# Introduction



## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

Hi I'm Marcus from Denmark.
My family and I are moving to Malage in January.
I have to children, a son (5) and a daughter (1).
We have always dreamt of living the mediterranian way of life and have now bern given the oppertunity by my employer.
I work with Internet and Security solutions and will be doing this from our new home in Malaga in the hope of also generating some local business.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

what is it you would like to know?


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Magnum03 said:


> Hi I'm Marcus from Denmark.
> My family and I are moving to Malage in January.
> I have to children, a son (5) and a daughter (1).
> We have always dreamt of living the mediterranian way of life and have now bern given the oppertunity by my employer.
> I work with Internet and Security solutions and will be doing this from our new home in Malaga in the hope of also generating some local business.


Hello and welcome! It will be a big change for you, how lucky you are to have a job to come to.

Will you be in Malaga city? I visited there last week, it is very impressive.


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

I would like to know everything 
First and foreller we are lookng for a place to settlement and a good School for our son, do you have any recomandations?


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

We fell in love with Alhaurin de la Torre, so we are thinking of moving there or Alhaurin el grande.
Are there any other nice areas we sjokke consider? 
Should be close to the airport, because I have to go back to Denmark frequently.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Magnum03 said:


> We fell in love with Alhaurin de la Torre, so we are thinking of moving there or Alhaurin el grande.
> Are there any other nice areas we sjokke consider?
> Should be close to the airport, because I have to go back to Denmark frequently.


Wait for JoJo to reply and you will know everything you need ot know


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Magnum03 said:


> We fell in love with Alhaurin de la Torre, so we are thinking of moving there or Alhaurin el grande.
> Are there any other nice areas we sjokke consider?
> Should be close to the airport, because I have to go back to Denmark frequently.



Alhaurin de la Torre is beautiful , we lived there for three years, its close to the airport, the countryside, beaches, it has great bars and restaurants, its clean, modern and an affluent area. I loved it there and I would recommend it to anyone. Alhaurin el Grande looks more "spanish" with its whitewash buildings etc (Altho de la torre has them too, in the back streets), but El Grande has suffered from being overrun by British, a lot of whom have left due to the recession and is now a little bit sad, altho it is still very "british". It also has a bit of a problem with some of the Spanish who are anti British, and of course its further away from the aiport by at least 20 minutes. However, in the right circles it can be a nice place to live. 

Are you looking for an international school or state??

Jo xxx


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

I just noticed my awful Spelling! It's not me! It's the stupid autocorrection on my iPad!!!

Regarding schools we are looking for a spanish semi-state (what are they called?) School.

You have to elborate on the "British" thing. How is altho British? We met 7 expats there last year, 2 of them British. I've always considered the coastal towns West of Malaga British.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Magnum03 said:


> I just noticed my awful Spelling! It's not me! It's the stupid autocorrection on my iPad!!!
> 
> Regarding schools we are looking for a spanish semi-state (what are they called?) School.
> 
> You have to elborate on the "British" thing. How is altho British? We met 7 expats there last year, 2 of them British. I've always considered the coastal towns West of Malaga British.


I think you mean the 'concertada' schools

I don't know about the Málaga area, but they are damn near impossible to get into around here - kids seem to go on the waiting list when they are a twinkle in their _grandfather's_ eye!! It's all about family connections usually.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Magnum03 said:


> I just noticed my awful Spelling! It's not me! It's the stupid autocorrection on my iPad!!!


I think you are doing very well with your English. Do you also speak Spanish?

Welcome to the forum.


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

@DunWorkin: Thanks, I learnt English when I was three, my mother is German and my father is Danish, so both languages are native to me. Spanish is actually the first foreign language I'm seriously trying to learn (did do 6 months of Czech).
We have a private teacher, visiting us twice a week for almost 2 months now. She's from Madrid and really good. My wife has had a year of Spanish in high school, so she's ahead of me, but I'm trying to catch up.

