James Doran (00:06.798)

Hello. Welcome to Expat Pod. Thank you. My name is James. I'm your host and I'm with Javier Bernalte. Javier Bernalte. Yes. And we're here to talk about Javier moving from Spain or Valencia. That's what you think. To Sweden, to Gothenburg. We'll see where the conversation leads. And have you lived anywhere else? I have. I have. Actually, we go back. I mean, this is my eighth year in Sweden.

When I was in Germany for one and a half, so I was never expected to be there for so long. Same thing as with Sweden. But I studied there, I finished my degree in Germany. Can I swear? It's a crappy town.

fancy or anything. But then I finished my degree in mechanical engineering and then I also went back to Alfred at the time. We were no longer together. But what was supposed to be a nine -month stay or so, they came like a... In Germany. In Germany. Like, and this is a little bit important because yeah, it will lead to something later. But I spent about 18 months or so there, one and a half years. And part of the reason was...

meet my guy from how it is. So everything was slowed down a bit. But then I would say that that experience in Germany sort of sparked in me this wish to be abroad and this... To be fair, when I came back to Spain after finishing my studies and so on, then of course I applied for a job and this first interview actually ever made, it was for the company that they ended up working for. But I never expected...

to like the job so I had no expectations going into the interview. Not because I didn't suit the job posting, it was more that I didn't expect to like it. But then actually that's when they said, this is actually about being or becoming a resident engineer in Sweden. So you will be located inside Volvo facilities and you will be like a champion between us and Volvo. And that's actually what I liked. But I was a bit reluctant, I would say, because I expected this to be like German.

James Doran (02:21.582)

And I didn't have the best experience. I was an exchange student. It was super fun. But I wouldn't have stayed there after that. I didn't like the country that much. And I really hope no Germans listen to this. But yeah, I expect... Hopefully they will. I'll have some more. I like Germany, don't get me wrong. But yeah, my experience, or let's say it's not good for me.

it's too much of a cultural shock. So who are you as a person? It's quite a deep question. How do you characterise yourself? Well, does Spanish mean something in itself? Because I'm very Spanish, I would say. For good and bad. I mean, I'm quite open, I would say. I have always lived outside.

reasons why it took and will we get to that I guess. Why it took me some time to attempt to the Swedish style of life because I'm more used to living outside and you know spending as many hours as possible just hacking or whatever it is. It's a Swedish summer. Yeah and that's something you can do here for six months per year but not rest. So I'm someone that means family, friends and just doing stuff outside is pretty much what I spend my time doing.

Yeah, not a quite simple guy, really. Likes sports. All kinds. Also Spanish guy. Normally likes. Not like winter sports, maybe less. No, exactly. I've never skied in my life. It's after eight years in Sweden. Really, I don't know. But yeah, other than that, really normal guy.

James Doran (04:19.182)

So hello, welcome to section one of the podcast, a lot of getting there. And as you've established, Javier has lived in both Germany and in Sweden. So tell a bit more about how you got there, what you went for. We know you went for a rice medicine for work in Germany and Sweden respectively. But what did you do to do that? What did you have to fill out forms? How did you apply for those positions or were those options? Both, yeah.

The first one was pretty easy because it was through this Erasmus exchange program. So the uni simply offers those to students at some point. Normally it's during the second or third year of your degree. But actually I had like a double degree in that sense. So it was like a three -year degree at first and then like a master thesis. It's not really a master thesis but something like that, something weird at the time. They exchanged it now. But on my fourth year then...

Yeah, me and some friends decided to go abroad. Pretty much, because I mean, you know, in your head you think you're going to be partying all day long. I mean, it really had nothing to do with opening up opportunities or anything like that. It was just a fun thing to do. So it was four of us, like the closest friends that they had made from uni. And then we wanted to find a destination that would accommodate all four of us, but there was no one that actually offered all spots. So then we had to split.

So two of us went to Germany was the only country that actually had four postings at the second nuclear fire. So two of us ended up in Bavarnschweig, which was the name of the town I was in. And then the other two went to Aachen, which was maybe 300 kilometers away. So we could still meet and so on maybe for the second month or so. And again, I didn't really have to worry that much about anything. University handled everything. So.

