Wednesday, November 21, 2012

More Canadians ready to serve!

We had a wonderful time in both Fredericton and London, training a total of 24 hospitaleros.  The east coast hospitality was tremendous and we would like to thank Carmelita, Mary and Kevin for providing a home for the Friday night reception, bed and breakfast for the trainers (that would be us!) and the facility arrangements.  We have already had someone posted: Kathleen is now serving in Zamora with Tom, from our west coast training, Val has just received her assignment to serve in Sorges, in the Dordogne, from 15-30 April, 2013 and Doug and Carol will serve in La Coquille in the spring of 2013.  For an up to date list of those serving (and who have served) check it out

The Friday reception in Fredericton. Tapas, paella, bread, wine and tarta de Santiago. 
The conferral on Sunday afternoon in Fredericton, witnessed by the local pilgrim group. The new hospitaleros hail from PEI, and all parts of New Brunswick.




Tom pinning on the hospitalera scarf













The London trained hospitaleros, from London, Waterloo, Toronto, St. Catherines.







For those interested in improving their Spanish before going to Spain, there are many course here in Canada at colleges, recreation centres, online and also one offered by the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.  Course description is here.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

More training offered!

As we approach the 25th July, Saint James Day in the Julian calendar, there are groups all over Canada planning day walks and pot lucks to celebrate. Many of those attending will have recently returned from their first, second, third......camino.  They have returned to meet with other pilgrims and to relive, in a way, that magic of the camino.
It is also at this time of year that we begin to receive requests about future hospitalero training sessions so that people can return to the camino and give back some of that magic to other pilgrims.  The training that we offer is a two day session, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon and prepares you well for offering hospitality to pilgrims in both Spain and France.  The cost is $100, to offset the printing of handouts and all the food for the weekend. Just as the hospitalero is a volunteer position, the trainers volunteer their time to conduct this weekend.  And like many volunteer activities, we get so much out of it, and have the opportunity to relive the camino.
We have two trainings this year: October 19 - 21 in Fredericton, New Brunswick (for the first time) and October 26 - 28 in London Ontario (for the fourth time). We will likely have another training in Victoria B.C. in March of 2013. To register for the training, please fill out the form found here.

Tom Friesen spent two weeks serving as a hospitalero in Grañon in April and you can find his report here. You can also find links in the sidebar to the right of this page, other reports by hospitaleros over the years, and a typical schedule that we follow for the training weekend.

We hope you will join us. Many have found returning to the camino in the role of hospitalero, one of the most rewarding adventures of their lives!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Helping our Japanese pilgrims

I have received this from the Japanese Association of Friends of the Way of St. James.  I think their cause, sending students affected by the earthquake and tsunami disaster of last year, to walk the Camino de Santiago, a worthy one.  Please take the time to read this and if you would like to donate, the details are below. This is not a scam, but a worthy project.

Project The First Step

We, Association of Friends of the Way of St. James in Japan, would like to introduce ourselves as an NPO dedicated to the publicity and promotional activities in Japan related to the said pilgrimage route in Northern Spain, and to the international exchange activities with the fellow associations in Spain and other countries. And this is to ask your cooperation with respect to our planned project intended to offer assistance to the students afflicted by the great earthquake disaster of 3.11. last year.

For your quick understanding, we would like to summarize the basic concept of the project as follows:

1)     In view of the fact that the long reconstruction effort of the disaster-stricken area will be put on the shoulder of the next generation, we planned a project which might encourage the young people in Tohoku area to take their first step ahead toward reconstruction of their native place. More specifically, we will invite a group of the high-school students in Tohoku, committed to the said effort, to walk along the Way of St. James.

2)     We named this project as 「○○の一歩」(maru-maru no ippo), which means “The First Step of (           )”. Each student who applies for participation in this project should fill the blank with his/her own words which reflect his/her wish and commitment. We hope this statement would motivate him/her to make the first step toward his/her own objective.

3)     The Way of St. James is a pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain), which is one of the three Holy Lands in the Christian World along with Jerusalem and Rome. Since old times this road has been widely known as “the road of rebirth and reconstruction”, and many people, not withstanding their religion or race, have walked this road as a means of taking the first step of their new lives. The pilgrims on this road, sharing among them a common and simple purpose to get to the Holy Land, help and cheer on each other in order to overcome any hardship.

4)     We believe that the young people who walk this road, through encounter and mutual cooperation with these fellow pilgrims, they will realize that they are not alone, and will be able to observe objectively their homeland by seeing it from outside. We also believe that, from this hardship of walking, they will realize that accumulation of small but sure steps would finally lead to their destination, and that they will find out their own incentive to make a new step toward their objective.

5)     It is our strong wish to realize this project not only this year but also to continue at least for ten years.

If you wish to send your donation, please send to the following bank account.

Beneficiary Bank : Japan Post Bank

Branch : 018
Beneficiary Bank Address: 3-2, Kasumigaseki 1-chome, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 100-8798, Japan
Beneficiary Bank BIC (SWIFT Code): JPPSJPJ1
Beneficiary Bank CHIPS UID (*3): 427593
Payee Account Number (*4): To integrated account
Code number and account number : 10160-82914181
Payee Name: Nihon Camino de Santiago Tomonokai
Payee Address : 2-55-22 Sangenjaya, Setagaya, Tokyo、Japan
Payee Telephone Number:090-9823-3050

We will be very grateful if you would kindly make a contribution for us to   carry out this project. Your consideration will be highly appreciated.

Tomoko Morioka

President

Association of Friends of the Way of St. James in Japan.

Tokyo, Japan.

Monday, March 26, 2012

21 New Hospitaleros ready to serve in Spain and France!

We had a terrific weekend of training with 21 very enthusiastic people from British Columbia and Washington. The next training will be in October, 2012, in Fredericton, NB and  London, ON.  Click here for registration information and let us know in which training you are interested.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Hospitalero Training in Calgary, Victoria, Fredericton and London

We have had so much demand for hospitalero training from those who have had wonderful experiences on the camino, that we are offering 4 courses this year.  The locations and dates are:
Calgary  March 9-11
Victoria  March 23-25
Fredericton   October 19-21
London   October 26-28

The cost  is $100 for the weekend which includes all materials, dinner on Friday evening, breakfast and lunch on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday.  We make very effort to billet those who come from out of town. 

Although we update the course regularly, you can see the schedule and course topics by clicking on "A Typical Schedule for Hospitalero Training" on the bar to the right.

The registration for the training is also on the right.

Many of those who have trained wth us have already received their assignments for this year.  To see where they have been posted and to see where others have served, click here