Ah Spain!

AI generated, please excuse any errors!

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[Music]
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Good morning. Welcome to our Spain. How's it going, Gayano? Uh, Ben,
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Tanya Au, it's going great today. It's going great. It's hot.
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It is hot. I believe you have enough Spain for us, so that'll cheer us up hopefully. I do. Well, was it was a pleasant little
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surprise. We this summer, the kids and I went down to Ander Lucia for our summer holiday and we were on the Renfay
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trains, you know, the the stateowned train, high-speed train system down there. And I went to the the food car to
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get snacks and sodas for my my charges. And they had a big trough of headphones
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for free. Oh, nice. Yeah, like Elchipo headphones. And so I put my claws and I now in retrospect I'm
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mad at myself that I only got three because um who can't use more of those,
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right? And and this leads to what our topic is is back to school because one of the things on the list is headphones for
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their devices. Yes. And they actually sometimes I find these
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type of headphones last way longer than anything else that you buy for some reason. like the ones you get for free,
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right? So maybe it'll last a school year. You never know. You never know. I mean, and if it doesn't, it was free, so I'll be really
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happy. So So then you'll be like, "Um, girls, we need to go on another trip because I need more headphones."
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Right. That's a good one. I like that. Got to love a free set of headphones.
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And like you said, we are jumping into schools today. So ah everything we know
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about schools in Spain. everything we know, what we went through. We don't know it all. We just know what we know.
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So, we will talk about public even though that's not our forte and concert, but we do know private. So, we can give
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you that information. And that is the three since you mentioned them. We have three different types of schools here. Private, conchot,
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and public. The private and public kind of speak for themselves. The conchchat is like um it's a semi-private and it is
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part partly funded by the government, partly funded by you if you go there and but it's incredibly cheap. They're kind
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of like €100 or €150 or something a month probably. They can be more real um
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religious based but they're not all religious. Obviously some I mean it's sort of like the Catholic schools in in
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America like you know they can they're like a quite a like sort of private they're not all cath they're not all Catholic but they
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are they have a little bit more autonom because of the semi-privateness of them.
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So you might find ones with some English programs or ones that are taught, you know, here in Valencia, you might find
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maybe ones that are taught in Spanish versus Valencian or something like that. I mean, so might be some little things
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that you want that you might get out of those, right? And I think in the bigger cities like Madrid and stuff, you'll find more
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with the bilingual because just the size of the city warrants the population warrants more diversity in education,
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right? Um, but yes, they are here. And I guess the best way to explain it would
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be kind of like the charter school system too in the States, right? You have to apply to them. You don't just go to them, but they get the money, but
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they have Yeah. They have more they have more control over their curriculum. Yes. But importantly, you do apply to
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them here anyway. The ones that I have experienced in looking into, you do apply in a similar way that you would
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apply for the public school system. So you're they're not completely private. So when you know both of us have our
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girls in private schools, you go to each school, you you either get in or you don't get in, right? In with the with the public and the
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conchot like for instance you could apply for a conchot and not get in and you would end up in a p in a public
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school or you know something like that and then you know everything you're applying for
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everything in in the spring for going in September. So whether you're at a private school, a conata school or a
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public school, that's the case. If you're doing the conchado or public, you must have your padron here already,
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which means you must be living here and you must have gone to the city hall and got your padron which says, "Hey, I live at this address and that's in a, you
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know, government approved piece of paper that you use for schools and you use for a number of other things,
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right? But you will need that. So you won't be able to just like apply for a contract out of school from America or England.
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you need to, you know, come here, get a place to live, get your Padron papers and then get into the system. So that's
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a little bit of something that I don't know how people are doing this and I would love at some point that when we
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get into interviews to talk to somebody about who somebody who actually applied to a conata school or a public school
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and how they did it because most people are coming in in the summer and if they're being really organized, they
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might come at the beginning of the summer so they can get all their stuff together by September, but you've missed the enrollment period at that point. So
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I don't know what happens. So I can't talk to that. Tell tell us a little bit about how you did yours and then I'll
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get into the crazy three minute of how we did ours. Right. Well, we had you said before we
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had planned this move for you know we had planned it out for a good two years I feel like you know was like let's do
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it is the reality setting in. So, we came to visit a year before, but to do a
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scouting trip, but the 3 to four months before that scouting trip, I hadn't
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decided on Valencia yet. So, I was doing like Zoom interviews or Zoom meetings with schools up and down the Spanish
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coast from Barcelona down to Malaga. Oh, wow. That's cool. So, so through that I kind of that was helping me
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narrow down and then when we did do our scouting trip, I had narrowed it down to the four or
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five schools that I wanted to see in Valencia in person. We saw those and then I applied to two. I and and and I
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will say that was really beneficial and the trip was kind of superolous. The trip was really about getting my kids
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less nervous and on board and let's just kind of like make sure. But I even when
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we were on the trip, I'm like, we don't really need to do this trip. But it was fine. But I will say the top two schools that I
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thought were going to be my top two were my top two when I arrived. So that was good. I mean, I was glad that I did my
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research that I was proven that I did ask question. Lucky that nothing happened on your
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scouting trip that you were like, "Oh my god, this is so absolutely not where I want to be." Which obviously would be a
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concern. Yeah, that would have been really bad. That would have been bad. I mean, that's that is an incredibly organized manner
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of moving to which I'm sure most people would would aspire to if I was to say
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that's kind of the dream. And your situation was a little I would say a little more a little rushed, a
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little slightly rushed. If you want to take your situation and add take out all the time that you had
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and put fly by the seat of your pants at the end of it, that's what we were doing. Oh, okay. That's
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the basically opposite basically is what we did which is we realized we had to move because Brexit was happening and
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that was our residency was based on us getting here before England exited
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Europe and we had been talking about moving but we really hadn't been talking about it enough to actually have any any
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sort of plan of any sort. Okay. And we just sitting around. We had we had kind of there was a point where
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we sort of had sort of decided on Valencia, but when we decided to move, it was like we literally have two months to get this done,
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right? So we have to fold up everything here. We have to get on a plane and we have to be over there. That was, you know,
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because when you do residency versus visa, you have to be there to do it. So we literally had to just pack everything
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up and get over. So that you know in retrospect but of all of our other episodes where we've talked about this
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situation and the purging and all that stuff that it makes sense that you only came with suitcases so you didn't even
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have time to get movers and a shipping company if you wanted to bring stuff. You're like we got to go and we got to leave now.
