Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Spain - Travel with Diego
Interview with Diego, a global citizen, who shares his story of what brought him to Madrid and the highlights of living in Spain. Interview completed March 2022.
Please download, like, subscribe, share a review, and follow us on your favorite podcasts app and connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wherenextpodcast/
View all listening options: https://wherenextpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
If you can, please support the show or you can buy us a coffee.
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure. Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. In today's episode, we are visiting with Diego from Madrid, spain. He shares his story about his life as a global citizen, what he likes about Spain, the cost of living and many fun facts. We really appreciate you joining us and we would love if you could support us by simply following and rating this podcast in your favorite podcast app. Enjoy, okay, welcome, diego. Welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Where are you? Physically right now I am actually in madrid. It's it's about 7 0, 5 pm here, but it's uh. We we have daylight because summer is coming, so nice, so you guys have the same summer as we do right in the summertime uh, yeah, definitely yeah, and during summertime the sun goes down in about 10 uh 9, 10 pm and during winter it's uh 5 pm. Just like us? Yeah, exactly you. You girls are in the east coast, are you't?
Speaker 1:you. Well, I'm in California, all right, she's in Colorado, oh you're in Colorado.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, all right, I've been to Las Vegas. I think that's the nearest.
Speaker 1:Kind of in between, a little bit in between.
Speaker 2:Yeah, something in between.
Speaker 1:Yeah, never been to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've never been to California yet. I've been to the US, but only Virginia, florida and I think that's it yeah.
Speaker 1:California right now is maybe 50 degrees windy and very cloudy, and it's been raining, so we needed them.
Speaker 2:It is well. It is cloudy here as well, and the weather is likewise. I think it's about 14, 15 degrees. It's actually we have a good weather now, but it's not sunny today, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, that's yeah. So well, thank you so much for doing this. This is our we're Next podcast.
Speaker 2:And we love meeting people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's called where next and we interview or talk. We just have conversations with people all over the world to learn about where you are, and I know I sent a little snippet of what we talk about. It's just a free-flowing conversation. Carol and I met in our 20s. We we worked at the same company, we lived at the same complex rotated dinners for years.
Speaker 2:And then, once we had families, we moved off and then got reconnected, I think, the best friends that you ever made. It's like the one you met at school or university, isn't it or university, isn't it? And usually, as time go goes by, it's more. I don't know why, but it's more and more difficult to make as good friends as as you did when yeah, well, I heard something about it.
Speaker 1:It takes like so many hours really kind of to build a friendship and so, like when you're in school you have all these hours together and then, like when you're like in the mom's group and stuff, you have hours together, but then, like like once the kids get into high school, you don't really interact with the other parents anymore. So it's hard to make new friends unless you get like a hobby tennis, wake surfing. I'm sure you have big wake surfing buddies, kristin, um.
Speaker 2:So yes, it totally makes. Yes, it totally makes sense. Yeah, it totally makes sense. It's the same for me. I mean, most of my very best friends are the guys and the girls I met in high school or the university. Apart from that, I can say that I have older friends, but not as close as the ones I met in school.
Speaker 1:So, were you born and raised in Spain, then no, not really.
Speaker 2:I've been here, there and everywhere. I was born and raised in Venezuela, in South America, but my father is Italian. Well, he was Italian. He passed away about 20 years ago, and so I got the European citizenship. Through him, me, my sister, my mother, all of us. We have the European citizenship. So I'm living here in Madrid since one year ago as an European citizen, but I was living in China before.
Speaker 1:Wow, you're so global.
Speaker 2:Nice and you were in China for how long?
Speaker 1:It was a while right Seven years. Yeah. So, you've only been in Madrid for one year so far.
Speaker 2:So far, yeah, but I've been here before. I mean, this is not my first time. I'm actually living here now. I wasn't before, but I've been here before and I have many friends here as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what brought you back here? To move of all places, not back to Venezuela, but to Madrid.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a long story, but I was actually doing some. I went out of China back in 2020 for a business trip. I had to go to South America, specifically to Ecuador, to buy raw materials for the company that I was working for, yeah, and when I finished my task, I stopped in the US for about for Christmas holidays, and then in January I flew to Madrid, because I have family here cousins and aunties and uncles here so I talked to the company because I needed to renew my work visa to go back to China. And then I came here, I visited the Chinese embassy, but it was never possible to get my visa renewed. So I basically negotiated my resignation to the company that I was working for. Because they couldn't get the paperwork done for me to go back, I decided to stay here. So I'm working here remotely for another chinese company and doing a little bit of everything yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I was just curious between madrid or even somewhere else, right, but you had just, you had family there, so that's uh, yeah, that's basically the reasons for what I chose to to come here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, family and close friends here, yeah yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:How is it in Madrid? So I'm looking, it's kind of smack dab in the middle. Um, so you're not, you're landlocked, you're um, not near water, it looks like, but, um, I mean Spain's no, but actually it's really convenient to travel around the country.
Speaker 2:You can travel by car, you can travel by train, by airplane, and it's not really expensive as well. So I think it's, you know, not just in Spain but in Europe, all around Europe it's really convenient to travel around. Yeah, so we don't know. Madrid doesn't have any coast nearby, but you can actually go in about two hours to Valencia, which is a coast city, and you can find wonderful beaches over there.
