Speaking European – Nadia Kashaeva

It´s been twelve years since Nadia moved to Javea from her motherland, Lithuania. She now refers to herself as “Javeana”.

When asked where she comes from, she replies without thinking, “Spain. Javea.”

Nadia was married with children and a job in the theatre, when she decided to move to Spain. 

The family searched for a better climate to improve the health of their little son. 

Nadia had friends who lived in Javea and when visiting, she, “fell in love immediately”.

She said it was the location that made it so appealing: “With the harmony of Javea, I felt at home at the first second. I understood the town straight away. I felt comfortable with everything: the town, the sea, the people. It is a little paradise.”

As she made her move, she felt, “a little lost at first”. She began searching for work opportunities but her family remained the top priority. She took on jobs she never expected, like working as an administrator of a fish salon, and a real estate agent, but as a a person of the arts, she had found her way back to the stage by chance.

“I was visiting Gandia with my kids when a Spanish man started talking to me. He heard me speaking Lithuanian to my children and wanted to introduce me to his Russian wife. He was a classical musician. His wife was a violinist. I was a professional singer. A beautiful collaboration started then.”

Since then, Nadia performed for churches and concerts across Spain, diving into “an international community”. 

It wasn´t long until a friend of Nadia´s asked her to teach music to her child, and since then she has become a music teacher. “I never thought about teaching but before I realized it, I was fully booked for lessons.”

 Nadia had then worked in international schools, including XIC and Lady Elizabeth School.

In terms of adapting, Nadia said it was “easy”. 

“Coming from another European country, we got the residence straight away. I didn´t need to change my driving license. Everything was easy, like things were just flowing.”

Coming from a country rich in the public holiday sector, Nadia fell in love with the Spanish culture and assimilated easily to the traditions she had not encountered before.

 “In Lithuania, we have a saying if you go to a new monastery, you don’t need to bring your own Holy Bible. It was the same here. You adjust.”

When asked whether she missed her homeland, Nadia replied, “I miss simple things – the places of my childhood…But I never questioned if I should come back. If I miss places or family in Lithuania, I go back for a few days. Then I find myself counting the days when I´ll be back in Javea because I miss it. I go to Lithuania for five days at most now. My home is here.”