You Could be a Host Family for Exchange Students from Spain!

It’s a small world! Three years ago I reconnected with a friend I had gone to school with in Spain, at King´s College, 30-some years ago, and it turned out we both live in Florida, albeit in different cities.

She is the owner of Spanish Legacy, in Sarasota, FL and is now preparing English camps in Sarasota for Spanish students. The youths enroll in two-week camps in which they stay with American host families during evenings and weekends and spend most of the day at camp, learning English and participating in a host of activities.

Being bi-cultural and bilingual myself, I can only speak of the benefits of learning first hand about other cultures and languages. It broadens your horizons and opens doors that are closed to those who only know their own culture and language. This is a modern-day reality. The more languages you speak, the better equipped you are to network with the whole world! The Internet has made this possible.

If you have teenage children, you may want to consider inviting a Spaniard into your home and make him or her a part of your family for two weeks or more next summer.

Spanish Legacy carefully selects the host families and the exchange students and it is a win-win situation for both parties. 

My children, also born of bilingual and bicultural parents (multi-cultural would be more accurate!) attended Spanish Legacy last summer to learn Spanish, and I can say that every trip they take to their other country, Spain, brings them back more fluent and more open-minded and self-confident.

To know more about Spanish Legacy and their summer exchange programs in Florida, visit www.spanishlegacy.com .

To know more about my books, to include the latest, which will be released next month, visit: www.lorrainecladish.com

Cafe Barcelona in Naples, Florida, standing strong thanks to its Mediterranean cuisine

Cafe Barcelona in Naples, Florida

Having been born in Spain and living in Florida, I yearn for a place where I can meet with friends, eat paella, gazpacho, Serrano ham and drink a good Spanish wine indoors or out on the patio.

Montse Bonache at the Cafe

In Naples, Florida, there is such a place. Its name is Café Barcelona and the owners Pedro Casoliba and Montse Bonache, have withstood the recession thanks to their Mediterranean cuisine.

Over twenty restaurants have closed in the coastal town of Naples, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico in the last year. Café Barcelona, however, that opened its doors in 2005 is still standing, and always offering tasty and affordable menus.

It is where Spaniards and everyone else who enjoys tapas, comes to celebrate anything from New Year’s Eve to the simple fact of being able to chat with friends while drinking sangria and dancing Sevillanas.

Angela and I dancing Sevillanas

There is now a $29.00 meal for two that includes a free bottle of wine, that you can enjoy al fresco, while listening to the strumming of a Spanish guitar. 

Montse and Pedro are veterans in the restaurant business. They started out in their native Barcelona and later on they had businesses in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, which catered to the palates of patrons who enjoy exquisite Spanish tapas.

Success is standing strong during and after a recession, adapting to change and always offering reasonable options for the most discerning diners.

Follow Café Barcelona on Facebook.

Address

336 13th Ave. S.

Naples, FL, 34102

Phone:

1-239-2617498

To know more about me and my books:

www.lorrainecladish.com

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