan. She lives in Malaga. I enjoyed our discussions and that we sat together for our final meal at el Rancho where we shared bread, olive oil and salt.
John has lived in the Congo, loves travel and is now a teacher in Madrid. He is quiet but strong and helpful. His wry sense of humour is contagious, as is his sly smile.
Gabriella is Danish, has family in Texas, has worked in Ireland, Belarus and Russia. She now lives with her husband and 3 year old in Belarus. I loved the story she told about being from Belarus and going through US immigration.
Adrian if from A Coruna in Galicia. His office is in the building where the Ave train crashed killing 78 people. He is a civil engineer and we had great discussions about water treatment plants, wastewater, and stormwater runoff.
Rose is from Edmonton, Alberta, CA. She is retired and came to Vaughan Town with her daughter, Lori. She is down to earth and we had several fine conversations.
Lori now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada - but has lived in many places. I think it is great that she made this trip with her mom, Rose. She has a sparkling personality.
Gonzalo is from Madrid and is very quiet - but don't let that fool you. He is very articulate and helpful.
Inez is from Madrid and is a vegetarian - yet she managed to put up with all of us carnivores, including those who ordered the roast suckling pig and lamb. She is mercurial and has a contagious smile.
Jens is Danish, runs marathons and is a translator living and working in Luxembourg. He is very bright and is multilingual - he sometimes slipped into Spanish more than desired. But full of energy and great fun to have around.
Raquel is from Zaragosa, likes to dance and cook. She is full of energy and works so hard at learning English. She is very persistent and works hard to reach her goals.
Antonio lives in Madrid and likes football. I am glad I sat next to him today, as I got the chance to talk more with him and to share some of the roast lamb he ordered. He is a solid person on whom you can rely.
David is from Liverpool, has an amazing accent, and likes travel and teaching. The improv he did with the different phrases pronounced in his northern England accent was amazing. He also has a great sense of humour.
Alfonso is an international coffee buyer. He gave a great presentation about Valladolid which convinces me I need to visit there. He will become a father this fall when his daughter is born - congratulations and good luck.
Katy is from Birmingham, England. She can be shy at times, but faced her fears and sang in a most brilliant manner for us. She is a delightful lady to spend time with.
Mary D. is from London and is another multi-lingual person. Since she is a teacher, she is free during the summer to do things like Vaughan Town - I hope she does more Vaughan Town sessions.
Iciar is from Madrid and works for a Scottish pharmaceutical company. She is very quiet but very friendly and helpful.
Joaquin is from Madrid, loves Real Madrid and travels a lot for his own media company. He is heading to Asia soon for his job.
Justin is from Donnegal, Ireland (originally from Belfast). He has many talents - including dancing in women's clothes as part of a skit.
Mary M. is from Dublin, Ireland, where she teaches. She is a delightful young lass, who showed many of us how to do Irish dancing.
Antonia is from Madrid. We had a delightful one-to-one today where we went to Bar Patas and she taught me about Orense and Ourense, Coruna and A Coruna, and how the best seafood in Spain is in Ourense. This makes me more sure that I want to hike the via de la plata from Ourense to Santiago next year - this is a trip that I have been discussing with my wife and other friends.
Dino was our Vaughan Town Program Director. He is full of energy, is quite playful, is a good dancer and kept us on schedule. Originally from Chicago, because he also holds Greek citizenship, he can work in the EU.
And finally, Julie, our delightful emcee. I have been on other programs with her and it has always been a delight - this time was wonderful. I hope to go on more programs with her.
Aurora from Avila, married to a widower. Now she has a big home in Avila and two step-children. Her grandfather was a Legionnaire. She wants to make the world a better place.
Jose Manuel from Madrid who works in internet advertising and marketing - I love his idea of holding Vaughan Town where we can ski or where we can scuba dive (how about a one on one underwater?).
Esther, born in Colombia, lived in Curacao and several places in Europe, including now in Valencia where she gives tours. Great salsa dance leader and much fun to be with.
Andrew from Portsmouth, England. He is such a delightful and energetic young man. I love his piano playing, guitar playing and his playful spirit. And he displays amazing maturity for someone so young.
Trinidad (Trini) from Alicante and Murcia - a part of Spain I need to visit. How nice that she has come to Vaughan Town twice now.
Sandra is a dynamic young woman, born in Alexandria, Egypt and now lives in the US. She speaks Arabic, knows how to belly dance, is a true romantic. I hope she will visit us in Vermont when she is in Albany.
Borja works at the el Cortes Ingles travel agency and has many great suggestions for future trips within Spain. I hope he realizes his dreams and can move up in the company.
Rafael is a university lecturer and an economist for a bank. He is very smart and well spoken. I loved his presentation on math and numbers.
Ruth hails from England but has traveled the world, and has lived in Indonesia. I did not get much chance to talk with her, but would like to learn more about her travels. She is very energetic.
Stewart is from Scotland and has the best haircut, next to mine. He now lives on the island of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands. We shared many fine jokes over drinks.
Carmen is an account manager and has taught flamenco. We had many wonderful discussions and she is a very warm and kind person. She also wants to make the world a better place for all.
Isabel loves travel and has been to Kyoto, Japan. She lives in Malaga. I enjoyed our discussions and that we sat together for our final meal at el Rancho where we shared bread, olive oil and salt.
John has lived in the Congo, loves travel and is now a teacher in Madrid. He is quiet but strong and helpful. His wry sense of humour is contagious, as is his sly smile.
Gabriella is Danish, has family in Texas, has worked in Ireland, Belarus and Russia. She now lives with her husband and 3 year old in Belarus. I loved the story she told about being from Belarus and going through US immigration.
