Reasons for selling up

[Lion]

I often joke about it being a third world country with the sewage and electricity problems

[Valencia_Paul]

Lion and Katy,

You have both mentioned the poor state of education for children. Is this true? Is it really so bad?

I only ask as I have a baby boy and if I did move to Spain he would have to go to a Spanish school.

[winkie]

I wouldn't consider it a failure if you moved to Spain and decided it was not your 'cup of tea' for whatever reason, at least you tried, more than most would.

I am considering a career break to spend up to 12 months in spain, when and if I move back it will be because I have a job to do, not hopefully because I cannot settle.

Good Luck Lion.

[safeashouses]

Lion and Katy,

You have both mentioned the poor state of education for children. Is this true? Is it really so bad?

I only ask as I have a baby boy and if I did move to Spain he would have to go to a Spanish school.

I was in the company of a 4 year old at Christmas who has lived in Spain for a year and attends a spanish school. Her parents both work in Gibraltar. She understood everything that was said in both languages and entered into conversation quite freely especially to correct my spanish pronounciation. She knew every colour of the pencils in her box both in english and spanish and could count up to twenty in both languages.

[safeashouses]

Some words of advice copied from another forum.

Integration

Try and encourage your child to play with Spanish-speaking children during school breaks and outside of school hours, the parks and beach are excellent environments. At home invest in a good dictionary and learn words together. Join the local library and borrow books from the easiest level. Show your child you are keen to learn Spanish by enrolling in one of the courses run by the council - details available at the tourist office - after all, you'll want to read notes from school and end of term reports, and enjoy communicating with the staff and teachers at the school. Homework will sometimes require your involvement. Try and project a positive attitude in front of your children. Moving to a new area, not to mention a new country, has its frustrations, and it can sometimes be tempting to lay the blame with the Spanish. Don't forget life presents it's problems wherever you live and if you become negative so will the kids.

[kevin77]

Kevin, you seem to have had a bad experience in Spain and I know you speak spanish, whats your story? It could help other people.

Katy, you will have to wait until my book comes out 'Powercuts in Paradise' available in English and castellano, but I need to get it translated for the local Andalucian market!
I wouldnt say my experience in Spain has been bad at all, but I think its important to tell people what the down side is, they are continually bombarded with the marketing side. For instance I respect Lion because he has been honest with us about power cuts, even though he is trying to sell his house. Other people would and have denied stuff like that.
Moving to a foreign land is a hard thing to do, what amazes me is that people are so unprepared.
I will say that some of the posters on this forum benefit from a huge cushion with the cash they have from pensions back home, or the profit from a property sale. They have retired here and that’s a different thing altogether from making a career here and starting from scratch[/quote]

[Lion]

Lion and Katy,

You have both mentioned the poor state of education for children. Is this true? Is it really so bad?

I only ask as I have a baby boy and if I did move to Spain he would have to go to a Spanish school.

It all depends on where you are I suppose, in our village there were 3 british children in the same class and the teacher just sat them in the corner of the room and let them do their own thing and all they did was colour in etc, so therefore was learning very little spanish as a result.

Her teaching was very lazy as she couldn't be bothered with the English children so just left them to their own devices, I suppose other village/town spanish schools might not be like that but that's my experience.

We have taken our daughter out of that school this term and as we are definately moving back to UK we are currently teaching her English and Maths skills at home which will be more beneficial than colouring in at the Spanish school!

Not really related to eduction but another reason why we took our daughter out of school was that we have found that Spanish boys (between 5 and 7) are very rough compared to English boys, on a few occasions our daughter was punched by spanish boys and when we told the teacher she just laughed and said boys will be boys (In spanish), many other people we have spoken to have said the same also that boys are brought up not being told that hitting girls is wrong.

[Valencia_Paul]

Thanks Lion - more food for thought I guess.

I think the work situation is my biggest show stopper to making the move. Hope you manage to sell your house. I had a look when you put the link up and thought it looked pretty nice.

Paul

[Midnight Rambler]

Dear Midnight Roamer,
These stores such as "lions case" are fascinating to read. I meet dreamers (come here with no money, no expertise and no spanish all the time) and people like yourself who have a plan, many just fade away and you do not know what has happened to them.

So to my point Roamer, do you have a plan?, do you have kids?, are you retired?- it would be interesting to hear your strategy and be updated.

I do not live in spain yet although I have a house there, but I have a game plan to get me there in four years approx, and I hope my plan is foolproof then I am not a return statistic.


El Al
_________________

I assume you're directing your question to me, The Midnight Rambler.

I don't actually have a plan as such, I'm doing what my boss tells me.
I work for a promotion company which markets music, I'm basically a baby sitter for musicians who have a lot of talent but little or no self control.

In Georgetown, Grand Cayman where I've been based for the last few years, recording studio and engineer hire costs have gone through the roof, it's expensive to get there and to live and entertain on a daily basis.
In Spain our company outgoings will be approximately 35% cheaper, so the whole company is moving there, it's closer to the UK and much cheaper to live and production costs are much lower as we will be building our own studio/living compound, correction that should read, buying and renovating our own studio/living compound.

It's not my money, I'm just a wage slave who's lucky enough to be moving somewhere nice and warm, I don't have any kids and I bloody well wish I was retired but I'm not!

