Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #4: We Begin Our Portuguese Language Studies

So much to share since my last missive.

Nick and I started a Portuguese language program, much of which is online but with two live zoom meetings each week. Have I said before how difficult this language is to learn??? Did you know that the numbers one and two actually have masculine and feminine versions? We say dois copos for two glasses but duas garrafas for two bottles; um menino for one boy but uma menina for one girl. If I am introducing myself to someone in Portuguese I must say that my name is "a MaryLou", while Nick would say "o Nicholas". Speaking fluently will not happen overnight but we are constantly trying to use new phrases we've learned, which often ends with the Portuguese person trying to help/correct us, though always in a friendly manner. Our cupboards, kitchen drawers, bathroom mirrors, even the inside of our front door, are covered in post-it notes, with words or phrases we're supposed to learn. Daily we're doing drills online, trying to memorize and learn to conjugate verbs.

A few weeks ago we attended our first expat get-together, put on by a couple whose YouTube channel we follow, Expats Everywhere. It was a very nice get-together at a lovely outdoor bar area downtown. We met a number of Americans at this one and the first question was often "What made you leave the U.S," as opposed to Portuguese people who always ask, "Why did you choose Portugal?" Without discussing politics it was quite clear why we all chose to get out of Dodge. One reason we chose Portugal was because of how safe it is to live here. The country ranks in the top 10 safest countries in the world. No one carries a gun and we never hear of theft. Two examples: I left my cell phone in an Uber car back in July after being dropped off at the bus depot in Aveira. A few minutes later I heard someone calling my name; it was the Uber driver, running to find me and return my phone. A few weeks ago Nick lost his cell phone and we were sure it was lost for good. The following evening I received a call from a man letting me know he'd found Nick's phone. It was another of those situations where he speaks Portuguese and I couldn't understand more than a few words. My first thought was how did he get my number because he didn't have Nick's code to unlock it but he mentioned something about Vodafone, which is our service provider. Apparently the guy who found it turned it over to someone he knew at Vodafone. Once again it was our landlord Nuno who stepped in to help us. I gave Nuno the phone number of the guy who called me and he reached out to him. We had the Sim card disabled in the meantime. A few days later Nick got his phone back.

We had our first guests! Our good friends John and Sylvia Avey, who we've known since we lived in Dallas in the 90's and who also once lived at Trilogy at the Vineyards in CA, spent a week with us recently. It was great fun to actually show people around our new town, dine at our favorite restaurants, and tour the Douro Valley with them. For anyone planning to travel to Porto, the Douro Valley should be on your list of places to visit. The views are spectacular, with the vineyards clinging on steep hillsides surrounding the river. Our tour guide, Jose, spent 10 years studying to be a priest, working in many countries before leaving the Seminary and returning to Porto. He and his family also own a small vineyard in the Douro Valley.

In all we did quite a bit of walking during John and Sylvia's visit and had a fair amount of alcohol as well. And we certainly never starved for food. They are now quite familiar with riding buses and taking the metro everywhere. Porto is such a colorful town and such fun to wander and discover new places in little alleyways. As sorry as we were to see them go, we know they will make a return visit.

Last Thursday we spent the day with our new realtor and her side-kick. Yes, we are committed to Porto and have decided to buy our own place, a flat rather than a house. It was a long day, looking at five different places. We've made an offer on a very eclectic place and are awaiting an answer. If we don't get this one then we will start looking again. Here's another interesting fact; buyers must pay a fee before closing that is somewhere in the range of 6-8% of the purchase price, depending on the cost of the property. That is not a fee paid to the realtor but rather taxes. On the flip side, property taxes we'll have to pay are less than $600/euros annually. Condo fees in most places we've seen range from $30-90/euros a month. Here's another interesting fact about crime here.....at least three of the places we saw had parking spaces in the underground parking garages for those buildings. People tend to use part of the parking space designated for their cars to also store things like bikes, furniture, household goods, etc. These items aren't locked up....they are just sitting in the parking space and no one touches any of it. Incredible.

