'That's a good question", I said when somebody asked me the reason why the Ohio University in Athens, Ohio had made up their mind and came to Irunea to do these ten-week-long courses. Ever since they first came they have been cooperating as first quality handwork, or should I say ¿mouthwork? HOW IT WORKS Depending on the quarter they are staying on there'll be betweeen six to eight weeks they can be giving us a hand (... mouth ...)

The activities are always based on school curriculum related material meant to prompt any of the two parties to agree or disagree on a given subject. While some working groups can be over in less than ten minutes by just producing a brief yes or no, ninety nine dot nine per cent of them go on for more than the estimated time and, schedule allowing, keep it on out of school. In the end, it is just using the language. And that is when more languages come on stage. You can barter some useful expressions in your own language for their equivalencies in the purpose language. And that applies to everybody.

Not all students from Ohio take Spanish as a major, in fact, few of them do. They are mostly interested in it as a minor, and different cultures from Europe are in their minds as well. ANECDOTES "´Óula! Cóumoistás?" is the usual introductory salutation when the University students from Ohio first meet the English students in our school. From then on tuxedos, turtlenecks and lamb-liver-for-dinner will mix with Proms, drive-ins or Costume Balls. Food, daily schedules, studies, places to live and places for entertainment are recurring topics that work well for the activity though sometimes you must offer some encouragement to keep the group motivated. We thought "poteo" was exclusive here and something unknown overseas, but we were wrong. Athens University has dorms, faculties and streets. In one of those streets there is an awful lot of bars.

At two fifty a beer, year 2002, you can really end up staggering from bar to bar until the afterhours come. The afterhours are parties at people´s houses. All that can be preseasoned with a generous pregaming (drinking before going to bars.) It is not surprising that two things they would like to take back home are wine and olive oil. Good price and plus healthy effects should be enough to convince a customs officer. Food is always shocking when you travel that far but having supper at 10.00 or 11.00 p.m. is unbelievable. There is no way to sleep with a full stomach, and what makes it worse is tha fact that no restaurant will serve any dinner before 9.30 p.m. There is the junk food Mc and KFK but they stick to the latin rule. It is amazing to be able to survive without an automobile and be able to cross town for so little money and reasonably fast. Euros never caused trouble for dollars are pretty much the same and it makes it very easy to handle them. It is shocking that nobody uses cents though. What really takes them time to explain is all the process of dating, going to school balls, renting tuxedos, buying flowers or getting a driving licence at an early age, if you compare to our eighteen. In what matters hygiene, wash up, washing or doing the washing up can either be done as you take a shower or in the bathtub.

They don't care. After dinner they do the dishes and that's it. Some of them are craving for their next Homecoming Ball, which will be held in their former High School's Gym. They'll bring up the times when they had a part-time job as a bus-boy, or at the gas station near the Mall. Bits of culture where pancakes and syrup, sunny side easy eggs mix with txistorra, patxaran or gaupasa. They always use erasers, in the classroom. OUTCOME Students gain confidence and fluency. That's for sure. they realize that they can make themselves understood in real conversation sessions. There is meaning in the activity. They also realize that accuracy can be skipped at times but they know they have to work on that. On the whole it is a totally positive experience and students see the benefits of it so Same Day... Same Time... Same Jail...