Life in Ronda, Learning Spanish, Property in Spain

La Oreja de Van Gogh - A las cinco en Asturias

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:25:42 -0700

La Oreja de Van Gogh, literally translated as The Ear of Van Gogh, is a Spanish band who have been around since the late 1990s, originally with Amaia Montero as lead singer, but over the last year fronted by
Leire Martinez who joined the band after winning a competition to front them when Montero decided to pursue a solo career.

Their latest album is in my opinion their most polished, and best sounding of all their albums, and Leire lends a clear voice with great sing-along potential, ideal for people learning Spanish who also want to listen to great music.

Their most recent album, A las cinco en el Astoria, was released in September 2008 and became the 12th most sold album of the year, and even now in July 2009 is still giving the band top ten singles. the album hit number one in Spain and Argentina, and did well in other Spanish speaking countries.

The album opens with a really upbeat rock track, El Ultimo Vals, that immediately tells you this isn't going to be an album filled with ballads. In fact the album is quite different to their previous albums, I'm not sure if Leire's influence is being felt, or if Amaia Montero had too much influence, certainly if you took the two or three upbeat songs from each of the four previous albums and put them together you might end up with an album like this one.

Inmortal continues the upbeat rock tone, and is a great song for singing at the top of your lungs around the house. Inmortal contains one of my favourite lines, "Sere inmortal, porque yo soy to destino", sere being the future tense of I am, so I guess this line means I'll be immortal, I am your destiny. In English it doesn't make much sense, so listen to the Spanish lyrics to really appreciate the beauty of this song.

The next song, Jueves is a really sweet ballad number, and again Leire's voice is crystal clear, and it's a very easy song to sing along to, filled with wistful longing. Frankly if like me you listen to Spanish music to help learn the language, this album should be a mandatory purchase. You can get the album from 7Digital

Australians abroad, consider financial planning services before you leave home

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:54:18 -0700

Being a traveler, in other words not living in the country where I've worked most of my career, where my family still live, and where I will probably return one day, it's important to keep informed about changes to financial legislation, and more importantly know what's happening to my investments back home.

I don't think it matters much where in the world I am, as long as I know that I have competent people managing my affairs and helping me with financial planning while I'm away from home.

Let me give you an example, my superannuation back home is currently sitting in limbo, I know where it is, but it's scattered, and I'm probably not getting the best return on it. Then the savings I've got back home are just sitting in bank accounts, but really I should be considering some kind of portfolio for investment, especially since I'm remitting money every other month that I plan to use when I return to buy a home, or invest in either residential or commercial property.

Therein lies my problem. I'm unlikely to be going home any time soon, maybe not for years, and I'm happy to keep traveling, but as a non-resident I need the best advice I can get. Frankly, I'm not sure that my local neighborhood accountant is going to be able to handle the job, and what happens if he retires, loses interest, or sells out?

My financial planning needs may not be complex, but I'm not home to keep on top of the people I trust with my wealth. I need a larger company that understands my financial and tax obligations, that can work with me by phone or email, and who I believe are big enough to continue looking after needs even if my account manager leaves the firm.

Honestly, I've met too many expats here and on my travels who haven't paid nearly enough attention to their portfolio, subsequently when they get back home they find out the hard way what financial planning should be all about. Australian's abroad really need to be a little more careful.

Ir, the Spanish verb to go

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:41:23 -0700

Being able to tell someone you're going somewhere, or that you will do something is an incredibly useful part of conversation, and strangely is ignored in many entry level Spanish courses that I've looked at.

Just this morning I had to email a colleague and tell him that I'll send more information next week, and like in English, the verb ir in the future tense is similar to saying shall or will.

Let me give a couple of examples, "voy a supermercado" translated as I'm going to the supermarket. Or "yo iré enviar" translated as I will [go] send. Note in the second example we don't use go in the English example, but in Spanish the future tense of the verb is used.

The verb Ir is irregular, and can take a lot of getting used to, not least because all of the tenses look so completely different from each other. Eventually it starts to make sense, so persevere.