Speaker 1:And how far is Valencia?
Speaker 2:About 200 miles or something. It's not that far.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it's like two hours driving.
Speaker 2:Yeah, driving yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Driving is about two hours and a half, three hours, yeah, and if you also go to Barcelona, you can find beautiful beaches over there. Also, in Galicia that would be the west side. In the northwest side you can find Galicia really close to Portugal and you can also find beautiful places over there. I mean it's like more coast. Madrid is more like a I don't know how to say. I mean maybe compared with the US, it's more like, I would say, new York, washington.
Speaker 1:It looks like that, except the buildings look just beautiful. Old, it looks really like just gorgeous. It looks like a more classic New Yorkork or an old new york yeah, definitely more ancient right yes, well, europe is um a bit, um older than than america itself no, absolutely, and but I mean I I've heard madrid, I mean it sounds very alluring and and beautiful and I, I uh, what do you, what do people do typically when they come to? What are the best things to do when you go to Madrid?
Speaker 2:Well, if you go around the city, you will find especially now that the pandemic has, you know, all the restrictions arising from the pandemic have been lowered these days you can find a lot of places, a lot of bars, where people I'm not talking about only young people, you can find people from every age uh, sitting around in the bars like have your discretion tapas, which is like snack, so yeah, so people usually sit over in, in terraces, I mean in outdoors places, especially when it's a good when, when, when we have a good weather over here, well, we just um drink and eat and talk for hours. Yeah, nice.
Speaker 1:So so is madrid kind of like New York. You go there for the food and the culture and is there like a lot of museums. I think of it like high fashion.
Speaker 2:Also. I mean I wouldn't say that it's as fashionist as Milan or Paris. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:But, it's definitely the more fashion. I would say that it's the more fashion city in Spain. At least in Spain it is. Yeah, the way people dress over here is definitely different than the way people dress over Barcelona or Valencia or the rest of Spain. It's more, I wouldn't say, countryside, but it's not as formal as Madrid. I guess it's because it's the capital city and you have, you know, the government is here and all the most important conventions or business meetings are held here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even when I was in london we were in the financial services district and everyone looked so fancy. It was like 90 degrees. It was a really extremely hot summer, but, like everyone, they're really nice suits and it was just, oh my gosh, so nice to see coming dressed up, coming from Colorado.
Speaker 2:That's one of the things that makes Europe famous. Right, it's like the way people dress. I like it. I like the European way. I mean, my father was European, as I said before, and I've been here before many times, and now that I'm living, that I'm actually living here, I'm enjoying it a lot.
Speaker 1:And so where in Madrid do you live? Do you live in the heart of the city, kind of on the outskirts, and how big is?
Speaker 2:it. I'm living in the north of Madrid Actually have you ever heard of? Real Madrid football team. It's one of the treasures of Madrid Soccer.
Speaker 1:right, it's soccer.
Speaker 2:Huge. So I'm living not far away from the stadium, from the pitch, and it's kind of a new neighborhood, it's developing and you have a lot of new buildings over here, but there's also really beautiful parks around where you can go walking or doing picnic or exercise outdoors.
Speaker 1:it's, it's I see a lot of green. I'm looking at the map as we're talking and yeah, um madrid.
Speaker 2:I don't think madrid is the greenest city in Spain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but like above it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you can find a lot of green around the city as well.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have the Parque Juan Carlos Primero, which is one of the kings of Spain and one of the former kids of Spain is not a king anymore, but it's wonderful you can go around. During summer you can find people in the park used to do picnics and walking their dogs around or playing with their kids. It's nice.
Speaker 1:I like it.
Speaker 2:What's nice yeah, I like it is it?
Speaker 1:what's a typical day in spain? Um, is it kind of just, and then typical meals and foods. That, uh, what is it?
Speaker 2:well, you know I'm I'm a really fan of the uh work economic forum uh.
Speaker 2:WEF right. So Spain is among the cities, among the countries, sorry, spain is among the countries where people would like to go to retire. I don't know if you ever heard about the expression siesta. It's like, well, not in Madrid anymore, because it has become a really not only fashionable but a really modern city in the way people approach to work.
Speaker 2:But here people just really like, when it comes to work I mean, usually during most of the companies we'll let people go back to their places at 3 or 4 pm in the afternoon. So now that you can work remotely, that you can do part of your work at home, it has become more and more normal these days, these days, uh. But but it is the fact that every time you, you finish working, most people would go to the nearest bar around the neighborhood just to sit for a while, drink a cup of coffee, a cup of wine, uh, eat something, and then go back to, to, to their places, to home, to go home, to home, to go home, not to work, yeah to go home, and that's why, usually, one of the things that I really find typical about Spain, particularly in Spain, it's the time for having lunch and the time for having dinner.
Speaker 2:People usually have lunch here at, I would say, 2, 3 pm in the afternoon, say that 2, 33 pm in the afternoon, and then they, and then they have a dinner at 10 pm in the evening. Yeah, so, in between, in between, when they finish working, they will go to this bar to have a cup of wine and you know, and tapas, delight themselves with a good tapas. Yeah, so you can have a nice Spanish tortilla, or you can delight a paella, which is basically rice with seafood and and and all this stuff. It's, it's. I would say that it's a really light. They have a really lightweight style. I don't know if I, if I, make myself on this too well, oh no completely, and also I have a girlfriend who's from Barcelona and she cooks and makes paella and brought us all over for like a paella cooking session.
