When things break.

We have been very fortunate that the majority of things we have bought while in Spain have not gone wrong but occasionally, it is necessary to return things or exchange things and this can be quite an effort.

We did have to take the cement mixer back to have a new motor fitted after only 3 months, which was a fairly easy transaction although it did mean 2 trips to Almeria which was 4 hours travelling in total.

At the beginning of the year, when we finally had a telephone line connected via the satellite, we decided we would treat ourselves to a new phone for the house. We had been using one we brought from the UK and the display didn't work properly and sometimes it was difficult to see who you were actually dialling.

We thought we'd get a really good one with an answer machine and a second cordless handset so that we could have one in the study and another in the lounge, 2 rooms at opposite ends of the house which would hopefully mean we would hear it ring no matter where we were. Also, the cordless one can be taken outside where we hope to spend a lot of our summer hours, if summer ever decides to start this year!

Within a month of buying the phone the cordless unit became faulty. At first we though it was a problem with the rechargeable batteries but after a few days it became obvious it was a little bit more than that. We were outside the 21 days return to store policy so I e-mailed the company to start the process of getting it changed.

This is where living in the middle of no-where becomes a bit of a problem. After a few conversations I finally got them to understand it was not just the batteries that needed changing, we had already tried a second set and had the same problem. They would send a courrier with a replacement cordless phone. I told them they would need to contact me in advance so that I could arrange to meet them and I waited for the call.

In Spain nothing happens immediately, so I waited...... generously, for 2 weeks.

Nothing.

I sent a quick e-mail to see what was happening only to find......

I had to start the whole process again.

To be fair, this time it has all happened much quicker and less than a week after giving them all the details again, I had a call from the courrier to say he had a parcel for me. I rang him back to arrange collection and this afternoon I have collected a complete new phone system, not just a replacement for the faulty bit. Maybe they thought this was easier than to find they had changed one bit and we still had a problem.

Once again, I am so pleased I chose to take time to learn the language to a level where I can sort things like this out by phone. I cannot imagine how people manage that cannot speak a bit of Spanish.

All I need to do now is try and remember how to program the phone numbers in and set the answer machine - after all, the manual is in Spanish - I'm getting very good at translation exercises.

Spanish Plumber bucks the norm.....

.....and turns up when he said he would.

I spoke with the plumber, Juan, on Friday and explained we had some work we needed him to do and could he meet us at the property on Tuesday morning? All done in my best, rehearsed Spanish you understand. Well, after a bit of 'tuning in' to his voice I managed to understand that he knew where we were and would see us during the morning.

Now, knowing the electrician was a day late, and knowing we wouldn't be at the house today I decided I would text Juan yesterday morning on our way to the house to tell him we would be there between 9.30 and 2.30, but of course I needed to text in Spanish - Neil's phone, although a Spanish phone, is set to English and so predictive text created a complete load of garbage. Eventually I worked out how to re-set the phone and message sent, all we could do was wait and see.

But, much to our amazement he turned up about 11ish. We had drawn a diagram of all the pipework that needed connecting up and then I had to explain that we have a heating system coming from the UK. His face was a picture - 'por qué? he asked, obviously confused why we would be getting the system from the UK when they have them in Spain.

I rapidly tried to think of something that would not offend that I knew enough Spanish words to explain. I told him Neil had been a heating engineer in the UK and preferred to work with products he was familair with and that I preferred the look of english radiators (trust me, Spanish ones are not attractive) and he gave a wry smile and we moved on. Then we got on to thermostatic radiator valves, hard enough to say in English, let alone Spanish - but there was a lot of nodding and pointing and he was writing things down.

And so it went on for about half an hour and we think we have an agreement for the work he will do, what Neil will do AND the work they will do together! Now that will be a fun day!

Today has been a rest day. Neil has played golf and I have been taking gifts to my Spanish teachers to thank them for doing so well with me over the last year. It is thanks to Michelle and Amelia that I am managing to understand phone calls that tell me our chosen lights have come into stock, that the plumber is turning up and when we get the boxes home they actually contain the kitchen cabinets we want.

