Adjusting to Spanish Unemployment: Spanish Expats

By Kristina Manalo, ERC Blogger

Here in Antwerp where I’m working as a management consultant for a New Media firm, Thursday evening means it’s jamon Serrano (ham), cava and tortilla night, hosted by one of us in the small group of expats. My Spanish colleagues gave birth to the tradition last summer. Then, after a lapse during which the tradition gave way to more pressing business commitments, we have now re-established the jamon, cava and tortilla nights to help keep us cheerful during these dark winter months.

Why? We are on a long-term project here in Belgium. We have our apartments in neighbouring communities, where we bump into one another on the Meir (the ‘High Street’), at the supermarket or any of the local dining or drinking establishments. So we make a point of hosting dinners, as much to provide a sense of continuity as to provide my Spanish colleagues with a taste of their lives back home. They have been commuting the longest of us all, nearly two years for Ramon and well over a year for Javier.

Sometimes I can see the weariness in their eyes. Not only have they been commuting the longest, but also the furthest. The rest of us expats commute mostly from England and Dublin, but in all cases it’s a short hop compared to the 2 ½ flight from Madrid to Brussels and then the train up to Antwerp.

Lack of Alternatives

“Do you ever feel like you just can’t do this anymore?” I asked Javi one evening as we walked westward along the expansive Meir back towards our neighbourhood where the sun was setting on the River Scheldt.

“The point is Kristina, there is nothing in Madrid...” The weariness in his voice was followed by a long sigh and a drifting gaze.

But Javier and Ramon endure and persist, grateful to be spared the anxiety of the 20% unemployment rate back home. Indeed they count themselves amongst the more fortunate for being able to go home twice a month, not having to learn German and being able to maintain a steady income. They may be weary of being away from home for so long, but they quietly acknowledge that in fact, the sun also rises for the Spaniards here in Antwerp.