Spain Group Visit: ZAFRA

      Our last pen pal destination was in Zafra, which is about thirty minutes away from Burguillos del Cerro.
Thursday late afternoon: March 19, 2015

      Before we arrived, Antonio gave us important information of the town's history, and the heritage of the Dukes of Feria. Zafra was captured twice during the reconquest by Christian forces, under two kings of Spain. The Dukedom began to take change during the reign of King Henry lll when it was granted to Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa; his second son, Gomez Suarez de Figueroa became the first Duke of Feria. Gomez Suarez de Figueroa is buried in Zafra.
      Some of the important places in Zafra include the Alcazar fortress, and the Convent of Santa Clara.
   
     Another important place is the Plaza Grande, that was built around the 16th century. Along with the Plaza Chica, they were one of the first constructions built in the city and the place where merchants stopped to sell their goods.

      Our group walked towards the Plaza Grande where we met with the teacher from CEIP Germán CID,  Marian Moriche Boza and some of her students.
Germán CID was the second school we partnered with and some students have been corresponding since last year.
      Within minutes, more of the Zafra students joined us at the plaza. My students got to meet their pals and even met new students. They were all so happy and the conversations were non-stop! The students then began forming a circle, singing and playing. Many friendships were made and students continue to exchange emails and messages.
     It was such a joyous event, but time was not on our side. We hope to continue our relationships with the school and students in Zafra and build a longer program for future visits.

Below our some pictures of our momentous gathering.

Introductions.

Meeting with Pen Pal

Playing around.

New Pals:

Walking us towards the bus.

      After our visits with our pen pals, we continued our tour and headed towards Sevilla, Spain. Two days later we made our way to our last stop -Málaga via a stop at Cordoba and the Mezquita. 

     Our tour was exciting and memorable. We will never forget it and some of the students are already talking about returning to Extremadura and Spain, one day soon!

    

R. Aguilar

PROYECTO EXTREMADURA DAY in BURGUILLOS DEL CERRO

Continuing our visit to Spain from last week:
March 19, 2015 : Today we arrived at Burguillos del Cerro.

     Proyecto Extremadura began two years ago with Burguillos del Cerro and students from Pershing Middle School being the foundation of it. Burguillos was, and continues to be the first town where our pen-pal correspondences began. We added the tree-planting and ecological aspect to enhance our visit as our project evolved.
During the project development, Antonio Requejo, native to Burguillos was my liaison to the school, teachers and citizens of his town. It was through him that the tree-planting took hold with the assistance of the Ayuntamiento and the Mayor.
It was therefore fitting to ask our Mayor of Houston, The Honorable Annise Parker, to acknowledge their contribution for their involvement and our tree-planting, as a bond to forever seal our friendships between Houston, Texas and Burguillos del Cerro, Spain.
Mayor Parker and her office of International Affairs felt a proclamation would better represent our hard work and dedication to the cultural, heritage, language and ecological awareness of the project.

     Upon our arrival in Burguillos, we met city officials and our pen-pals at the plaza. After greeting officials, students and teachers, we walked towards the ayuntamiento, or city hall.  A welcoming speech was made by the Mayor's assistant, Ms. Carmen Timon Lozano, and I presented the city and its citizens the proclamation from Houston.

The closing paragraphs of the proclamation read:
"WHEREAS, the City of Houston commends the faculty and students who have participated in Proyecto Extremadura for their dedication to cultural education and environmental awareness.

 "THEREFORE, I, Anisse D. Parker, Mayor of the City of Houston, herby proclaim MARCH 19, 2015, as

PROYECTO EXTREMADURA DAY

in Houston, Texas."                                           

*Signed and officially sealed on march 5, 2015

     After the presentation, each member of my group was given a memento from the city. We left city hall and began our tour around Burguillos, led by Antonio.
     All the while, the students were eager to continue their conversations and meet the other students from Matias R. Martinez School. The students were laughing, smiling and using Spanish and English to get to know more about their friends. Most of my students had been anticipating this meeting for months. It was such a warm and beautiful experience when I saw how all of them were getting along very well!