It's not like you need a visa or anything like that. So I was just jumping on the plane and then landing there. I had a room in Prasidenshall as soon as I landed. So I wouldn't say it was all rosy because you still have to do some paperwork. And I actually spoke a little bit of German, but not that much. English and German? English and German, correct. But...

James Doran (06:39.47)

The thing is, in Germany it's not like Sweden, you must speak the language just to get things done. And they almost expected you to speak the language. Which is fair enough. English would do the same thing, right? Yeah, exactly. But my level wasn't there yet. It got better, but not just when I started. So it was a bit of a struggle. Also with lessons, I mean, attending classes and so on, because everything was in German.

I was in Germany then. In Sweden, so how did you get to Sweden? What was the purpose for you going and what did you have to do beforehand? Obviously, you didn't have to be required, but you had to get accommodation, plans, how to get there. So pretty quick after I returned from Germany to Spain, of course I began looking for a job and the first interview I ever made was the one, it was the job I ended up taking. And as I said, that was for

I mean, I knew from day one because we're being based abroad in Sweden. That's the thing that I like the most about the job posting. And then again, they made or prepared everything for me. So I didn't have to worry about accommodation or anything like that. Actually, it's probably the easiest possible landing you can add in this country. Just finding accommodation as you have seen yourself is pretty difficult. So they found an apartment for me, extremely expensive, right in the city center. I had a car, a company car.

So everything was handled the other way. I'm not sure if I should say this here, but I was actually a legal year. Because I was spending more than six months per year here. So I should take taxes here and everything. But that company didn't have any legal entity here. So they could not hire me from Zuma. So I was traveling quite often back to Spain, but still more than six months per year I was staying in Sweden. But that was, I would say, landing part one, which was not.

really be living officially in Sweden even though I was. Second one was three, four years after that when I decided that I was no longer having fun at work. So then actually I had a bit of a crisis with my girlfriend as well. Went back to Spain for some time just trying to settle down, think what I wanted to do next. And then I ended up returning to Sweden because it had made some contacts and so on. Yeah, I mean if you had told me about it sometime ago I would have never thought that I would come back. But...

James Doran (09:05.293)

Yeah, it was more appealing, more of once. And there is when I actually faced all the problems that you are now, for example, facing yourself. As the first time person living here doing all this help. I was no longer getting the help from my company, so I had to, yeah, that's all. Do everything on my own, but... Relationally, you didn't need a city. Did you? Yes. Did you have a personal number by the time you... I didn't. But the thing is, it's very easy once you have a job. The problem is when you don't have either a job or an ID, because...

you kind of need one to get the other. It's the same with the bank account and everything. Well, yeah, but that's what I was going to say, because if you had that personal number before you moved back, you could have been joining HomeQ. Exactly, exactly. After three years. That's something I guess we will get to accommodation maybe on those other things later. So HomeQ and so on is one of the issues, one of the problems that they should have on bank. But no, important that is because I had some contacts from my past experience here, it took me like a week to find a job.

And then based on that, because he was not a friend but someone I was close to, he hired me directly. And then I knew people at Volvo, so I got an assignment directly. So that made it very easy just to get the paper. And then after that I was applying for the personal ID, and after that bank account, and then bank ID, and I never had to... That was the first time then, four years after my initial stay, that I became sort of a British citizen. Or resident. Or resident, I should say.

That's Jatugam maybe not here, we'll see. And how long have you been in Sweden then? Just so everyone knows. So first time I landed here, like to stay, because I came previously a couple of times just to talk with another city and so on, but first time was 3rd of August 2015. So it's seven and a half years. I also came on 3rd of August. really? Quite a coincidence. Yeah, and it's nice as well. Yeah, then you're gonna stay here for seven more years.

If I can get a passport, it's European. Yeah, you're walking faster than I do because you have all the paperwork to figure that out. That's quite useful.