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We've got to go. I mean had we had things there that was worth it. Yeah. I'm sure we would have figured it out but at the end of the day we just had to
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move. So what ended up happening too is we were moving mid year. So, we weren't like, "Oh, we're gonna like, you know,
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interview schools and then we're gonna like apply and then we're going to wait and then we're gonna come over in the summer." It was like, "We're going to be
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there in a month, so you know what's going." So, we literally did two interviews and then we applied to the
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school that we wanted to, but they were like, "We don't have any spaces." And this was like January. And we they and
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they were like, "Well, you can apply anyway. Get on a wait list and we'll see what happens." because at that point we were thinking well we've got you know
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and then I sent all the information in and then literally the next day I got an email saying she's accepted.
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Okay. When they told you they didn't great. I mean I was I can't tell you how relieved I was because anyone that's
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gone through the process of getting their kids into schools and trying to pick a school versus just like you know
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living somewhere and realizing that you've got a house there so that's where your children are going to go to school and you're not thinking about it. If
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you're getting into this kind of situation where you're picking private schools or you're moving and trying to
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pick a public school and trying to find a place to live near a public school, it's all very stressful. Like it's just it's all over the place and you don't
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know where the chips are going to fall, right? So that was kind of where we were and plus with the time frame
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I'm freaking out like if we get there and there's no school and D and you know so
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and then when so when she got accepted I was like okay done. everything else will be whatever else it is. And yeah, so we
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landed we got then we did a tour of the school. So we landed on like a Monday.
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We had a tour of the school on Wednesday. She was supposed to start on Monday, but we went into lockdown on
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Saturday, right? So it was like, okay, done. But we were in the school.
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It's it's bringing back all those memories of I remember I remember just that week
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back in March 2020 back they're like, "Oh, we're not going to shut down." I was like, "Oh, yeah, we are." And then like the next day you're like, "Yeah,
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you're not going to the grocery store ever again as long as you live without it." Right. So you're bringing you're bringing back trauma. You're being
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triggered. I'm sorry. And our lockdown here was very different from what you guys were doing in the States. Let me just say we were locked down in our
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homes. We were not allowed to leave except to go to the grocery store or like the hospital. That was it. So we
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and we were doing the Zoom like everybody else, the Zoom school. So, you know, basically I I'm thankful that we
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went into an English- speakaking school because I think it would have been incredibly difficult to not do that with
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the Zoom. And I'm sure that I'm sure everybody would have been very helpful, but it would have been extra stress for
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sure, right? Yeah. And extra stress trying to for Zena trying to do Spanish school over Zoom. I
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mean, you're just not going to anyone that's tried to learn a language. I mean, you're not doing it over a Zoom
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really without a lot of I mean, it would have been we we may not have still been here if that been the case, I think.
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Yeah, it she's new. She has no connection to anyone. It would been a really hard transition to and and you're not going to get the support cuz she's
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not going to trust anyone. There's not going to be any sort of And you know, trusted meaning like I I trust what
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you're saying. I trust that you understand what I'm saying. That like that kind of base level trust, right? So, a very different we had obviously
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very different scenarios, but we sort of ended up in the same spot, which is an English-speaking private school and I
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think they're to in my opinion, I think I think they're all very good. I think if anyone picks any of the international
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schools around here, I haven't heard any complaints about them. They all seem to be relatively on par with each other,
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except like some are in the city, some are outside the city. Some of them have better sports, some of them have better
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music. So, if you have a kid that's talented in some area, that might be a reason to pick one over another. Otherwise, you're probably looking at
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location, right? We have a couple of American schools, a
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German school, a French school, and then a couple of Mont there's a bunch of
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British schools. And then everything else is British. So, even the Monty schools are based on the
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British system. So, I was out. I didn't want the British system. So, we had we were very limited on what schools we
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could go into. And if she hadn't got into one of the American schools, I think we would have probably ended up in public. But, you know, uh that's one of
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that's one of those things just figure out what you need. But I think all the schools that all the experiences that I've had and my friends have had here
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have been really really good. So, I don't think anyone needs to worry about the the quality of the schools and the education here.
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The biggest part would be, you know, I would like to to say this is it's the transition is going to be the hardest
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on, you know, all of us, but the kids, especially if they're coming from America and they end up going to a British school, they're taught
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completely different. Everything's different. So you know parents should beware like even even when you switch
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schools in your own country there's a transition period where the kids are learning there so you're trying to get
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social that grades can suffer things could suffer or emotions could suffer expect that to happen here and it might
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and it might be a little heightened because it is a foreign country there's different languages and the schools will
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tell you it's been my experience from people I've talked to and ourselves that don't worry about the first term grades
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it they they will catch up because they are learning it's all overwhelming At first, especially coming from American
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to British, my kids were like, "What is this all about?" You know, and then it was like, "Oh, everything's fine. We
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made our friends. Everything's good. Oh, they do speak English." Like, it's it's like the eye opens, right?
