# Itchy Feet



## PinkPanther (Mar 23, 2012)

I'm British and currently based in Prague, but I am adamant that I WILL move to Spain this year! I am a tefl teacher with 2 years experience and I am thinking of trying Valencia
Please can someone advise me when is the best time to arrive to start looking for teaching jobs for the 2012/2013 school year? I am thinking about the beginning of September. I have heard it's better to present yourself in person to schools in Spain rather than email from another country. Any advice would be welcomed


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

PinkPanther said:


> I'm British and currently based in Prague, but I am adamant that I WILL move to Spain this year! I am a tefl teacher with 2 years experience and I am thinking of trying Valencia
> Please can someone advise me when is the best time to arrive to start looking for teaching jobs for the 2012/2013 school year? I am thinking about the beginning of September. I have heard it's better to present yourself in person to schools in Spain rather than email from another country. Any advice would be welcomed


:welcome:

start looking NOW!!

with a tefl qualification you won't be getting a job in either a state or international school though, it will be a language academy

jobs are scarce though, & yes most language academies will give a job to someone already here - but it can't hurt to get your name & CV in front of them, can it

from what I'm reading on various forums atm - the most likely place for a tefl teacher to get work atm is Madrid


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I think you should go over for a visit to Spain and see how things are there nowadays and perhaps see what jobs are available - or not. The recession has hit hard, so its not easy, but at least if you go for a visit you can get a feel for the place and be there for any possible interviews???

Jo xxx


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> :welcome:
> 
> start looking NOW!!
> 
> ...


I agree with everything xabiachica has written. Look at this thread which has a lot of info on it, possibly too much(!). In post 3 there are some contacts. 
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...iving-spain/26226-teaching-english-spain.html
It may be an idea to set a date when you'll be in Madrid for a week/ few days for interviews (perhaps May/ June??). Also you could think about applying for summer jobs at kids camps so that you're here in September for the second round of interviewing which usually happens when schools see what their intake has been, for an October start.


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## PinkPanther (Mar 23, 2012)

xabiachica said:


> :welcome:
> 
> start looking NOW!!
> 
> ...




Thank you!!

Actually I have emailed my CV every 6 months for the past 18 months to every English language school in Spain listed on the internet!! Only ever had a total of 4 replies - they weren't looking for staff at the time. This is my reason for deciding to just arrive. Having said that, I will also email again  It's confusing to know what to do/where to go - I wonder if I should consider Portugal....and,..I was offered about 4 jobs in Italy last year but none of them started before mid October and I didn't have enough funds to wait that long....ARGH!!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Having lived in Prague myself for three years before moving to Spain I can understand your urge to move.

I also worked teaching English, at the Czech Statistical Office, before moving here to do...nothing.

My experience is limited but if you don't have U.K. Qualified Teacher Status (B.Ed or degree with PGCE) it seems you will not be accepted as a teacher in the Spanish system whether state or private - as would be the case in the U.K. There may be a few private schools who will hire people lacking QTS but I doubt they would offer the same terms and conditions.

Unemployment is massive in Spain and Portugal is in similar economic difficulties, perhaps even worse. I seem to remember there were plenty of English-teaching opportunities in Prague - I was constantly offered work I didn't want. In fact I didn't seek out the CSU job, I did it to help a friend.

So whilst I can sympathise with your desire to leave the CR - there's only so much poor public (and personal) hygiene, general shabbiness and poor quality of life in general one can tolerate - you may well find that job-wise there are more opportunities there.

Have you thought about going East - Japan, China?


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## PinkPanther (Mar 23, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> Having lived in Prague myself for three years before moving to Spain I can understand your urge to move.
> 
> I also worked teaching English, at the Czech Statistical Office, before moving here to do...nothing.
> 
> ...