Speaker 2:And it was very good and not only Spanish food, but you can find also, you know, Not only Spanish food, but you can find also many places with Portuguese food, French food, Italian food, Turkish food.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Every time. One of the things that I'm pretty convinced about is that one of my favorite foods is the Mediterranean style food and the Asian food. I like the Asian food as well, so to run a restaurant here or a bar is a big deal because, I don't know, it's something that people will like to do, often Not only during the weekends, but during weekdays as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You can go easily to a restaurant on Monday at 7 pm and it's going to be fully booked.
Speaker 1:So what are some traditional Spanish dishes? I just think paella.
Speaker 2:Apart from paella. Well, it depends on the city you are from. I mean, if you go to the west, to Galicia, food will be more like the Portuguese food. They have a great bacalao. Bacalao is a salted fish. I mean they dry this fish in the sun. Well, they used to dry it in the sun with salt, and then they have to take off the salt by putting it in water and then and sweet water.
Speaker 2:I mean there's not no water from the sea for about 24 hours and then they go cooking, and they also have a similar dish in in Bilbao, which is in the north, in the very north. So there's a dish called bacalao a la bilbaína, which is one of my favorites as well, but you will definitely eat a lot of fish and vegetables if you come around here okay, nice, what's typical vegetables there?
Speaker 2:apart from? I mean, I would say, have you ever? Have you ever heard the well spinach like the one that, um, you know that cartoon? Yeah, yeah, yeah, um a lot. I don't know how to call that one in english. It's a selga, what does? It look like it's it's green and it's it's like um cabbage kale it's similar to cabbage, but not quite.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, kale, no, I don't think that's one kale is more like the, the decoration that now people yeah juice and it's cool, and and and well, not only in spain, but also in italy, especially in the south and the mediterranean um, um diet. It's based on, uh, fish, and vegetables. Basically, well, you can eat a lot. I mean we here here, people don't eat as much potato as people do in Germany, for instance.
Speaker 1:More rice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, more rice as a side dish, but yeah, a lot of fish and vegetables basically.
Speaker 1:You can find good meat as well yeah, what's the typical meat site that are there that people eat?
Speaker 2:oh, like the one, the, the pieces that you can find in a barbecue, in a typical barbecue, like big pigs, big pieces of meat. Um, yeah, we also have barbecues over here. I don't think they are quite the same than the ones you have in the us, because I've been to barbecues in the us, but but do you like beef and chicken and pork? Everything and sausages yeah, yeah yeah, and potatoes, and also we take, take some vegetables and we put it in the barbecue as well.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And curious also about cost of living and people like if they were interested in traveling there, living there temporarily, checking it out. How is that and what?
Speaker 2:Cost of living is one of the things that I am. Well, I'm 46 years old, so I'm actually thinking about my retirement as well. I mean, I don't plan to retire next year, but but I hopefully I will do it in in about 15 or 20 years, I don't know, maybe less. But I was reading. One of the things that I was reading in the WEF is the. The age for retirement in Europe has been decreasing a lot since the pandemic started two years ago. So now the average, I think, for men would be about 55 and for women about 50. And it used to be 65 and 60 correspondingly before.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, yeah, it's been, and it has decreased a lot and 60, correspondingly before. Oh wow, yeah, it's been, and it has decreased a lot.
Speaker 1:Did they say why Just?
Speaker 2:curious. One of the reasons was the pandemic. I think a lot of people realized that how important it is to value the quality time that you spend with your family.
Speaker 1:And I think especially here in.
Speaker 2:Europe.
Speaker 2:People always care about that, to value the quality time that you here do you spend with your family, and I think I think especially here in europe people always care about that.
Speaker 2:They have been always really care about this, about the time to spare with the family and and thing. I'm not saying there's not the same in the us, but I've but I've been in the us and my sister she lives in the US as well and compared with China and the US, like I said, it's more light. I'm not saying they don't work as hard as you guys work in the US or people work in China, but it's definitely not the same time that you spend in an office or behind a computer or something like that. One of the other reasons is because if people are choosing this country to retire, it's because of the cost of living. If you want to have a median style of life I mean having a good place to live, having one or two cars, sending your kids to a good school or traveling at least once a year out of the country you have to have a family income about 3,500 euros, which would be about 5,000 US dollars, if I'm not wrong, 5,000, okay, got it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that would be 3,500 euros a month.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The other thing that I personally like about Europe, compared with I don't know the US, is the healthcare system, which is much more affordable for people to especially when they retire, to take care of these fans in their budget. I don't know, I never lived in the US before, but I've been there and I have family living there and, as far as I know, you had to have a really good insurance private insurance policy, if you want to. You know to be not concerned about these issues when you're growing old.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's my understanding. I might be wrong.
Speaker 1:There's some new plans coming out that I've been exploring as a self-employed person that I think will be growing quite a bit just because it's such a drastic difference between costs. But yeah, health care in Europe I know typically is way more covered and the government usually take care of you versus but especially in Spain.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean usually take care of you versus, but especially but especially, in spain. You know what I mean. Even spain has a great health care system. As far as I know, and because there's a lot of people from well before the brexit, a lot of people from uk and germany, they will come here to take care of their health issues because they it was because it's been known it's more, much cheaper than going through these expenses of their own countries. How much is it?
