Category: Living in Spain

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Living in Spain

Organic Food and Moving Your Dog to Spain – NFS Forum

We recently started ordering big boxes of beautiful organic vegetables about once a week. Not only does this hopefully guarentee a better quality of produce, but it also saves a few bag-laden trips back from the supermarket! Marina writes about the different companies we have tried in the forum, see this thread, 3 posts down from the top: Ordering Organic Food in Spain

Hot Dog

Dave Hall (Pepino) has great advice for anyone thinking about bringing a dog to Spain, 4 posts down in this thread: Moving a dog to Spain. My favourite part of his advice is:

2. Traffic. I see loads of people walking dogs in the street off their leads, and it’s truly amazing how the dogs seem to instinctively know the pavement from the road (better trained than most UK children!!) My dog is well-behaved for the most part and wouldn’t run away from me, but has no actual road sense and would happily bumble stupidly into the road if something catches his eye. He wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes in Barcelona

This constantly amazes me too, they can’t all be that well trained? It must have got into the Spanish canine genetics!

Remember, for just about any question you have about Spain or learning Spanish, or just a good chat about anything under the sun, register and join in the conversation in our forum!

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Living in Spain

Don’t Move to a Better Life in Spain

An important comment left on the blog yesterday:

“The grass is always greener. We moved here when the Real Estate was booming, bought a house, put children into private school, at the time was not an issue. Although as they got older the fees ended up being 1000 euros a month (every month) when some salaries are not even that!! Now daughter gone back to Uk to University, no money left to continue other childs education. Cannot sell house . Over 50 so struggling to get work. Trying to make it online. It’s soul destroying, we came here for a better life and it has ended up in disaster. There is a lot more to sun sea and sangria. We came here to give our children and ourselves a better life. What more can I say. Be very careful before you upsticks and move. We are truly stuck, stressed out with limited funds.”

Read in combination with this video from the BBC, I would say a lot of those previously keen to take their family off to a better life in Spain are now thinking twice.

Meanwhile The Sun warns, “…many home-owners could now find themselves stuck in a stagnant market”, under the headline, “Property bubble bursts in Spain”.

Then we have, “Plunging prices cause pain in Spain and trap desperate Brits abroad”, from the Guardian. Pretty depressing reading.

The message seems pretty clear. Only buy property in Spain if you fall into one of these categories:

1. It is a second home that isn’t necessarily also a key investment.

2. You are retiring to that home and are convinced you don’t want to go back to the UK later.

3. You already have a very settled life here and are 100% sure you want to stay.

Moving here with a family without a hell of a job waiting for you, or trying to make a fast buck on the housing market, seems like a very bad idea these days.

And I can only imagine what the Brits’ declining faith in the Spanish property market will do the country’s already troubled construction industy… especially since most Spaniards have given up on investing in new coastal/second home properties as well.

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Living in Spain notes

Can families move to Spain and survive?

This was an important subject of debate in the forum last week. The general consensus was that although it is easy to set up a new life in Spain when you are young, free and single, it is an extremely risky proposition if you are married, mortgaged, and have kids.

In fact, if you haven’t got a year’s worth of salary in the bank, and a firm job offer on arrival, the general advice was ‘Don’t risk it!’ And certainly don’t sell your property back home to buy another one here, because if you change your mind later, you’ll never afford to buy a similar house back if you have to return home…

You can follow the full debate in the forum, but be warned, it’s enough to put a family off moving here altogether. Perhaps that’s why I was really interested in a very appropriate comment left here on the blog over the weekend, in answer to a previous question. “How long does it take to get used to living in Spain?”:

I moved to Madrid from the US 3 years ago with my husband and 2 children, one of which was a toddler. I speak fluent spanish, so the language barrier was not a factor. It was a difficult move. The “mañana” way of life, the ridiculous driving standard, the siesta hours, the over-inflated prices, the holier than thou attitude… well you get the picture, it’s very, very hard to get used to.

Once I realized that I was NOT in the US and I accepted that things are “different” it got much, much easier to live here. The amount of time it takes to realize that can vary for each individual. For me it was at about the 2 year point. I am much happier now and when I am happy, my family is happy.

