work has begun

Hiya - youve listed 4 in your post - just trying to confuse us poor souls I guess!

1. Researched the work market scenario more. Sounds sensible but being younger and hot headed in those days we came out with no research, just the intention of making it work. Had we of researched then I guess things would have been done at a more sedate pace. Also how the legal system works. I bought a cheap run around car only to find that the previous owner hadnt paid many years worth of tax and fines on it and so there was the danger of the car being embargoed and my bank account frozen for the money! (this did actually happen to me a few years later after SELLING a vanette with new owner getting a parking fine, not paying it and although the vehicle was not in my name, the police had my details due to being stopped a year prior. They found my bank account easier to raid and I lost 42,000 pesetas!!!)

2. Nothing at all!

3. Get fed up time to time with the laid back attitude especially when I NEED to get something done. Or when the waiters ignore your look in a restaurant (always when in need of another glass of wine!)

4. The lifestyle - the simple joys of walks along the beach, a salad in the sun, a coffee chatting with friends. And being able to wind everyone up back in the UK about the weather! Thats the best!!!

Rixxy, you read pknott's post incorrectly.

He asked members for three things for each question.

Go take "quiz" again.

I cannot take the "quiz"    as I don't live in Spain as yet.

Hi all,

Here's my list

1. I wish my Dad could have joined me here before he passed away.

2. Family.

3.The speed and competence of Spanish business practice can drive you insane at times!!!!!

4. I can confidentally say hand on heart that i would be totally incapable of leaving the lifestyle here and return to the UK,when i visit my old home i feel like a foreigner and very insecure,i am always glad to get back to my comfort zone.

Regards

Georgia

Must be an estate agents thing not to read things properly!

Georgia - you and I BOTH didnt put 3 things under each number!!!!!

Justin - go to the top of the class!!

Estate agents: copy and paste Justin's post, then just change the answers - it's easier that way!

1. You wished you had done before you came to Spain and caused you pain when you arrived

a: figured out how to get a Green Card so I could've stayed in the USA instead.

b: realised that without an NIE you basically can't breath

c: arranged long-term rental accomodation before arriving and being told that I need a permanent address in order to get an NIE (which of course is rubbish)
 

2. You have missed since moving

a: being able to casually eavesdrop on unimportant, uninteresting & irrelevant conversations without the need of a dictionary

b: being able to have a really good argument and express yourself well enough to ensure certain victory

c: knowing that, even if you can't express yourself adequately, you'll probably win anyway because businesses actually value your custom



3. That you really don't like

a: incessantly barking dogs (or rather- irresponsible owners)

b: bawling babies/children (or rather - inconsiderate parents)

c: mopeds with no exhaust (or rather - every moped in Spain)

4. That you would never want to leave now you have a new life in spain

a: the climate

b: the cost of living

c: my cat

Aww Roberto..

4. That you would never want to leave now you have a new life in Spain

c: my cat

I wondered why I liked you so much.

Good Lord, Roberto, it took you nearly 8 hours to come up with that? Things must be better in Spain than I thought.

Stayed in the USA?  On half pay now with the exchange rate plus they have serious inflation.  5 dollars for a small (1/3 litre) can of beer?  (I always measure inflation in pints of beer, by the way, I find it fits in with my lifestyle)

Am I the only one on this site that found getting an NIE quite a painless experience?  Half hour wait the first time then back on holiday 8 weeks later to collect it.  Waited 3 hours that time but mainly because it was January last year and was full of Rumanians just allowed in.  No hassle at all, however.

Overhearing (earwigging) other conversations is just a pain now that the mobile phone conversations are being forced on you wherever you go.  If I bump into another stupid woman in Tescos asking her other half how much milk (presumably at home) they've got left I think I'll scream.  Ban em all.

Dead easy to have an argument in Spain.  They're all Johnny Foreigners so JUST SHOUT LOUDER.

I also like Carrefour.

I'll give you the barking dogs and noisy babies and the mopeds.  I'll see you petrol lawn mowers and electric hedge trimmers on a Sunday morning.  (Well, unless the gardens have turned into a lake overnight).

I take it you are British so why the hell aren't you complaining about how hot it is?  Without the weather in UK being so bad, what else would the normal Brit find to talk about?  If we had the Spanish weather half the conversations would come to a dead stop.

Oh, and you can have my cat if you want.  Bloody thing made yet another hole in my hall carpet today.  Sleeps most of the day (and night) and eats its way through my budget every week.  And shoves me over in bed so she can have the soft bit (whoops, seem to have switched to the wife there, oh no, both the damn same).  And it's turned my back garden into her own luxury toilet (not the wife, this time, definitely the cat).

I would, however, gladly swap the amount of commission the Spanish estate agents charge for the ridiculously cheap levels by Brit estate agents.  Haven't the Spanish ones realised how much property has gone up nowadays?  I could understand it when houses were selling for about a hundred and fify quid (sounded expensive in pesetas) but now that they're on a par with UK property prices (if you live North of Watford Gap) they could reduce it to 2% and still make more money than in the old days.

Oh, and please scrap the euro and go back to pesetas.  Beer is double what it was before the change.

8 hours? I only just "tuned in" to this thread. Give me 8 hours and I'll crash the EOS server!