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Yeah. I think the I think the social aspect I mean, education, that's your kid, you know, however that works out,
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you'll figure it out, I think, because they're not going to fall they're not going to fall behind. If anything gets
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gets if anything gets sticky, the teach the teachers will help you and you'll figure it out, you know. But socially, I
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think you'll be surprised how easy it is for your kids to integrate into another school because if you go to an international school, they already speak
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the language. You know, if they're going to if they're going to a different school, you'll find that, you know, your kids just need a friend or two and then
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they're like golden, you know, they'll be fine, right? It really does work that way. And I will say for, you know, I was
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telling my girls before they started, I said, you know, don't worry, you will make friends because they do make friends, but you're going to have this
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small expat group that will glom on to you when you arrive because you're a new expat, so they're going to want to like
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broaden their pool, right? And then for the for the locals, they're like, "Oh, where are you from?" Like, you're still
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you're still new and exciting because it's a you've come from a different country. So I think there is there's I
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guess there's a more of an there's more open arms than I think you would you would think in some other situations. Um
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I think so because I think in in the especially in the international schools there's everyone's been in that position
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probably very recently. So I've been really really impressed with how Zena's school managed new students that came
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in. They were always really welcomed and cared for and you know helped to get
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friends. Um exactly the same thing happened to Zena. I mean, I can't talk to the grade thing because of when we
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landed. I don't think anyone was getting good grades in 2020. So, there was absolutely no way. I don't I mean, they
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were just given A's, I think. I don't know what happened at the end of the school year of the 20 2019 to 2020. So,
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I have no guide on that. So, we and we were also going from American to American. So, uh we it wasn't a change
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in in teaching and and education. So, for us, it was I I didn't experience any
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of that. And and it was and you know I think what I've noticed in Zena's school
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is that it does often how the the the makeup of the class will make a big
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difference like some like Zena's class is fully international with people from
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everywhere. The grade above her is almost completely Spanish and then the grade above that is a complete mix. So,
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it's like every grade will have a different mix, you know, and like almost all of Zena's friends are Spanish, even
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though but they all speak, you know, perfect English, but it's funny how the makeup of the classes are very, very
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different from grade to grade, and you don't know which one your kids's going to land in. Um, but we've had a really
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good experience overall. I've seen a lot of people, you know, new people coming in and it's never been an issue that
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people have not made friends, right, and not been welcomed in and helped. So that's been a really good experience
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overall, I think. And what I would say, what's probably the you it is a difficult thing for
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families with more than one child is trying to get your kids into the same school because it's limited spots. We
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were lucky. I will say my tip was we came to see these schools in October. In November, I had applications in and
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they're like, "You don't have to do that now." I'm like, "No, I want them in." Like I was like, "Let's be on top of this. First name on the list. You
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remember us." That was kind of like my trick. But trying to get you there was a school that we went to. They're like, "Don't expect your two children to be
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here." And another school was like, "We'll have space. Don't worry about it." So that was a different It totally depends, right? And we've had
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friends that have had one kid in one school and one kid in another until a space opened up and they were just like
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open to whichever school gets a space for us, the other one's moving over. So, they've just kind of done that and
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that's also worked out. And I think another thing um which leads into why
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we're moving schools now and having another stressful experience of like
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let's do this again cuz it was so much fun the last time. um you know they'll
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all the international Englishspeaking schools will tell you that your children will be speaking Spanish within 6 months
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or whatever and everyone's going to get integrated and it's all going to be wonderful and there's going to be little birds little birds flying around
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everybody's heads you know and this is not the case um I haven't I don't know
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anybody that's come in and learned um fluent Spanish to the
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degree that I would expect it living in the country and to what I thought we would have. I was like, "Yeah, we're going to come in and we're
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all going to be immersed and we're all going to learn, but we don't speak Spanish at home." And she's learning in
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English. So, where is the Spanish coming in? I mean, she's done gymnastics and she's done some extracurricular stuff in
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Spanish and all of her friends are Spanish, but they all speak English, obviously, because they've met in a
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English- speakaking school. So, her comprehension is really good and she has some good Spanish, but it's nowhere near
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the fluency that we wanted for all of us, but especially for her
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and that we were hoping for and promised because I will tell you all those schools that I interviewed from the co the the entire eastern seabboard of
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Spain told me the same thing. Oh, within a within a year they'll be fluent two years tops, you know, but if they're
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really motivated in a year and then they'll be metriculated because all these schools still have classes that are taught in Spanish,
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you know, they have the Spanish humanities, history, that kind of Spanish, the baloria Spanish kids. Yeah. For the Spanish kids. And they're
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like, oh, within a year or two, they'll metriculate into those courses. And then after a year of school, I'm like, that
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didn't happen. They're like, oh yeah, that's not possible. I'm like, but you all told me. And not just you, all the schools, all the schools told me that
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I'm going to have these international children that are going to be able to get a job out of at the UN the day they
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leave campus. Right. Yeah. And we just we just haven't we haven't had that experience. And I the only the only one kid that I know that
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has actually managed to do that is a child who's English is their second
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language already. So they already have a bit of a talent in languages or experience in in learning languages. And
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then on top of that um they do a ton of football outside of the school. So they
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are in immersed literally immersed the kid is in Spanish in you know three four
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days a week doing football and doing weekend you know trips for for matches and all this kind of thing. So I mean
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that kid has learned Spanish fluently because they're they've been immersed in it. But if your kid's not doing
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something like that it's just really not going to happen. And especially if you don't have it as a parent, it's very
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hard to even know if your kid is learning. And that's kind of what I ran into, which is what I didn't realize she
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wasn't getting the Spanish in school because how am I going to test it? Right. Right. Right. So, it took me a while to realize that
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it wasn't really happening the way it was promised. So, that's why we're moving her now into a Spanish school. It
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is also a private school, but it is a Spanish school, but that we're moving her into that now because she's 13 and
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we feel like we still have the time. We literally only just have the time to do that now. And but I 100% feel that if
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she were to stay in the English speaking school for another 5 years that her Spanish might improve to some degree but
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would never be fluent to the point that she should have after spending 10 years as a child in a
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country. You should be fluent. I agree. And if if we could have moved here two years before then I would have
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looked you would have done the same thing. Yeah. And there was a school, there was a concert, it was more there was, we forgot to mention, there are these
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hybrid private concertado schools that are more expensive. They're like four or
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500 a month, but you and you apply to them like you can apply them without a
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pedron, but they they get more government funding and one we looked at and they and I loved that school, but
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they also built it as bilingual. And when I got there, I was like, "This isn't bilingual." And I realized for my
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oldest child that was going to be too hard because it's such intense classwork coming them way and all in Spanish where
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if they were if she was two years younger, I would have been like, "Yes, that would make that would make sense, right? She could she can the math and
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all that can falter while she's building up the language and then like burst through the doors knowing all of this
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stuff, right?" And I was like, "Oh, so it it it is what it is. I can't change it." Um but
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but I think we all I think that's sort of the case. I think at the time for us too it would have been really really hard to go straight into Spanish. We
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probably would have managed it. But I think you know funnily enough re realistically things like math which is
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the sort of the things that we worry about they're the same in every language. So that's not where they're going to die. That's they're going to
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die trying to trying to write essays in Spanish and trying to do biology in Spanish. That's where it's all going to go downhill. Right.
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Trying to read Don Kiote in the original language. Right. Right. Exactly. So, I mean, kids do it
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all the time. And I wish I hadn't been as fussy about it really because I think it would have been a an easier
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experience to do it when she was younger, but now we've been here. She has a bit of a base. Maybe it's easier now. Who knows? It's very hard to know.
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But I just my only point in bringing it up is just be aware that if you go down that road that your kids will not be
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fluent in Spanish. We want to clean we want to clean the little bit of rose tinting off your glasses before you arrive. And that's
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the end of that because everything else is fun. And that's not I mean if not everybody wants that either. Not everybody wants that for their kids
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and especially if you're if you're only going to be here two years. That's your plan. Don't don't mess it up with a Spanish school. You're just going to
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really that might be difficult. Yeah. So anyway, so as far as applying, you know, you apply like everywhere else.
