The search for our Spanish home

2nd May 2011 (day 3)

Despite the fact that Anna went to bed late last night we were not able to have a real lay in. At 8am it was time to get up. We had already planned a tour we wanted to take today. The plan was to drive further away from the coast to see the inland of Spain and see if that was something that suited us and our needs. The first stop was at Medina Sidonia, a small white village which we already checked out online and wanted to see in real life. After a bit of a search we found a parkingspot and started walking down the small alleys. It was mainly uphill, but a good work out is never amiss! After a short walk we ended up at the towncenter where we sat down and enjoyed a great tapas mixta. After our short break we continued our trip. We drove through another couple of villages and finally ended up int Vejer de la Frontera. This was also a place we wanted to check out. We had to walk uphill most of the time, again, but we are getting used to it. Anna was stealing the show and chatted to the locals. Although we don't think she understood them and vice versa it was lovely to see how easy it was for her to get in contact with the Spanish people. After our walk we ended up at a small bar and decided to enjoy a little Spanish snack. The food is so simple but so tasty!!

It was a quiet and relaxing day, but also gave us some insights. During our trip we realised that this area is not the place for us. Yesterday, we went to Rota and it felt so comfortable and pleasant. This is a feeling we did not have today. Of course it helped that it was beautiful weather yesterday, but we do not think that a little bit of sunshine would change our opinion about the region. It does mean that we can scratch some places of our list. Luckily for us, we are still convinced that we want to move to Spain. We have just realised that we want to focus our search on the coastal area instead of the inlands.

Chiclana de la Frontera; the right place for our B&B?

01st May 2011 (day 2)

After a well deserved rest Anna woke up at about 7.30am. Because it was mother's day in Spain Ellen could have a lie in and JW took care of breakfast. What a way to start the holiday, with presents and a luxury breakfast! After breakfast we went to the beach were Anna enjoyed the swing, slide and other kiddies equipment. It didn't take long for her to get in contact with a cute Spanish boy, probably a little younger than Anna, she even received a piece of candy of him! Even though we did practice saying Hola! when we were still at home, it did not do us any good at the beach. The two children just stood face to face and Anna did not say anything! She even was a bit shy! We were just two very proud parents enjoying the moment and the fact that the Spanish people were so kind. Although we do not think Chiclana will be the place for us we do enjoy the Spanish culture and friendliness. Chiclana in itself did not really grasp us as yet, it is a bit too far from the airport and the area we're in is in a bit of a state. The villa and the street it is situated is very nice, but to get there gives a bit of a run down impression, which is something we want to avoid when we

have our own place in Spain. We want to be able to pick up our guests and to wow them from start to finish. Eventhough Chiclana might not be the place for us, we are getting more and more convinced that Spain is. We can't wait to move to this lovely country with the great beaches and friendly people!

Travelling to Spain

30th April 2011 (day 1)

The first day we had a terrible way to start the holiday. We had to get up very early because the plane would leave at 10 am and we had to be at the airport at 8. When we arrived at the airport we noticed a small sign saying flight delayed. Not a problem, we thought, we will spend some time at the panaroma deck and enjoy watching the planes. However, when they announced that there was an unknown delay we did start to worry a bit.

After a delay of five hours we finally boarded the plane and were on our way to Seville. We were supposed to land at 5.40pm, but again we did not quite make it. In the end we finally set foot on Spanish soil at 6pm! We were tired and Anna had had enough of waiting, but we still had to rent a car and travel for about an hour and a half to get to our rented villa. Luckily we did bring our own navigation system so we did not expect any delays on our way to the villa. At 9.30pm we opened the door to the villa, we had to do some grocery shopping on the way, and we were glad to be "home". Although the villa was not very big it had everything we needed. It even had a small welcome pack with some true English goodies in it. After unpacking and having a drink it was time to go to bed. Time to truly start our holiday in Spain!