Hi, thanks for your response and also your empathy  You are right - there a plenty of jobs here, not very well paid and mostly people are trying to rip off other people in some way, but you will be very familiar with the corruptness here, I'm sure! I want to stay in Europe so I'm accessible for my mum, really I don't mind where - just not here or anywhere in Eastern European!
Maybe I should just wait and apply for jobs online instead of risking things...:confused2:


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

When somebody describes themselves as a TEFL teacher it's usually somebody who is looking to work in academies or to work freelance. The academy option for someone like PinkPanther (qualified, with experience, EU nationality, experience of living abroad and who also knows Spain) is still a viable option in some parts of Spain, although not a very well paid one. It should also be remembered that to teach on a self employed basis legally, and to be paying into the health system etc is very expensive for the worker, and unstable.
My advice remains the same as in post 4 above.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

PinkPanther said:


> Hi, thanks for your response and also your empathy  You are right - there a plenty of jobs here, not very well paid and mostly people are trying to rip off other people in some way, but you will be very familiar with the corruptness here, I'm sure! I want to stay in Europe so I'm accessible for my mum, really I don't mind where - just not here or anywhere in Eastern European!
> Maybe I should just wait and apply for jobs online instead of risking things...:confused2:


Plenty of corruption in Spain...but in my experience fewer people trying to rip you off on the dubious basis that if you are a foreigner you must be rich.....

Just a thought....but CSU have apparently restarted their foreign language teaching programme. It may be worth contacting them...the office is based five minutes from Skalka metro station. It's near a large Tesco which is slightly -but only slightly - superior to most other supermarkets in Prague.

When I worked there four years ago, I got the equivalent of £45 for a ninety minute session with a group of about six students, all with PhDs and most of whom 'knew' English but couldn't speak it, in spite of having the highest paper qualifications.

I flew back for a four-day visit to old friends last summer and was shocked at the contrast between every-day life here and there. Both countries with experience of dictatorship yet no comparison between modern, progressive Spain and shabby, mean-spirited, self-satisfied CR.

They just don't seem to comprehend how far they lag behind the rest of Europe, both materially and philosophically.

But then you can't tell Czechs anything...they know best!!


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## JulyB (Jul 18, 2011)

As a fellow English teacher - in your case, I would say definitely come and have a go, either in May or, probably better, September. Just think carefully about where you want to live, because there seems to be a real shortage of steady, well paid work around the coast and the country. However, in Madrid or Barcelona you will almost certainly find something, even if it isn't perfect.

The situation for English teaching is better than for most jobs, since so far in the cities companies are still trying to compete, and one way to do that is for the staff to have a higher level of English than the competition. Plus, a lot of parents have woken up to the idea that their kids need something special to get on the job ladder, and that if they have to emigrate, English will be very useful.

So don't give up. It might not be a walk in the park, but it's definitely possible.


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## maxd (Mar 22, 2009)

Had the choice of living in Barcelona or Prague, I chose Prague. The Spanish never stop speaking and it drives me crazy  I guess it sucks anywhere if you are on a subsistence wage and the change you want is more about you looking for something new. 

Now the sun is out I would hang around, it is grim here in the winter but when the sun comes out I love living in this city. Valencia is a nice choice though, I find he south too contrived and full of euro trash. Valencia feels more real but you need to remember Spain has 23% unemployment and perhaps you should rethink it.


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## maxd (Mar 22, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> I flew back for a four-day visit to old friends last summer and was shocked at the contrast between every-day life here and there. Both countries with experience of dictatorship yet no comparison between modern, progressive Spain and shabby, mean-spirited, self-satisfied CR.
> 
> They just don't seem to comprehend how far they lag behind the rest of Europe, both materially and philosophically.
> 
> But then you can't tell Czechs anything...they know best!!


Slightly mean spirited comments from you there too Mary. I find I can get business done a lot quicker in cz compared to my offices in spain. I have 12 or so mega shopping centers to go to, in Prague, the best beer in the world, the women look hot too, every imaginable type of restaurant, some of the most beautiful architecture in Europe to name a few.

It is landlocked so we do not have the sea, I miss that but that is what holidays are for.


