So we're now just over 6 months living in Valencia, been a bit of a blur to be honest. At the same time it feels like this has always been home and that we've been here much longer than that. I find that strange, thinking something has passed quickly but also feeling like it's always been this way.
Finally completed the renovation of the apartment last Friday (though to be fair we have been living in the apartment for a month at this stage, that last 5% of work is a pain to organise) but this is the first time we actually just have the place to ourselves without thinking about when a worker is going to drop in or when that piece is going to get completed.
Waiting results of exams now in the next couple of weeks to see if we have achieved the correct level to move on for next year. We both sat A2 exams and hope to start B1 classes in October, classes are only 2 days a week for 3 hours a day so very manageable if we get in. A2 is pretty basic, I think it's the equivalent of junior cert or something approaching that and we both feel positive about how the exams went but entirely possible that I failed one or more parts of it.
We've also both completed interviews in Spanish (that's a very generous assessment of how my interview went) for some basic jobs in bookstores, and will be starting today, just a few hours a day, a couple of days a week. Frankly I'm shocked we got them but there you go, in all honesty it's more to get a chance/be forced to converse in Spanish for a few hours a day than anything else. We've got a couple of friends that we do language exchanges with but really need more consistent periods of only speaking Spanish in order to progress.
Which is all well and good in theory until you get 3 sentences deep in a conversation and can't find the word for, well for anything really, One of the guys I've met here invited us down to his holiday apartment at the weekend so we rented a car and drove down to Cullera (seaside town about 55km from Valencia) and spent all day Saturday chatting with him, his wife and kids and their friends in Spanish. We have definitely improved but I'm still sure we're not saying what we think we are saying
On the plus side our experience here has been great and everybody is so willing to see past our mistakes and express genuine happiness that we are trying at least. The city itself is fantastic, really love it. Reasonably priced food and drink, nice people, loads of nice parks and walks and really good transport links to other areas. All in all delighted with the move so far.
Finally completed the renovation of the apartment last Friday (though to be fair we have been living in the apartment for a month at this stage, that last 5% of work is a pain to organise) but this is the first time we actually just have the place to ourselves without thinking about when a worker is going to drop in or when that piece is going to get completed.
Waiting results of exams now in the next couple of weeks to see if we have achieved the correct level to move on for next year. We both sat A2 exams and hope to start B1 classes in October, classes are only 2 days a week for 3 hours a day so very manageable if we get in. A2 is pretty basic, I think it's the equivalent of junior cert or something approaching that and we both feel positive about how the exams went but entirely possible that I failed one or more parts of it.
We've also both completed interviews in Spanish (that's a very generous assessment of how my interview went) for some basic jobs in bookstores, and will be starting today, just a few hours a day, a couple of days a week. Frankly I'm shocked we got them but there you go, in all honesty it's more to get a chance/be forced to converse in Spanish for a few hours a day than anything else. We've got a couple of friends that we do language exchanges with but really need more consistent periods of only speaking Spanish in order to progress.
Which is all well and good in theory until you get 3 sentences deep in a conversation and can't find the word for, well for anything really, One of the guys I've met here invited us down to his holiday apartment at the weekend so we rented a car and drove down to Cullera (seaside town about 55km from Valencia) and spent all day Saturday chatting with him, his wife and kids and their friends in Spanish. We have definitely improved but I'm still sure we're not saying what we think we are saying
On the plus side our experience here has been great and everybody is so willing to see past our mistakes and express genuine happiness that we are trying at least. The city itself is fantastic, really love it. Reasonably priced food and drink, nice people, loads of nice parks and walks and really good transport links to other areas. All in all delighted with the move so far.
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