Speaker 1:for rent on an apartment or a house or something. How much does?
Speaker 2:it cost. I'm living in a rent apartment and this is a really nice area.
Speaker 2:I would say the cost of this apartment is about 900 euros a month. Okay, not bad? No, which is not bad at all, and it's an apartment with about 80 square meters. It has two bedrooms, one living room, kitchen, and you have a service area where you have your laundry and you know everything. Good size? Yeah, it is a good size, and the thing is that the price of energy here electricity, gas it's been rising a uh the last month because of the conflict between russia and ukraine. You know, russia is the, the, the main supplier of gas for europe and most of the electricity that is from here is it depends on on the supply of a gas. So, um, on the supply of gas.
Speaker 2:So the prices of electricity here are just crazy compared with US again, or China, because I've been living in China as well. Also South America.
Speaker 1:How much is it? Oh, you guys, I was going to say how much is a gallon of gas, but you guys go by liter, I think, versus gallon.
Speaker 2:Well, it's about, right now, a gallon a gallon. Let me see, I had to make the calculation because we're paying liters, right yeah?
Speaker 1:is it four liters per gallon right?
Speaker 2:yeah, four liters. Yeah, it's about four liters per gallon, and so that would be uh, let me see, let's see if that it's almost an euro per liter now. So it would be like four, yeah, four euros per gallon.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:US dollars will be like 5.5 or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for the US. Our gallon of gas used to be three to four dollars, and now it's six, six dollars.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we have the same situation here. Yeah, you know there are no. Uh, europe is not a big producer of oil, so we relied on the russian oil and and the and gas, and and. Because of the conflict, because of the situation, because of the war over there, and, you know, the prices have risen a lot lately.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of people, especially small businesses and families, you know, protesting about this. I mean arguing about why they had to pay that much of blah blah blah, but I'm not really um into the subject, but I better heard a lot and I read that just a lot of people complaining about this, this price pricing. So the government is talking about subsidies and all the stuff for people, especially for the, for people that has a lower income in the country, and etc. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So do you actually drive very much? Or, since you're in the city, do you just take public?
Speaker 2:transportation, to be honest, because I'm working mostly at home, so I like to use the, the, the public transportation area here. It's really convenient and it's safe and it's clean and it's efficient. So, um, no, I'm not. I'm not really driving over here, because my driving license was not an issue here in this country so I had to go through all the paperwork to validate my driving license over here. So, yeah, I have a car, but it's stopped in the, in the parking slot and and I'm not driving that much lately okay.
Speaker 1:And then I also hear on house hunters international all the time all the european places, like a lot of places, don't have dryers just because energy is so expensive or air conditioning. Is that definitely?
Speaker 2:yeah, definitely so we well, I don't have a dryer here. I usually dry my clothes, like uh, under the sun, in the in the service area that I have in my apartment, but it's not coming. You're right, it's not coming to have a dryer here because I, because of the price, of electricity is too expensive, um, so I would say that once again, if you, if you earned about 3 500 euros a month, maybe, and you have a family of three or four members, you can afford to have a dryer without a problem. But the electricity bill over here, here, for a small house with three members I mean three people it could be over 200, 300 years a month. So that would be a lot, especially for the people that has the minimum income, which is about 1 000 euros a month. So it's about 30 percent. Uh, it's not as, um, not as cheap as as in other countries. I, I believe that in us you don't have the same and this the same rate. Uh, it varies from states, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:yeah, my gas is only 3.99. Here has 3.99. Yeah, it hasn't broken, that's been wrong. I know what mine is. Oh, you're talking about the pump. Yeah, yeah, I'm talking about the gas pump.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I was thinking, pg me, okay, yeah no yeah, hi, but we have a big house and we're always running cranking the heat, so yeah, yeah, my sister has a big house as well, and she and then, and I know, during winter time it's, it's, I mean it's a must, right, you cannot turn it off, I mean you, but winter years are not really that cold.
Speaker 1:Um, when I was, going to ask what the weather's like and if you're drying like what's the typical um temperature? I feel like it's kind of like california, but I'm not sure it is.
Speaker 2:It's not that, it's not that bad. I mean, uh, I heard because I wasn't here. Last year winter was one of the coldest in in decades. We, the madrid people, even had snow here and it's not typical, you know what I mean. So I uh people people start like crazy went out in the streets and the city collapsed totally because they are not used to this kind of weather. There was, I think the last time they had snowed here was, I don't know, maybe 20 or 30 years before, and people was like crazy. Everyone was, you know, doing snowballs and playing around and skiing in the streets, but I was not here. I heard that because my family was living here. This winter the one that is passing right now because we're having spring soon it's been really, really nice the lowest temperature it's about 5 degrees, not 8 degrees, which is not bad at all.
Speaker 2:You can actually go out right like jacket yeah, exactly ok so you said 5 degrees.
Speaker 1:Now I've got a converter now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh well you're talking Fahrenheit, right, exactly Okay. So you said five degrees. Now I've got a converter now, yeah, yeah, oh well, yeah, so you're talking Fahrenheit, right?