And I can't help but feel a little bit pleased with myself!

The electrician cometh.

After the electric went off at the house yesterday I spoke with our Solicitor, who has a copy of the last electric bill, to get the account details so I could contact the supplier to see whether they were aware of any problems. Our solicitor very kindly said he would phone for us and let us know.

This morning he called back to say that as far as the supplier was concerned there was nothing wrong, which means the problem is at the house.

So, with a few new Spanish words learnt - such as fuse box, switch, electric - I dialled the mobile number of the Spanish electrician that had done the work at the house and prepared myself for a very difficult conversation.

I have learnt to start every conversation with the fact that I am English and speak a little Spanish. Having explained that we were working at the house when the electric went off, I asked if he could meet us there on Friday. I felt as if I'd done enough to keep it simple so was a little surprised when he answered with Friday? Today is Wednesday!

It took me a few more moments to realise he thought we were living at the house and therefore why would we be prepared to wait until Friday before he came out, he would come today if we had no power. Spanish mañana attitude obviously does not stretch to power failures.

I managed to explain that we weren't living there at the moment and would next be through on Friday which seemed to work and he suddenly told me he would be there about 11 on Friday.

Result!

Or it will be if he turns up.

Please, my brain hurts!

Well, 2 spanish classes in one morning after 8 weeks break - wow, that makes the brain cells work.

I have been continuing to use my Spanish each week by meeting one of my teachers for coffee once a week and 'chatting' about what we've done over the previous week in Spanish, otherwise I'd be starting from scratch. It's amazing how quickly you lose the ability to form sentences and go back to pointing at things and uttering single words. I know some of the others haven't looked at a book or practiced sinced we finished class at the end of June.

Our 'chats' in the bar have been viewed with interest by the local Spanish who must wonder at these 2 strange English 'mujeres' who insist on talking Spanish, with dictionaries and verb books close at hand, (that's me, not my teacher) - when it would be so much easier to just speak in English!

So, I now have a pile of homework to do and hopefully, the cooler weather will make it easier to get back into work mode.

Hasta luego, mis amigos!

A good way to learn Spanish.

With a possible house move on the horizon we have to start thinking of the practicalities, such as packing. I remember being surprised in the UK that there were companies that supplied packs of cardboard boxes for moving things. Previously when I'd moved house I'd always had packing crates from the removal company.

I have a friend who has lived in Spain for several years, whose favourite saying is that 'everything you can get in the UK, you can get here in Spain'.

The trick is to Google in Spanish.

So, today's word is cardboard boxes - cajas de cartón - Googled, site found complete with option for English - job done!

This will be a good way to improve my spanish vocabulary beyond 'pan y leche' - bread & milk!

Mi cabeza es más grande que antes.

This morning I was given this little ornament by Amelia, my Spanish teacher. It's a lovely little piece, about 3ins tall and has a very cute puppy on top that she thought was similar to Brandy & Brinkley.

It's a little trinket box that opens up and could store a ring, or a pair of earrings

I love it but didn't understand why I had been given it........

until I opened the card that was with it.

For those of you that haven't been studying Spanish all year Amelia has said it is for the student who has learned the most Spanish, best pronunciation and does lots of homework, and should continue to study with as much desire to learn in the coming year.

I got a prize for being top of the class this year. How good is that?

A new friend!

People have been telling me that the best way to improve my Spanish is to talk to Spaniards who don't speak any English. Well, at our golf club we have a very nice lady called Elizabeth who wants to learn to speak some English so that she can speak to all the English people who go to play golf there, and to understand them a little easier as most of them don't speak any Spanish.

So, I suggested that we meet for a coffee and a chat and we could help each other. We haven't managed to meet for a quiet coffee but she did come out with us last week when we watched the Man Utd v Barcelona match in Pepa's. It wasn't the best place to try to teach her any English so it was really just an evening for me to practice my Spanish.

