tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88867056985631130262012-01-15T04:34:16.715-08:00A Canadian's experience moving to the South of Spain and starting a new life.Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-11273673589474473182012-01-15T04:26:00.000-08:002012-01-15T04:28:24.362-08:00

Sooooo I went to my first tweet up this week and I have to say it was a pretty cool. When I first heard of the tweetup (a meet up arranged on twitter for fellow tweeters), I thought, "Well, what's the point of that? All you gotta do is call some friends arrange a place to meet and show up." I see the bigger picture now especially considering I don't have any local friends. I've been living in

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-70947126716037716062011-12-30T13:45:00.000-08:002011-12-30T13:48:46.591-08:00

Soooooo tomorrow is New Years and what on Earth have I done over the year?  Well, I got a new job. Two actually. And I still have them both. You can imagine the stress. Especially since the year started in the hospital with our new little girl catching a deadly strain of pneumonia. That was scary. The year has pretty much been kids and work which is not bad because the job has been

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-74460580322440313032011-06-12T03:42:00.000-07:002011-06-12T03:47:07.828-07:00

This past Thursday was the first time I performed chamber music in front of a live audience in over 10 years. Back in February, I had come up with this idea to have a small Classical concert to highlight some of the local (or semi-local) talent in Gibraltar. At the moment there are two types of Classical Music venues you can attend in Gibraltar. You either have the professional musicians who

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-38794275636083659432011-06-06T13:00:00.000-07:002011-06-06T13:19:44.243-07:00

This isn´t the lead up to a punch line. We really have 25,000 square meters of land which we have now had for just over 5 years. We pay the mortgage every month (sometimes barely). There is a farm house (not liveable) and even provide a lovely playground for the neighbours free range chickens. We do not however live on or even grow anything on the land.Our neighbours grow things on the land.

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-30086290731064750812011-01-16T12:05:00.001-08:002011-02-27T04:17:55.464-08:00

I nearly lost my little girl. Seven weeks old and fighting to breathe. When she was lying flat on the table, hooked up to about 8 different machines, I could see it. Breathing so hard like she had just run a marathon. Only the right side of her chest was rising. I start to feel panic again when I write this down, which I don´t like feeling, but I have to. I want you to feel some of it too

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-44686854805512550922010-11-23T12:17:00.001-08:002010-11-23T13:11:40.011-08:00

Athena Paz (yes, we are aware of the irony) Espigares Fortin was born on November 2, 2010 at 1:15 pm. I don´t know what it is with my kids, but they both decided to come into the world at reasonable hours. I thank them for that. I went into labour at about 6:00 am. Of course again I wanted to be sure that it was labour and just sort of wandered around the living room for an hour or so before

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-73852053305510196482010-08-29T06:24:00.000-07:002010-08-29T06:41:18.743-07:00

We are becoming acclimated to Spain. I recommend everyone to put themselves in the shoes of an immigrant. Of course this would mean that you actually have to move to another country. I can understand if it´s not for everyone, but it gives you a better idea as to what people go through when they move to another country for whatever reason.First off you get lumped. Yup, lumped into a category

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-77654592163187454342009-11-20T15:22:00.000-08:002009-11-20T15:40:13.336-08:00

I´ve recently changed jobs. I always hate doing that because you´re jumping into the great unknown, but I have to say that I am not a job hopper and every time I´ve done it, it has been the right move.I´m not going to talk about my work though. This blog is sooooo not about work. I like to keep the two separate, but I thought it would be a good idea to let people know just what it means to

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-23930555483193440052009-10-18T05:59:00.000-07:002009-10-18T06:05:23.284-07:00

Things have changed a lot since we moved to Spain in 2005. Some things never change though and are worth preserving. The first winter we lived in the farm one of the coolest things I got to do was make my own olives. My neighbours took me out to their olive fields so I could pick a pail full of olives, taught me how to crack them, wash them and then marinate them with their own family

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-59102471424318353442009-08-13T11:31:00.001-07:002009-08-13T11:45:29.861-07:00

I have just had a request for the recipe of a derivation to Gazpacho. It's called Porra and is very well known in Inland Andalucia specifically the area of Antequera. This is where our farm is. It tends to be thicker than Gazpacho, but is still blended and usually garnished with cut boiled eggs, tomatoes, tuna or jamon serrano.Porra (you roll the RRRRRrrrrrr)4 tablespoons Olive Oil4 tomatoes1

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-84761063607452442282009-08-02T10:17:00.000-07:002009-08-02T10:47:39.827-07:00

