Monday 26th May
The day seemed long. A 2AM wake up with a six year old child is always going to make for a long day. The flight out was on time and pleasant despite a small amount of turbulence. The day before had ended with the minor anxiety of me having mislaid my driving licence. Consequently we had to cancel the car hire at Alicante airport and rebook it in Sally's name. The initial reaction on arrival in the country was mixed. I was looking out the window pontificating on the beauty of Spain and Sally was desparately trying to get used to a left hand drive car in horrid traffic and failing to share my enthusiasm. This was further exacerbated by missing a turn-off to Xativa where we were staying. In the navigator's seat I helpfully suggested that we take the next available exit and cut back through Gandia. Gandia turend out to be a forty five minute nightmare of narrow streets and infuriatingly impatient Spanish drivers and then in a groundhog moment, wound up with the horror of appearing at the same roundabout that had introduced us to the town forty five minutes before. The air turned blue as Emily repeatedly called out from the back seat "How much longer mummy?"
Fortunately once we found the correct road the journey in to Xativa was relatively simple and the rest of the day was spent in superb company as our hosts poured wine and took us on a shopping trip to the nearest village. This gave me time to phone the necessary contacts and book viewings of properties for Tuesday. By the end of the night after a little too much wine and a mistimed midnight swim we were ready to sleep.
Tuesday 27th May
I awoke to my phone going and thought initially it was the alarm I had set to ensure I didn't miss our 11AM appointment to view two properties. It turned out to be the owner of a property we wanted to view in the afternoon to confirm that having discussed the issue with her husband we would be welcome to rent their villa for our upper budget limit of 800 Euros per month. This was good news and slightly confused the day’s task as Sally favoured a property we had already seen images of, having convinced herself that the previously mentioned property would be well out of our budget. So, at 11AM we met a couple in the car park of the McDonalds in Xativa to view two properties. The first in Manuel was a huge disappointment. As one of twelve smallish looking terraced houses with a shared pool it was always going to struggle to compete with the competition. The fact that the pool area was dug up, the access roads were horrid and the pool, even in late May, was untreated really sealed its fate. It was a real concern as this was the first property we had viewed and to say we had no desire to live there would be to hugely understate the case. The second property was behind a town called Alberic. The house was on an almost exclusively English urbanisation and, located ten minutes from the gated entrance, felt a long way from anywhere. The house itself was faultless. Beautifully furnished and imacculatly presented it seemed ideal but something just didn't seem right. The grounds did need some work still and I was not at all convinced by the assurances that the owner realised this and 'had plans'. The villa itself though and the pool area were beautiful. Enquiring about summer availability so we could be sure of an advantageous moving date brought about swift confusion. It eventually transpired that the owner was cashing in on the lucrative Spanish holiday months of July and August and already had a verbal agreement to let those months for 2000 Euros each. Consequently we were in limbo as to start work on the first of September requires a house prior to September. A further phone call confirmed that the owner was prepared to let August to us for the 'generous' price of just 1500 Euros if we signed on a rental agreement at 800 Euros thereafter.
And so we proceeded to a villa in La Barraca, on the opposite side of the valley to the school in which we will be working. The intial reaction on entering the valley itself was one of complete awe. Mountainous slopes towered up each side to heights of over 1000 feet and the valley itself was lush with fruiting orange trees. After a three course meal with unlimited wine in the local bistro (at a cost of just 8 Euros per person) we were shown the house by a neighbour. Everything about the house was perfect. Mains electric and landline; its own water supply confirming free water; terraces on both sides of the house meaning you can sit in the sun or the shade all day as it suits you; a beautiful kidney shaped swimming pool; smart décor and wonderful appliances. And so, we confirmed to the owner that we would like contracts drawing up as soon as possible and would be delighted to rent at the agreed price. Then, to round off a near-perfect day, having spent an afternoon swimming, we headed off to an ex-pat Bar-B-Q. The notion of mixing solely with ex-pats doesn't appeal but the warmth of the welcome and the constant free advice on offer made us both realise that there is a need to belong to both the ex-pat community and the local community if you are to make the most of the opportunity of living in this stunning area. And so, satisfied that we had enjoyed both a productive and relaxing day we headed to bed to get a good night's sleep in preparation for a day in school on Wednesday.
