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, Gano? Uh, Vien Tanya it.
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It's going great today. It's going great. It's hot. It is hot. I believe you have enough
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Spain for us, so that'll cheer us up hopefully. I do. Well, was it was a pleasant little surprise. We this summer, the kids and I
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went down to Ander Lucia for our summer holiday and we were on the Renf trains,
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you know, the the stateowned train, high-speed train system down there. And I went to the the food car to get snacks
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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
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love a free set of headphones. 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, conot,
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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 religious
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based, but they're not all religious obviously. some I mean I it's sort of like the Catholic schools in in America
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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
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they are they have a little bit more autonom because of the semi-privateness
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of them so you might find ones with some English programs or ones that are taught
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you know here in Valencia you might find maybe ones that are taught in Spanish versus Valencian or something like that
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I mean so might be some little things that you want that you might get out of Right. And I think in the bigger cities
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like Madrid and stuff, you'll find more with the bilingual because just the size of the city warrants the population
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warrants more diversity in education, right? Um but yes, they are here. And I
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guess the best way to explain it would be kind of like the charter school system too in the States, right? You have to apply to them. You don't just go
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to them, but they get the money, but they have Yeah. They have more they have more control over the curriculum.
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Yes. But importantly, you do apply to them here. Anyway, the ones that I have
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experienced in looking into, you do apply in a similar way that you would apply for the public school system. So,
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you're they're not completely private. So, when you know, both of us have our girls in private schools. You go to each
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school, you you either get in or you don't get in, right? in with the with the public and the conchchat. Like for
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instance, you could apply for a conchhat and not get in and you would end up in a p in a public school or you know
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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 conado or public, you must
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have your padron here already, which means you must be living here and you must have gone to the city hall and got
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your padron which says, "Hey, I live at this address and that's in a, you know, government approved piece of paper that
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you use for schools and you use for a number of other things, right? But you will need that. So you won't be
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able to just like apply for a contract school from America or England. You need to, you know, come here, get a place to
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live, get your Padron papers, and then get into the system. So that's a little bit of something that I don't know how
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people are doing this and I would love at some point that when we get into interviews to talk to somebody about who somebody who actually applied to a
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conata school or a public school and how they did it because most people are coming in in the summer and if they're
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being really organized they might come at the beginning of the summer so they can get all their stuff together by September but you've missed the
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enrollment period at that point. So I don't know what happens so can't talk to that. Tell tell us a little bit about
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how you did yours and then I'll get into the crazy three minute of how we did ours.
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Right. Well, we had you I said before we had planned this move for you know we
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had planned it out for a good two years I feel like you know was like let's do it is the reality setting in. So we came
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to visit a year before but to do a scouting trip but the three to four
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months before that scouting trip I hadn't decided on Valencia yet. So I was
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doing like Zoom interviews or Zoom meetings with schools up and down the Spanish coast from Barcelona down to
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Malaga. Oh wow, that's cool. So So through that I kind of that was helping me narrow down and then when we
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did do our scouting trip I had narrowed it down to the four or five schools that I wanted to see in
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Valencia in person. We saw those and then I applied to two. I wrote and and
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and I will say that was really beneficial and the trip was kind of superflous. The trip was really about
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getting my kids less nervous and on board and let's just kind of like make sure. But
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I even when 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 my question. lucky that nothing happened on your scouting trip that
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you're like, "Oh my god, this is so absolutely not where I want to be." Which obviously would be a concern.
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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
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the time that you had and put fly by the seat of your pants at the end of it, that's what we were doing.