I miss my home, the US, very much. But I’m not going back until it’s time to move back (another 2 years). The way I see it is: “I’m in Europe and I’m going to see this part of the world before I leave.”

So to answer the question…. It is different for everyone, but you have to make a choice. You either accept a different way of life, or you fight it until the end. Good Luck.

So it is possible for families to move here and survive/be happy, but just how common is it? Have you moved your whole family here, or do you know someone else that has? Would you risk it?

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Living in Spain

How long does it take to get used to living in Spain?

Ben Curtis, Alpujarras

Answer 1: About 5 minutes.

Yes, the initial time it takes to think ‘Moving to Spain is the best thing I have ever done’ is about 5 minutes. This thought lasts a very long time 🙂

Answer 2: About 5 years

Actually, for the first 5 years I lived in Madrid I would often catch myself walking through the park thinking ‘Bloody hell, I live in Spain!’, a thought accompanied by a large grin and a feeling of great surprise.

But it really does take a long time to feel like Spain really is, 100%, home. No doubts. No going back. No regrets. And the first 5 years, until you reach that point, can at times be confusing. Why? Because you aren’t Spanish, because you don’t come from Spain, because where you came from was greener, quieter, cooler… whatever, just different to where you suddenly realise you are living full time.

And that can sometimes create a crisis of confidence. Is Spain really the place for me? Would I still be better off elsewhere? After about 5 years, you know for sure whether or not your are staying for good, or may still one day want to get up and go. I know which camp I fall into. If you live here, how about you?

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Business in Spain Living in Spain Online Business

Online Business in Spain – The Dean Hunt Interview

Dean Hunt

Over the next few months I hope to write a series of posts about setting up, building, and running an online business in Spain. To kick-start the whole affair, I asked my friend Dean Hunt a few questions about his experiences as an internet entrepreneur here in Spain.

I met Dean in Madrid last year, and apart from being a lot of fun to hang out with – if you don’t mind going to bed absurdly late 😉 – his up-to-date marketing advice has also had a significant impact on the fortunes of our own little online set up.

Here’s the quick-fire interview, I’m sure questions in the comments will be more than welcome:

– So Dean, how long have you been in Spain?

Just over three years now. It doesn’t seem that long, el tiempo vuela.

– What exactly do you do here work-wise?

I am an Internet Entrepreneur. I know that sounds quite vague, but what I actually do can change from month to month, depending on where I see opportunities. I am also now considered one of the leading Marketing experts on the Internet, so that has been a touching accolade.

– How long did it take before the net paid the bills?

I was messing around on the net for a year or so before I came to Madrid. But in terms of trying to do it as a job, it took a year of intensive self education before I was in a position to be paying the bills, and even after one year, I was scraping by. Luckily I have continued to improve both my skills and my profile, so I am now able to make a handsome living: I currently make approx. 10 times what I was earning in the UK.

– Many people will think ‘I can’t do that’ – What special skills does someone need to be able to make money online?

If I had to pick one skill I would probably say writing. The Internet is essentially just a lot of content strung together by links, we have a saying in the industry: “content is king”, with good content, you will succeed, and invariably most content is written… even videos and podcasts are often scripted. Unfortunately most people with this talent use it to teach, proof-read, do freelance writing etc… and frankly, it is extremely difficult to make a 6 or 7 figure income that way.

– Do you think Spain makes it particularly easy or difficult to set up an online business?

Spain makes it very difficult to set up a business, I have built a house in Madrid and I have a limited company here, and the bureaucracy can be crazy. I have done things in the UK via the net or via the post (mail), yet in Spain you have to fill out 15 forms, queue from 6am, pay hundreds of euros etc… A Spanish person once told me that the Spanish like to make things as complicated as possible, from what I have seen, he was right.

– You have a somewhat lively blog at deanhunt.com – can a personal site like that make a big difference to someone’s online potential?

It started purely as a place to gather my thoughts, all of that exploded in late 2006 when I had almost 250,000 visitors in a one week period. Since then I have been addicted to the thrill of it, and now have a loyal following and reader base. For me it has helped a lot, despite the fact that my services are fully booked for a year in advance, I still get people contacting me on a weekly basis with job and partnership opportunities. The blog has helped a great deal in opening doors for me.

