-Where were you born?
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

-In which country and city are you living now?
La Orotava, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

-Are you living alone or with your family?
I am living with my Canarian girlfriend and we have daily contact with her local family.

-How long have you been living in Spain?
Since November 2005 until the present.

-What is your age?
I am now 30 years of age.

-When did you come up with the idea of living in Spain?
Let’s just say that it was not something I planned. I was swept off my feet by a beautiful Spanish girl, and the rest is history. I lengthened my stay several weeks to spend more time with her. We were soon separated for 2 months and I had time to think what I would do.

I suppose what really influenced my decision to move was that I had no job in Australia, no friends to speak of & essentially no life (or so I thought). I was so optimistic that I thought it would be easy to make a new life in another country, especially a beautiful island. I love cycling, and I thought it was a better place to cycle than where I was previously living.

In hindsight, true love makes you do crazy things, and moving to another country is one of the best examples of exactly how overpowering it can be; I think love is by far the strongest drug of them all. What motivates anyone else to move 20,000km away from their home?

-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?
My father was born in the UK, so I was able to apply for a British passport. That entitles me to live & work within the European Union. Since the Canary Islands are an autonomous region of Spain, it was easy enough to get the initial paperwork.

-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?
It was difficult. If you work for yourself, you need to pay ~€240/month into the social security system before you can get any health benefits. Otherwise, you have to pocket all the medical expenses yourself.

-How do you make your living there? Do you have any type of income generated?
This is the difficult question. My field of expertise is “Science research of Materials”. Most of the jobs in Tenerife are poorly paid & associated with the tourist industry. With that in mind, in the beginning it was extremely difficult for me because I knew I didn’t want to waste my skills.

Initially I sent out my curriculum to several schools. Pretty soon I landed a job teaching English in a school. On day one I was surrounded by some thirty 3, 4 and 5 year olds! My first teaching session lasted all of about 10 minutes. I had a panic attack after I was told that the following day there would be no assistants. The horrible working environment didn’t exactly improve my outlook for all the other jobs either. I never returned after lunch – only to inform the secretary that I wasn’t prepared enough.

So began a period of about 2 or 3 months during which time I did much soul-searching & I eventually decided that if I was going to live here, it definitely wouldn’t be working for someone else. I quickly realised that with a decent computer & a broadband internet connection, I was not confined to working for people in Tenerife. So I initiated three of my own ventures, more or less simultaneously – two of which I continue to pursue:

1. Having a huge passion for cycling, and after half-convincing myself that Science never really did anything for me, I decided to initiate a cycling webpage www.Tenerife-Training.net. The idea was to offer challenging guided tours of the island for the multitude of tourist visitors. The idea is not as stupid as it sounds, because this place is so unique. After working on the website content for the last year (up to 80 hours a week, working for peanuts), and promoting it every possible way I know how, I’m finally able to make some money renting out top-quality road & mountain bikes to genuine bicycle enthusiasts. It offers a place where serious cyclists can come to train, all year round, with climbs going from sea level all the way up to 2300m in one ride! I provide both the information and the bikes to make it all happen. The biggest hurdle is that all businesses take time to get of the ground, and especially travel-related ones. There is a lengthy delay between the time people first encounter my website, to the time they actually arrive and rent a bike for a week…
2. I noticed that almost 50% of local businesses still did not have websites and they could do with a new logo. Hence I tried to edge my way into the field of graphic & web design by quickly creating a website called “www.DoctorWebDesigns.com”, making some nifty business cards and then doing door-knocking enquiries at a load of retail shops. There was almost zero demand for it - many shop owners didn’t see the benefit of a website. I never made a cent & hence I never renewed the url I created.
3. Attempting to use my knowledge of advanced materials to benefit my lousy income, within a year I created my own world first prototype invention: an advanced alumina ceramic brake & gear line housing for bicycles: www.vertebr.ae. This is being aimed at cyclists with more money than sense, and I have already sold several kits. Yes they’re quite superfluous for the ordinary rider, but they do work very well indeed. Truth be told, I have been so busy with idea number one, I haven’t had time to promote this product as much as I’d like but I’m convinced that there is a tiny niche market for it. If both professional and recreational cyclists alike buy carbon fibre wheels worth up to US$5000 a set, then why not this invention I thought?!

