If you read this blog regularly, you probably already know that this week there are several Italian and Turkish students visiting my school.  Since I’ve kinda become their “official translator/guide” for the week, I had the chance to take them [...]]]>

Guides talk about a human scull found at the Atapuerca site in Spain.

If you read this blog regularly, you probably already know that this week there are several Italian and Turkish students visiting my school.  Since I’ve kinda become their “official translator/guide” for the week, I had the chance to take them to the Atapuerca Archaeological Site that is located just a few kilometers away from the city of Burgos. 

Before going on this little excursion with the students, I was kinda grumbling to my friends about having to go.  Honestly, I didn’t think there would be much to see at Atapuerca and I felt a little as if I had better things to do with my time.  I was wrong.  In fact, I really enjoyed Atapuerca and found the history behind the place to be extremely interesting. 

For those of you who don’t know, Atapuerca is probably one of the most valuable archeological sites in all of Europe, if not the world.  Human and animal fossils as well as tool remains have all come out of the site.  Visually, the site isn’t impressive — it’s basically a bunch of rocks and you can’t really “see” anything inside them; however, when you stop to think about the history that is locked up inside that place, you can’t help but be impressed.

Our tour had two parts: first a visit to the actual archaeological site where we were able to see the techniques used to unearth fossils and later a visit to a recreated “prehistoric” village.  The village was interesting because it showed you how old “grandpa Neanderthal” lived “back in the day.” 

If you’re ever in the area, I recommend a visit to Atapuerca.  It’s worth it.  You can find out more information on the official website. 

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

Well, I’ve finally ”made it big.”  I’m now a star in the city of Burgos because I was in the local newspaper here.  Please, leave your autograph requests in the comment section of this post (ha!).

You see, the high school that I [...]]]>

Me with Turkish and Italian students who were received by the mayor of Burgos.

Well, I’ve finally ”made it big.”  I’m now a star in the city of Burgos because I was in the local newspaper here.  Please, leave your autograph requests in the comment section of this post (ha!).

You see, the high school that I work at participates in the European Comenius Program.  If you’re unfamiliar with the program, it’s basically a student exchange in which students from various foreign countries come to Spain to spend a few weeks at our school and afterwards students from our school go abroad.  In this way, students from across Europe (and its surrounding areas) get to meet their counterparts in other countries. 

Anyway, right now some Turkish and Italian students are at our school visiting with the Comenius Program and, because they don’t speak Spanish but do speak English, I have been spending the week acting as their “official translator and interpreter.”  This means that I had to accompany them yesterday to a welcoming ceremony held in the Burgos Town Hall by the mayor.  Of course, since the mayor was involved, the press was there and I had the lovely photo that you see above taken with the students. 

This picture actually was printed in two — yes, two — newspapers (one local and one national).  I’m assuming it was some type of “standard press release photo” because in both papers the same photo appears with the same caption.  I literally “took a picture of the picture” in order to post it on my blog, so I’m sorry if it’s of low quality.  Also, I’m way in the back of the photo behind most of the students; sooooo, although you probably can’t even see me, I assure you that I’m there. 

They say I was also on the local news yesterday because of this.  I didn’t see myself on TV but those who did see me said that there was a nice shot of me standing near the mayor to translate.  If I find a copy of the video, I’ll place it here.

One thing before closing this post.  Look closely at the caption of the above photo as it was printed in the paper.  If you pay close attention to the program name (in English), you’ll notice that they wrote “Sea: richnnes of inspirations.”  I guess the Spaniards got a little confused when they were spelling “richness” in English… go figure. 

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com