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Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Relocated To Spain: Ask Any Question


Hello Everyone,
You probably noticed I haven’t been posting as often recently, both in the website and youtube. This ends right now but I’d like to explain what’s been going on. The reason is that I’ve just moved to Spain and these last couple weeks have been insane. There’s just so much to do, I basically collapse unconscious on the bed every night about 1AM. Fortunately things are getting sorted out and we’re little by little getting back to normal. I already have fiber optic internet installed, so we’ll get back to posting regularly and uploading videos to the channel. I apologize for not keeping up with it but it was at times impossible to do so. I’m also more delayed than usual in replying to emails as well so please have patience.
So, we relocated from Ireland to Spain. Before you even ask here are some of the more common questions. Feel free to ask away any other questions you may have. I’ll be posting a bit more about it and some of the replies may be in the form of posts or youtube videos.
What was wrong with Ireland?
Nothing really. Like a few other good places to live in it has many advantages and a couple disadvantages as well. It’s more about our own needs changing as time went by, especially after four years. Our idea was to live there for some time, experience the culture but eventually go somewhere else. Ireland is not a bad place to spend the rest of your life if that’s what you want. Keep in mind Ireland(the island) is actually two countries. Northern Ireland, a small part up to the northeast, which is under UK rule, and the rest is Republic of Ireland, which is a different country, what most people simply call Ireland. Most people from Northern Ireland just call it Ireland as well. Northern Ireland would be the part of Ireland that has a bad reputation. It is true that Northern Ireland is very much a closed society and mostly not welcoming to foreigners. Although this was of course a negative aspect as immigrants ourselves we didn’t mind much, especially with small children. As out older son turned to his teens this became more of an issue to keep in mind. The simple solution is going for Republic of Ireland instead, which is more open minded, with overall friendlier people. Then again another important factor was weather. It rains in Ireland (and Scotland and England) all the time. The weather is pretty cold most of the time other than a few weeks in summer but its mostly the lack of sunshine that gets depressing. We didn’t mind the first year, or the second, but by the fourth year we at last did miss the sun. That we wouldn’t have fixed moving from Northern Ireland to Republic of Ireland. Still, I very much recommend Republic of Ireland over NI. Both are pretty safe but ROI is just more friendly and modern, while NI can’t seem to let go of its sectarian past. Why did we go to NI ourselves then? Four years ago ROI was still recovering from the crisis and the economy wasn’t doing well, struggling with the bailout. At the same time property was cheaper in NI, we found an good neighbourhood and good school, and at the end of the day moving from NI to ROI is just a matter of getting into the car and driving a couple hours or less without even crossing an actual border or going through any kind of checkpoint when going from one country to the other.

Why Spain?
Spain is in many ways the opposite of Northern Ireland. You of course have much nicer weather, people are friendly and open minded.
The south of Spain in particular offers something you don’t find as easily as you’d think in Spain which is actual Spanish Language. Ironically, in many parts of Spain they don’t speak Spanish. Cost of living is very reasonable. Healthcare is way better than NI healthcare which is basically UK’s NHS, which is free but one of the worst in Europe.

“Spain!? Are you crazy!? There’s no work there, huge economic crisis, it’s about to collapse!”
This I got a lot of. While it is true that like Ireland, Spain went through its own economic crisis, just like Ireland it is slowly recovering and doing better.
How can you just move to Spain?
I have dual citizenship, Argentine and Spanish, This of course means we can live in Spain as citizens, making it a lot easier to do so.
If you have any specific questions feel free to leave them below in the comments!
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought you hated Spain's liberal culture and education system, and didn't want your children exposed to it.

Of course, everyone who has the means can move to where they want but you need to make up your mind.

Belon said...

Welcome Fernando. I'm happy for you, despite our politicians and some intolerant people, Spain continues being a great place to live.
We've gone through hard years (even before the last financial crisis, people went for broke spending what they didn't have).
Hope that you can enjoy tourism and gastronomy because are true gems.

Best wishes y saludos desde Madrid!

Anonymous said...

As an Spaniard I am curious to what area has you relocated. You say south of Spain, then should be Malaga or Sevilla?

Anonymous said...

Hi Fernando,

First of all, welcome to Spain. Argentinean people adapt very quickly to our country because of the same language, culture, religion and common ancestors. I hope you find a decent job and a nice place to live.

I just got surprise for your words saying that in many parts of Spain people don't speak spanish. Well, maybe that could happen at some small tourist towns during the summer, like in Mallorca or Canary Islands. However, everywhere in Spain people KNOW perfectly the language. Only in Cataluña, Basc Country and Galicia, around 50% of the population speak another language ( Catalan, Vasco and Gallego).

