Hi , my husband and i are planing to move to spain in 2 years and need some help. We are looking at Costa Del Sol, we have 3 kids and dont really want to be with all the holiday makers , and would like to be near schools, anyone have any ideas of were we should be looking ? and what are the schools like our kids are 9, 3 and 6 months , we are tryin to get them a basic in spanish befor we move , will they be o.k in school with so little spanish and i only have VERY basic will i be ok, I am learning at the moment and im told you pick it up better when your living there 4 a while , is that true ? and what about bringing over our dog she is a rottwiler is it ok to bring her. if anyone could help that would be great thanx. im a bag of nerves

mariekt - 25 June 2008 04:39 PM

Hi , my husband and i are planing to move to spain in 2 years and need some help. We are looking at Costa Del Sol, we have 3 kids and dont really want to be with all the holiday makers ,

The Costa Del Sol is pretty much Blackpool in the Sun, you`ll struggle to find many places away from Tourists, malaga airport recieves arond 8 Million people a year.

and would like to be near schools, anyone have any ideas of were we should be looking ? and what are the schools like our kids are 9, 3 and 6 months , we are tryin to get them a basic in spanish befor we move , will they be o.k in school with so little spanish and i only have VERY basic will i be ok, I am learning at the moment and im told you pick it up better when your living there 4 a while , is that true ? and what about bringing over our dog she is a rottwiler is it ok to bring her. if anyone could help that would be great thanx. im a bag of nerves

If you move to a Spanish area, use Spanish schools you`ll struggle, nearly every Expat that arrives usually gives up learning Spanish within the first few months, especially in Costa Del Sol.

If your are bent on Costa Del Sol try lookin at Axarquia region.

Spaniards usually measure a foreigner by there grasp of the lingo, if your not fluent within a few months they tend to ignore you or you won`t get more than a Hello.

The children tend to pick up the language quickly, but many Brit families don`t realise that the Spanish education systems rely on a lot of help with homework, my 9 yr old has 3 exams a week and has to study for around 3 hours a day.

Spanish education is intense, at 7 yrs for example she was tested on all the scientific names for all the parts of the human body, which included the structure of the eyes, the names of the nervous system, muscles etc etc.

Some friends of ours returned to the UK last year after 10 yrs in Spain, there 12 yr old son was having difficulty in school and was labelled slow and set back a year twice, within 2 weeks of returning to the UK he was diagnosed dyslexic.

When moving to a new country that doesn`t speak English and you don`t speak the language and never lived any time in the country, I wouldn`t recommend you moved your family to Spain, although the sun is nice, there isn`t much else and you`d be supprised how much difference in culture Spain has compared to the UK.

The main reason you`ll read about Brits not learning the lingo and living in ghetto`s is simply because Spanish don`t like brits not intergrating and Brits don`t like the way Spanish treat them.

Anyway good luck.

mariekt - 25 June 2008 04:39 PM

Hi , my husband and i are planing to move to spain in 2 years and need some help. We are looking at Costa Del Sol, we have 3 kids and dont really want to be with all the holiday makers , and would like to be near schools, anyone have any ideas of were we should be looking ? and what are the schools like our kids are 9, 3 and 6 months , we are tryin to get them a basic in spanish befor we move , will they be o.k in school with so little spanish and i only have VERY basic will i be ok, I am learning at the moment and im told you pick it up better when your living there 4 a while , is that true ? and what about bringing over our dog she is a rottwiler is it ok to bring her. if anyone could help that would be great thanx. im a bag of nerves

Hi there!

There is a very nice area about five Kilometers east of downtown Malaga.  It is not very touristy and has the feel of a small town.  Most of the intensive Spanish schools for foreigners are located in that area and most of the Spanish schools in town are also in that area.  I can think of a few I’d recommend.  Colegio Cerrado de Calderon is a good choice.  Academically, I’d recommend Colegio Esclavas del Sagrado Corazon (Catholic).  You have a few to choose from.  As for the language barrier, I can’t believe you would get the cold shoulder as the other person said.  Maybe they had a bad experience.  It takes two to establish a dialog.  When it comes to cultural differences, of course Spain is different from the UK.  I’m sure that if you wanted to experience the same things you’d choose to stay home.  Enjoy the history, monuments and many outdoor activities you will find.  Enjoy the sun, sailing and fishing or one of the many in-land activities.  Maybe horse back riding? The Picasso museum opened a couple of years ago and there is a theather festival and many internationally acclaimed singers and por artist that perform in and around the Costa del Sol.  Whenever you feel homesick, take an hour drive to Gibraltar or better yet, get on a plane and you will be in gloomy UK in about an hour.

Give it a try, keep it positive and smile. 

Take it from a spaniard from Malaga who has been living in the US for 22 years and migrates home to Malaga’s sun every six months.