Holiday in Spain

It's been a while since I've posted a message on my blog, but not without reason!! We went on a holiday to Spain. I already mentioned it in another blog that we want to travel to Spain so we can research the area and see if we feel as much at home as we think we will. Well I can tell you this much: we did! We absolutely liked the holiday. The weather was not at its best, but the people, the food and the surroundings swept us of our feet. We only stayed a week, which was much too short. If we could, we would have stayed much longer, but alas we had to go back to work. The next couple of days (or weeks) I will tell you about the trips and the feelings we had when we were in Spain!

Mother’s day

Whilst looking on the internet for information about fiestas in Spain I stumbled on some great news. Or at least it was pleasant information for me. On the 1st May the Spanish celebrate Mother’s day! That’s the first weekend we are in Cádiz, I couldn’t believe my luck.

Mother’s day in its current form started in America in 1910. In that year they elected the second Sunday in May as the day to celebrate Mother’s day. A lot of countries copied the concept from America and also celebrate it on that day, but there are some exceptions. Spain is one of the exceptions, because they celebrate it on the first Sunday in May.

This year I can celebrate my first Spanish mother’s day, although there are no special festivities I do intend to enjoy it to the fullest! And one week later I can celebrate it once more, because in The Netherlands we celebrate Mother’s day on the second Sunday of May! So this year I can receive a double amount of love! I really don’t have to receive twice the amount of gifts, but having a lay in and getting breakfast in bed is something I wouldn’t say no to even if it is two weeks in a row! Although I do hope that in Spain we will be able to have breakfast sitting on a patio enjoying the early morning sun. I can’t think of a better way of enjoying Mother’s day!

Fiestas and Ferias

The holiday is getting closer by the day and we are really looking forward to it. As part of the fun we are preparing our trip by looking on the internet and checking what we can see and do in that week. We already noticed a nice trip in Tarifa where we can go on a boat to spot dolphins, but we also wanted to visit a fiesta or feria to see that side of the Spanish way of living. At first we thought we hit the jackpot when we realized that 2nd May they celebrate Labour Day in Spain, but unfortunately it only means that the shops are closed that day. Luckily for us, after some more snooping around on the internet, we found some other fiestas in surrounding villages.

One of them is in Vejer where they celebrate the Feria de Primavera from 27th April until 2nd May. There is a carnival and a livestock market. It doesn’t sound very exciting, but it is certainly something we will keep in mind. Just in case we might have nothing to do one day!

Another feria, which is probably worth visiting, is the one in Jerez. It is called Feria de Caballo and takes place from 2nd May until 9th may. It is known as a colourful festival with the well-known horses from Jerez and surroundings. This is definitely a feria we want to visit. We haven’t decided which day to go yet, but we do know we will not go on 3rd May because we will go to Conil that day. Conil will celebrate the cruces de Mayo that day. They decorate crosses and show them in procession or along the streets. People on the internet say that Conil is at its best on that day so, according to us, that is a definite must see. We don’t want to miss the opportunity to really get acquainted with the Spanish culture and everything that has to do with it.
One week is probably too short to get to know the Spanish people, culture and way of living in Cádiz, but we will definitely have a go at it. Let’s just hope we will have time to relax as well!!

Can we still choose?

Every once in a while there is someone who makes us face the reality about our decisions and the way we are preparing at the moment. At those moments we rethink our plans with regard to the bed and breakfast, language school or the fact that we want to move abroad.

This time it was my dad who asked me: “will you still be able to choose? You have already enrolled for a university, JW is going to Spain and your both doing a course.” It made me realise that, maybe, we can't choose any more. Of course we can still decide not to go at all, but if we want to move abroad Spain will definitely be the place to go. Even though we said we would use our holiday in May to experience if Spain offers a future for us, the decisions we made in the last few months have ensured that we either have to move to Spain or we won't move at all. I know there are also other countries in which they speak Spanish, but going to South America is not something we would choose to do. It is simply to far away!Luckily, we are both still very enthusiastic about moving to Spain, so the chance that we won't move is very small. How ever, we will keep in mind that we still have the opportunity to say “no” if we really want to. And if so, we will at least have had a great experience preparing for the move!

