I was last week in Germany working as an interpreter at an international fair. And guess what it was: cold, cold and more cold!

My flight was Alicante-Amsterdam-Cologne.

It was like jumping from our Spanish April to December in a few hours.

The return trip was the other way around, like travelling from the North Pole to Hawai in a short time.

I was prepared though: winter jacket, gloves, hat, and warm cloths.

Those five years in the state of Illinois, near Chicago, taught me some good lessons.

Aren’t we lucky to have this weather in this area of Spain? More than 300 days of sunshine. Wonderful. Isn’t it?

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Well, it’s been raining for the last few days, and the forecast says that will rain a bit more in the next few days.

No problem.

It will probably go away until October or November!

If you are not living here, and live in a cold area,

I truly encourage you to visit us. Come to Spain. Bring the whole family, including pets.

Move to the Costa Blanca south, in particular to the Torrevieja area, and enjoy our good weather, beaches and relaxing life (I’m kind of good at Spanish marketing, right?).

Anyway, today I’d like to share with you all an interesting article written by Ian Comaskey where he shows how life is in Spain through Irish eyes. I’m already preparing Norwegian version.

All the best,

David

LIFE IN SPAIN THROUGH IRISH EYES

I´ve lived and worked on the Costa Blanca since 2002. I met my wife here, had our baby here in 2011 and have set up my home in La Zenia.

I personally feel La Zenia and the Costa Blanca in general is as Irish or as Spanish as I want it to be.

Let me explain… I wake up in the mornings and listen to RTE radio.

I open my computer and read the Irish times (and sometimes even the Westmeath Examiner).

Wi-Fi makes it so easy to keep in touch with home and it’s very important to me.

I watch Irish TV at home most evenings, and very much enjoy the quality of the sports coverage in particular- Its only when you are away from home you realise how good Dunphy, Hook and Cahill really are.

My baby wears his Ireland Rugby top, we drink pints of Guinness, go the St Patricks day parade and eat Soda bread. So, are we in Ireland?

Well, on the other hand this morning I walked Messi, our dog, on the beach at 8 am in my shorts- could not do that in Mullingar!

I play Paddle in an almost exclusively Spanish club in Pilar de la Horadada with mostly Spanish people- it’s a big change from my squash days and most of my Irish friends still struggle to get their head around the idea that it’s like tennis with a glass wall surrounding the court. Would I ever have played had I not left Ireland all those years ago – of course not.

A couple of times per year I go to see a La Liga game- most recently I took a train from Alicante to see the Madrid Derby- Cheap tickets, cheap hotel and one of the biggest derbys in the world- all only four hours away.

My little man goes to Spanish Nursery where he is totally immersed in the language- his teachers speak no English and apart from the odd Russian, German and English speakers in his “class” he is speaking or babbling at least, Spanish all day. I love the fact that this for him will be normal.

We start our work day with a coffee in the sunshine around 9.30. We never mention the commute to work, the terrible jam on the roads or the fact we had to leave home at 6,30. In fact, I walk the 8 minutes to work most days!

So, Spain though Irish eyes- yes its Irish, yes its very Spain- Do we have the best of both worlds? Quite possibly.

Article contributed by Ian Comaskey.

Credit image: Mike Young

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Yours Free

Spain 101 is a free ebook full of unique tips that will save you thousands of Euros when moving to / living in Spain.

Would you like to get it now?

Please click / tap on the image below:

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If you would like to read about other important points for living / moving to Spain, here are other useful articles we wrote: