Hi.
I'm looking for a lot of information and was wondering if anyone can help. I'm Irish, my husband is Spanish and we have two boys aged seven and four. My husband has been living here in Ireland since 2000, so is fluent. I have intermediate Spanish. My husband speaks to the children in Spanish but they will only answer him in English even though they understand everything. They speak Spanish when they have to i.e. when we're in Spain with family.
My main reason for moving would be for them to attend a local school to become fluently bilingual. I also like the Spanish attitude to family (children are included in everything, not excluded) and the fact that alcohol isn't the sole reason for social occasions. The good food and weather doesn't hurt either!
We would like to rent for maybe a year initially to see how things go. We really like Galicia and have holidayed with our Spanish family for the last six years in Moana and Gondomar. I really, really, really don't want to live in an apartment. I don't mind living in an urbanisation and wouldn't mind being un poco en el campo.
What I'm looking for (which may not exist) is a good local school in a nice friendly area where the children can integrate, make friends, play outside, nearby sports facilities, parks, friendly neighbours, a house with a garden, where you can walk to most places or take a bus and a half decent internet connection for business reasons in Galicia.
I'll be going with a CELTA and my husband hopes to work online, however our main priority for a while will be settling the children.
Fourteen years ago we lived in Valencia in Peurto de Sagunto for four months, which wasn't bad but the heat killed me. We moved to Torrevieja for work and hated the place and moved back to Ireland shortly after as the employment situation in general was dire. I know the employment situation isn't good at the moment so we'll be using savings and the money can get from renting our house in Ireland.
Any suggestions or information would be appreciated.
Thanks.