Barcelona Mum

Susanne

What is your name, age and how long have you lived in Vilanova?
My name is Susanne Wittkamp, I am 37 years old and I moved to Vilanova from Barcelona where I lived 10 years. I have been living in Vilanova for three years now.

What nationality are you and your partner?
I am German, my husband is Catalan.

How many children do you have and what are their names and ages?
I have two daughters, Paula aged 4 and Julia aged 2. Both of them were born here in Catalonia, Paula in Barcelona and Julia in St. Pere de Ribes.

Do you work and if so what to you do?
I run an e-shop (www. beibiweb.com) where I sell useful articles for babies and theirs mums, such as babywraps and other babycarriers, breastfeeding t-shirts, reusable diapers, the menstrual cup Mooncup® and more. The articles I sell help mums in raising their children naturally, promote attachment between parents and their children and are sustainable since they help reducing waste. I am always looking for new products that match with my idea and of course thankful for every suggestion. For parents in the Garraf region I offer the possibility to try out a babywrap and show them different ways to use it without charge. There is no need to buy anything, they can try with one of my babywraps. The only thing I ask for is that interested families should come to Vilanova. Interested parents can call me at the telephone number you will find in the shop www.beibiweb.com.  For parents that do not live near, I recommend a look on www.redcanguro.org. Here you will surely find other parents who will help you with your babycarrier in your region. Note that this is a voluntary aid and that no fee can be charged, except maybe refund of costs that might come up in relation with the training.

What was your experience of having a baby in Vilanova?
Only my second daughter was born here, actually she was born in St. Pere de Ribes (Els Camils) where the maternity clinic for women from Vilanova is. I guess I can’t say very much about it since the birth only took five minutes. However, I already knew the physician that attended me and I was very glad to find her since I knew she would not try to do anything I didn’t want, especially she wouldn’t try to force me to have any anaesthesia or episiotomy. I had a quick delivery without anaesthesia, without episiotomy and in a really friendly atmosphere. The obstetrist gave me my daughter right after she was born so I could have her skin to skin and start breastfeeding. There was no pressure, everyone was very kind and I do appreciate their help very much because the birth of my first daughter in the Vall d'Hebron was completely different and not very nice. The days after birth until I went home, I had a nice single room with mountain view and could hear the birds sing in the morning. That sounds like kitsch but that is what it was like. However, since the Hospital Els Camils is a public hospital, you can’t choose the obstetrist that will attend you and it is somehow a question of good or bad luck who you will have to deal with. My personal experience was very good and I recommend the hospital. Most of the women from Vilanova have their children in Barcelona. I wouldn’t. Depending on the traffic, Barcelona can be very far, especially during rush hours and the public hospitals usually are full. For women who chose a private clinic I would recommend to look for information about the number of caesareans done there. I would not recommend a “programmed” delivery under normal circumstances since I think a woman’s body knows itself when the time has come. For more information I recommend the websites www.elpartoesnuestro.es and www.quenoosseparen.info.

What was your experience of relocating to Vilanova with children? (if relevant)
In my opinion moving out of Barcelona with children is a very good decision. The part of Vilanova where we live has a lot of space to run and ride bicycles, Vilanova has two huge beaches, I think it is a very good place for children.

How well integrated would you say you and your children are?
100%. My children were born here, their friends live here, they are Catalan with a German mum. As to me, I work here, my family and friends live here and I would not go back to Germany.

What language do you speak to your children?
I speak German to my children, except when there are other people. In this case I speak Catalan or Spanish because I think otherwise it is an odd situation for those who wouldn’t understand. My husband speaks Catalan to them.

What is your impression of childcare and education in Vilanova so far? What school do your children go to?
I am very happy with it. My small daughter goes to a kindergarten which is called “Gavot” and I think it is very good. It is a public kindergarten of the Generalitat. The classrooms are relatively big, every class has their access to the "pati", they have special rooms for painting and manual activities as well as for psychomotricity. The staff does a very good job. I like their educational programme. For those who have lunch at the kindergarten (almost all of the children), they have their own kitchen that offers an equilibrated menu (no catering). At the beginning and end of the day, parents can go into the class room and talk to the teacher which is always a qualified person with a degree in education.
My older daughter goes to a public school called CEIP Llebetx which, I think, is very good too. The school was founded in the 1970s as a private initiative of parents who didn’t want to have their children educated in religious schools under the Franco regime. This spirit somehow is still alive, the teachers do a very good job and the children like going to school. They do a lot of projects, many activities out of school such as going to the theatre, going to the beach, explore the surroundings. They also have their own kitchen, food is very good. I would recommend this school to everyone who moves to Vilanova.

