eurotramp

I hear from so many people who moved to Spain for the better live.....but what kids of jobs are out there??

Does one have to get his own business or are there other possibilities???

sibsie

Bar work or estate agency. I don't think I've met an Expat who isn't involved in one of those two.

eurotramp

Hi Sibsie,

gosh you got around, didn't you I see you went to Spain once....what country you liked so far the best?

Hubby is highly trained IT with a degree..I doubt that he would fancy ether
It is just an idea of mine as an alternatly to going back to Britain.

sibsie

I did two years in Spain which I describe as hard time! I do like living in the US. It took about 6 months to really get used to it but it's home now.

eurotramp

May I ask you what exactly did you not like in Spain and like in the US??
Is it not extremely difficult to get a green card for the US?

bfg69bug

search for "sibsie" on here, she´s had alot of threads.. like me

heheeeee

spain sucks arse

unless u´ve got a good, regular, garenteed job.

i have now..but i didn´t have, after the bar i was running got closed down by the guardia civil (gun carrying police) and not having a job sucks big time. being in the sun doesn´t make a difference, if anything, it makes it harder, cos u cant afford to enjoy urself and u see everyone else in water parks and driving convertables..

and yes.. as she says (nice one sibs...) theres not a brit in europe who hasn´t worked with either bar or real estate in the time they have been here

s´true.

and jdr, yeah i know i could go home, so dont say it

torie

Not true - we've lived in Spain for 2 years now. My boyfriend works for a local, Catalan stonemason firm and I've carried on as a freelance graphic designer which I've been doing for the past 10 years.

Not saying we're typical, but hey - we've never worked in a bar or in real estate. In Any country! hehe

t0rie

eurotramp

So what you saying...is live in spain better then britain or not??
Is it worth it........???

sibsie

To me most definately no. Other people love it, other people think it's just ok but have sold out and can't afford to go back home.

I can honestly say that every single Expat out there I'm still in touch with, my sis included wants to go back to England. Of course they rarely admit it.

eurotramp

I watch BBC "Living in the sun" a program about brits who want to or already living in Spain, every morning. They all seem to like it very much.
I guess is like what we read here a lot, people going to the US, OZ or NZ and ether loving it or hating it.....
What ticks my box is the sun (I live for the sommer)and the nice big houses.

sibsie

I don't want to rain on your parade but Spain can get cold. It was snowing on the Costa Blanca yesterday. It can rain really heavily and feel very damp. Those nice big houses aren't well insulated at all so you do need to have heating.

I moved for the weather, and in hindsight that wasn't the best reason to go at all. You need more to sustain yourself than a bit of sunshine.

jdr

Much better than England

It may seem harder, but worth it for the sunrise alone, a couple of weeks rain against a couple of days sunshine.... no contest.

Perhaps i am the only Brit in Spain who hasn`t worked in a bar or real estate then.

Couple days a week gardening does me.

bfg69bug, I wouldn`t advise anyone to go back to Rainland

jdr

Post in the right forum......

coralsoft

I'm another who wouldn't consider bar or estate agency work. I have got an idea for opening a restaurant, though (doesn't everyone, but this isn't just taking over a bar to work it myself). I work in IT, for UK/US investment bank with a Madrid office, on a UK project. My wife has started up a part time business and is looking at TEFL for schoolchildren; and I know Brits in IT (mainly for banks, but 1 guy runs his own consultancy and another works in a specialist IT company), banking/finance, school teaching, telecommunications and even selling Caterpiller equipment. Some come over on assignment from their UK companies, others under their own steam.

The main difficulties are finding work where language is an important issue and where 'who you know' can make it impossible for a foreigner with few friends, relatives or acquainances; property rental costs in the centre; and the extreme weather - Madrid goes from sub-zero nights at this time to 40+ summers (28 degrees at night).

But the advantages are massive. Food and drink are excellent value (although I do miss decent beer and bacon), public transport around Madrid is very good and about 1/4 the cost, schools, health and other public services are very good, the dramatic scenery of Spain is stunning, the clear light and sun are a tonic: even while it's winter, we can sit out on the terrace of a morning it gets so sunny. Traffic is an increasing problem, but it's still way off what London's like and the infrastructure has been planned ahead (thanks to EU subsidies), so there's still capacity. Property is excellent value in many cases. The people and society are interesting: similar in some key underlying ways to the British, but still distinctively different and so much more accepting of things.

Bureacracy is a hassle and, of course, their TV is dire.

But we're not planning on going back for more than visits.

It's a big step and there are various ways of going about it, but you are going to have to go outside your comfort zone in many ways. Clinging on will make things difficult, and wading in can bring avoidable hassle. Think about how you're going to go about it, read the 'Living in Spain' books so you know what to expect and what processes you need to go through and decide what's best for you to keep going at a level where you're coping, but moving on.

If you don't take action when you still want to give it a go, you'll get to a point where you regret your inaction.

cheers,
coralsoft

eurotramp

Thanks Coral,

I talked to hubby about Spain a lot..but he thinks that it would be a waist of his skills, moving to Spain and doing something else....and I cant see that he would get a job in his trade down in Spain...because I would like to live more south then Madrid.
What a shame because I cant stand the winters here....always have trouble with SAD and tired sitting in front my BRIGHT LIGHT every morning.