As for the update I'll let you know in six months, one question I have is this: is it really true that there are whole ares of Spain where you hear only English spoken? and if it's true, why? I mean why would you live in Spain and speak only English?

[Lion]

Thanks Lion - more food for thought I guess.

I think the work situation is my biggest show stopper to making the move. Hope you manage to sell your house. I had a look when you put the link up and thought it looked pretty nice.

Paul

Thanks, and good luck yourself.

[Steve&Yvonne]

I am intetested that Lion is finding that houses are not selling in the Axaquia area. There does seem to be a huge amount of property on the market. Is this a general view? Have they fallen?

[Lion]

There are 4 estate agents in this village and I have been told by a former employee of one of them that between all 4 agents they only sold 3 properties in 2005, all of them are on the brink of closure unless they have a better 2006.

Also I have been told similar stories from agents down on the coast so it's not just inland where the demand for resales seems to be dropping.

Have they fallen?

Prices havn't fallen, but demand has, as I said earlier I blame the crazy amount of new builds for this.

[safeashouses]

Building is definitely out of control especially on the coast. I have been saying for several years now that availability must be exceeding demand. A daunting prospect for anyone who buys off-plan especially those who have been duped by sales-patter into multi-purchasing. Owning in a not fully sold development and all the problems that brings must be worrying too.

The once sleepy little fishing village that we bought into 20 years ago is now a town. Fortunately a lot of Spanish people own holiday homes there and I would guess that about 90% of businesses are Spanish. The president of our community lives in Madrid and our vice president who is a resident is also Spanish but speaks fluent English. Our council tax and community fees combined are less than half of what we pay in England.

Thankfully we still feel that it is necessary for us to be able to speak Spanish but (typically English) are pleased when we can get away with not having to do so.

[safeashouses]

Kevin I can't wait to read your book "Powercuts in Paradise" where can I buy a copy in English please

[Kelly4]

Hello all

Happy New Year.

I was really interested to read Lion's comments about the schooling here. We're in a small village too but we've had the benefit of being the first (and, so far, only) British family here, so the school has perhaps been more accommodating that it would be if we were the second or third.

Our children have been given extra Spanish lessons (though we have had to gently remind the school about the importance of keeping this up). Overall, we're very happy because our children our very happy. They are much happier children than they were in the UK and that is the bottom line for us. The school put a LOT of thought into their emotional well-being when they first started and have continued to do so. We are aware that our children would probably have a better education in the UK...but only if you measure education in purely academic terms. Socially, morally and emotionally, we feel they are better off here.

I have to say that I have been very shocked by the differences in the style of teaching here. My eight year-old was used to a much more interactive style of teaching in the UK and she sometimes finds it frustrating that all she seems to do is read and write and copy from the board. We are fortunate that she is very bright with particularly strong verbal skills, so this new teaching style has not actually affected her attainment. I appreciate that this won't be the case for all children.

I speak good enough Spanish to communicate with the school and this has definitely helped. They HAVE been very accommodating but not without a gentle kick up the backside at times. Without this level of Spanish, I doubt I would have been able to ensure that my children's needs were being met.

I wish you all the best, Lion. And salute the fact that you are placing your daughter's needs so high on your list of priorities. I really hope the move back to the UK works out for you all.

Kelly

[frank]

I wish you all the best, Lion. And salute the fact that you are placing your daughter's needs so high on your list of priorities. I really hope the move back to the UK works out for you all.

Kelly

I second that! Many people tend to put their childs education way down the lists of priorities, the fact that they want to move to Spain is all that matters.

[kevin77]

Kevin I can't wait to read your book "Powercuts in Paradise" where can I buy a copy in English please

Its still in production, safeas, but send me your credit card details and ill get a copy to you! The first chapter is being drafted 'The Supermercado shuts at 2pm!', dealing with the cultural shock I experience on my arrival in Malaga after jumping bail on the ASBO charge.
Chapter 2 is called 'I find a friend at last - Senor Cruzcampo'.
Notice that i'm putting a few real Spanish words in there to make it attractive to the punters who watch 'Dream Home Abroad'
Maybe A.com will advertise it for me??

[katy]

Someone I know was told (by the school) that their child needs extra spanish lessons. This is after he has attended for 3 years so he can't have learnt much. Don't think they are bothered though as long as he has somewhere to go when they are working.

[Lion]

Thanks for the good luck wished all

We're in a small village too but we've had the benefit of being the first (and, so far, only) British family here, so the school has perhaps been more accommodating that it would be if we were the second or third.

We said that it was a shame that there were two other English children in the school as if they hadn't have been there then my daughter would have had to interact more with the other spanish children and could have learnt a valuable language.

[jane grant]

Lion, well done for trying and then admitting it's not for you. When we were thinking of moving to Spain a cousin, who had emigrated to Canada many years ago, advised us to give it two years after we arrived before deciding if the new life was for us. We're well past that now, and are still happy and content. One of my reasons for trying life here was I was prepared to 'meet my maker' and admit to having made mistakes in my life, but didn't want to end up sayng 'I wish...' or 'I wonder what would have happened if......' or even worse 'if only.....' My parents emigrated to Australia for 7 years in the '80s and then returned wiser but happier for having had the experience. So we came and for now are happy to stay. Who knows if this will change.