Before I got pregnant I was working in an office in another town. Because I was working at a foreign company we didn’t have the usual Spanish lunch hours of 14-17 but kept it to one hour.

I was quite pleased with that as it meant I would be getting home earlier in the day and for me it just felt…ehm…normal to do it like that.
This meant I would usually bring a lunchpack with me to work instead of going out for a Menu del Dia which is the norm when you are working in Spain. Every morning I went to one of the local shops to buy a little baguette or chapata so I could make a sandwich to bring with me. And how frustrating that was! You just never knew how long it would take you, as buying something in a shop in Spain is not as straightforward as just buying something. Nooo… you have to talk a bit about the weather, and how is your cousin and did you hear what so and so did yesterday. Obviously this gets worse when you live in small village and everybody knows each other and are probably related as well. So I would patiently stand there waiting and waiting whilst they chatted away whilst inwardly cursing and starting to think of excuses for why I was late for work.

That is until they realised I was going to work and not a house wife. All of a sudden I got pushed to the front of the queue every morning I went there, amongst murmurings of “She is going to work, she is going to work (They like repeating themselves here in the village)” and from then on getting that lunchpack done every day was not such a hassle.

I guess finding a job in Spain is not a priority for a lot of the women. Especially up here in the smaller villages there are a lot of illiterate people who have been used to living of the land. I just don’t think I could ever NOT work. Of course it would be nice to work less, but to do nothing at all (of course there are always things to do when you have kids) but make me depressed and feeling inadequate.