Why did you choose this school and are you happy with your choice?
I chose the school because of its good reputation. Actually, that’s the only thing you can do if you live in a place where you didn't grow up and go to school yourself. I think I asked almost everyone I met about the school their children went to and if they were happy with it.

Where you live, how good are the facilities for children (shops, restaurants, activities etc)?
Vilanova is more or less divided into two parts: “El poble” (the village) and “Baixa Mar” (down at the sea) which the locals will always pronounce with a “t” at the end so that it sounds like “Mart”, which means Mars. The village – in this case the old town - of Vilanova is very commercial and very nice. You can find all kinds of shops, many shops for children’s clothes, toys and equipments. On the other hand, as usual in Spanish and Catalan villages, they are not very children-friendly since the streets are narrow, the sidewalks as well and in the centre, there is quite a lot of traffic. There are a lot of restaurants all over the place, most of them used to children and especially those at the seaside often are close to open spaces where children can play if they get a little tired of sitting at the table. Some of them are right next to playgrounds. One is on directly on the beach. The Baixa Mar part is divided into two parts, the Barri de Mar which is the fishermen’s quartier in front of the harbour and Ribes Roges, a residential quartier in front of the beach. None of them is commercial, but here you can find a lot of space to cycle, run or skate.  In summer, there are two places that offer sailing activities for children.  Vilanova has a very good “Escola Municipal de Música” and several private music schools.  There are four public kindergartens and a lot of private ones, a large number of CEIPs and several IES. You will also find many religious schools (Colegios concertados) that offer education from the kindergarten age until bachillerato. As to private schools I can only say that the French school “Bel Air” which is located in the municipal term of St. Pere de Ribes but very close to Vilanova has a very good reputation. Also some faculties of the UPC are in Vilanova. There are usually quite a lot of activities for children especially things like theatre, telling fairytales and music events, although you can't compare to the variety and number of activities offered in Barcelona. There are several fun parks, one of them is very big (Fira Park).

What do you think are the main advantages and disadvantages of being a parent from the International Community living in Vilanova?
To be honest, I think there is no International Community. Most of the foreigners I know have a local partner and won’t look for other people from their country. I once tried to set up a group of native German speakers in order to organize activities in German for our children and found there was no interest. I don’t know what the situation for English is like but I guess not much different. Maybe native English speakers will look for contacts in Sitges which is only 10 minutes away and has an International Community.

Is there anything you think would improve children’s lives in Vilanova?
More pedestrian zones in the village and the Passeig Marítim, less traffic. There should also be many more bicycle lanes so you could cross the city safely with your children on the bike. Vilanova is small and it should be no problem to do most of the things by bike or walking, but unfortunately there is a lot of traffic and sometimes a lack of “civismo”.

What advice would you give for anyone having a baby or thinking of relocating to Vilanova with children?
Go to the Ajuntament and ask for information. There is an Information Office where you can find any kind of information about activities for children. You can also look at vilanova.cat  For mums with new born babies I would recommend to go to the public social security midwifes (CAP Rambla) and register for a breastfeeding course or baby massage course. There are also some of the private mutuas that do these kind of activities. There are two breastfeeding support groups: Alba Lactancia and Ai Mare. For location and schedules I recommend to look at: fedalma.org where you can find the phone of the responsible persons.
For families that have not lived in Spain before, I would also recommend to learn Catalan or Spanish, if possible both. There are very economic courses in the CFO La Paperera (C/Unió, 81) that start every 3 months. You can also find several private language schools such as Supernova on the Rambla.

What couldn’t you live without in Vilanova?
Without any doubt: the sea. The beaches on the seafront here are magnific. They are usually not crowded in summer (except in the last years on weekends in August) and even better the rest of the year. There are also several companies that offer sailing yacht hiring (Azimut) and trips that range from one day trips to little cruises to the Balears or holidays in Greece (Rumbo Libre).

What could you live without in Vilanova?!
As all over Spain, they build and build and build… This has slowed down by now, but not stopped. I think some very nice spots here have been destroyed by the building industry or could have been occupied by something much more integrated in the Mediterranean landscape and architecture. Instead of restoring the old part of the fishermen’s quartier, there is a tendency to substitute old buildings by new ones twice or three times as high. I find that a shame. Even more if you consider that there are very many “segundas residencias” which most of the time are empty.  Since Vilanova is the capital of the region, there are also a lot of industrial areas in the outskirts. Unfortunately the Ajuntament also builds more and more of them although it does not seem as they are really occupied. Most of the buildings seem empty and don’t really enrich the landscape.