– What one piece of advice would you give the fledgling blogger?

Stand out from the crowd. There are approx 6 billion web pages on the Internet, find a way to stand out from the others.

– If you could change one thing about your working life…

I work from my home office, so over the years I have started to miss the daily face-to-face interaction with other people. So I suppose it would be interesting to work one day of the week in an office with like-minded people.

– The thing you like most about life in Spain is…

The beauty. Whether you are on a beach in Southern Spain, In Madrid Centre, or even in a quiet little town, it is beautiful. Throw in the good weather, and you have a perfect recipe.

– Any Spain moans?

Just the usual I suppose: Lack of customer service, terrible drivers/roads, David Bisbal 😉

– The one post every should read on your blog is:

It is more of a page than a post, but http://deanhunt.com/category/life-in-madrid/ shows all the blog posts regarding my life in Madrid. There is everything from photos of my house, to the announcement of my engagement to Elena, to me eating snails in a bar in Madrid (yikes).

Many thanks Dean! Remember to check out his blog at deanhunt.com (mind the killer bunnies!), and feel free to comment/ask questions below.

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Living in Spain

Is this the year you will move to Spain?

Bolonia beach
Photo: Bolonia beach, another great reason to move to Spain!

10 years and 5 days ago I stepped foot on mainland Spain for the first time. It was December 31st 1997, and my destination was San Sebastian. 4 days later I was back in the UK with one thing on my mind, moving to the incredible country I had just discovered as soon as possible.

It took me 9 months to pluck up the courage to do anything about it, but eventually, in September ’98, I arrived in Madrid, a move I have never regretted for one minute.

Is this the year you are considering a similar move? If so, here are a few pointers that might help:

1. The idea of moving to another country is terrifying. That’s normal. The reality is much less scary. Once you arrive, you’ll be way too busy settling in and having fun to feel worried, scared or unsure of your decision anymore. So never let the fear put you off.

2. Of the many countries I have visited or spent time in, I have no doubt that Spain is one of the easiest places on earth to set up a new life in. Why? Not sure. Maybe it’s that easy-going, relaxed thing that the Spanish do so well…

3. You don’t need any Spanish to move to Spain but it is probably a good idea. You will need it to rent flats, get bank accounts, buy food etc. You’ll learn very fast on arrival, but having a bit before you get here won’t do any harm. Having said that, I arrived in Madrid with a Spanish vocabulary of about 5 words and phrases so completely ignore this point if you like!

4. If you plan to be an English teacher to begin with, then strongly consider starting out in Barcelona or Madrid, especially if you don’t have any kind of diploma to your name or come from outside the EU. There is far more teaching work available in these cities than elsewhere.

5. If you want to continue in your current professional field after the move, then be prepared to fight hard for a job. There are jobs in IT, engineering, telecommunications etc, but you’ll be up against a lot of Spanish people who also want to work in these fields, and they have the connections that make such a difference in Spain. But, as the great running shoe in the sky says, impossible is nothing, and I know many expats who work in their chosen field in Spain. Which leads on to:

6. I never tire of saying this. You do not need to sacrifice your career to move to Spain. You can, and have the right to, do whatever you want with your life in Spain. Unless you want to join the Spanish police force, then you might need a bit of Spanish nationality in the mix somewhere…

7. If you run an on-line business forget the above. Why aren’t you here already? Spain has great broadband (though you might have to wait two or three weeks for your new connection to get hooked up…), and your cyber-clients don’t mind where you live!

8. Unless you move somewhere very quiet, and very far from Madrid, Seville, San Sebastian or Barcelona, Spain is expensive these days. Not London or Paris expensive, but getting there. Gone are the days of stupidly cheap drinks and restaurant meals. (The rise of the euro put pay to that – maybe that’s why so many Spaniards like to keep thinking in pesetas…) Come prepared to support yourself for a while.

9. Making friends with Spanish people is tough and takes a while. Some people arrive in Spain determined not to go near anyone else from ‘back home’, but this is a mistake. Apart from being very nice and just as interesting as you (they made the move too, right?) other expats are invaluable sources of information and help during your first years in Spain.