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Oh, okay. That's a basically opposite basically is what we did, which is we realized we had to move
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because Brexit was happening and 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
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any any sort of plan of any sort. Okay. And we had 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 of all of our other episodes where we've talked about this situation
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and the purging and all that stuff that it makes sense that you only came with suitcases so you didn't have time to get
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movers and a shipping company if you wanted to bring stuff. You're like we got to go and we got to leave now. We've got to go. I mean had we had
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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 move. So what ended up happening too is
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we were moving mid year. So, we weren't like, "Oh, we're going to like, you know, interview schools and then we're
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going to like apply and then we're going to wait and then we're going to come over in the summer." It was like, "We're going to be there in a month, so you
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know what's going." So, we literally did two interviews and then we applied to the school that
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we wanted to, but they were like, "We don't have any spaces." And this was like January. And we they and they were like, "Well,
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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, and then I sent all the
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information in. And then literally the next day I got an email saying she's accepted.
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Okay. Were they to they didn't, right? I mean, I was I 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, living somewhere and realizing
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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 you're getting into this kind of
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situation where you're picking private schools or you're moving and trying to pick a public school and trying to find
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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 know where the chips are going to fall,
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right? So that was kind of where we were and plus with the time frame I'm freaking out like if we get there
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and there's no school and D and you know so and then so when she got accepted I
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was like okay done. Everything else will be whatever else it is and yeah. So we landed we got then we did a tour of the
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school. So we landed on like a Monday. We had a tour of the school on Wednesday. She was supposed to start on
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Monday but we went into lockdown on Saturday. Right. So it was like okay done. But we were in
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the school. It's it's bringing back all those memories of I remember I remember just that week back in March 2020 back like
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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, you're not going to the grocery store ever again as long as you live without it, right?" So
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you're bringing you're bringing back trauma. You're being triggered. I'm sorry. And our lockdown here was very different from what you
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guys were doing in the States. Let me just say we were locked down in our homes. We were not allowed to leave except to go to the grocery store or
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like the hospital. That was it. So we and we were doing the Zoom like everybody else, the Zoom school. So, you
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know, basically I I'm thankful that we went into an English- speaking 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 have been a really hard transition to and and you're not going to get the support cuz
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she's not going to trust anyone. There's not going to be any sort of and you 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 except like some
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are in the city, some are outside the city, some of them have better sports, some of them have better music. So, if
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you have a kid that's talented in some area, that might be a reason to pick one over another. Otherwise, you're probably
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looking at location, right? We have a couple of American schools, a
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German school, a French school, and then couple of Mont there's a bunch of
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British schools, and then everything else is British. So, even the Monty story schools are based on the British
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system. So, I was out. I didn't want the British system. So, we had we were very
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limited on what schools we could go into. And if she hadn't got into one of the American schools, I think we would
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have probably ended up in public. But, you know, uh that's one of that's one of
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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 have been really
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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 their 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 and it's been my experience from people I've talked to and ourselves that don't worry about the first term
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grades it they they will catch up because they are learning it's all overwhelming At first, especially coming
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from American to British, my kids were like, "What is this all about?" You know, and then it was like, "Oh,
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everything's fine. We made our friends. Everything's good. Oh, they do speak English." Like, it's it's like the eye
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opens, right? 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 wor, you will make friends because they do make friends, but you're going to have this small
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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 I
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have no guide on that. So we and we were also going from American to American. So uh we it wasn't a change in in teaching
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and and education. So for us it was I I didn't experience any of that and and it
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was and you know I think what I've noticed in Zena's school is that it does often how the the the makeup of the
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class will make a big 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 kid's going to land in. Um, but we've had a really good
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experience overall. I've seen a lot of people, you know, new people coming in and it's never been an issue that people
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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 it is a difficult thing for families
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with more than one child is trying to get your kids into the same school because it's limited spots. We were
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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 first, 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 oh you 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 the at the UN the day they leave campus. Right.
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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
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forgot to mention, there are these 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 oldest
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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 fault her while she's building up the language and then like burst through the doors knowing all of
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this 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 an easier experience
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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. But I just my
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only point of bringing it up is just be aware that if you go down that road that your kids will not be fluent in Spanish.