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You're applying in the spring. You're you're going in in September. And I
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think it's very very similar as to other places. It's just figuring out what kind
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of school you want and what kind of education and figuring out what your children need if they need something
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special. Mhm. I think like everywhere in the world, if you have a child with any kind of
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special needs, including they're so intelligent, they need extra extra stuff. I mean, that's something that you
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need to talk to the schools about to find out if they actually offer those things because and there are private schools with their
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their services vary. They cater to different They really do. They vary a lot. You do have to find that and and there is a lot
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of movement. Um I'm gonna say a lot. It's there's noticeable movement within the schools. Families are leaving
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schools too because it wasn't the right fit and they didn't get to the school they wanted and they move. So these these spaces do open up as well. So it
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is you know as we had said and also what happened in Zena's class is they went from they've been expanding. So I mean things have got
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more difficult. I see I hear a lot more about schools not having spaces now than that when we got here. Mhm. M
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they've expanded the some of the grades from two classes to three classes. So there also some of these schools are
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expanding to to take on more children since you know more people are coming
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and more people are using the schools and it's become I think Valencia Valencia as a whole has become more popular right so there's more people
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looking at the schools here [Music]
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so I think the next thing really is like extracurricular activities like we've all had our kids in them since they were
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zero and we want to bring that over here and I I think we've had a similar Yeah, we've had a similar experience except I
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think your school has more going on but it's outside of school let's just say for the most part
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team sports that kind of rahrrah the culture of sport culture doesn't here right it's not the foot it's not the
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jocks and the geeks like that's that kind of social strata isn't here I mean I think there's the kids who love
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football but they're getting their sports I don't know that you could go that far having But yeah, the
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but I mean there isn't a cheerleader squad. Yeah. No, no, no, no. But how how jocks and
24:48
and geeks are going on in school, I have no idea. No, I mean there is that, but I'm saying there is the social strata doesn't come.
24:54
They're not wearing Letterman jackets and you don't see that kind of that kind of thing. And the extracurriculars there
25:00
I mean our school provides a lot. It has a lot of sports fields and all of that. And they have them before school, after
25:07
school, and then during the lunch hour. I the ones during the lunch hour are more like amateur instruction learning the sports
25:14
and then if they want to excel then they come in before school or after school
25:20
and but and they have some that are like teams I think they do have matches with
25:25
like the swim team matches with other swim teams but it's not like oh you know this school's team is
25:32
playing that school we're all sending up to the game and everyone's canceled island clowns you're not getting that here Um, but I will say like their PE
25:39
program is much more well-rounded than I had ever experienced in the States because they have ballet and they have
25:45
they're learning a lot in at least in our school. I don't know what your experience is like, but we have we have like PE where they tend
25:53
to break it up into maybe three parts or something and they'll do like basketball and volleyball and and football or
26:00
something. So, they kind of break up the year so that you're learning different things for maybe a month or two and kind
26:05
of break it up. That's the kind of the the PE side of things. And then there is an extracurricularish
26:12
thing, but a lot of it's happening during school hours because the school that we were at was not really into
26:17
keeping the kids any before or after the end of the after the end of school. So there was one thing that they finally
26:24
did which was like one day a week they had if you were in football or something the kids stayed for an extra hour or
26:30
something and it was an extracurricular thing but that's that's an extra thing that you pay for on top of the
26:35
education. Mhm. And then but that was literally it. And
26:40
then we had a I mean a great coach for football and Zena was doing that for a while and they were traveling and going
26:46
to Barcelona for matches and I mean it was really really fun but again it wasn't
26:51
high I wouldn't say it was highly competitive. They were happy for anybody that wanted to play to come and play like that was the goal of that. It was
26:57
really about people learning how to play and learning and being a team and all that kind of all that good rahrh stuff,
27:04
right? But as far as like the kids that really really are excelling in any sports, they they they're doing it in
27:11
leagues outside of the school because that's where the competitiveness is coming in there, right? And my eldest is in Valley
27:16
Conservatory and that's outside of school, but it's I mean that would have to be I mean that's a whole different thing. We we
27:23
did like we've done gymnastics and other sports at the local rec center, the Poly
27:28
Depotivo and then we have did and that's like so expensive too. It's like €5 a
27:34
month to do like two to do like two classes a month a week.
27:40
And then and then we moved to a gym like a gymnastics gym where Zena did that for a while. I want to say it was around €30
27:46
a month for that where she did a combination of the of the the silks thing and all the gymnastics and she did
27:52
some competitions and it was like in this city it's considerably more expensive for silks. We pay 40 a month.
27:59
So well there you go. still not going to break the bank compared to what people are paying in America, I'm sure.
28:04
Well, I think that would be 400 a month back in the States for silks. Who knows? Yeah. And then but you mean the
28:09
difference is I think the I mean it's an age thing. I mean we've talked about this a little bit before like when
28:15
you're out in the outside of the city and living outside of the city and our school in particular too because it
28:20
sounds like you have a slightly different bus scenario going on. They have a bus coming their buses coming in
28:25
the morning and buses leaving after school and they don't really have any extracurricular activities. So if your
28:31
kid's doing anything after school, you're picking them up from school in your car and then you're driving them to
28:36
that thing and then driving them home. So you're in charge of all the chauffeuring of your kids for
28:43
extracurricular activities basically. So it's really very much up to you. And I
28:48
think if you live in the city or the school you're at where they might have some I mean that's a different scenario
28:54
I think. Right. Yeah. I mean our school has a morning bus and an and two late afternoon buses. There's one at like 6:00 and one at like
29:00
7:30. So the kids who are in after school programs get it. Now mind you, the that bus system is not as extensive
29:06
as the normal morning and after you know the the the going to school bus, you know, the extra schooling bus. There's only like one or two routes that it
29:12
does. But that's cool that they have it. Yeah. And you could drive to that bus stop which might be a lot closer and meet your kid there. But if they're
29:18
teenagers, they should be able to get, you know, especially in the city, they can get themselves home. And same with the the the city. A lot of I mean these
29:25
kids who are in these sports, they get them home from school and then they can get themselves to the soccer field in the Teria Park or where they're
29:30
practicing. Now, if you're a suburb, Yeah. suburb life here is like suburb life in America. You got your car and you got to take kids everywhere, right?