James Doran (11:14.061)

Hello, I'm in section two of the podcast all about being there. So all about your life in the countries you've lived. So tell me about your first impressions of, I guess, living in Sweden. Let's do that one. It's one that's much more recent than, you know, they had a really good guy because I said, I mean, as I said before, when I came, it was a Swedish company that already had a, let's say, someone located here in Sweden, Swedish guy. So then he saw that.

took me under his arm and just showed me the place. But not only the place, he also showed me the Swedish lifestyle. And so I was invited often to barbecues at his place or whatever it was that he did. I think he did a great job trying to really show me how to live here in Sweden. And that made it easy. Also, it helped that I came in August, let's say, because if I had come in December, I would have left after two weeks. But...

I mean it was a quite good time of the year to come for the first time because maybe one or two weeks after I arrived for the first time I was you know when I bought in some ladies still doing some vacation right so you have yeah actually I came one month before I had to start to work so I had like I gave myself three weeks or so just to explore you know the city and so on and I think it was a really great decision because then I also started to socialize as well a little bit because I can't with my girlfriend so

at least I had someone to talk to. She was Spanish, the one I met in Germany. So I saw the person as an adventure to her as well. Hey, would you like to come with me? She also had a job here as well. She didn't move anywhere. She did move, exactly. She also just got her degree and she was a teacher for small children. She was a preschool teacher. So...

And she spoke with English, so there's a lot of international people here, so it was easy for her to find something. But going back to them, the first impression. Again, during the summertime, it's quite easy to like Sweden. I mean, there's so many hours of sunlight and stuff to do. There's lakes around, there's heights, there's, you know, you can take the boat. It's very nature -oriented, I would say. And all accessible from where you live. Yeah, and that is...

James Doran (13:35.981)

That was actually a shock because back where I am from in Valencia, of course the beach is really close by, but if you're going on a hike or something, you have to take a car for starters and then maybe drive for about minutes. And here you can take a tram and in five minutes, like really five minutes, you're on a lake and there's no birds around, forest. So it's much closer to nature, I would say. And that is something I really liked in the beginning. So that was my...

First impression I would say. Food was also a bit of a shock as well. Okay. Again, I expected this to be a little bit closer to Germany. So I thought it was meat and potatoes and all the time. Yeah, but... It has less COVID -19 though, so seafood should be on the list. Yeah, I expected shrimps to be better, but they are very chewy. They don't like chewing them. They don't want shrimp, shrimp, prawns. Yeah, exactly. But no.

I expected for them to not have such a wide variety of food. It's like they almost recognize and acknowledge, okay, we don't have many things growing here. So they open up to different gastronomies from all over the world. There's Indian restaurants, there's Japanese restaurants, there's Spanish restaurants. And that was quite different from Spain, because it's like we sort of take pride in our own gastronomy. So it's mostly...

tapas or whatever it is. It's very wide but it's our own restaurant. It's probably quite similar to England then, where we have our restaurant, as you would say. We also have a lot of Indian restaurants, a lot of Italian restaurants. So not much of a shop for you there. Yeah, cuisine is, I think Gothenburg is quite similar to most cities I've lived in. Because you have the variety, you have a lot of things very similar. But maybe because also...

I feel that Sweden is very American. Yeah, it is. In a lot of its lives. Like the 7 -Eleven in every corner store. Yeah, the big cars and everything. Yeah, even like everywhere is like bike shopping or something like that. Everywhere is like a strip mall kind of thing, you know. Even the suburbs, I mean sometimes it looks like something you take out from American movies. Yeah, and all the cars. Like, you know, even like the big SUVs, but the old cars. They live off old American cars.

James Doran (16:01.261)

So yeah, Iceland is huge. Which kind of feels American. Is it huge in the UK? No, no, no. It's huge in America. But it does exist in the UK. Yes, but a very low standard. I don't know that we actually have it in Spain as well, I think. Do you have ice? Not of all my city, according to that. I guess somewhere. But... Yeah, maybe. I'm going. No, but...

I mean it was only the second or third match that we watched together the other day. The last hockey one. I think it was my life. I never expected to see... I don't like it. But I mean it's Swedish. It's not in my culture. No? No, it's fun. I find it quite fun to watch. You have to get used to looking for the problem. I respectfully disagree. And how did you find... So going back to living in Sweden, how did you find the language? I know you don't speak Swedish.

