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Beat the Bloat to look Great at Christmas
If you want to look good in your Christmas party dress the last
thing you need is a swollen tummy. Plan ahead with these tips so
that you look the best you can on the night
1. Avoid salt
Salty food causes you to retain water which often...
Dreaming of a Corporate Christmas?
What does Christmas mean for your company? For most it means
sending out a whole load of Christmas cards to their clients,
wishing them a 'Merry Christmas' and a 'Happy New Year'. How
nice! However, unless Rudolph-the-Red-Nosed-Reindeer is...
How to Enjoy Your Favorite Christmas Recipes
Christmas is a time of holiday and festivity. And delicious food
is integral part of the celebrations. You relish food and have
fun with your friends and relatives. In this excitement you
hardly give sufficient attention to how much you should...
How to Produce a Christmas Number One Hit
The worst thing about Christmas has to be listening to Top Of
The Pops and the Christmas Number 1 - Girls Aloud, Robbie
Williams, Westlife and Mr Blobby for goodness sake! Surely
anyone can produce a better Christmas Hit than those. After all,
a...
The Top 10 Ways to Have an Emotionally Intelligent Night Before Christmas
Use your EQ skills to have an enjoyable and manageable Christmas! With thanks to Clement Clark Moore. 1. 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the...
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Christmas Shopping in Spain
Thinking of flying out to do a bit of Christmas shopping? Maybe
a good idea if you want to escape the crowded UK stores. In
Spain, the shops tend to be more individual with specialist
shops selling specific products, whereas in the UK, you can
often almost buy everything under one roof. This offers
convenience in a fast paced life and enables you to do all your
shopping without getting wet.
However, here weather is not normally an issue and you can enjoy
a dry browse along the high street in Estepona, Marbella or
wherever you choose to shop.
If you prefer the convenience of buying everything under one
roof and shopping in a mall, you still have that option here
too; choose from Miramar in Fuengirola or La Canada in Marbella
amongst many others. Even some of the high street names will be
familiar to you such as Dorothy Perkins and Wallis, but that's
not really the point of doing your Christmas shopping in Spain.
If you plan to buy everything in Spain, be warned that there
isn't half the choice that you find in the UK and you probably
won't save any money. Having said that, you could save money as
you are more likely to buy only what you need due to the lack of
choice and temptation.
There's no doubt that Christmas shopping is a far less stressful
process than in the UK as the Spanish have managed to keep it in
perspective. Coming from the UK you may even find it a bit of an
anti-climax after the imaginative array of gifts on offer in
stores such as Marks and Spencer, Boots etc.
If you do decide to do Christmas shopping in Spain, take care
with sizes when buying clothes. Sizes do vary considerably and
where you might be a 40(12) in the UK, in shops such as Mango
and Zara, you may find yourself needing a 42 or a 44. A man who
wears an extra large in Marks and Spencer will have difficulty
finding his size in Spain. The Spanish people tend to be smaller
than
the big boned Brits and the clothing manufacturers haven't
yet grasped the concept of putting a smaller size label on the
clothes to make women feel good and buy more. Likewise, for
obvious reasons I would avoid buying shoes even slippers in
Spain as the shoes are often narrower than our UK fittings. I
was always a size 5 (38) in the UK, but I now wear a 6 (39). I
can explain why I now need much bigger clothes here, but unless
the food is going to my feet, I can't think why my feet have
grown.
If you are thinking about buying toys for your children, there
isn't half the choice that there is in the UK. El Corte Ingles
has a good selection but some might find it a bit sexist how all
the 'girls' toys are clumped in one section and the 'boys' in
another. You will find small toy shops in every town which are
quite reminiscent of those that we had in the UK twenty plus
years ago. A slightly more educational toy shop, similar to
Early Centre but again not the same choice is Imaginarium. If
you want your children to learn the Spanish language, it is
certainly worth your while coming to buy books and DVDs to use
as learning aids. In the larger shopping malls, there are book
shops, some often combining music and books.
I personally will be visiting the UK to do my Christmas shopping
and I can't wait to soak up the commercialised Christmas spirit
to the beat of Slade's classic track. So, I don't know about the
rest of you but I'm heading for Marks and Spencer to try on some
clothes and feel thin again!
About the author:
Susan Pedalino is Masters degree qualified in Intercultural
Communication and teaching English as a foreign language. Susan
regularly writes for Eye on Spain (www.eyeonspain.com). Having
moved to Spain to set up a business and buy property, she has
gained invaluable experience in buying off plan property in
Spain.
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