Buena Suerte! (Good Luck!)

Yiya

yiya290996 - 26 June 2008 03:43 AM

Whenever you feel homesick, take an hour drive to Gibraltar or better yet, get on a plane and you will be in gloomy UK in about an hour.

Don`t take this the wrong way, but Gibraltar took me 2hours 43 minutes on Friday which included the 45 minutes at the border.

Malaga to London fly time is 2 hrs 30 minutes, the nearest UK airport is just over 2 hrs, it takes me 1 hr 5 minutes to get to Bilbao and 2 weeks ago it took 45 minutes to Madrid.

My experience comes from over 20 years married to a Spaniard and living/working in Spain for more than that and moved from the UK to Spain with a family, so I kinda got the T-Shirt.

I`ve meet many Expats arrive in Spain, without work, without language.They sell there house and wave goodbye to the UK thinking paradise awaits.

I`m simple warning that its very very rare to meet an Expat in Spain, who has arrived, found work and lived for more than 5 years, most I`ve meet leave within 2 yrs.

And the Costa Del Sol/Andalucia is about 10 yrs behind the rest of Spain and at least 30 yrs behind the UK.

I`m not saying that is a good or bad thing, but you`d be supprised how many people arrive and suddenly the most simplest of phone calls can become a huge hurdle, not just the language but also the way things are done.

For example telefonica and my town here`s a tale ;

We only recieve mail on a wednesday, we went camping to Seville for a week, the telefonica bill arrived late but on the Wednesday we were away, it needed paying the day we arrived back from Seville.We paid the next day, the day after Telefonica cut the phone/internet.

In Spain you don`t get reminders or warning, if you fail to pay, the next day cut off, thats everything, water etc.

We ring and explain that the mail delayed the bill, we were away and paid as soon as possible, no problem was the reply, we`ll reconnect you as we see you`ve paid, when will the service return we asked, in about a month we were told, then after a month of using mobiles we get calls from friends saying there speaking to somebody who we don`t know on our number.

Telefonica decided to replace our number with a new one, without warning us.

Now imagine dealing with that without Spanish language, and by the way from what I`ve heard telefonica`s English operators deal with problems far slower.

So be prepared for culture shock, it shocks many Expats.

Thanks Yiya, you were really helpful , I’m starting to feel a little bit more relaxed about the move, could you tell me the name of that town that you were talking about ?

Thanks again

Marie

The other thing to consider in Spain with a young family is their English level.

My daughter grew up in Spain, she`s now 9 yrs old, she speaks fluent English, but her level of English writting is bad and we`ve been recommended not to teach to much as it could cause problems with her Spanish.

its not a major problem as we`ve been in Spain so long were not moving back to the UK, but you have to think what if after 6 yrs you return, you`ll be putting there education at risk.

There is also rumours that Spanish schools are limiting the places to immigrants as there have been problems with educational needs, many schools in Spain could have more than 10 different nationalities within one class, which puts a huge strain on resources, or in my experience Spanish teachers ignore the problem and if your kid learns fine, if not su problema no para mi.

I know i sound negative and you probably don`t want to here it, but moving to Spain is not as easy as the media has led you to believe.

There are lots of issues, I`m just trying to help you be aware before, hopefully then your aware and can get through it.

If your goin to work in Spain, you`ll only see the beach on weekends, working day ends at 8PM and starts at 8AM, i still can`t get used to having 3 hrs lunch break, its probably for me one of the hardest things in Spain, is not seeing so much of my family and looking out the office window at 6Pm at the sun and still got 2 hrs work left.

Only peeps on the beach in the week are tourists, the unemployed and grannys.

Hi Santi, Thanks for everything you have left me with alot to think about, The work thing doesnt bother me as neither me or my husband will be working in Spain, he has a business in Ireland and will be going back there once a month, We have 2 years to try learn as much as the language as we can, and we are planing to rent for a year just to be sure were all ok with the move. But the only thing that REALLY worries me now is the schools, i never realised that they could be that different ! Can you get after school help for kids or in that a no no, and also 3 hours lunch break is that the same in schools , if so what time does school start and finish.Id be worried leaving kids in school for lunch that long without knowing the language

mariekt - 26 June 2008 09:52 PM

Hi Santi, Thanks for everything you have left me with alot to think about,

No problem, not try to put you off, but it helps to get aware of both positives and negatives.

we are planing to rent for a year just to be sure were all ok with the move.

It sounds sometimes like stating the obvious, but you`d be supprised how some people make such silly mistakes, but result in huge complications.

Its wise to rent in an area, especially as your work commitments are in your home country, so basically you could move anywhere in Spain.

Which leads me to ask “Why the hell would you want to move to the Costa Del Mierda”.

Seriously, you should look at northern Spain, especially the Basque country around Bilbao, better education system, health care, and regular flights to the UK only an hour away.

  i never realised that they could be that different !

