What is it actually like to work abroad?

Working in Spain is culturally very different than back home. The weather is nice and the locals are lovely . Working in Spain you will need to speak fluent Spanish to work here, as finding a job can be hard it’s self. But knowing the language fluently is even more challenging. Working here can be hard as there are lots of homeless people here. The youth unemployment is at a all time rise due to the euro crunch which affected the economy and the people of Europe and Spain which costs many jobs and many organisations to collapse.

Living in Spain what’s it like?

Living in Spain is really nice they have beautiful accommodations and very helpful people there are many bars cafes and restaurants to find food and beverages. It’s not the cheapest of places – Sevilla – but it’s round reasonable. Some places can be expensive depending on where you go. I would recommend smaller cafes and bars for cheaper prices than the tourist places. Don’t mention your a tourist in a small local business either or you will get ripped off.

What’s there to do?

There’s lots of activities to do from Segway classes. To Yoga there is finding Europe’s largest infrastructure and climbing to the top of it. There’s flamenco and boat rides. Salsa lessons and much more fun activities to do.

At the start of my workplacement, I agreed to write a few blogs during my #JourneyToWork in Spain. Writing and reading has been a major issue for me (but not anymore) because I have dyslexia.

What is Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language. People with dyslexia have normal intelligence and usually have normal vision. Most children with dyslexia can succeed in school with tutoring or a specialized education program. Emotional support also plays an important role. Though there’s no cure for dyslexia, early assessment and intervention result in the best outcome. Sometimes dyslexia goes undiagnosed for years and isn’t recognized until adulthood, but it’s never too late to seek help. Here’s my story:

My Journey through Education and Dyslexia

When I was in education writing was difficult for me and. I was punished by teachers and giving  detention for not completing work on time and making spelling errors.

When I was giving the correct technology it helped me through my exams.  I used a Computer to do my daily work. Usually spell checker helps me through creating and developing knowledge and I’ve used this tool my whole life. I would recommend coloured paper for dyslexic people and I also believe to have found technology supportive to dyslexic people.

I learned how to use power point, excel, word and outlook in school and it became very second nature. I use my skills in technology now to help me in every day life. It has helped me throughout my whole life including working in the Netherlands and Spain. Google translation is an excellent tool for any student or young person that wants to respond to something or needs time to gain experience in the understanding and verbal language of the language being used.

I had a hard time at school with dyslexia but it hasn’t kept me down and I still continue life knowing that my greatest weakness is to doubt. Any human is capable of learning more than they can say. We can we all have doubts but we all should focus on the future, that is technology. And these things will guide us to our internal knowledge and we will gain much more experience in different aspects of life, including culture, fashion, and poverty. We will appreciate our life better when we can see the world within our hands. And I have very much appreciated technology and respect how it has helped me progress in confidence. I am motivated about helping others use technology wisely including family and friends.

My greatest achievement using technology was getting through education with how far it’s came the level of intelligence has increased making technology a more powerful aspect. Technology will also help me in my Journey to Work !

My first experience in Spain of Spanish football was during the 6^th of December. I sat in the middle of the stadium with Miguel. It was the most extravagant experience of my life. The crowd was extremely loud and the fans extremely passionate. There is a bigdifference in the game between the two countries: Spanish being more loud and passionate about the game. The people love there team as if its family. Football is like a religion over here. It’s studied practised and preached.

In Spain the locals seem to either support the two main clubs Real Madrid or Barcelona, while the others in this city will support the home teams Sevilla or Real Betis. The atmosphere is electric. You can buy pistachios and peanuts before the game starts and they offer candy as well. Something you don’t see in Scotland on the streets before a game of football. You can see from the fans faces how much the Copa Del Rey means to them. The La Liga is very competitive and produces a high standard offootball.

My first ever football game I went to is when I was 10 years old and I went to a Rangers game with my father. I was 11 years younger than today and Rangers was the topclub back then in Scotland, my first experience if I remember correctly, was hearing the fans shout abuse at a derby between Rangers and Celtic there was alot of violence committed on that day in Glasgow. The derby games always end violent in Scotland. Scotland has a history of violence within football within each team we have hooligan clubs that take matters off the pitch. After the game finished it ended a 1-1 draw and the fans started throwing things at eachother.

