dreams

I want to move abroad – but how?

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

The Dream

You want to change your life and move abroad but you just don’t know where to start. You have a home and a job and basically you’re quite happy but….. you have always dreamed of living in a different country and learning a new language. You wonder how you would manage in a totally different setting. Other people have done it but somehow for you the dream always stays the same – only a dream.

How can you make it happen?

People often say this to me. There are many reasons for moving to a new country but one that comes up again and again is that you just want to give it a try.  It feels like it would be an exciting adventure and you really want to give it a go.

The thing is knowing where to start.

How do you move from just dreaming to making it real?  How do you get from one place to another? It can feel impossible to even imagine.

Here is what happened to me. Perhaps it will inspire you.

I was living in Cornwall, in my own beautiful cottage in the countryside. I had two beautiful dogs and two equally wonderful cats. I ran my own acupuncture practice and over 15 years had built up a great network of friends and clients. My life felt safe and secure and fulfilling.

But niggling in the background was my dream. I had always dreamt of moving abroad and trying to make a new life in a totally different place. I also wanted to learn a new language.

You know how you make New Year resolutions?    Well ever since I was about 10 I had one that said “I want to speak another language”

So, here in 5 steps is how I made the move.  I didn’t know there were 5 steps at the time – I just followed my nose and kept the dream alive.

  1. Follow your passion

I know this is a cliché but it was exactly what got me out of my old life and into the new. My passion was, and is, tango. I was willing to open myself up and to visit new places in order to dance. I was part of a small group that organised tango in our town and I also taught beginners’ classes. I wasn’t a very confident person but tango was like a shot of something strong and potent and it gave me courage. When the chance arose to go to Barcelona I put my hand up and said ‘Yes’.  In this first trip I fell in love with the city. I already felt like a changed person.

Barceloneta
Festa Major in Barceloneta
moving to Barcelona
Tango in the Park in Ciutadella

  1. Follow up

For several years I returned again and again to Barcelona.  As often as I could get away.  I made it a priority and each time I was there I made new friends and felt more comfortable with both the language and the culture. I started to learn Spanish again and I kept in touch with my new friends.

spanish lessons
I was always the oldest in the class!
moving abroad
my first Orxata aka nectar from heaven

 

  1. Share with other people

Other people were very important in this process. I visited and spent time with my Catalan friends and they also came to see me in Cornwall.  Every time I went away, friends in the UK stayed in my cottage to take care of my animals. The idea of actually living in Barcelona started to take form. Two of my Catalan friends wanted to come and practise English in Cornwall and I helped them find somewhere to stay.  It was a magical time because help was flowing between lots of different people. One of my Cornwall friends needed someone to take care of her elderly mother just at the same time as my two Barcelona friends, both nurses, wanted to come and stay. They became known as the Barcelona Angels!  By the time they went back home to Catalunya I had invitations to stay with them when I was ready.

Barcelona summer
I met Marta at a tango class in Barcelona

 

  1. When it is time to make decisions, have courage!

As a cautious sort of person I took little steps but it was still scary as I felt the energy of Barcelona pulling me forward while my fears held me back. I couldn’t imagine leaving my animals but neither could I take them with me to a city. Eventually I decided to take three months off work and go to Barcelona to see what happened next. Some friends offered to stay in my home and look after the animals and it felt like a sign that I couldn’t ignore.

moving abroad
Cheers from Tibidabo!

 

  1. Say Yes!

Once in Barcelona I said ‘Yes’ to almost anything that came my way and this included a camping weekend dancing in the Pyrenees.  I was pretty ill with bronchitis in my first two weeks here and hardly left the flat because in July the temperatures were horrendous.   I was also scared of camping in a small tent with people I didn’t know well, and hesitant about doing a weekend course with a group of people who didn’t speak English. But I said ‘Yes’.  On that weekend I met my future partner and my life changed radically from that moment on.

camping in pyrenees
Our campsite in the Pyrenees

 

It took 5 years

I was 47 when I first went to Barcelona and when I eventually came to stay for those three months, which turned into 5 years,  I was 52. I was never a brave person but I believe that following my passion and listening to my heart helped change my life.  Friends old and new helped me along the way with their encouragement and generosity and also my faith that one day I would live abroad and learn a new language.

costa brava
My first birthday abroad – on the Costa Brava!

 

Even the longest journey must begin where you stand

Lao Tzu (604 BC – 531BC)

 

Have you ever dreamed of living abroad or have you done it already?

What helped you overcome your fears?

Leave a comment to tell us about your experiences and help someone else who is dreaming of moving.

 

Swinging

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t told you about Swing yet?

It was one of my New Year promises to myself – that this year I would get back dancing and that finally I would find a class in Swing.

