By the time you read t his, it will be too late. Hordes of teenagers from Spain will have landed on our quiet summer streets and unassuming Lanark County, and they’ve no plans to leave for three weeks.
The good news is, these students have earned their trip to Lanark County through their government, as a reward for their scholastic endeavours. These kids are smart and worthy, and they’re coming for some much-deserved fun.
It’s that time of year again, and our household is pretty excited. We’ve a lovely young lady coming from Galicia, Spain, and we’re happy to be her host-family.
Galicia is made up of 4 different provinces, la Coruna, Pontevedra, Ourense and Lugo. The capital of the region is the city of Santiago de Compostela. Galicia calls itself the “heart of green Spain”.
And that’s all we know. We’re hoping to learn the rest from our visitor.
It’s going to be great, practicing the small bits of Spanish we’ve learned over the years and the trips. And face it, California is rich with migrant history. Spanish is the second language there. I may have a shot at conversation with our girl!
Hmmmm. We may have to work harder than I expected. I’m not sure we should be conversing with our guest in stunted sentences that ask donde es el bano? Chances are, she’ll be asking us that.
So here’s the thing, Lanark County. I would like to issue a challenge to all of you who are kind enough to read my words: Let’s make these students feel so at home that the legend of Lanark County will be spread far and wide.
Wait. Is there a legend of Lanark County?
Well there should be. Let’s start one. Maybe it could be a legend of hospitality and friendly culture. Restaurateurs could have special paella dishes for three weeks.
Wait a minute. Chances are our Spanish lovelies will fill up on poutine and pizza. They are teenagers after all.
In any case, let’s all make our visitors feel welcome. Don’t get nervous when they’re coming at you in a flock. Toss aside that fear of teenage swarming. Stop, plant your feet, spread your arms and yell “HOLA!”
The gesture alone will stop them in their tracks, at which point you can probably use any of the phrases you learned in the Dominican Republic or Mexico, although the Spanish dialect is a bit different.
Um, and you shouldn’t use that phrase about cerveza. Probably should leave that one alone.
So now that you’ve scared the Spanish students into feeling welcome, point them towards any of your favourite parts of Lanark County. Make sure they don’t miss a corner of our little slice of paradise.
Remind them about our wide open night sky, about the critters that live among us (but leave out the bear that was near CPHS, because they’re going to be spending some time there. No need to panic them).
It might even be okay to strike random poses for the students to take pictures of people from Lanark County.
Make sure you bring your personality. A smile goes a long way, my friends.
Let’s start spreading smiles now, and by the time our students awake from their jet-lagged dreams they’ll think they’ve landed in the happiest place on earth, and I’m not talking about Disneyland.