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We want to clean we want to clean a 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 moved. So these these spaces do open up as well. So it
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is you know as we had 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. They've expanded the some of their
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grades from two classes to three classes. So they're also some of these schools are expanding to to take on more
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children since you know more people are coming. Mhm. And more people are using the schools
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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
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they were zero, and we want to bring that over here. And I I think we've had a similar Yeah, we've had a similar
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experience, except I think your school has more going on, but it's outside of school. Let's just say for the most
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part, team sports that kind of rahrh the culture of sport culture doesn't hear,
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right? It's not the football. It's not the jocks and the geeks. Like that's that kind of social strata isn't here. I
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mean, I think there's the kids who love football, but they're getting their sports. I don't know that you could go that far
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having But yeah, the But I mean, there isn't a cheerleader squad. Yeah. No, no, no, no. But how how jocks and
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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. You don't see that kind of that kind of thing. and the extracurriculars there. I
25:00
mean, our school provides a lot. It has a lot of sports fields and all of that. And they have the 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
25:13
sports, and then if they want to excel, then they come in before school or after
25:19
school. And but and they have some that are like teams. I think they do have
25:24
matches with like the swim team matches with other swim teams, but it's not like
25:30
oh, you know, this school's team is playing that school. We're all sending up to the game and everyone's cancelled
25:35
islands. You're not getting that here. But I will say like their PE program is
25:40
much more well-rounded than I had ever experienced in the States because they have ballet and they have they're learning a lot in at least in our
25:47
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 then we had a I mean a great coach
26:42
for football and Zena was doing that for a while and they were traveling and going to Barcelona for matches and I
26:47
mean it was really really fun. But again it wasn't high I wouldn't say it was highly competitive. They were happy for anybody
26:54
that wanted to play to come and play. Like that was the goal of that. It was really about people learning how to play
27:00
and learning and being a team and all that kind of all that good rahrh stuff, right? But as far as like the kids that
27:06
really really are excelling in any sports, they they they're doing it in leagues outside of the school because
27:12
that's where the competitiveness is coming in there, right? And my eldest is in Valley Conservatory and that's outside of
27:18
school, but it's a it's I mean that would have to be I mean that's a whole different thing. We we did like we've done gymnastics and other
27:26
sports at the local rec center, the Poly Depotivo, and then we have did and
27:31
that's like so expensive too. It's like5 a month to do like two
27:36
to do like two classes a month a week and then and then we moved to a gym like
27:42
a gymnastics gym where Zena did that for a while. I want to say it was around €30 a month for that where she did a
27:48
combination of the of the silks thing and all the gymnastics and she did some competitions and it was like
27:55
in this city it's considerably more expensive for silks. We pay 40 a month. So well there you go. still not going to
28:01
break the bank compared to what people are paying in America, I'm sure. Oh, I think that would be 400 a month back in the States for silks. Who knows?
28:07
Yeah. And then but you mean the difference is I think the I mean it's an age thing. I mean we've talked about
28:13
this a little bit before like when you're out in the outside of the city and living outside of the city and our
28:19
school in particular too because it sounds like you have a slightly different bus scenario going on. They have a bus coming they have buses coming
28:25
in the morning and buses leaving after school and they don't really have any extracurricular activities. So if your
28:31
kids'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. Even 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 bus. There's only
29:11
like one or two routes that it 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
29:17
meet your kid there. But if they're teenagers, they should be able to get, you know, especially in the city, they can get themselves home. And same with
29:22
the the the city. A lot of I mean these kids who are in these sports, they get them home from school and then they can
29:27
get themselves to the soccer field in the Turia Park or where they're practicing. Now, if you're a suburb, Yeah. suburb life here is like suburb
29:33
life in America. You got your car and you got to take kids everywhere, right? It's kind of scenario. And I mean, and you can carpool with
29:39
other people. I think people do that a lot. We've done that quite a bit. But it's very there's nothing going on at
29:44
the school for the most part. That means that it's all up to you to do it. And that's that's just the nature of it, I
29:50
And it's and I think the yeah, like you said, the the city life versus the non- city life is that proximity that you
29:57
have to public transportation all over the place that once your kids get to a certain age, you can stop chauffeering
30:03
them or walking them or whatever it is around everything. That doesn't really happen if you live outside of the city
30:09
cuz they're not driving. So, you're still driving them. And just and so everyone knows, your kids are never going to drive here. So,
30:17
doesn't happen till they're 18. They don't have independence. You're one, you've we've dodged the bullet of having
30:22
to buy cars and car insurance at 16, but we also don't have the freedom. Don't don't stress me out about the
30:27
driving situation. Well, your eldest is is getting up there, but yeah.