La Feria de Malaga

On the site of the language school, which JW is going to visit in August, there was a note that it will be closed on the first Friday of his course. We were very curious what could be the reason for that so we explored it a bit more. So we had a look on the internet and found out that they celebrate Feria de Malaga from 12^th August until 21^st August. JW couldn't belief his luck!!

The Feria de Malaga is a big feast, which can be compared to carnival, and includes a big fair. The fair basically includes flamenco, other Spanish dances and fino (sherry). It exists since 1487 and was started to remember, and of course celebrate, the victory by Isabella and Ferdinand. Nearly all the females where beautiful flamenco dresses and the men also wear traditional Spanish costumes. During the day people can enjoy dancing and singing in the city centre, and during the night people can go to a gigantic field with hundreds of market booths where one can walk around and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere with music, alcohol and tapas.

Let's just hope that JW will still find time to do his homework. One thing is certain: he will definitely have enough opportunities to experience the true Spanish culture!

Language course in Spain

JW has spent some time to find a language course in Spain. He did most of his research on the computer and after a few hours of research he found two he liked. Together we compared the two, most of the details were the same so JW had to decide which one felt best. He decided to go to the school which he found on linguaschools.com. A small school in the centre of Malaga. Especially the location of the school was one of the reasons why JW has chosen it. He could just see himself finish class, walk across the street, order a cerveza, and do his homework while enjoying this cold beer and the warm sun!

JW will leave 14^th August from the Bremen Airport and will return on 24^th August. This will give him two whole weeks to learn the language and get to know the Spanish culture. He has chosen to stay with a Spanish family to ensure the fact that he will be surrounded by true Spanish life!

Language course

Tuesday we had our final Spanish lesson. We were put to work with exercises dealing with pronouns, reflexive pronouns, objects, subjects and many other grammar subjects. Are we ready to have a conversation?

Yesterday there were oral exams at my school, and since I teach most of those classes I had the task to organise that afternoon and prepare the pupils for it. They had to have conversations in five different situations; at the doctor's, at a police station, at a train station, at a job centre and they had to phone enquiries to make a collect call. The pupils have been preparing and practicing for weeks.

Whilst I was preparing with the pupils I started to wonder if I would be able to do all this in Spanish. I should have a bit of a basis after twenty lessons, but I doubt it if I would be able to have the conversations the pupils would have. I understand even better what the pupils must be feeling, because they feel similar about English as I do about Spanish. I realise how much work the study Spanish is going to be, because in four years time I need to go from “¡Hola, me llamo Ellen! to beautiful sentences and long conversations! I will have to work very hard the coming months. And in October we will start the second language course to improve our Spanish even more!

Andalusian culture

When you think of Andalusia you think of Flamenco, bull fighting, food and drinks.

Flamenco is a dance which was founded in the triangle Cádiz, Jerez de la Frontera and Sevilla. There were many poor people in the 17^th and 18^th century and their life was filled with poverty, criminality, prostitution and alcohol. The people in this environment full of fire and sadness found their relief in passionate music. At first they would only sing and the singer would accompany him or herself by clapping a rhythm. Later the guitar and dance were added.

Bullfighting also found its origin in Andalucia and that's something you really notice as soon as you go to one fo the fight in cities like Sevilla. Lots of people join the festivities and are very enthusiastic about everything that happens in the arena. Of course bullfighting is very debatable. The people who support the fights see it as part of their culture and a true tradition. The ones who are against it think it is not fair to the bull and think that animals should not be killed for amusement.

 

Besides bullfighting and flamenco, there is also a rich tradition with regards to food and drinks. Most people have heard of tapas, but most of them might not realise that these little snacks find their origin in Andalusia. Literally “tapar” means “to cover” and a tapa was used to cover a drink to protect it for the flies. There are also explanations which say that a tapa was introduced by king Alfonso X, who was against binge drinking and set a rule that one could only drink alcohol when it was covered by some food. Pub owners found a way to comply to the rule by covering the glass with a piece of sausage. Now a days you can buy all kinds of tapas. When you are in Andalusia the best drink to accompany the tapas is a sherry. The original sherry comes from Jerez de la Frontera. Within the old city walls in the centre of this city you can find numerous bars Vinos de Jerez.