Gazpacho comes from the region of Andalucia in Spain and is known throughout the world as a cold soup. You can order it at some top quality restaurants and it will come to you in a bowl with a spoon. Often times the locals here in Andalucia simply serve it in a glass and you drink it with the rest of your meal. It's fantastic for hot summer days when you want something light and it still

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-28995005858817617652009-07-19T13:07:00.000-07:002009-07-19T13:40:20.597-07:00

Two weekends ago it was 48 degrees outside. It gets pretty hot over here. When you go outside in heat like that and the wind blows it's like a blow dryer on your skin. There is not much in the way of escape besides air conditioning (which we don’t have) and the pool (not much use after 9:00 pm).One thing that becomes quite popular in the sweltering Andalucian summers are salads. It's too hot

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-38243227805239477612009-06-21T06:16:00.000-07:002009-06-27T13:45:37.336-07:00

One thing that I noticed from the start when we moved to Spain is just how harsh life is. It wasn't so much from the struggles that we've gone from although those were pretty harsh, but more from just life around us.The reality of what sort of part animals play in the everday lives of humans here in Spain is quite obvious. Watch a bull fight to see that. I still haven't gone. I don't really

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-69866594033095274642009-04-06T13:21:00.000-07:002009-04-06T13:58:39.703-07:00

Joaquin Raoul Espigares Fortin was born on December 15th, 2007 at 7:45 pm. I can't really compare having a baby in Spain to having one in Canada because I haven't had one in Canada, but I'd have to say that the experience here in Spain was a good one. A painful one, but everything went all right for the most part.I woke up on Saturday, December 15th around 8:30 am. I was feeling pain lower down

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-26098203036138554602009-04-06T13:13:00.001-07:002009-04-06T13:57:57.617-07:00

Yes, it’s true. We have lost another member of our family here in Spain and I would like to dedicate THIS update to her. On Monday, July 17th our little peugeot 106 died (several times) on the highway into town. She was a tough little car (or golf cart masquerading as a car) and we miss her. She carried us through most of southern Spain with not too many complaints and endured the 33,000 km

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-68063556019697992052009-03-28T15:03:00.000-07:002009-03-29T08:49:17.885-07:00

I always start an update and then stop before I really write anything and think “Why am I writing? I have nothing to write about”. Something always comes up though. My topic today is that everyone here always thinks that their land is a goldmine. They think it because a couple years ago when the Brits started coming here and buying land to live and enjoy their retirement, they paid too much.

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-5878193544281076352009-03-20T12:40:00.000-07:002009-03-20T13:41:51.495-07:00

I think I mentioned in the third or fourth update that the neighbours dog keeps crapping on our yard. Well, there have been some updates since then that pertain to this story. First of all, the dog is still crapping on our land. Every once in a while we come home from town or come out of the house to leave for town and there’s a nice big one waiting for us. It’s weird having to watch where

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-26498772066387959702009-03-13T12:56:00.000-07:002009-03-13T15:24:34.948-07:00

Tosca and Amatti. Our little insect hunters.So much has changed. Have you ever watched a movie and at the end of it you think “Man, the end of that movie resembles nothing of the beginning”. You know? Because so much has happened in the last two hours. Such is our life.Andalucia is very beautiful and is progressing everyday, but it’s almost like living in two separate worlds. One world is

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-71111653706051964062009-03-12T15:28:00.000-07:002009-03-12T15:53:03.443-07:00

A LOT has happened since the second update so I’ve actually put everything in two separate updates. Here are the third and fourth instalments of The Great Spanish Adventure.I’ll start where I left off. Remember the bit about our stuff finally leaving Barcelona and being shipped to us. Good! Now remember I ended with “I’ll believe it when I see it”? Well, herein lies a very interesting and

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-6729697287863428972009-03-08T04:24:00.000-07:002009-03-08T04:25:53.925-07:00

So what’s happened since December?Apparently January is colder than December, the car still belongs to no one and on top of that we found out our car insurance is invalid and we can’t get any until Miguel’s NIF comes and we can claim the car as ours. On that note, Miguel’s NIF is late. It should be here any day HAHA! We did get the land that we were looking at. We almost lost it because, but

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8886705698563113026.post-17905547575063875882009-03-08T03:51:00.000-07:002009-03-12T15:28:47.846-07:00

This is my initial update for everyone who is wondering if it’s possible to make a big move to Spain and survive. So here is the scoop on our big vacation to Spain. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Vacation; yeah right.I’ll start with the flight. Miguel flew over from Toronto on November 23rd and I followed him from Calgary the next day. Both flights were hell for different reasons. While I only had an hour and 20

Sarah Espigareshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06325570847755667270noreply@blogger.com0