# Advice on moving to Almeria



## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

Hi there,

We have been considering moving to Almeria for sometime, after viewing areas on a couple of occassions we have decided we would like to move around Huercal Overa.We intend to rent first and have a property back here in the uk to rent out.We have a son of 10 who is our main concern, he is a very outgoing boy and makes friends easy, he is into playing football and motorcross.We have been told schools are good in this area, but can anyone tell us if there are clubs etc that he could join. Any advice would be gratefully received. Look forward to hearing from you expats.


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

Firstly welcome to the forum. I hope we can all assist. 

I am SO glad to hear somebody say that their child is their "main concern." On another forum, all hell broke out recently when somebody blagged on about wanting Eastenders, Emmerdale Farm etc and that her husband would only work as a bowling alley technician so who was going to get him an interview (!) etc. In the small print as an aside she wrote that they had 4 children 7-17 and the 11 year old had severe learning disabilities! 

I am rather surprised with your choice of area as it does not light most of the expat candles. I can't say anything negative about the area other than that personally Almería is one of the few Spanish provinces that does not particularly "do it" for me. Is he going to be happy learning a new language from scratch in an area with few expats. (I know that nearby Albox has a Brit/Dutch community but equally Puerto Lumbreras is almost 100% Spanish with a few N.Africans and a relatively small S.American community. 

Anyway, I am glad you have done your research and that you have found an area you like. XTreme does not live too far from you and I am sure he will try to assist as well. The idea of renting initially is IMHO an excellent one. 

Good Luck


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

hi, I cant really help with the area cos I´m further south in Costa del sol ish. But I can say that moving to Spain was the best thing I´ve done! It hasnt been without its trials and tribulations and having moved with kids, it hasnt been quite as easy as I´d hoped, but we´re getting there and all is wonderful for us at the moment!!!!!!! Any more questions, through them in, I´m sure someone will be able to help!?!!

Jo


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## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

jojo said:


> hi, I cant really help with the area cos I´m further south in Costa del sol ish. But I can say that moving to Spain was the best thing I´ve done! It hasnt been without its trials and tribulations and having moved with kids, it hasnt been quite as easy as I´d hoped, but we´re getting there and all is wonderful for us at the moment!!!!!!! Any more questions, through them in, I´m sure someone will be able to help!?!!
> 
> Jo


Thank you for your reply, it helps to know you sound positive with no regrets.


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## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

SteveHall said:


> Firstly welcome to the forum. I hope we can all assist.
> 
> I am SO glad to hear somebody say that their child is their "main concern." On another forum, all hell broke out recently when somebody blagged on about wanting Eastenders, Emmerdale Farm etc and that her husband would only work as a bowling alley technician so who was going to get him an interview (!) etc. In the small print as an aside she wrote that they had 4 children 7-17 and the 11 year old had severe learning disabilities!
> 
> ...


Thankyou for your reply, and your honesty, this has give us more to think about as we havent viewed areas on the Costa Blanca and did wonder if we should do so for our sons sake.Is their any particular areas there you would recommend.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Denmick said:


> Thankyou for your reply, and your honesty, this has give us more to think about as we havent viewed areas on the Costa Blanca and did wonder if we should do so for our sons sake.Is their any particular areas there you would recommend.


For everyone who could answer that question you´d get a different answer! Its a really difficult one, cos whereever you go there are great places for kids to be. 

Obviously a lot depends on your family background, type etc. When kids are involved and especially at the age of your son, you do need to be near an expat community in my opinion. At 10, they´ve pretty much got used to a certain type of lifestyle and to change that isnt gonna be easy or even popular. The theory I always work on is if the kids are happy then so am I!! The first few weeks after we arrived here, it was tough, my two cried to go home, they missed their friends, their home, their family... Mine were 11 and 13 when we arrived BTW In fact there were saeveral times when I thought ´we´d done the wrong thing and I felt so guilty that I´d disrupted their lives, taken them away from everything they knew. But gradually things worked out, a bit of bribery with a swimming pool in the garden a PS3, Xbox etc all help and yes, outdoor activities... go-karting and horseriding all helped.

So my point is that whichever area you go to, you need to be within striking distance of clubs, hobbies and british kids etc. All of things can be found in most expat type towns. 

Jo xxx


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## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

jojo said:


> For everyone who could answer that question you´d get a different answer! Its a really difficult one, cos whereever you go there are great places for kids to be.
> 
> Obviously a lot depends on your family background, type etc. When kids are involved and especially at the age of your son, you do need to be near an expat community in my opinion. At 10, they´ve pretty much got used to a certain type of lifestyle and to change that isnt gonna be easy or even popular. The theory I always work on is if the kids are happy then so am I!! The first few weeks after we arrived here, it was tough, my two cried to go home, they missed their friends, their home, their family... Mine were 11 and 13 when we arrived BTW In fact there were saeveral times when I thought ´we´d done the wrong thing and I felt so guilty that I´d disrupted their lives, taken them away from everything they knew. But gradually things worked out, a bit of bribery with a swimming pool in the garden a PS3, Xbox etc all help and yes, outdoor activities... go-karting and horseriding all helped.
> 
> ...


