Somewhere I would rather have just visited...

In June 2004, I moved from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. to Leon, Spain which is about four hours north of Madrid. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but I know that I had expected much more than what I have experienced since I've been here. This is my husband's hometown, so he's pretty happy here and my son has adjusted much better than I have. I came here with hopes that I could fit in well like the ex-patriots in all those great classics you read about people moving to Europe and spending the rest of their lives here eating baguettes and drinking excellent wine. However, before deciding to move to any provincial town in Europe, I would highly recommend that you do your research beforehand and visit your intended location several times before making that final move. What you may find may not seem so inviting after you experience what your day to day living may actually entail there. Let me tell you a bit about what I've learned about a place I would rather have just visited rather than lived.

For starters, Leon, Spain is located in the north of Spain which bears a very strong contrast to the more common, poetic images of southern Spain. It actually snows in northern Spain in the winter and the rest of the year, the nights can be quite cold too. I probably should have done more research on this city before I agreed to marry my husband and move here. You see, I met my husband in the Fall of 2001 in Washington, D.C. when he was working with a teacher exchange program. He struck me as a very open, tolerant person and, in truth he still is, but moving to his hometown in Leon, Spain would reveal some things about his views on many aspects of life that were not readily apparent while we were living in the United States. His family also surprised me with their true mentality once I actually moved here with my new husband. I met his family just before he and I were married in 2003. I should have known that something was not quite right about their unwillingness to attend our wedding in the United States. I would soon learn that a large majority of the people who live in Leon are not very open-minded about foreign cultures. That was in 2003 and now in 2007 there has been a notable increase in immigrants living here. There is more tolerance of foreign cultures- not as much as I am accustomed to but certainly more than before. But I am still surprised about other aspects of Spanish culture in general that involve their views on households and their struggling economy.

To understand modern Spanish culture, you almost have to know something about the history of Spain and the powerful influence of their former dictator, Franco, who ran the country from 1933 until his death in 1975. During Franco's control, Spain managed to avoid any recorded involvement in World War II. But he also managed to reduce the economy of Spain to practically nothing by closing the doors to foreign involvement as a whole. This included foreign investments, immigration and economic assistance from other nations. Spain experienced many civil wars throughout its history- the last of which occurred in the 1930s. In fact, there are many people still living who grew up severely impoverished during the early part of the 20th century and still some (like my husband) who actually grew up during the more modern times of the 1960s and 70s under the latter years of Franco's dictatorship. Unlike former fascist or communist regimes that converted to a more socialist democracy in the 1980s and embraced economic development and the potential in immigration, Spain still remains an uninviting place for most foreigners to live. Strangely enough, the economic borders of Spain are not easily accessible either. The current unemployment rate is very high and the English language is slowly being incorporated more strongly into primary and secondary schools (as one would suppose to encourage globalizing more Spanish industry). Although many younger Spaniards are very well-educated, they are unable to find jobs with salaries that can help them build a sustainable future for themselves and their young families. Job security in private industry here is practically nonexistent and the most coveted jobs as civil servants (or funcionarios) in the government are the most difficult to obtain. My husband manages well enough now as a funcionario, but he lived at home with his parents well into his early 30s before he finally bought a house in 2001 just before accepting yet another more lucrative teacher exchange job opportunity in Washington, D.C. His salary from his teaching position in Washington, D.C. was what enabled him to pay both his mortgage for his flat (condominium apartment) here in Leon and share the expenses for the apartment we shared in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. That may give you some idea of the very low cost of living in provincial towns like Leon. His younger sister still lives at home with his parents even now that she has turned 30. It is not uncommon for many Spaniards to live at home with their parents well into their 40s and some even after marriage. Imagine what a surprise this was for me, since I grew up in the U.S. where most teenagers are eager to graduate high school, go to college and strike out on their own after graduation. Here and in many parts of Spain, there is no rush to leave the nest, nor is it unusual for a younger Spaniard who has experienced working and living in another, more economically established country to move back to their hometown and even their parents´ home and start anew.

Because of the economic struggles of Spain during the lifetimes of current citizens, many Spaniards are very, very frugal. They tend to live very simple, typically unambitious lives. The younger set has more recently become more involved in travelling abroad and striving for higher paying jobs and bigger houses(often in other countries). But it is imporant to keep in mind that at one time there was a mass exodus of Spanish citizens to South America during Franco´s reign. They left to find jobs and better opportunities in other countries. They raised children that often returned to the motherland of Spain for the benefits and prestige that Spanish citizenship offers them. Those benefits and prestige often seems overstated to many of us who cannot understand or appreciate the dynamics of Spanish culture. I have a few other immigrant female friends here from the Dominican Republic, Ukraine, and Ireland. We are all here because we are married to Spaniards who we met abroad but who ended up moving back to their hometown with us in tow. All of us confess our surprise at how different the mindset is here in Spain, particularly in Leon, Spain. Perhaps people in Madrid and Barcelona, who are accustomed to high immigration and high tourism are more open-minded but Leon, in many ways, functions like a village rather than the capital of the dominant province of Castile-Leon.

Three years ago when I first arrived in Leon, I remember standing out like a sore thumb. I am of mixed races and I clearly look very different from the normal, fair-haired inhabitants of this northern Spanish town. Racism here was very commonplace when I first arrived here three years ago but it is not so apparent today. Perhaps it is because there is now safety in the growing numbers of darker-skinned immigrants from Central and South American and Africa. I had actually encountered little children in the streets of Leon three years ago who would cry out, ¨Mommy, Daddy, look at that black person there!¨, having never seen a person of different ethnicity a day in their lives. This really struck me as strange because I had always grown up around people of various ethnicities, even in the Philippines where I was born in 1970.

Still, there are some charming things about this city too. There are actually real Roman ruins and a 10th century gothic cathedral just minutes from our house in town. There are beautiful mountainous regions in northern Spain that are certainly worth the drive through. It is not uncommon to encounter an almost perfectly preserved medieval pueblo (village) here and there. The way of life is slower, less stressful and watching the strolling citizens in the city all day long is very refreshing when compared to the traffic jams and hustle and bustle of many well-populated cities around the world. Nevertheless, I am stuck here with the man that I love and it doesn't look like I will ever live in a big city again on this side of the Atlantic or on the other side, which really isn´t that bad a thing either. Living here with very little distractions allows me to indulge my other passions- travelling around Europe and northern Africa and writing. My advice to anyone travelling in Spain is to stop and see Leon if you can. But again, it is a place I would rather have just visited than lived.