After my sister and her two kids returned to the UK to study after 10 years in Spain (and with fluent Spanish) it’s true I gave it some thought. However, owning a home here and having worked legally in Spain for more than 4 years, I wouldn’t be entitled to any sort of benefits or healthcare and would merely be joining the dole queue to look for work there. That is quite apart from my genuine love of Spain and the Spanish, how relaxed and self-confident my kids have become here, and how much greater our quality of life is – with more holidays and family time together. I don’t want to return to a country which jails parents of truanting kids, where teachers cannot touch a child with a grazed knee, or where teenagers are considered dangerous if they wear hoodies!
I may struggle to find work in this rural area and I am barred from voting in national elections as a foreigner. But along with my 3 daughters I am learning Valenciano and improving my Castilian Spanish, giving us great global options for future work, and opening up a whole new culture of books, films and theatre to enjoy. I have found work via the internet, and I waited just one week for an appointment at the brand new hospital in Denia recently. I have joined the APMA (PTA) and intend to get involved helping our kids Spanish school, will contribute to Parcent’s flower week in May, and will watch my youngest daughter take part as a ‘festera’ in the August fiesta. Good quality food is more expensive now in Spain than England, but wine, local products and town hall taxes are all cheaper.
If I am ever homesick for England it is for a lifestyle which I don’t think exists there anymore, and which instead I am recreating here, with the freedom, spirit and exuberance that the Spanish still enjoy.
