Living in Spain: sun and fun in a banana republic

It's been a mixed bag living in Spain. I moved here over over five years ago. I integrated instantly, having come solo, quickly becoming totally fluent, both spoken and written, and having gotten a job working with Spaniards. I di not seek out the Expatriate community but rather bought a an apartment in town and lived among the Spanish.

The good:

The climate: I live in the Levante or Costa Blanca region. I love the weather: hot summers and temperate winters. The skies are almost always clear blue and the sea breezes and palms provide shady refuge from the hot August middays.

The food: The fruits, vegetables and seafood are wonderfully abundant. In general the Mediterranean diet is the greatest. The Levante region is famous for it's oranges, lemons, tomatoes, olives, almonds among others.

The geography: The sea and the sometimes mountainous coastline and sandy beaches provide wonderful sailing, windsurfing and water activities. The mediterranean is warm enough to enjoy it almost year round.

The People:The Spaniards are generally friendly and open especially a little away from the coast. They have a more relaxed philosophy of life. Here, everything is slower than in Northern Europe. You learn to take your time and enjoy living. They have a wonderful custom of taking cool evening walks or sitting outdoors in the evening. There's always families strolling or having tapas (hors d’oeuvres) through late night hours in the warm season. I love indigenous Spanish music, especially Nuevo Flamenco.

The bad and the ugly:

Real estate dealings: I have gone through court in fraudulent home purchase contract case. Before closing a real estate purchase, I let go a dozen more which, upon investigation were shown to be legally "un-buyable" because of undeclared builds, taxes, lack of licenses and permits among other “small” details.

Telecom companies: The public telecom company billed me for two years, even after my account had been cancelled and I no longer had the service. I received threatening letters from their lawyers and advised I would be taken to court. Only a "burofax" stopped the letters. I learned this happened to two expat acquaintances also. My Spanish friends had never heard of it.

Insurance companies: They donnot cancel accounts whatever it may appear to be when you go in to sollicit such. I had to go to my bank and have the automatic payment returned to me, even though I had taken care to go to the local office and request cancellation well ahead of the renewal date, and even though, as a precaution I had also requested my bank not honor the payment request. It turns out that the insurance company changed the account number so that when it was received by the bank, the bank paid it as being different from the blocked account. Very clever trick.

Work: Getting a EU legislation compliant contract here is like squeezing blood from a turnip. Black work "trabajo en negro" is very common among Spaniards and Expats. Temporary work is the norm. Age discrimination (if you're ovr 30) is also standard. General wages are extremely low in relation to cost of living expenses whatever the contract and working hours are outragous. It is not uncommon for a worker to have a 50 hour factory week. Repeat short term contracts are also a favorite. In one International school where I worked, the full-time expat teachers work under such short term contracts that conveniently begin and end before and after winter, spring and summer holidays. I have learned that this is not unique.