# A letter to a friend after our first ten months in spain



## chris (Jul 5, 2007)

Dear Clive and Anne how lovely to see your names again have been meaning to email Carmen to let her know how the school year ended. Please forward this email to her as i would love her to know how all things have gone, send my love to her and Shayla.

Well we are 10 months into living in Spain it has been a very interesting year with lots of ups and downs. Nathaniel as you may know had difficulty settling in to Spanish school and finding his place. This was made all the worse buy the fact that his little sister found everything so easy and every one telling her all the time how well she spoke Spanish and how good she was. Within a few short months she had become the teachers favourite because she always tries so hard is very very clever always wants to please plays and integrate's well with all the other children and speaks Spanish so well that she does not even have an English accent!!!

Nathaniel hating the food at commodore and not eating well was constantly told he was muy mal and had to listen to Emily rose being told she was muy bien.

He had problems with fitting in with the other children as all they wanted to do was play football and he does not like football so very often was left on his own at commodore. A few times he was caught up in arguments with the other children which escalated into arguments with the teachers. 

They did try to help him but the language barriers and his personality got in the way and all he would end up doing is screaming and running away. However in his class he was always very good played with the other children and slowly learned to speak Spanish.

The final showdown came at Easter when i was again called up the school because he refused to do any more work in his special Spanish lessons. As it turned out his Spanish teacher, every time he wrote something rubbed it out because his handwriting was so bad. After months of this he gave up and refused to do any more!. Personally i cant say as i blamed him one little bit learning to communicate was far more important than handwriting. At that meeting his teacher did see how constantly rubbing his work out had totally destroyed his confidence and desire to learn. We left the meeting with her apologising for not realising how her actions where affecting him and promised she would not do this any more. 

In February i collected the children twice a week at commodore to try and take the pressure off of Nathaniel and the teachers, also i enrolled him in Karate lessons with Emily-Rose and one of their Spanish friends Andrea. This was done for one purpose only and that was so that Nathaniel could be better at something than his sister and one of their friends. So fingers crossed we waited to see what time will do. Thank fully Nathaniel was better than the other two and revelled in the extra attention and constant praise and gloated over the fact that even his sister new he was better!. As it turned out with the last visit at the school everything has completely turned around!!!!. He is now a very very happy little boy, he has found a new level of confidence that did not exist even when we were in the UK. He will eat some foods at commodore now and the dinner ladies will now accept that he will eat some foods and leave him alone now. He has made friends at commodore and will play football and other games with them now. All his teachers are very impressed with how he has turned around. His final school report did say he was behind in Spanish and valenciano but they did not want to hold him back because they felt his progress was so good since Easter they they thought he will catch up in a few months when school starts back.

Last month both he and Emily-rose did their first exam in karate, one instructor speaks Spanish one speaks valenciano and both count and name the moves in Japanese. When they both passed i don't think i have ever been more proud of them and they of themselves it was a fantastic moment and one that symbolises their acceptance and success of integrating fully into a Spanish way of life.

We have given up trying to sell the house in the UK and are happy to rent for a few years. We have also been able to rent out our house in the UK which has taken off a lot of pressure from my husband. Mark will continue to work in the UK for another 6 months so that we can save with the intention of him moving over here and take his chances with work. Mark is a very good worker so we feel that if he is able to build up a client base he will get on well. We are aware of the work situation so know this may not be possible but we need to try. We cannot continue to live apart indefinitely so have decided if we can not make a success of it we will return to the UK next September. I believe this is when our emergency medical cover runs out and this would have been two years of being here. None of us want to return to the UK but it may be a case of having to, we will have to see how things work out.

Having qualified as a beauty therapist i want to try and establish myself in this when the children return back to school after the holidays. I do not need to be massively successful in this just need a bit of pocket money and to try and take the pressure of my husband also got a bit bored of lying by the pool now and feel the children are settled enough for me to give some attention to other things.

If we are able to stay in Spain we are looking at staying in the Gata DE Gorgos area permanently i did not expect to find home here, but have i don't mean Gata residential which is just a place of retirement homes and Holiday villas but in or around the town itself. Most times i pop into Gata i bump into someone it is this that makes Gata home, you can go into a coffee shop on your own and know you will shortly have company. You are recognised and welcomed in local shops you are always encouraged and praised for speaking Spanish, badly in my case but always trying. The children can bump into friends and teachers and always have a chat and play for awhile. There is always a get together paella or party to attend at the weekends, there is always a friend, Spanish, dutch, German or french to visit.
It is home and we all love it

So their it is that is our year in Spain, yes we want to stay but if we have to leave then we take with us some off the best times in our lives, and we have given the children an incite into living life another way. Love to you all Chris xxxx


----------



## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Brilliant!! Thanks Chris

jo xxx


----------



## rjnpenang (Feb 20, 2008)

Excellent letter, if you can survive the first couple of years you will never regret it, the kids will be raised bilingual, they will make some lifelong friends whilst at school and out of it.
We have been here 27 years raising 2 kids, both now working in London but come home (Spain) every opportunity.
Its a lovely country for young children, judo lessons for our son, ballet lessons for our daughter and swimming lessons for both of them, it was one of my proudest memories watching my son when he first did the crawl!.
One thing though Chris, make sure the kids don´t fall behind with their English grammar, I have met English people here who could´nt read their own language!, the parents had assumed the school lessons would be enough, a big mistake. Regards Rob


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Hi Chris, Thanks for all the info about your ups and downs with the kids. I'm sure many parents will find this very useful.


----------

