Your experience of culture shock in Spain

Hello people,just visiting from the Greece forum,we were also invited to express our cultural shocks and I take note of your comments.

It is hard to stay on topic because we all begin to talk of our shocks through our own experiences,there seems no other way and I guess the moderators need to be moderate in their understanding of that and they often invite emotive subjects which lead to emotive responses because we are humans not machines.

Lots of very similar shocks here in Greece besides the crisis which never ends and I dont really think that mediterranean countries will ever change much,the usual corruption,cronyism,public sector bribery,the treatment of the general public by the public sector workers whos numbers are greatly swollen and enjoy perks that the private sector dont.

And I dont believe that things can ultimately change due to very poor management within most sectors,partly because they are not privatized and what a pity this needs to happen as the only way of cleaning up their act.

To make you laugh,the other day in an evening market I heard people speaking English with an Aussie accent so we had a chat,they were on holiday,they said"oh this is the place to be,not many laws,Aus is nothing but laws and nothing but work,work,work,got to get ourselves here"And I have been asking God to make these Greeks obey a few laws for so many years,

they are like the wild west,impossible,you cant tame them.

I hope the lady returning to UK will improve her life and settle down after her difficult time there,to be happy,

many regards to you all over in Spain from Concertina.

x and dear Moderator,sorry

if Im a bit off topic,forgive me.

Hello all


For info several posts since the beginning of this thread has been removed here.

Please stick to the initial topic, if you feel there are other things you could say about Spain, please Create a New thread!

Here below is the original post to which we are expecting to gather testimonies from expats. We expect members to respect Opinions of others, cause everyone is different and experience life there differently.

Christine wrote:

Hi,

Living in a foreign country implies to discover its culture, to learn and master the cultural codes.

How did you deal with that? Share with us your culture shock stories where you experienced a funny or awkward moment in Spain.

What is your advice regarding the don’ts and what would you recommend to avoid any mistake?

Thank you in advance for sharing your stories,

Christine

Regards
Kenjee

Hi,
We live between Hondon de las Nieves, Alicante and Canterbury, Kent.    I come to Spain for the glorious weather during April to July and September- November (I find August too hot and crowded) for the beautiful mountains we live amongst, for the great food and wine.  I also love travelling around and seeing the gorgeous scenery and castles, which I write about in my blog (canterburytalesandspanishsiestas.wordpress.com, registered on Expat.com). 
For me,  the biggest  downside of living in Spain, which is becoming a huge issue in our area,  is the amount of dogs and their barking and the poos that are left all over the place, which make walking and bike-riding in our area at least, a 'game' of dodge the dog poos -- one I would prefer not to play.   Although there are signs up advising dog-owners that it is illegal not to clean up after their dogs, those who do so are in the minority and the English, Spanish and Dutch who live here are all equally culpable.   To make matters worse, most dog owners own several dogs, 2-5 being the norm.    The dog situation is a problem in the campo as well as on an urbanisation, and any newbees to Spain should be aware of this problem.   My advice would be to not add to it by owning a dog, and if you do so,  at least train it so that it doesn't bark all the time and be responsible and clean up after if when you take it for walks.

Hi Terrylee, I feel that sterilizing and stopping the abuse/abandonment of the dogs,  is just a little more important than cleaning up the dog poo and the barking.

hi adrienneb .i gree she wouldnt like it here .i live in a cul de sac  i have three dogs ,my son next door has seven ,new neibours brought two more .next door other side have three ..next door to my son two more finally my other neighbour three labs,lots of dogs no burglers their the best alarms going any strangers about,we soon know,about it.and not one dog poo,honest.

Hi Adrienneb,
I think we are discussing two completely different issues.   Yes, the topic is dogs, but I am talking about my culture shock over dog owners and their lack of responsibility in their care of the dogs they obviously own.   They clearly love their dogs but do not care enough about other people who share their environment to teach the dogs not to bark incessantly and to clean up after their dogs.   I do not blame the dogs, I blame the dog owners.   
I am not discussing cruelty abandonment or abuse of dogs and sterilisation of such dogs.   As I said, that is another issue that others have found in their culture shock in Spain.   That is not my experience yet,  so it is not a culture shock for me.   My experience of dogs in Spain is constant barking and dog poo everywhere.  That for me is the most important issue as it is seriously affecting my activities and my environment in Spain and has made me question the wisdom of buying a house here.   For the record, I am a trained Veterinarian and an animal lover.

Hello linedancer,
I suppose my main question for you is WHY?   If you have dogs for alarms,  why do all of you need so many?  Clearly Los Barrios is a very dangerous place.   But at least you are responsible for clearing up their mess.   Thank you very much for that and I am certain people that go walking and bike riding in the countryside around you are appreciative of that! 