Here is a breakdown of the verb ir;
Present tense
Yo voy - I go
Tu vas - you go
el/ella va - he/she goes
nosotros vamos - we go
vosotros vais - you (pl) go
ellos van - they go

Simple past tense
Yo fui - I went
Tu fuiste - you went
el/ella fue - he/she went
nosotros fuimos - we went
vosotros fuisteis - you (pl) went
ells fueron - they went

Imperfect past tense
Yo iba - I used to go
tu ibas - you used to go
el/ella iba - he/she used to go
nosotros íbamos - we used to go
vosotros ibais - you (pl) used to go
ellos iban - they used to go

Future tense
Yo iré - I will go
tu irás - you will go
el/ella irá - he/she will go
nosotros iremos - we will go
vosotros iréis - you (pl) will go
ellos irán - they will go

Spanish Music Reviews

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:58:39 -0700

I'm a huge fan of Spanish music, never really used to until I moved to Spain and started hearing it on radio, and it's quite different from Latin music you hear of from the Americas. For a start, Spanish musicians tend to be just like musicians everywhere else, they record pop music and rock music.

I do enjoy some latin music, but again, I'm finding that Mexican pop or rock music appeals to me more than traditional latin music. The biggest selling Latin music artists don't really get my feet tapping anymore, Shakira annoys me, and the music that does get me interested and excited comes from La Oreja de Van Gogh, Paulina Rubio, Vega, La Quinta Estacion, Nena Daconte, El Sueño de Morfeo, Kiko and Shara, Pastora Soler, etc.

So I'm going to start writing a series of posts reviewing my favorite albums, just because I reckon a few people come to my blog looking for ebooks on learning Spanish, and one of the best ways to learn is by listening to music. So I'll pick albums that I listen to, the albums I enjoy the most tend to be clearly enunciated, making it easy to read lyrics and sing along.

Here in Ronda it isn't possible to buy a lot of the music I'm going to review, and maybe where you live it won't be so easy as well, but es.7digital.com is a great legal site for buying and downloading Spanish music for 99c per track, and everything I review I've bought from there. They also accept PayPal making it easier still.

I'm going to try and mix up the albums I review, some will be straight out pop music, others will be quirky off the wall rock/folk type albums, others will have hints of flamenco. At least it might give you a good idea of the type of music being listened to in Spain, and I think that always helps to appreciate a culture.

I might get myself a Nokia N97

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:48:42 -0700

After my last post about wanting to get a smartphone that can handle taking photos, give me access to email and browsing, and even play the role of a mini computer so I can write while away from home I think I may have found the phone I want.

Smartphones are equipment that I know very little about, I wouldn't even know any of the brands that make them, in fact until a couple of days ago I thought a PDA or a Blackberry (and of course the iPhone) were about as good as they get, frankly I thought they were business oriented, and probably overkill for my needs, too expensive, and perhaps missing key consumer type functions that I think I'd be wanting.

Before I bore you too much, let me tell you what my ideal smartphone is; obviously I need to be able to communicate, mostly I use SMS, it's rare for me to call anyone but I do receive a lot of calls. But apart from SMS, I live by email, Twitter, and with family and friends, Facebook. However, this isn't enough. I also want to be able to play my favourite music, now and again it would be fun to play games, and I want Internet browsing and the ability to take photos.

The phone that seems to suit my needs the best isn't the iPhone, and I don't want a PDA. I like the LG, and Samsung phones I've seen, but I've always been a Nokia guy. Many years ago I sold GSM mobile phones when they were new on the market, and Nokia always seemed like the better brand, even now I still use a Nokia despite a brief fling with LG.

In Nokia's smartphone lineup I'm really impressed with the mid range Nokia 5800, but my dream phone right now would be the Nokia N97, a slick looking device with a keyboard tucked inside it that only requires sliding the top portion a little before the spring action takes control. I'm partial to silver rather than black, I guess since the iPhone and iPod classic I've come to appreciate that electronic devices don't all have to be grey.

Around these parts all the mobile phone shops mostly sell phones on contract only, but I like to own my phone and have the freedom to swap sim cards depending on where I am. That's one of the downsides of traveling, but on the other hand it gives me more freedom. Consequently I tend to shop online, and since I work in Pounds and Euros I often go looking for companies in the UK that sell what I'm looking for.

