Welcome To Spain

[pigs-might-fly]

I just LOVE doing nothing!

I would never have worked in my entire life if I had not needed money on which to live.

Work is a much over-rated, four letter word.

[katy]

It depends on what you are doing. I feel I would like to work, not a 9-5 thing but I do miss the buzz and the status. Not in this country though they treat their employees very bad

have to say though it has taken me ten years to get to the stage where I would like to do something

[Raquel]

It does amaze me the conditions some people are prepared to tolerate in order to live here.

I agree Katy, It is really amazing what some people including myself will put themselves through in order to stay, for me now I really cannot understand why. In fact looking at photos the other night I felt disgusted and embarrassed it looked like we lived in squalor and poverty.

The first few years were fine we lived on the coast had work, money, the school was fine etc it was when we moved inland. We made massive mistakes and I suppose at the time I just saw it as my home and plodded along and tried to make the best of it, and didn't even consider leaving as I felt stuck. It was a big step to make the decision to take the risk of leaving everything behind and starting all over.
Since I've been back, I think we're quite lucky as at least we still have the property and we managed to afford a deposit for a rental etc. I've since met people who have come back from Spain with literally nothing forced to go cap in hand to the dole office, lost everything out there, bought bars and posted the keys back.

Like your friends I was slightly concerned what would happen if I didn't settle back in England and would I like to come back but after 14 months I can safely say I don't ever want to go back, my fiancé doesn't even want to go back for a holiday or sort the house out especially after our last visit.

Come to think of it one example of people being a bit smarmy when we were there we spent time in a bar the family that owned looked stressed, the mother didn't smile much she had sent her son back to the UK because of bullying, the dad was always drunk and the bar wasn't doing much business apart from the local Spanish gangsters that were barred out of all the local Spanish bars. He was quite drunk one evening and actually said to us 'you didn't make it here because you didn't have the same lifestyle as me'. This wound me up a bit as I thought he knows sweet FA about our situation, all he knows is what the local gossip mongers have said about us. All they know about us is what we were like when living in that village, the one time in our life when we had truly fallen on our *beep*. I was thinking before that we did have his lifestyle my fiancé owned a failing bar, when we came to Spain (we both had a chunk of money separately) anyway instead of getting irate I thought about it and came to the conclusion I wouldn't want his bloody lifestyle anyway, a miserable existence with their child living in a different country just so they can stay in the sun.

Anyway after all my ramblings what I think I'm trying to say yes people do give up a lot and live in appalling situations just to be in Spain. For me personally I'm glad I made that decision to take my life back.

I'm finding this thread very therapuetic

[Raquel]

Work is a much over-rated, four letter word.

It depends on what job you do, I've worked in places I have absolutely loathed even since being back just to get money but I've still enjoyed the buzz of getting up and going to work, having my wages paid in especially after 6 years of doing nothing. At the moment I'm working in a job that I find extremely rewarding and worth while and love it. In fact I'd do the same job for less money.

[Don]

I guess from your earlier posts Raquel that you are much younger than I and indeed I have had times both in the UK and here in Spain when I loved to go to work as I felt I was achieving so much. There was a year when both the Japanese and Australian governments flew me out to their countries to share experiences. Sounds great but all the way to Tokyo and 48 hours on the ground before the return flights then all the way to Brisbane for 70 hours was heavy going at the time but adrenaline is wonderful stuff. If you have found a rewarding job then good for you and best of luck. As for me, I cant wait to retire, not to do nothing but to do all the things I dont have time to do whilst working.

As many said to me over the years, do you live to work or do you work to live? I used to be guilty of the former but am shifting towards the latter.

Saludos a todos.

p.s. these past years also saw me through a break up and a new relationship and soon to be a grandad for the first time. Nobody said life would be easy and sometimes it feels pretty *beep* but then there are good times.

[Paula]

I would love to work!! Would just love to get back into that feeling of purpose for want of a better description. First two years out here of doing nothing was bliss after high pressure working, but I'm getting completely bored now..Theres no work here that I would care to do, so it would mean seriously considering moving back to the UK.
What does everyone do with themselves? I know far too many expats that just drink too much and gossip allday.

[Raquel]

I guess from your earlier posts Raquel that you are much younger than I

I don't know how old you are but I'm nearly 32, the six years I lived in Spain I didn't work, I was a stay at home mum which was nice to do. Now I feel I need to work not just to earn money which is nice but to fulfill my life. I spent too many years working dead end jobs. The thing is with me I get bored so easily and take on so many projects, like trying to do an OU degree, learn to drive, start a new job, trying to buy a house, start a new job, plan a wedding and be a mum...I suppose I'm good at multi tasking But yeah the job i'm in at the moment is temp and I've applied for the perm position and it is really fulfilling, not something that would be most peoples cup of tea but suits me down to the ground.

btw my OH has recently become a grandad too, congrats

[Raquel]

I know far too many expats that just drink too much and gossip allday.

Yes I think thats about it

[Don]

.... What does everyone do with themselves? I know far too many expats that just drink too much and gossip allday.

In the "spare" time Paula (apart from drinking too much ) we love to explore both Andalucia and Spain in general. So much to see of your at all interested in the natural world. If time would only permit to throw off the mooring lines and potter around the coast of Portugal, atlantic Spain, mediterranean Spain and beyond .........

Plus a bit of productive gardening as there is nothing like breakfast fruit picked off the tree. And then there is just chilling out but I guess that is a little different for us newlyweds

[Don]

..... I don't know how old you are but I'm nearly 32, .....