30:33
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.
30:48
non-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
31:01
a 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
31:41
say I don't really see it like I think it's cute to have
31:46
all the kids in uniforms. Like I like that aspect of it, but it's expensive. I would not have spent what I've just
31:52
spent on uniforms on back to school clothes for Zena. Um she loves clothes and I've never ever
32:00
had to have an issue of what she's wearing because she's always got it planned out. So it's never ever ever been an issue
32:06
and she loves wearing whatever she wants. So, I think in our household, we're kind of like I guess we have to,
32:12
but not really totally on board of it. Actually, I don't I really don't think
32:17
that it's necessarily cheaper because I still have to buy her other clothes because she still needs other clothes to
32:23
wear during weekends and everything. So, she can't not have the other clothes. Although, I did maybe threaten her that she might need to wear her uniform like
32:30
all weekend, all weekend. All night. I I will say that my daughters stay in
32:36
their uniform until it's shower time and bedtime. They come home and they don't they don't change my my kids and on the
32:41
weekends they're usually in their pajamas. So until we go out. So we don't my kids aren't into clothes like your
32:47
daughter is. So we I I don't see that happening but maybe you know check in with me in in a couple of
32:53
months because you might be right. the the cost of I got a ton of things and this is just some other advice is when
33:00
you started an before you started a new school get in touch with the the school so that you can get in touch with some
33:05
parents and get in touch get into the WhatsApp group that type of thing because we I got a ton of secondhand
33:12
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
33:25
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 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 Dane 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 XY and Z. Oh, that's a good idea.
33:55
And someone reached out 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 like I don't even remember her name. It was like a five minute meeting and we got that stuff.
34:12
And now that we're in the school, like I will say that our experience is the uniform skirts are industrialgrade
34:19
plutonium. Those things are not destroyed. So we've passed down and been passed down to us. As they've been out
34:25
growing, we've been able to to pass it forward and and we've received um from others. So you're not spending that
34:32
uniform budget every year and especially if you size up depending on how quickly your children are keep growing. This is
34:38
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 were the Well, my oldest ones. Yeah, they stopped growing
34:51
by 14 15 girls do. So you you could luck out there that they hopefully that you size up and then they're good. And those
34:58
shirts did last a good two years before they got holes. It was they started ripping out the seams. But if I would have bought regular clothes, I mean I
35:05
wouldn't have bought anything from Ralph Lauren holding up if they wore it every day for two years. Do you know? Right. No, that's true. That's true. The
35:11
the skirts though I've saw cuz we got a secondhand skirt which was in beautiful shape but the the the little buckle on
35:17
the on the side of the skirt of which there are two is made of like a pleather and that's all falling apart. So that's
35:24
a bummer. Did you look? So we have at our school. So look what our uniform shop um they
35:30
sell the they sell the buckles separately so you could reso them on. See if yours Okay. Well I asked courting and they
35:35
didn't have them. So, I might need to get you I need to bribe you to go get me a couple and then we can sew them back
35:42
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, it holds offic
35:53
blowing it up. But, so anyway, so shopping, where do you get the uniform? So, at our school, they have the uniform
35:59
shop in and on campus, which is great because if the kids rip a shirt, they can run down to the shop and and and buy
36:06
one, and they kind of make it it very easy. And our school shop has all the school supplies and erasers and
36:12
everything they need is there. So, that's been good. I know that some schools you can get online and some have
36:18
random like stores and strip malls and then you went to El Court. You want to tell the Elc Court experience?
