By Thomas Smith
“In the seventies, I spent about 6 years running around Latin America, I got pretty fluent in Spanish. When I moved here 30 odd years ago, I didn’t have the opportunity to speak Spanish with anyone,” said Greg Roe, founder of Café Español. Greg and his wife Bonnie also founded the Aging Together as Community project.
“When I travelled those six years, a lot of time I was on my own. I was there six months of the year and when you are alone, your day to day language has to be Spanish. It is a very grounded way to learn Spanish.”
“There was a day down the road in Columbia when I realized I wasn’t thinking in English anymore, I was thinking in Spanish,” said Roe.
“What we wanted to do with that is meet interesting people,” said Roe. After hearing about the French Conversation Circle that takes place at the Dysart branch of Haliburton County Library, Roe knew that there could be space to learn, converse, and sing in Spanish.
“We decided that we would collaborate with Aging Together as Community and the library system,” said Roe. Due to the library’s commitment to other events this summer, Café Español has been meeting at Castle Antiques in Haliburton. Claudette Pitre, owner of Poquito Loco, offered their space for Café Español to meet. Poquito Loco shares a commercial space with Castle Antiques and has a large seating area used for the Music Room. With Pitre and one of Poquito Loco’s employees as part of the group, it was a perfect combination.
For the first Café Español, Roe says that they had around 15 people come out, including three from Buckhorn.
The purpose of the group is to allow everyone of all ages to converse and learn Spanish at a friendly rate.
“You are not only learning textbook Spanish but learning how to converse and get along in a Spanish speaking country,” said Roe.
The youngest participant of Café Español is 24 and the oldest is 75, said Roe. While currently meeting at Castle Antiques, the group is concerned that a number of participants will stop coming once the winter hits and it starts getting dark early. People won’t be coming to Castle Antiques at night, so we are looking at afternoons at the Minden Library, said Roe.
Roe and other participants of Café Español are trying their best to ensure that they have fluent Spanish speakers and to have participants from a wide range of cultures. Some participants from Mexico and Uruguay have visited Café Español to check that the group is keeping on track towards fluency.
“There are people who basically know nothing. There is a great range and they are all extremely keen. Usually they have been to a Spanish speaking country or they are going to a Spanish speaking country,” said Roe.
“In western culture, there is a tendency to put people in silos. I am in my seventies. When I was a kid, we thought old people went to a retirement home,” said Roe. “We are all on the same journey whether you are one year oId or 100 years old.”
“We didn’t want to be seen as yet another seniors’ group.”
“There are lots of things available [in Haliburton County] to seniors,” said Roe “But I didn’t want to sit around and play euchre.”
Café Español meets on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. every two weeks. There is no cost to attend. Currently, the group meets at Castle Antiques at 223 Highland Street in Haliburton, but will likely be moving to the Minden Hills branch of the Haliburton County Library in the fall. They also hope to expand the meetings to Haliburton and Kinmount in the future. Greg Roe is encouraging anyone interested to contact him at 705-879-9412 or to email agingtogetherhc@gmail.com
“The class is not just about the language, it is about the culture, the music, the whole thing,” said Roe.