Speaker 1:I'm talking about yeah, and so that it just a little. It's a five degrees Celsius is 41 degrees Fahrenheit, and that's pretty much like what we're having right now. It was in the forties this morning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think. I think the weather is similar and at least in California.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I was in Barcelona, gosh. I think it was like 2000,. Or maybe it was in the 90s late 90s, california is much warmer than Madrid. Yeah, when I was in Barcelona, it was perfect. It was like in the 70s or 80s, and warm, and it felt very much like California, in a good way.
Speaker 2:It's been a while since, since, since the last time I I was in Barcelona, but yeah, I I'm. I'm now. There's much warmer than than Madrid, for sure.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, is it humid at all there or no?
Speaker 2:No, Madrid is a dry city, a very dry city. You actually can feel it in your skin and your lips. You know you have to use this.
Speaker 1:Chapstick lotion yeah exactly this chapstick. In the summer too. This summer as well.
Speaker 2:During the summer as well.
Speaker 1:yeah, oh, okay, that's definitely healthy, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's like we didn't have. We had some mountains around the city and I think in the north part of the country there's a small desert, but no, no dry, really dry. Compared with the cities that I live in other countries, or compared with the cities that I lived here before, that I visited here before, before that I visited here before, it's really, I mean, if you can, if you compare with Barcelona or Valencia or um Galicia, I mean, and the the west part, it's much more drier so is the coastal like Barcelona.
Speaker 1:Is that pretty humid, or is that dry as well?
Speaker 2:it's, yes, definitely more humid than Madrid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, when I was there it felt just like California. It wasn't humid, it was just nice.
Speaker 2:Well, I've never been to California, but I can imagine that it's similar yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know it didn't feel like it was humid. Very little bugs, gnats and bees and flies.
Speaker 2:No, well, it's been a year and I haven't smashed one yet. Oh, it's been a year and I haven't.
Speaker 1:I haven't smashed one yet. Well, talking about bugs and gnats, and I'm thinking mosquitoes and things I'm looking at, like there is a spot like greenery, Is there outdoors camping those kinds of?
Speaker 2:things it's it's lovely.
Speaker 2:It's lovely, I like it, I really like it. I mean it's like, probably, probably I'm not the best person to check about madrid because I, I, I wasn't born and raised here. You know what I mean. But I, but I have, but I have family living here for years and and they say, like you should stay here, come on, what are you looking for? All the places to hear? Because I'm now in, in, in this, in kind of a crossroad in my professional career. You know what I mean. So I, I look forward to go back to China, if you want to, if you want me to be honest. Well, I got to make a really good um life over there, um, personally and professionally speaking and this, but right now it's, it's.
Speaker 2:I don't think this, that's, that's gonna happen soon so I'm considering seriously to stay here in europe and in madrid will be definitely my first option if I say yeah oh, nice that's, and I was curious also professions um that typical, I mean, is it just like here?
Speaker 1:you know, high tech business, are there specific and professions that they recruit for?
Speaker 2:Well, madrid, madrid, it's. It's in terms of I was working for the energy industry, right, I worked for Siemens in China for about two years and then I worked for a Chinese company in the energy industry. Right, I worked for siemens in china for about two years and then I worked for for a chinese company in the energy industry as well as well yeah and in spain, not just madrid, but spain is um.
Speaker 2:It's a pioneer in renewables, so the government is investing in a lot of um technology technology to change from, you know, to depend less on. Gas electricity everything yeah, but they are building a lot of wind parks and you know.
Speaker 1:We're doing that.
Speaker 2:Naturally, yeah, solar Offshore, yeah, offshore onshore as well and and there's a lot of investment in that in that regard. So, for what I read, there's going to be about 10 000 new job opportunities because of this industry, that it's been growing a lot the last two years, especially when the restrictions arising from this pandemic, uh, are totally are ended I mean when when they are not, when they're not as much as uh as they are now, but I think it's it's it's not bad. Right now you can travel more easily around you, at least around europe, without having that much trouble. So, technology speaking, I wouldn't say spain is as advanced as germany or france, but definitely better than italy and better than portugal and all the countries in europe. So I think it's a good. There are a lot of people a lot of, you know there's a lot of people who can work remotely from everywhere. So I heard that there's a lot of entrepreneurs moving here because of the cost of living and because of the facilities that you have to do your work from here and it's really convenient.
Speaker 1:What do you like to do while you're there?
Speaker 2:Oh well, I'm an outdoors guy.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I enjoy really going out. There's a really nice park over here, so during the weekends, when I have time, I just go there for a walk and if my friends are in the mood, we just take a blanket, we put it in the park and we bring a few drinks and we start talking for a while, or we go to the local bar to drink and eat tapas, and during summer, it's more common for people to travel around Europe, especially to the coast side.
Speaker 2:You probably heard about Ibiza and Baleares Islands, which is, you know, one of the things that Spain is famous for is because of the tourism industry. Right, actually, it's one of the countries that doubles the population during summertime, because many of the northern countries in Europe come to spend their holidays, the summer holidays, over here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it would be kind of, I don't know, florida or California in the US or California in the US. So a lot of people that live in the north and in the northern countries, and I don't know, I said, germany or Sweden or Switzerland they will love to come here to spend their summertime because it's really nice. It's really nice to be here. So the leisure industry is also one of the main attractions in Spain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see Ibiza, is that right? I'm looking at the map off of Valencia. There's a couple islands off of that. Is that what you're talking about?