@xabiachica: Those are the ones we are thinking of. I have heard they where difficult to get in to. Is it just because the waiting lists are long, or..? And are there any worth waiting for?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

The costas in Spain used to be "british" in as much as the British and Germans to some extend were the first "foreigners" to holiday and live live there and were responsible for many of the british type bars, restaurants and activities. Thats changed a fair bit now and I would say the costas are pretty much now international, but with a Spanish edge. British and other nationalities in the main started to realise that coming to Spain meant that tourists wanted just that and not to come to Britain in the sun. Well Ahaurin El Grande is a bit like that. In the height of the ex-pat invasion, El Grande was descended upon by many british who wanted to work and live in Spain. It was in an ideal location and looked "Spanish". When we first came to Spain 4 years ago, it was hard to hear any other language than british El Grande, the shops were all very british, newsagents, fish n chip shops, british bars, british hairdressers, garages, poolshops........ That has changed a lot now due to the recession and the last time I went there (two months ago) there were a lot of empty buildings and closed down businesses, hence my comment that it appeared sad.

There is a concertado school somewhere in Malaga but I know nothing about it. Alhaurin de la torre has a private spanish/bilingual school called EL Pinar, which is apparently good and reasonably priced, there is also the MIT collegeo on the technical park malaga (not far from De la Torre), which caters for multinationals, I have friends who have children there and who think its wonderful. Sorry I cant put links for these on here, I'm using a lap top that doesnt make putting links on easy

Jo xxx


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## rjnpenang (Feb 20, 2008)

This might help, it's the oldest Danish magazine on the coast. There are quite a few Danish businesses in Fuengirola and Mijas Costa, opticians, dentist, doctors, etc., the biggest alarm company in town is also Danish.
And, I believe, many Scandinavians send their children to the Swedish school here.
http://solkysten.net/page.9.html


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

rjnpenang said:


> This might help, it's the oldest Danish magazine on the coast. There are quite a few Danish businesses in Fuengirola and Mijas Costa, opticians, dentist, doctors, etc., the biggest alarm company in town is also Danish.
> And, I believe, many Scandinavians send their children to the Swedish school here.
> Solkysten - Solkysten Marketing 2011 - ENGLISH


..... and theres an excellent, frequent and cheap train service from Fuengirola to Malaga airport, which makes life much easier than driving there! We live in Torremuelle, near Banalmadena now and my husband commutes to the UK for work and always uses the train to get to and from the airport - 1,60€ and 25 minutes, with trains every half an hour.

My next door neighbours are a danish couple and a danish family own our local shop. Its also noticeable that alot of Scandinavians are moving to Spain

Jo xxx


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

I hadn't thought in terms of public transportation to the airport. Dó twhe trains go directly to the airport? That could give another perspective on where to live.

We have looked at the Danish school and I know there's a whole scandinavian comunity there, but we want our children to go to spanish schools. Actually, and I don't mean to offend anybody here, we would like to live as spanish as possible regarding schools, community, food, shopping, culture and so on.

If the waiting lists are that long, then we Will propably consider a public school - are there any good ones in altho or any we sshould avoid?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Magnum03 said:


> I hadn't thought in terms of public transportation to the airport. Dó twhe trains go directly to the airport? That could give another perspective on where to live.
> 
> We have looked at the Danish school and I know there's a whole scandinavian comunity there, but we want our children to go to spanish schools. Actually, and I don't mean to offend anybody here, we would like to live as spanish as possible regarding schools, community, food, shopping, culture and so on.
> 
> If the waiting lists are that long, then we Will propably consider a public school - are there any good ones in altho or any we sshould avoid?



the train was an eye opener for me too! We hadnt thought how much easier it would be compared to living close and driving. There is a good train service into the airport from west of Malaga and its very cheap. 

As for wanting to live as Spanish. I wanted us to do that too, but actually the reality is that firstly, me and the children arent fluent and I never will be, so that makes it difficult to integrate fully, but also even the Spanish nowadays arent typically spanish and I've fast realised that apart from some of the older villages, in the main we're all just european and any cultural gaps are closing. That said, back to Alhaurin de la Torre, thats very Spanish, El Grande isnt

Jo xxxx


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

Maybe we Will come to realise that too. But we defenetly want our kids to go to a spanish school. Any recomandations?