Together with everything mentioned in this blog the sherry forms the backbone of the Andalusian life. We can't wait to enjoy that life!!

Spanish theatre

Every year we receive brochures of the local theatres and usually we find two or more events/shows we want to visit. Even though the tickets are often not cheap we do like to go because it's a fun way to spend a night together and leave the normal things of life behind for a while.

Last week we went to theatre twice and it made us realise that we don't even know if this is something we could still do when we move to Spain. Do they actually have theatres in Spain and will they have the same kind of shows? We do expect there to be theatres but can't imagine what kind of plays, cabaret or comedy shows they will have. So we have another activity to add to our to-do-list for when we go to Spain. We will definitely visit a Spanish theatre!!

Accreditations for the language school

As part of our research we have written to a couple of organisations to see if our plans have any chance of succeeding. We also wanted to know what we should do to get our language school join one of them. Until now we have received all kinds of responses. Some of the organisations have their own schools and do not let people join them, others were enthusiastic but were not able to help us any further until we were actually in Spain. Although they could not help us right now, the responses were very valuable because it gave us the impression there was still a market for our plans. One of them actually said we had something unique and definitely had a chance in succeeding!

To get people to book our courses we want to have accreditations, which show that the school has been inspected and meets all the standards. This was the second part of our research. We asked the organisations if they knew how we could get those accreditations, which ones were best to have, and what rules we should comply with? To get answers to these questions we looked at several websites and asked a school in Malaga for help. Ellen followed a course there in 2004 and she hoped they would be kind enough to help us. Unfortunately their response was not what we had hoped. They did help us, but the information they gave us was a bit disappointing. The main organisation to give out accreditations is called Cervantes and they have quite a few demands. Their basic demands are: two certified teachers, a minimum space of 150m² and a space for the teachers to work on a computer and do their administrative duties. The last two things are not a real issue, that's just something we need to keep in the back of our heads when we search for a property, but the first demand is definitely a problem. We did not plan on hiring any staff right in the beginning. The idea was that Ellen would do all the teaching so we could keep the groups small and we could cut on the costs. So in the beginning we will not be able to get accredited by this organisation.

Luckily, there are quite a number of organisations and we decided to focus on those first and try to get the accreditation of Cervantes at a later date. We have received some links on which we can find information about these organisations and will see what demands these have with regard to accreditations. If they also have demands we can not comply with at the start we will just have to try and start the company without accreditations. We are definitely not giving up (yet)!!

Are there still Spanish people in Spain?

Just like many other people we love watching programmes in which people move to Spain or another warm country. Lately we often watch the English program Living in the Sun, a Dutch channel shows the reruns of this BBC program.

In this programme English people are looking to find a home in the South of Spain and they also have e look at the lives of English ex-pats who have set up a business of their own. It is a lot of fun to watch and also quite amazing. Are there even any Spanish people living and working in Spain? In the program you can only see English people buying their groceries in English shops, and when they need a plumber or any other kind of help in and around their home they always find an English person to help them.

One of the things that we think is positive is the fact that this programme is mainly taped in the Murcia and Malaga areas. It's definitely not our dream to settle in an English or Dutch settlement and not be able to connect with the true Spanish people and the true Spanish life. Of course it is also a bit daunting knowing that we will have to turn to strangers when we have a problem, but we are certain we will manage as long as we are prepared to accept the fact that Spanish people do things different than we do.

House prices in Spain

When you plan on moving to a different country it is very common to start the search on the Internet. What can we buy and how much do houses cost in our dream location? Now a days it is very easy to find all kind of property sites through the internet and before you know it you are clicking on all kind of houses. The one more luxurious than the other.