Speaker 2:Well, Ibiza is more for I don't know. Ibiza is more for people that it's in their 20s and 30s. I wouldn't go to Ibiza because it's more like party-like. It's like go and drink like crazy the whole night and then sleep in the whole day. Yeah, but there are other places I don't know. I would say Mallorca, which was affected by this volcano eruption. It was recently in that area, but now it's recovering and the government is investing a lot of money to recover the places that were damaged because of this volcanic action.
Speaker 1:What was that? Minorca, majorca. Where is it? Because I'm looking on the map.
Speaker 2:Mallorca, that will be in the Baleares as well, If you can find it in the east part, okay, the opposite side to Portugal, oh, Opposite Portugal, because I see Palma. Palma Mallorca, that's the one.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's what I was looking for. Oh, I see it.
Speaker 2:They have volcanoes over there, and one of the biggest volcanoes was the eruption. Is that what you said?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So a lot of bed and breakfast places and all over the leisure industry got really affected because of this eruption, but now they're doing their best to rebuild those places before summertime, because it's when they have the biggest income in the year. Yeah, I see.
Speaker 1:Arenal and I wonder if that stands for a volcano, because that's when I was in Costa Rica. There was Arenal, all right, I went to and that was a volcano, because that's when I was in costa rica there was arnold.
Speaker 2:Um, all right, I went to and that was the volcano arnold. There's a lot, yeah, there are a lot of. There are a lot of volcanoes as well. My father was from sicily, which is in the south part of italy, and this would, I think, the biggest active volcano it's in uh, it's in in that island it's. It's called Bronte and it's called Edna volcano.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. And then I see a lot of in Madrid. There's above, there seems to be a lot of green and there's a there's. It looks like a big lake there too, or I'm trying to bring it back, cause I was looking at islands as well. I see the stadium. That must be where the soccer team is right in the middle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is one of the most famous soccer teams in Europe and they have won, like 11 or 13, the European championship. Oh, that's fantastic they have. They have a lot of fans all over the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, that's great. And then Minga Rubio it looks like there's above there. It looks like there's huge national parks above Madrid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are. I think the biggest one is well around the place I'm living. I think the biggest one is well around the place I'm living. There's this one called Valdebebas. That would be V-A-L-D-E-B-E-B-A-S. Valdebebas. Okay, so there's a lot of green around here, so it's really nice to go out for a walk in this place and you know, or for a yuck, just go out and jogging. I do that. I do that a lot and and you can find a lot of people doing it as well, especially during the weekends oh, that's great.
Speaker 1:No, it's, it's, it's uh beautiful. Well, I know, so appreciate just getting a glimpse of Madrid. It's so fun to visit and especially talk to someone who's there right now and can give us your glance and glimpse of what it would be like I think I mentioned that before.
Speaker 2:right, I said that if you girls ever make your mind and come to visit, I will be more than happy to be your host.
Speaker 1:Oh, that would be so fun. We would love it. How far is portugal from here? It looks like it's just straight. Well, it looks like you can drive to portugal and lisbon, yeah, on the other side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can, actually can do that. Yeah, yeah, carol can. Yeah, definitely, and it would. She wants to go and it won't take more than 24 hours. I promise you it's a quick flight or a quick flight yeah, or a quick flight.
Speaker 2:That would be more convenient. But yeah, you can. Uh, if I'm not wrong, you can travel from madrid. You can travel to portugal in about, I would say, the eight, ten hours. Maybe it depends on the name. Um, it basically depends on how often do you stop during the way. You know what I mean. It's correct, yeah, if you don't make, if you, if you travel straight to that, uh, to portugal, you won't spend, uh, you won't spend a day, you won't okay have you been to portugal?
Speaker 2:uh, no yet not yet okay have you heard of?
Speaker 1:nazaree. It's supposed to be like the now like world famous big wave surfing area in the country I have, yeah, I have, I definitely have, uh, but I know I haven't, I haven't visited uh that place?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's very famous.
Speaker 1:It's very famous, it's very famous okay, sounds like that's where we need to go, carol. Yes, yes, very much so, and the whole like southern part, but that's another conversation yeah portugal. Okay, so we're almost to a close. So, kristin, do you have any last minute questions or I'll go through my wrap by your questions? Yeah no, I so appreciate this time, diego. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:So I just have a handful of questions. What's the popular religion there? Catholic, I would assume.
Speaker 2:I think, in Spain at least, will be Catholic. Yeah, I know, it's not the most popular in Italy anymore, which is ironic. This is where the vatican is. Yeah, but it's not, I can promise you that what's most popular in italy. Promised or nothing I don't know, I wouldn't say um, I don't like to to make a statement without having the fact.
Speaker 1:But I'm pretty sure that it's not a catholic anymore.
Speaker 2:Um, I think there are a lot of a lot, especially young generations. They are coming. I mean, they're still christians, but they are going pretty sure that it's not a catholic anymore. Um, I think there are a lot of a lot, especially young generations. They are coming. I mean, they're still christians, but they are going for um, I don't know if it's protestants or something.
Speaker 1:Protestant yeah, protestants yeah like in england, right, yeah, okay, and so what did you have for breakfast this morning, diego?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker 1:Well.