29:37
It's kind of scenario. And I mean, and you can carpool with other people. I think people do that a lot. We've done that quite a bit. But
29:42
it's very there's nothing going on at the school for the most part. That means that it's all up to you to do it. And
29:48
that's that's just the nature of it, I And it's then I think the yeah, like you said, the the city life versus the non-
29:54
city life is that proximity that you have to public transportation all over
29:59
the place that once your kids get to a certain age, you can stop chauffeering them or walking them or whatever it is
30:06
around and everything. That doesn't really happen if you live outside of the city cuz they're not driving. So, you're
30:11
still driving them. And just so everyone knows, your kids are never going to drive here. So, until
30:17
they're 18, they don't have independence. You're one, you've we've dodged the bullet of having to buy cars and car insurance at 16, but we also
30:25
don't have the freedom. Don't don't stress me out about the driving situation. Well, your oldest is
30:30
is getting up there, but yeah. But yes, so there are lots of extracurriculars and that, but I think
30:38
another thing we should discuss which is very important and is met with great
30:43
cheers by me and my daughters and maybe jeers by others is the uniforms. non
30:49
uniforms. We go to a uniform school. It's on the relatively strict side, not the strictest. Some of them here are
30:56
strict down to the pencil case and lunchbox, backpack and outer jacket they wear. Our girl, my girls can choose a
31:02
backpack and their coat. Everything else is pretty and their pencil case obviously, but everything, you know, their outfit, they have a couple shoes
31:07
they can choose from. They've got a couple shirts, couple one pair of pants, a skirt, that kind of stuff. And for us,
31:14
for me, it's been good. My girls aren't clothes freaks anyway, right? So, it's
31:19
it's been heaven. They know what they're wearing before school. They And then that's been great. You know, the the the
31:25
sticker shock on the uniform is high, but they are pretty durable. They last until you're you know, my kids outgrow
31:31
them before I'm throwing them away. I'm not quite on board yet,
31:36
personally. But we are moving from non-uniform to uniform. And I have to say, I don't really
31:44
see it like I think it's cute to have all the kids in uniforms. Like I like that aspect of it, but it's expensive. I
31:51
would not have spent what I've just spent on uniforms on back to school clothes for Zena.
31:56
Um, she loves clothes and I've never ever had to have an issue of what she's
32:02
wearing because she's always got it planned out. So, it's never ever ever been an issue and she loves wearing whatever she
32:08
wants. So, I think in our household, we're kind of like I guess we have to, but not really totally on board of it
32:14
actually. I don't I really don't think that it's necessarily cheaper because I
32:20
still have to buy her other clothes because she still needs other clothes to wear during weekends and everything. So, she can't not have the other clothes.
32:26
Although, I did maybe threaten her that she might need to wear her uniform like all weekend, all night.
32:33
I I will say that my daughters stay in their uniform until it's shower time and bedtime. They come home and they don't
32:39
they don't change my my kids and on the weekends they're usually in their pajamas. So until we go out. So we don't
32:46
my kids aren't into clothes like your daughter is. So we I do I don't see that happening but maybe you
32:51
know check in with me in in a couple of months because you might be right. the the cost of I got a ton of things and
32:58
this is just some other advice is when you started an before you started a new school get in touch with the the school
33:04
so that you can get in touch with some parents and get in touch get into the WhatsApp group that type of thing
33:09
because we I got a ton of secondhand uniforms as well and I mean I want to say I got about 75%
33:18
of the uniform sorted in secondhand stuff and I still spent over €200 buying
33:24
paying skirts and shirts and things that we needed. So, I don't know what the sticker sticker price would have been if
33:31
I had got all of it because I think that's just absolutely outrageously more
33:36
money than I would have spent on regular clothes. Absolutely. For for me personally, I would I would like to add to that that
33:42
in in the Facebook groups before we arrived, I had like put the school name in an you know, Valencia expat group and
33:49
saw who had posted and reached out also said we're coming to this school X, Y, and Z. Oh, that's a good idea.
33:55
And someone reached out and said, "We're moving back to the States. Do you want our uniforms? I have some PE uniforms if
34:00
you want them." And she met me on the corner like we were doing a shady deal and had me a bag and shook my hand and
34:07
went on her way. I don't even remember her name. It was like a five minute meeting and we got that stuff. And now
34:12
that we're in the school, like I will say that our experience is the uniform skirts are industrialgrade plutonium.
34:20
Those things are not destroyed. So we've passed down and been passed down to us. As they've been out growing, we've been
34:26
able to to pass it forward and and we've received um from others. So you're not
34:32
spending that uniform budget every year and especially if you size up turn depending how quickly and your children are keep growing. This
34:38
is the other issue, right? So you are having to either find secondhand clothes or buy new clothes pretty regularly. So
34:45
it's not just, you know, my daughters were the same. I will be honest, my daughters wear the Well, my oldest ones, you know, they stopped
34:51
growing by 14, 15. Girls do. So, you you could luck out there that they hopefully that you size up and then they're good.
34:57
And those shirts did last a good two years before they got holes. It was they started ripping out the seams. But if I
35:02
would have bought regular clips, I mean, I wouldn't have bought anything from Ralph Lauren holding up if they wore it every day for two years. Do you know
35:09
what I mean? Right. No, that's true. That's true. The the skirts though I've saw cuz we got a secondhand skirt which was in beautiful
35:14
shape but the the the little buckle on the on the side of the skirt of which
35:19
there are two is made of like a pleather and that's all falling apart. So that's a bummer.
35:25
Did you look? So we have at our school. So look what our uniform shop um they sell the they sell the buckles
35:31
separately so you could reso them on. See if your Okay. Well, I asked court and glaz and they didn't have them. So, I might need
35:36
to get you I need to bribe you to go get me a couple and then we can sew them
35:42
back on because it's not holding the skirt together. That's the annoying thing. Like, it's there but it's decorative.