36:24
Oh my god. Well, Katano 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. if 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,
37:28
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 I give you a little tip. You can depending on the color, you can get them at the Chinese stores because that's
37:50
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 know. So I
38:03
got everything that I needed and we had got so much stuff secondhand that was amazing. So I'm like that we can buy a
38:09
couple of pairs of socks here. But yeah, I think once I get into the school, I'm hoping that maybe there is an online
38:15
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 like so there's some variety there. So they're probably one of the schools that like you're saying that's maybe they have a uniform but
38:32
it's not 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 they 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 wearing half
39:00
the uniform or whatever they felt like that day because it was too hot or too cold and they only had shorts but not
39:07
the not the sweatpants or the other way around. So it was all very loosey goosey and they had kind of I think kind of let
39:14
it go a little bit, you know, and and then eventually they decided to have a
39:21
whole new uniform done with this online vendor. And it was awesome because they gave everybody a free uniform once.
39:28
Oh, nice. Okay. Which was really cool. But the but the but the downside or whatever or the the
39:33
click to that was that every kid had to be in the uniform from now on, right? They were like, "We're going to help.
39:40
You're all going to have it. There's no excuses, but here you go." So, they did do a uniform change as well. Yeah. Well,
39:46
so I will just say to you and to anyone else, my uniform advice is two skirts if
39:52
you have girls and five shirts. That way you only have to do the laundry on Saturdays because there's nothing worse than trying to do laundry. And our first
39:58
year as we were building because I didn't have all the shirts yet. I was like, I'm doing laundry on Tuesday and
40:04
Thursday and it was getting on my nerves and now we've collected enough shirts that you know.
40:10
That's awesome. And I have taken that advice and that is what I went into El Court for was to get up to the numbers
40:15
that you had given me. So I am well 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 proper musical recorder,
40:49
you know, that I think is floating around somewhere. It might become a cat toy. Um, or a dog toy. Be careful.
40:54
But it won't last very long if it becomes a a dog toy. She might make some
41:00
music while she's chewing on it, though. That could be fun. Yeah. So, we have that. And then in the new school, we
41:05
there's no list. So, I'm relying on friends. And I like as I said before I became I got myself onto the WhatsApp
41:11
group for her grade and I asked questions there for what we need. But we did get a list of books cuz we are
41:16
expected there to buy the books but I'm getting some of those secondhand. So there is a system in all these schools
41:22
for people to share things they don't need anymore if you can find it. So our school has we have to buy our
41:28
books and there's a list that comes out like in May the year before. So what's great about that is you don't have this
41:34
like kind of back to school rush. I mean, back in the States, when I remember being in high school, it was like the week before school. Everyone's
41:39
down to the gymnasium buying books and all that kind of stuff. So, this school, they they don't have to, but they're not
41:46
in the book shop either. So, you have to order them in May. But at that time, they give you a month to to finagle
41:52
deals to see who who was taking those classes the year before. And then also, they give you the ISP numbers. I think
41:58
that that it's called like, you know, the thing. So, you can look it up on Amazon by ISVP. and and they aren't about 10% cheaper if not more cheaper on
42:05
Amazon. So, and then there's certain things you have to buy at the school because I think there's like licensing because they think they come with like
42:11
some of these books come with like complimentary computer programs. But that has saved us a bundle now that
42:16
we're in the system, right? Now that we're in the swapping system once you it's it does easier. Yeah. If you can somehow get into the system
42:23
before you start, you can get a lot of secondhand things. I think like I'm waiting for I'm just lucky that I have a
42:29
friend that's already in the school. So, she's hooking me up with and doing some of the work. All all the work, not some
42:35
of the work. She's doing all the work of getting me into the secondhand system with people that she knows from there.