I would say the locals of Scotland aren’t as passionate or as competitive as the Spanish fans and the Spanish Football association. My experience doing coaching with young people was that the coaching drills do not advance from cone drills and aren’t very well prepared. It mainly consists of you thinking on the day than being prepared to coach your team.

My second game of football I went to was Hearts of Midlothian when I was 12. We have two clubs in Edinburgh. The centre of Edinburgh´s team or Hearts of midlothain, at the other end of the city. These two clubs are derby teams and have extreme history in Scottish football like Celtic and Rangers. A lot of Spanish people do not know of these two teams they mainly communicate about Rangers and Celtic. I suppose the Edinburgh teams haven’t been developing in the years due to lack of money and Rangers recently became bankrupt. Then they introduced Steven Gerrard with Celtic holding all the fundamental value that would makes sense that they hold top flight.

I support Hearts of Midlothian because of my family who are all Hearts of Midlothian supporters. They play in a maroon colour while Hibernian play in green and white. That is the difference between the two clubs in Edinburgh. They play in different colours and have two different types of fans. Hibernian Football Club has been known to some of the worst violence in Europe.

Scottish football is trying to develop. In the next 2 years we are trying to gain better experience off and on the pitch with the right funding from the government. I believe Scottish football is not massive because of the violence behind it and the governmental cost of policing the stadiums and fans after the games. We love football in Scotland and Aberdeen and Hibs have had a history of violence in the capital city on Princess Street. At waverly station the fans would get off the train and meet the hibs fans and it would cost the government a lot of money to stop this violence. It went on for years and the hooligan firms ended up serving a sentence for there actions committed.

Football is a great sport and is celebrated all around the world. Some people take the game seriously, others don’t, and some will take it too far. Hibernian Football Club made history when they won the Scottish cup after 114 years. When they won the Scottish cup in 2016 they made legendary history in Scottish football when they beat rangers 3-2, it was the best game Edinburgh locals have ever seen. I watched the final televised and it was the most passionate game of Scottish football I ever watched in my life with a fighting spirit and that is what I know of football.

The cultureand the pride of support is unbelievable. Hibernian Football club was owned by a gypsy who had been known to have set a course on them for 114 years before they win. And that is exactly how it planned out if you look into the history of the club a gypsy had set a curse on them on winning the cup and the reached the finals so many times to become second.

But thankfully an Edinburgh team had finally won the cup after all them years a small club like Hibernian Football club had done it!

This is my first blog in Spain. My name is Ameer Ali and I live in the capital city of Scotland and I will write blogs about me currently working and living in Spain. Before I talk about my Spanish Journey to Work I tell you about what life is like in Scotland.

Scotland is famous for it’s Viking history in the 8th – 15th century. Surrounded by castles and its wide range of fudge and historical culture and oil industries it is known to some legends (Robert Bruce) (William Wallace) (Robert Burns) and many more.

I was born in the East side of Edinburgh in a little village called the Wisp near the town of Portobello by the sea. It was home to the miner family’s in the early 1930s and 1940s there was not many options of employment. You could either join the army or become a miner a lot of men worked down the coal mines during this time.

I went to school around 5 years old I started 7 years in primary School and then done 5 years in Secondary School. The first school I went to was Sciennes Primary School just outside the city centre. The population of pupils ranged from anywhere between 700-1000 and 32-42 per class.

This made life a bit more difficult having Dyslexia this was picked up at the age of 10-11 years old. And it was never picked up by the majority of teachers I gained learning support in Secondary School.

As I went to school I seen the lack of motivation in the educational system that not only did the teachers give up but the pupils as well. I was promised a destination of employment when leaving school I purely had to independently find organisations. To help me gain some experience before any employer would consider my application this consisted of different organisations and many employers. After a very hard time of struggling to gain experience of employment and many unrealistic job opportunities, I was giving an opportunity with Werkcenter to do #JourneyToWork, to live and work  in Spain. I feel confident that I will gain a lot of new experiences and skills, here in Seville, doing #JourneyToWork