VaughanTown

VaughanTown
Newsletter 4: ...about Spain
• A Little on Spanish History
• Typical Spanish Food
• Pata Negra
www.vaughantown.com
00 /01Años
/ VaughanTown
Escolares en el Extranjero – E.S.O & Bachillerato
A Little on
Spanish History
In Richard Vaughan’s words: “Spain is a very
interesting country. It’s a masculine country. When
Ernest Hemingway was in Paris, with his ‘lost
generation’ writers and artists, he was invited down
one year to witness The Running of the Bulls at
Pamplona. That started a lifetime devotion to Spain.
He dumped France on the spot, with its plush,
feminine landscape, its aromatic, feminine perfumes,
and its sweet, feminine accents. Instead, he opted
for the harsh, masculine ‘machismo’ of the Spanish
landscape, the coarse, simple nobility of the Spanish
people and, especially, the gruff Spanish, or rather
Castilian accent. Unlike Hemingway, Spain was an
‘acquired’ taste for me. I found the women masculine.
It took me 6 months to see their beauty. I found the
food strange and sometimes primitive. Now, there’s
no national cuisine in my opinion that can compare
to it. And most of all, I found the landscape and
the countryside to be rough, scrubby, and very
weathered. Now I love it, especially the area of Old
Castile, the stomping grounds of El Cid. It projects an
austere pride, like very few landscapes in the world
can. Spain was the richest country in the world 2,000
years ago. The Romans knew this and spent 100
years conquering the country from the Iberians and
Carthaginians. Then, they deflowered it completely,
extracting every ounce of gold, silver, and other
minerals from its sinews. As a result, the personality
of the people is one of resigned realism. They have
not changed in millenniums. Curiously, if you read the
notes kept by Julius Caesar in his Iberian campaigns,
Hay muchas
diferencias entre el modelo
he makes reference to the special idiosyncrasies
of
pedagógico
/
académico español y el de otros
his Iberian opponents. Many of the things he says are
exactly the same today. It’s almost scary. If youpaíses
didn’t angloparlantes (High School americano,
IGCSE
know you were reading the diary of a Roman general & A-Level inglés, Junior & Leaving
Certificate
irlandés). Si bien el nivel académico
from 59 B.C., you might think it was a politician
or
en
España
puede ser superior, el énfasis del
general from the 1930’s. Well, so much for history and
culture. We would like to include things like thismodelo
in the pedagógico en estos países es el uso de
la
en el día a día, un sistema que enfoca
evening sessions in VaughanTown but we wanteducación
the
mas
la
puesta
en práctica de los conocimientos
Spanish visitors to do the telling… not me.”
de cada estudiante y su experiencia en el mundo
real. Proyectos, presentaciones y prácticas forman
gran parte de este modelo. Al estudiante se le da
responsabilidad e independencia para hacer sus
propias investigaciones, sobre todo en cuanto a los
deberes se refiere, los cuales conllevan una gran
importancia en el resultado final académico.
Diferencia
Academica
Vaughan Systems / 02
Typical Spanish Food
For some, Spanish food is an acquired taste. Many
people, however, say they like it immediately, so we
don’t really know what to tell you. Here’s a list of the
most common first courses: Tossed salad, consommé
(with or without egg yolk inside), fish soup, cream of
shellfish soup, bean dishes, lentils, assorted vegetables,
canned or wild asparagus, macaroni with tomato sauce
and bits of sausage, garlic and bread soup (Richard’s
favorite), assorted cold cuts, and many more things.
Typical second courses include: fish of all shapes and
sizes (broiled, grilled, or gently fried in olive oil), thinly
sliced beef (usually well-done), pork chops, lamb
chops, broiled chicken, garlic fried chicken (no batter),
shellfish of all types, paella (rice with chicken and
shellfish), spareribs, steaks (especially fillet mignon
and sirloin), breaded veal cutlets, roast suckling pig,
a boiled chick-pea dish, etc. This is only the tip of the
iceberg, but you’ll certainly be served many things
from the above. Richard, in particular, likes the way
Spaniards prepare vegetables. He never ate vegetables
in the States when he was growing up and now eats
vegetables daily. Here they boil them and then turn
them over in hot olive oil. Typical desserts in Spain
include gypsy’s arm, nun’s sighs, bacon from heaven,
fried milk, saint’s bones, a thousand leaves, sweet tiles,
angel hair, black forest cake and a long etcetera. If
you don’t know what we’re talking about, don’t worry.