Speaker 2:I have a bowl of cereals. But I have a bowl of cereal and bananas and oranges. But I'm not a typical Spanish guy, probably, if you ask Spanish, because people here here they don't have a really strong breakfast, they usually go for a cup of coffee, strong coffee they're eating dinner at 10 at night exactly, exactly, especially if you had dinner at 10, but it's, it's really common.
Speaker 2:You know, I was in the restaurant the other day and there's a really, really good restaurant around here, an Italian restaurant and then I ran into two Canadian couple a Canadian couple and they asked me do you know what time restaurants open here? Because it was about one o'clock in the afternoon. And they said well, I'm afraid that if you want to have lunch, you have to wait at least an hour or more, because restaurants usually open at 1.30 or 2 pm and at that time if you go there, I mean you won't find that much people. People start coming over at 2.30 or 3 pm in the afternoon, especially during the weekends, so that's the regular Spanish time for having lunch.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's, interesting Okay.
Speaker 2:It is, it is definitely, and what?
Speaker 1:kind of music is popular, still like traditional Spanish music.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, once again, if you go all the way down to Sevilla, you have this flamenco, have you?
Speaker 1:ever heard about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is very typical, but if you go into the north and Bilbao, or even here in Madrid, it's not that common. You have some popular bands as well, all around Spain and in Catalonia, which is the region where Barcelona is, the music is also different, but I would say that the most internationally known style of music would be the flamenco, which is famous in Sevilla, where you also have the bullfighting yeah, the bullfighting shows. I'm not really a fan of that, but yeah, but people seem to like it that much, yeah okay, all right, and then where's the well?
Speaker 2:we know you like some famous surf spots if you go north, if you go, I will say that if you go north, yeah, especially in and in galicia, which is just next to, next to portugal, but I'm not sure which one is it. Uh, to be honest, I had to do a little bit of research to to answer, to answer your question.
Speaker 1:Uh, carol, sorry, sorry and I'm looking, because Portugal looks like it's kind of like uh, there's still Spain above it, there's Spain above it still yeah, if you ask me, if you are, I mean speaking, one of my favorite spots in Spain is actually the west.
Speaker 2:We're next to Portugal, it's all the part of Galicia. They have many, many things in common and you can find the food it's wow, it's just amazing and also the wines and landscapes, the coast, the beaches. It's lovely, it's lovely. It's a place that I will definitely choose to spend my holidays during summertime.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so then there's the flat north part of Spain, and then there's the part that is adjacent to Portugal. Is it warmer in the more protected?
Speaker 2:north beaches than the west because no, you mean the water but no, just just the weather near the weather. Okay. Well, the weather would be, I mean, between portugal and that part of spain, it's, it's pretty similar okay I don't think there's a big difference.
Speaker 1:Um, because okay, so like bilboa is just the same temperature as like no, bilbao, you mean bilbao, it's.
Speaker 2:The weather in bilbao is more like in england. Yeah, it rains, it rains a lot and most of the year it rains a lot. So nothing like, I mean nothing like the weather in portugal, no way oh, okay yeah, there's a big difference between the weather and be about.
Speaker 2:Actually, there's a. There's a movie, spanish, it's Siete Pellidos Vascos, which would, in English, would be like seven Vasque last names, or, yeah, seven Vasque last names, because people from Bilbao is known for being really attached to their culture, to their heritage. You know what I mean. So some people from the rest of Spain will say that they only marry between them. So when you, if you I mean if you like a girl over there, and if you're not Basque, they will go all the way, you know, back to find out who was your parent, your grandfather, your grandmother, to see if you have some Basque heritage. Oh, okay, and in that movie there's a famous scene when this guy from Sevilla, the city that I was talking about before, he's going on a bus to visit the girl that he just met in a party in Sevilla. And there's a tunnel right, and when he crossed the tunnel and he passed to the somewhere the somewhere we bow is, everything becomes gray and rainy and it has storm, and before it was sunny and happy. I don't know.
Speaker 2:They have this what movie it is in Spanish is Siete Apellidos Vascos, which means seven vast last names of, like your last name you have can I can send you over the title okay, that's fun, did you say vasque?
Speaker 2:vasque as as vasque country because without the region is called the vasque country is that they used to be independence and in independence, yeah, they used to be. If you, if you talk to someone over there, they will say we're not spanish at all, we're different, we had, we're more organized and actually it's a really it's one of the richest regions in spain, as well as um catalunya, which is where barcelona is okay so they have their own language.
Speaker 2:They, they, they speak basque. Uh, they have the vast language as well. They speak spanish. They will be able to speak spanish as well, but they don't really like to do it, at least between them, um and you said basque like b, like a, yeah, like like v, like like uh v a s k. Okay, got it basque, basque country.
Speaker 1:Okay, because there's also basque, that's between spain and france. Right that? There's a whole quote. There's a like B, yeah, b like boy, or V like Victor.
Speaker 2:V like Victor no.
Speaker 1:V like Victor yes but there's also a B B-A-S-Q-U-E. I have a friend who's Basque and it's between France and Spain.
Speaker 2:It's the same. It's the same region. It's the same region. Oh, okay, but Basque would be more like the French spelling In English. I'm pretty sure it is with V as Victor A-S-K, if I'm not wrong.