I say after six years. I'm embarrassed to say that on camera, you know. But that's the thing. When I arrived to Sweden, I never expected to be here this long. I thought it was going to be like one, two year stops, kind of state. So then it didn't make much sense. Of course it helps to socialize with locals and just to be fun maybe at meetings because part of my job was also PR at that time. But then it would have helped.

But just thinking, I'm going to go back home in two years and then Swedish is not like English. It's a very niche. 10 million people speak it, right? Exactly. Exactly. I mean, then again, it's of course useful once you learn a language, it's easier to learn others. But still, so I don't use it, but it was never a barrier. I mean, English though, it was a little bit because it was the first time that I actually used it, like on a daily basis. In Germany, I spoke...

either German or Spanish, but most of my friends were Spanish. So English, I believe it or not, when I first came here, it wasn't an issue as well. The average Swedish guy spoke much better English than I did. And then there were loads of vocabulary and stuff connected to all the other industry that I didn't know about. So it wasn't so easy. In the beginning, I pretended to understand everything, but I was making it. I had no freaking clue. So sometimes, I mean, I was on meetings and then I had to report back to Spain or something.

James Doran (18:27.085)

freaking know what these guys said, but I made it up. So it hasn't been getting paid. Yeah, exactly. So for as long as I just have flow of money, then I'm happy. That's good. Yeah. Your language is difficult. You're right. It's easy to speak English. It's for me, it's I can just get off the plane or arrive in the country. Everyone just speaks the language. Although I do often talk to in Swedish to begin with when I walk into the shop or do stuff and then...

I can get by to ask for like a coffee or a drink or a bit of food but as soon as the communication expands past that point, my life can be spent going to blood. Mine is awful, I mean I've never attended a single class or anything but... With Turinga is how I was taught. Yeah, I mean just by repetition and hearing it every day I think mine is good enough to ask for coffee or something but I didn't do it for the same reason as you just mentioned that then I know that they're gonna come back with more Swedish and then I don't know how to...

answer back so then... Yeah but I guess for me that's part of the challenge though because you have that back and forth when okay you don't know it the first or the second time or third time but you learn to then answer the question you learn to know what it means that's how it should be you put yourself in that scenario where you go okay how do I apply... You're doing the right thing, you're doing the wrong thing, I mean that's how it's supposed to be done right? Not how I did it but... You learn from the mistakes you made before you Yeah but the thing is that you reach a point where...

Just sort of tell yourself, okay, I've been here for, let's say, five years. I haven't done the effort, but within the hours to learn. And then you think that you're coming back to this place closer and closer, because I do want to go back at some point. When you're excited? Sorry? When you're excited? Because you're starting a long contract. I would take five years if I was on a bunch of caps. No, no, no. I mean...

You know it's funny because I remember I have a friend, a Spanish one, he's been here for 12 years now. He doesn't speak Swedish at all. And I used to... So we're friends, right? But when he first met him I used to criticize him, you know, like how can you be here for five years and not learn Swedish? Well, eight have gone by and I'm that person that I was... So I'm not you, so... Yeah, so please learn so that no one can say anything in your smell. Seriously? Yes. That's my piece of advice for you. It's worth learning.

James Doran (20:48.301)

And on living in the city what's been like your favorite part of Sweden like what's what's your favorite place to go to Gothenburg? It can be in a city in the suburbs what's your favorite place to go? I've actually lived in like For Gothenburg, maybe eight to ten different places throughout the city From Irving and Bees maybe one week on each place to longer stays like three months and so on and the

By far I would say that the area that I like the most, nature aside, but let's just, I'm talking neighborhoods and so on, it's Håga I would say and Linnae. So that area is actually the place where I've lived the most, the longest period of time. Close to the most expensive places. It is, but this is the time where my company was paying for time. So of course, but I mean, I really like that because it's close to Håga, it's always like, you know, what is this?

It's the old town, it's low buildings. Yeah, there's some atmosphere there. It feels very real and authentic. Even the weekends you go to the markets and it's like alive. A lot of Sweden feels dead. It's a big city by, I guess footprint, but population is so small. So there's not like pockets of things to do. Where do you go out London, you've got 12 million people. Every single high street is busy and every market is busy.

