# Decision now made?!



## elainecyprus (Nov 11, 2007)

Myself and my other half were out in Spain in August for a weekend and fell in love with Java.

Sadly my father was taken ill whilst we were there and passed away last week so all our plans were put on hold. After many deep conversations and tears with loved ones and close family we have decided that we should continue our dream and move out to Javea at the end of October.

I have checked the 'sticky' for a long term rent and shall be checking regular but if anyone knows of anyone that has a long term rent in the Javea region it would be much appreciated. My other half is happy to travel out to have a look at any properties that may be of interest.

I am currently looking at schooling etc. I have an 8 year old and a 10 year old. I have again read this forum inside out I think but any advice would be great.

We hope to carry on our business in Spain and so shall be looking to employ a seamstress (machinist) in due course and shall advertise accordingly but if anyne knows anyone (we have lived in Cyprus before are very aware that word of mouth is a valuable tool!) then please contact me.

I know that we shall be there before we know it and have a mixture of emotions about it all but feel that this is the right thing to do.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

elainecyprus said:


> Myself and my other half were out in Spain in August for a weekend and fell in love with Java.
> 
> Sadly my father was taken ill whilst we were there and passed away last week so all our plans were put on hold. After many deep conversations and tears with loved ones and close family we have decided that we should continue our dream and move out to Javea at the end of October.
> 
> ...


Congratulations on having taken the decision. Hope things work out well.

I expect you have seen the sticky on education, but in case you haven't, look at the top of the list of threads where all the stickies are, and you'll find it there. 

Meanwhile, get stuck into Spanish classes, find out about Spanish timetables (evening meal between 9:00 and 10:00 for example) and Spanish food


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

My co-mod Xabiachica lives in Javea, so when she's back in the morning, she'll have lots to say, especially about schools

Jo xxx


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> find out about Spanish timetables (evening meal between 9:00 and 10:00 for example) and Spanish food


Many places inland actually have their main meal at about 3 in the afternoon and not so late, but then they have to get up first thing in the morning to WORK so need to get a decent night's sleep undisturbed by their stomachs trying to digest a heavy meal.

WORK for those who have forgotten can include keeping a small farm going, looking after animals, ploughing fields, maintaining an olive grove of several thousand olive trees, etc.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

baldilocks said:


> Many places inland actually have their main meal at about 3 in the afternoon and not so late, but then they have to get up first thing in the morning to WORK so need to get a decent night's sleep undisturbed by their stomachs trying to digest a heavy meal.
> 
> WORK for those who have forgotten can include keeping a small farm going, looking after animals, ploughing fields, maintaining an olive grove of several thousand olive trees, etc.


WORK is wot me and my OH do. He, when he's working, gets up at 6:00 or 5:45 and he's rarely in bed before midnight and we have dinner after 10:00 most nights. I may try to bring in a different regime in September, but as OH may be unemployed  I can't see him in bed before 1am. Many Spaniards have a tortilla Francesa and a yoghurt for dinner though 'cos the main meal is at lunch time as Baldi says.
PS You can't get much more inland than Madrid, Baldilocks


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Seamstress skills are really useful. I have two English friends who earn a good living making suits and dresses for communions and weddings, and if you can make flamenco dresses (20m of material just in the frills) you´ll never be out of work.

They also get work from other expats, making curtains and altering clothes.

It will take a while to build up your reputation as everything is done on word of mouth, but if you do a good job you should be fine.

As mentioned earlier, get cracking on the Spanish and start looking forward to the rest of your life!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

elainecyprus said:


> Myself and my other half were out in Spain in August for a weekend and fell in love with Java.
> 
> Sadly my father was taken ill whilst we were there and passed away last week so all our plans were put on hold. After many deep conversations and tears with loved ones and close family we have decided that we should continue our dream and move out to Javea at the end of October.
> 
> ...


as jojo said, I live in Jávea ( & coincidentally my dad sadly died last week too)

there are tons of longterm rentals around - we usually just drive/cycle around taking numbers down tbh - I haven't yet found a really good reliable totally honest agent

you need to decide what area you want to live in - personally I love the port - it's walk/cycleable to both the Arenal & Old Town which is important to me cos I can't drive, but you might prefer to live out of town a bit in a private villa

schools - I'd go for state school at your kids ages - all the state schools here are good - personally I'd recommend the Arenal primary school, both my dds went there from the age of 5 & 8 (the younger one starts secondary in a few weeks) and in fact because that is the newest it isn't full to capacity yet so there is a good chance that your kids would go there even if you were officially living outside the catchment area

I know a few ladies who are very handy with a sewing machine - not sure if they are 'seamstresses', you would be a better judge than I - & would be happy to put you in touch when you get here


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## elainecyprus (Nov 11, 2007)

Thanks for all the replies. 

We did like the harbour area and I have looked at the Arenal School and it looks good. My sons are both happy to start in State School and we have told them that if it's really that bad and they can't cope then we will have to sort something else out but they are going to give it a 100% chance.

Thanks also for the recommendations on machinists. I won't really be able to sort anything out until we are out there so as soon as I am ready I'll contact you.


Best start getting things organised this end too - so much to do!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

elainecyprus said:


> Thanks for all the replies.
> 
> We did like the harbour area and I have looked at the Arenal School and it looks good. My sons are both happy to start in State School and we have told them that *if it's really that bad *and they can't cope then we will have to sort something else out but they are going to give it a 100% chance.
> 
> ...


lol - it's not bad at all!!!

I know what you mean though, and it will be hard at first, but at their ages they should be fine & it's worth persisting through the possibly inevitable tamtrums (there were none with my 2 at all!! - but most kids do 'kick off' a bit at first)


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## fourgotospain (May 4, 2009)

Hi 

My girls also go to L'Arenal (9.5 and 6.5 when they first went) and love it. We said exactly the same thing to them - if they really couldn't cope we'd think again - but they were settled within a few weeks. I know it's not normally recommended but they started mid year and I think that really helped as the pressure was off with short terms - here most of the heavy school year is dealt with between October and March.

The other thing we did that seemed to help was to let them settle first so they got used to a new life here for a month before we even thought about school. Then we had a spanish teacher come to the house every day for an hour to give them some key language skills, and a month after THAT they started school. We moved in the Jan and they started school at the beginning of March, had 3 weeks then it was Easter, had another 8 weeks and it was summer. It helps that they are able to come home for lunch, so we could say 'just 3.5 hours and we'll be back'.

The spanish teacher was so good we've had her back each summer - she is teaching them as I type. Twice a week now, all through the summer hols so they don't forget!

Good luck with the move!


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