So, next step was to find Nokia N97 Accessories, because it doesn't look like the phone is supplied with all the things I'd normally want like screen protectors. Spare Nokia Batteries always come in handy if you're traveling and need a hotel to charge them.

Now this is going to sound strange, but I usually have two or three cases for protecting my phone, sometimes I want to wear it around my belt, other time I'd want it in my pocket, or perhaps inside a briefcase or camera bag. Not all Nokia N97 Cases are created equal so I make sure I look for the most suitable case rather than just get by with what I'm given when I buy the phone.

Camera's overheating in the Spanish sun, or my head overheating...

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:15:22 -0700

An interesting thing happened yesterday, something I've never had happen to me before. I was wandering around Ronda, I had a goal, back down to the bottom of the Tajo Gorge to take photos of the bridge. Luckily I tried to take a picture of a motorbike on the city side first.

Otherwise I wouldn't have discovered the phone wasn't working, and that would have annoyed me no end having got to the bottom on a hot day only to find the camera wasn't working. If you haven't been to Ronda, you need to understand the gorge is about 120 meters deep, and the path to the bottom is a zigzag path that really puts a lot of strain on your muscles coming back up.

Basically what happened is that the camera was completely dead, wouldn't even flash a low battery light, or make some sort of effort to open the lens. So it couldn't have been a flat battery could it. The weather here in Spain is scorching at the moment, some places have come close to 50 degrees celsius.

My assumption is that in the heat of walking around the city my camera must have somehow overheated, and maybe a failsafe kicked in to prevent damage. Of course less charitable friends have suggested I left it on and the battery went flat, dead flat, but I know who's correct here, the heat obviously caused the problem

The Canon is a great camera, it's one of those little Ixus point and shoot cameras, I don't think I have the skill for handling an SLR, and I'm starting to think I'd like to get myself a smartphone with a camera on board, and Internet access so I can check emails on the go, take pictures and keep in touch with friends on Flickr and Twitter.

You know the biggest problem I have with Internet connectivity? Even tho I downsized from a desktop to a laptop a couple of years ago, the darned things still aren't portable. A MacBook Pro weighs a bit, and it gets really hot, so my hope is that a smartphone, maybe one of the Nokia phones, will be a welcome relief and give me the chance to get out of the house but still have Internet connectivity.

Rent to Buy Mortgages in Spain

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:24:33 -0700

This might seem like a gimmick, but I assure you it's actually happening. The depressed state of the Spanish housing market means that many developers and some private home owners are now offering rent to buy schemes to entice buyers to enter contracts now, instead of holding out till the market recovers.

Here's how it works. The buyer and seller agree a time period for the contract, anywhere from a year to five years. The is a contract for sale, and is binding on both parties to complete the contract within the specified time period.

The buyer pays a deposit, typically 5-10% of the sale price, and this goes directly to the seller. It isn't held in trust, though legally it is a deposit so being a deposit should be refundable in the event the contract fails.

Then, for the duration of the contract the buyer pays a monthly rent that both parties agree to. This could be a fair market rent, or some other value, perhaps a nominal fee, or a higher than normal fee. The rent is not dead money, every payment is deducted from the sales price, so could be considered similar to a mortgage payment.

At the end of the contracted period, a balloon payment is required to complete the purchase. Typically this will be paid by the buyer's bank after they've successfully obtained finance.

Sounds good right? There are a couple of gotchas, and I think anyone entering a rent to buy agreement needs to be aware of these. First, the deposit goes directly to the seller, and isn't held in trust. Real estate agents might try to convince you this is normal and that the seller is taking all the risk.

My opinion is that the seller holds all the power, if they have your deposit, and they own the property, well anything that goes wrong could affect the financial well being of the buyer.

Secondly, a contract of this nature is likely to be taken up by two types of buyer. Those who are desperate and don't have access to finance now, and those who see this is a great from of bridging finance whilst they arrange finance or sell another property. In both cases, I believe there is a danger that they might be too quick to sign without properly reviewing what they are getting.