Even though we are not planning on moving until 2015, or so, it is very tempting to look for properties. We can't keep ourselves from looking at beautiful detached houses with swimming pools and palm trees. Properties which are just as expensive as our semi-detached!! We have been looking at properties for half a year now and we notice a decline in prices. Houses that were for sale for €250,000 are now reduced to €225,000 or even less. The property market in Spain is certainly going through a tough period right now.

We had a look on the internet to see if this trend with regard to the prices is a new development. To our surprise this decline has already started in 2007 and according to the figures the prices have dropped with a staggering 17%! Property prices near the coast have even dropped with 23%! Hopefully this will continue for some time, because then we will be able to buy a nice property for a low price. Who knows, maybe we will be able to afford a castle near the sea by the time we move to Spain! But, then again, it could also pick up again and we will be forced to buy an old ruin which we need to renovate completely. Until then we will just keep looking on the internet and dream about all those beautiful houses we can afford at the moment.

We can go!!

Not too long ago I had a bit of a shopping spree. While shopping I was thinking of our move to Spain, of course. This time it was not the move in itself, but the holiday in May which was most important for me. After that shopping trip we are able to go to Spain in style!!

After our last short trip we decided it was due time to buy new suitcases. Two years ago we went to London and only took hand luggage with us. This was very comfortable and saved a lot of time so we decided to travel light to Rome as well. After those two trips our little suitcase desperately needed replacing. As we are planning to travel light to Spain as well it was time to buy some new suitcases. It was very difficult to find what we were looking for. Were we too demanding??

Not too long ago I finally succeeded! JW was on a trip with some of his friends and I was home alone with Anna. A good day to go shopping. I went together with my mum. She told me there were some great sales, so the timing could not have been any better. The first shop had exactly what we were looking for. That would be a short shopping trip, were it not for the fact that I wanted to be sure this deal was the best deal in town!! So after having a look in different shops we went back to the first shop and I bought two cute blue suitcases. Luckily JW liked them as well. So now we are all set to go to Spain!!

We want to go to Spain!!

In May we are going on our first trip to the province of Cádiz. The reason we weren't able to go sooner is the fact that Ellen is a teacher, which means we are only able to go away during school holidays. Sometimes that is very frustrating. When you have plans to set up a Bed and Breakfast with a language school, there is nothing more you want to do than to go there and explore the region and the possibilities.

We regularly fantasise about how it would be when we are finally there. We see ourselves sitting there enjoying a good glass of vino tinto or a nice helado. We have already made reservations at a car rental so we can explore a large area in that week. We plan to drive a lot so we can visit villages and towns in the area and really get a feel for the Spanish way of living. There are, of course, a few things we certainly want to see and do. We have already decided to make a trip to Tarifa, this is a village near the Mediterranean Sea. There are companies which make boat trips with tourists to show the dolphins and whales. We can't wait to see those beautiful creatures. Besides visiting a lot of places we also want to discover the true Spanish kitchen. We want to enjoy the outdoor life and sit on a terrace enjoying a paella or, a true Spanish delicacy, churros.

Unfortunately, until then, we have no choice than to dream about all those wonderful things!

Costa de la Luz

As we have mentioned before we would like to move to the Costa de la Luz, a region in the South of Spain. To be exact we would like to move to the province called Cádiz. There are a lot of beautiful villages over there and the region is not run over by tourists every year. The most important cities, villages and spots for tourists are: Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Chipiona, Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cádiz (the oldest city of Europe),Chiclana de la Frontera, Conil de la Frontera, Vejer de la Frontera, Los Caños de Meca, Zahara de los Atunes, Bolonia and  Tarifa.

There are also a few nature reserves. The biggest and most important one is National Park Doñana. In this area you can find a lot of birds which stay here during the winter or which are here to rest before they travel onwards to the south or north (depending on the season). Besides this great national park there is also Parque Natural Bahia de Cadiz, this is the bay of Cadiz.

