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Learn some Spanish before you come here

I came out here to the South of Spain three and a half years ago to visit friends who had recently moved. I fell in love with Nerja and the surrounding area. I also fell in love with my friends' neighbour, a Norwegian who was living in Spain and working on an oil platform off the coast of Norway.The combination of the two loves at first sight prompted me to move within four months and I never regreted it. We have just bought our own home outside the village of Torrox and although we had setbacks we found the professionals who were working on our behalf to be extremely helpful. Despite the stressful process of getting a mortgage and hoping the house would still be ours by the time it was approved we found just a few differences in the system from our own countries. I studied Spanish for two years and am now making my own way. I enjoy our new location. Life is definitely not all drinks on the terrace and going to the beach, in fact, we rarely go to the beach. We certainly find lots of time to relax but we still have to take care of the daily necessities, even more so now that we are decorating our new home. The best advice I would give anyone thinking of moving to Spain is: 1. Learn some Spanish before you come, or at least take classes once you arrive - if not for your own sake at least do it out of courtesy for the Spanish people.2. Do not buy until you have rented for at least three months so that you can really explore your chosen area. What may seem perfect on a holiday is not always right for day to day live. 3. Expect things to take longer than you are used to, it's the way here. 4. Do not expect to always find tetley tea bags or bisto, the Spanish alternatives are just as good, quite often better.5. Do not expect to build a 'Little Britain', accept Spain for what it is and merge rather than try to convert your surroundings to what you are used to. If you don't you might as well sit under a sun-lamp in your garden at home!6. Be flexible in your expectations and have no preconceptions about how it will go.7. Winter months (even in the South) can be cold. Some form of heating will be required. My first couple of winter months were spent in an apartment with only one gas heater and because of the tiled floors I was permanently cold. Before I bought a 'hottie' I used to heat up a pyrex dish, cover it with a towel, put on two pairs of socks and sweaters and then sit on the couch covered with a blanket! Having said that, by mid-July you will be yearning for the days when you need to wear socks and sweaters!

Sent by: Heather

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