'How not to live abroad'
For residents of the chilly isles that make up the United Kingdom, the idea of living in warm, Mediterranian climes hold as much, if not even more appeal today than it to generations before. Indeed, it has become easier and easier for dreamers to take the next step and purchase a property in southern Europe, as individuals and companies have been set up to facilitate these purchases. The Tuscan dream, as I will call it, however, can be a case of art imitating life, but not life imitating art. Here's what I mean.
The Tuscan dream has been spurred on in recent years by both popular literature (My life in Provence by Peter Mayle), film, (Under the Tuscan Sun), and even reality television. There is one programme on NZ television at the moment in which two men are renovating a Tuscan dream property, and not so long ago, a series featured a chef who spent a year with his family living in the South of France. The Tuscan dream certainly sounds and looks easy in some of the aforementioned depictions, though to be fair, the two men in the renovation series are having their problems. In some respects they appear to generate theses problems themselves through speaking VERY LOUDLY AND SLOWLY in English at times rather than speaking the local language. What the romantic versions of the Tuscan dream gloss over amounts to more than just language barriers, and is the subject of a highly entertaining book I am reading called 'How not to live abroad'.
Shaun and his partner in crime, Helen, buy a rundown villa in the south of Spain. Their culture shock ranges from the frustrations of hiring tradesmen in a country where manana (tomorrow) could mean next week or next month, to discovering that the stone villas built to block out the harshest heat are devilishly cold when temperatures drop. Like many before them, and many who will come after, they had envisaged a life of never being cold again, effortlessly growing produce to eat, and settling in to local life without any great effort to speak the local tongue. Thankfully, the writer is astute and honest, and his depiction of their adventure learning to live with, as well as in Spain, is amusing and heart-warming.
Many a foreigner comes unstuck with systems operating abroad. Corruption features in a number of countries (e.g. Spain, Mexico, Italy) and foreigners can find themselves unsure if they are on the right side of the law; endless bureaucracy (think Italy) can ensure whast may take a week in the UK takes four when all the right paparwork is signed sealed and delivered. But probably the biggest shock of all for those who don't do their homerwork, is related to the weather. I myself huddled in my insufficiently blanketed bed in Mexico as temperatures dropped to freezing overnight. This was particularly galling as friends were emailing me and teasing me about sunning myself in Mexico.
I would never tell anyone not to pursue the tuscan dream, but best to read 'How not to live abroad' frist rather than 'Under the Tuscan sun'.
