Hola all, hoping to move to Ciudad Quesada before December

I'm Chrissie and I am busy planning my move to Quesada if all goes well with the house I want to rent. Holding thumbs...

I was born in Switzerland, mom Swiss and dad German. But shortly after that my parents moved to Germany and when I was 11y we immigrated to South Africa, where I lived for 39 years.

Last Dec I returned to Germany as the situation in SA became worse and the economy is busy falling apart. My 3 kids live in London, the older son has been there for almost 8 years, the younger one joined him last June and my daughter and her bf arrived there in April.

I struggled with fitting in in Germany, especially work wise, as my German is just not quite good enough to carry on with my career. Then my sister in law suggested that I work in the UK as a Carer like her and her mom do, so I re-trained and am now commuting between Germany and England. I don't want to live in England, I can't stand the weather...

But after having been to Spain in June, I decided that it is much more my kind of territory, it made me feel very much at home. So I set plans in motion to move as soon as I can get everything organised. A fellow South African has a house in Ciudad Quesada, he wants to rent it out as he now lives in Ireland. So I said I was keen... A few of the other Carers are also keen to join me in between their assignments. Many come from South Africa and Zimbabwe, so they cannot afford to go home for a week or two every time and they have no real home base in Europe, so they feel this will be ideal for them to have a place to re-charge in the sunshine.

I will continue to commute to England for my assignments, as it really makes no difference whether I do it from Germany or Spain. My sis in law also lives in Spain, down south in Torrox and she is loving it. I prefer the Alicante region though and it is cheaper to fly from Alicante than Malaga.

I am all alone and don't have any friends in Spain, but that doesn't worry me too much, I am used to being alone a lot. The language problem is more of a concern, but I have started learning Spanish and I'm sure once I'm there I will pick it up. I already speak 3 languages (English, German and Afrikaans), so I am sure one more will be doable.

I am sooo looking forward to this move as I have always wanted to live in Spain and have done a lot of research about the country.

I look forward to meeting some of you once I am there. I am coming down mid/end October to check out the house. Maybe if anyone is around we could get together. I will probably hire a car during my visit, as I see public transport is not so great in that area. Although I will have to figure out a way for the other Carers to come and go. I will have my car down there once I move, and will probably take long term parking at the Airport.

Right... that was a long story!

Adios Amigas and Amigos

Good luck with your move, I hope everything goes well.

Good luck with your move hope it is stress free! I too am in Quesada so when you are here, maybe we can meet for a coffee?

My friend and I will be there too so perhaps we could meet to. I'm an ex nurse - many years ago and more recently done caring. I'm interested and would like more details
Thanks
Mandy

Welcome to the forum Chrissie. Hope all goes well in your move to Quesada.

Look forward to hearing how you settle in - I'm sure you will make friends and learn the language easily. It's only us 'insular' Brits who often find it hard to learn languages - Originating from an island, we don't need to much.

Good luck - If you need anything just ask on the forum - We are a friendly bunch!

Jan

Hola Chrissie!

If you want to practice your Spanish contact with me. We can meet some day for a coffee and speak. I have to improve my English too, I am Spanish.

Welcome to Spain and good luck!

Un saludo!

Jan wrote::text-welcomewave:

Welcome to the forum Chrissie. Hope all goes well in your move to Quesada.

Look forward to hearing how you settle in - I'm sure you will make friends and learn the language easily. It's only us 'insular' Brits who often find it hard to learn languages - Originating from an island, we don't need to much.

Good luck - If you need anything just ask on the forum - We are a friendly bunch!

Jan

I, on the other hand, speak very good Spanish. I was lucky to be taught it on a long language course whilst in the Forces and took the Civil Servic Linguist exam back in 1988.
However, it is getting worse since living in this area as everyone here replies in English.
I have had conversations where I am speaking Spanish but the waiter/checkout girl/whatever is replying in English. Just yesterday in Torrevieja, I ordered the cafe con leche, the cortado and a pastel con fresas all in Spanish. Chatted to the waiter when he brought them but when I asked for la cuenta, he said "four eighty". Not cuatro con ochenta, you note. Same in Zenai Boulevard. I was talking about a chair, what it was made of and so on in Procomobel. I realised the answers were coming in English!
Surreal, sometimes.
Only a waiter in the Don Carlos (the one that was the Amsteleria) speaks to me in Spanish because he once complimented me on my Spanish and I complained it was difficult here becaue everybody replied in English (you know, "una hamburguesa" with "you want fries with that?") and he now insists on having a chat in Spanish (good excuse for me to keep going in).

Anyhoo, if you're moving here then don't have too much angst about learning the language. It's nice to be able to, especially at the doctors, but not an absolute necessity in this area.

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies.. I look forward to meeting you when I get there.

Mandy, I work through a company called Consultus, they have a website with all the details. Go and have a look, as it is worth looking into. It's nice to earn Pounds and spend Euro's...

Jan, Spanish has always been a language I wanted to learn, but in Africa it was not really useful. I know many Brits never really learn the language of the country they are in. And how can they, as so many can't even speak proper English

Alex, thanks for the offer, that would be great! I'm really struggling with it... the whole estoy, estas, estan, estais, esta, estamos & somos thing confuses me terribly and I keep forgetting words, I am doing an on-line course, but I learn a word today and tomorrow it's gone again. Need to have someone to speak to. I also struggle to understand, as Spanish is such a fast spoken language, they talk like I type, lol.

Marcliff, when the whole family was in Alicante in June, I was actually amazed at how we got by. Many of the people had some knowledge of English, and my son has a bit of Spanish skills and the rest we invented and did by hand and foot!
We needed to get Electrolytes for some of the peeps as they dehydrated, so off my daughter and I went... and as we got to the Farmacia we wondered how we are going to explain this! So we said it in English and the lady said "Si si, Electrolidas", and so we learned a new word...


I think it is going to be a very exciting new chapter of my life... not that I need more excitement... just getting from Heidelberg to London is a major adventure every time! I take a Tram, Train, Bus and Plane to Stanstead, and then the Terravision to Stratford, the Jubilee Line to Canada Water and either the 225 Bus or the Overground to New Cross to my kids, and from there to where ever my assignment is, (the last one was in Walberton, near Bognor Regis) and London is a very scary place if you don't know how the Under and Overground works or in which direction one should even be heading! And I even have an Oyster Card...

Chat to you all soon, will update as I know the exact dates.

Adios Amigas y Amigos

Hi Chrissie,

What a great story. I came to Quesada after ill health enforced me to sell my Investment Research business in the UK after 30 years. I was very lonely at first so joined a tiny scruffy little boxing gym and within 3 months the PT there had turned my health around and my Cardiologist was in disbelief. To cut a long story short the next year in gratitude to the lovely Santiago I bought the boxing gym and then the studio next door. In less than 2 years we have turned the gym around and made it into a multi national community welcoming members from aged 5 to 80 !

We have done so well I made a very rash decision and am investing all my life's savings and the proceeds of the sale of my UK home to buy land and we are in the process of building a brand new bigger gym and studio complex. Visit us on Facebook Quesada Fitness Gym: Boxing and MMA Club or on our website www.quesadafitnessgym.com and hope to see you soon.

Without a doubt the fastest way to meet friends forever. We are like a family

Vivienne Shepherd

I will come and look in on you at the Gym... not that I am any good at exercising! I did try spinning for a while...