Elizabeth is actually Brazilian and moved to Spain 7 years ago with her Spanish husband. Although she works in the restaurant at the golf club, back in Brazil she was a Psychiatrist, but her qualifications aren't valid for her to practice here in Spain



Because Neil doesn't speak any Spanish and Elizabeth doesn't speak any English, I found myself translating for both of them, and while I managed well, it was really exhausting -

BUT.....

..... we all had a fabulous night, we found out a lot about each other and I got a real buzz that I had spent all evening with a new Spanish friend and been able to chat all evening without too much trouble. I think we only needed the dictionary twice and one of those was to check what 'hurón' meant in English - it means ferret - and believe me, that's a whole different story!

I spoke with Elizabeth up at the golf club today and she has asked if she can come with us to the Flamenco night on Friday - so, she must have enjoyed the evening as well.



The Flamenco Party is this Friday, which just happens to coincide with my birthday - so we are looking forward to a good night out. I have my Flamenco outfit, flowers for my hair and Lucy brought me a lovely mantón back from her trip to Benidorm. A mantón is the lovely shawl the Spanish ladies wear, all embroidered with long tassles - mine's black with bright flowers - isn't it gorgeous?

A light hearted look at the Spanish Language.

A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.' 'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'

A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?' Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your pay check on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador'), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem;

and

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won!

I've been to school today

Pulpi Council run a Saturday morning class for the spanish children to have additional english tuition and also the english children to get help with spanish at the local Cultural Centre here in Terreros. This is run jointly by a spanish lady and an english lady and all the children are between about 4 and 9. There are a couple of teenage boys who are 14, who come and help organise the children and the rooms and all the books and also help teach them things like the days of the week, the numbers and colours.

Last week we were asked if some of us would go down for an hour to help with the children's reading in english, to help with pronunciation and also to help explain some of the parts of the stories they don't understand and so today I went down to help.

The first thing that surprised me was how many children were there, there must have been over 30 of them. They are very boisterous and took a lot of settling. The smaller ones went off to a seperate classroom and the older ones (7 & 8 year olds) found their folders and settled down to learn the different names for items in the supermarket and items of clothing, and as the pictures have both spanish and english underneath them it's also useful for me.

I was to work with an 8 year old girl called Larisa who wanted help with her reading and so she chose a book and we sat down in a corner so she could read out loud to me. Her reading was very good and she understood a lot of what she was reading. The bits that she didn't understand I found I was able to explain to her in spanish quite easily. We did Little Red Riding Hood and Jack & the Beanstalk.

Overall we worked together for about half an hour and when it was time for her to leave she was reminded to thank me and to say goodbye. I met a couple of the mothers who also thanked us for going down to help.

What a lovely way to spend an hour on a Saturday morning.

More Spanish Lessons.

Several months on and it can sometimes be difficult to see the progress I am making. OK, so I can ask questions now and understand the answers, I can have basic conversations with people in shops and bars and I can occasionally understand the general topic of conversation between to spaniards, although not the detail but it still seems really hard work to put together a straight forward sentence.

Well, for the last few weeks I have been helping my friend Lucy to get started with spanish and it's a great way for me to revise the early chapters from the book I use and also to appreciate how much I have really taken in. It's one thing to learn and try to understand yourself but quite another to explain it to someone else.

When I was at work (gosh, that seems a life time ago!) I was told that I was not good at teaching people how to do new tasks as I used to jump stages and assume they knew more than they did. Well, I hope Lucy is able to fill in any missing gaps but it does help if we are at least using the same book. We both have books from the series Practice Makes Perfect - Verbs and after only 2 lessons I had said Lucy would be able to complete the exercises upto page 7 so I was surprised when she told me it had taken her 2.5 hours to complete one question. Tonight we met up to go through them and see where any problems may be. It didn't take too long to identify 2 key problems. Firstly her PMP Verb book is not the same as mine so although we both have a series of 40 questions to do on page 7 - they are not the same questions and secondly, the manner in which the questions were phrased in her book suggested the use of 'Gerald's' as Lucy likes to refer to them (in english they're called Gerund's and for all those who don't now what these are they are the 'ing' words - speaking, walking, talking etc) We english use 'ing' words all the time but the spanish tend not to - 'I speak' and 'I am speaking' are both the same in spanish, hablo - simple when you know how but when you don't hey, 2 hours later!!!