42:40
But the other thing when at the school we were at, we really didn't need a lot of stuff. They took care of the books.
42:47
They I mean the the list that we got was all just like notebooks and pens and pencils and rulers and things that we
42:53
needed. It wasn't anything big. And then also there they were provided with a
42:58
computer and then you just had to sign away your life in case the kid like threw it out the window but it was
43:04
provided by the school and it was loaded with everything from the school and given to the kids and everything. And
43:10
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
43:22
school is requiring us to have iPads and so they're very expensive. But um the
43:28
contract my daughters have to sign is with their father. So if they want to eat ever again they will
43:34
not ruin this iPad that are like twice the price and you have to buy the iPad or the
43:39
school buys the iPad. 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 still have your phone while you're sleeping. That's how they do it,
44:02
aren't they? Totally. But I but I will say like our school did when they were bringing in computers, they did one year and this
44:10
was 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
44:16
because I 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
44:34
which I think was great. And then in the new school, we have to buy them a computer, but it could be anything.
44:39
Okay. 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
45:10
and try and figure it out. So basically like right now with the books I'm whatever books we can get over the
45:15
summer from other students that were in the year above we get and anything that we don't get
45:21
the school will provide and charge for charge you for right I guess right yeah so it's a system it seems to work you'll
45:27
figure it out unfortunately you just have to figure it out again it's just the way it is
45:32
but I think now that I'm doing it again I'm realizing like you get very stressed for a little bit and then you're like
45:38
okay you know there's a point where it starts to fall into place enough that you realize, okay, I'm also we're also
45:44
new here. There has to be some level of 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
45:50
can't all be perfect. So, so long as the kids in school, they've got something to wear, you know, they got a backpack that you
45:58
think, but I what we also haven't talked about and I think it's a good thing to talk
46:04
about is is how they eat at school, right? like they do get fed and we did talk about earlier, right, about the
46:10
kids coming home at lunch. Did we talk about that earlier? I can't remember. Um I'm not sure. So, we're doing we're
46:17
doing um in it's very Spanish to if you live near the if you live near your kids' school for them to come home for
46:24
lunch, which I think is awesome. When we first moved here, Jawad and I were out to lunch. Zimma was in school and just
46:29
all these kids started walking by in uniform and we were like, "It's like 1:30. What are they doing? Shouldn't
46:34
they be in school? Shouldn't they be ding?" And that still shocks me in the city at like 1:30. I'm seeing all these kids in
46:39
their uniforms and children running around. I'm like, "Aren't you supposed to be at school?" And then I'm like, "Oh, it's siesta. They're at lunchtime."
46:46
That's not happening in the schools, the private schools outside of the city. So,
46:51
I don't know if that's the conado schools maybe that's happening. I don't know if the the big private private
46:57
really like private schools in the city doing that. I have friends. Those schools in the city go home.
47:02
Yeah. So, but definitely outside of the city that's not happening. Um, but that is a very Spanish thing. So, with the
47:08
school we're moving to, we're actually hoping to move closer to the school and have that experience. And the other thing that they do, a regular school day
47:14
is about 9:30 to 4:30ish, um, somewhere around that frame. And what they do for
47:20
the first month, and I think also the last month of the year, but I'm not 100% sure, is they do like a half day. So,
47:26
Zena will be going to school from 9:30 to like 1:30. And then I think if she
47:31
comes home for lunch, she'll be coming home at like 12:30 or something. So that's the first month. It's kind of
47:37
like a a soft in to the school of get get the kids kind of in but not overwhelmed in the first month.
