EX PAT CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES IN TENERIFE

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I are deciding between living as full time residents on Tenerife or mainland Spain(Costa del sol or Costa Blanca). As my main consideration is the weather in the winter I prefer Tenerife but after much research I am concerned about the social aspect. My husband will be travelling back to the UK for work regularly and one of the great things available on the mainland is the U3A, a club with lots of activities.

This doesn't seem to be active in the Canary Islands and I am worried about how I will make new friends etc without this framework in place. I won't be working and don't want to be isolated and bored. There seems to be some ex pat meeting places in the North of the island but I can't see anything similar in the South. I realise that there is lots going on in the South but I would like to be in an area where there are clubs that are welcoming to new residents.

 Does anyone have any advice on the best area to base ourselves whilst we are renting for the first year that would be good for us.

Thanks

Hi Scot66, I'm not a resident on the Island so I'm unable to answer your question, however we have a few residents who will be on later and they may be able to provide you with some details. Welcome to our wee forum and I hope you enjoy yourself.

The only place I have experience of this type of club is in Cyprus and my own opinion is they are a source of clannishness, backstabbing and envy, walk in and take a seat and you will soon hear ,"you can;t sit there that's so and so,s seat, ask a question and you can bet another member of another clique will tell you not to listen as the other person has only been there for a million years, my advise would be to try and learn as much Spanish as possible and don't isolate yourselves from your fellow residents no matter which nationality they may be ,

Rev Bill Searcher 

Hi Bill.

Was it the U3A that you tried? I have read that the success of the activities in these types of clubs very much depends on the person running it. I can imagine that.

No one was called the Fantasy club in Paphos the other was the U.K C, or something in Clorikas, the Clorikas one was like a British Legion type of place, the last time we visited {last year] most of the members had gone on a Thomson cruise from Limassol and the place was empty,but as the singer had been booked and payed he had to perform to all 8 of us

searcher wrote:The only place I have experience of this type of club is in Cyprus and my own opinion is they are a source of clannishness, backstabbing and envy, walk in and take a seat and you will soon hear ,"you can;t sit there that's so and so,s seat, ask a question and you can bet another member of another clique will tell you not to listen as the other person has only been there for a million years, my advise would be to try and learn as much Spanish as possible and don't isolate yourselves from your fellow residents no matter which nationality they may be ,

Rev Bill Searcher 

Sounds a bit like that other club your associated with Bill, what's it called again, oh, the SNP...

searcher wrote:The only place I have experience of this type of club is in Cyprus and my own opinion is they are a source of clannishness, backstabbing and envy, walk in and take a seat and you will soon hear ,"you can;t sit there that's so and so,s seat, ask a question and you can bet another member of another clique will tell you not to listen as the other person has only been there for a million years, my advise would be to try and learn as much Spanish as possible and don't isolate yourselves from your fellow residents no matter which nationality they may be ,

Rev Bill Searcher 

I have lived here 11 years and agree with Bill.  You do get the 'swallows' setting up various clubs in the winter months, and they are exactly like he has described - they seem to think as they are here for 3 or 4 months they own the island and know everything about it.

As said, talk to your neighbours whatever their nationality, we can all make ourselves understood by a few odd words and miming.  Perhaps help out at one of the charities, and go to local bar, not one in the resort full of tourists but somewhere like we go once a week for a quiz and a couple of hours chat.

Adam Mint wrote:

Sounds a bit like that other club your associated with Bill, what's it called again, oh, the SNP...

Once again you've got wrong, never have been and never will be an S.N.P. member, but have been a member of another party you probably know nothing about .

Sorry scot66 welcome to the forum and don't worry some of us are quite sane 

We lived in Murcia for 7 months, I chose that area because of the lack of rainfall. I knew that the mainland could be cold in the winter but living there made me realise just how uncomfortable the houses are in winter. I have been to Tenerife many times and the climate is great. I am also concerned about the mainland being too hot in the summer. I am trying to learn Spanish but progress is slow. 

I'm not sure if I should start another thread for this but are there any offshore workers on here? My husband will be commuting to Aberdeen and he thinks it's far more complicated from Tenerife than from Malaga/Alicante. Ant advice on this would be appreciated

Doubt if travel will be a problem we have met many offshore workers when we used to stay for 6-8 weeks, they told us it saved them a lot in tax they didn't have to pay as long as they didn't enter the U.K, they all stayed in Golf Del Sur

searcher wrote:

Adam Mint wrote:

Sounds a bit like that other club your associated with Bill, what's it called again, oh, the SNP...

Once again you've got wrong, never have been and never will be an S.N.P. member, but have been a member of another party you probably know nothing about .

Bill, let me tell you something, there are very few parties I know nothing about...

    

We live in Adeje and a great mixed community and all get on. There are great gatherings of people who do arrange things, just had 3 guys and a lady in who met in bar next door to my shop and have all been on a walk today. There are some great little groups of people around but as Meryl says I think you should mix with all nationalities as is the norm here. This is probably why the club does not exist as expats here either choose resort and do all the expat venues or they choose Village life and enjoy all aspects. Adeje is rife with activity.

Hi Topdog,

That sounds great.I didn't mean to give the impression that I was only interested in meeting UK ex pats as I am not like that at all. It's just that having lived in Spain and not being fluent in the language I know that integrating is not as easy as they make it look on " A Place in the Sun". I tried to teach English for free to Spanish children, tried to speak to Spanish neighbours etc without much success. 

Is it easy to find out about the various activities etc that are available, i guess that is one of the benefits of things like the U3A, everything is easily found online so it's not so intimidating.

In my blog I post a monthly Things to do, which gives the highlights of what may interest people living and visiting the island, but I also have a facebook page where local fiestas, art classes, language classes, craft shows, theatre performances, in fact anything that is taking place in the resorts or villages is advertised by the members.


This is the link to it Wotz on 4 All

Thank you so much Gypsy.

Hi scot66. I can vouch for Adeje town as have spent some time there with Topdog. Much better than the resort areas. And that Geordie fella (name escapes me now) works offshore if I remember correctly Kev? See you in 10 days by the way Kev, Saturday 14th.

Franc's bar had Heineken at 1.20 a pint last year!

1.90 now. Rent was due.