And also, when you ask a question you just use the same words, mix up the order and put and upside down ? at the beginning of the sentence so the reader knows it's a question before they get to the end. So 'él habla inglés' He speaks english turns into '¿habla él inglés? - Does he speak english - no extra words needed. Simple when you know how but difficult to start with as there is the urge to make it more complicated than it is.

So, all being well our Monday nights down in the bar at La Venta will work for both if us - Lucy will start to see an improvement in her spanish despite my poor ability to teach and I will gain extra revision time which will help my confidence in what I have actually learnt so that when I have my own classes and feel totally at odds with things, I can compare to where I was several months ago and at least take heart that progress is being made, as the spanish tell me 'poco y poco' - little by little.

It's official, my brain can no longer multi-task!

Last Saturday we took a break from our normal routine and decided we would play in the clubs monthly Stableford competition (to non-golfers, Stableford is just a type of scoring system, nothing to concern yourself about). It gives us a chance to meet and play golf with different people and is generally a fun day out, providing you don't take your golf too seriously.

On arrival at the club we went in to find out who we were playing with only to find that they had split Neil and I up, he was playing a 4 ball with 3 Spaniards, non of which spoke any english and I was teamed up with a Spanish lady and a very nice young man, again neither of whom spoke english. And when I say they spoke no english, I mean they spoke NO english. If they were taught english at school, they certainly hadn't thought about it since they left.

I did feel for Neil, this would be a long 4 hours for him, and I was really going to have to work hard to be able to speak to my partner, Marisa, as I shared a golf buggy with her. The first hole went off in relative silence for me although Marisa and Jesús chatted along in spanish at a rate way beyond anything I could follow. I began to think it would be a long 4 hours for me as well.

But, on the 2nd tee we had a delay so we got chance to start trying to speak to each other, prompted by my husband, bless.

From our tee position we could see Neil wandering back and forth along the edge of the ravine halfway up the fairway obviously looking for a ball and we could see the rest of the men on the green some 100 yeards further on. Well Marisa couldn't work out why this strange man was holding play up and wandering along the ravine, and at this point I couldn't work it out either, but I know Neil well enough to know he wouldn't be holding play up. So, in my best spanish I explained he was my husband and that the people on the green must be the people ahead of Neil's group. My attempts to explain we're accompanied by a lot of arm gestures but SUCCESS, she understood totally what I was saying and a couple of seconds later Neil's playing partners climbed up out of the ravine to join him.

What this had done was to show Marisa that I could speak a little spanish more than just what's your name and where do you live, and so she then started to speak to me, a little slower and with a lot of pointing but we actually managed to have a good chat as we went round the course, she was very patient with me and even taught me a few phrases, like how to say you have picked your ball up because you cannot score, I learnt that one really well as I had a lot of practice becuase while my brain was on overtime trying to put sentences together in spanish I wasn't able to concentrate on my golf and played the worst since I came out here. Yes, multi-tasking is no longer something I do!

So, was matching us with non-english speaking spaniards a cunning plan, I ask myself! If it was, it certainly worked - I don't think I got into double figures. But I have made a new friend.

Not such a bad day then.

To bring or not to bring, that is the question?

Following on my from my last post - I must learn to trust my instincts.

While speaking to the mechanic, I had in my mind that the verb to bring was traer, an irregular verb, first person singular - traigo. But it seemed too much like the verb to work, trabajar - so I wasn't convinced. I so wanted to tell the mechanic 'traigo el coche un otra día' but I thought I'd be telling him I would be working on the car another day - and there's no way in this world anyone would see me with my head under the bonnet - so I chickened out and said 'yo vengo un otro día con el coche'

Well, a quick check and yippee!!!!! I was right, I could have said it all as I wanted, so in future, I will trust my instincts, and hey, if I get it wrong sometimes, at least I will have tried!