Adrian if from A Coruna in Galicia. His office is in the building where the Ave train crashed killing 78 people. He is a civil engineer and we had great discussions about water treatment plants, wastewater, and stormwater runoff.
Rose is from Edmonton, Alberta, CA. She is retired and came to Vaughan Town with her daughter, Lori. She is down to earth and we had several fine conversations.
Lori now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada - but has lived in many places. I think it is great that she made this trip with her mom, Rose. She has a sparkling personality.
Gonzalo is from Madrid and is very quiet - but don't let that fool you. He is very articulate and helpful.
Inez is from Madrid and is a vegetarian - yet she managed to put up with all of us carnivores, including those who ordered the roast suckling pig and lamb. She is mercurial and has a contagious smile.
Jens is Danish, runs marathons and is a translator living and working in Luxembourg. He is very bright and is multilingual - he sometimes slipped into Spanish more than desired. But full of energy and great fun to have around.
Raquel is from Zaragosa, likes to dance and cook. She is full of energy and works so hard at learning English. She is very persistent and works hard to reach her goals.
Antonio lives in Madrid and likes football. I am glad I sat next to him today, as I got the chance to talk more with him and to share some of the roast lamb he ordered. He is a solid person on whom you can rely.
David is from Liverpool, has an amazing accent, and likes travel and teaching. The improv he did with the different phrases pronounced in his northern England accent was amazing. He also has a great sense of humour.
Alfonso is an international coffee buyer. He gave a great presentation about Valladolid which convinces me I need to visit there. He will become a father this fall when his daughter is born - congratulations and good luck.
Katy is from Birmingham, England. She can be shy at times, but faced her fears and sang in a most brilliant manner for us. She is a delightful lady to spend time with.
Mary D. is from London and is another multi-lingual person. Since she is a teacher, she is free during the summer to do things like Vaughan Town - I hope she does more Vaughan Town sessions.
Iciar is from Madrid and works for a Scottish pharmaceutical company. She is very quiet but very friendly and helpful.
Joaquin is from Madrid, loves Real Madrid and travels a lot for his own media company. He is heading to Asia soon for his job.
Justin is from Donnegal, Ireland (originally from Belfast). He has many talents - including dancing in women's clothes as part of a skit.
Mary M. is from Dublin, Ireland, where she teaches. She is a delightful young lass, who showed many of us how to do Irish dancing.
Antonia is from Madrid. We had a delightful one-to-one today where we went to Bar Patas and she taught me about Orense and Ourense, Coruna and A Coruna, and how the best seafood in Spain is in Ourense. This makes me more sure that I want to hike the via de la plata from Ourense to Santiago next year - this is a trip that I have been discussing with my wife and other friends.
Dino was our Vaughan Town Program Director. He is full of energy, is quite playful, is a good dancer and kept us on schedule. Originally from Chicago, because he also holds Greek citizenship, he can work in the EU.
And finally, Julie, our delightful emcee. I have been on other programs with her and it has always been a delight - this time was wonderful. I hope to go on more programs with her.
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| Mary M., Adrian, Andrew, Raquel, David |
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| Mary M., Ysabel, Antonio, Rose, Lori, Sandra, Jens, Adrian, Andrew, Raquel, David |
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| Lori, Jose, Ruth, Antonia, Rafael, Julie |
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| Jose, Antonia, Julie, Dino, Justin, Katy, Gonzalo, |
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| Joaquin, Mary D., Inez, John, Aurora |
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| Antonio's roast suckling leg of lamb |
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| Cochinillo - roast suckling pigs |
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| Shrimp and octopus on skewers, with fried onion strings - a great last lunch at el Rancho |
Tom, thanks a lot for your patience. I am very glad to have met you! Great post with short description of each of us. Let's keep in contact, and again... I have to tell you that the world is a better place for having people like you working for initatives such as Habitat for Humanity.
ReplyDeleteAurora, it was a pleasure to have met you. I agree, please keep in contact. I hope you can get involved with something like Habitat for Humanity - I feel better when I am able to do things that help others and I hope to convince more people to do the same.
DeleteThanks Tom for this lovely post. Now I´ in Ourense or Orense visiting nice. Keep in contact.
ReplyDeleteAntonia: I am glad you enjoyed this post and I hope you enjoyed the other days' posts as well. It was a pleasure to meet you and hope we meet again on a future trip to Spain for me or a trip to the USA for you.
DeleteDear amazing colosal man. It has been a pleasure meeting you, as well as the rest of people who shared the Vaughan programme at El Rancho.
ReplyDeleteI hope we will meet again somewhere.
Thanks for your generosity.
Raquel: It was a pleasure to meet you. Vaughan Town is an amazing program when people like you attend. I hope we will meet again.
DeleteI can only say thanks everybody for this unforgettable week. I'll miss you all, spaniards and anglos (really, I'm already missing you). Although I'm not repeating the program next year, I wish I could meet you all again in the future. I'd like to offer you all something in exchange for your simpathy, but I'm afraid I'm only a poor Galician civil engineer without anything especial. However, if by any chance someone of you come to Galicia, here you have a friend and a door to knock.
ReplyDelete(Adrian)
Adrian: You have much to offer. You are a warm and friendly person, and you do very important work as a civil engineer who specializes in water technology. I hope to see you sometime in the future.
DeleteHi Tom, nice blog and very interesting to read. Hope I run into you again sometime at Vaughantown.
ReplyDeleteMary D.
Mary: I am glad you enjoyed the blog. It was nice meeting you at el Rancho and hope we meet again at a future Vaughan Town.
Delete