We did not choose this area at random. There was not one area of which we said we definitely wanted to move there. We spend a lot of time on the Internet to find out about all the regions of Spain and besides having a look photos and reading stories about the regions we also had a look at the business opportunities of the different regions. In the end we decided to focus on the Costa de la Luz because it has a lot of nature, was not very known with (foreign) tourists and still offers a lot of opportunities for people to set up a business.

The Spanish tourists already know the area very well and there are quite a lot of Spanish tourists who go to the Cádiz area to enjoy their holidays. It is a great area for all kinds of reasons; you can enjoy a great surf, you can spot whales and dolphins, there are some great golf courses and of course you can taste some great sherry!!

Let's hope our trip to Cádiz confirms our ideas about this region and we hope we will feel right at home at this relatively quiet region.

Languagecourse Spain

As we might have mentioned before we find a good preparation key to a successful move to Spain. As part of the preparation we study Spanish once a week. If you want to be part of the society you need at least be able to communicate. For now, our goal is to be able to speak a little bit when we go to Spain in May.

Every Tuesday evening we go to Zuidlaren, a small village in the North of Holland, where we study Spanish for an 1,5 hours. We aren't only taught about grammar, but also how to pronounce, read and all other aspects of the Spanish language. We have a small group with people who all enjoy learning and like to have a bit of fun while doing so. The level is very different, one week we all grasp exactly what the teacher is explaining the other week we haven't got a clue. Oh well, we'll get there in the end.

Besides all the aspects which have to do with learning a language the teacher also knows a lot about the history of Spain. He already told us about the famous words ¿Porqúe no te callas?. Words that were uttered by the Spanish king when he thought the Prime minister of Venezuela should shut up. We were also told about “La noche de transitorios y el dia despues”. All very interesting aspects of the Spanish history. It's also nice to hear those things about Spain, because learning a language is not the only way of integrating. You also need to know a bit about the country's history and values.

Evening with tapas

We think it is important to learn as much about a country as possible when you move to Spain. What better way than to learn how to cook the local dishes!! We started relatively simple by planning an evening with tapas. Ever since we announced the fact that we want to move to Spain our birthdays and Christmas gifts all had to do with Spain in some way. We received a nice tapas cookery book and we also had some typical Spanish dishes which can be used to prepare or present tapas.

So now it was time to use these presents and to enjoy some of the nice dishes. After we went through the books and some sites on the internet we had made a short list of dishes we wanted to make. We chose to make some spicy gambas, aioli, baguette with salmon and egg, Serrano ham, fried risotto balls and of course the one and only tortilla!

We hardly had any problems preparing all the different dishes. The only thing we couldn't get right was the aioli. We really followed all the steps mentioned in the recipe but it didn't taste as it should at all! We decided to throw the bad aioli away and just added some garlic to mayonnaise, this was very tasty! When we finished cooking, after two hours!!, the table was full with small plates full with lovely dishes. How are we ever going to finish that all?? Luckily, everything tasted great, even Anna liked the spicy gambas! Even though we did not finish everything we thoroughly enjoyed our Spanish night. I am sure it will not be the last time we have such a night!

Emigration fair

Last Saturday it was time for us to go to the Emigration Fair in Houten (the Netherlands). We were very enthousiastic to go and hoped to get some more information with regard to starting a business in Spain. Because we had to bring Anna to Ellen's dad we had to leave at seven o'clock in the morning!! Due to the fact that there were few cars on the road at time we arrived fifteen minutes too early. Not a problem, because we could wait in the hallway.

After fifteen minutes we went into the first section of the fair. Unfortunately, the expected Spanish section was no bigger than four stands and the companies there were all specialised in houses in the Costa Blanca. That did not help us at all!! So we decided to discover the rest of the fair. We noticed a few companies which we hoped could have a look at our business plan and give us more tips and feedback. However, the people who worked for the companies did not give us the impression they had time to have a look at our business plan. We did get some nice tips and we bought a few books and magazines, but that was it. Even though the fair did not bring us what we expected we did enjoy the day and the fact that we were actually doing things and talking to people about our plans. It gave us an impulse to keep developing our plan and researching the options.

