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Living overseas

Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

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Original poster

Espanoles o Ingleses

9 replies

Sophie1106 · 20/12/2010 15:40

Hola

My name is April I have an 18 month old daughter and we live in North Wiltshire in the UK. Used to live in Spain and got very well integrated there. My daughter's Godparents are Spanish.Some days I really miss the people, culture,language. Would love to speak to anyone who also used to live there and misses it, who lives there now and loves it, or anyone who is Spanish in the UK and would like to make more friends here.

OP posts:

MrIC · 21/12/2010 13:58

Hola!

que tal? we may well dig this out in 6 months or so - we're an english couple currently living in Madrid. DD (11 months) was born here, but we're planning to move back to Bristol in July so I can do a PGCE (that's assuming I get an offer).
we do love it here though and will miss it a lot I suspect. why did you move back?

Original poster

Sophie1106 · 24/12/2010 15:22

Hola Muy bien gracias y tu? Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner! We moved back mainly because of financial reasons-we were living in the countryside where there was not a great deal of work especially not for foreigners.And of course wilst being there I missed the UK-now I miss Spain-typical!Do you speak Spanish? What took you there originally?

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toocoolforyule · 26/12/2010 17:56

Hello I'm in Valencia, have been here for 6 years and love it (although miss marmite,clipper organic tea bags and veggie foods lots!)Dh and youngest child are Spanish.

Have you thought about doing a celta/tefl so
you can teach English here and move back?

Vicky08 · 26/12/2010 21:20

Hi, I live in Almeria. I've been here for 9 years and have two DC both born here. My DH is also Spanish. There are lots of things I miss too but for me the advantages definatley outweigh the disadvantages.

Original poster

Sophie1106 · 29/12/2010 13:57

Hi nice to hear from you. I lived near Alicante for 3 years and before that used to holiday in the region every year. Most of all I miss the coffee, the nightlife, the food, the relaxed and friendly approach of the people, the weather...so most things. You know I have never thought about teaching that way round(English to Spanish) but I have thought about teaching Spanish to English. Thanks for the suggestion. I would love to move back but it would be the second time we have lived there(we couldn't make our minds up) and my husband has established his business here now. We holiday with our Spanish friends and visit as often as we can.
They are also our best friends.Do you now ffeel more Spanish than English or the other way around or do you have a good balance?

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Original poster

Sophie1106 · 29/12/2010 14:00

sorry meant it would be the third time we have lived there! before we were there for 6 months living near the coast..

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MrIC · 30/12/2010 14:21

to answer you're question, it had always been an ambition of mine to learn Spanish (I didn't have the chance at school - it wasn't offered) and after my wife and I honeymooned here we decided to stay. So we both did a CELTA in Barcelona and then found work in Madrid as English teachers. That was in Jan 2008; DD born Jan 2009 (so she's Spanish!)

We didn't speak any Spanish when we arrived, but now we're OK. DW dropped classes after DD was born, but I've continued. I'm nowhere near perfect but I don't usually have problems communicating or understanding now, and we have friends that we only speak Spanish with.

Yeah I miss clipper organic tea too! (and chutney) but otherwise I don't miss the UK at all. However, I know DW does a bit (or rather, she misses people there) so I don't mind at all that we're going back, although if it was left up to me I'm not certain we would....

toocoolforyule · 30/12/2010 21:07

I speak enough Castellano to get by, wouldn't say I was fluent (embarrassing as i've been here a long time) I did take classes as although you can learn loads 'living' here, I think formal classes give you a grammatical base that you can build on.

It's very difficult to teach Castellano (unless it's classes particulares) you really need to have a formal qualification (think it's called a FIL) to be able to teach in schools etc

I don't see myself as Spanish or English (I'm too English to be Spanish, too Spanish to be English!) but manage to fit nicely between the two, also miss loads of things about England, but as Vicky says, the advantages outweigh anything missable!

Original poster

Sophie1106 · 04/01/2011 21:57

hmmm I can fully understand the predicament MrIC. I think it was mainly myself that motivated the move back to the UK at the time. I felt like I'd lost purpose. Now having a daughter of my own I can understand how that may isolate further when you're already missing familiarity and I think if we'd had a daughter back then it would have affected me that way more so than it would now. My husband didn't initially want to move back and my in laws also lived there.My mil also initiated their move back due to missing friends and family...

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