Yeah, I love it. Also it's quite close to Slotskogen, which is the length of the city in that sense. Not like you need it, but it's a huge part of life. Have you seen the moose? Yeah, that's my second time here. Famous moose living in this park or forest? I don't know. There was a female and a male, but I don't think they... Probably they keep them more. Maybe they're divorced, I don't know. Maybe.

I've seen one when he came over from the UK, only once I've seen this one. You've seen the rest as well, the seals. Yeah, but the seals don't really appreciate things. They used to go around in circles. You can't see them anywhere. Also, they used to go around in circles. You kind of feel bad because all they keep doing is swing around in circles. Do they enjoy that? The most probably if you could choose would be... No, but relatively they've got more freedom, I guess, but still it's not nice.

James Doran (23:13.933)

Yeah, I'm not sure how we feel about that. In the beginning I laughed it was like an open zoo in a park for free. It's like New York. But yeah. I'm not sure if I would put it like that. But now in retrospect it's like, okay, it's still a zoo. I'm not sure if I like it that much now. But anyway, the park itself is great. Yeah. It's a good run or whatever it is. Yeah, I think I did the half marathon through there. So that was pretty fun.

And actually that is also, it has to be one of the places that I like the most. And the reason why is, this is actually maybe a shock as well, comparing to Spain. When the first time I actually was in Valskog, and I think it was on a Saturday, something like that, we were out doing a barbecue or something like that. And it was like completely crowded, let's say, Saturday, no one was there. But if you could take a picture of that.

just compared to a pork in Spain. It was like world support. This is exactly what you would like your children to live through their adolescence and the childhood and all that. It was super healthy. There's no violence, no drugs, no alcohol, nothing. Just people having fun. There's a lot of people outside there, right? I'm not sure what the reason is. It doesn't matter. I mean, yeah, you can. I have...

Yeah, the f***er, yeah. But they choose to do something else, it's just healthy, they are playing free golf, they are just playing some music, whatever it is. But it's quite calm. It is, it is. But yeah, the word they use the most is healthy. It's like, yeah, if I was a father, which I'm not, this is what I would like to imagine my son to do, you know, at that age, as a teenager.

So that I like the most. So that's Skogel, Poga and Linné. That was a good way of ending the second part of the talk.

James Doran (25:24.653)

So welcome back to section three of the podcast where we talk about kind of recapping your experience. I know you're still living here. I know you kind of say that, but you're saying you can check your work. So it's all about kind of giving some advice for people who want to go abroad, move to Sweden with anyone in the world. and kind of just like recap your, your life so far. So like, what is your,

What's your favorite saying in Swedish? What would you say is like your best part of Swedish? My favorite saying? I do have one but I don't know how to say it in Swedish. I don't even know the words. I just know that it exists so I can maybe explain it. But I can tell you it was quite often used at Volvo. We messed up a lot so maybe that's why. But they have this saying that goes something along the lines of don't shit in the blue cabinet or inside the blue cabinet.

And that's pretty much when you embarrass yourself or just mess up. It's like you're doing that shit inside of you. Do you have an equivalent saying in Spanish? I don't think so. But actually I do remember how it came about. I think some time ago there was only the cheapest possible paint of red. They had like one color to choose from. And then all furniture was painted in this color. It's the same with the houses, right?

the street houses they were normally rent is ones that are out in the landscape. And so at some point, I think it was in the 19th century or so, I don't know how, but they started, they discounted, let's put it like that. And it was more expensive, so it was used for like fancier stuff. And then it turns out that I think they used it for, you know, some cabinets that were fancier, where they kept like the, you know, expensive cutlery.

Dishes, yes So that's where they kept that and so to take this shit in the blue car and is like doing something

James Doran (27:50.637)

Mm.

