- Home » Expat News » Expats in Spain take to Twitter with their frustrations
Expats in Spain take to Twitter with their frustrations
| Published: | 11 Apr at 6 PM |
Want to get involved?
Become a Featured Expat and take our interview.
Become a Local Expert and contribute articles.
Get in touch today!
Become a Local Expert and contribute articles.
Get in touch today!
Expat life in Spain, believed to be one long succession of sand, sea, sangria and sex, is taking a hit on Twitter, with foreign residents venting their frustrations online for all to read.
‘Only in Spain’ moments are being tweeted in all their often hilarious glory, with the expat lifestyle laid bare as being somewhat short of paradise. One of the most mentioned moans is common to those living in new developments, where the walls are so thin that residents can hear their neighbours’ bathroom and bedroom habits.
A common reason for choosing Spain as a retirement destination is the friendliness of the expat communities as against the stiff-upper-lip behaviour common in the home country. Loneliness isn’t good for us humans but, according to Twitter, neither is friends or family dropping in for an hour and staying all day.
It seems that expats in Spain have serious problems with Spanish attempts to pronounce their names correctly, and vegetarians who would love to spend an evening with friends in a local tapas bar find themselves unable to deal with the smoked hams hanging from the ceiling. The inability to find a tapas bar unadorned with dead pigs is hampered by expats’ frustrating lack of the Spanish language.
Strong coffee, the holy grail for many expats, isn’t appreciated by those who’ve arrived from the USA and, although night owls love the late-night lifestyle, those whose idea of heaven is bed at 22:00 just can’t adjust. Worse still, Spain’s illogical import laws disallowing the bringing in of many expat favourite foods such as peanut butter are causing serious grief in the community.
Even dedicated music lovers, it seems, have huge problems with typically Spanish tunes running in their heads 24/7, especially as most can’t understand the words. However, considering the alternatives of foul weather, petty officials and the nanny states all too common in most home countries, readers might still think expats in Spain are the lucky ones.
‘Only in Spain’ moments are being tweeted in all their often hilarious glory, with the expat lifestyle laid bare as being somewhat short of paradise. One of the most mentioned moans is common to those living in new developments, where the walls are so thin that residents can hear their neighbours’ bathroom and bedroom habits.
A common reason for choosing Spain as a retirement destination is the friendliness of the expat communities as against the stiff-upper-lip behaviour common in the home country. Loneliness isn’t good for us humans but, according to Twitter, neither is friends or family dropping in for an hour and staying all day.
It seems that expats in Spain have serious problems with Spanish attempts to pronounce their names correctly, and vegetarians who would love to spend an evening with friends in a local tapas bar find themselves unable to deal with the smoked hams hanging from the ceiling. The inability to find a tapas bar unadorned with dead pigs is hampered by expats’ frustrating lack of the Spanish language.
Strong coffee, the holy grail for many expats, isn’t appreciated by those who’ve arrived from the USA and, although night owls love the late-night lifestyle, those whose idea of heaven is bed at 22:00 just can’t adjust. Worse still, Spain’s illogical import laws disallowing the bringing in of many expat favourite foods such as peanut butter are causing serious grief in the community.
Even dedicated music lovers, it seems, have huge problems with typically Spanish tunes running in their heads 24/7, especially as most can’t understand the words. However, considering the alternatives of foul weather, petty officials and the nanny states all too common in most home countries, readers might still think expats in Spain are the lucky ones.
Comments » There is 1 comment
James wrote 10
years ago:
This sort of thing really annoys me — you leave your home country and then expect your new home to be just like it? And what’s the point of only mingling with other expats and never natives, and not learning the native language? What’s the betting that a lot of these expats complained about immigrants to their home countries acting like that? Most of these expats sound like they should have stayed at home. Anyone know a region of Spain free of whingeing Brits and Americans? The reason I want to leave England is to get away from people like this!
