Barcelona Mum

Interview with Claudia

What is your name, age and how long have you lived in Catalunya?
My name is Claudia Stolwijk, 42 years old and we live some 6 years in Catalunya right now.

Where do you live in Catalunya?
About 2 years we are living in Cardedeu and the 4 years before that we have lived in Sant Cugat del Valles.

What nationality are you and your partner?
We are both Dutch.

How many children do you have and what are their names and ages?
We have 4 children; Meggie our oldest daughter is 13 years old, then we have a daughter Gina who is 11 years old. After that was our son Enrico born and he is 7 years old. And then the Benjamin and only one born here in Spain; Luca who will celebrate his 3rd birthday on the day of Sant Jordi (23 April)

Do you work and if so what to you do?
When our first child was born I stopped working, but since a year I´m starting up a business here in Spain. After the birth of our youngest son Luca I realized that there are some things missing here in Spain when you get a child Unfortunately Spain is not really prepared in giving birth at home, and especially the care after. I missed a lot of our traditions and the festive way of celebrating the coming of a newborn child. From that point of view I started up a business that provides for all the needs that a family might have to celebrate that special happening . Look at my website to understand what I mean. www.Hansdeco.eu

What was your experience of having a baby in Catalunya? (if relevant)
After giving birth to our first 3 children in Holland in my own house, I also wanted to give birth to our last son in our house in Sant Cugat. After 3 deliveries (our daughter Gina who was born without a midwife because it all went very quickly!) we felt safe enough to do everything at the same way like in our native country. It was a pity that a natural birth (and even worse, a home-delivery) is something almost unthinkable for the Spanish doctors, in their eyes something very dangerous. In the hospital they didn´t support me; at the moment that I was one day over-due they wanted to take the baby out. I ignored this and I wanted to wait for at least 42 weeks. In the hospital they made me sign a paper that from that moment on everything was my responsibility. When you are pregnant you are more sensible and it made me feel sad that in Spain the medic’s don´t have an open mind in how you want to give birth. After all I found a Spanish midwife and after exactly 42 weeks our son Luca was born in my own comfortable home. One hour later the midwife left us alone. To have a maternity nurse in your house the first days after the birth, is something unusual in Spain. I was lucky to find a Dutch nurse who took care of me the first 5 days after the delivery. As well we had made a lot of Catalan friends and the Catalan godmother of Luca helped me with everything she could. Our friends respected our way of handling this and we think that most Catalans (especially in this zone) are very open minded. They love to know everything about other cultures.

What was your experience of relocating to Catalunya with children? (if relevant)
We are glad that we contracted a Relocation company. They helped us to find a home and a school for the children. 6 Years ago we didn´t speak Spanish or Catalan and we didn´t know yet where we had to go to arrange all the paperwork. As well it is complicated with 3 (Luca wasn´t born yet) children to take care of everything while you still are living in your native country. The relocation company took care of all our wishes and obligations. It is funny to think that 2 years later my husband took over this company, and now he is owner of Relocation Global Services. Because we had experienced all the things that you have to go through when you are going to live in an other country, he understands perfectly what his clients want. So if you still need help, don´t hesitate to contact Edwin. www.relocationspain.org

How well integrated would you say you and your children are?
I would say more than 100 percent. It helped a lot to put the children at a public school. They speak Catalan that well that most Catalans don’t here that they are foreigners. They know all about the culture and for them a “calçotada” is as normal as a Dutch “hutspot”.

What language do you speak to your children?
Me and my husband always speak Dutch with the children. Right now they have 2 native languages; Catalan as well as their Dutch.

What is your impression of childcare and education in Catalunya so far?
I´m very satisfied with the childcare and education. To respect nature over here is much more important then in Holland. The children have a lot of excursions to the forests and mountains and are more conscious of the importance of taking care of nature.
I like the fact that at primary school there are a large group of teachers. Every teacher has his specialty. Music and dance is very important over here and every school has his music teacher. At school they learn to play the flute.
The only thing I don´t like is the school time. I prefer more an intensive day planning and I think that the English level is not very high.

What school do your children go to?
Our oldest daughter is at the second class of a public Institute here in Cardedeu (2 minutes walking) and then we have 2 children at a public primary nearby our house. Next school year our youngest one will also go to this public school.

Why did you choose this school and are you happy with your choice?
We are very happy with our choice. Our children started in Sant Cugat at the public primary CEIP Collserola and we had very good experience over there. All the teachers helped a lot to have our children integrated, and with a daily special program they learned to speak Catalan very quickly.
When we moved to Cardedeu we didn´t hesitate to choose a public school as well. Close to our house and with local people.
Where you live, how good are the facilities for children (shops, restaurants, activities etc)?
I think that if you want a place with the best facilities for children, Sant Cugat is the best place there is. It´s very international, modern and everything is very well prepared when you have children. Over there you can choose between public, private and international schools. In contrast with Sant Cugat, Cardedeu is a small town, nearby the Montseny with beautiful nature and all the basic needs, and very good public schools. It´s less international but still nearby Barcelona. It is a nice place to live, especially for children because it is a bit family-like. When you are that spoiled after living a few years in Sant Cugat, you quickly think that you are missing things. We were very happy in Sant Cugat and it was the perfect start to live in Spain. But right now with our 4 kids we find ourselves very happy in Cardedeu. Because we are already integrated it was not that difficult to make the change. Over here they can ride their bikes normally in the streets, have their friends around the corner and I don´t have to bring them to all the places by car anymore.

What do you think are the main advantages and disadvantages of being a parent from the International Community living in Catalunya?
We are not really parents from the international community because we decided to stay here for the rest of our lives. From that point of view we find it more important to integrate with the local people. Growing up with 2 cultures is richness for the children. Being a foreigner doesn’t feel like a problem. The Catalans are very nice people and we’ve learned a lot from them. Sometimes it´s nice to meet other foreigners, and being able to speak in your own language about all the things that you were used to. But we made very nice friends over here and find ourselves very lucky lo live in this beautiful country.

Is there anything you think would improve children´s lives where you live?
Better school hours, so we all can enjoy each other more. All the after school activities are very late and it is difficult to get your child in bed at time. Next school year I will intent to make a change in school hours discussable and maybe I can make a beginning of a change to more European hours.

What advice would you give for anyone having a baby or thinking of relocating to Catalunya with children?
Don´t hesitate! Children are very flexible, and learning another language when you are still young is a peace of cake. If you are thinking of living more then 3 years over here, consider a public school. There are a lot of people who are afraid of putting there not speaking child at a public school. The “ajuntament” is working a lot on opening all the public schools for different cultures. Besides, it’s free, and your child will be very proud when he will be one of the Catalans, and so will you.

What couldn´t you live without in Catalunya?
The beautiful nature, good weather, mountains, beach, calçots, our friends, cava, 3 months holidays with the kids in the summer

What could you live without in Catalunya?!
The long lunch breaks