A beautiful sunset in Santa Pola, Alicante

Murcia Today - new section

Ábaco has been supplying Murcia Today with material for a little while, so we are delighted to announce that the legal and financial section has had a make over:

murciatoday.com

Worries about Cyprus

One of our readers wrote to us following March's newsletter about concerns over Cyprus. They requested information about what the events there might mean for people here.

It is a very difficult issue to give a corporate view on as we can only really speculate. Because of this we have collated some of the most informative articles we could find covering a range of views on what has happened there and what might happen in Spain:

'The Local' reports 'Spain is not Cyprus: Euro bank boss' - and attempts to put minds at rest:

thelocal.es

The 'Economist' offers a very long and in-depth account of what happened in Cyprus as told by Athanasios Orphanides - previously governor of the central bank of Cyprus - this article is reading material only for the seriously interested and those committed to finding out the history of what happened (albeit from one man's point of view):

economist.com

This Guardian article tends towards the argument that what has happened in Cyprus is not a template for other Eurozone countries. We should perhaps take some consolation from this:

guardian.com

There has to be uncertainty about what the future holds. However, according to the current press, it seems as though Spain is not next in line as the most vulnerable country. A sigh of relief, unfortunately at someone else's expence.

SIP information

Confused about your SIP? Unsure what a SIP actually is or if you're eligible? For those who don't know, the SIP is the Health Card that entitles you to state health care if you are a resident in Spain.

However, obtaining or retaining your SIP hasn't always been straight forward. A new leaflet from Torrevieja hospital and available in the Tourist Information Office explains in more detail what the hospital has to offer as well as what documents you need to request healthcare. It's a useful summary but a shame that it's not available online.

For more information email:

Email

Typically Spanish is back!

For fans of the Typically Spanish website who have missed it for the past three months, we are pleased to announce that it's back as a newly reformed Typically Spanish 2. A different look but the same coverage of the latest news in Spain in English. It is well-worth a visit:

typicallyspanish.com

European Day

European Day is on the Thursday 9th May. Have you got your activities planned? The title of the day is possibly not going to have everyone cheering in the current climate. A pity, as there are many positives to being part of a wider union. Different regions should have their own range of celebrations to mark the day. Wherever you are, do take time to raise a glass to our European neighbours and the future we can all hope to have together.

Ábaco Update

Habitation certificates

We sometimes find that people are confused about the two certificates:

The first occupancy certificate The habitation certificate

The first occupancy is the certificate that demonstrates that the property developer has met all the legal obligations and the property is legal. This is replaced by the habitation certificate when the property has a new owner.

For more information about both certificates:

abacoadvisers.com/habitation

A good time to buy

We don't need to tell you that property prices are low. If you are tempted but are anxious about ensuring that any purchase is 'safe' read our article, 'Buying a property in Spain'. It describes the step-by-step process to making a safe purchase of Spanish property:

abacoadvisers.com/buy

It's not all bad news

If you were under the impression that the press only publish bad news about Spain, this article from the Telegraph 'travel' section might prove you wrong.

The article conjures up Almeria's mystery including the Tabernas Desert, the rocky coastline and the history of the area, linked to the Moorish legacy:

telegraph.com

Iberia Express

It's had its ups and downs but it now looks as though Iberia Express is beginning to make a positive impression. It has been operating for just over a year and has clocked up a rather pleasing statistic - 94% of its 23,000 flights arrived on time.

Seeing the bright side

Or not. Apparently the best place to work in Europe if you want to avoid depression is Italy. Only 12% of the workforce surveyed there as part of an Ipsos Mori survey have been diagnosed with depression. France, Germany and Denmark all had 19%, Spain 21%, Turkey 23% and top of the league was Great Britain with 26%.

Of course, these surveys are not all they seem and there may be differences between countries in terms of the willingness and likelihood of the medical profession providing a diagnosis:

europeandepressionday.com

Workers in Germany are most likely to take some time off work with depression (61%) and those in turkey are least likely to (25%). Spain comes somewhere in the middle with 52% of those surveyed saying they were likely to take time off. In Great Britain it was 58%.

Interesting articles on The Local

The Local: Spain's News in English is an interesting and informative website containing articles from the Spanish press and interesting interviews with people living in Spain:

thelocal.es/rental

I rather like the article 'Ten terrible Spanish menu translations':

thelocal.es/menus

We've all seen them ourselves on the local menu del dia and it's quite understandable when google translate is your main source of language support.

My favourite is the poor 'chorizo to hell': some of the food on this selection of slides does look delicious but unfortunately the names given to these dishes are hardly likely to tempt you.

Amongst some of the comments about the article (some of which are a little critical) there are some even funnier translations than the ones given on the slide. Enjoy!

Little white lies

In this article, written by Karen McCann from Seville, we hear how she's learnt from her grandmother to apply a little white lie and avoid a social faux pas:

expatica.com

Situations we can find ourselves in whatever our nationality.