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Ready to practice English (and Spanish!) on wheels? 😄 On March 8, we’re heading out on a bilingual bike adventure through beautiful landscapes and good company. 🌿 We’ll ride to Beneixida 🌿 Then continue toward Altea 🌿 Following the scenic Via Verda in Xàtiva. This isn’t just a bike ride…It’s moving conversation. It’s nature vocabulary in real life. It’s laughter between pedal strokes. 📍Meet at DarKha Academy (Sant Doménec, 32, Xàtiva) 🕙 10:00 AM Bring:💧Water 🚲 Your bike ⛑️ Helmet (safety first, explorers!) Let’s explore,  practice, and enjoy the journey — together. Adventure awaits. Just pedal. 🌞 Heading out the Via Verde from Xativa!

📖 DarKha Book Club – February Edition is a story of kindness and change: Join Our January Book Club Wednesday, Februray 27| 7:00–8:30 PM📍 DarKha Academy, Carrer Sant Domènec 32, Xàtiva. Thank You, Ma’am” — a powerful short story by Langston Hughes This month, we’ll dive into “Thank You, Ma’am” — a powerful short story by Langston Hughes about a chance encounter between a tough, kind woman and a young boy who tries to steal her purse. It’s short, sh arp, and full of heart — just a few pages you can read in advance or with us during the session. We’ll explore its language, themes, and the surprising human connection at its core. ✨Come discover what happens when a simple act of kindness changes everything.

Darcie and Karen Resting at the top of La Ermita de Santa Ana 📅 Date: February  22 ⏰ Meeting Time: 10:00 AM 📍 Meeting Point: DarKha Academy. We’re heading to La Ermita de Santa Ana, a stunning 16th-century Gothic chapel with breathtaking views from its strategic location atop its namesake mountain. The hike is an easy to medium 3-hour excursion (approximately 8 km), on an uphill paved road. 👉 What to Bring: Water, A snack. We’ll carpool to Llosa de Ranes, so if you need a ride or can offer one, please let us  know in advance.  Join us for a morning of history, culture, and nature! 🌿

DarKha biking exploration! 📣 Bike Adventure: practice cycling in English and Spanish! Xàtiva → Cova Negra 🚴‍♀️🌳Sunday, February 8 · 10 AM Meet at: Sant Domènec, 32 – Xàtiva (València) Come join a scenic bilingual bike excursion through the beautiful countryside around Xàtiva — perfect for enjoying nature, fresh air, and good company! 🇪🇸🇬🇧📍 Route Overview: We’ll pedal from Sant  Domènec toward Genovés and on to the natural site of La Cova Negra. It’s mostly rolling terrain with some gentle climbs suitable for riders with basic bike experience. 📏 Distance: ~30 km 🕒 Duration: Around 3–4 hours including stops 🚴 Difficulty: Moderate (smooth dirt & gravel paths with some ascent)👟 Bring ✔ Water💧 ✔ Snacks 🍎🥪 ✔ Light jacket 🧥 ✨

I opened my eyes grudgingly… my bed was warm, contrasting with the air I breathed in: invigorating, crisp, and cold. But I had to get out of my cocoon. It was a school day, and I was a teacher. As I fumbled to put on my thick wool slippers and bulky robe, I noticed a strange silence. A heavy, muted kind of quiet. Was something wrong? I parted the curtains and glanced out and saw a winter wonderland had quietly crept in overnight! The trees, the meadow, the fences were all adorned in fluffy white. I was elated. Ski time! Darcie heading up the slope with the Sierra Nevada of California in the background! Photo by R. Atlee You may have guessed: I’m not in Valencia, Spain. I’m in Bishop, California, my hometown nestled at the very foot of the mighty Sierra Nevada. Yes, everyone knows about California’s beaches, but it also boasts some of the highest peaks in North America. In fact, higher than anything in Spain. Growing up in Bishop, winter meant ski days; actual official school days where we’d head to Mammoth Mountain and spend the day on the slopes. Skiing quickly became one of my favorite flying sports. There's nothing quite like carving down a wide run with nothing but wind and snow in your face. Moving to Spain didn’t change my love for the sport. I even brought my gear with me. But I never went. Maybe I was quietly afraid of being disappointed. Spain, like California, is often stereotyped: all sun and beaches. Can it really have great skiing too? Last week, I finally faced my unspoken fear and drove up to Valdelinares. At first glance, it’s… well, adorable. A picture-book resort: hand-knitted scarves, thermoses of ColaCao, grandparents watching from the lodge with bocadillos instead of sandwiches. No towering gondolas. No Olympic-size lift lines. Just a humble collection of slopes, snow machines humming optimistically, and families bundled head to toe in colorful snowsuits. Now don’t get me wrong, Mammoth Mountain is glorious. Bold, wide, wild. You spend your first hour just getting to your favorite run, and the next five getting lost and found again. There are pro snowboarders, GoPro stunts, and enough vertical drop to make your knees dizzy. I smiled when I saw the map at Valdelinares. “That’s it?” I whispered. But something lovely happened as I clicked into my skis; I relaxed. No pressure. No proving. No getting lost in powder. Just laughter echoing through the pines and kids shouting “¡Mira mamá!” as they zipped by in joyful zigzags. By the end of the day, my Californian legs were satisfied, my face was sun-kissed, and my heart, happy. Valdelinares didn’t need to compete with Mammoth, it just needed to be itself. A little piece of Sierra de Gúdar magic. I skied, I smiled, I even had a bocadillo at the lodge. And as I drove home through winding mountain roads, I thought: maybe this Californian in Spain has finally found her winter wings again, just in a slightly smaller size.

