Welcome to the Photo Gallery 3

Enjoy the pictures from our Canterbury Club

Bowling Night at the La Ermita Bowling Center

On a cold Friday night in January, the Canterbury Club shifts its focus indoors to the warmth of the La Ermita Bowling Center to try its hand at bowling. This is the one time of the year to dust off those black and white bowling shoes that are buried at the bottom of your closet, and to be ready for an unforgettable Friday night change from crawling from one pub to another around the Plaza Santa Ana or Calle Huertas. Of course, for those keglers who need a pre-game warm up, in typical Spanish style, there is a huge bar next to the shoe rental counter! This is a great time to meet up with old friends who have arrived back from the holidays, or with all the new people who have just arrived in January in a fun, relaxed environment. Last year, Nick Smetana from NYC threw the high game of 165. Who will dethrone him in 2007…

TEFL Graduation Ceremony and Party at the Leon de Oro

Every Spring (after the Oscars) the Canterbury Club celebrates the annual TEFL graduation party. There are guest speakers and awards given out for outstanding merit including trophies for the bronze, silver and gold TEFL students of the year, on stage at El Leon de Oro (The Golden Lion). Afterwards, of course there is a party with free pizza, assorted drinks and live music!

Last year the group “Arrivederci Lola” played they version of “Acústico en plan allegro” mixing various Spanish songs of their own with American and British favorites such as “Wish You Were Here”, “Like A Rolling Stone”, “Come Together” and “With or Without You.” Award winners included Jari Lynn Laymac (University of Georgia graduate), Nicole Beckum (Stanford University graduate), Clayton Lillye (from Melbourne, Australia), Claire Walsh and Nigel Akehurst (both from London, England), Madelene Olsson (from Sweden) and Cara Sherman and Emily Nugent (both University of California at Berkeley graduates).

This year promises to be another fun-filled event with plenty of smiles and laughter throughout the night. The Spanish champagne will be flowing again, por supuesto! And the winner is… May I have the envelope please…

The Vendimia Grape Harvest in El Molar, Spain

Every October the Canterbury Club goes to the Grape Harvest and private annual party of Antonio Olivares and his famous restaurant “Las Cuevas de El Molar!” This year forty Canterbury professors went to El Molar (42km from Madrid) on Tuesday, October 5th at 10 o’clock in the morning. After breakfast in Casa Olivares, we left for the vineyards at 10:30am and picked grapes in the fields in teams of two or three people until 1:30pm.

We returned to the caves at 2:00pm for lunch that consisted of the traditional Spanish white bean, chorizo and morcilla soup, roasted suckling pig, various Olivares salads and dessert. Of course, this was accompanied by all the wine and chupitos that one could drink to their heart’s content! After an hour siesta, the grapes were poured onto the floor of the caves and everyone tromped and danced on them barefoot, while listening to live Spanish and Salsa music played by the local band.

After a bit of rest and a change of clothes, dinner was served outside of the caves under the moon at 9:00pm. This was followed by dancing and drinking into the “night” that is truly the heart of Spain.

Christmas Party at The Manhattan Martini Bar and El Son

The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals (parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.

Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.

The Roman’s celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began in the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of “Jo Saturnalia!” the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).

In keeping with tradition then, on a cold Friday night in early December, the Canterbury Club always prides itself on finding as many spirited hearts as it can and officially begins the festive, unforgettable Spanish Christmas season that continues for a hearty month with celebrations up through Reyes on January 6. Missile toe, anyone?

Olive Harvest in Jaen

1- After

2- Amazing!

3- Pablo shows how to pour a little olive oil from arms length onto a chorizo sándwich

4- View of the olive groves of this Cortijo (farm) Andaluz

5- This is how we harvest olives, the traditional way

6- It’s

7- Our kind host, José, raking the olives onto the net

8- Belen gathers the black olives in a traditional woven basket

9- Cleaning the dirt and leaves from the olives

10- Wow, Noa!

13- The Canterbury Olive Harvesters!

14- Arrival at the coop’s local olive mill

15- A truck full of the olives that we’ve harvested, dumps its load at the coop

16- Pepe smiles as the olives go up the conveyer belt

17- Look

18- ‘We’re looking!’

19- Richard watching our recently picked olives flow out of a spout as oil inside the mill

20- Look how high these things are. That’s enough olive oil to swim from here to Jersey!

21- Group shot between the huge vats of oil

24- After the morning’s harvest, we head to the provincial capital of Jaén, to see its superb Cathedral

25- Time for lunch in an Andalusian restaurant

26- Look what the waiters have just served for appetizers!

27- What luck! A medieval fair is taking place after lunch.

28- All kinds of interesting things for sale

29- Sshh, this stall keeper is having an after-lunch medieval snooze!

30- A sunset evening visit to the imposing castle of Jaén perched on a cliff

31- Private evening Flamenco party for Canterbury at the NA cultural center

Rapa das Bestas

1- Goodies for Sale Before Wild Horse Roundup

2- Cooking Pot & Galician Octupus, Pre-Fiesta in Sabucedo

3- Next Morning, Fireworks Announce Beginning

4- Galician Villager

5- Canterbury Round Up Team Heads for the Hills

6- Searching for Wild Horses, Indian File

7- First Sighting of Wild Horses

8- First Herd Captured

9- Taking a Break at the Top

10- Second Herd Captured

11- Chaparoning Horses from Hills to Village

12- Canterbury Director, Richard

13- Riders Against the Sky

14- Spectators at First Hill Camp

15- Relaxing with over 600 captured horeses before leaving base camp for the village

16- Sitting Easy at Base Camp

17- In the Horse Stadium, Sabucedo, Galicia

18- Separating Fillies from Mothers

19- The Band Strikes Up

20- Teams Chose a Horse, Jump, Ride & Capture It

21- Preparing the Horse for Shearing

22- Shearing the Tail

23- Which Way?

24- Running for a Capture

25- Caught and Ready for a Haircut

26- A Tail Trim

27- Shearing on the Ground

28- I’m On!

29- Oops!

30- Brothers in Arms

31- Pablo’s Yawning, Teresa’s Wants to Ride

32- She’s Going For It!

33- Snoozing

24- Nice Cut, Ready to Head Back to the Hills

35- See Ya Next Year!

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