The desserts in Spain are delicious, even when you
translate them literally into English.
03 / VaughanTown
Pata Negra
“Pata negra” means “black hoof”. It refers to the black
marks on the hoof of some Spanish hogs whose ham
is considered by many to be the best in the world, and
we agree. It’s a rich, red, cured ham that literally melts
in your mouth. All over Spain, in almost any bar in
most restaurants, you will see ham legs hanging in the
open air around the walls. Don’t worry about hygiene.
The ham is healthy and delicious. There is a broad
spectrum of quality, starting from simple “jamón
serrano” up to “pata negra”. We would recommend
that if you’ve never eaten this kind of cured ham, that
you order only “jabugo” (pronounced “ha-boo-goh”)
or “pata negra”. These two are the best in the country,
a little expensive, but worth it. Both hams are from
the Extremadura region and both are from acorn
fed hogs. If you are interested in more history, would
you challange the Spaniards at our afternoon Trivial
Pursuit sessions? Because when playing a Spanish
version of the game, they always leave the Volunteers
looking clueless about their history and culture, and
oh my, they get competitive!
Here are some helpful links that will hopefully give
you a winning advantage:
•http://www.spainview.com/history.html
•http://www.red2000.com/spain/primer/hist.html
•http://www.spain.info/en/conoce/
Well, this is the end of yet another newsletter. We now
leave you with a quote from our beloved Don Quixote
addressed to his trusted squire, Sancho Panza: “Amigo
Sancho, you only get out of this life what you put in.”
And we say to you that the richness and delight of the
upcoming experience in our little charming enclave
will depend to a very great degree on the zest and joy
we put into making it rich and delightful. So, although
it’s still a bit early to start psyching up, it’s certainly
not too early to read up Spain; on the Celts, Iberians,
Romans, Visigoths, Moors, Sephardic Jews, and
Christians (the blood of this country); on Andalucía,
Valencia, Old Castile, Catalonia, Galicia, Asturias, and
the Basque Country. 80% of all the conquistadors
who crossed the Atlantic to open the New World were
from Extremadura, a poor, landlocked region west of
Madrid, next to Portugal. Spain offers a rich history of
splendor, poverty, empire, tragedy, and much more.
Hopefully you’ll follow our advice. But regardless, you
will see what we’re saying and partake in our 6 days at
VaughanTown. Hopefully, we haven’t overloaded you
with too much information to digest. Coming up next,
is the fifth and final newsletter where we will impart a
few last words. We ask you not to fear; you will have
such a good time that you will end up performing at
the peak of your capacity; the epitome of linguistic
productivity.
Kind Regards,
The VaughanTown Team.
Vaughan Systems / 00
04
Contact us
If you would like us to clarify anything please feel
free to contact us via email
([email protected])
www.grupovaughan.com
Madrid
C/ Orense 69, 1ª planta
28020
Madrid
Telf: 902 68 66 64
Email: [email protected]
C/ Arapiles 18.
28015
Madrid
Telf: 91 444 58 46
Email: [email protected]
Barcelona
C/ Sabino Arana, 42-44, planta 1ª
08028
Barcelona
Telf: 93 339 86 87
Email: [email protected]
Santander
C/ Hernán Cortés, 1
39003
Santander
Telf: 942 31 49 95
Email: [email protected]
Valladolid
C/ Las Mercedes, 3
47006
Valladolid
Telf: 983 22 80 16
Email: [email protected]
Vigo
C/ Príncipe, 24, 1ª planta
36202
Vigo
Telf: 986 44 27 24
Email: [email protected]
In any event, Vaughan Intensivos Residenciales reserves the rights to modify, for
organisational reasons, the location where VaughanTown programs are ultimately
held, proceeding, in said cases, to inform participantes of the change and the new
location as soon as posible.
Vaughan Intensivos Residenciales, S.L., con domicilio social
en C/ Orense, 69. 28020 Madrid, Inscrita en el R.M. Madrid, Tomo: 23.175,
Folio: 177, Sección: 8ª, Hoja: M-415365, Inscripción: 1ª.- C.I.F. B-84820919
©Copyright 2012
VT-Newsletter-4-2013.10