Any mums in Spain want to chat?

[skydancer1]

That's it really. I'm English (DP too). We have a two year old boy and live in Valencia.

Sorry about your housing woes, skydancer. As Soph says, you'll get there in the end. I remember thinking we'd never find a nice place here, but of course we did.

PS Terraza does mean balcony as well as terrace. Doesn't help you with the missing 25 square feet though.

Thanks for your encouraging messages folks! I know we have to move but have done so many moves in my time - I just hate them! I'm already unsettled just thinking about moving. But really want a place we can be happy with long term and ideally have the option to buy at some point. We wanted to see how Valencia/Spain worked out (plus our finances) first. Useful to know terazza can also mean small balcon!

Hi all, just found you.....after all this time!!
We are in Lanzarote (fellow Canarios Soph73)! I've been here just over 10 years, DP a bit longer. Both DS's born here.
Look forward to some banter with you guys.
Voy a la cama, Dulce sueños chicas xx

Hi Flossyjim Both my DS's were born here & we got married here as well

hello

I live in Seville and have a 6 month old DS. Married to a spaniard since 2007 and living here for about 8 years.

Today we looked at a brand new flat in Burjassot (another town but effectively a suburb of Valencia just 10 mins by road/tram/metro). It's beautiful...real parquet...three terraces....and er...three bathrooms (why I don't know. It's the same in Italy, they love their bathrooms)....and all for a very reasonable rent and option to buy. There's a lovely park and arts/cultural centre/library with free wifi and open air cinema over the road. We've agreed to take it.

Hi

Haven´t been able to get on internet for ages so have just been catching up with this thread.

skydancer1 at lovely new flat, sounds great. I live in PILs holiday home at moment and whilst eternally gratefully to them for letting us stay here it does drive me mad sometimes. The furniture is awful not my taste, and when they come and stay "my home" isn´t my house. We have been looking for somewhere else but no luck so far.

I did end up going to the wedding last weekend and it was great but cost us a fortune.
Does anyone else think Spainsh weddings are really expensive???? (or am I just a tight Yorkshire lass).

Am off as need to get down to library before it closes.

Morning ladies.
Hi macaco
Skydancer - pleased to hear you found somewhere, it sounds lovely & I´m very You´re right about Spanish weddings, imo they are really expensive.
My aunt's here at the mo so we´ve been having a great time doing the touristy things. DH went to El Hierro this morning with 45 Year 9 students (rather him than me) & won´t be back till Friday so have got a friend coming to help me with the boys after my aunt goes tomorrow. I think Chinese takeaway & white wine is in order and I get the bed to myself - bliss

Hi

Lucky you FrankenSoph73! you must live near the only decent chinese restuarant in Spain.

Every time Ive tried one (or any other none Spainsh) its been bloody awful. No wonder the Spainsh think they have the best cuisine in the world if they base it on the restaurants here. I really miss my old local thai take away .

Things going well here, today DS has devored rice crakers with my homemade hummous, Im so happy with him, (and not because he´s only one who´ll eat my homemade food ).

Off now as DP has just shouted the magic words "teas ready".

Morning all.
Patoamarillo - yes we are lucky as the Chinese in the next village is great and there are several fantastic Indian restaurants, Thai, kebab places, etc. They are mainly in the tourist resorts which is the good thing about living on a small island as you can get to them easily. The downside being that they don't usually deliver outside of their immediate area
DS2 had his 6 month check up & vacuna yesterday. He's now 7.030kgs & 68cms and they seem to be very pleased with him. However, the nurse did say "is he sitting up by himself?" so I said no & got the response "why not?" er, because he's got Downs & is a couple of months behind other babies!!!!! Sometimes you do wonder whether they bother reading the notes!!!

Hi

at restaurants, even the Italian pizza place isn´t very good here! Mind you wont complain too much as I love Spainsh food so its not as if Im bad off for eating out.

We decided not to go for the vaccinations and got a right royal telling off from one Dr , and then he finished by telling me basically if it weren´t for the immigrants in Spain then he´d agree with our decision !

Ive decided to be pro-active today and go and ask if the local yoga class will allow me to go along with DS. Im trying to fight the isolation bit but its hard work when there is little to do around here with children. If all goes well, will try the sewing and patchwork sessions as well, they are both on at my local library and cost about 10e a mth .

Patoamarillo - strange doc! Can I be nosey and ask why you're not having them? Obviously you don't have to divulge if you don't want to & I'm not one of these narky people that go off on one! Just genuinely interested.

What did the yoga class say re DS tagging along?

We have some nice chinese restaurants here but only 2 indian and I find the food really sweet, think they are catering for Spanish tastes.
PA, I was also wondering (nosily) why you aren't having the vax?

Sorry gals I lost this thread! OOps. Thanks for your messages relating to this flat. I'm excited - we've gone and signed a contract beginning next Jan (only possible because flat not entirely ready yet - which suits us as our flat contract ends end of December). The only thing is we'd prefer to buy if we found somewhere we really would like to live/stay, but not sure if this flat will be too expensive to buy (there is the buy option). Also have no clue about where to even start in terms of Spanish mortgages. Any shared experiences or advice wold be very welcome (although we're not going to go for that option immediately). I suppose I assume rather pessimistically that it would all be a bit of a nightmare to buy here. But plenty of Brits do so it must be possible!