Why wait five more years?

Some people ask us why we want to wait five more years before moving to Spain. House prices are low so it would be a great time to move, wouldn't it? The answer to that question is of course yes. And we would love to move rather sooner than later, but the fact is that such a move costs quite a bit of money and that is something we don't have at the moment. We do not only need money to finance a place to live and start our business, but we also need money to start up a business and promote it. considering the fact that the business will probably not be successful from the start it is also important to have some money to get through the first two years. Hence the fact that we are not moving for another five years.

For the next five years we are planning to save as much money as possible without completely denying us all the good things in life. So we do plan to go on holidays, to go out for dinner and to have a nice evening at a theatre or so, but we will spend less money on those things compared to the previous years. Luckily we both have good jobs and we earn a fair bit of money. In previous years we would have used most of that money for the fun things in life, but now a days we transfer it to our savings account and only spend a set amount of money a year on holidays etcetera.

Every Euro saved means we get one step closer to being able to complete our plan. It is very difficult to know exactly how much money we will need to set up our business. We have made a plan and if we stick to that plan we do think we have enough money in five years time. Let's hope our calculations are correct!!

Emigration Fair

12^th February we are going to an Emigration fair. Even though we did not want to go yet, because it will still take quite some time before we will actually make the big move, we could not help ourselves and we booked some tickets online. We will just have a look around, visit presentations and talk to people who know all about moving to a foreign country.

According to the program there will also be a few financial advisors and organisations which help people set up their own businesses abroad. That is one of the reasons we want to go. We would like to know if we are on the right track with regard to our finances and our savings. And while we are there we can also ask people to have a look at our business plan, maybe we can get some good advices about what we need to change, what we can improve and what we are doing right. The last week we have rewritten the plan because we still had to add the fact that we also want to start a language school and the different courses we will follow were not mentioned either.

Hopefully, there will be some people who will be able to help us and who will be positive about our plan.

Inspiration

To write a story every day about our dreams/plans is very difficult to do. That's also the reason why we haven't written something in such a long time. We realise this does not make our blog very interesting to read so we will try to write a bit more than we have done up to now.

We can really enjoy reading blogs written by others. It's amazing how wonderful some people can write. We found ourselves reading a blog about cleaning a cupboard and thinking that it was very interesting. If only we could write like that, things would be a lot easier. Or at least writing a blog would be a lot easier. At the moment we are just staring at our computer screen trying to think of something interesting to write about.

Of course we could tell about the different sites we read, and all the information we have requested, but how interesting is it to read that we are still waiting for books or replies?

Oh well, I am sure we will get some inspiration soon and than you will be able to read about our language course, the region we want to move to and many other details you may or may not find interesting!!

One step closer

Slowly but steady we are working towards the move to Spain. One step we took about a week ago is to find an extra money source. As of last week Ellen is a remedial teacher for two girls. One of them is a daughter of a colleague and it all started by the question if she could help out. Of course she didn't mind but we did have to keep in mind that things werenot getting to busy because combining a full time job with a family life is for most people more than enough. Ellen thought one hour a week did not add much more stress to her weekly schedule so she offered to help her colleague.
Apparently the girls liked the lesson because that evening Ellen was asked to help two of their friends as well. Of course it is nice to get a bit more money, but we were a bit afraid that this would maybe be a bit too much. After long deliberation Ellen decided to teach the friends as well. And so she ended up with two extra lessons a week.

The second, huge, decision we made this week was the fact that we will both follow courses to prepare ourselves to the fullest. Ellen will go back to college where she will (try to) get a degree as a translator Spanish/Dutch. It will mean going back to school for four years so it is a big investment, but if we want to start a language school we will have to make sacrifices, this is just one of them. JW will follow management courses so he can do the administration and financial side of the business.

As you can see we're quite busy trying to get everything right. At least we're one step closer!!