Un vaso de vino tinto para mi, yo pienso!

Spanish lessons...........progress?

The old adage of old dogs and new tricks seem appropriate to my ability to learning spanish. I have spent my entire adult life as an accountant, I do figures, I use the left side of my brain, I cannot draw and I have no ability to visualise how a room would look when changed - until it's actually been done - so, the right hand side of my brain has become somewhat unused and so I thought languages would probably be a right side function. That would explain why it felt like I was struggling to learn.

So, imagine my disappointment on checking and finding that language skills use the same side of the brain as figures, I was using the functioning side of my brain - and still I was struggling to remember so much.


I've been taking spanish lessons for a couple of months now and whilst I seem ok when I am doing my homework and I can understand quite a lot when it's written as soon as I am out and about without my translater chip in my DS, my mind goes blank...................

......and so today we had to take our car to the garage. We have a small problem with the engine when it's cold, it stutters a little. Now, we bought the car new from the Kia dealer from Stuart, who is english, and part of the decision to buy it was so that if and when something went wrong, we wouldn't have problems explaining what was wrong.

We spoke to Stuart yesterday and he asked us to take the car in today for the mechanic to have a look at it. So, on our way to Vera today, I rang Stuart to let him know what time we would be there and that's when we got the bad news...........he had been sent to Mojacar, he wouldn't be at the garage when we got there!!!

Now no-one else at the garage speaks any english. Stuart told me he had told the mechanic about the problem and if we couldn't make ourselves understood when we got there, we were to ask the mechanic to ring him.

OK, I had 20 minutes until we got to the garage, time to rehearse some basic sentences so I can try and explain why we were there. Oh, did I miss my DS!

So, how did I do?

Well, actually, I have to admit, I impressed myself. I managed to explain who we were, why we were there, what was wrong, the fact that we only had the problem when the engine was cold and after the drive there the engine was too warm to show the problem - all in Spanish. The mechanic had us bring the car in, he had a look under the bonnet while the engine was running, had his colleague raise the revs a few times, continued to look, smoked his cigarette and scratched his head and then tell me he couldn't hear any problem, he would need the car when it was cold. Yep, we'd already figured that one out for ourselves. I told him we would need to bring it in another day and leave it over night so that he could start it up cold and that we would ring Stuart to organise it. He seemed to understand all this and we said our goodbyes and thank you's.

I got back in the car and realised I had just had my first proper impromptu conversation in spanish, and although it had all been in the present tense, I had been totally understood - hey, maybe I am getting it after all.

OK, so I couldn't remember what the verb 'to bring' was, I found another way of saying we would bring the car in another day - exactly what my tutor has been telling me to do, don't think what you want to say in english and translate, think what you know in spanish and use it.

There have definitely been days recently when I have wondered whether all the effort I have been putting into my spanish were worth it, well today proved it has been. If ever I needed a boost to carry on, I got it today.

So, thank you Stuart, for going to Mojacar - now, what is the verb for 'bring'?

So, I now know I live in 'una aldea a orillas del mar!'

Well, spanish lesson numero uno went much better than I expected. Having studied (and passed) 'O' level spanish in 1974 and not using the language since, I had been brushing up on words by using the Spanish training program on my Nintendo DS, bashing gophers on the head that happened to hold the plaque with the correct word and doing word searches in spanish. But, since living here it has been apparent how little I could put together to form a sentence and I anticipated serious problems getting back into reading and constructing full sentences. Having sat down with my book - Present Day Spanish - Volume 1, the chosen book of my tutor, well - I was pleasantly surprised.

