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!