Wednesday 28th May
A civilised start time of between 10 and half past won't always be our working day in Spain but did give us time for a breakfast of toast and freshly squeezed orange juice. This was followed by a period of concern as we dressed in our carefully chosen outfits for work. Trying to find a balance between formality and not over dressing was difficult but we set off alllowing an hour for our journey. As we have already begun to get to know the roads the journey only took half an hour which gave us a further thirty minutes of nervously waiting around. The driveway to the school is flanked on both sides by orange groves loaded with fruit. The school itself is surrounded by large pine trees - a bright white grand building with red clay tile roof. The entrance to the school opens into a large cool waiting area with marble floors. The comparisons to the small waiting area in my current primary school was impossible to avoid and I couldn't help but take a photograph through the waiting room window looking up a sun drenched outside corridor. Whilst we were waiting another couple arrived also awaiting a tour of the school. Deborah and Nigel it transpired were making a similar move to ourselves and also by chance had found this blog. (If you're still reading guys, hi - and looking forward to drinks in La Barracca in August.)
The tour of the school was delightful. The sun was shining but the temperature was comfortable and we were able to see immediately a positive learning atmosphere and a real warmth to the place. It is impossible to judge a place by a few photographs and sometimes the most wonderful looking school can simply feel wrong. In this case however the grandeur of the school was clearly supported by a friendly and warm feel. Emily was suitably impressed by the swimming pools as we went around and also the huge sandy playground area. We left for lunch and agreed to come back in the afternoon to spend some time with our appropriate classes.
The place for lunch was the same as yesterday - Nou in La Barracca village. The place had been recommended by the landlord of the property we hoped to rent and the 8E menu del dia that was offered was filling and accompanied by as much wine as you cared to drink. Today was a slightly more sober affair however as we contemplated our new employers, the school, and the new life we were suddenly becoming very aware of as we spent time in the valley that we hoped soon to call home.
During lunch I phoned the landlord and arranged to visit the house once again after we had finished in the school. Although we were both convinced of the property, we also both felt the need to look once more and judge what we had seen after the benefit of a night's sleep.
Following lunch we returned to the school and spent time in our respective classes. Emily was excited and enjoyed going out to play with her future class and even just being in school - a normal activity for a six year old but tinged with the exotic as she was the only native English speaker in the class. I was intrigued to speak with the children who were busy planning a shadow puppet story as part of their science work on light and shadow. The children were interested by my presence but also focussed in what they were doing and keen to share their learning with me.
As we finished our time in class we asked about Emily's uniform. We had thought it would be fun for her to pick up at least the school jumper so she would have something concrete of her new school when we returned home. The school shop informed us that the uniform which included everything from PE kit, through shoes and trainers to a school bag, would cost us 350E. Along with the registration fee of 360E and the dining fee of 125E per month it was becoming clear that there were going to be costs associated with this move that we either weren't aware of or had seriously underestimated. We left the school and collected our car from the shade of a large pine tree on the driveway. Leaving to go and take a look around the house took longer than expected as streams of air conditioned coaches poured up the long driveway to the school to provide transport for pupils to return to villages all over the area. At least we would not need the 100E per month transport as we would be living just a few minutes drive from the school and arriving together, with Sally and I as staff, and Emily as pupil.
When we arrived at the house, the neighbour was again there ready to show us around. The concern we had was that the house had a strange layout. Officially a three bedroom villa the house was presented with only two bedrooms as the current owners had removed one bedroom to create a large utility room that on this second viewing seemed irrelevant to our needs and likely to be a space we would never use. We looked around the house noticing the positives and negatives. On the one hand the sun was still at five o' clock on the west side of the property heating the swimming pool. The roof terrace above the summer kitchen on the east of the property was warming up beautifully as the fountain gurgled away below. On the negative side was the fact that seeing beyond the two bedrooms and trying to imagine how the space could be used when visitors stayed was becoming increasingly more difficult. Eventually we conceded that all the properties we had seen failed to offer perfection and that whilst where visitors slept here would require some thought, it did offer a superb location and an ideal living space for Sally, Emily and myself. Conversations about where double futons or sofa beds could be placed eventually left us with the feel that the villa could work for us. It seemed churlish to be nit-picking when compared to our life in England in a three bed semi-detached house on an estate to the north of Plymouth, the villa was incredible; a kind of luxury pad that in our English world would be home to a footballer or actor of some note.
Thursday 29th May
Our first appointment of the day was at the school at the relaxed time of half eleven. The day then started with more freshly squeezed orange juice and a bief swim in the pool. Once at the school Emily immediately disappeared to her now happily adopted class and Sally and I went to spend time in the class that would be mine in September. We talked with children as they engaged in a writing activity based on a previous visit to the Biopark in Valencia. The children were keen to discuss their work and welcomed us both to the room. The school itself had a calm organised feel with children moving around the building in an ordered fashion, chaperoned by teachers and assistants between playground and classroom. With the possible exception of a worried eight year old answering to the headteacher for his lack of homework, all of the children seemed genuinely happy in their school. This on reflection was very important because as an indicator of a school community it is one that cannot be faked. Happy children usually indicate happy staff and everybody we spoke with underlined this and made us feel that as a working environment we had really fallen on our feet.
