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CHILDREN

The 28 surefire signs that your child is definitely Spanish

Lisa Sadlier, who moved from Britain to raise her young family in Malaga, explains the tell-tale signs that your bicultural child has embraced their new homeland.

The 28 surefire signs that your child is definitely Spanish
Photo: sunychka_/Depositphotos

Spain is a fabulous place to bring up your children. Family comes first and children are children for longer. However, it can take time to adjust to new ways of doing things, especially when they are so different to what we thought were the right way to do things.

It’s all about opening your mind and embracing new ideas and cultures.

You’ll know your kids grew up in Spain when…
 
1. You don’t scream for help when a stranger picks up your child to give them a hug.

2. The battle of getting them to say “Please” … is never ending!


Photo: lunamarinaDepositphotos

3. Hot chocolate and donuts (churros) are considered a normal breakfast.

4. The first word your toddler learns at nursery is “Mío”.

5. Dogs say “guau guau”.


Photo: Sonyae/Depositphotos

6.. You send them off to their first day of school, escuela infantil,  before they are even three-years-old!

7. You have learnt to do divison sums backwards 

8.. They call Tweety Pie “Piu Piu”.

9. You catch yourself introducing yourself as “la madre de …” or “el padre de …”

10. Hand and facial gestures are often used in place of words by your kids for expressing themselves.

11. Caca!

12. Cacahuete!

13. Three month long summer holidays are just the norm.


Photo: KarrelNope/Depositphotos

14. Sea air is a popular cure for many illnesses … especially the never ending snotty noses!

15. Your kids grow up able to spray salt water up their own nostrils to help clear a blocked nose.

16. Lunchtime can be any time from 2pm to 5pm … especially at the weekend.

17. Your kids complain when school days last longer that 9am to 2pm.

18. You are no longer surprised when you go outside to find a pool full of children…and most of them aren’t yours!


Photo: grafvision/Depositphotos

19. You don’t usually go outside if it’s raining and, to their English grandparents’ horror, your children do not possess any wellies

20. When the children ask for “jamón” (ham) you need to check whether they want “Serrano” or “Cocido” (Spanish cured or boiled).

21. Your kids, from an early age, are experts as sucking fresh shellfish, “mariscos”, from their shells.


Photo: achubykin/Depositphotos

22. They do not think twice about having a full blown conversation with an unknown “abuelo” or “abuelito” in the street.

23. They are constantly told by friends and family, back home, that they “look so well” due to year round exposure to fresh air and sunshine.

24. They know the difference between a barra, baguette, pitufo, pan de molde and mollete.

Photo: grafvision/Depositphotos

25. They can roll their R’s a lot better than you.

26. You no longer flinch when Spanish radio and TV play the explicit lyrics of UK / US songs and videos.

27. You are totally unflustered when you receive a note on Friday evening telling you that it’s a one week school holiday … starting on Monday!

28. Your family conversations are often a mezcla of two idiomas.

Spanglish rules!

Lisa Sadleir is a relocation consultant  and mother of two bilingual children living in Mijas, Malaga. She writes a blog, and is the author of Moving to Spain with Children and Cooking with Languages.

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Five signs you’ve settled into life in Switzerland

Getting adjusted to Swiss ways is not always easy for foreign nationals, but with a lot of perseverance it can be done. This is how you know you’ve assimilated.

Five signs you've settled into life in Switzerland
No lint: Following laundry room rules is a sign of integration in Switzerland. Photo by Sara Chai from Pexels

Much has been said about Switzerland’s quirkiness, but when you think about it, this country’s idiosyncrasies are not more or less weird than any other nation’s — except for the fact that they are expressed in at least three languages which, admittedly, can complicate matters a bit.

However, once you master the intricacies and nuances of Swiss life, you will feel like you belong here.

This is when you know you’ve “made it”.

You speak one of the national languages, even if badly

It irritates the Swiss to no end when a foreigner, and particularly an English-speaking foreigner, doesn’t make an effort to learn the language of a region in which he or she lives, insisting instead that everyone communicates to them in their language.

So speaking the local language will go a long way to being accepted and making you feel settled in your new home.

You get a Swiss watch and live by it

Punctuality is a virtue here, while tardiness is a definite no-no.

If you want to ingratiate yourself to the Swiss, be on time. Being even a minute late  may cause you to miss your bus, but also fail in the cultural integration.

‘The pleasure of punctuality’: Why are the Swiss so obsessed with being on time?

Using an excuse like “my train was late” may be valid in other countries, but not in Switzerland.

The only exception to this rule is if a herd of cows or goats blocks your path, causing you to be late.

A close-up of a Rolex watch in Switzerland.

Owning a Rolex is a sure sign you’re rich enough to live in Switzerland. Photo by Adam Bignell on Unsplash

You sort and recycle your trash

The Swiss are meticulous when it comes to waste disposal and, not surprisingly, they have strict regulations on how to throw away trash in an environmentally correct manner.

Throwing away all your waste in a trash bag without separating it first — for instance, mixing PET bottles with tin cans or paper — is an offence in Switzerland which can result in heavy fines, the amount of which is determined by each individual commune.

In fact, the more assiduous residents separate every possible waste item — not just paper, cardboard, batteries and bottles (sorted by colour), but also coffee capsules, yogurt containers, scrap iron and steel, organic waste, carpets, and electronics.

In fact, with their well-organised communal dumpsters or recycling bins in neighbourhoods, the Swiss have taken the mundane act of throwing out one’s garbage to a whole new level of efficiency.

So one of the best ways to fit in is to be as trash-oriented as the Swiss.

READ MORE: Eight ways you might be annoying your neighbours (and not realising it) in Switzerland

You trim your hedges with a ruler

How your garden looks says a lot about you.

If it’s unkempt and overgrown with weeds, you are clearly a foreigner (though likely not German or Austrian).

But if your grass is cut neatly and your hedges trimmed with military-like precision (except on Sundays), and some of your bushes and shrubs are shaped like poodles,  you will definitely fit in.

You follow the laundry room rules

If you live in an apartment building, chances are there is a communal laundry room in the basement that is shared by all the residents.

As everything else in Switzerland, these facilities are regulated by a …laundry list of “dos” and “don’ts” that you’d well to commit to memory and adhere to meticulously.

These rules relate to everything from adhering to the assigned time slot to removing lint from the dryer.

Following each rule to the letter, and not trying to wash your laundry in someone else’s time slot, is a sign of successful integration.

Voilà, the five signs you are “at home” in Switzerland.

READ MORE: French-speaking Switzerland: Seven life hacks that will make you feel like a local

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