Spanish salaries have always been been low, but with the arrival of the euro, they've become downright pathetic. Recent statistics situated the average salary at about 16,000 euros a year, nearly in the cellar compared to its European Union associates. It seemed that everyone had the right to round things up except for the guy making money. All of you who live in Spain can vouch for me when I refer not only to housing prices but also vegetable prices, bar prices and hotel prices. We who live here love going out and it's no longer what it used to be.

After years of teaching at a colegio concertado I still make half of what a starting salary is at most public schools back home in Connecticut. Then again, prices are ridiculous there too. Going to the supermarket in CT, for example, is a painful experience. The money just melts away. People I know from Ireland laugh at what we think something in Spain is pricey. They say, you don't know what expensive is. But it's still disproportionate. I think that most Spanish salaries need a 5,000 euro boost to level things off a little more.

Ironically, other products have gone down a lot. Computers and electronic equipment is a fraction of what it used to cost, mainly thanks to the stronger euro. And a recent study has shown that clothes have gone down, though they're still higher than American prices.

On the other hand, if I had come to Spain to make money, I never would have come in the first place. I came, among other reasons, to enjoy this great country's quality of life. Its wonderful attitude towards life. If I had wanted to make money, I would have stayed in the New York Metropolitan area and gotten up at the crack of dawn every day to head into the city the way my brother does. I would have done what a Spanish computer programmer did years ago. He went to California to develop a new program with videos. He worked his b**** off for three years until Microsoft bought him out for a nice price of 10,000,000,000 pesetas (de aquellas, ni más ni menos). The man said he had gone to The US because he never would have made a cent off of it. But I looked for something else.

If you're looking to strike it rich don't come to Spain. You may get lucky, but chances are you'll have to fight for every peseta (or euro). It does suck at times, I have to admit, and I really do believe workers are underpaid. But for the moment, es lo que hay, as the Spaniards say.

Hopefully things will get better, but you need to be patient and conscious of what life is like. Of course I say this as we head right into the Christmas season and pray to make it to the end of the month!