So relax and feel free to speak your mother language, its a constitutional right:

"Artículo 3
1. El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. Todos los españoles tienen el deber de conocerla y el derecho a usarla."

And by the way, only the goverment says that we are doing better about economy. Soon there will be elections and they need to create that feeling, but its as real as Matrix.
Just check our increasing debt, unemployment rate, corruption levels, and average salaries...

Anyway, we have lots of sun, good food, open people, good and free medical service, and excellent wine :D

greetings
Fran

Anonymous said...

Don't you think the worst challenge for Spain is intense heat and lack of water?
On the long term, this is the main threat for Spain I think...

Anonymous said...

FerFAL,

Glad you're family has relocated safely. I hope all goes well. A few questions:
Which region did you settle in? Is the Catalan independence movement anything you considered when deciding where to live?
Is there are large community of Argentinian expatriates in Spain?
How does the "migrant/refugee" crisis look from Southern Europe? Is it as big a deal as the media makes it out to be?

Thanks.

Don Williams said...

1) Did the revival of the conflict between the Catholics and Protestants --eg, the recent assassination of Kevin McGuigan -- influence your decision to move to Spain?

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/10/majority-of-people-in-northern-ireland-believe-peace-will-not-last

deb harvey said...

if spaniards don't speak spanish what languages are spoken in the rest of spain?

Unknown said...

I did not think of moving out of Greece despite depressing economy. I have a gut feeling that EVERYWHERE in the world you will get *at least* the "cold shoulder" if the society considers you an "outsider". Finally my efforts paid back and after 4 years of unemployment I've found a low paid job in the public sector irrelevant with my studies, but I'm happy.

Anonymous said...

Is the language proper Castilian Spanish ? Wife can speak that as well as the local 'Tex-Mex' dialect that I'm positive is NOT spoken there in Spain.

Anonymous said...

how did education for your children influence your decision on which area to live? Are you in the area your parents and other family are ?
I would love some day to visit Pedro Bernardo.
Selene

Anonymous said...

were you familiar with the area you chose before moving back there? how did you find your new home? Realtor,family and friends, how long did it take, what is rent like, compared to Ireland; your furniture - - did you bring all or most of it or buy new when you found your home?
did you sell your 'things' to help with paying for the move? what is cost of living in your new home compared with Ireland? how are the children adjusting to new customs and culture, do they speak Spanish?
Did they know their relatives there before the move? how do you feel now that the move is complete, what is the job situation like there?
job situation compared to Ireland? Were you able to bring your preps with you, what did you leave behind? why? how are prices there compared to Ireland? groceries, clothing,utilities? How long did the move take? from deciding what to take and leave and packing and then unpacking in new home
what do we need to know about an international move?
thank you
Selene

Anonymous said...

Isn't Spain another bankrupt socialist/communist country that has many similarities to Argentina? What about the Muslim invasion into Spain? Won't the religious and cultural clash be just as bad (or worse) than the troubles in Ireland? Why is it that the rain and cold doesn't seem to deter the Muslim hordes fleeing to the UK? Maybe the generous welfare benefits that allows most of them to live on the government dole compensates for the lousy weather?

Anonymous said...

Selene are you seriously asking an Argentinian if his children speak Spanish?

FerFal: your remarks about Spanish language not being spoken in parts of Spain are exagerated. In Galicia, Basque Country and Catalonia (and to a lesser extent, Valencia and Balear Islands in which variants of Catalan are spoken) many people's mother tongue is other than Spanish, but there is usually no problem in communicating because those people are bilingual and, fanatics aside, will usually switch immediately to Spanish to speak with you, except maybe for a couple of people (probably quite old) living in remote villages.

However, you are right in that speaking only one language of a people that is bilingual (and whose preferred language in many cases is the local one because of historical and heritage reasons) can provide greater difficulty in integration, finding a job, studying, etc. if you plan to relocate there, so maybe it's a smart move to avoid those places (in the last years there is an argument going on about some Catalonian Goverment acts which, according to some, are eliminating Spanish from certain situations.

On the other hand, I think that your position about social-democracy may have evolved a little if you have chosen Spain for relocating. Perhaps paying high taxes to get universal free access to health services no longer seem so bad an idea, considering how people can get bankrupt in other places when they get sick?

Carlos Cancho said...

Hi Ferfal,
wellcome to Spain.

Some spaniards follow you from Foro Crashoil.
http://foro-crashoil.2321837.n4.nabble.com/Preparandonos-para-el-Colapso-Energetico-td2994.html

Salud!

Anonymous said...

FERNANDO , I AM LOOKING FOR YOUR BOOK SURVIVING THE ECONOMY COLLAPSE , WRITTEN IN SPANISH, DO YOU HAVE IT YET IN SPANISH??????????