Antonio at Zafra Street Cross.

     On our tour of the town, our first stop was the entrance cross on Zafra street, where the old road to Zafra and a Roman road still exists. Antonio then led the group towards the Plaza Alta and further explained the history and heritage of the area. After that, we made our way toward the castle foothills. Although part of the castle was made during the Muslim conquest, the Knights Templar reconstructed the one that still stands today.

     While in the area, we went into the Church of Santa Maria de Encina (13th Century), vital to the Templars and to the village. Nearby, we then visited the Church of San Juan Bautista, an ancient sacred site, of which has now been converted to a Research Cultural Center and Templar exhibit. While at the Templar exhibit, we learned about the involvement of the knights in Burguillos and Extremadura. We also saw and gained knowledge about the life and history of the Templars.
 


    Our last stop was at the outskirts of Burguillos where we began planting the trees. We planted ten cork trees and ten olive trees. We had studied about these trees and the importance to the ecology and culture in all my Spanish classes this past year. The tree planting was a culminating activity for our project; we hope to return one day to see their progress.
 

                           

     Also during this stop, we presented all our pals, and some citizens of Burguillos., with a recyclable bag donated by Whole Foods Markets with the following message;

REPARA, REUTILIZA, RECICLA.

Usa esta bolsa para estas tareas tan cotidianas pero tan necesarias. Tu planeta te lo agradecerá. Una bolsa para muchos usos. Con cada uno de ellos tienes un regalo.

Proyecto Extremadura: proyectobdcspain.blogspot.com

Raquel Aguilar

Y Escuela Pershing-Houston,TX

     We concluded the visit to Burguillos del Cerro with lunch at the Swimming Pool Restaurant were we shared a meal with our pen-pals.
   
 I would like to thank Juan Carlos Guerrero; English teacher of our pen pals; the City of Burguillos del Cerro, for a joyous and heartfelt occasion.
    Also big THANK YOU also to Explorica Educational Travel, for without their dedication to teachers this custom tour, to include our visits and all aspects, would not have been possible.

    I hope to continue our work and collaborations in Burguillos del Cerro and anticipate a return to the village to meet once again with my lovely friends and gracious people; it truly is a place close to my heart.


Raquel Aguilar; Houston, Texas

http://www.burguillosdelcerro.es/modulos/mod_periodico/pub/mostrar_noticia.php?id=198
This is a link to the city's article on our visit. click on the "TODAS LAS FOTOS AQUI" to view all their photos from our day.

Group visit in Spain-Jerez de Los Caballeros

     This past week, we were so fortunate to be in Spain. Apart from visiting the sites in the big cities of Madrid and Sevilla, we also went to The Royal Monastery of Guadalupe, and the Roman town of Merida, before arriving to Jerez de los Caballeros in Extremadura.

JEREZ de los CABALLEROS

March 18, 2015; Wednesday.

     Our arrival to Jerez de los Caballeros was in the late afternoon. As our bus got closer to the castle roads, we could see the students and adults waving to us in anticipation of our arrival.

We quickly got off the bus to go meet our penfriends. The students that did not have one in that town, were assigned one from the wonderful coordinator of the group, Ms. Manuela Masero. Ms. Masero and the Principal, Ms. Angela Maya were instrumental in arranging all the student activities, along with the rest of the English teachers from CEIP Sotomayor y Terrazas.

     The Honorable Lady Mayor of Jerez, Virginia Boralla, also met and greeted the Houston group. The city and some of its citizens, reenacted a Knights Templar scene for us at the castle grounds. After that was over, it was time for photos and a gift video from the actors!
   
     Our group was then guided by the students of Sotomayor y Terrazas through the old town, giving us information in English and Spanish about the places of interest.
     We concluded our visit at the school where we were treated to some snacks and I was presented with a Templar figurine for our visit.

 
      The highlight of the entire visit in Jerez, however, was the amazing camaraderie displayed by both schools! Although shy and a bit nervous at first, our students were answering questions from the Jerez pupils, and in the process they were getting to know more about their friends. As an educator, I was very pleased and overcome with such emotion to see their interactions. In fact one of the teachers from the Colegio said that the students were talking more now than they had in the classroom.

