Un día típico en León

Dear family, friends, and fans of team León 2017,

There haven't been very many noteworthy events to write about this past week, but that doesn't mean we've slowed down the pace at all. On the contrary, it's been a full 5 days of classes, food, activities, sports, and exploring the city.

With that in mind, I thought this might be a good opportunity to say a bit about afternoon activities, which are going súper (Spanish for "super"). Students split up about half and half between theater and Latin Dance. The theater group has been busy since the beginning of week 1 - beginning with icebreakers, improvisation games, and dramatic exercises, team León's theater group quickly developed a tight group dynamic.

Theater group 1. Acting dramatic or dramatically acting? You decide

Isaac and Nate in the middle of an improv-off - to appreciative laughter of the rest of the group waiting their turn

Theater group 2 (skits) hard at work thinking of ways to parody and satirize the program 

David, Jasper, Reagan, Leah, Emma, and Gabby smiling, no doubt about some sarcastic joke they wrote about me

After week 1, the theater group has split into two groups (who, I'm told, often collaborate and do certain dramatic activities together). One group works closely with Sarah T. and will be preparing a Spanish play, complete with costumes, props, stage directions, etc. The other group has been working mainly with Israel to write their own comedy skits about the experience in León (which in years past have been hilarious and pretty spot-on). Both groups regularly practice theater games, and everyone seems to be having a great time.

 My more familiar point of reference is the Latin Dance group, which I teach, and rarely have I taught a group that has learned so fast and enthusiastically.

Latin dance group practicing some basic steps

We have spent the first two weeks learning the basics of salsa, merengue, and bachata - three common and popular Latin dances. We have a lovely outdoor patio area as part of the academy building where we have classes, which we take full advantage of for dancing. Having started with salsa (objectively the most challenging of the three dances), our group has approached each new step, turn, and technique with excitement. Not only are they mastering fairly challenging dance material, but they're also having a great time doing it (it's always a good time when everyone is laughing as they dance complex choreography).

Learning new moves in merengue and evidently having an awesome time

Look how synchronized they are! We have a seriously talented dance group on our hands

This is a huge weekend for León - it kicks off the celebration week of San Juan and San Pedro, which is the biggest celebration of the summer here. There will be fireworks, concerts, special markets, games, and all kinds of other festivities. Students are looking forward to an unforgettable weekend experiencing the celebrations with their host families. And who knows, maybe they'll bump into some of their instructors while they're out and about in León this weekend ;-)

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT! As part of our grand excursion to Santiago de Compostela (including the Camino de Santiago), we will be spending a weekend in PORTUGAL!! The students were all incredibly excited to learn that we will be crossing a national border on foot into mysterious Portugal (more info soon to come on our destination in Portugal). In preparation for our brief extra-international expedition, students have also been learning just a bit of survival Portuguese (to order food, say 'good morning', purchase souvenirs, etc), and some of them have expressed an interest in studying Portuguese in the future (obviously in addition to Spanish).

As ever, we marvel at this group of curious, quirky, and kind students, who are already beginning to realize how fast the summer is flying by.

Until the next update,
~Mark (and Sarah T, Sarah G, and Isra)