Why Spain

One of the main reasons for us to move to Spain is to learn the language. When I was studying in Britain and working along the side of my studies, I worked at a very large hotel chain where countless young managers came and went. I loved to talk to them and hear their stories of different countries where they had been whilst working for the same hotel chain. That was when I decided I wanted to work in a French and Spanish speaking country, at least 6 months in a row, to master the language. As it turned out, I never did. I met the love of my life and had to come back to The Netherlands if I wanted our friendship to grow into something more. A wise choice but that nagging feeling of so badly wanting to speak both French and Spanish very well never left me.

Besides that, over the years of regularity and reaching the age which is characterized with contemplating your life so far, we asked ourselves the question; “Is this it?”, and “Is this what we really want” Answers to these (and a lot of other) questions led us to look into leaving the treaded paths we knew and heading for adventure.

A lot of you will know that we have looked at moving to Chili, and then the New Zealand option passed and we very briefly brushed on France. On vacation to the Czech Republic for the so many-eth time, Remco started looking at real estate and fell head over heels in love with a 1936 milk factory in Moravia. Long story short, in the process of sorting things out in order to buy the place (more on that in a future post) and the best time to leave The Netherlands, we realised we had some time to fill between one and two. Right when that realisation dawned on us we happened to visit my parents who just moved into their new rental in Spain.

It should not take much to convince you that being in Spain mid winter, meaning you can sit outside in the sun in shorts and t-shirts having your morning coffee, is a very good and pleasant thing. That is when I realised this is it; That time gap that needs to be filled, should be filled whilst being in Spain. This way I could have a chance to learn Spanish well and we also give the kids a go at acquiring another language. So now it was my turn to start looking at real estate but in Spain.

It did not take me long to find this very pleasant, spacious and affordable house. Situated in an area we had never been…… A place in the municipality of Comares (province of Malaga), near a hamlet called Los Ventorros but really in ‘el campo’ (the countryside) as they say here when I try to explain where we live. We do not even know our official address but not to worry, the postman does not come our way anyway.

I wanted to go and see the house for real before committing to a rental contract, so my Love and I booked ourselves an early anniversary trip. That is when I fell in love again. This time with an area, with the landscape, with the beautiful views, with the thought of being able to live there for a while.

So the rental contract was settled in no time. Now I have a love in Spain and my Love has a love in The Czech Republic. We thoroughly enjoy our time in Spain but also look forward to the process of making something awesome out of the 1936 factory in Moravia.  We will have to see if we can get the best of both worlds, but for now we have enough adventure planned for the next couple of years.

Want to know what the house looks like, what I find in the pool and hear about the best invention ever that is probably as old as my grandmother?…..head over to the post about our house somewhere in el campo. 

If you got curious about the 1936 factory in Moravia, take a look at www.moravianrhapsody.eu. And if you feel like a work vacation next summer, let us know.