Category: Living in Spain

Talking about moving to Spain and making mistakes in the same sentence is a bit of a contradiction in terms. In fact, if you have been dreaming of moving to Spain for a long time, then the only real mistake you can make is not doing so. What’s the worst thing that can happen after all? You take a huge cut in wages or risk a big career regression? You miss all your friends? None of these or similar perceived disasters are as terrible as staying where you are and always wondering "What if” you had actually made the move to Spain instead of staying at home and never giving yourself a chance to just do it. Remember, if it all goes wrong, you can go home and feel good about having had the guts to have tried it in the first place.

Anyway, let’s skip a step and imagine that you have done yourself an enormous favour and fulfilled your desire to move to Spain. What, in my 9 years experience in Spain, do I consider to be my single greatest mistake?

First of all, many many apologies for the delay in answering the questions posted here on the site some time ago. We have decided that the best way to answer these questions, and get feedback from others, is to post them, along with our answers where possible, in the forums. If the format works, we’ll try it again on a regular basis. So, here are the questions, with links to the answers. Please do join in in the forums if you can help!

Brandon – I’m in my early twenties and planning to move to Spain within a year. I’d like to know what to expect as far as what people my age (22, college age, generally) do when they go out. I imagine it may not be a whole lot different from what people my age around the world do, but is there any of those "only in Spain” things that we talk about so often here? What’s a typical night out for a Madrid college student or twenty-something? Answers here

A few interesting snippets from some of my favourite Spain blogs this week:

Andalucid takes a trip down to Cabo de Gata, a corner of Spain well worth exploring.

Gabriella at Catavino.net decides it’s time to swot up on Iberian Wine.

Katie at España Profunda wonders what on earth happened on the Spanish roads this Easter.

South of Watford fills us in on the end of the Esperanza Aguirre tale – ‘Espe’ is the President of the Madrid regional government who can’t pay her heating bills.

Graeme also has some stunning photos of the Picos de Europa.

Finally, Nicholas Mead’s boiler packed up, leading to another classic run in with Spanish customer service.

Are you blogging about Spain? Have you got a favourite Spain blog? Let me know in the comments!

One for the expats: I’ve heard good things about Espantel recently, two cents a minute to the UK and the USA (and many others) using your landline – you dial a 901 number followed by the number you want to reach and you are charged on your normal phone bill. Could be an easy alternative to jajah or skypeout.

What do you use to call those you left at home?

…for the pissed off expat

i found i was pregnant which was a bit of a shock, however [my partner] and i went to the local doctor for advice (being the 4th child) and we were sent to the abortion clinic this was not a language difficulty (my husband is fluent in Spanish). the abortion clinic was about to do the procedure when they realised this was not what we asked for, we merely wanted normal pregnancy tests to ascertain the baby’s health

This sounds like a nice way of life:

I moved to the beautiful mountainside town of Cazorla in an oft-missed corner of Andalucí­a in September, 1999. I currently dedicate myself to the cultivation of 1500 olive trees and to investing in the Spanish stock market.

From Ibex Salad (found in an NFS comment)

One for those of us based in Spain, and a a great implementation of the wiki concept. The top-rate 902, 901 and 806 numbers in Spain are used mercilessly by customer service departments and really help ramp up the phone bill. Well, it turns out that for most of these numbers there is usually a cheap local rate alternative. nomasnumeros900.com collects these in their wiki and lets you search for them from their homepage. Worth bookmarking I think!

From pissedoffexpat:

The most insulting acts are against the children in the education system eg my little girl of 8 if late to school is made to wait outside the class however any spanish child is allowed in if late, if the spanish children attack a non spanard the monitors ignore this and if challenged by the parent told that it only looked like a game but if the roles are reversed the non spanish child is punished

I understand why she is pissed off. Racism between children is, while totally unacceptable, not wholly unexpected – they often don’t know any better. But by the school monitors? Incredible. Is this sort of behaviour widespread? Has anyone else had experiences of this type?

Yes, I find it hard to believe too, but I’ve spent the last 10 mins (unsuccessfully) trying to research the source of an article on Expatica.com that claims the UK Government is warning Brits about the realities of growing old in Spain.

“British officials in Spain are devoting more and more time to elderly Britons who cannot manage alone. Many of those who come for help have neither learnt Spanish nor learnt about how the welfare system works.”

Note to Expatica, please link to your sources! Like this!

Anyway, the result of the googling was very a interesting article on thisismoney.co.uk entitled ‘We don’t love Spain anymore‘. According to the article:

“Britain’s long property love-affair with Spain is going cold. UK nationals who emigrated with dreams of a carefree retirement are returning home in increasing numbers… Experts say there are several factors behind the change of heart. These include:

• Widespread corruption among planning officials that could result in properties being repossessed.

• Rising crime and noise pollution.

• Reports of older expats living in squalor because of the lack of care provision.

• An influx of too many Brits destroying the local culture.”

Of course the comment about Brits destroying the local culture, which in turn stops other Brits from moving here, is ironic to say the least. Or maddening. But, there is a valid point here, and one that has been made before: make sure you know just what you are letting yourself in for before you leave for a knew life in Spain. Or more importantly, make sure you have an “exit stratergy” in case things don’t go as planned (don’t mention the war!)