CBANDY

With a fantastic command of the english language may I add.

Jules Europe

Why thank you, that`s most kind of you

The reason is, that my family sent me to language schools in the UK every summer from my early teens onwards, plus went to a UK university and lived there for 8 years.

CBANDY

What do you think the future holds for foreign families in Spain? I have lived here for 11 years, learned the language and integrated as much as I can (we have many spanish friends) but the future scares me for all sorts of reasons, not only financial.

Jules Europe

Firstly, you will never really be accepted as truly Spanish despite integrating and knowing the language. This is especially true in the job market, on the other hand your children will be completely accepted as they would have effectively grown up as Spanish children. Spanish people in general are very open and friendly towards outsiders but as you probably know, Spanish nationalism and family unity is first and foremost, this is a mentality that doesn`t exist in the UK.

I think foreign families will always fare well in Spain if they have solid employment, as once they have this its a very easy place to live. If they don`t have this, then life is very hard and I recommend living elsewhere.

Spain should only really scare you from a financial aspect, because apart from this, it scores highly on education, health, climate, infrastructure and safety. Lets face it, its actually quite an easy country to live in (the mind boggling bureaucracy, corruption and general inefficiency of the place are all excluded from the statement of course)

CBANDY

I have always found the spanish people friendy and as I say we have many spanish friends but I have noticed increased unrest and some hostility to foreigners especially those who live and work here. I am not knocking the spanish here. I still love living here.

Jules Europe

Hostility to foreigners nearly always occurs in times of economic crisis and once this crisis clears then all should be well again. I think the Spanish people that give foreigners a hard time, really need to sit back and realize that these foreigners especially those from northern Europe, essentially helped to build up the Spanish coastal economies.

You have to remember, that the part of Spain that you live in, was built up around the construction industry and not in tourism and for this reason your zone has been very hard hit.

Also a huge number of the Spanish people that live and work there, have actually arrived from other parts of Spain and therefore many are not actually from Alicante, hence conflict between them and the locals as well.

CBANDY

Thanks for the help Jules. Lets hope the economy turns round soon and I can get these stress levels down.

Jules Europe

Are your stress levels due just to the bad economy here? Or is it the thought of going back to the UK and setting up life there again after many years away, which in itself will create stress as well?

If the stress levels are due to the bad economy here, well its something that will pass but of course, you have to manage your finances well to hold out. I imagine there are many people in your situation.

CBANDY

Stress levels are due to the economy but not so much managing money. I have a decent salary but the thought of not earning, or not earning enough, scares me. Also the feeling of being trapped as we would have to sell the house in order to move anywhere.

Jules Europe

I think your best solution is to be optimistic and hope you keep your job through this rough time and stay in Spain. To sell your house presents other problems 1) House prices in your part of Spain are very bad and even if you sell quickly it will probably be at a very reduced price which will in turn reduce your buying power in the UK 2) If you stick out for the price that its worth, it could take years to sell 3) Very few buyers around at the moment and made even worse by the fact that banks here are often not giving out mortgages.

If you could sell though and did have your heart set on going back to the UK you may never get a better time given the weakness of the pound in relation to the Euro.

me me

Nice to see another one of us on this forum, but I am Gallego.

JLFS

Jules Europe

Hayá donde vayas por este mundo, siempre habrá un gallego