{"id":1258,"date":"2013-05-23T11:29:51","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T09:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/?p=1258"},"modified":"2013-05-23T11:29:51","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T09:29:51","slug":"col%c2%b7legi-claver-raimat-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/2013\/05\/23\/col%c2%b7legi-claver-raimat-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Col\u00b7legi Claver &#8211; Raimat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Here is another submission from Col\u00b7legi Claver in Lleida. It is now Douglas&#8217; time to talk about his experience. He arrived in Lleida in January and soon found himself like at home at Claver! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #888888;\">&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.<\/span>..<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">(March 2013)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/13KiRysrLN0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Arts and Crafts in Col\u00b7legi Claver with Douglas, the Conversation Assistant!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So, here is my blog for the first 6 weeks of my \u201cIntercambio de Idioma\u201d experience. I can safely say that it has been a baptism of fire in several ways so let\u2019s get right into it!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After nearly missing my connecting flight at Schipol, I eventually landed at Barcelona International, met the lovely Raquel and soon thereafter everyone else. As you may expect there were a variety of willing young individuals who applied for the CAPS experience, some from the States, a Canadian and a majority of English folk too. After all of the activities (which myself and another girl missed because we were late, buaha!) we were sent off with our foster families to begin our Spanish experience!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now, learning Spanish is one thing, but learning Spanish in a province which has it\u2019s own language and is growing evermore independent from Spain is another! I brought my books for learning the language but the family I live with and everyone else I have met naturally speaks Catalan and regard Spanish as their second language so immersing myself amongst Castilian was and is still trickier than anticipated. A lot of people also want to practise their English!\u00a0 However, everyone is very happy to change languages for me, whatever the situation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The school I have been placed is one called Claver in Raimat<\/strong>, just outside Lleida in Catalonia. It is also home to followers of the Jesuit faith with some of the more old-school faithful living on the grounds 24-7. So, a school for most and a home for the few, the combination results in a <strong>very friendly and almost family like atmosphere since everyone seems to know everyone else<\/strong>. <strong>And when you\u2019re on the CAPS program, everyone knows you before you arrive<\/strong>. For the first month, many encounters followed the script of<br \/>\n\u201cHey Doug!\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cHey dudes\/man\/guy!\u201d<br \/>\nbut you learn the important ones quickly, like Greco, the busy canteen lady who serves gallons of coffee everyday, or Jani the nurse, with whom I have had many conversations based on sound effects and flamboyant hand gestures.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Difficulties so far have included language barriers, which provides a whole barrel of fun for an observer, and several pangs of loneliness but these are remedied by socializing! The other CAPS character, Laura Onslow (a very English lady), introduced me to an English Speaking club, which attracts many foreigners in Lleida, from Estonia, Egypt, Russia and elsewhere as well as locals from the city. Also, the staff are sympathetic and friendly, happy to take time to talk if you need it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As for a general week in the school,<strong> I\u2019m involved in Physics and Chemistry classes, Europe and English classes and Art<\/strong>! But I\u2019m not only helping the young students, <strong>I\u2019m helping the teachers with their English too<\/strong>. I\u2019m still considered quite a novelty and many times I hear \u201cDoug!\u201d being shouted in the halls. <strong>There is also a music club that I help out<\/strong> with, which is great since I would be going quite mad without playing (I\u2019m a session musician when I\u2019m not a conversation assistant). But other than that<strong> I have also volunteered for open days and help with other random classes when I\u2019m not busy, such as agricultural studies, religion and ethics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All and all, the experience has been great so far. <strong>My family, with Rosa, Pol Snr, Pol Jnr and the wee man Joan, have been very hospitable<\/strong>. They have taken me skiing twice so far (I have only skied once in my life\u2026 when I was about 10\u2026 for less than an hour) and I have wined and dined with their friends and family. They\u2019ve taken me to basketball matches (bangin\u2019!) and cooked fantastic meals for me, <strong>making me feel very welcomed<\/strong>.\u00a0 And that was only in the first month. 4 more to go! I\u2019ll be fluent in no time. And if all else fails, my bottle of \u201cScottish Water\u201d always helps encourage conversation with people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here is another submission from Col\u00b7legi Claver in Lleida. It is now Douglas&#8217; time to talk about his experience. He arrived in Lleida in January and soon found himself like at home at Claver! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">(March 2013)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Arts and Crafts in Col\u00b7legi Claver with Douglas, the Conversation Assistant!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So, here is my blog for the first 6 weeks of my \u201cIntercambio de Idioma\u201d experience. I can safely say that it has been a baptism of fire in several ways so let\u2019s get right into it!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After nearly missing my connecting flight at Schipol, I eventually landed at Barcelona International, met the lovely Raquel and soon thereafter everyone else. As you may expect there were a variety of willing young individuals who applied for the CAPS experience, some from the States, a Canadian and a majority of English folk too. After all of the activities (which myself and another girl missed because we were late, buaha!) we were sent off with our foster families to begin our Spanish experience!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now, learning Spanish is one thing, but learning Spanish in a province which has it\u2019s own language and is growing evermore independent from Spain is another! I brought my books for learning the language but the family I live with and everyone else I have met naturally speaks Catalan and regard Spanish as their second language so immersing myself amongst Castilian was and is still trickier than anticipated. A lot of people also want to practise their English! However, everyone is very happy to change languages for me, whatever the situation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The school I have been placed is one called Claver in Raimat, just outside Lleida in Catalonia. It is also home to followers of the Jesuit faith with some of the more old-school faithful living on the grounds 24-7. So, a school for most and a home for the few, the combination results in a very friendly and almost family like atmosphere since everyone seems to know everyone else. And when you\u2019re on the CAPS program, everyone knows you before you arrive. For the first month, many encounters followed the script of \u201cHey Doug!\u201d \u201cHey dudes\/man\/guy!\u201d but you learn the important ones quickly, like Greco, the busy canteen lady who serves gallons of coffee everyday, or Jani the nurse, with whom I have had many conversations based on sound effects and flamboyant hand gestures.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Difficulties so far have included language barriers, which provides a whole barrel of fun for an observer, and several pangs of loneliness but these are remedied by socializing! The other CAPS character, Laura Onslow (a very English lady), introduced me to an English Speaking club, which attracts many foreigners in Lleida, from Estonia, Egypt, Russia and elsewhere as well as locals from the city. Also, the staff are sympathetic and friendly, happy to take time to talk if you need it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As for a general week in the school, I\u2019m involved in Physics and Chemistry classes, Europe and English classes and Art! But I\u2019m not only helping the young students, I\u2019m helping the teachers with their English too. I\u2019m still considered quite a novelty and many times I hear \u201cDoug!\u201d being shouted in the halls. There is also a music club that I help out with, which is great since I would be going quite mad without playing (I\u2019m a session musician when I\u2019m not a conversation assistant). But other than that I have also volunteered for open days and help with other random classes when I\u2019m not busy, such as agricultural studies, religion and ethics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">All and all, the experience has been great so far. My family, with Rosa, Pol Snr, Pol Jnr and the wee man Joan, have been very hospitable. They have taken me skiing twice so far (I have only skied once in my life\u2026 when I was about 10\u2026 for less than an hour) and I have wined and dined with their friends and family. They\u2019ve taken me to basketball matches (bangin\u2019!) and cooked fantastic meals for me, making me feel very welcomed. And that was only in the first month. 4 more to go! I\u2019ll be fluent in no time. And if all else fails, my bottle of \u201cScottish Water\u201d always helps encourage conversation with people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1267,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions\/1267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.escolacristiana.org\/pac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}