10. As usual, it’s over to you. What would you like to add for point 10?

11. Update: if you are moving here with a family, or thinking of starting a business here on arrival, you must read this post by Brian, an American friend who moved here with his family but later made the tough decision to go back home. He has invaluable words of wisdom to offer – read it even if you don’t fall into the above family-moving or business-starting categories.

Further thoughts…

“Impossible is nothing”, “just do it”, “you make your own luck”, “you only live once”, “what’s the worst thing that can happen?” You know what I mean! If you really really think you’d like to make a bold move this year, then by whatever means possible, surprise and inspire yourself into doing it. It is very very very unlikely that you will regret it ten years down the line…

Ten years down my line from that first urge to ditch London and move to Spain, things are going quite well. It’s exactly one year since Marina, my wife, took a big gamble and left her job to work full time with me on our blogging and podcasting projects, and while we are by no means dot com rich, we manage to have a fine time and cover the mortgage. It’s funny to think that blogging and podcasting didn’t even exist when I arrived in Madrid!

If you make this the year to pursue this (or, for that matter, any other) dream, where might you be in ten years time?

Have you got any questions about moving to or living in Spain? Join our forum, where many happy expat-experts are delighted to help!

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Business in Spain Everday life in Spain Living in Spain

Working for a Company in Spain – Everyday life in Spain 4

I once had an argument with an English friend who suggested that the Spanish don’t work very hard. He thought they spent half their working day having a siesta. I told him that having worked in two companies in Spain, I could say without a doubt that the Spanish work much longer hours than the British and appeared equally, if not more, stressed as a result.

I worked as an English teacher in both companies. The second was a multi-million dollar marketing company, that invoiced its clients hundreds of thousands of euros at a time. By just floating in for a few hours a day (max 24 per week), I earned more than most of the main-floor cubicle workers I was teaching, who worked 60 hour weeks, might come in at weekends without extra renumeration, and were lucky to earn 1,000 euros a month.

They are the so-called mileuristas (great article in El Pais), late-20’s to thirty-somethings with a degree, maybe even a Masters, probably an extra language or two to their name, who just can’t break the 1,000 euros a month barrier no matter who they are working for. Inflation rises, house prices go through the roof, yet salaries in Spain just don’t budge. How is that possible, even when multi-nationals are writing the wage cheques?

Can’t answer that one, but here are a few more things you might not know about work in Spain:

– Many companies still enforce an hour and a half lunch break (as if everyone still worked round the corner from home and wanted to pop back for lunch – now the exception rather than the norm).

– It is still common for women to get paid less for doing the same job as their male colleagues. A female director in the above-mentioned multi-national I worked for said this is because the man is seen as the head of his family, and will need more money to support his household, including, presumably, his low-earning wife.

– Once you get off the cubicle floor and into a managerial position you will earn a more realistic wage, but you’ll be expected to give up the rest of your life to earn it. Don’t expect to be home before 10 at night.

– Working from home is uncommon, but pilot schemes in some companies do let people stay at home once or twice a week.

– A yearly salary is usually split into 14 payments: one per month, and an extra payment of the same amount, the paga extraordinaria, paid once in June or July and once at Christmas.

Conclusion

Working in a Spanish company is tough. You are expected to work long hours for low wages, no matter who you are working for. Multi-million dollar international marketing firm? They’ll pay you little and take their cash for the shareholders, thanks. A Spanish friend of ours works for a multi-million dollar tech company, just outside Madrid, as a mid-level IT consultant with 6 years experience. She has been placed there by her consultancy firm, a large French company. Should be driving a BMW, right? Wrong. She earns less than 2,000 euros a month, probably half what she would earn for the same job in the UK.

If you want an easy life in a Spanish company you have two options. Be the chauffeur driven CEO, or the lowly English teacher.

How does life in your company/country compare?

Categories
Living in Spain Spain Travel

The 10 BEST things about Spain

And finally, also by popular request, my last list of the week. Please feel free to add to it.

The BEST things about Spain:

1. The food – the variation in all the different provinces, from Salmorejo in Cordoba, to Fabada in Asturias, Pinxtos in San Sebastian, Arroz in Valencia, tapas in Leon, and everything else in between!