47:44
You didn't have that experience at your old school though cuz we don't have that experience in our school. It's by
47:49
not something that we've had. No, it's full on from the beginning. Now, I'm not saying that they're not showing a lot of movies and things on the last week of
47:56
school or whatever, but yeah, it's it's fullon and that's usually how it is. Well, I will say to our school, the last
48:01
month, June, is a is a free-for-all month because all the exams are in May. So, June is like it's more like summer
48:08
camp. They have all these like parties planned and activity days and awards assemblies. Like, there's not a lot of
48:14
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 different experience of
48:22
school's really out by you school's done by the end of May but their bodies are still there for June.
48:27
That might be a British system scenario because that's not what's happening in the American system. We have I would say
48:34
um the last two weeks maybe and they probably have they probably have exams
48:40
or tests up until the last week maybe and it's really just the last week where they have
48:46
um they have the school trips on the 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
48:52
do then you're off for two or three days and if you're at school you're watching movies and and helping other classes
48:58
with things in sports or something or going and jumping in the school or whatever. So, those last that last week
49:04
for sure is is good, but we don't have the um we don't have the massive exam mock
49:10
exam situations that you guys have from like 14 going on. So, we it's not quite
49:16
so serious I think towards that end, but it's similar in the fact that definitely the last week is yeah, why are we here?
49:23
And and often honestly I will say from experience here because being in an
49:28
international school like we you know in the summer like people just leave the country or they go to another part of
49:35
the country. So your suddenly all your kids' friends are gone. If you're if you're still here they're gone and some of them leave and some of them will
49:41
leave and not be here that last week either. Right. So it starts getting very like the very end of school and the and
49:48
the weeks around Christmas and spring break and stuff can get quite sort of light on students I would say.
49:54
And that's another rosecolored thing like we moved to the city. I moved us here and into the city thinking my girls are going to be just free floating
50:01
around the city with friends and it's it's going to be like so wonderful and for them and our summer like this summer
50:09
I'm like kids call your friends. They're 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,
50:15
oh, cuz the expats, especially the expat kids, are going back to their country or they live in Europe now, so their
50:20
parents want them to see all of Europe. And the Spanish kids are going to their beach or their mountain house. And so
50:25
it's people are coming and going. And I think my kids are like, I can't keep up. I don't want to keep texting every day who's in town. I'll just watch Netflix.
50:32
See when people coming back. Totally. Like it was the beginning. And I was kind of disappointed because, you know, we had this experience in the States
50:38
where I've always worked from home. So Zena doesn't need to go to a camp and she didn't really enjoy camps that much
50:44
because it was just too much activity and she'd like some downtime and this sort of thing. And so I was like great
50:50
that I have to pay for camp that's fine. We'll we'll create scenarios at home and we'll have your friends over and d but
50:56
it's like everyone's at camp, right? Right. And I was like oh we'll move to Spain and then people will be be there
51:01
like hopefully you know and we get here and everyone's literally gone so they're not even here on the weekends which they
51:07
were in the States. So, we're like it's got like it's worse, but then people do sort of come in and out a little bit,
51:13
but for the most part, we've found that people are either from Spain and they're going to other parts of Spain where
51:18
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
well 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 sugars and all those things. So it's
52:08
nice and 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
52:14
public 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, la 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 who 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 at our school the
54:20
you send that into school. They do have an option of buying like a bokea for like or I have the option of ordering a
54:25
bokea to be ready for them and they have vending machines and that kind of stuff. So they do get a morning snack because
54:30
also their their lunchtime is when they have these extracurriculars. So they don't necessarily getting that whole
54:36
lunchtime to eat. They will be doing some of their extracurricular curriculars during that time. That's
54:41
interesting because it's during the school day. Oh, okay. What are they supposed to do if they're Well, they get like 10 minutes to eat and then they have to run
54:47
off to do 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
54:53
mean, it's a long 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'm I'm absolutely amazed at how they managed to feed the
55:25
whole school within like a two and a half hour period or something probably
55:30
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 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
56:12
once I've once we're fully integrated into a different system, but um I think that covers the private schools for
56:17
sure. Until the next time, Tanya. Yeah, we'll see you on the next Poco Poco.
56:27
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