"Spanish teacher returns with his 'harem' intact" from the January 8, 1974 Door County Advocate
Spanish teacher returns with his 'harem' intact
Aside from nearly losing one of the girls for 1,000 pesatas and 15 chickens at the Casbah in Tangiers the Sturgeon Bay high school students’ holiday trip to Spain came off without problems.
The 34 students, accompanied by Spanish teacher Robert Keberlein, Gus Abrahamson, Dr. and Mrs. Gerry Berg, left Dec. 27 to visit Tangier, Morocco, Gibraltar and Spain before returning Jan. 7.
According to Keberlein the trip this year was organized so the students were allowed a good deal of free time to mix with the people in Spain in addition to planned sightseeing tours.
The group started their adventures in Tangier with a trip through the Casbah (the native section of the city). Keberlein says a guide led the group and he followed up at the rear. At one time during the tour a native attempted to barter with Keberlein in exchange for some of the girls. “He offered me 1,000 pesetas and 15 chickens in exchange for one of the girls in my ‘harem.’”
In Morocco the group toured the Caves of Hercules and went for camel rides before departing on a ferry which took them across the Straits of Gibraltar, past the Rock of Gibraltar, to Spain.
“On New Year’s the students spent the evening with the Spanish. We took them downtown. Some went to the various discotheques and night clubs and some went with me,” Keberlein recalls. “The Spanish have a custom of eating 12 grapes in one minute beginning with the stroke of midnight.” He said everyone managed to down their 12 grapes.
Other sights of interest in Spain included the famous Moorish castle Alhambra, which was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain. They also spent an afternoon at the Valley of the Fallen, the national monument dedicated to those who fell during the Spanish civil war in the 1930’s. This historic site is marked by a 50 story cement cross that stands at the entrance.
Keberlein explained how the students were introduced to the Spanish night life in Madrid. “Mr. and Mrs. Berg and I took the group to the older part of Madrid and they had to find their own way back to the hotel. It gave them a good chance to use their Spanish and no one got lost.”
Chaperone Jane Berg reports that the recent assassination of the premier of Spain had little effect on the people that country. “My friends there told me that it’s still the same type of government as before only with different faces.”
Mrs. Berg also said the Spanish are facing fewer restrictions, during the energy crisis than citizens in the United States. The streets and stores were still lit up for the holidays although they did cut back on the hours.
Keberlein said “People of this city can be proud of the way the students behaved. They were a credit to their country and their city.”
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[author not stated]
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