2. The outdoor lifestyle – who doesn’t love eating, drinking, and living outside?

3. The strong sense of family – Spaniards work hard to keep the family important, it’s a shame other cultures focus less on this as time goes on.

4. The climate. Of course!

5. Spanish wine!

6. The Spanish are generally happy people who take pride in showing others the best of Spain (in many other countries people are often too quick to criticise their own culture, and there us nothing wrong with a bit of national pride).

7. If I don’t say the pretty girls then someone else will! 😉

8. Small traders still giving ‘trato personal’ – the supermarkets haven’t put everyone out of business yet.

9. The landscapes – From the lush green north, to the mighty Pyrenees, the deserts of Almeria, the Alpujarras, the Rias in Galicia, the wilds of Extremadura… the variety is unimaginable until you start to see it all for yourself.

10. What would YOU put for number 10?

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Everday life in Spain Living in Spain

Everyday life in Spain 3 – Plum Cake

Plum cake

Hmmmm…. no deep philosophising about Spanish culture today I’m afraid, just a shout out for a great, and bizarrely named, Spanish cake. Now the Spanish aren’t all that hot when it comes to pastries – this is not France. A Spanish croissant, for example, looks just like the French version, but it’s a poor, dry, and slightly less interesting cousin (which is possibly what the French think about Spain), and the rest of the offerings on display in the bakeries of Madrid have never exactly moved me…

Until that is, I discovered Plum Cake. The only trouble is that for at least a year I felt far too ridiculous saying it to actually buy any. You see not only does Plum Cake have nothing to do with plums – it’s just a rich, moist, melt-on-the-tounge sponge cake with almond chips on top – but it isn’t pronounced anything like our word ‘Plum’ either. Think of the ‘oo’ sound in ‘boom’, and stick a pl- on one end and an -m on the other. ‘Ploom’. That’s it. Now add ‘cake’, just the way we say it in this case, walk into a bakery, order, take home, and hmmmm… heaven.

The one I just picked up is the size of a small loaf of bread, how the hell can I stop myself finishing it before Marina gets home?

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Everday life in Spain Living in Spain

Everyday life in Spain 2 – Food Shopping

Spanish Tomatoes

Some ideas and observations…

1. When you buy fruit and veg from the market or small grocery stores, ask for some parsley, they’ll always throw in a bunch for free.

2. Food is generally cheapest in the markets, but:

3. You are highly likely to get charged higher prices in the market once they detect that hint of a foreign accent. Avoid this by checking prices at a few stalls before buying.

4. Everywhere but the supermarkets, ask for recipe advice for whatever you are buying. The grocer will tell you exactly how to make the best ‘revuelto‘ (scrambled eggs) with those ‘setas‘ (wild mushrooms), the meat guy will enthusiastically explain how best to stew his beef… and they all love to tell you.

Fabada5. The wise Spaniard always has a can of Fabada Litoral in the cupboard. Litoral is a brand that does an incredible job of putting Fabada, that famous Asturian bean stew, into a can. A lifesaver when the fridge is empty.

6. If a shop only sells one thing, always buy that thing from that shop. There is a shop around the corner from us that only sells eggs and only opens on Wednesdays. Best damn eggs in Madrid!

7. Spanish shoppers always carefully check their receipts, even in supermarkets, looking out for those few unscrupulous shopkeepers that still slip the extra item onto the list every now and again. Do the same, and argue as vehemently as they do when you spot a ‘mistake’.

8. Never buy bread from Chinese shops or supermarkets, it’s crappy. Look for the local bakery with the biggest line and queue up with the grannies.

9.Chinese shops, the corner shops of Spain, never shut. The tired Chinese girl behind the counter has been there 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, all her adult life – hence the Spanish phrase ‘trabajar como un chino‘, to work like a Chinaman, i.e. very very hard. When everywhere else is shut, Chinese stores are great places for essentials like beer, milk, and crappy bread.

10. No self-respecting Spanish housewife ever buys fish on a Monday – it’s left over from Saturday. The fresh stuff comes in from Tuesday onwards. Oh, and fresh fish has bloody eyes.

How does this compare to your neck of the woods? What have I missed?