In particular, I would always encourage treating this as a full contract for sale and purchase, and any responsible person would have the property inspected and valued, boundaries checked, access rights determined etc. Sadly, I've heard of instances of boundaries being changed in rent to buy agreements after the contract was signed, and the buyer then having to undertake legal action to protect their investment.

On the plus side, this is a great way to purchase a property, and be in a position to make modifications, or redecorate, and all with the advantage that finance arrangements can be delayed until the economy strengthens again.

Birthday season for kids again

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:15:32 -0700

New Toys for Kids

For some reason, the next month or two, my calendar is filled with birthdays, and of course many of them are nieces, nephews, children of friends, I think the age old adage of the spring time or summer time babies is manifesting itself, and I'm going to have to pay for it.

Toys are something I have very little knowledge of. I know what I used to play with when I was younger, but these days I see kids with toys that are completely different, I used to play with realistic action figures, now they play with aliens or dinosaurs.

The sad thing is that even though I see kids in the streets playing with these sorts of toys, and TV bombards you with commercials for toys before 9pm, I still have no idea what they are. And if I remember correctly, when I was a kid, we would imagine our toys being different. Let me give you an example, I was the only kid with a Ferrari miniature car, so I always got to play Magnum PI, even though my Ferrari was green.

So that makes sense doesn't it? the problem is I'm sure kids these days probably do something similar so it shouldn't be too hard to find toys for them, should it? Ah, you see that's where I think the thinking is flawed, I don't think kids actually play like we used to anymore.

My local toy shop is pretty woeful, all of the toys they stock are cheap, plasticy things that might cost a fortune but I'm sure will break after a few days. I'm not prepared to pay a small fortune for something that is going to break, so I tend to look for more solid toys from established brands, Cheapo Toy Factory of China is not my idea of a good brand.

But now I'm in uncharted territory again, many of the brands I knew as a child have changed or disappeared. The solution is Internet shopping, like so many things in life, online toy shops let you check out all the best brands, you can browse without being hassled, and then just to make even easier, pay online and have the toys delivered directly to the place it needs to go.

Iran and revolution, I hope so

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:32:09 -0700

When I first heard about the election protests in Iran I don't think I believed they would last. Perhaps they'd be put down harshly, perhaps they'd go home of their own free accord, but now, well now I think things have gone too far for anyone to imagine this isn't a revolution in the making.

Millions of people have filled the streets of Tehran and other major cities, the army has stood to the side and not attacked the protesters, we're hearing of secret policemen going AWOL and being welcomed by the protesters, who throughout it all have maintained a peaceful silent protest.

My God, I haven't felt this way since the Berlin wall came down, or Ceaucescu was felled, or the streets of the Ukraine filled with people demanding freedom. Iran has all the makings of being the first Middle Eastern country to throw off the shackles of tyranny and join the free world.

People all over the Twitterverse are changing their avatar to green, the Iranian football team runs onto the field in South Korea wearing green wristbands, even here in Spain I see some school students wearing green wristbands. This is the big event of 2009, perhaps even bigger than Obama's election win.

Imagine, an Iran that truly works with the rest of the world to bring about peace, instead of an Iran that blocks and hampers every effort. If this goes all the way to full revolution, we could literally see one of the largest muslim countries stand up and lead the Middle East in a direction it has never been before.

I hope the protests in Iran succeed, and I hope they set an example for people in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya, and anywhere else living under tyranny, it doesn't have to be that way. Freedom is possible. You don't have to become carbon copies of the west, I'm sure you can create your own freedoms more suitable to your cultural background, but at least Iranians are standing up and saying they want their voice to be heard.

#iranelection Help, don't hinder

nospam@example.com (Carl) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:31:58 -0700

This is a political post, I don't often like doing this, but the situation in Iran is delicate and on Twitter I'm seeing genuine heroes in Iran having their message diluted through well meaning westerners getting caught up in the excitement of helping Iranians as they protest over the 'stolen election'. Please read the cyberwar guide for beginners.

Good Luck Iran!