35:47
Really? It's a decorative. Anyway,
35:52
the wind blowing it up. But, so anyway, so shopping, where do you get the uniform? So, at our school, they have
35:58
the uniform shop in and on campus, which is great because if the kids rip a
36:03
shirt, they can run down to the shop and and and buy one, and they kind of make it it very easy. And our school shop has
36:10
all the school supplies and erasers and everything they need is there. So, that's been good. I know that some
36:16
schools you can get online and some have random like stores and strip malls and then you went to Elc Court. You want to
36:22
tell the LC Court experience? Oh my god. Well, Katana heard all about this yesterday and today because we I
36:30
Okay, so anyone I think everyone can can kind of um has experienced this if
36:36
they've started at new schools. You get so much information, right? Like it's coming at you from if you have friends
36:41
in the school that telling you everything that they know. the the school is sending you emails and they're also giving you if you're here they're
36:48
giving you pieces of paper and folders with stuff and it's like you feel like you're just in like a mountain of
36:53
information and you can't take it all in. So when you need something specific about something you probably only end up
36:59
with like half the information you need because that's the part that you remembered. So we had been given this
37:04
nice sheet that was you know like you know here's the uniform. I'm like this is so cool and it said El Cortes on it.
37:10
So I was like great I'll go down. So we lugged ourselves down into the city, right, which we don't do that often to
37:16
go to Elcort to find out that it was the wrong Elcourt. So we and the woman there was so nice. So it's like I I was like,
37:23
but my god, now we have to go to the other side of the city to the other Elc Courting because that's the one that services our school,
37:29
right? So then we couldn't even do that the same day. So we had to go back again today. So, we've spent two days getting
37:34
a couple of skirts and a couple of shirts and a pair of socks, but you
37:40
can't get them anywhere else. It's not like you we can't order them online. So, what about what color the socks?
37:45
Because can I give you a little tip? You can depending on the color, you can get them at the Chinese stores because
37:50
that's where we get our socks from for like a one. Oh, that's good to know. That's where we'll be going next. Yeah. So, we got them with it because I was like, we're
37:57
here. I and we only have a week left before school starts. So, I'm not running around doing this again, you
38:02
know? So, I got everything that I needed and we had got so much stuff secondhand that was amazing. So, I'm like that we
38:09
can buy a couple of pairs of socks here. But, yeah, I think once I get into the school, I'm hoping that maybe there is
38:14
an online store or somewhere else we can get it because when I look at the pictures of the kids
38:20
like in on like their social media and stuff, I mean, they're not all in the same exact uniform really, especially
38:26
the socks and stuff. it. So there's some variety there. So they're probably one of the schools like you're saying that's maybe they have a uniform but it's not
38:33
totally uptight. Well, I think also they so at our school too like they have old gym uniforms and
38:38
new gyms, right? So it depends like because they are changing brands and you know things companies go out of
38:43
business. So everything's not going to be identical because they are changing vendors as well who's creating these things. Um
38:49
that's true because the old school so the old school we had we didn't have a uniform but we had a gym uniform. Okay.
38:54
Uhhuh. But they were very very lax on it. So kids were coming in kind of
39:00
wearing half the uniform or whatever they felt like that day because it was too hot or too cold and they only had
39:06
shorts but not the not the sweatpants or the other way around. So, it was all very loosey goosey and they had kind of
39:12
I think kind of let it go a little bit, you know, and and then eventually they
39:18
decided to have a whole new uniform done with this online vendor and it was
39:24
awesome because they gave everybody a free uniform once. Oh, nice. Okay.
39:29
Which was really cool. But the but the but the downside or whatever or the the click to that was that every kid had to
39:36
be in the uniform from now on. Right. We're going to help. You're all going to have it. There's no
39:42
excuses, but here you go. So, they did do a uniform change as well. Yeah. Well, so I will just say to you and
39:49
anyone else, my uniform advice is two skirts if you have girls and five shirts. That way, you only have to do
39:55
the laundry on Saturdays because there's nothing worse than trying to do laundry. And our first year as we were building
40:00
because I didn't have all the shirts yet, I was like, I'm doing laundry on Tuesday and Thursday and it was getting
40:05
on my nerves. And now we've collected enough shirts that you know that's awesome and I have taken that
40:11
advice and that is what I went into Elcourt for was to get up to the numbers that you had given me. So I am well
40:17
Gayano prepared for the uniform part of the school and we shall see how it goes.
40:23
And so that's the kind of the uniform side of things since we're in the this aspect of what you need for school. The
40:29
other way that schools differ is overall materials list. Um, the school we went to before was we got a perfect list of
40:37
everything you need at the beginning of every year so that you could go get the exact amount of pencils. Sometimes that
40:43
list hadn't been updated. We have a few things in the house that have never been used, like a purple musical recorder
40:49
that I think is floating around somewhere. It might become a cat toy. Um, or a dog toy. Be careful. But or it won't last very long if it
40:57
becomes a a dog toy. She might make some music while she's chewing on it, though. That could be fun. Yeah. So, we have
41:03
that and then in the new school we there's no list. So, I'm relying on friends and I like as I said before I
41:09
became I got myself onto the WhatsApp group for her grade and I asked questions there for what we need. But we
41:15
did get a list of books because we are expected there to buy the books. But I'm getting some of those secondhand. So,
41:20
there is a system in all these schools for people to share things they don't need anymore if you can find it.
41:26
Right. So our school has we have to buy our books and there's a list that comes out like in May the year before. So
41:32
what's great about that is you don't have this like kind of back to school rush. I mean back in the states I remember in high school was like the
41:38
week before school everyone's down the gymnasium buying books and all that kind of stuff. So this school they they don't
41:45
have to but they're not in the bookshop either. So you have to order them in May but at that time they give you a month
41:51
to to finagle deals to see who who was taking those classes the year before. And then also they give you the ISP
41:58
numbers. I think that that what it's called like you know the things so you can look it up on Amazon by ISVP and and
42:03
they aren't about 10% cheaper if not more cheaper on Amazon. So and then there's certain things you have to buy at the school because I think there's
42:09
like licensing because they think they come with like some of these books come with like complimentary computer programs but that has saved us a bundle
42:16
now that we're in the system right now that we're in the swapping system. Once you it's it does easier. Yeah. If
42:21
you can somehow get into the system before you start, you can get a lot of secondhand things. I think like I'm
42:27
waiting for I'm just lucky that I have a friend that's already in the school, so she's hooking me up with and doing some
42:33
of the work. All all the work, not some of the work. She's doing all the work of getting me into the secondhand system
42:38
with people that she knows from there. But the other thing when at the school
42:43
we were at, we really didn't need a lot of stuff. They took care of the books. They I mean the the list that we got was
42:49
all just like notebooks and pens and pencils and rulers and things that we needed. It wasn't anything big. And then
42:56
also there they were provided with a computer and then you just had to sign away your life in case the kid like
43:02
threw it out the window but it was provided by the school and it was loaded with everything from the school and
43:08
given to the kids and everything. And they also had to sign a like a computer, you know, care I'm a responsible child
43:16
thing that they had to sign as well. And the parents had to sign it. Our school didn't. And I will say unfortunately our school is requiring us
43:23
to have iPads. And so they're very expensive. But um the contract my
43:28
daughters have to sign is with their father. So if they want to eat ever again, they
43:34
will not ruin this iPad that are like twice the price. And you have to buy the iPad or the school buys the iPad.
