Category Archives: Expat

USA in the Rear View

By Tim Adams | Published: April 17, 2018

“But why did you leave the United States?” Madrileños must ask me that question at least once a week. Some sound mystified. Isn’t the United States richer than Spain? Don’t Americans get to walk the streets they know from all the big American movies, TV shows? Of course, they’ve heard of how terrible Trump is, […]

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EEUU en el Espejo Retrovisor

By Tim Adams | Published: April 17, 2018

(¡Mi primera traducción sin ayuda! Espere errores y no se decepcionará. Todos los enlaces son para páginas en inglés.) “¿Pero porque te fuiste de Estados Unidos?” Los madrileños deben hacerme esa pregunta al menos una vez a la semana. Algunos parecen mistificados. ¿No es Estados Unidos más rico de España? ¿Los estadounidenses no pueden caminar […]

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Madrid Impressions: Round Five

By Tim Adams | Published: March 16, 2018

The latest installment: VENEZUELAN DIASPORA I meet Ecuadorans and Colombians in Madrid — and should, according to immigration-to-Spain stats — but not as often as I meet Venezuelans: two waiters and a manager in one restaurant; the part-owner of another; students, job seekers, new arrivals. Ties between the two countries are old, run deep. Some […]

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Polyglot Tips N’ Tricks

By Tim Adams | Published: January 10, 2018
Language Exchange in Madrid, Spain

¡Buenos días! Adiós. Señora. I recognized those Spanish words at age thirty-five, not many more. I could point to a familiar menu item in a Mexican restaurant — for a quesadilla, chile relleno — regard a server with hopefully arched eyebrows. Today I live in Spain, relied on my Spanish to rent an apartment, arrange […]

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How I Renewed my Spain Visa

By Tim Adams | Published: August 25, 2017

Please note cagey blog title wording. A title like Spain Visa Renewal Steps or How to Renew Your Spain Visa would suggest an offering of authoritative advice on how to renew your Spain student visa, or au pair visa, or entrepreneur visa, or whatever the hey other type of visa you bagged to permit life-over-the-long-haul […]

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Rail Day Trips from Madrid

By Tim Adams | Published: June 5, 2017

You’re coming to Spain! You want to stroll among the beautiful people on Calle Arenal, ponder Madrazo at the Prado, chug-a-lug calimochos in Latina, black out in a Malasaña patrol car. But, before or after your well-deserved arrest, you’d like to sample the Spanish rail system, too, and book a day trip. Maybe you’ll find an […]

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I introduce Madrid Cercanías commuter rail

By Tim Adams | Published: January 21, 2017

Zurich, Berlin, Copenhagen and Munich have their S-trains. Parisians ride the RER; Long Islanders, the LIRR. Torontonians brave snowdrifts on the GO, perhaps while grunting ‘Eh?’ at one another after maple syrup-sogged moose chases. (I haven’t visited Canada in awhile.) Commuter rail is the inadequate and often misleading moniker for transit services of this type. Bigger […]

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Spanish as Spoken in Spain

By Tim Adams | Published: January 1, 2017

Madrid is 4,975 miles from Bogotá, 5,600 miles from Mexico City, 6,200 miles from Buenos Aires. The lingo may have originated in España, but regional differences have evolved among the 400+ million speakers worldwide. I have encountered some in Spain, post this New Year’s Day to tell the tale. Expect little of interest if your […]

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For Expats: an International Move

By Tim Adams | Published: December 15, 2016

Behold, the innards of my 10′ x 15′ locker at Storage Pro in flat, uncelebrated Lathrop, California. I paid CrownWMS about eight and a half grand to cart this gear 5,700 miles east to Spain. Expats-to-be will contemplate similar transactions, may thank me for sharing what I learned. OVERVIEW Imagine hiring a crew for a […]

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For Expats: Renting a Madrid Apartment

By Tim Adams | Published: December 9, 2016

I did it, rented a great place, gained knowledge not seen elsewhere online, think I ought to share it. WHERE TO LOOK Idealista.com or fotocasa.es, and I spent nearly all my time on Idealista. Some will recommend the protections afforded through a search with ‘empresa municipal de la vivienda y suelo.’ They may be right, […]

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