Anyway, no. But what was the next question? So I guess... Your recap. So what would you do differently? Being here... It's nice being here for... Yeah... If you could go back in time, what would you do differently? What would you tell yourself? Well, it's... Well, it changes. Apart from learning Swedish. That's one thing, for sure. Getting closer to locals is another one. This is something I also did.

same mistake in Germany and maybe I have a better reason there but sort of I socialize more with Spanish people or Spanish -speaking people can be from Latin America or whatever. I did the same thing here as well and I guess it's just easier you know and I think you should have if you're someone that is coming or traveling abroad it's always great to have someone you know.

same country because it's much easier to just have a chat from time to time. You need that feedback. And you get some advice. Yes. And it's when you need it, no one will understand you like that person. That's true. That's a good piece of advice. But that being said, I don't think like you should only mingle with people from your own country. You should try to get to know the locals as well. And then that's something I didn't do. I have this one person from the company.

that showed me around and so on. So he was that for me but he was like 10 or 15 years older than I am. So it's not the kind of guy I would hang out with all the time. You can do it maybe one friend but he wasn't a friend in that sense. So I missed her. What I will change one of the things is yeah just make some local friends that you can go out with and so on. That's one. Language is another one.

James Doran (29:50.285)

I'm not one that really likes to get a lot of advice. I think you should actually, I mean my best advice is go out. Don't think too much. Just make mistakes. Discover. You will make mistakes but you will learn from them. And I don't think anyone can prevent you from making those mistakes. You need to make those mistakes to learn from them. Even if someone tells you about it, you still have to go out there and explore. Yeah, that's a very good point I think. One thing I've noticed is cover.

cocking up or doing things that means you're able to not do it again but also you have some stories to tell. You can relate to the people who've made some of their issues or some of their mistakes who've gone elsewhere and it just becomes part of your identity. Yeah, exactly. You're not living someone else's life. You're doing it yourself and forging your own path. You can't always have a calmness to guide you through things. It's okay to do things. Well, you want to go further north so you're going more... following some of my methods.

Yeah, but... Where's next? Finland? Norway? No, I think I'm done with it all. Arctic Circle maybe? Only in the summer when it starts to be like... There's one thing I like a lot about Sweden, which is that at least you get four seasons. I never had that. And so in Valencia everything is quite flat. Let's say it's 25 degrees. Of course here it ranges maybe from...

Chive goes to the day of the year to 40. The hottest, but still on average it's like 25 degrees, nothing happens. Very mild winter. And here it's quite different because you do different things depending on the time of the year. And that I like because you have to sort of adjust a little bit and for free. Sometimes I reel, some others I can go out and practice some sport. So...

It's a bit cyclic, but it's a different experience which I like. You learn to enjoy what climate gives you. And you appreciate more the other climate. Exactly. So yeah, that's been quite different. That's actually something I miss when I'm in Spain. I do miss the snow. Just to see it, then after the second day when it becomes this massive snow. I see, I see. I try running and you can pull it out.

James Doran (32:17.133)

But just, yeah, I would like to press a button, you know, have some opportunities and have it gone. So, yeah. You're an engineer. I'm faking it. I'm radio now. I've been going. Not those type of work. Good. And then like, what advice would you give to someone trying anywhere in the world? Not just a sweet, but I guess.

your point that make mistakes, wardrobe impact is one thing, but like, yeah, if you could give someone just one look at advice.

This is... In all your years of wisdom and... Years of wisdom. Now it's...

I'm gonna need to cut here. I need to think. I'm not so sure if I can just put it in a nutshell. But... Well, talk me through your process. What do you think? What... Where's your mind going with that question? I had no expectations. Going into Germany or going here. Well, actually that is not true. Coming here, I expected this to be more like Germany. Maybe because I've been the only long stay here that I had abroad.

But yeah, that maybe is in itself some piece of advice, which is don't expect that, don't have any, you know, preconceived ideas. Just go there. I think you, by the way, are doing a very good job at that. I think you're exploring and learning and just, you know, trying to immerse yourself in the culture as much as you can. Embracing it exactly, not comparing to how things are.

James Doran (34:03.949)

Well, I'm always referring to facts. It's inevitable, but not wanting things to be the way they were. Some people do. I've met a lot of people, foreigners, immigrants throughout these years, and most of them or many of them actually complain or miss things and they sort of want things here to be the same they were there. It comes to food, it comes to schedules.

everything and I don't think that's how you should experience it. It's a culture, embrace it, it's very different from mine. But when you go back, it's much more valuable if you actually bring with you experiences that are very different from what you're... Yeah and maybe you adapt your life to be the best of both worlds. Exactly. The more you learn from whatever else in the world, the more you can... Yeah. ...tune in.

