# Need Help!



## emmab106 (Apr 16, 2010)

Myself and my partner are seriously thinking about giving up life in scotland and moving to spain even just for a year or 2.. The only thing holding us back is we have a daughter of 2, and he works in the merchant navy meaning he will be away for a month at a time, all i want to know is - will it be easy for me to find a part-time job out there and childcare? also is it easy to meet other british expats while your living out there?

cheers 

Emma


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

emmab106 said:


> Myself and my partner are seriously thinking about giving up life in scotland and moving to spain even just for a year or 2.. The only thing holding us back is we have a daughter of 2, and he works in the merchant navy meaning he will be away for a month at a time, all i want to know is - will it be easy for me to find a part-time job out there and childcare? also is it easy to meet other british expats while your living out there?
> 
> cheers
> 
> Emma


Hi & welcome


To take your questions in reverse..........

Depending upon where you decide to live it could be easy or really difficult to meet expats - you need to do some research - maybe a bit of 'google earth-ing' if you don't know Spain - and ask lots of questions - where I live you'd have no problems meeting brits - but for instance where Tallulah (another forum member) lives it would be harder.

In most areas infant school starts at 2.5 years, providing there are places, so childcare wouldn't be a problem Otherwise there are guarderias (nursery schools)


the part time job would be more difficult - do a search on this forum using key words such as _job_ & _work_ - you'll soon see what I mean


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

The job is going to be difficult be it high tech IT or cleaning and bar work. It's talked about constantly on the forum so the best idea is to do what Xabiachica told you and search the Spain forum using job, work, employment, unemployment.

Childcare - if you can pay for it you can probably get it. There are state run *Escuela infantiles, *which in my experience were well run and resonably priced. A lot of Spanish people leave the kids with the grandparents though, or pay a girl to come in a look after them when they're really young. Ah, but at 2 as xabia says they usually end up going to school.


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## emmab106 (Apr 16, 2010)

Thanks very much for getting back to me! Will def have a look into what you guys have said, but beware im sure i'll be back on here to ask a few more Q's. ha ha


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## DROOBY (Aug 5, 2008)

emmab106 said:


> Thanks very much for getting back to me! Will def have a look into what you guys have said, but beware im sure i'll be back on here to ask a few more Q's. ha ha



Hi Emma,

Don't be afraid of asking questions we've all done no matter how silly they may sound! It all just comes down to the research at the end of the day, the more you do it, the more it will pay off.
We've been here over a year now and love it. It is hard to make a living thats true but you can live very cheaply if you really want to plus you have the benefit of your partner working which is half the battle. I myself am due back to work for a few months just for a wee boost. School are generally very good and take the kids at a young age which saves on child minding costs.

Things like a part-time job are hard to find but as you get to knoe people thats where you will find the little jobs like helping out cleaning and doing change overs etc....

Good luck. If you don't try it then you'll never know

D


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

One thing I always forget to say, and is very important I think, is once you find the place you want to live find out where the local "fiestas" are held 'cos it could mean a week of not getting to sleep - and worse. Make sure your property is not any where near the area. Here they are in September. Every night the music and loudspeakers go on until about 4 in the morning. And look at this. Would you really want to be anywhere near this lot??

Boozed-up Brits outrage Spanish | The Sun |News


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> One thing I always forget to say, and is very important I think, is once you find the place you want to live find out where the local "fiestas" are held 'cos it could mean a week of not getting to sleep - and worse. Make sure your property is not any where near the area. Here they are in September. Every night the music and loudspeakers go on until about 4 in the morning. And look at this. Would you really want to be anywhere near this lot??
> 
> Boozed-up Brits outrage Spanish | The Sun |News


Tell me about it - we live just far enough away from the main fiesta streets to be able to hear it without it keeping us awake if we need to sleep - well we do work!

some of the peñas have their 'encampment' almost opposite us - not usually a problem - but last summer there was one particular group who, every night for a week, after the official festivities were finished, came back to their 'camp' & started again (drums, disco music, boozed up singing) at about 3/4am & carried on (maybe in shifts) ALL DAY!!!


I was hearing the drums in my sleep for weeks afterwards & if it had gone on for one more night I was seriously considering sneaking over & nobbling their drums & electricity supply


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## angela1 (Nov 21, 2009)

Hi Emma,

I am in a similar position to yourself.

I have a 5 year old and a husband who works in the UK for 2 weeks followed by 3 weeks off.

I looked at relocating to Spain for a more simpler way of life. Selling a very big house with a very big mortgage! Opting for a more modest, simpler way of life. We need to be fairly close to an airport as my husband will be commuting. A family member moved to Finestrat, (about a 45 min drive from Alicante) around a year ago and it seemed the easiest way of making a move was to live there.

I did a fair amount of onlie research and spent 3 weeks there over the winter trying to find out as much as I could and wondering if I could settle.

I wanted to be in an area with expats so if there were any problems I could hopefully rely on their help as my Spanish is not what it used to be. Having said that, I found it was better than some expats who have been in Spain for a considerable time.

Our priorites are education, safety and healthcare. I would love for my daughter to be bilingual and feel that if we were to make a move it would have to be soon given her age.

In that area children in the state schools are taught Valencian, so essentially I would have to learn that to assist with her education. Would I be able to read her books, help with arithmetic etc in Valencian? 

There are a number of private/international schools in the area where they follow the English system. I didn't see all of them but costs are around 700 euros per month. On top of that you will have other otlays such as books, uniform etc. 

I also found that the rents were more expensive than I had heard or anticipated. The pound also didn't help. A 3 bed new build was around 750 euros. They were nothing special.

In speaking to expats they all missed children's toys and clothes from the UK. All of which were more expensive in Spain. No Tesco or Asda. Ben 10, all the rage was very expensive as was Hello Kitty. Not to mention Kerplunk at 30 Euros! Next and M&S deliver to Spain.

I regularly read the Costa Blanca news online. It has (at times) some good information as well as all the crime! 

You will not get a part time job. My impression is that Spain has been hit hard by the global downturn. Even if you did find a job I imagine the salary would be poor. 

Town halls seem to run Spanish classes and if I were to move I would be doing as many Spanish classes as I could as I would want to be speaking Spanish to a high level as fast as I could.

I very regularly read the posts on this website and the information from the expats who regularly contribute are fantastic. I agree with Jo's (and other's)recent comments of UK cars outside the expat bar! What Stevie Hall doesn't know really isn't worth knowing!

I don't think I will make the move to Spain, but have not ruled in out 100%. You have to decide what you want from a move to Spain then narrow down an area and then visit regularly to see if you can live there.

Best wishes and good luck!

Angela


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