Speaker 1:Oh, you'll have to send me the movie. Yeah, definitely I will.
Speaker 2:You have to watch this movie. It's in Spanishanish, but you definitely will find it, with uh close captions too.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's so funny, it's really funny yeah and just one last question. Um, you asked about the money, but it's the euro, right? Yeah yeah, okay, but one other question I had, because, like my image of mad is that it's, you know, big city, maybe not so safe. Unemployment is really high. What's the crime rate there?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm going to put it like this you can have some personal issues stolen if you're careless, especially when you go to tourist attractions, to tourist places, but you will never have someone threatening you with a gun or something like that. In that aspect, it's Madrid, and I think Spain, generally speaking, is really, really safe. So it's women travelers or single travelers there.
Speaker 1:Yeah definitely.
Speaker 2:I mean, of course, there are places that you need to avoid, places that are not really safe, especially during nighttime, but the downtown in Madrid it's really lively and there's a lot of people. You can find a lot of foreigners walking around and you only have to be careful with your personal things like your, I don't know like your mobile phone and that kind of things not to leave it over the table in a crowded place or if you're going to the metro, that kind of thing. You had to be a bit careful, but not, it's something that wouldn't happen that often. You know what I mean. It's something that wouldn't happen that often. You know what I mean. It's not likely to happen. But yeah, and especially during the busy days, when there's a lot of people in the metro, when there's a lot of people in restaurants, you have to be careful, but you will never, or you will almost never, be threatened by someone carrying a gun or something like that over here. That's not going to happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. Wonderful.
Speaker 2:It is great, I'm telling you. It's a great place to visit and to have holidays. Like I said before, there must be a reason for this country to double their population during the summertime, right? A lot of people choose this country as their summer holiday destination. When it comes to relax, to enjoy, likes to enjoy, and spanish people is well known for I don't know for being really really light concern or or relaxed when it comes to working, I'm not saying I'm not gonna say they're lazy, but if you come around madrid on friday at 5.m you won't find anyone in their office.
Speaker 1:I'm just telling you Right Quality of life that's good. Well, thank you so much, Diego. It was so nice to meet you.
Speaker 2:I appreciate your time, thank you, thank you. For me it's been a pleasure to be well your first um guest. Yeah, thank you. I wish you girls all the success in the world. So, um, I'm a really talkative person. I'm afraid I don't sound as smart as I sound when I speak in Spanish.
Speaker 1:Oh, you sound just great. You're doing great. How do you speak?
Speaker 2:I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure that my English is not bad, but I promise you, I sound much more smarter when I speak in Spanish, oh, chinese.
Speaker 1:Do you speak Chinese then?
Speaker 2:Yes, I can speak Chinese.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as well, oh, wow, that's so interesting.
Speaker 2:But out of three foreign languages that I can speak, apart from Spanish, spanish is my mother language, right, um, but out of the three foreign languages that I can speak, I would say the English is the best one. Um, because I can speak Italian, uh, but I wasn't born and raised in Italy, in Italy as well, but I was born in an Italian community. So my father, he would speak in Italian to me, and my grandmother, he was speaking Italian to me all the time. Um, but my mother, she teaches English and I I've been listening and and hearing to my grandmother from my mother's side. She was, uh, she was British, so she wouldn't, she wouldn't, she wouldn't speak to us in Spanish as well, she would speak in English, and then we had to either understand or what I don't know, she would get mad, yeah.
Speaker 1:Love it.
Speaker 2:But my Chinglish is okay.
Speaker 1:I like that one. Do you know what Portahol is? Do you ever hear that Portahol it's?
Speaker 2:Portuguese and Spanish. I like that one.
Speaker 1:Do you know what Portahol is? Do you ever hear that Portahol it's Portuguese and Spanish?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I don't speak that much Portahol, but I heard about the Itagnolo, which is Italian and Spanish as well.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I've never heard of these.
Speaker 1:This is awesome, very good, that's great yeah.
Speaker 2:You definitely have to start the English lessons. You can do pretty good in China if you can speak English. Well, that's great, I promise you, especially if you go to the biggest cities like Shanghai, beijing, guangzhou. If you speak Chinese, you will do just fine.
Speaker 1:We may have to have you come back on for China. That would be great. Just to learn, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wish it was there to let you know more about that country, because you know there's. I mean, if you put the political subject apart, china is a great place to be as well. I mean, I lived seven years over there and I really look forward to go back. I don't know if I'm going to, but because there are things that I need to care about before making that decision.
Speaker 1:Cross fingers for you.
Speaker 2:You never know Things happen for a reason. Yeah exactly I believe in that too. Things happen for a reason, so if I haven't found my way back to China, there must be a reason for that, right yeah?
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Well, thank you so much Diego for all of your time.
Speaker 2:It was so wonderful.
Speaker 1:And finally, nice to meet you in person.
Speaker 2:Definitely, it was my pleasure as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Fantastic. Well, have a great rest of your have a great night.
Speaker 2:Thank you and you have a nice day. Thank you, Okay. Thank you. Bye Carl, Bye Kristen. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:If you enjoy our podcast, be sure to subscribe to our show, rate us in your podcast app and follow us on Instagram at where next podcast. If you are interested in being a guest on our show or would like to nominate someone, please contact us on our website at wwwwhere next podcastcom. Thanks for listening.