What for you? You know, I was very close to going back to the same company that hired me in the same place in Strasbourg about three years ago, something like that. And I actually signed a pre -contract. So in the end, I actually broke down or didn't follow through because I know what I was signing up for and it was very similar to the culture that I had experienced before. And they didn't want that for me anymore after being...

here in Sydney for a few years, those many things when it comes to the work environment, they're that much better. So I think I have as well like a responsibility to learn about the good things that I've experienced here and bring them back with me when I go back to Spain. So when it comes to work environment, that means for me, having a better balance between my life and work. And so that's what I mean, that learn about the differences between your country and where you live.

you are and then try to actually learn the good stuff and bring it with you because I just think it's a mix and you can always... Exactly, watching people do squats in the office and doing work -life balance and having that health challenge connected. Yeah, so I didn't want to be rude but... You have a good part of Swedish music. I'm sure they should bring that with you. I think you should maybe just explain a bit to your audience what it is that you do and what you do.

James Doran (36:28.717)

aerodynamics and so on. I think it's important. But anyway, so having I work in the same place, same office and yesterday being the end of February, we kicked off a health challenge, which is like a eight week. Yeah, I did. Yeah. Eight week. I'm focused on being healthy in, in what in working and promoting that kind of work life balance. So part of that was a meeting which the company put on, you know, you know, you know, calendars.

to watch this kickoff and have you happened to walk past my desk and it was desk and we're watching this happen and people were you know fumbling putting shoes on yeah it was quite amusing to watch it was kind of like watching just sort of wiping out something this is still my old spanish shell you know being shocked by why are you not in a spreadsheet why do we do this during working hours and to me that's still a bit of shock yeah but it's having that balance yeah i'm getting there i'm getting there but

It's like having dogs in the office for example. That's great. It is, but maybe not now, but during the first few days I found myself taking pictures and just sharing those with my family. Can you believe that this is real? It's a dog! I mean I've always had the dog, but you wouldn't bring them to the office. Yeah, it's part of the thing alone. Yeah, it's all up to someone with an allergy. Well that's why I don't eat my dog. Yeah, no. After seven people die, you should.

That true? No. I hope you fact checked it. I put a little banner on the bottom saying no one died from the land use. That's what we know. I know that some of your family, how often do you talk to your family? Go home for instance. What did you do to change over the years? During my first three years of staying here, I used to travel back home almost every month. At first I did it because I thought I should report back to my organisation. I did what?

more in my head, really no one was expecting me to do that. So because my sort of salary was a little bit dependent on that, while I was staying abroad I was paying more. So I tried to find a balance between, you know, seeing my family now and my friends and so on, keeping contact, but at the same time, of course, economically it had to make sense. So I traveled at the beginning once per month or the second month or so, and then I...

James Doran (38:54.765)

progressively lower the frequency to maybe three, four times per year. And then since I've been sort of officially living here, working here in Sweden, it's been twice per year. So only in the summertime and Christmas mostly. Maybe if I have some wedding or something like that, some event. Or big birthday. But that's more on demand I would say. And then of course I talk to my family every week, my parents and so on. This once.

It's not super often, but usually some days, just maybe one hour sky or something. Just to check that they're okay and then we have to watch our rules, you know what I mean? Things have changed. It's quite easy to viewing them, to go over and sending a written letter to someone. It's also a bit difficult. My mother, she can't really point the camera at her face, so I only see the ceiling. But you hear her voice. I hear her voice, so I think it's her.

Someone. The American impression. Yeah. But... It's when you're asking for your bank details and your mother's maiden name, which they should know. Exactly. In common. No, but I think it's easier, you know. Some... I don't know, 15 years ago, we didn't have all these means of communication. Maybe it was farther or it means home more. Now I... I mean, it's seven hours away if I have to fly there and then again you can simply call or anything. So...

I'm feeling nostalgic sometimes, yes, but I still feel like they're wrong. That's good. How do you feel? Is it like distance? I mean, the way that the UK politics is taking a bit too long. You kind of want to forget your brief because it feels to me that we feel a bit of a joke to the rest of the world, especially when I speak to everyone around the office about...

