Episode 46: Residency Cards, Christmas in Portugal

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to As the Dinoson's Turn, where we chronicle the adventures of the Dinoson family. A seemingly ordinary family from Iowa who decided, hey, you only live once. So let's move to Portugal. And now your hosts, Jason and Tracy Dynason.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Alright, welcome to As the Dinoson's Turn. First time in four months that we've done a podcast. We've talked about it for weeks and weeks and weeks that we need to do another one. And then life gets in the way and it just doesn't happen. We've been a little bit preoccupied for a number of months, haven't we?

SPEAKER_02 0:39

We have been. It's been very busy. So, and we've had lots of lots of paperwork and lots of bureaucratic things to do.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

We have, but I've got my residency card somewhere here. Oh, here it is. It's buried in my pile, but um I need to get it in my wallet. But my residency renewal is done through 2028. November of 2028. I'm good for now. The rest, everybody else in the household is still waiting on their renewal to come through. So I guess if worse comes to worse, um I'll be here in Portugal alone, and the rest of the family, I guess, will have to move back to the US.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Yeah, we um we're all in process. It takes a while um to just go through everything. And then they'll ask for additional paperwork and different processes. So we will do an we're doing all of the bureaucratic stuff that you just have to do when you are not a citizen of the country. And I think the bigger thing is we decided that this is a good place for us. So we are planning to stay. Yeah, because we had committed to at first we thought we would do this for a year and or as long as our visas were for our permits were four. And then, you know, our permits were for two years, which is good because after one year we would have gone back and like I think it would have been like never even looked back. But now I think we're at least I'm pretty hesitant to leave. I don't know. What about you, babe?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Yeah, I think it's good here, and I feel like it's more just like living living life now seems normal here. I mean, even some of the things that used to irritate me, or I don't even know if irritates the right word, but just things that I would notice and sometimes be like, wow, that's different. Well, it is different, but now I don't even think about it, I guess. Even just even things like the bureaucracy of the residency renewal, and like, oh, we didn't receive this paperwork that you sent to us or whatever. It's um, you know, when you stop and think about it, the bureaucracy in the United States is no picnic either. Especially when you deal with the IRS like I do, it's like, well, it's really not that different from dealing with the IRS. So um there's that. The driving doesn't bother me as much anymore either. I mean, it's crazy, people are insane, but you that's something you get used to too, I think.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Yeah, I think that you definitely do get used to it, but I think more than that, I mean, our lives have expanded so much here, too. So the kids are really settled and doing really well. Um, you know, they're you know, Jack's in you know, getting ready for internships and all these other things as part of his professional program, and um, he'll have some national exams this summer and same thing next summer. Um, Tyler's just doing great. Um, I am teaching English again, not every day of the week, but a couple of days a week, and really enjoying that. We have friends from all over. Our community kind of grows. We do um additional things and we go out and have adventures. And yeah, I think that it's start it's starting to feel more real and more like home. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

And I've had a couple of journeys across the ocean to conferences and um I don't know, I find that it's not as scary anymore. I don't know. Maybe that's just me mentally being in better headspace or something, but like when I had to go to Atlanta by myself, you just do it. I don't even think the flights are that bad. Even the one across, you know, it's always longer when you're going from Europe to the US because you're going into the wind or whatever, but even a 10-hour flight wasn't. I mean, it passes and you're there and then suddenly it's over and you're back.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

So well, I mean, you you get used to it, really. You just know that that's kind of like that big big excursion or big trips. Like you have to go for this trek. Um, you know, I don't think it's any different than traveling for work when I would travel for work. I think that really it's think about it, you've you didn't travel as much as before. So this is now like travel's just become part of it. Um so yeah, you go back several times a year, uh, which is nice because then you can bring back some stuff for us and make sure that our pantry is stocked with the essentials. Um, and especially this time of year, it's nice because we have all of the baking and all of those things, and the ingredients are not the same. But um, yeah, I mean, you'll go back in January again, and we'll all go back in May, and it'll be here before you know it. That's a thing. I feel like time is flying by. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Yeah. What else do we need to talk about? I don't know. I think it's just we never we never have much to actually say, but yet people ask you, Why haven't you done a podcast recently?