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## PinkPanther (Mar 23, 2012)

maxd said:


> Had the choice of living in Barcelona or Prague, I chose Prague. The Spanish never stop speaking and it drives me crazy  I guess it sucks anywhere if you are on a subsistence wage and the change you want is more about you looking for something new.
> 
> Now the sun is out I would hang around, it is grim here in the winter but when the sun comes out I love living in this city. Valencia is a nice choice though, I find he south too contrived and full of euro trash. Valencia feels more real but you need to remember Spain has 23% unemployment and perhaps you should rethink it.


Hi, thanks for that. I'm very much in two minds, probably why I posted on here in the first place. Yes, Prague does have good weather in the summer and obviously right now is very nice! But I never wanted to live in Prague, even after my Tesol, and now it's been 2 years! I need to move somewhere else because Prague just doesn't make me happy, Spain appeals because it always feels like home and I've wanted to live there since I was a child. I think I should stop thinking for a while anyway and let my subconscious deal with it


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## maxd (Mar 22, 2009)

I do not want to put you off too much. IMO you should take a cheapie flight, my sister came here last week from Barcelona on veuling and it was cheap, then go down to Valencia from there.

My sister has friends who teach English and she says a lot have lost jobs, also there is a problem with people not getting paid and scammed. Yes this is not something that is only confined to Prague. If you go and put your feet on the ground you can go round all the schools and ask for work come September. 

I am sure if you plug away you can get there in the end. You can do a lot of reserach via the net getting lists of schools and so on, call via skype out, it is cheap.

Sometimes the issue of happiness is an internal one, wherever you go in the world you take you, your mind and your thoughts with you. The daily grind to pay the bills goes on wherever you live  Strive for inner peace wherever you are on this planet then you will be happy


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

maxd said:


> Slightly mean spirited comments from you there too Mary. I find I can get business done a lot quicker in cz compared to my offices in spain. I have 12 or so mega shopping centers to go to, in Prague, the best beer in the world, the women look hot too, every imaginable type of restaurant, some of the most beautiful architecture in Europe to name a few.
> 
> It is landlocked so we do not have the sea, I miss that but that is what holidays are for.


Those comments may seem 'mean spirited' to you, max, but they are based on decades of experience of first Czechoslovakia then the Czech Republic

Whether or not Czech beer is the 'best in the world' is a matter of preference, not fact. 
Yes, every imaginable type of restaurant - but the overall quality of food and service is poor...and wouldn't you expect to find 'every imaginable type of restaurant' in a capital city??

'Hot women'..?? As a married family man, I'm surprised you think that important!
Again, a matter of opinion. I've heard it said that many women look cheap and tarty because of the poor quality clothing and cosmetics available. I have never come across so much poor personal hygiene and bad hair jobs as in Prague. 

Mega shopping malls??? I had to laugh out loud. Oh yes, loads of malls...but when Peacocks is regarded as a quality outlet it gives you an idea of what the rest of the retail outlets are like.

Beautiful architecture...yes, that's true. But far too much has suffered decades of neglect and looks frankly shabby. There are other cities comparable and even superior.

Doing business? I don't know about doing business in Spain but plenty of people have done quite well out of it. One of the major reasons it's easy to set up in the CR is that your foreign capital will do a lot more for you. You can live well on less.
A friend who is Director of a UK company had a Czech subsidiary in Jindrichuv Hradec....he pulled out and closed down his operation there because of the poor business environment. But then he had a business involving extensive premises, plant and equipment, not an online operation so the problems he faced were of a different nature to an internet based business.

I do agree with you about the sea...and I think being landlocked has contributed to the Czech closed mentality. I love seeing the sea in the distance from the front of the house...and the mountains in the back.

Don't get me wrong...I enjoyed my years in Prague. It was an experience I wouldn't have missed. But no way could I live out my days there.
But then I thought that about Spain when I first arrived - we had planned to move on to France. Now I'm happily settled here.