The first 3 months was the hardest time period. It felt like I was a child. I started with an extremely limited vocabulary (i.e practically nothing). The process of learning a new language goes something like this: lots of guessing, quickly followed by lots of mistakes & embarrassment, then numerous new attempts, several new corrections, somewhat less embarrassment, finally leading to significantly more communication. But really, that’s the only way to learn. I never went to any language classes, but I have recently attended a local Spanish driving school, and the theory lessons have helped to significantly boost my vocabulary & understanding of Spanish spoken at the normal (rapid) pace.

I miss the open space of Australia more than anything. Sometimes I feel claustrophobic here. I really feel trapped at times. With the population density, it not only feels like a crowded island, it is. Even though I used to live in the city of Sydney, with 3 or 4 million people, there were always places I could go to get away from civilisation. Here it’s not so easy. I have been fortunate enough to visit Australia twice in 2 years. I felt like I just had to go. But running a business and travelling are mutually exclusive. So when I went to Australia for 2 months to take a break during the quiet season, it was detrimental to the business.

I think all expatriates suffer from some degree of homesickness. But somewhere along the line, I lost all sense of hope for a better future. Eventually the continual negative thought cycling led to chronic depression, and prozac treatments which continue to this day. It's something which I never thought I would be susceptible to, never ever! Possibly this was because my initial expectations of “an island paradise with my perfect girl” were not met. I’m convinced that moving to another country precipitated that condition, which was until then in a latent state. This was magnified by insufficient planning during the irrational "love-struck" phase. At least that's my scientific analysis...

My favourite past time in Australia was cycling, but after 2 broken wrists in as many years, riding on the road with traffic has definitely lost its appeal.

-Do you have other plans for the future?
I have already travelled extensively around the world, but I would still love to travel to Tanzania and Bhutan, as well as Australia whenever I have the opportunity.

-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?
I’d rather not think about that yet. I’m still concentrating on regaining 100% financial independence first!

-What is the cost of living in Spain?
Like anywhere, that depends on where you live and what you eat.

-What do you think about the Canarians?
I think Canarian people are incredibly patient, extremely kind & generous, but they need to protect their intrinsically beautiful island (which until now has been their biggest asset) from overdevelopment. They generally despise English foreigners that conglomerate in the South, essentially creating their own “mini England”. German business owners here in the North are not respected much at all either, because they take all of the wealth out of the country, and take advantage of cheap local labour.

-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in Spain?
Positive aspects: I’m close to mountains and black beaches. Great Spanish food. Relatively cyclist-friendly drivers. Generally people are very friendly.

Negative aspects: Continual cloud cover in the North of Tenerife. Lack of money. Lack of big city nightlife. Living on a small island equals an eventual lack of new places to discover, and the feeling of “sameness”. Distance from home. Feeling of claustrophobia.

-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in Spain?
Contrary to popular belief, Tenerife is not an island paradise. There is no money about, because tourists come here with the knowledge that it is a cheap package holiday destination, so they don’t want to spend a lot of money. Realise that with most ordinary jobs, you’ll be competing with South American workers, who’ll work for next to nothing.

With so much construction going on, it’s getting uglier all the time. There are new ugly buildings and cranes erecting more everywhere you look. Much of the “culture” shown to the tourists is completely fake. Be especially aware of falling into that terrible state of depression when moving to any other country.

-Do you have any favourite Web sites or blogs about Spain?
My blog is about the life of an ex-research scientist who now runs a pro bike hire business in one of the most extreme training zones on the planet... the third largest volcanic island in the world. Tenerife: a place where flat roads don't exist!

Also, this place could not possibly be located further from my original home in Sydney; it’s the antipode of Sydney. This blog is dedicated to my life integration in this new culture:

http://tenerife-training.net/Tenerife-News-Cycling-Blog/category/spanish-island-life/

You can find other website links & links to other relevant blogs on that site.