Having explained my (limited and somewhat aging) level of spanish language knowledge, we decided to get straight into reading a short paragraph to see how much I could understand.......and success. In the main I could understand the general gist of most of it. While I have a long way to go, at least what I did in school all those years back was actually worth it.

So, in one lesson we got through 2 chapters and I now know that the family in the book live in a village by the sea, have a son and daughter and a beer drinking friend.

Sounds pretty close to our life here (if you replace the 2 children with our 2 pups).

I have done my homework for the week, ( I was always a goody goody at school), will do a quick refresher before my lesson next week and look forward to not feeling quite so scared (or stupid) as I reach for the doorbell at my tutors house.

I don't envy anyone starting from scratch, having to get their head round why tables are feminine and boats are masculine, (just because they are, ok?).

All I have to do is work out how to decided whether something is a definite or indefinite article! Doh!

Oh, and 'una aldea a orillas del mar? - a village by the sea!

Off for my 1st Spanish lesson.

Well, it's finally arrived, the day I actually start to make an effort to learn Spanish, the language of my chosen new home - I cannot explain how frustrating it is not to be able to speak the language. I can recognise words but it doesn't help in so many situations.

So, at 11.30 today I will arrive at the home of my Spanish tutor, a keen and willing student, prepared to take on homework and the whole challenge of mastering the language. It will not be enough for me to go into a bar and say 'dos cerveza, por favor' , I want to be able to understand what they say back to me, and not to have to ask for the bill amount to be written down so I know how much they want from me.

All that is fine when you are here for a week or two on holiday, but after several weeks I've lost count of how many times I've wished I could speak and understand more.How long this will take is anyone's guess, but rest assured, I will keep you up to date with progress - should be a challenge, at least.

Learning the Lingo

It's time to start putting some real effort into learning the basic Spanish phrases so I can hold a basic conversation and hopefully get by in restaurants, hotels and shops. Having done 'o' level Spanish 30 years ago, I really am hoping that the little grey cells will have retained some, but I do seem to remember it was a relatively nice language to learn.

The first thing to do is to see what home learning programmes are around. I know that certain learning styles don't appeal to me and so I need to find one that will. I have a Nintendo DS that I do Brain Training & Suduko programs on and is small enough to carry in my handbag and although I thought there was little chance, it was worth doing a search on the internet - lo and behold, they do 2 for the DS, a basic and an intermediate - so I ordered on line and received the basic one within the week.

It's a good little refresher programme but I don't think it would be great for someone with no knowledge. It's a good way to learn the basic words, but the use of verbs and the masculine/feminine issue doesn't seem that clear to me (and I do understand the concept). However, Neil has taken an interest in this program as it's so handy, no computers to set up, no books to read through and if it gives him the basic words then maybe it does have a use for complete beginners.

It gives you groups of 10 words to familiarise yourself with and then a number of games to play to enable you to remember the words, as you progress it keeps bringing words from previous lessons back in. It also has a dictionary, but again is a little restrictive - but it is only a beginners program and is great for using for 5-10minute refresher sessions and really easy to take out and use over a coffee somewhere. I will take it with me to Spain next visit and it will be useful as a quick reference guide if we are struggling to make ourselves understood.

Next, I needed a more in-depth program to run on the laptop, as I spend half my life using my laptop and therefore know it is a medium I will use regularly. Learning from books doesn't interest me. Having looked at a few, I decided on the Berlitz program. They do flashcards, which makes you translate both verbally and written English to Spanish and vice versa. You also have video lessons of scenarios where you can hear the spoken word as it should be and can then opt to play a role in the video so you are actually taking part in the conversation and can check how you sound compared to the computer. Both the DS program and the Berlitz program have the ability to record your voice and then compare it to the program.

I have found both programs suit my manner of learning and I can understand quite a lot of written Spanish already, although it's still quite difficult for me to create sentences. I am looking forward to our trip to Spain in a couple of weeks to try out my knew, if limited skills, and hopefully it will be received positively by the locals - at least I will be trying but I know my first couple of times trying it will be quite nerve wracking! Wish me luck!