Small Victories

Back in November, I wrote a post about some of the frustrations of learning to live in a new country. In it, I shared the mantra that I had a adopted prior to moving to Portugal:

Portugal will teach me patience. Portugal will try my patience.

This week we finished our seventh month in Portugal and the mantra has proven to be true. Yes, our experience here has included many moments where my patience has been tested. And, yes, I have learned to be more patient. But along with that has come a new sense of curiosity and the ability (sometimes!) to see the humor in the situations we encounter.

Last week’s post about my experience with the electric company was a good example of a situation that would have made me absolutely crazy back in the US. Here…not so much. So in that spirit, this week I want to talk about some small victories. A few are things that required patience and a sense of humor. A few are events that piqued my curiosity and make me look forward to new experiences in the future.

Here we go!

#1 – I’m “in” with the water company

If you’ve been following our story for the last few weeks, you know that we’ve had some challenges getting the utilities at our apartment registered in our name. With both the electric company and the water company, we have to sign a contract.

This is an aspect of doing business here that we’ve come to expect. We can sign up online. We can pay electronically with a direct debit from our bank account. But somewhere in the process there is a piece of paper that needs to get signed.

Our electric provider sent me their contract as an attachment to an email that basically said “Here’s your copy. We’ll get around to signing this later.” But the water company required that I sign a paper document and return it to them within eight days or risk having our water turned off.

The problem was that their contract got lost in the mail.

We waited a week, then a few more days. No contract. I sent them a follow up note – “Haven’t received the contract…”. They expressed some surprise, but said they’d send another one.

This week, it arrived. Two copies. Now all I have to do is translate the fine print, read it, sign it, and send it back.

#2 – We got our travel cards

One of the first things we did when we moved to Porto was to buy Andante cards – monthly passes that gave us unlimited access on the buses and the metro. We went to an office in one of the stations, had our pictures taken, paid a €6 fee plus €30 each for the month, and within a few minutes had our cards.

Lisbon offers a similar card that covers travel by bus, subway, train, and ferry. They are good in Lisbon and in all the towns west to Cascais. Our discounted “senior” rate is €20 per month – more travel options for less money.

But to get one we had to….wait for it…fill out a paper form. The form got submitted with a €7 fee, which we were told covered both the processing and our travel for the remainder of the month. It took 10 days for our applications to be processed and the cards to be returned to the shop in Cascais where fwe purchased them. We picked them up earlier this week.

When we tried to get on the train to return to Parede, the cards didn’t work. The clerk at the ticket office said, “They haven’t been loaded.”

Back in the states, I would have been inclined to go back to the shop where I bought the cards and raise hell with them. But after several hours of walking around town, a big lunch, and a glass of wine, I just wanted to get back home. I shook my head and got out my credit card. It cost us €20 each to load the cards for the last 12 days of the month. No prorating.

So our travel costs this month are higher than normal, but we can now get out and start exploring the wider area outside our immediate neighborhood. We’ve already done one trip into Lisbon – round trip on the train (20 minutes each way) and a couple bus rides.

#3 – The IMT woke up

This is not really a victory. Just another test of patience. (They can’t all be small wins.)

Back in October, we submitted online applications to the IMT – the Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes, the government agency that issues drivers’ licenses. Within 24 hours we received emails acknowledging that the applications had been received. We anticipated that the next step would be to send in our US drivers’ licenses and pay a €30 fee.

But nothing happened. For months.

This didn’t surprise us. We had read accounts on several online forums that indicated the IMT often took a long time to respond. And as we planned our move out of Porto, we weren’t anxious to turn over our existing licenses and hope the new ones would find us in Parede.

What did surprise us was the text message and email that Mary received late Wednesday afternoon. She was informed that she had an appointment with IMT at 11:30am the next day, in Porto – 3 1/2 hours away.

The email also said that if she needed to reschedule or cancel, she should contact them through the same channel she used to make the appointment. That would make sense, except that she didn’t make the appointment. And, of course, the email was from an address that didn’t accept responses.

I found a “Contact Us” form on the IMT website and sent in a message explaining our situation and asking that Mary’s appointment be cancelled. I also asked for advice on how we should proceed.

It’s been two days now. No reply. Patience. Must practice patience.

#4 – We found some new wines to try

We’ll write more about Portuguese wine in a future post. What’s important to note today is that there are dozens or hundreds of wineries operating in Portugal. Many of them produce excellent wine at very reasonable prices. In a recent article in the Washington Post, a Portuguese vinho tinto (red wine) was named their #1 bargain wine of 2021. It’s $12 in the US. It sells here for about €5 a bottle.

During our visit to Cascais this week, our friend Denise told us she had tried to find that wine in a local supermarket. They didn’t have it, but a very knowledgeable staffer showed her several others that he said were comparable. We had a tasting at her apartment and later she went to the store with us to help us find them. The two we tasted were tinto, and very good. They also happened to be on sale this week. We bought several bottles to try later. The most expensive was discounted to €4.99, or roughly $5.75.

#5 – We have a new mercado

During that same trip to Cascais, our friend Nancy took us on a quick tour of the Vila Mercado, the village market that operates every Wednesday and Saturday. There is a large indoor area where fruit and vegetable vendors set up their stands. Nancy pointed out several vendors she thought had the best quality produce, and the bakery stand in the corner that sold great bread.

In another area of the market are stalls where you can buy other kinds of bread, nuts, cheeses, wine, and pastries. So much variety, it will take us months to sample it all.

We actually started today with a late morning trip. We came home loaded with enough good things to last most of the week.

4 out of 5 ain’t bad

Four small victories out of five experiences. Plus new opportunities to explore the area, some great new wines to try, and an abundance of good food within easy reach. Life is good here.

We hope it’s good for you, too, wherever you are.

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One transition to note: We met Nancy and Denise early last year when I reached out to Nancy with some questions before we moved. They were the first people we saw when we arrived in Porto. We’ve stayed in contact throughout our time here and have enjoyed a few weeks of being almost neighbors.

But next week, they are moving to a new place – the town of Villa Real Santo Antonio in the southwest corner of Portugal, just across the river from Spain. While we’re sad to see them move away, we’re looking forward to reading about their new adventures on Nancy’s blog – Expat in Portugal. If you’re not a follower, you should be.

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What small victories are you celebrating this week? Leave us a note in the comments below or send one in via the Contact form. We’ll toast you with good Portuguese wine!

Until next time / Até a próxima vez

Mary and Mike

The Cook and The Writer

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