Doubts

The idea of moving to Spain is all very exciting, but every now and again we also have doubts.

The most important reason for wanting to immigrate is because we want a better life for ourselves and Anna, and of course the nice weather is also a big bonus. But what if the life does not turn out to be so much better then now? Will we really have more time to enjoy family time? Will we be able to see more of Anna or will we be working too much to find the time to spend with her?

Maybe Anna will not like it in Spain and will she resent us for taking her away from grandparents, uncles, aunts and friends. How will we deal with that? Because she is so young she does not have a say in any of this. We are the ones who are deciding at this moment to persue a dream and she just has to accept it. Of course we dsicussed the fact that we will objectively have a look at our plan at the time that we will acutally decide if we are going to move or not, but how objective can one be when you've spend so much time on the preparations? Sometimes it feels as if we have already decided that we will move, even though we said not to make that decission until 2014.

Of course there are also doubts with regard to the financial side of this move. We have great jobs at the moment with good salaries and ample spare time (even though it doesn't always feel like that). Ellen works four days a week and her working days are relatively short, her last lessons finish at 15.15! JW's workingdays are quite a bit longer, but that also has to do with the time he needs to travel to get to and from work . Now we need to find out if a shorter time to travel, or rather no travel time at all, out ways all the doubts we have. I don't think we will be able to give a definite answer to that question. When we are in a positive mood we can't wait to move and are absolutely sure we can overcome anything that will hit us, but on other days, which are not so positive, we questions ourselves with every move we make. Are we persuing an illusion? Time will tell......

What will it look like?

It is nice that we know we want to go to Spain, but then came the hard part. What do we really want. How do we envisage our bed and breakfast. And of course what is feasible!

We first focused on what we would like to have, and ended up with the following "demands". We want to have privacy even though people are sharing our space. So we have to have our own house, the guests need to stay in a seperate building. This creates a bit more distance but also gives us both, the guests and us, the opportunity to have time on our own and relax when needed. We think it would also be nicer for Anna, our daughter, because she can still have one-on-one time with her parents without other people hanging around.

In that seperate building we would like to establish 6 studios so the guests have the opportunity to prepare their own meals as we are not planning to offer dinner (at least not straight from the start). It is also nicer for the people who decide to follow a languagecourse so they're not obliged to eat either with us or in a restaurant. Of course we don't mind to eat with our guests so we do want to organise BBQs or Spanish Paella nights.

Now we know what kind of accomodation we want to offer. Time to think about the facilities needed for the language courses. We would like to offer Spanish and English courses with a maximum of 12 students at a time. The reason we have this maximum is that Ellen will teach the courses. When we have enough applications to start a second group we might need to hire an extra teacher but at the beginning Ellen will do it on her own. It does mean she needs to go back to university to get her degree in Spanish, but anything for our dream!!

As you can see we have enough ideas and throughout the process new ones are added or old ones are changed/deleted. This will probably not change the following five years, because we think a plan like ours is a dynamic plan and something that we need to keep developing!

Our Dream

As long as we have been together we have always talked about having a business of our own. Up until August last year we always discarded that idea because we liked the jobs we have, the safety they offer us and the fact that family is close is also very nice. This changed when we went on holiday to the Czech Republic. Not that it had anything to do with that country but it was there that we realised that, if we wanted to persuit our dream, we had to do it before we were to old, the children were to settled and so on. So we decided to write a business plan and inform our family about the fact that we would llike to move to Spain to start our own business.

Because Ellen has a lot of experience in hotels the choice to start a bed and breakfast was quite obvious. The reason we chose for Spain was mainly because of the nice weather! After a few brainstorm sessions we realised we had to offer something special to be able to attract enough guests. The idea to combine the option to stay in our bed and breakfast with the option to follow language courses came up and after looking on the internet we became more and more enthusiastic about that. The idea is to move to Spain in about 5-6 years, this gives us the time to prepare and get the funds. Until that time you can follow our developments on this blog.

Enjoy reading it!!