🌞 Join us for a bilingual hike to Les Arcadetes along the Albaida River, where language learning, community, and nature come together! 📅 Date: January 25, 2026 ⏰ Time:10:00 am 📍Meeting Point:Sant Domenèc, 32 ⛰ Duration: ~ 2–3 hours (friendly pace) 🌎 Languages: English & Spanish (all levels welcome!) Bring comfy shoes, water, snacks, sun protection, and curiosity! Let’s hike, laugh, and learn bilingually! 🌳✏️ Hiking out to Les Arcadetes along the Albaida River

Friday, February 13 | 🕖 7:00 PM | 📍Sant Doménec, 32. Join us for a bilingual evening full of creativity, laughter, and heartfelt fun. 💌 We’ll make cards and poems in Spanish and English. 🍷 Bring a snack or drink to share — or both! 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Bring someone you love… or just your joyful self. Love, languages, and lots of laughs guaranteed! 💃🕺 Learn your Love Language in English!!

🗓️ Friday, Jan 16 — Viernes, 16 de enero 🕖 7:00 PM📍Sant Domènec, 32 🗣️ Practice English & Spanish with charades, laughs, and lovely people! 🧀🥂 Bring a a friend, and a snack, or drink to share, 😄 and your sense of humour! At Bilingual Game Night, everyone wins!!

🌟   Join us on Sunday, January 11, for the first ride of the year!!! 🛣️🍊We´re taking a scenic ride through orange groves and charming towns: We'll explore Vallés, Cerdá,  Torrella, Llanera de Ranes, Granja de la Costera, and finish in Xàtiva.📍 Meeting Point: DarKha Academy (Sant Doménec, 32, Xàtiva) 🕙 Time: 10:00 AM ✅ What to Bring: Your bike🚵🏼, water💧, appropriate clothing, and a desire to practice Spanish/English! 📏 Distance: 25 km round trip – easy and fun!  Let’s enjoy a bilingual outdoor adventure together! 🤩 🌟   Join us on Sunday, January 11, for the first ride of the year!!! 🛣️🍊

I remember my first Valencian orange juice. It was thick, sweet, and sunshine in a glass. I’ve been hooked ever since. As I was preparing it one morning, my friend Xavi watched with curiosity as I squeezed the orange — pulp and all — into the cup. “Does everyone in California drink it like that?” he asked curiously “No,” I laughed, “most people drink just the juice. But I love it with the pulp, too.” A flicker of horror flashed across his face. Just a blink. Then he quickly recovered. «Bit of an overreaction», I thought to myself. The gorgeous citrus of Valencia. Photo by D. Khanukayev However, I remember that look — those moments when I’m caught up in conversation, speaking freely, and then, for a second, something in the air shifts, like a moment of unspoken shock. Spaniards will not correct your Spanish, it is considered rude, but every once in a while, their face will give it away. In these moments, I mentally rewind, scan the sentence, and usually find it: a gender slip. I switch the noun from masculine to feminine, or the other way around. Easy, right? Except… in English, things don’t have gender. Girls are “she,” boys are “he,” and everything else is just… “it. But in Spanish? Everything — chairs, ideas, books, feelings — is either a girl or a boy. And yes, that was it. I had told Xavi that I like pulpo (octopus) in my juice — not pulpa (pulp). We laughed, of course, once we cleared it up. I assured him there was no seafood in my citrus. This kind of mix-up used to paralyze me. I’d freeze mid-sentence, trying to mentally conjugate ten verb tenses and match fifteen noun endings. But somewhere along the way — maybe while buying tomatoes in the wrong tense or confusing “casado” (married) with “cansado” (tired) — I stopped aiming for perfect. And I started aiming for connection. That’s the thing no one tells you when learning a language: you can say all the “right” words and still miss the point. Or you can say completely wrong words — and still be understood, even embraced. In the U.S., we soften awkwardness with smiles and maybe a quick question for clarification. In Spain, since you are never corrected, you have to tune in to the quick facial confusion which is followed by a quick smile. Let’s let this year be the start of a new attitude, let’s drop the fear of sounding silly. Let’s speak, even if it’s messy. Let’s listen for meaning, not mistakes.  Because whether you say pulpo or pulpa, if you’re speaking from the heart — someone will get the juice of it.

This month we’ll be reading “My Brother Walter” from Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin. Some of us found last week’s story a bit intense 😅 — so this time, we’re exploring a gentler, more reflective piece. “My Brother Walter” offers a new tone: emotional, a little mysterious, and very human. Let’s keep enjoying fresh literary styles while practicing language in a meaningful way. It’s all part of expanding our comfort zones — with a story that should spark good conversation (and no gruesome bits!). 😉 📖💬 ¡Nos vemos pronto para comentarlo! 🗓️ Friday, January 2, 2026 🕖 7:00 PM 📍 DarKha Academy – Carrer Sant Domènec, 32

This month we’ll be reading “My Brother Walter” from Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin. Some of us found last week’s story a bit intense 😅 — so this time, we’re exploring a gentler, more reflective piece. “My Brother Walter” offers a new tone: emotional, a little mysterious, and very human. Let’s keep enjoying fresh literary styles while practicing language in a meaningful way. It’s all part of expanding our comfort zones — with a story that should spark good conversation (and no gruesome bits!). 😉 📖💬 ¡Nos vemos pronto para comentarlo! 🗓️ Thursday, December 12 🕖 7:00 PM 📍 DarKha Academy – Carrer Sant Domènec, 32