By the time we were ready to leave school Sally and I struggled to find Emily. We eventually prised her from class where she was settling down to enjoy a Spanish lesson having already had lunch in school and a long playtime. The school lunch is something that seems entirely alien to anybody who has watched the unfolding misery of English school dinners being battled by Jamie Oliver. Children are served a three course lunch that apart from a very occasional hamburger will always be distinctly Spanish. Shellfish and rice predominate but always accompanied by a starter that is usually soup and a postre or dessert. With one and a half hours for lunch and a further thirty minutes available for slow eaters there is also enough time to eat without causing indigestion.
We left the school and headed down towards Cullera on the coast - a twenty minute or so drive from the village to a beautiful long stretch of golden sand. The beach shelved gently into the Mediteranean providing hundreds of yards of shallow warm water for swimming. Sat on the beach with the early evening sun still warm enough to burn and the calm waters of the Med washing onto the shore really gave us a buzz - as we left the beach we voiced our joint happiness - this beach could easily be on our way home from school and the hour we had spent today could be a regular evening experience after work.
In the evening we downloaded a copy of our rental agreement. The hope of the landlord was that we would be able to visit the solicitor in Oliva the following day, pay a deposit and sign the contract. The reality though was jaded by the amount of the deposit and the fact that the contract still didn't include start dates. Therefore with some regret I had to speak to the landlord and cancel the appointment with the solicitor, explaining that we would need a week in the United Kingdom to draw down the money for the deposit and would also need to wait until the contract was complete before we signed. As we chatted amongst ourselves over a glass of wine we came to the realisation that because of the demands of money to payout in our first couple of months of Spanish life we would need to speak to our mortgage company about drawing down another small amount of money to keep us buoyant - there would be nothing worse than arriving penniless and struggling to make ends meet.
Friday 30th May
Having cancelled the apointment with the solicitor in Oliva we had more time to begin our morning. Certainly loosing the stress of driving into the centre of a large town over an hour away - and on market day too - made for a more relaxed start to the morning. As with so much in Spain the information about what was required in order to deal with officialdom was conflicting. Some advice suggested we would need the NIE in order to open a bank account. This would be a real stumbling block as we were unlikely to see our NIE until the end of September at the earliest. However, others thought that we could open a Spanish current account with no more than our passports and give our United Kingdom address for corresponsdance. Shirley, our host offered to drive us to the La Caixa bank in Xativa. As she banked there herself she was able to confirm that the signs in their window proclaiming they spoke English were valid and certainly anything involving official paperwork benefits from a reliable English translation.
Xativa itself was buzzing and as we parked up in an underground carpark with the stale air of three floors of cars descending into our basement level the anxiety of the possibility of not being able to open an account today was very real. Without a bank account, with no contract for the villa yet, and with an NIE probably due at the end of September this week would seem to have fallen short of what we wanted to achieve. The heat of the day hit as we stepped out of the carpark into the sun - currently 40 degrees. The town was buzzing and as we stepped into the air conditioned calm of the bank our fingers were crossed. Thankfully passports were sufficient to open the bank account and 45 minutes later having signed in at least a dozen different locations we were leaving the bank with all the paperwork necessary to follow our current account using the Internet back home.
That evening we went toa restaurant in Xativa with our hosts – now friends. The food was superb and the ambience fantastic despite a steady drizzle outside.
Saturday 31st May
The busniess end of what we were able to achieve this week was now complete. Bank account opened, school visited, house contract on its way – therefore we spent the morning chilling out by the pool. Sally had decided to take a look around local furniture stores for the type of flat pack joy we might find in MFI in the United Kingdom. The intention was to check out prices and see whether costs would be similar to back home. The Carrefoure in Alzira offered an acceptable range of flat pack furniture and so we drifted back via McDonalds – Emily was feeling the need for a little chill time herself after what had been quite an anxious week for her also.
Sunday 1st June
Another morning by the pool and then a trip out to Alboy for a meal in a traditional Spanish country restaurant next to the river. The food was delicious and exceedingly cheap. Large extended Spanish families were arriving to use the outside cooking space provided to prepare huge Paella dishes for the whole family to share. These were then consumed inside the restaurant – a service for which as I understand it the restaurant makes no charge. A last view of orange groves and then we drove back to Alicante and returned to the United Kingdom for what will be our last eight weeks before moving out at the start of August.