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## PinkPanther (Mar 23, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> Those comments may seem 'mean spirited' to you, max, but they are based on decades of experience of first Czechoslovakia then the Czech Republic
> 
> Whether or not Czech beer is the 'best in the world' is a matter of preference, not fact.
> Yes, every imaginable type of restaurant - but the overall quality of food and service is poor...and wouldn't you expect to find 'every imaginable type of restaurant' in a capital city??
> ...



He he he, thanks for making me seriously laugh - could not have put it better myself :clap2:


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

PinkPanther said:


> Hi, thanks for that. I'm very much in two minds, probably why I posted on here in the first place. Yes, Prague does have good weather in the summer and obviously right now is very nice! But I never wanted to live in Prague, even after my Tesol, and now it's been 2 years! I need to move somewhere else because Prague just doesn't make me happy, Spain appeals because it always feels like home and I've wanted to live there since I was a child. I think I should stop thinking for a while anyway and let my subconscious deal with it


I understand what you say about Prague not making you happy. During our three years we made good friends, made some interesting trips and lived in a really nice big house in Cerny Vul, a ten minute drive from Dejvice. But the longer we stayed, the less content with 'everyday life' we became. I wasn't keen to move to Spain but my partner was and my son and dil have a house which they offered us until we found our feet so off we went.

But whilst what max says is true, you do take your own happiness with you, an environment you feel comfortable in helps create that happiness.

I had to laugh at max's comment about 'eurotrash' in the south. Definitely true - you only have to consider the success of TOWIE. But that refers to a tiny part of the CdS. Plenty of eurotrash in Prague too, as you will know...
It's easy to be flash when most people around you have little and one of the things that kept me away from the Brit immigrant community in Prague was the great level of self-reinvention. Plenty of that here too, of course, but you have a much wider choice of immigrant communities as there are many more different types of immigrant here - we're not all retired people and many retired people are people who have had interesting careers in the arts as well as business.

Take a holiday and look round. There are some attractive smaller towns a few km inland in both Malaga and Cadiz provinces where you may find a demand for English teaching.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

PinkPanther said:


> He he he, thanks for making me seriously laugh - could not have put it better myself :clap2:



If you really want a laugh....have you seen the YOUTUBE clip of esteemed Czech President Vaclav Klaus stealing the jewel-encrusted gold pen he was given to sign some treaty or other whilst on an official trip to Chile?

Or the photos of past Prime Minister Topolanek naked and obviously 'interested' in the naked women around him at one of Berlusconi's 'bunga bunga' parties?

That YOUTUBE clip is priceless.....

However dire and pathetic UK or Spanish politicians may be, there can be no comparison with the sheer indignity of these indelible images.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

With regard to your e-mailing your CV and getting very few replies - the reason - they can't hear you!!!

There are lots of Spanish people teaching English and many are absolutely hopeless being poorly skilled and many with accents so thick that molasses would look like water. 

The private academy, my wife works for, took on a philologist (because they are required to have one) who has had a number of classes taken away from her because the students speak English now, far worse than they did two years ago. Whereas my wife started working for them two years ago just three days a week (about 9 hours) she now works 4 days and 22 hours, such is the demand and we are only a village (pop. less than 5,000) and she is the only teacher at this branch of the academy. The kids who go to the academy are about between 18 months and two years ahead of those who don't. Many will be taking their Cambridge exams this year.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> With regard to your e-mailing your CV and getting very few replies - the reason - they can't hear you!!!
> 
> There are lots of Spanish people teaching English and many are absolutely hopeless being poorly skilled and many with accents so thick that molasses would look like water.
> 
> The private academy, my wife works for, took on a philologist (because they are required to have one) who has had a number of classes taken away from her because the students speak English now, far worse than they did two years ago. Whereas my wife started working for them two years ago just three days a week (about 9 hours) she now works 4 days and 22 hours, such is the demand and we are only a village (pop. less than 5,000) and she is the only teacher at this branch of the academy. The kids who go to the academy are about between 18 months and two years ahead of those who don't. Many will be taking their Cambridge exams this year.


Far too many people think that a native ability to speak a language qualifies them to teach it...
And far too many foreign teachers of a language are poorly trained and inadequate - that is very true of language teaching in the UK, in my experience at least.
So are you advising Panther to look inland at smaller towns, even villages?