My experience of living in the USA was entirely pleasurable & stress free. I didn't generally have to think too much about anything because it was usually all done for me before I could think about it - and with a smile and a "have a nice day" to boot. Moving directly from there to Spain induced a fairly serious bout of culture shock, which 10 years on I'm just about getting to grips with. Still, at least if I need treatment, I can get it on the Social Sec. here, whereas in the USA.........Admittedly it's not every one's cup of tea, but it suited me. As for inflation, I can only say that while idly surfing around recently, I found that for the price of a 2 bed apartment on the CDS, I could bag myself a nice 30 room motel with 3 bed / 2 bath owners house on a plot the size of Wales.....OK, so this was in Crudsville, New Mexico, but even so, I think my cat would enjoy his retirement there - and they speak his language!

Getting an NIE was not a problem per se. The problem was that neither my estate agent nor my lawyer, who both assured me everything would be sorted for when I arrived, neglected to mention anything about the NIE, and each blamed each other for the fact that when I did arrive, nothing at all had been sorted, due to the lack of an NIE. As a result I was forced to move into an entirely unsatisfactory apartment at very short notice, just in order to have a residential address for the purpose of the NIE application - as I said, complete b*ll*cks actually, but I knew no different at the time. I could have added to the list of things I wish I'd done before coming to Spain - setting up EOS and learning all this stuff from the 17000 members who would sign up to it!

The thing about eavesdropping - well, just accidentally overhearing other conversations really, is this. Because my Spanish is by no means fluent, I tend to just blank out Spanish conversations unless they specifically involve me. It's not that I'm trying to - but I do have to concentrate when someone is speaking Spanish in order to follow the gist, so unless someone is talking directly to me, I basically just don't hear them. I think we pick up all sorts of information (I hesitate to say knowledge) throughout our daily lives without necessarily being aware of it, and sometimes I wonder how much of what is going on around me I'm missing because of this. Generally I enjoy feeling like an outsider, being a bit different, which living in another English speaking country satisfies, whilst still being aware of everything that's going on and being said around you.

And by the way, that woman on her mobile in Tesco isn't talking to her other half - the phone is tapping directly into her fridge's database and uploading the shopping list - do try to keep up, Bob!

The matter of arguments was mentioned specifically with banks in mind, since they have been in the news lately and also have been the subject of a couple of threads here on EOS, but could equally be applied to many other contexts. I suppose I cheated a little, since on reflection all three points in this category essentially amount to the same thing, that is, living in a country where you will face a language barrier to some degree can have serious downsides. Whilst I agree that shouting your head off in the middle of a crowded bank on the first Monday of the month can feel extremely satisfying, it's unlikely to actually achieve anything at all in Spain, other than to reinforce the Spaniard's belief that all foreigners are nuts. It's taken me a long time to get to the point where I feel confident that I can fight for my rights when, for example, my bank diddles me, and win my case, whereas back in Blighty I was capable of reducing even the most hardened bank manager to tears just because I wanted to, and that was when I was still a precocious schoolboy!

I'm filling up too much space here - I'll move over for others to add their top 3's.

1. You wished you had done before you came to spain and caused you pain when you arrived

a. realised how hard it is to say goodbye.

b. realised the post was hopeless

c. remembered my holidays would be in the UK

2. You have missed since moving

a. Kids ( mine )

b. Friends

c. Daffodils

3. That you really don't like

a. Holiday makers....especially English holiday makers.

b. The way drivers go round roundabouts.

c. Unfinished buildings.
4. That you would never want to leave now you have a new life in spain

a. The sea and the sun.

b. All the friends I've made here.............on and off line!!.

c. Spanish Health Service.                                                          

1. You wished you had done before you came to spain and caused you pain when you arrived

a. realised how hard it is to say goodbye.

2. You have missed since moving

a. Kids ( mine )

b. Friends

c. Rain

3. That you really don't like

a. Finding that certain people have hijacked everything ou have posted on EOS (No names but they know who I mean)

Jake

I've just made a search of your posts to find you seem to generally post gigantic text in red telling people "it's spam" & "can't you read ?" & other such comments, & personally, if I was original poster who had done wrong in your eyes, I'd feel I was being persecuted so I'm not sure what you're claiming exactly. You've also passed comment on my graphics but I cannot figure out whether the comments are for or against me !

But ......

There's a facility now to alert EOS team to spam & incorrect posting which, I hope, you will take full advantage of.

With sincere apologies to pknott for adding to his

I was just reading an article written in another forum, by Susan, who is Justin's wife. Thought you may like to read it too.

The UK – What Would Make You Return? by Susan Pedalino

During April, the weather in Spain was poor with rain nearly every day. Meanwhile, the UK enjoyed a gloriously sunny Easter and those who flew out to Spain regretted it. This got me wondering if the weather patterns swap over i.e. the UK had Spain’s weather and vice versa. I am sure it wouldn’t be long before there was a mass expat exodus out of Spain back into the UK. Who knows, they may even be followed by the sun loving Spanish themselves. Or perhaps they are not that fickle and love their country for more than just the weather. Having said that I was surprised by The Times poll stating that 27,000 immigrants come to the UK from Spain ever year.

About the Author
Susan Pedalino is Masters degree qualified in Intercultural Communication and teaching English as a foreign language. Susan regularly writes for Eye on Spain, which features cheap Spanish property.