There is clearly a big divide in the expats in Spain of those who have dogs and those who don't.   So it is perhaps best that I exit this thread now.   As I type my neighbours dog is happily barking away, very loudly as someone has walked by their house,  and this has started off a chain of other dogs barking all over the place.  Shame I really fancy sitting by my pool, getting ready to watch the sunset and trying to listen to the silence.    Again advice for anyone thinking of moving to Spain, if you like peace and quiet, be aware that due to the dog barking situation, any peace and quiet you have will be continuously punctuated by the sound of barking dogs!   Adios 😎

no no no los barrios isnt a dangerous place,the dogs i have and others are strays ,weve taken in.and unlike the couples who knock out six or more kids ,then expect the goverment to keep them i can afford to keep the number i have,,spain is a noisy country ,so what ? the spanish live here its their home ,we didnt come here with our eyes shut,but i can assure you i love every minute of it, no,  i dont like bull fighting and cruelty to any animals, but its not my [place  to dictate to a country that has befriended me,and i wont,san roque has previved several miles of a bycycle road ,only for cyclist,and for your info my son arrived here .with seven dogs from the isle of man ,i guess as it doesnt worry me ,theres no point in explaining any further,

I'm originally from Rhodesia now Zimbabwe, they likewise are very cruel to animals and children and women.  still happening now. It's definitely not just Spain.

terrylee wrote:

Hi,
We live between Hondon de las Nieves, Alicante and Canterbury, Kent.    I come to Spain for the glorious weather during April to July and September- November (I find August too hot and crowded) for the beautiful mountains we live amongst, for the great food and wine.  I also love travelling around and seeing the gorgeous scenery and castles, which I write about in my blog (canterburytalesandspanishsiestas.wordpress.com, registered on Expat.com). 
For me,  the biggest  downside of living in Spain, which is becoming a huge issue in our area,  is the amount of dogs and their barking and the poos that are left all over the place, which make walking and bike-riding in our area at least, a 'game' of dodge the dog poos -- one I would prefer not to play.   Although there are signs up advising dog-owners that it is illegal not to clean up after their dogs, those who do so are in the minority and the English, Spanish and Dutch who live here are all equally culpable.   To make matters worse, most dog owners own several dogs, 2-5 being the norm.    The dog situation is a problem in the campo as well as on an urbanisation, and any newbees to Spain should be aware of this problem.   My advice would be to not add to it by owning a dog, and if you do so,  at least train it so that it doesn't bark all the time and be responsible and clean up after if when you take it for walks.

Yes, it was also a shock for me. I come from Vancouver, Canada and there the laws regarding the noise are very strict. When I arrived in Valencia in May  2012 first I rented an apartment in La Alboraya close to the beach and I just couldn't take the noise, It was really bad, people drinking having  loud music almost every night. After I moved to a townhouse in a residential neighbourhood, the same problem, i remember once one of my neighbours had a party until 6 am. he decided to put the speakers close the community pool, probably I should have joined the party  
Now I am living in a chalet , it is an isolated neighbourhood, the house doesn't have AC so in summer I need to leave the windows open at night. Surprise, you can hear dogs barking all night long. I have 4 dogs nows ( 3 rescues in Spain) but they sleep indoors, I do it especially for me because I want to sleep well. One of my neighbours has 11 dogs ( also rescues), I guess it would be difficult for him to let them sleep inside.
When I talk to people around here,  they say the dogs should be outside as their job is to take care of the properties, this is part of their mentality.  I don't agree with that.
My sister lives in a nice place with her 1 year old baby, it is a complex with 9 houses sharing a pool, at the beginning everything seemed ok but when summer came, oh la la. The neighbours had gatherings every night, with BBQs, music, kids playing in the pool, etc. It sounds great but if you have a baby trying to sleep it is not so much.
And yes you are right about the poo, it is everywhere, it is absolutely gross, very rarely you see someone cleaning after the dog.
All these problems are correlated, the lack of laws, regulations, education, lack of respect and consideration for others, humans, animals.
No sterilization= animal overpopulation.

Soon  I  wont  be  in expats  anymore because  of  no  work  In  Tenrife  to  do  woth  age coz  one  you  are  40  here your  finishes then  you  get  help one year  yes  one  year  no  of 426  to  live off and a food  bak  which I  went  to  ot  was  half  empty  and I  am  In  there  country  so  rather  give  it to  them the  system  doesnt  work  like  England  where  the  inagrants  flat  gets  payed  food  they  can  even  go  on  holtiday  now  at  521  no  hel  I  have  lost  everything  and  now  becomes  the battle  to  get  back  to England  and   hope  to get  a  job and  a  normal  life as England  do  not  like  to help  there own  we are  the  last in  the  cue coulde  even  be on  streets in  the  cold  not  the  warm Island I  have  lived and  loved  for 21 years