43:40
It's our iPads and we have to bring them to the school swiped. If not, they're going to swipe them because then they
43:45
load all the software and put all their security, which is great because then it is only for school. They can't log on to
43:51
other apps during the school year. Yes, I think most of the schools have a pretty good system for that, but I have
43:57
to say I'm sure the kids are smarter. So, keep an eye on your kids. Yeah, they your phone while you're sleeping. That's how they do it,
44:03
Totally. But I but I will say like our school did when they were bringing in computers they did one year and this was
44:10
the year above Zena so she wasn't in that. They did a year of iPads and that was the last year they did iPads cuz I
44:16
don't know how many of those must have got destroyed for them to realize that that was a really bad idea. Especially if your parents didn't buy it
44:22
to be like you are not allowed to only on the carpeted floors can you use that. Right. So Right. Exactly. I think if the parents
44:28
are buying it you're probably a bit more you know responsible maybe. But yeah, so then they moved to Chromebooks, which I
44:34
think was great. And then in the new school, we have to buy them a computer, but it could be anything. Okay.
44:39
So, we're responsible for getting whatever level of it. Doesn't have to be an iPad. It just has to be able to hold
44:45
Microsoft suite, whatever it's called, 365 or whatever. So, I think that's a good option because
44:51
then so that's there's so that's a variety of different situations that that can happen with computers and and
44:58
lists of materials and everything. So I the advice there really is to try and figure out what the school your kids are
45:04
going to and how it's working and if you can get in with some parents ahead of the the summer or during the summer and
45:10
try and figure it out. So basically like right now with the books I'm whatever books we can get over the summer from
45:16
other students that were in the year above we get and anything that we don't get the school will provide and charge us
45:22
for charge you for right I guess. Right. Yeah. So it's a system it seems to work. We you'll figure it out. Unfortunately,
45:28
you just have to figure it out again and it is just the way it is. But I think now that I'm doing it again,
45:34
I'm realizing like you get very stressed for a little bit and then you're like, okay, you know, there's a point where it
45:39
starts to fall into place enough that you realize, okay, I'm also we're also new here. There has to be some level of
45:45
expectation that we're going to be doing some things wrong and someone's going to tell us what to do, right? Like it just can't all be perfect. So, so long as the
45:52
kids in school, they've got something to wear, you know, they got a backpack that you're pretty good.
46:00
But I what we also haven't talked about and I think it's a good thing to talk about is is how they eat at school,
46:06
right? Like they do get fed. And we did talk about earlier, right, about the kids coming home at lunch. Did we talk
46:13
about that earlier? I can't remember. Um, I'm not sure. So, we're doing we're doing um in it's very Spanish to if you
46:20
live near the if you live near your kids' school for them to come home for lunch, which I think is awesome. When we
46:26
first moved here, Jad and I were out to lunch. Zimma was in school and just all these kids started walking by in
46:31
uniform. And we were like, it's like 1:30. What are they doing? Shouldn't they be in school? Shouldn't they be
46:37
still shocks me in the city at like 1:30. I'm seeing all these kids in their uniforms and children running around. I'm like, aren't you supposed to be at
46:43
school? And then I'm like, "Oh, it's siesta. They're at lunchtime." That's not happening in the schools, the
46:48
private schools outside of the city. So, I don't know if that's the conado schools maybe that's happening. I don't
46:55
know if the the big private private really like really private schools in the city doing that. I have friends the
47:01
schools in the city go home. Yeah. So, but definitely outside of the city that's not happening. Um, but that
47:06
is a very Spanish thing. So, with the school we're moving to, we're actually hoping to move closer to the school and have that experience. And the other
47:12
thing that they do, a regular school day is about 9:30 to 4:30ish, um,
47:17
somewhere around that frame. And what they do for the first month, and I think also the last month of the year, but I'm
47:23
not 100% sure, is they do like a half day. So Zena will be going to school from 9:30 to like 1:30. And then I think
47:30
if she comes home for lunch, she'll be coming home at like 12:30 or something.
47:35
So that's the first month. It's kind of like a a soft in to the school of get
47:41
get the kids kind of in but not overwhelmed in the first month. You didn't have an experience. So you're old school though cuz we don't have that
47:47
experience in our school. It's by it's not something that we've had. No, it's full on from the beginning. Now I'm
47:52
not saying that they're not showing a lot of movies and things on the last week of school or whatever. But yeah, it's it's fullon and that's usually how
47:59
it is. Well, I will say at our school the last month June is a is a freefor-all month because all the exams are in May. So
48:06
June is like it's more like summer camp. They have all these like parties planned and activity days and awards assemblies.
48:14
Like there's not a lot of learning going on, but their bodies need to be at school and that's when they have their going away trips and stuff. So it's a
48:19
different experience of school's really out by you school's done by the end of
48:25
May, but their bodies are still there for June. That might be a British system scenario because that's not what's happening in
48:31
the American system. We have I would say um
48:36
the last two weeks maybe and they probably have they probably have exams or tests up until the last week maybe
48:42
and it's really just the last week where they have um they have the school trips on the
48:48
last week and if you don't have to go to them you don't have to take you don't have to go to the school trip but if you do then you're off for two or three days
48:54
and if you're at school you're watching movies and and helping other classes with things in sports or something or
49:00
going and jumping in the pool or whatever. So, those last that last week for sure is is good, but we don't have
49:06
the um we don't have the massive exam mock exam situations that you guys have from
49:12
like 14 going on. So, we it's not quite so serious I think towards that end. But
49:19
it's similar in the fact that definitely the last week is yeah why are we here? And and often honestly I will say from
49:27
experience here because being in an international school like we you know in the summer like people just leave the
49:33
country or they go to another part of the country. So you're suddenly all your kids' friends are gone. If you're if you're still here they're gone and some
49:40
of them leave and some of them will leave and not be here that last week either. So it starts getting very like
49:47
the very end of school and the and the weeks around Christmas and spring break and stuff can get quite sort of light on
49:53
students I would say. And that's another rosecolored thing like we moved to the city. I moved us here and into the city thinking my girls
49:59
are going to be just free floating around the city with friends and it's it's going to be like so wonderful and
50:05
for them and our summer like this summer I'm like kids call your friends. They're
50:11
out of town. They're out of town. They're out of I don't know. No one's got no one's here. And it's like, oh, cuz the expats, especially the expat
50:17
kids, are going back to their country or they live in Europe now, so their parents want them to see all of Europe. And the Spanish kids are going to their
50:23
beach or their mountain house. And so it's people are coming and going. And I think my kids are like, I can't keep up.
