bibilyana

Hi Everyone,

Nice to meet you. You have no idea how excited I am because I found a place like this
I moved to Spain about an year ago looking for adventures and New places to explore - I love it btw
I am currently living near Madrid and working online. My Spanish is not that good yet, so I recently realized that if I don't find an appropriate social environment I'm just ....that close to turn into a chronic workaholic .

So I am happy that I found this place and hope to meet new and interesting people around here.

If someone needs advice on web-development and design - I would be happy to help since this is my area of expertise. On the other hand my hobby is photography but I'm a beginner here, so if someone is interested in discussions around that - I'm on

steviedeluxe

Hi - welcome to the forum!
Are you into design eg css, html, javascript or the database development side? (I know, web developers often have to combine the two) Do you work for a company or are you self-employed?
Sorry if I seem nosey, it's just I like to find out how other folk are managing to earn a living in these hard times. Hope you enjoy Madrid - both the cold winters and the scorching summers!

bibilyana

Hi Stevie,

Thank you for the warm welcome.

I am a little of all - I'm working as project manager for a web- and software development and design company (in Australia - basically I am a freelancer - no insurance no anything). In fact my background is a little different - its marketing, but in the past 4-5 years the things turned around a bit in my life and I'm really enjoying working in the IT - of course as a manager I also know design and css and html and such things (been there-done that and still do it for other projects ), but I'm not a coder....

About how I make a living- well not very easy - we live in a small village where the rent is as low as 300 eur per month for an apartment. But is nice and I enjoy the tranquility - besides its just around 40 minutes drive to Madrid.

Well practically that's it, everything is beautiful - the winter was a bit tough and the summer too hot - I was wondering how these people survive without proper air-conditioning, but as it appears man is a strange animal - easily gets used to all kinds of weird stuff
Having in mind that we are high in the mountains the nights here are cool even in the hottest summer, so its bearable - I miss the sea though - this is why I was just thinking that I might go somewhere on the sea....

steviedeluxe

300 Euros a month for an apartment I may just buy a ticket out there! There again it must be bitterly cold in the mountains in winter.

bibilyana

Hehe - welcome! - I think you will like it, its really picturesque, besides - its a three bedroom apartment so we have separate office and still have a guest-bedroom, so guests of all kinds are more than welcome! We used to live in an attached house but we left it because of the high electricity bills - there was no gas there.

There was a lot of snow in the winter but it lasted for not more than a week or so. The temperatures dropped down to -10 or smth for a while (I guess couple of days max). As I said - its bearable - the roads are always clean and this is the most important.

fionamw

Welcome. Don't understand more than a few initials the pair of you've been throwing around & I've never been to Madrid; do live high up, but here yes it swelters in the summer......... welcome anyway!

bibilyana

Hi fionamw,

Thank you!

Probably you should come for visit here. I haven't been to the southern parts at all, but my goal is to really walk around Spain in the next year or so.

SaritaBarcelona

Nice to meet you! Where are you from originally if I may ask, do I detect a slight "accent"?! I live on the Costa del Sol, and would be interested in talking to you about web stuff one day, I will private message you! Bye for now, Sarita

Madridboy

Welcome to BE, what do you think of Madrid? That's a very good rental price you have there.

bibilyana

Hi Guys, thanks for the replies,
about the accent
I thought I told you, sorry for that - I am not British at all. I come from Bulgaria.

And what am I doing here you may ask? - well there are lots of Bulgarians here in Spain, but somehow they aren't my usual social environment, they are much much different than me (I can explain that further on if needed, but I believe it is clear). And because I had a lot of Brit' friends back in Bulgaria I just thought that I may find some here as well, I hope I"m not intruding.

And Sarita, as I told earlier - yeah, you are more than welcome to send me a message - I would love to help if I can.

Madridboy , I'm pretty far away from Madrid, however I love it - I love this village and I also like Madrid - Last month I even played a tourist and jumped on Madrid-Vision Tour Bus - I spent a great time (for those of you who haven't been here, I may prepare and show some pictures). In fact I don't know a lot of people and I haven't been to so many interesting places in Madrid, Because its far we are usually going during the weekend for some grocery shopping or so. I would love to see a proper bar some day, can you recommend anything?

inj

Hi to all,

I am bibilyana husband. Nice to meet you all of you.

steviedeluxe

Welcome!

Mitzyboy

Welcome to the forum

fionamw

Totally off topic, but ref. jumping on a tour bus.... well done! When I lived in London I got fed up with never seeing the sights that everyone spent their life talking about so I 'allocated' myself a couple of weekends & did the tourist bit, trawled the art galleries, museums, literally got on red buses, you name it... still have the 'London' photo album (that ages me ) to show for it!
*ahem* As you were....

steviedeluxe

I think they're a good option if you've the whole day free for sight-seeing. When my partner came to visit me one time in Madrid, she took the tourist bus and had a great time - discovered some museums I'd never even heard of. I always think it's nicer travelling around a city above ground rather than in the metro underneath the earth - despite the fact Madrid's metro system is fantastic. If you're on a double-decker style bus you can see an awful lot. Now I'm working in London I prefer the bus to the train, and the train to the tube, when I'm getting to and from work. Unfortunately sometimes the tube is the only realistic option.