     Likewise, I saw Pershing students using their Spanish to acquaint themselves and discover more about their pen pals; they were truly enjoying themselves. It was such a warm feeling to see how much they all liked each other and the effort they were all making to appreciate their visit.
 
    As mentioned before, Ms Manuela Masero, the English teachers, and the Ayuntamiento (City) of Jerez de los Caballeros made it possible for our stay to be fruitful and fulfilling.

   Much was achieved in the short time we were there. Therefore we plan on continuing our correspondences with the students and teachers alike. Our future plans are to expand our stay in Jerez de los Caballeros in another tour.
   Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the amazing time we all had!

Raquel Aguilar; Houston

VIDEO FROM AYUNTAMIENTO JEREZ de los CABALLEROS

R. Aguilar; ©

http://sotomayoryterrazasbilingualsection.blogspot.com.es/2015/03/nos-visitan-desde-houston.html
This is the Colegio's post of our visit.

Around the World In 80 Days

Aouda and Phileas Fogg

     Last week our pals in Zafra, Spain celebrated Carnival by dressing up as characters from the Jules Verne novel, Around the World in 80 Days.
     The boys dressed up as Phileas Fogg, the rich Englishman who saves Aouda, the Indian Princess, during his adventure around the world. Naturally, the girls dressed up as Auoda the princess he rescues.

There are the two classes of students from Germán Cid in Zafra, writing to their pals in Houston, Texas:

R. Aguilar

Carnival in Burguillos

     This year the topic for Carnival at the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Bruguillos del Cerro, was The Farm. For this reason each course wears an animal disguise, except for the oldest ones, which are the farmers.
 
 It is typical at carnival to do a parade in the streets of the village. Children, teachers and parents walk and dance together. Later, we go to the culture's house to sing carnival songs with original letters related to the situations nowadays, in the school or society in a "critical" yet funny way!


Alejandra Guerrero; Burguillos


     
    

 Carnival is the time before the Christian time of Lent, full of celebrations. Different celebrations in many parts the world are very common with parades and costumes being a major part of the festivities. 
     In Texas we have the celebration of Mardi Gras (also Carnival, but with a different name) celebrated in the island of Galveston, close to Houston. 
     Carnival ("removal of meat") and Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) in historical terms, was and is the last time to eat meat and therefore getting ready for Lent. Both celebrations begin after Epiphany and culminate on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent in the Christian religion.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET

  
 "Thanks for thinking of taking Whole Foods Market on your journey! We would love to help support your environmental efforts this spring." 
*Message from Whole Foods Market at Bellaire.




       As part of our project's environmental and ecology portion, I partnered with Whole Foods Market at Bellaire and near our school, to assist us in our endeavors in Spain.

        Founded in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market has been synonymous with organic and natural foods and supporter of local and national food products. Whole Foods expanded first to Houston in their beginnings. It now operates close to 400 stores in the US, Canada and United Kingdom, and plans on expanding to more, are in their future.
       Last year, during my stay in London, I was fortunate to stay near the Whole Foods Market on High Street, Kensington where I shopped at the store on several occasions during my stay. It was such a great welcome to have a part of home in the UK.

       Whole Foods Market is also actively involved in environmental and sustainability projects as well as reducing carbon emissions for a better, cleaner and healthier earth.

What better way to compliment Whole Food's environmental stewardship efforts, than to take them with us on our project!

      Thank you Andrew and Rachel, and Whole Foods Market!

                                         

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/

R. Aguilar

New Zafra Pals

       In continuation of our pen pal project with Zafra's German Cid and Ms. Marian Moriche Boza, we have about forty students writing this year.  Most students are from Mrs. Showers-Evans, with a few from my classes. At present they are writing through emails; cards and letters will be done at a later date.
      Ms. Moriche Boza was the second teacher to partner with us last year; we hope to continue to work with all her students in the future as well.

R. Aguilar