One other practical thing - has anyone bought a hot/cool converter thing for air conditioning? We will need one.

Hope you're all faring well.

Evening

It was a big fat no for yoga (so big she repeated it 4 times) . Apparently it wouldn´t be good for DS as all (eight) the group are close together .

Will write in the morning re Vaccinations as Im about to have supper and will take more time to put it into words logically. Its been along process getting to no vaccine route!

Night

Morning

Re: vaccinations

In a nut shell we decided not to go for the vaccinations as
1: Im not convinced by the evidence that they work and
2: I have more faith in the body´s immune system than Drs and the pharmacuetical companies.

Is obviously much more complicated than this and we have done plenty of homework on it. Right up until about a month ago I was still on the fence with only foot over. But I think what finally got me was I felt I didn´t want to give anything to DS that has risks and that could harm him. Since becoming a mum Ive found that Ive struggled with my new found instincts and to trust them and not be put off (or down) with being called overprotective /hormonal/ irrational irresponsible (*delete as appropriate), as a few people have hinted at since telling them DS is vaccine free.

My internet will be going down as of today , DP has finally lost patience with telafonica (a long story), so will try and get down to library to log in.

until then ...

Pato - good for you on instinct thing. It can be really difficult to do what you want to do when so many people are telling you you should be doing something different. Shame about the yoga & the internet. We are hoping to get internet at home soon but will not be using telefonica.
Skydancer - getting our mortgage was probably the easiest thing we´ve done out here oddly enough. The estate agents sorted it all out for us, bank found us a translator (which we didn't pay for) & all we had to do was turn up at the relevant offices on the right day & Bob's your uncle as they say However, I'm sure not everyone finds it that easy.

PA, sorry to hear about the yoga. Disagree with you totally on the vax thing..DS has had everyone going, but well done for sticking to your guns if that's your decision.
IS anyone else married to a Spaniard? Those who have British DHs, why did you come to Spain?

Macaco - DH was fed up with his job & saw this one advertised in the Times Ed in Dec 1999 (where they needed someone to start in Jan 2000) had telephone interview & the rest is history

Thanks FrankenSoph re the mortgage - well that sounds weirdly but wonderfully reassuring! We'll look into it properly eventually but if anyone has any other practical tips about what the pre-conditions are etc. for gaining one here in Spain would be very grateful.

Macaco - well we lived in Rome, Italy before I had DS and despite being rather poor there and a bit isolated culturally/friends-wise we got spoilt rotten by the med life, sun, etc. and found it really rather tough going back to the Uk for the end of my pregnancy and first year and half of DS's life. It was great being among friends and family again but it is weird once you leave how everyone fills in the gap you left behind and it isn't even that easy to re-establish a social life back home. I'm sure we would have eventually had we persisted, and let's face it a young child tends to put paid to any social life anyway unless you can afford a retinue of nannies .

I think I would have got used to the Uk weather etc again but my DP, despite bing from Manchester can't cope with constant rain/cool, harsh street life etc , and was set on coming to Spain where we at least had a few loose (I mean not that close) friends. I found that when it came to the crunhc I wasn't keen on uprooting my DS and mother instincts were more for staying put, but DP won that particular battle!

It can be hard. I for instance have NO Spanish friends of my own, only Dh's friends. I have a lot of friends but all thru work (teaching English) so all Brits. And my Spanish is good.

That's interesting macaco. I taught English in Rome and thought that was the reason I couldn't make Italian friends easily - that and the fact that I never got far with Italian. But it sounds like at least your Spanish isn't holding you back. I spoke English all day and then would go home to my English DP so it was hard to find the time/motivation to learn.

no, it's not a language issue. My work has always been afternoon and evenings, when spanish people are free, so I'm never available to meet them. I've never made friends with students as mine are mostly kids/teenagers and even when they are adults I don't like socialising with them. Sounds unfriendly but I like to remain their teacher...I think it gets difficult if you become friends especially when you are teaching them for an external exam.

DP is also Spainsh, we met in UK but moved over here after 4 years in UK together. DP wanted to move back home and I was up for something different.

We moved to a different area to where DP is from as I wanted to be near coast (well if your coming to Spain..). And we have both found it difficult settling into new area. It isn´t a language thing as you say Macaco, as I speak Spainsh and obviously DP does. We have lived in same flat for 2 years but only really since DS was born (7 mths ago today ) have our neighbours started to really talk with us, but still not much past a chat over the balcony. DP works in evening and uptill birth I did also, so joining clubs/socialising this way isn´t possible.

And as from yesterday Im not holding my breath on being able to join anything with DS in tow.

Im torn between staying for the pace and quality of life Ive come to love here, and chucking it all in and going home for some social support. Its hard now as my sister is a week of giving birth and in the last year 3 long tme friends have all had babies, so I know there´d be plenty to do.

Oh and telefonica dont let go so easily, so ive got a few days more of internet at home

Hi patoamarillo,

I think I understand your dilemna about staying or going, but we just look to be sttling for the time being anyhow.

I've heard only bad things about telefonica. My experience with ONO is all good - very fast, efficient service and reliable connection. Real people to talk to in customer service until well into the evenings...I should be paid for this advert!