An Expatriate in Spain

 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

lucky	move (2)	lucky/luckily
decide	thing (2)	come/came/come
enjoy	fall in love	fall/fell/fallen
great	within (2)	find/found/found
beach	distance	convenient
fluent	marketing	take/took/taken
at least	team (2)	specifically
design	area (2)	build/built/built
close	celebrate	feel/felt/felt (2)
away	barbecue	good/better/best
nice	try/tried	see/saw/seen
miss	go back	every now and then
touch	provide	stay in touch
forever	amazing	combination
stay (2)	wonderful	come back
beach	for now	architecture
sure	activity	take/took/taken
nice	long time	know/knew/known

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Anita Patwardhan moved from her home city of San Francisco to live in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Her parents are Indian, but she was born in the United States.

Anita Patwardhan: “Well I first came to Barcelona in 2003 because I wanted to study Spanish — and then I fell in love with the city at that time. So I decided that I wanted to come back.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Luckily in 2005 Anita found a job in Barcelona.

Anita Patwardhan: “So I decided to come back and and I’m really happy here; I really enjoy it.”

Today Anita’s home is in an area called San Javazi, about 15 minutes walk from the city center.

Anita Patwardhan: “It’s very convenient for me because I have my job within walking distance; I can take the bus directly to the beach — and i’m there in 15 minutes.”

Anita spoke fluent Spanish when she came back to Barcelona and found a job with an American online marketing company.

Anita Patwardhan: “I work for a company that provides different online marketing services for hotels; and specifically my team builds websites for hotels. So I work with designers and programmers.”

As well as a great job, Anita has many friends in Barcelona.

Anita Patwardhan: “We’re all very close. We’re friends, so it’s almost like a second family away from home: we have dinners together. We celebrate birthdays together, so it’s a nice feeling.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Although she has got a good job and close friends, she still misses home.

Anita Patwardhan: “I miss my family most of all. It’s very difficult to not be able to give my mom a hug or to enjoy my dad’s barbecue.

So I feel happy if I can see them.”

But staying in touch with family overseas is much easier today. “How are you guys?”

Anita Patwardhan: “So my family and I speak generally every weekend either through Skype or through email. And every now and then on the telephone too.

They have come to visit me a few times and I try to go back and see them at least once a year.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Anita really loves her new life in Barcelona.

Anita Patwardhan: “Barcelona is an amazing place: you have a combination of so many wonderful things: the weather, cultural activities, beautiful architecture — and most importantly the beach. How can anyone not like the beach?”

But still she’s not sure where her life will take her in the future.

Anita Patwardhan: “I don’t know if I will stay in Spain forever; forever seems like a really long time. So for now, it’s nice; I’m really happy here I enjoy it a lot.

But I don’t know if I will be here forever.”

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

Questions

Parents, Mother, Father. Anita is Spanish. She is from Spain. True or false? Is she of Irish descent? Is she of European descent?

Baby, Infant. Did she first come to Spain as a tourist?

Daughter, Son. Anita moved to Valencia, Spain. She now lives in Valencia, Spain. Is this right or wrong? Does she drive to work? Does she go to her job by car?

Sister, Brother. Is Anita an English teacher? Does she teach English at a language center?

Aunt, Uncle. Does her company design and create video games?

Niece, Nephew. Anita is alone. She has no friends. She doesn’t have any friends. Is this correct or incorrect?

Cousin. Does Anita love Barcelona? Does she like living in Barcelona?

Fiance, Fiancee. For Anita, are there any negative aspects of living in Spain? Are there any disadvantages of living abroad? How does she cope with this? How does she deal with this?

Spouse, Husband, Wife. Will she spend the rest of her life in Spain? Will she settle in Spain permanently?
 
 
 
Step-Mother, Step-Father. What do you think will happen to Anita? What will Anita do?

Step-Sister, Step-Brother. I was born in Spain. I am from Spain. I live in Spain. Yes or no? Have you met anyone from Spain?

Half-Sister, Half-Brother. Have you or your friends visited Spain? If yes, what was it like there?

Sister-in-Law, Brother-in-Law. Do you know anyone who works in IT? Do you know anyone who works with computers?

Mother-in-Law, Father-in-Law. Are there expatriates or foreigners living and working in your city?

Grandparents, Grandmother, Grandfather. My friends and I would like to live and work in Spain. Yes or no? Would you like to live and work abroad?

Grandchildren, Granddaughter, Grandson. What might happen in the future?

Great-Grandmother, Great-Grandfather. What could or should people and governments do?