I think I can remember being 32 but that was something like a quarter of a century ago. I seem to recall a house in the UK cost about 10 grand in those days and even that seemed like a fortune.

[Free at Last]

I've been in Spain for just a year now, having given up work at age 50, and I can honestly say I don't miss working one bit, but maybe in several years' time, if I've managed to master Spanish and finished all the jobs we want to do on the house (surely not, it's like the Forth Bridge) I might start to feel bored.

I completely agree with pigs-might-fly, work is very over rated as a way to spend your time, and as the old saying goes, nobody ever died wishing they'd spent more time at the office.

[Paula]

Maybe I just get bored easily, I'm generally quite busy, but I still get bored

[Raquel]

People need to keep their minds active, I think so anyway. I get very bored easily.

[Raquel]

nobody ever died wishing they'd spent more time at the office.

Not everybody works in an office,

[Raquel]

We've just taken the first steps, not to going back completely (yet) but to give us the choice and like you we've chosen a completely different area.

I meant to say yesterday good luck with this, its quite a daunting task but good to have choice between the two. I hope it goes well for you!

[alaninspain]

Paula: Re your remarks about drinking and gossiping, I have found a way to avoid it. Drink much more then you are incapable of talking and so can not gossip. Male logic surpasses all problems.

[Karmen]

Hi All

Has everyone lost the art of Hobbies????

Get on your bikes and travel a change is as good as a rest,perhaps?!

Most of you sound like you're disillusioned with Spain, like you were expecting much more from your lives here, life is what you make it who say's you have to be bored, find something to occupy yourselves.

As for drinking lots & gossiping, well that's a slippery slope a lot of Brits fall onto, you get drunk, remember all the people you miss back 'home', remember all the people you don't like over here, forget who's friends with who when you start slagging 'em off in your drunken stupor, then the hang over from hell as you forgot that you started your night on a quiet 'with dinner' wine and ended up going across the liqueur shelf and ended up with toilet water splashing your face at some unsociable hour etc.....

Get a hobby!!!! jigsaws, knitting, gardening, grow your own veg even!

As an exercise get yourselves a pen & paper then complete the following;

1) List all reasons for leaving the UK

2) List all the reasons for choosing Spain

3) List all the things you miss in the UK

4) List all the things you would miss if you left Spain

5) List all the people you know who would jump at the chance of swapping their lives with yours

6) List all the people you know that you would swap your life with

7) List all the things that you have enjoyed in life so far

List all the things that you hated in life so far

9) List all the things you would still like to do with your life

10) Copy out this list & pass it on to anyone you know that is as BORED AS YOU

I don't know what you will get out of all your answers but it will certainly pass a few hours for you, go on treat yourself to a glass of wine whilst you complete the list: why not have a LIST party and compare answers.

Just a thought LOL

Regards Karmen

[BENIDORM]

I have solved the problem of being ' bored in Spain',...... I now go away for a least 6 months of the year, but in a 'commuting style'..I go for a month or 6 weeks at a time.....
And my latest hobby is devising new methods of how to be always at the front of a Ryanair queue, and how to legally exceed the weight restriction of the 10 kilo limit for hand baggage....And how to look really 'innocent', when the metal detector beeps , even when I have no metal objects on me..And trying to 'wind up' the sour, lemon sucking, immigration officers, by asking them 'how are you today'.....

[Wicksey]

This thread just goes to prove how different we all are.

We both hated work and found it too stressful in the end, and we love our lives now. I feel a bit brain dead sometimes, having once done a technically challenging job and giving it up in my early 40s, and would like to do a bit more 'brain work'.

If Spain doesn't suit some people then I cannot see why others should think they've failed. People may think we've failed by not continuing our careers in the UK and building up more pension in the bank. Each to their own. Life is just toooo short ......

[Sadie]

Hi all,
I agree with Karmen "Life is what you make it" and I don't think anyone is a failure if they decide Spain is not for them for whatever reason, heck if that were the case I would have been failing a lot in my life From Scotland to London back to Scotland and now Spain I have lived where I thought best suited me at the stages of my life and made the most of everywhere I have been.

I love our life in Spain and been here now two years but not all roses though in past year,

Lost my Westie of 10 years when he came in contact with a poisonous toad, miss him so much.

Driving home from airport and got stuck in bushfire in the campo.

In March got hit by the Tornado scary.

Over next couple of months lost two of my cats in road accidents.

In September dicovered had bone infection and had to have all lower teeth removed and started process of implants and while having all lower mouth in stitches took direct hit in the Sept Flood and got trapped in house and fire brigade had to rescue me (were handsome though) and homeless until house cleaned up again and now just had second stage for implants and stitched up again so hope no more storms

But all of above except the toad killing my best pal could have happened to me back in Scotland had floods, Gales, Blizzards, fires, crime etc too but here lots more sun I love it hate the dark damp days back home, made lots of new friends and still see my family and old friends and my days go in way too fast and nope I don't spend it drinking and gossipping just enjoying life.

We are in process though in buying our own house but we did all our homework and finding out about it all during our last two years and have found a great person who before we go and view anywhere has already checked all the legal paperwork/documents etc so we don't waste our time and money, she is Spanish and very reliable and a good friend now too. But we do know life has a great way of throwing surprises at you so live life to the full and enjoy it where ever you are.

Good Luck to everyone whether you are coming or going from Spain.