Wasn’t it just yesterday that we moved? Showed you around our white, mountainside house with a nice tour? Seems like it right?
I still remember the excitement of recording the walkabout of that other home and sharing the moments with you my dear readers, some of whom are friends and families.
Before the last move
We were exhausted from a hectic move that stretched thousands of kilometres from London to Malaga when we moved into that last home. The exhaustion was exacerbated by the fact that we had to move into 3 different AirBnb lodgings before that.
With 3 children, 2 cats and 1 hamster, let’s just say we took the first house that gave us the very view we had in mind and the pool we were looking for. (I did a house tour of that on the linked blog post). We just wanted to move somewhere!
Things don’t always go according to plan. Sadly…
What happened?
The house turned out to be a nightmare with the landlord letting things slide. We would be emailing him constantly to get things fixed. Things we were promised when we were doing our viewing. When he sent help, it was pretty much the most basic, using companies I wouldn’t have hired personally.
We had no air conditioning in the living-dining room the whole time we were there and termites infestation was another thing. When the temperatures hit over 25C and steadily climbs over the weeks, we were left panting. Being higher up meant that you feel the heat more.
Being in a mountainous and green area also meant we had a big problem with mosquitos this summer. We totally didn’t think about that! (I only thought of mosquitoes when I’m back in Asia!)
We thought of the kids’ welfare
We didn’t realise how allergic our no.2 girl is to mosquito bites. Poor dear is now covered in scars from the bites and the ‘light scratches’ she said she did. Plus she discovered bed bugs in the only bed frame we decided to use that belonged to the landlord. (We have our own full set of furniture shipped over from London)
Another reason for the move was for our children’s education. They were brought one educational year down due to the lack of Spanish language. This also brought its own setbacks. The local village school despite having amazing and caring teachers, couldn’t give them the kind of education they were used to internationally and in London.
The Spanish education system is slightly behind the UK in terms of when a child learns certain subjects. My son, who was doing more complex Maths in Year 3 in London, went back to Year 2 in Spain. He was initially proud of how easy it was for him to do his sums. After a while, the boredom sets in. You should never underestimate how important it is to be mentally stimulated in education.
Our eldest daughter was also very concerned that her siblings were not being challenged academically. We cherished her opinion very much so we listened. After a family discussion and a big dig around in our bank account, it was then decided the 3 children will go back to British international education.
Next step
We started searching for the best school our money can buy. We didn’t want a purely British English school (we are not British after all) as we wanted a more international mix for them. The husband and I eventually settled on one by the coast with good education and holistic programme. (Of course, a good reputation amongst the local hoi-polloi helps!)
We got seriously searching for a home closer to the school once the search was done. Unlike the village Spanish school which was only from 9 am to 2 pm, international schools tend to be from 8:30 am to about 4 pm. We didn’t want to risk driving long during rush hour.
This new place is much bigger, more colourful Andalusian style and very close to the new school. Did I mention I have 2 jacuzzis in this new place? 😉
The Move
This is the ‘easiest’ move I’ve ever done! We arranged a handover with 2 overlapping weeks. This meant that the husband and I managed to drive over all the fragile items in our MPV turned van. Every. Single. Day. It was very tiring but then we saved a ton of money on removal services.
The last weekend in the old house was when we did the ‘big move’. I finally hired a removal van and 2 burly but super careful Spanish guys to move my heavy ticket items. We worked from 10 am to 6 pm.
A month in this new place, we are still settling in. There are still a couple of boxes here and there but much less than we are used to. In our old moves (most internationally) we would still be unpacking boxes 4 or more months into the move.
Next week, the children will finally start in their new school.
I look forward to seeing their new progress and making new parent friends. And of course, enjoying the Costa Del Sol life…
I know a lot of you my dear friends and readers love “House Hunters International”, a house hunting and house tour programme.
Below I’ve linked the video of the house tour I did before we ‘officially’ moved in. Hope you like it!
P.S If you haven’t already, do subscribe to my YouTube channel. I try and upload my vlogs 2x a week. Some vlogs get shared here eventually but if you want fresh content, hit that SUBSCRIBE button!
If you want to read about things to do in this area, how about checking out this vlog post? You’ll salivate not just over the view, but your knees might turn to jelly 😉
