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Jennie Rhodes
Friday, 28 March 2025
The UK's Waterstones bookshop says of Paulo Coelho's masterpiece The Alchemist: "Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. This is such a book - a beautiful parable about learning to listen to your heart, read the omens strewn along life's path and, above all, follow your dreams."
The book has inspired millions of people and one of them is Christine Mullaney, 41, who was given a copy of the book by a friend ahead of a trip to Marbella in 2005.
Christine visited the town that year after finishing college and she read the book while on the beach. She describes how she "had a moment" and knew that at some point she wanted to live in Spain.
Life's twists and turns meant that her dream wouldn't come true until 2022, but that year she finally achieved the promise she had made to herself while reading about the Andalusian shepherd on a beach in Marbella.
In fact it was a trip to Nerja with her family in 2016 when her sister got married in the town that prompted Christine to finally go for it. She fell in love with the area and soon found a place in neighbouring Torrox Costa.
"I looked at Torrox and it's my idea of heaven; my view is kestrels flying around and I'm near the sea," she says. Christine explains that she was at a time of her life, having had a difficult few years, that she "needed peace, nature, the sea".
Born in Dublin, Christine moved around Ireland as a child after her parents separated and, on leaving university where she had studied Business Administration, Marketing and Spanish, at 25 she went to Australia for 19 months.
She had her first experience of teaching children while living in the outback and when she returned to Ireland she found that the travel bug had bitten hard, so when her sister spotted an advertisement for a post- graduate opportunity in China, Christine applied and was offered the position.
She explains that the job involved recruiting students for Dundalk Institute of Technology back in Ireland: "It was a good way to do life; get paid to travel," she laughs. By this point, enjoying the world of EFL (English as a Foreign Language), Christine did the Cambridge CELTA qualification to be able to teach the language and headed to Poland where she lived for some time before coming to Spain.
Now, highlighting the fact that "I'd had 38 jobs by the time I was 38", Christine continues to teach English in private language academies in Malaga but also draws on her experience of sales, English teaching and working in five different countries, as well as her studies, to coach people in business on the art of intercultural communication. She has given a TEDx talk and does podcasts too.
Christine divides her time between Ireland and Spain and says, "Ireland really calls, my heart is very much in Ireland but a part of it is here."
She has also just taken over running the Costa Women business networking group in Nerja and explains that she was "looking for a business network, especially among women" when she heard of the group and so she decided to give it a try.
When the previous person gave up running the meetings to move to a different part of the Costa del Sol, Christine decided to take over. "I love organising things and it's a great way to get to know the members better. I love the network, building women up and supporting them. I love what Ali [Meehan, Costa Women founder] does and giving women a space," Christine says.
The group gets around 12 women at each meeting, although the record is 28. The meetings are held on the last Friday of every month (there is one today, 28 March) at Hotel Mena Plaza in Nerja from 11am to 1pm.
Participants are asked to pay 10 euros which covers the cost of the buffet breakfast and each meeting has a different agenda, ranging from icebreaker sessions to presentations by members and local companies, goal-setting activities and demonstrations.
For further information about the networking meetings see the Costa Women Facebook group.
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