UK, it's talking about Brexit and it's a silly idea and like since moving and like you know I need to get a visa to work and it's yeah it's not as easy as it once was but also yeah as I say everywhere we're struggling I think it works a lot bit more. I didn't know so many colleagues from the UK at all, whereas most of my time, but the ones of course it is very one -sided is the ones that are

James Doran (41:23.917)

They have been involved in working abroad for several years, so for most of them at least. For example, things have happened. So yeah, most of the people I encounter from the UK, they share the same experience. But the ones in Spain? The ones in Spain, they are not allowed to bring their dogs. They go to Benigo or Malaga or anything. That's part of the contract, let's say, that we have signed. So yeah, I think it was...

bad decision but then again you know I'm sure you're gonna open that door. No, no, it's not that kind of part of it. But I do go home quite a bit. Right now especially, I've been here for six months so I went home. Three of those you have to spend there or travelling? Yeah, travelling in Scandinavia. yeah? Yeah, Oslo and Stockholm, Copenhagen a few times. Yeah, yeah, that's true. And volleyball I go around the country to play in teams, to hang around and learn.

But yeah, I went home for Christmas and then went home to go on vacation and then I will probably go back for Easter. I go part -time. Yeah, this weekend actually. And my girlfriend will come back as well. Okay, so you're not paying alone? No, but it's hard because I guess it's definitely either with your partner or you're single because you would then... That helps a lot. You go out and...

You're not alone, right? Yeah, that helped a lot. I mean, some days I would have felt alone. I haven't had my girlfriend with me. You experienced that as well. At the start, a lot. I haven't actually got big... January was really, really bad. It was so dark, pressing, and we had the lowest amount of sunlight, supposedly a long time in Sweden, and it was low anyway. I'm sort of used to that by now, but my first winter, I mean, I had wanted to kill this, even if I had someone with me.

I became this grumpy old man and I'm someone actually that you know, did it a lot. My main character changes, my mood, everything. I now have learned to handle it and that you can't like do as I said before with the same kind of things throughout the year. You did buy the Sunlight as well? I haven't, I haven't. I don't think that would work. But yeah, I have very powerful bolts. So what do you need? AED. Exactly.

James Doran (43:53.005)

Perfect. Right, that covers section three. So let's recap, I guess, the whole episode really with Javier or Javi, as you prefer to be called. That is the best you've ever from Amazon. I always did Javi. Not Javi. Give me that, come on. It shows that we're friends. Yes, I really enjoyed it. I really didn't know about you, like the reasons you moved and going back and forth in Germany.

you know, obviously, we talked most days in the office and we should do a lot of stick from time to time with various things and talk about work and current things, but not necessarily your journey here, which means interesting to see and learn from your mistakes or your experiences. Obviously, making my mistakes still on the way. But yeah, I really enjoyed your, you know, your thought that you moved and everything was payable. But yeah.

was making so much money back then. Yes, sometimes in some way it feels like a decline from the quality of life and it's time that I have back then I have to pay for everything now. Yes, but no, it's really good and I hope everyone listening or watching enjoyed the podcast and if you did please you know subscribe to the podcast, share it, post it on social media.

Yeah, send a link to people I'll send it to have you all over Spain and sure. We'll soon be able to speak English, you know, you can close caption. well, you can do it in Spanish. Okay, you do my things. Yeah, I don't know Spanish. We have more English Spanish. I'm trying my best.

Yes, I guess it's the closest statement to you. If you did enjoy it, or you have any feedback, please mention it and get in touch. Then we grow or get better at this is to talk about it. And hopefully you found some information which is helpful to you or may at least found it enjoyable entertaining and know how it is. And saying to listen to questions in maybe something you should do is collect people's interest in specifics. We can always help.

James Doran (46:18.445)

Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, any any FAQs or questions that we get in? I'm saying this now that you have two followers. Yeah. Well, we can filter that. For now, it's still quite sure. But yeah, I said, if you have any questions or want to reach out and we can tailor those requests or use social media to message back and things. Yeah, thank you for listening and we'll see you next time.