Just one point...why is a philologist required??? From my studies of German at University, admittedly in the dim and distant past, Philology, a course I had to take, was all about the history, derivation and development of languages...
Very interesting but only tangentially relevant to studying a living language..


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Far too many people think that a native ability to speak a language qualifies them to teach it...
> And far too many foreign teachers of a language are poorly trained and inadequate - that is very true of language teaching in the UK, in my experience at least.
> So are you advising Panther to look inland at smaller towns, even villages?
> 
> ...


come to think of it - we didn't have a philologist at the academy I used to work for - & I'd be VERY surprised if either of the academies left here have one (in fact both are now pretty much one-man bands - & afaik the owner of one has no teaching quals of any description)


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Just one point...why is a philologist required??? From my studies of German at University, admittedly in the dim and distant past, Philology, a course I had to take, was all about the history, derivation and development of languages...
> Very interesting but only tangentially relevant to studying a living language..


It is my understanding that in order to keep their licence and accreditation, the academy is required to have one.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> come to think of it - we didn't have a philologist at the academy I used to work for - & I'd be VERY surprised if either of the academies left here have one (in fact both are now pretty much one-man bands - & afaik the owner of one has no teaching quals of any description)



I used to get a lot of (unwanted) offers of work in Prague, work that was very well-paid compared to Czech average earnings. Maybe because I had years of experience teaching MFL,having been a self-employed translator/interpreter and being able if I wished (I didn't and don't) to stick a few letters after my name...?

It really used to annoy me that many of the Brits who had found themselves washed up in Prague because of the cheapness of everything (and the 'hot' women?) got employment by passing themselves off as teachers of English. Many of them were, frankly, semi-literate yobs.

There ought to be some national standard for this kind of teaching which imo is as important as any other branch of education. It is unfair to qualified people such as the OP and leads to the kind of situation I found at CSU, where intelligent people had the highest qualifications in English and could write it reasonably well but could scarcely utter an intelligible English sentence.

Incidentally, one thing I do miss about Prague is the cultural scene. We were regulars at the opera, classical concerts, art exhibitions, the cinema and so on....The best seats at the National Theatre cost a tenth of what you'd pay at Covent Garden or La Scala. Even going to a football match was much cheaper - it costs almost as much to see a team in La Liga as it does to watch a Premier League Match in the UK.

Of course there is plenty of culture in Spain and generally of a higher standard. It's just that it's more expensive and we would have to travel quite a way to access it as opposed to less than a thirty minute journey in Prague.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

An academy which teaches English is not required to have a philologist on the staff. It's required to have its licences, and a philologist if it advertises that it has one.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> An academy which teaches English is not required to have a philologist on the staff. It's required to have its licences, and a philologist if it advertises that it has one.



That's what I thought, but wasn't sure :confused2:

when I was looking into opening an academy just before _la crisis_, I didn't remember a requirement that there would have to have been a philologist on staff


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Maybe it is one of those things that differs depending on where one is. Here we are in Jaén province in Andalucia where it could be that one of those who concocts the rules may have a philologist for a friend who whispers in ears... This is Spain, after all...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> Maybe it is one of those things that differs depending on where one is. Here we are in Jaén province in Andalucia where it could be that one of those who concocts the rules may have a philologist for a friend who whispers in ears... This is Spain, after all...


But I don't understand WHY there would be a need for a philologist in the teaching if EFL....

I seem to remember lectures about the Indo-European family of languages, Old English, Chaucer, the First and Second German Soundshifts and other rivetting topics...


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## maxd (Mar 22, 2009)

OK my go  

I thought about staying down south, so went for a look with my family a couple years back and stayed in Estepona in a huge old villa.

You have a big long motorway passing all the towns dotted with ugly fake cynical monsters from the building boom. A lot of the achitecture is pretty ugly, just blocks of flats with no redeeming features.

You can go down by the sea and walk along the promenade and have a cafe con leche and some patas bravas, that is nice but again most places and communities look the same.