Do you still live in alhto?


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Your kids have every chance of integrating but sadly JoJo is right and you probably never will. Even Spanish families from the north find it difficult to integrate here becasue the family life is so embedded anbd strong. One of the first things we learned is one of the the main reasons for expat communities to develop in areas like this is the difficulty in integrating. This doesn't mean it is impossible just very difficult. You may well find it easier because of where you are from, but Brits and Germans do struggle however hard we try. But we have made some Spanish friends as well as some English and German friends too. But we are happy and that is all we can ask for.


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

That surprises me a bit! The spanish strike me as very open and talkative. In a formal way, I don't expect to be invited into their home. Don't know why I should be netter of, then you, except that I'm used to dealing with foreign languages.

I'm considereing starting a business - are the spanish hard to sell to?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I left AdlT about 9 months ago, simply due to the children having to move school. My son went to an international school that was failing badly, so we moved m=him to one that offered the same choices and it happened to be in Benalmadena on the coast. My daughter 13 at the time had been at a spanish state school and sadly, due to her age (and hormones) flatly refused to speak the language, do the school work or integrate! So we sent her to the international school with her brother and interestingly, most of her friends there are spanish and she speaks it far better than she ever did at sate school! One of the lads my son hangs around with is Danish, but the rest of his mates are a mixture of Spanish, south american, Lithuanian... In the main the school is far from "full of Brits". I'd say is probably 50% spanish and 50% others.

As for the Spanish doing business with you?? Well like most people they tend to do business with their own unless what you have is better or cheaper, certainly not easy in this economic climate - unless you employ lots of Spanish. The only thing that will make/enable you to become "spanish" along side the locals, is longevitiy and total fluency. Spain has had so many nationalities living there for so long now tho, its all a bit of a melting pot, its difficult to find indigenous, spanish type amongst young people, but I guess in the villages its still as it was.

Its nice tho, all nationalities all just get along together and learn from each other

Jo xxx


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

So I better study spanish tonight 
What do you pay for a private School?


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Magnum03 said:


> That surprises me a bit! The spanish strike me as very open and talkative. In a formal way, I don't expect to be invited into their home. Don't know why I should be netter of, then you, except that I'm used to dealing with foreign languages.
> 
> I'm considereing starting a business - are the spanish hard to sell to?


Most Spanish are very open, friendly, and talkative. If you are genuinely interested in them and their culture, you will have no trouble making Spanish friends. We live in a Spanish village/small town with very few non-Spanish residents and feel perfectly comfortable and at home here. We keep some of our own customs, for example we observe British mealtimes. I call it happy co-existence rather than integration.

There is no slight to not being invited into people's homes. That isn't a Spanish custom - homes are for family gatherings (and some families are enormous); they meet their friends at bars, festivals, on a bench on the plaza, but rarely at home.

As for starting a business - well, nobody has got any money! I don't know any foreigner who has successfully started a business selling to Spaniards. But I suppose it depends what you're selling ...


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## Magnum03 (Jul 17, 2011)

Alcalaina said:


> Most Spanish are very open, friendly, and talkative. If you are genuinely interested in them and their culture, you will have no trouble making Spanish friends. We live in a Spanish village/small town with very few non-Spanish residents and feel perfectly comfortable and at home here. We keep some of our own customs, for example we observe British mealtimes. I call it happy co-existence rather than integration.
> 
> There is no slight to not being invited into people's homes. That isn't a Spanish custom - homes are for family gatherings (and some families are enormous); they meet their friends at bars, festivals, on a bench on the plaza, but rarely at home.


Thats exactly how I thought they would be - and since our family is in Denmark, who needs a big house 



Alcalaina said:


> As for starting a business - well, nobody has got any money! I don't know any foreigner who has successfully started a business selling to Spaniards. But I suppose it depends what you're selling ...


I work for an ISP (that's an Internet provider to mere mortals  ). We provide Internet for businesses, security solutions, work-from-home solutions, interconnect branch offices etc.

Even in a credit crunch, you can't really run a business without electricity, water and internet (in reference to MaidenScotland's thread).


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