Last Monday I rang up Swing Maniacs in Barcelona and found they had only three places left in the beginners classes.
Monday, Thursday or Friday nights. I quickly changed my English classes from Monday to Tuesdays and enrolled.
‘See you tonight‘ she said. I wasn’t expecting that!
Panic stations.  The class began in about three hours time.  I had to race out with Bonnie. Stuff down some lunch. Choose suitable dance shoes.  Run for the train.  Find my way to Carrer Esglesia in Gracia and gather my courage to walk into yet another new place alone and feeling just a little bit old.

It was the first day of term. Lots of people enrolling. I paid 88 euros for 11 weeks and found my way through a maze of corridors to a dance studio. There were two other single women waiting and when the class began three men arrived. It became obvious that they had danced swing before so it seemed that we three were the only beginners and the men are taxi dancers. What amazing luck! We all swopped partners and for 55 wonderful minutes we learnt the first basic steps of Swing.
Everyone was laughing and smiling. The music is uplifting. I found it easy to learn and to follow.  A wonderful evening!  This year I have such a strong feeling that if I dream of something – I must take action to do it!  Or at least to try.
And today – Sunday – there was Swing in the Porxada in Granollers. It was raining and when we arrived there was no-one dancing but after 20 minutes this was the scene.

Music and smiling and swing has arrived in Granollers.

Life is But a Dream

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Sorry! 
I’ve had a blog block.
And some lovely friends here to stay, with lots of chatting and adventures but less time for hovering over the computer.

But I’ve got a fresh approach now to writing here – not quite the ‘I’m doing this for me so who cares if anyone comments or not’ but more of a ‘there are people out there who enjoy reading it but have their own reasons for not writing anything in the comments section’
So, if at least I can relax and stop worrying that I am getting it wrong, perhaps I can find my way back to writing about what I find interesting in my life here.

However, now it is late and I want to sleep so here is a photo of Granollers where there was no Thursday market due to the General Strike

 Some shops were open and others were closed. It was sunny and there was a large and peaceful demonstration which we watched for a while before taking all the dogs out into the countryside. We all had a lovely day walking in the woods and eating in the little restaurant at Santa Fe

Back home everyone helped me prepare for my singing group tomorrow by singing Row Row Row Your Boat in four parts.  We were wonderful.

 And if life is really just a dream, let’s make it a beautiful one!

Feliç Any Nou

~ Kate Wilson ~ 7 Comments

Happy New Year!

Soon it will be 2mil12 the year the Mayans have called the end of the world.

I wish everyone a wonderful ‘end of the world as we know it’ year.

I hope this coming year will be full of new experiences, new love, more laughter, stronger connections with all other life on the planet so that we can create the world that we dream of rather than the one we fear.

I hope it is a new world of respect for animals and nature.

I hope we can all find the courage to change our worlds and to follow our hearts.

Today we are going to drive just a little bit north along the coast to a place called Santa Susanna where there is a campsite by the sea. We have hired a bungalow for two people and three dogs!  I hope to prepare for the New Year by walking along beach, watching the dogs enjoy the water and the sand, reading my book while listening to the waves, meditating on the past year and what I have learned and enjoyed as well as what I have resisted and lost.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me through this last year of change – every contact I have with you helps me through my day – and I am incredibly grateful.
I send you all much love and all my best wishes for the coming 2012.

2012 – Let’s imagine the world we want to live in and start to create it NOW!

I Capture The Castle

~ Kate Wilson ~ 7 Comments

I don’t know if you have ever read the book I Capture the Castle?  I expect you have heard of 101 Dalmations though?  It is by the same author, Dodie Smith, and is one of my long time favourite comfort reads.
Last weekend we went up past Girona to near Figueres, to catch some fresh air and sea breezes. My idea was actually to go camping – it is June after all. But the weather had other ideas so we ended up staying with a friend in a mobile home where he is living as temporary custodian of an abandonned house. We arrived late at night. Duna leapt out of the car and disappeared for several hours happily forraging in the woods and undergrowth, occasionally appearing at the door with eyes as big as dinner plates and feet as black as…..well, something horrible and smelly and better not to think about.
In the morning I got up early to the sound of birds and went outside to sample the undergrowth myself. I find the close confines of a small mobile home a bit too intimate for toilet comfort!
There, a few hundred yards away was the castle I had read about so often

Of course it isn’t really but it was exactly as I imagined it.
And the gardens, overgrown with wisteria and sweet roses were filled with bird song

The house/castle was now their home as broken windows and open doors gave them free access to paradise. The garden was also coming inside….


  Here’s the photos. No more commentary needed except to say that the inscription on one of the walls was written in the 1930’s by soldiers fighting for the Republic in the Civil War. At the bottom it says Viva Los Trabajadores Honrados. Long Live the Honest Workers!
Let’s go to the top tower and back down again – imagine swallows flying around your head as you go!


 The water in the numerous ponds came from an underground source in a dark cave which we visited at night and it was one of the most magic places I have ever been. Pictures in the next post…..!