Also last week, we were dining at one of our favorite restaurants which we first discovered back in March when we were here looking for an apartment to rent. Solange, the owner/chef has become a friend as well and wanted to introduce us to another couple, Lorriane and Gary, who were also dining there that evening . They are also expats and just happen to live near us in the Boa Vista neighborhood. Lorraine is a Brit and a retired chef. We all hit it off and exchanged numbers and are planning to meet up for dinner in the 'hood soon. Accompanying them was another couple who were visiting from LA, Karen and Dan. Dan is a musician and told us about a Fado group he'd met and performed with here in Porto. The next day Dan texted and invited us to meet up with them that evening at the Galeria de Paris, a little bar/restaurant in a very funky nightclub area downtown to listen to Fado music. Dan again accompanied the group on his guitar for most of the set. Fado is the traditional music of Portugal that I would liken to torch singers.....usually sad, longing kind of music that is really quite lovely.

I've been negligent in posting more photos on Instagram but will get busy now to show the beautiful Palacio de Bolsas, which was the original stock exchange in Portugal that we toured recently. My most recent photos all seem to be for the shipping company, showing them where they can park and measuring the distance to the front door...really.

Just as I was preparing to sign off we got two bits of news...the ship with our goods is due to arrive in Rotterdam on September 25th. Once it clears customs they will put it on a truck and deliver it though we still don't know exactly when. But at least things are getting closer. The other great news is that our offer has been accepted! We're working out the details now and will likely close at the end of January and move in later in February, which works well for us. The current owner is a writer and painter from the Netherlands who is returning to his homeland. Very exciting!

Adeus, abraços e beijos,

MaryLou

Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #3: Bats Eat Moths

Universidade de Coimbra

Weird title, I know, however we learned an interesting fact when touring the historic library at Universidade de Coimbra a few days ago. This university was founded in 1290 in Lisbon and was moved to Coimbra in the 1500's, when Coimbra was the capital of Portugal. It's one of the oldest universities in the world and is highly ranked. They have a medical school, law school, arts, science and technology. Our immigration attorney is a graduate of the law school. Many famous Portuguese writers and poets are among the graduates. The library houses over 60,000 books dating from the 1400's to the 1800's, so no John Grisham or JK Rawlings books here, though this library was also an inspiration for the Harry Potter series (as was the Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto). Sadly, no one is allowed to take photos inside the library, which is quite spectacular. So, back to my title... In order to preserve these ancient books from moths, which eat paper, the library keeps bats up in the rafters. Every night the bats come out of hiding and eat all the moths. To protect all the beautiful tables/furnishings inside, they are covered each night with leather drapes to protect everything from the bat droppings. Organic pest control.

Must be willing to climb and descend
numerous stairs and ramps on this
excursion

Coimbra is a lovely town and home to some 30,000 students of the university. To get to the university from the center of town (the historic district), you must climb many stairs and traverse back and forth up some very steep inclines before reaching the school. Or, you can take some other transportation to drive there if climbing all those steps is just too much (we took a Tuk ride up there and walked back down). Views from the top are spectacular. In addition to touring the library we also toured the school of Chemistry, which houses many artifacts, which they call "curiosities." And touring the university is not free....there is a price of entry to go into these buildings because the university is a tourist attraction itself. We stayed at a nice hotel in the historic district and had a wonderful dinner the first night at Sete, a restaurant recommended by the hotel staff. I posted a photo of our dinner on Instagram....lamb shanks on a bed of pureed chestnut....14 Euros each. Fabulous. By the way, no matter where you eat in Portugal, no one will leave your check on the table to suggest that you pay up and leave. Turning tables is not a thing in Portugal like in the U.S. Eating is to be enjoyed and no one is in a hurry to get you out the door. You must ask for the check and only then will it be brought to you.