Yes i agree with you entirely, we seem to be thinking along the same the lines, if our son had access to all of the things you have mentioned im sure he would settle well, and yes we have the same theory if our son is happy we will be happy.As the saying go's happy kids make happy parents, very true.


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## XTreme (May 17, 2008)

Personally I'm not too keen on that part of Almeria myself. The area itself is nice enough but there's too many dumbass Brits (particularly around Albox aka s h i t box)......and the streets seem to be full of Moroccans/Algerians just standing round in large groups.
Granada is where it's at.....or Jaen!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

XTreme said:


> Personally I'm not too keen on that part of Almeria myself. The area itself is nice enough but there's too many dumbass Brits (particularly around Albox aka s h i t box)......and the streets seem to be full of Moroccans/Algerians just standing round in large groups.
> Granada is where it's at.....or Jaen!


Thank you for the extreme view point!!! dont you go mincing your words will you lol!!!

Jo xxx


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## Caz.I (Mar 21, 2009)

XTreme said:


> Personally I'm not too keen on that part of Almeria myself. The area itself is nice enough but there's too many dumbass Brits (particularly around Albox aka s h i t box)......and the streets seem to be full of Moroccans/Algerians just standing round in large groups.
> Granada is where it's at.....or Jaen!


So, Xtreme, why would you recommend Granada and Jaen particularly?


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## SunnySpain (Jul 30, 2008)

In reply to the original poster,

Mojacar seems popular with expats, maybe worth a visit at least.

The thing I don't like about Almeria is that its so baron and desert like


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I went on holiday to Mojacar a couple of times several years ago, and the one thing I remember about it was that at about 1pm everyday it would almost suddenly get windy! That was no bad thing in the heat of the summer, does it still do that??! And the beach was pebbly!!

Jo


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## LA MELA (May 6, 2009)

hi there my parents are in huercal overa the town hAS every thing you need good shops wonderfull hospital good schools nice area not many expats but you say son is out gowing can he speak spanish well this is going to be a big problem for him .he will be bullied at school im sorry to say.if you came out when he was alot younger he would have a better chance.my parents have been in hueral overa for 5yrs ready to move on know flies from april till october horrible .if it was not for the flies i would be there i am near sorbas no flies sorry. helen


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## LA MELA (May 6, 2009)

so you havent seen the views around sorbas they are breath taking


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## Chica (Mar 23, 2009)

*Almeria/ Murcia border.*

One of my favourite places is the Aguilas area. The beaches are much nicer up there in comparison to where I live and the coastline is totally unspoilt. No highrise  

As for schooling etc I am not too sure. Having got mine all out of the way  I don't know much about them things anymore. Hubby would say I don't know much about anything 

I have visited Almeria a few times and I also must say that it is not one of my favorite places. Can I ask why you chose this area? Just interested. Did you say it seems like a good place for the kiddlies?


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## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

LA MELA said:


> hi there my parents are in huercal overa the town hAS every thing you need good shops wonderfull hospital good schools nice area not many expats but you say son is out gowing can he speak spanish well this is going to be a big problem for him .he will be bullied at school im sorry to say.if you came out when he was alot younger he would have a better chance.my parents have been in hueral overa for 5yrs ready to move on know flies from april till october horrible .if it was not for the flies i would be there i am near sorbas no flies sorry. helen


Thank you LA MELA, this information gratefully received. Are you saying that our son would be bullied at school in Huercal Overa as an area or Spain in general because he is 10.?

Denmick


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Denmick said:


> Thank you LA MELA, this information gratefully received. Are you saying that our son would be bullied at school in Huercal Overa as an area or Spain in general because he is 10.?
> 
> Denmick



Bullying may occur at any school, any country, for any reason. If there is one particular school with a problem I´m sure it would be well known amonst expats! My daughter went to a Spanish school for a while and altho she wasnt bullied as such, she felt a little uncomfortable cos she couldnt speak spanish and felt the spanish kids were laughing at her?????? At 11 she was at an age where she was very self conscious, so I think she was perhaps worrying unecessarily?? cos about half this school were brits and spoken varying degrees of spanish.

The thing I´ve heard more about actually is how British kids bully other british kids and the Spanish teachers are unaware cos of the language thing. However, I will say that in my opinon Spanish teachers are far more strict than any english teachers in english schools and the spanish kids tend to better behaved as a result.

When you finally chose your area, you need to look carefully at schools and ask around locally what they´re like, which are good, bad etc


Jo


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## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

Chica said:


> One of my favourite places is the Aguilas area. The beaches are much nicer up there in comparison to where I live and the coastline is totally unspoilt. No highrise
> 
> As for schooling etc I am not too sure. Having got mine all out of the way  I don't know much about them things anymore. Hubby would say I don't know much about anything
> 
> I have visited Almeria a few times and I also must say that it is not one of my favorite places. Can I ask why you chose this area? Just interested. Did you say it seems like a good place for the kiddlies?


Hi Maggie, just thought it was an area that was not overbuilt, but we may have to
do some more research,as i said in my original post our son is our main concern and we do need an area with a lot of expats for him.