I think for me I would have to be near a major city, Serville was nice, shame it is not on the ocean. My wife refers to the CDS as "plastic". You have to admit they have lost the plot down there as far as building is concerned.

I do not mean for this to be a silly competition about where is better to live. We are comparing a capital city with a seaside location. They both have their faults and great aspects too.

As we said earlier it is mostly about your headspace.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> But I don't understand WHY there would be a need for a philologist in the teaching if EFL....
> 
> I seem to remember lectures about the Indo-European family of languages, Old English, Chaucer, the First and Second German Soundshifts and other rivetting topics...


There's definitely no need for this particular one since her English is so badly accented that even a Geordie brought up in Glasgow would have difficulty in understanding her.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

maxd said:


> OK my go
> 
> I thought about staying down south, so went for a look with my family a couple years back and stayed in Estepona in a huge old villa.
> 
> ...


For us the thought of a capital city or seaside is out. WE prefer our mountain village as does my suegra who is a city/big town girl (Dallas Tx; Mexcico City; Bogotá) and never thought to live anywhere like this but she is so glad we brought her here. Having spent a life of living in places where people think of "How can you help me?"/ "How can I use you?" to suddenly fetch up in a place where it is "How can I help you?" it was quite a revelation.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

maxd said:


> OK my go
> 
> I thought about staying down south, so went for a look with my family a couple years back and stayed in Estepona in a huge old villa.
> 
> ...


Please don't dismiss the whole of southern Spain based on one trip to the Costa del Sol. It is just one small part of Andalucia and as Mrypg9 will tell you, the CDS has some unspoilt villages and beaches there if you know where to look. 

Cadiz is a wonderful vibrant city with fantastic beaches and fast rail links to Seville and Madrid. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than Barcelona or Madrid and there are several language schools in the area.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

maxd said:


> OK my go
> 
> I thought about staying down south, so went for a look with my family a couple years back and stayed in Estepona in a huge old villa.
> 
> ...



Your last sentence makes a lot of sense - but as I've said before, it's important for me and most others to be in pleasant surroundings.

It's not a competition about where to live because that is in the end a personal choice. But as Alcalaina has pointed out, you are generalising about a very large region with many facets. The CdS has its share of ugly areas, true, but that's the coastal fringe. If you look at a previous thread I posted, title 'A Quiet Corner of the CdS', you'll see that my village in no way fits your stereotype.

As for Prague...that's a city I've known for almost forty years. At one point I would have paid a fortune to live there. But since 1989 and political freedom the city has changed beyond recognition. It still has areas of great beauty but it also has areas of ugliness worse even than parts of the CdS. I would apply the term 'plastic' to Prague (yes, some parts of the CdS are 'plastic', if by that you mean tacky) as there is so much that has become cheap, tawdry and phoney about the city, a city that I would once have described as one of the most atmospheric in Europe. 

It is overrun by tourists all the year round and plagued by stag and hen parties. It is a crying shame how greed for money has spoilt a once beautiful place. Yes, there are ugly blocks of flats with no redeeming features although thankfully not near me....but that could be said of much of Prague outside a few square km of the city centre. Ugly Communist-era tower blocks too, shoddily built and unbelievably cramped inside too. Presumably when you lived in your flat in Prague you lived in an older building with more charm. 

The CdS covers a large area. It comprises quiet villages near enough to the sea but far from crowds, glitzy places like Marbella and tourist towns like Torremolinos. There is enough variety to satisfy most people's tastes.

But outside Prague, apart from a few not very special towns in Southern Bohemia, the country is even more run-down, shoddy and bleak. I know it's selfish to want to preserve something like a historical monument but I truly wish Prague had remained as it was in the late 1970s when it was more than a cheap booze and sex destination. 

Maybe that's why I feel so strongly....unfulfilled expectations. The reason I feel so happy here could be that reality of life in Spain has exceeded my expectations as in spite of what I see as its awfulness, I really missed Prague for quite a while when we first came here.


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