Tourist loaded gondolas move
along the canals

Prior to arriving in Coimbra, we visited Aveiro, the "Venice of Portugal." Canals weave through part of the town and there are many opportunities to take a gondola ride, which of course we did. Photos are on Instagram. Aveiro is also home to all the famous striped houses along the beach, however, you will not see them by taking a gondola ride. And you cannot walk to the beach to see them....it is way too far and difficult to get there on foot. We instead took the local bus to get to the shore, which took less than 20 minutes. It's quite a quaint area and the houses are adorable. The central historic district of Aveiro is quite charming and worth a visit. The "love bridges" can be found along the river downtown and are very colorful. Couples write their names on a ribbon and tie it to the railings to profess their love. Similar but more colorful than the padlocks that couples attach to railings in Lisbon to proclaim their love. In keeping with the colorful ribbons, there is a shopping mall downtown that has colored ribbons tied to netting that covers the main walkways....this is honestly quite a colorful town. And again, we traveled by bus to get from Porto to these towns....inexpensive and easy and all are direct routes.

Some of the famous striped houses
along the Aveiro shore

Every day is not a holiday for us, just so you know. Late last week we became tax paying citizens, which is a process like everything else, though not as complicated as some things. As I mentioned in a previous email, we have some household goods that are being shipped to us...though we still don't know exactly when. Prior to leaving AZ we had an international moving company come to pack up a number of our things...no furniture, but lots of dishes, crystal, pots and pans, my Mac, etc. Mostly things that are meaningful to us. We are allowed to have items shipped within the first year of living here, duty free, as long as they have been in our possession for a minimum of 6 months. Last week, while signing more forms so that our goods can be placed on a ship, we also learned that we must become tax paying citizens before our goods arrive in order to avoid paying duty. And, for any of you who might be contemplating a move overseas, shipping goods is no small undertaking. It requires a detailed list of every item and its value. They prefer to see receipts for everything, but who has that? Fortunately I did have receipts for my computer and some other valuable items but certainly not for most items, many of which have been in our possession since the 80's. That list must be sent to the Consulate in triplicate for review and approval, at which time they provide a Baggage Certificate which must be turned over to the shipping company before your goods can be shipped.

And one more thing on the topic of shipping goods overseas, while sitting in the hotel bar in Aveiro last week I couldn't help but overhear a conversation between two couples from the U.S....one couple has already moved to Portugal and the other couple is in the process of exploring areas and trying to decide whether to buy or rent initially. They were discussing shipping goods and I was rather astonished to hear that the one couple spent $120,000 to ship their goods to Portugal! And they didn't ship a car because they are doing the same things we're doing and relying on public transportation. I can't even wrap my head around that figure. The other couple is planning to ship their boat here. In contrast, our shipment came in around $7,000.

Yesterday we had a meeting with our new accountant so we could get a better sense of the tax process here. We are filing to become Non Habitual Residents (the title makes no sense but who am I to quibble with the IRS here). Portugal and the U.S. have an agreement that prevents anyone from being double-taxed, so if you are contemplating a move somewhere overseas, be sure to check for that. We have to apply for the NHR within our first year, which will allow us to keep our taxes low for the first 10 years of residency. Yes, you have to pay taxes wherever you move while still paying taxes in the U.S.

A few more curiosities to share: Last week while taking a bus downtown we passed by a huge crowd of people in the street. We felt like we were missing some great event until we realized that they were all waiting to get into Livraria Lello, the famous bookstore. It is August and all of Europe is on vacation...the crowds have been big everywhere. If you ever plan to visit Porto and want to see the bookstore I highly recommend that you go to their website and buy a ticket (crazy, I know) so you can avoid waiting in lines, because there is always a line outside. You get the money back as a discount if you buy anything.

Livraria Lello: Another day of crowds

Hot water heaters are most often found in the kitchen, though sometimes in the separate laundry area off the kitchen, should one exist. They are much smaller than what you would find in the U.S. and are typically not hidden from view. Washing machines are most often found in the kitchen. Garbage disposals don't exist here. At least one bathroom, should you have more than one, will have a bidet.

That's all the news from here. Hope you are all in good health and enjoying the summer.

Adeus, abraços e beijos,

MaryLou

If you missed either of my earlier Portugal update emails just let me know and I will send those to you. I keep finding email addresses missing in my contacts list. Also, if you know of someone who would like to be added to my distribution list, just let me know and I will add them. Again, I always send these out BCC so you won't be inundated with responses from others.

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A colorful display of fish demanding
 entrance at the window,
of course

Love ribbons on a bridge railing

Enjoying our gondola ride

Shopping mall courtyard capturing ribbon theme