The first time I heard Portuguese was when we were having our house siding replaced in Atlanta: the crew was speaking in this language I'd never heard before. It sorta sounded Spanish, maybe French, maybe who knew what? And then there was that Slavic undertone that reminded me of Russian. Totally mystified, I asked the siding crew's chief what it was. Portuguese, he said. Portuguese is one of a number of Romance languages born off the influence of Latin. This podcast, and accompanying article, explains How Latin Became the Romance Languages and why eight hundred million of us are still using some form of the language in our everyday conversations. Logistics is everything: Our carton of personal possessions left our house in Atlanta on August 30th, arrived in Rotterdam on September 26th, and the second week of October we received a call that our shipment would be arriving at our apartment in Porto on Monday, October 16th. That comes out to just shy of 7 weeks.
At our old house in the suburbs we had a wide street, a mildly sloping driveway, and a big garage. No surprise, the apartment in Porto had none of those things. Once we’d packed our household goods, and the 100-cubic foot carton had been collected by the local freight company, we waved it goodbye. Early the next day (August 31st) we received an e-mail that our carton was already at the shipping terminal in Charlestown, South Carolina. At this point, the shipping company had contracted for space in a container, would put our carton inside with other peoples’ goods, and when that container was full, assign it to a ship for the journey across the Atlantic.
When we were packing for our overseas adventure, we were faced with the cold reality that not all the things that we wanted in our new home were going to fit into our suitcases. In addition to clothes, computer equipment and such, we wanted to also include personal items so that our apartment wouldn’t resemble one of those IKEA showrooms.
So how do you ship your possessions across the Atlantic? The next few blog posts will discuss the process involved, including the documentation needed and the unexpected complications that arose during our shipment. As promised in an earlier post about over-the-counter medications in Portugal, this one covers prescription medications. How does the system work and what can you expect in terms of pricing? Let’s find out.
Part of the reason we’ve been quieter than normal with our posting is that we finally became ill in our new country. Both Harold and I had wondered how long it would be before one, or both of us, succumbed to a cold after our arrival in Portugal. The answer was four months and Harold was the first victim, followed shortly by me. As colds go, these were nasty, lasting some ten days, with far more exhaustion than we were accustomed to. However, unlike in the past, Harold didn’t succumb to bronchitis and we suspect this is because he didn’t have to return to work ill, as was the case in the past.
But everything is a learning experience here, so we now know more about how Portugal works, at least in regards to over-the-counter (OTC) medications. Read on to see what we've discovered. Medical use of marijuana in Portugal? It appears there's a doctors' movement to pressure the government on that very point.
In the United States, when you rent an apartment, it usually comes with ceiling fixtures. They may not be exciting, but they’re there. As Harold checked out unfurnished flats we quickly learned that is not always the case in Portugal. It appears that when the previous tenant moves out, they remove their lights and cart them off. Who knew?
The previous post discussed the lead-up to transporting our cat to Portugal, including the required paperwork, etc. This post is about the actual journey and the steps I (Harold) needed to take to get Dali accepted into the country.
Our move to Portugal entailed a lot of decisions, but some were easier than others. Such was the case with our cat Dali, who we felt needed to make the journey along with us. Here’s what we learned along the way.
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Your HostsHarold is a former software engineer. Jana is an author. Together they're exploring their new life in Portugal. Archives
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