Week Two - Successes and Challenges
When planning this out I knew I didn’t want to just write all the rosy stuff. I want to share the whole experience - the good, the bad and the ugly. Week two was a bit of everything!
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein
Something happens to the brain when it’s in a new place that makes you forget basic functions; at least to my brain, but I’m going to make that a statement of fact for everyone so I don’t feel alone.
Example - almost every public door I’ve attempted to go through I have gotten wrong (push instead of pull). But it isn’t just that. I went to the electric utility company AND the bank, and on both occasions I pushed the door to open, and it didn’t open, so I just stood there. I assumed there must be a process to enter these facilities. Like maybe you have to wait until the current customer is finished and then they let you in. I waited and waited, politely waiting my turn trying not to be a rude American. Then someone came up behind me, I moved aside, and they just pulled the door open and walked in. Oof, that was a serious hit to my sense of having traveling smarts.
Take a Ticket Please
The ticket system is alive and well in Portugal! Pretty much every service related store we’ve gone into - government building or business (even the pharmacy) - has required us to take a ticket and wait. It seems to be effective, so I’m no throwing any shade, just noting that I feel that phase sort of came and went in all but the DMV in the U.S.
Success!
On a good note - we did find an apartment! It is beautiful and we love it and it checked all the boxes for all of us.
Parking spot - check
washing machine - check
pool! - check
bonus - several balconies AND a dishwasher and two bathrooms (this may sound odd but I don’t recall ever living anywhere that had more than one bathroom in my life!).
This week’s Challenge
Setting up all the components for a modern life. At home all of this would have taken me ten minutes. In a new place, where you don’t speak the language well enough to do important things, it takes much longer. Finding an apartment wasn’t too hard, but then we had to:
Register the lease with the tax authority, but wait - that isn’t for us to do, that is for the landlord to do. A morning spent trying to do something we didn’t need to do, no biggie. The landlord said “just log in to your account and you’ll see that we registered and you’ll get the document you need to set up utilities.” Oh yes, of course. Account?! I don’t recall setting up an account when we received our NIF numbers. But apparently we did, and my temporary password expired, and the only way to receive a new one is by mail, to my registered address in Colorado. A day later and we got what we needed, but I still don’t have a way into my tax account.
Set up water, gas and electric - all different providers. One you have to go in person to, one you have to do by phone (even scarier!), and one you have to go to city hall for. We are two-thirds of the way through so far, I’m sort of dreading the city hall trip.
On a good note - phone and internet were super easy and we are all set in our new place!
Chillaxin in the pool
Soaking up the last rays of sunshine after lots of pool time.
Miss you already. Enjoy your day, stay curious…
Cassandra