Not only the education, in Andalucia children are very different, there very loud, express themselves like adults far more than UK children.

Its hard to explain in words though, but very obviously not the same as UK playgrounds.Also there isn`t the bullying issue in Spain as in the UK, its been in Expat media in Spain, expat children have been bullied and there have been some serious assaults that have meet with no response from both the school or the education authority.

Its rare but bullying happens, same as the UK, but in Spain teachers leave it to the children to sort out.

Can you get after school help for kids or in that a no no,

No there is lots of after school activities.If a child is falling behind it is possible to get extra tuition from the school and in high Expat regions that does include Spanish for the children to catch up.

and also 3 hours lunch break is that the same in schools , if so what time does school start and finish.Id be worried leaving kids in school for lunch that long without knowing the language

School hours are from 9AM until 2PM.Lunch is after school and at home, unless you want them to stay.Lunch would then be 2pm until 3pm with extra school activites after.

You can also send them to breakfast from 7am.

The school term has now ended for the summer, my daughters last day was on Tuesday, she will return to school around the 7th September.

Obviously my advice comes from living in the Costa del Sol, but the school is Spanish with only 2 other Brit kids in it, but loads of Argentinian, Columbians, Costa Ricans, Ukrainians, Dutch,Swedes, Germans and a few Russians.

every year the hold a culture day where each Nationality does a small exhibit of typical items from there country.

Off to watch Spain plat football now

well who won the football ? we never really thought about northern Spain, we really just picked Costa Del Sol because we have been there on holiday twice and liked it. But i think we might have a look around and see what its like, cant hurt to look at other places, Thanks again for all the advice it opened my eyes a bit

mariet - 29 June 2008 01:32 AM

well who won the football ?

Spain, there in the Final tonight against Germany.

My town and probably every town in Spain erupted in celebration that night, the roads were blocked for an hour, fireworks ,car horns, people screaming.

Amazing atmosphere, if they win tonight it`ll be amazing.

we never really thought about northern Spain, we really just picked Costa Del Sol because we have been there on holiday twice and liked it.

I mentioned Northern Spain because you stated your from Ireland.

Northern Spain is very similar in cultural ideas to Ireland, also there landscape is similar, but with much better weather.The Costa to holiday is fine, but the climate does effect many Expats, many do leave the Costa in August.

The north might help with the adjustment to life in another country, it also helps if people are warm towards you and because the north has not many expats that will help you intergrate faster and easier, northern Spanish tend to be very proud and friendly, but in Malaga there very arrogant and frankly stupid.

There are many expats in the south, most will tell you its great and that life is great.

Many lie, it seems to be because they don`t want to disrespect the country, but the Costa is full of British bars,shops even plumbers, electricians, sat tv, washing machine repair engineers for brits because frankly there all sorry they left the UK and can`t cope living in Spain with Spaniards doin Spanish things.

i have friends who moved several years ago after visiting us, the watch brit sat tv, eat in Indian/Brit restuarant`s, read Brit papers, shop in the local Brit supermarket.They don`t speak a word of Spanish and openly admit they find them odd people.

Yet there reason`s for moving apart from the climate was the Spanish culture. :ahhh:

And they`d never go back to the UK to live, nope “We love Spain” is there reply, problem is there not in Spain, there in the UK just with lots more sun.

Living and working with Spaniards, I can tell you for sure, the Spanish there are getting fed up with brits and the lack of respect towards Spain.In the last few years i`ve been asked more why my country fook are so disrespectful and ignorant than I had when i first arrived in Spain.In those days the few who arrived were seen as something new and unique, to learn from and to enjoy, now brits have spoiled that respect we had.

Anyway back to the temp.

Even Jaen on thursday this week was at 43 Degress/115 at 7pm in the evening, my town was around 36/102.

When you get those temps for 7 months a year it does grind you down, especially if your from a cooler climate.

Also Galicia has some amazing farm building that have been renovated to high standard and and sell for far less than similar in the South, frankly of all the properties we`ve ever lived in on the Costa, the build quality has been rubbish.

My wife is from Galicia and if it wasn`t for work, we`d be up in either Galica, Asturias, Cantabria or the Basque country tomorrow.

But i think we might have a look around and see what its like, cant hurt to look at other places, Thanks again for all the advice it opened my eyes a bit

If you get the chance to speak to a Spaniard, ask them what they think of Malaganian`s. :lol:

Budget Airlines do cheap trips to the North, it`s well worth a trip and seriously as work isn`t an issue in Spain, I`d consider other regions in Spain away from the Costa Del Sol.

But if you can stand the Heat and still like the idea of the South, Cadiz region is amazing, the people are well known in Spain for there friendleness also Murcia is another good area, Almeria is a desert, even the rats moved away from there.