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## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

LA MELA said:


> so you havent seen the views around sorbas they are breath taking


We have visited Sorbas but was unable to spend much time there, we was viewing property at the time.


Denmick


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## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

jojo said:


> Bullying may occur at any school, any country, for any reason. If there is one particular school with a problem I´m sure it would be well known amonst expats! My daughter went to a Spanish school for a while and altho she wasnt bullied as such, she felt a little uncomfortable cos she couldnt speak spanish and felt the spanish kids were laughing at her?????? At 11 she was at an age where she was very self conscious, so I think she was perhaps worrying unecessarily?? cos about half this school were brits and spoken varying degrees of spanish.
> 
> The thing I´ve heard more about actually is how British kids bully other british kids and the Spanish teachers are unaware cos of the language thing. However, I will say that in my opinon Spanish teachers are far more strict than any english teachers in english schools and the spanish kids tend to better behaved as a result.
> 
> ...


Yes i agree, choosing the right area for us is proving more difficult than we thought. Think we need to pay another visit to Spain very soon and do some more research.


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## Chica (Mar 23, 2009)

Denmick said:


> Hi Maggie, just thought it was an area that was not overbuilt, but we may have to
> do some more research,as i said in my original post our son is our main concern and we do need an area with a lot of expats for him.


So you did. Sorry, my retention is not that good these days 

From what I have seen the expats haven't fllooded this place yet which is a good thing for a lot of us, but not for you. It will be interesting to see where you decide to live. You must be more confused than ever now


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## Denmick (May 4, 2009)

Chica said:


> So you did. Sorry, my retention is not that good these days
> 
> From what I have seen the expats haven't fllooded this place yet which is a good thing for a lot of us, but not for you. It will be interesting to see where you decide to live. You must be more confused than ever now


I think we are lol, the problem we have got is choosing an area that is suitable for our son, we have seen areas that me and my husband really like, but realise they are far too quiet for our son this would not be fair. Im sure we will find a suitable area soon,although we are aware our son now being 10 it needs to be sooner rather than later.

Denmick


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## XTreme (May 17, 2008)

Caz.I said:


> So, Xtreme, why would you recommend Granada and Jaen particularly?


More scenic, greener, quieter roads, less dumb Brits, lower house prices, and not overun with illegals!


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## SunnySpain (Jul 30, 2008)

XTreme said:


> More scenic, greener, quieter roads, less dumb Brits, lower house prices, and not overun with illegals!



And less tattoo's, so yes I think XTreme has a good point actually


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## LA MELA (May 6, 2009)

Denmick said:


> Thank you LA MELA, this information gratefully received. Are you saying that our son would be bullied at school in Huercal Overa as an area or Spain in general because he is 10.?
> 
> Denmick


hi there i think unless you little boy can speak spanish he will have problems . if you coul afford to sent him to a private english school he woul be ok . it woul dtake him a long time to catch up education wise. we looked into it several times with our son and decided against it at the time .so we will wait till he is 18 then we shall move out full time.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

LA MELA said:


> hi there i think unless you little boy can speak spanish he will have problems . if you coul afford to sent him to a private english school he woul be ok . it woul dtake him a long time to catch up education wise. we looked into it several times with our son and decided against it at the time .so we will wait till he is 18 then we shall move out full time.


Have a read through this, its a bit long winded and "drifts off"in parts, but education has been formost on my mind recently and this thread explains why and has some useful points, especially the last pages

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spain-expat-forum-expats-living-spain/21228-education-again.html


jo xxx


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## mickybob (Dec 31, 2008)

Jojo, have you done something to your hair? It looks different today.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

mickybob said:


> Jojo, have you done something to your hair? It looks different today.


LOL!!!! 

thats a picture of a cat that fell into a bucket of water, only those with dirty minds will know what I mean!!!

Jo xxxx


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## XTreme (May 17, 2008)

Steve Hall told me he always suspected jojo had a nice pussy.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

XTreme said:


> Steve Hall told me he always suspected jojo had a nice pussy.


cute isnt it!!! Say goodbye to it, its going!!!

Jo xxx


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

XTreme said:


> Steve Hall told me he always suspected jojo had a nice pussy.


Steve Hall never did. Punto, final


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

SteveHall said:


> Steve Hall never did. Punto, final


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## mickybob (Dec 31, 2008)

XTreme said:


> Steve Hall told me he always suspected jojo had a nice pussy.


I have never seen a pussy that wet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## XTreme (May 17, 2008)

SteveHall said:


> Steve Hall never did. Punto, final


Oh yes you did! 

Don't fall for it Jo....he's one of those online smooth talkers!

I'm the real gentleman on this site!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

XTreme said:


> Oh yes you did!
> 
> Don't fall for it Jo....he's one of those online smooth talkers!
> 
> I'm the real gentleman on this site!



I know you are poppet!!! Altho Steves not into cats anyway, he prefers dogs!!!

Jo xxx


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## XTreme (May 17, 2008)

The sight of pussy has tipped him over the edge now! He's even moderating himself!


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