50:29
I don't want to keep texting every day who's in town. I'll just watch Netflix. See when people are coming back. Totally. Like it was the beginning. And
50:35
I was kind of disappointed because, you know, we had this experience in the States where I've always worked from
50:40
home. So Zena doesn't need to go to a camp and she didn't really enjoy camps that much because it was just too much
50:45
activity and she likes some downtime and this sort of thing. And so I was like great that I have to pay for camp that's
50:51
fine. We'll we'll create scenarios at home and we'll have your friends over and d but it's like everyone's at camp,
50:57
right? Right. And I was like oh we'll move to Spain and then people will be be there like hopefully you know and we get here
51:03
and everyone's literally gone so they're not even here on the weekends which they were in the States. So, we're like it's
51:10
got like it's worse, but then people do sort of come in and out a little bit, but for the most part, we've found that people are either from Spain and they're
51:16
going to other parts of Spain where their families are or they're literally just leaving the country, right? So, we've done a bit of that ourselves
51:23
to be honest. But yeah, so we did one of our tangent things again. So, we we forgot to finish our
51:29
lunch conversation about how Oh, the lunch. We didn't even talk about lunch. By the way, they have really good
51:35
food here at the schools. Don't let Don't let your children tell you otherwise because they will. No, it's it's gourmet. It's rice. It's
51:42
it's it they're only allowed fried food like once a week. They have fresh fish. They have salads. They have real well
51:49
wellound I'll say that again. Well-rounded well-rounded meals.
51:56
They have a lot of regulations here that that like will depict this. It's not just a school choice. It's like by law
52:03
they can only have so many fried food and they have to have so many and all those things. So it's nice and
52:09
then they so and and our school and I know for a lot of private schools and and I don't even know about the public
52:14
schools you're not allowed to bring lunch to school like you they are supplying it and I think you had said to
52:22
me before that the I'm never on campus so I don't know but that the schools are pretty good at accommodating allergies.
52:29
Is that has that been your experience? So yeah, I've seen lists of allergies. So in in the school we were at, we had a
52:35
scenario where the younger kids were brought into the cafeteria and they would they sat down and were and and
52:41
there were just trays of food um in front of them. Oh, they were served well dah. They were it was kind of served,
52:47
right? And then the older kids were allowed to walk through and pick what food they wanted, but the younger kids got that. But the you know the allergy I
52:55
mean the list of allergies on some of these trays that they were taking care of was astounding. So I think you can
53:01
pretty much I can't imagine the scenario that you would be allowed to bring your own food in because the it's it's a it's
53:08
private companies that cater to the schools and do the school foods and they
53:14
will cater for everything. So does your school are your schools is catered because ours is I mean it's a full cafeteria with chefs and
53:20
Ours is a full cafeteria but it's a third party that runs that cafeteria. Oh brings and they cook but they cook all the food there fresh and everything
53:26
at your school. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's probably the same as what you have. I would imagine it's a it's a company that caters to most of
53:33
the schools. There's like two or three companies around here that do all the catering, but but they even I mean in
53:38
our school that company even renovated the cafeteria. I mean it's like they're they're like it's like they have a
53:44
restaurant in your school basically. They're fully in charge, but they're also in unison with the school and
53:49
working with the school to do whatever the school needs. And so it's it's like a and they have contracts with these
53:54
companies. So they are well trained in how to deal with allergens and everything and and making sure that each
54:01
kid gets what they're supposed to have. So yeah, there's no you can't opt out of that. The only way in Spain that I have
54:08
seen that you can opt out of having lunch at school is if you go home and not all schools
54:14
and then quickly too the kids they have a you know almarta or a morning snack too and that's where our school you send
54:20
that into school. They do have an option of buying like a bokea for like or I have the option of ordering a bokado to
54:26
be ready for them and they have vending machines and that kind of stuff. So they do get a morning snack because also
54:31
their their lunchtime is when they have these extracurriculars. So they don't necessarily getting that whole lunchtime
54:36
to eat. They will be doing some of their extracurricular curriculars during that
54:41
because it's during the school day. Oh okay. What are they supposed to do if they Well, they get like 10 minutes to eat and then they have to run off to do
54:48
a sport. They get like 20 minutes to eat lunch and then they go off to their sport because I think the lunch is like close to two hours. I mean, it's a long
54:54
time, but the the the sport practice is an hour and they have to change, you know. Yeah. I'm very impressed. Like when when
55:00
we were looking at schools in America, they were they were running the public schools there where we were were running lunch from I want to say like 10:00 in
55:06
the morning till 3:00 in the afternoon or something to to accommodate all the children. So you could be going to
55:14
school in the morning and not having lunch until 3, right? Which is insane. Or you could have lunch at 10:00 and you
55:19
would go home absolutely starving. Right. So here what I' I'm absolutely amazed at how they managed to feed the
55:25
whole school within like a 2 and 1 half hour period or something. Probably
55:31
between 12 and not even two and a maybe two hours. Like I mean when I toured the schools the
55:36
sizees of of these lunchrooms were astounding to me. They they are huge. They are they are accommodating a lot.
55:41
So it's very impressive and they're getting it done. So, I would say that that's you you will not be disappointed
55:47
by the by the lunch situation. I I you know, but your kids might be because they all are.
55:54
I think that kind of covers everything. I think I think it does. I mean, yeah, I think
56:01
we've covered everything. Um yeah, I feel completely overwhelmed by the
56:07
scenarios of getting into a new school. So, we we may have more to talk about once I've once we're fully integrated
56:14
into a different system, but um I think that covers the private schools for sure. Until the next time, Tanya.
56:19
Yeah, we'll see you on the next Poco Poco.
56:25
[Music] Hey, can't get enough of us? Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at a podcast
56:32
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56:38
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