Robin Hall was born and raised in Coventry, England. He graduated from the University of Nottingham, with a BSc in Computer Science/Business and an empty wallet. He moved to London soon after to pursue a career as an IT consultant, where he met his wife, Maricarmen. After spending 5 years together in and around London, the poor weather and grey skies became too much for his Sevillana wife, and they moved together to Seville. Robin still works for a London based IT company, and spends his time commuting back and forth. He has two young children, Lucas and Lola, who were born and currently being raised in Sevilla.
1. How did you end up living in Sevilla?
My wife was born and raised in Triana. She’d spent 5 years in London, and could no longer stomach the poor weather! I was happy to move as I’m a bit of a sun monkey myself, plus you can’t beat the quality of life in Spain.
2. What’s the thing you like the most of Sevilla?
I love the ambience at night. There aren’t many cities in the world that come alive like Sevilla does after dark. You can go out in London, Paris etc but come 1am the night is coming to an end. Here, it’ll go on till 8am … not that I ever last that long. I’m usually tucked up in bed by midnight these days, but it’s nice to have the option!
3. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about Sevilla?
The government … but that’s a national thing, and we probably shouldn’t go into that here. Specifically in Seville, I’d like to see a bit more variety of live music. I love my blues/rock, and it’d be awesome to attract a wider variety, and some of the biggest names, in live music.
4. How do you cope with homesickness?
To be honest, I don’t really suffer from it. I’m back in the UK regularly and I don’t ever find myself in Sevilla long enough to miss anything too much.
5. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
I’ve got two young kids who are quite often monopolising our bed, so there’s no space, I’m afraid. If I had the choice though, I’d have a Pepe the King Prawn from the Muppets. He’s great.
6. Any children’s book and/or film you consider essential?
My kids love anything by Pixar with Monsters Inc probably being the favourite. In terms of books they love the Gruffalo, and we have lot of fun with the Where’s Wally? books. The kids always beat me to it though.
7. What still-airing kid’s TV show character do you love?
That’s tough. I always loved Danger Mouse from the UK. It’s brilliant, but its not airing anymore. Modern day, I’d have to go with Fanboy and Chum Chum. Don’t ask me to choose a favourite though as they both rock.
8. Do you remember any embarrassing mistake you’ve made while learning Spanish?
I remember each and every one! I make them daily, nay, hourly. Sometimes in the most ridiculous fashion. I’d like to think i’m getting better at the lingo, but surely the embarassing mistakes
should start to become less frequent? Right?
9. Any suggestion (or magic potion) to learn English effortlessly?
I don’t think there is any substitute for actually living in an English speaking country, but not everyone can do that. I’d suggest to submerge yourself in tv/film, books and read the newspaper. It might not seem like it’s ‘going in’ but it will be. You need to practice speaking too, so mixing with some English speakers would certainly help.
10. Can we know what your plans for the future are?
I’ve a list a mile long of things i’d like to achieve in the future. I’ll be happy if I can tick off even a few, but mainly I just want to slowly integrate more and more into Spanish society, and become an expert in Spanish so I don’t embarass my kids when I meet their schoolfriends!
Hi,this is Diana,a Spanish mami de 33 (años,hijos una de tres) . I love your blog es original,entretenido y útil. I ve been talking English to my daughters since the very early days ( a veces spanglish I have to admit) y en este momento es bilingüe ( habla algo en español e inglés Y distingue a la gente que habla uno u otro) poquito aún pero good. Yo solía como tu escribir un blog sobre ello,mibebebilingue pero lo pare y pienso volver in a near future. Enhorabuena por tu blog,I'm glad I founded it
Hi Diana!! Me alegra ver que no estamos solos… Gracias por tu comentario. Por favor avísame cuando retomes tu blog. Me encantaría leerlo. Por cierto has visto el blog sobre bilingüismo que encontré el otro día. A lo mejor te es de utilidad. Te lo paso: http://68v.ad6.mywebsitetransfer.com/2013/06/raising-bilingual-children-forum.html
Espero que nos veamos por aquí.
Suerte!!!
Found it, sorry,;)
Hola daddy,si lo he gusto y he escrito en el foro,gracias,see you around!
Hi Diana! I just saw it. Very useful indeed. Thanks!