Becoming Citizens of Girona

We hired a car for a week towards the end of the season. Paid another visit to Jordi and family in Banyoles. They thoughtfully gave the girls some late birthday presents and even arranged for everyone to have a little horse riding session at the local stables that their youngest daughter attends. We all got taken for a fantastic Catalan meal in a busy, noisy, family-run restaurant. Jordi and Neus claimed it was just an average eating place but we were really impressed. This was followed by a walk around the beautiful lakes then we were all off to Besalu for a medieval festival. Besalu is a an exquisite, walled town only accessible by a beautiful, ancient bridge. It was a fantastic day.

Before we returned the car, we also visited a few beach resorts and went back to our favourite ones. We spent time with Jonathan, Yolanda and their kids. They gave lots of advice as they also had relocated to Girona. We knew that the time was coming to knuckle-down, find work, get registered for medical services, schools, local authorities plus sort out a few other bits and pieces. Peter and I also had to continue with our language studies so we needed to get that ball rolling as well.

So, hence the reason that time has lapsed since my last posting. As summer turned gently and slowly to autumn, we went about the business of becoming citizens of Girona. We were warned about the paperwork but I never anticipated the seemingly endless queuing and waiting around. We began to accept that nothing was straight forward and sometimes a bit stressful. It became a little private joke between Peter and I as we found out that we had to make an appointment for a meeting which simply turned out to be a meeting to make an appointment to have another meeting before you got anywhere near the objective you were hoping to achieve.

For instance, on our first visit to our local Cap Salut (medical centre) we were told we would have to have an initial consultation with our general doctors. In Spain, the adults have their own general doctor and the children see a separate, dedicated pediatrician as you don't get one GP for the whole family like you do in the UK. Anyway, I think we turned up a number of times expecting to see our doctors at the medical centre, only to be met with another form to be completed or an official interview. Nevertheless, once everything was in order, all the necessary paper work obtained and all the hoops jumped through we finally got to be seen by the medical personnel. Everyone in the family has since had a full medical and us adults have been given thorough blood-tests and screenings (all clear and healthy!). I thought we would need to sign up for private medical care but the system appears to be efficient, fantastic and free. Referrals mean a wait for your appointment unless it is an emergency but you do get seen eventually. You do pay for your optician and dental services but this has become normal in the UK now anyway. You do pay for your prescriptions (even for children) but when you show your medical card you get a discount. I've been told that it is normal to have an annual check-up and well-woman 'things' are screened very regularly which is something that was not so available at home in the UK. I think we have certain entitlements as members of the European Union. It may change but my experience has been fairly positive so far.

Certain members of staff (i.e. one or two of the doctor's receptionists, some other administrative staff and technicians) were rather intolerant and unhelpful but I also found this within the cash-strapped NHS. I don't think the civil/health service jobs are that well-paid here so I guess it is understandable. The national minimum wage is currently only 570.60 euros a month! I suppose this is why you don't always find shop assistants too helpful either. In balance, though, we have been generally happy as the service we receive is neither over-the-top or too terrible - just simply normal. I don't know if this is particular to this region but I'm told that people are more outgoing in Madrid. As we are both Londoners I think we would find enthusiastic, overly friendly shop assistants/waiters/bus drivers/public sector workers etc. a bit intrusive so we are quite comfortable with how we are generally treated whilst going about our daily business.

Neither of our excellent doctors speak English (and why should they?) but I may try to change to ones that do because we often have to drag along kind friends to help with translation (in either Catalan or Spanish). I think it will be a while before we can master medical terminology in a second language! People have been so helpful. We actually met one of these kind souls who approached us in the Waiting Room as we flipped through our phrase books. She was waiting for an appointment herself but asked if we needed some help so we immediately hauled her in front of the doctor with us. Poor girl, she had only met us five minute before and now here she was repeating our full medical history in Catalan! Turns out that Saskia (who is Dutch) and her fiance, Dave (who is another English ex-pat.) have since become good friends which is fortunate since Saskia had a crash course in getting to know us! They work in the tourism industry and their office happens to be in the same street in which we live.

Registering with the Generalitat (town hall) and other administrative offices was smoothed with the assistance and experience of Yolanda. Many others have come to our aid. The schools administration was another big hurdle and we will never forget both Yolanda's help and that of Gisela who attended a very stressful interview with us. More of this later in another posting.

Finally, I would just like to dedicate this entry to all those of you who are reading this and have held our hands along the way. A really big, fat MUCHAS GRACIAS for all your support, guidance and time in helping us to settle into our new life here in Girona. It means so much and is so appreciated. Bless you everyone! KARMA!