SPEAKER_02 6:15

So Well, and you know, I'd have to say it's because we're we're living our lives, and I think that's like a big sign. There are all kinds of things that we notice, and you know, it's not like it's always easy or it's a smooth transition, and sometimes you'll butt up against bureaucracy, and you'll, you know, that's part of it. It's the same kinds of things that if we were immigrants or, you know, on temporary residency in the United States, we'd bump up against those same kinds of things. But yeah, there are things that just like every day, you know, you just kind of like when we're when we're not here, I'm ready to come back, you know, and I'm like, okay, I'm ready for it. It's a different pace. I want my coffee maker. Like, and I think that people feel that way anytime they travel. They're like, I just want a really good cup of coffee, but it is very different. Um when you could just make yourself a mega the light or like a latte and it have be really, really good every single day. Um, you know, and I, you know, a lot of our habits and things have already changed too. So we find ourselves, you know, like if you we McDonald's, but I we find ourselves getting salads and chicken burgers and all these other things instead of hamburgers all the time, or, you know, um things that I never thought we would be eating, like, you know, brioche croissants with ham and cheese. You know, that's like a really good breakfast. You're like, oh, or a ham and cheese toasty. Yes, please. Like toasty or like a whole category. So you start to like crave these things and they're like part of your day, or soup. We're in soup season, high soup season. So just want to eat soup because it's cold and rainy and it's chilly and it's winter time. And I can tell that my body has definitely adjusted because I am freezing all of the time, which is hysterical because it's like 50 odd degrees and it's rainy, but it's humid and it's cold. And you know, sometimes it's colder inside than it is outside. So true. Well, you know, the institute, um, not every room has heat. And if it has heat, it's got like a small heater, you know, and so you just have to kind of wait for it to like build up and you don't leave it on all the time because it's expensive. So yeah, I'm gonna need to check on to some. I've been looking online at some thermals, ordering some thermals, merino wool thermals from Denmark. Um, because that's the best price I've found. And I'm like, yeah, because they wear them all the time. I'm like, yeah, we we even went to Decathlon to go find some and they didn't have merino wool. And I'm like, nope, we're not gonna be buying any polyester kind of like weird lasting things. We want something that we know is gonna last forever. So I'd say that I think between between food things and the adjustments to weather and the driving, I think on top of that, like the mentality of um consumption and consumerism, at least for me, um and I think for you too, it's been more of the let's buy something we know lasts, and then you go and like take it to a repair shop and you get it repaired, or you know, like you um you don't just kind of I guess consume and reuse and and you know, and let it go and just keep consume, consume, consume. And I think that that's a little bit different too. I don't know. Life is life is is good.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

We're coming up in March, it'll be three years. I know.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

I can't even believe it. Well, you know, we already had submitted our paperwork three years ago. So um, yeah, and they they do your residency date back towards citizenship and your permanent residency back to when you applied. So it's according to Portugal, we've already been at the three-year mark. But you're right, living here um coming up on three years, I'd say that I don't know. Like, I I'm so glad we did this. Like, life is like I couldn't even imagine what this life would be like. I don't know about you. It did it never even dawned on me what this could be like.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

I think that in the United States, the things that I'm doing business-wise right now would never have really happened this way. I mean, I the things that I'm doing now, we were doing in the United States. But to this level, so I I gave up tax work over the summer. I filed my pushed submit on an e-file on July 1st and that was it. And it passed my client list off to someone else for anyone who wants to keep the relationship. I wrote a letter to everybody and just said, if you want to keep the relationship, work with this guy. And if you don't want to, then obviously don't work with him. But um I don't have anything to do with that now. And I remember I told you a few months ago when I was working on some teaching things that I was actually happy. I like I enjoyed it. I do a lot of writing now. I have a goal of it depends, two thousand words a day is what my goal theoretically is, but sometimes I scale it back to a thousand because sometimes you have to do research and stuff, and so it's like you're spending an hour or two doing research instead of writing, and so you may not get to two thousand, then I scale it back to a thousand. But anyway, it's um I'm getting a lot more done in that regard, building new relationships with that, going in different directions with things, and it always it feels like there's not enough hours in the day still, but it's a different feeling. It's not the overwhelm kind of feeling that I had before. Now it's more just like there's too much stuff to do still, but it's all good and it's exciting, and and like it's not dread getting out of bed every morning like it was in the US. And it took a long, long time. And it took getting out of taxes. That's funny, tax prep. It took getting out of that, but I think I'm in a better headspace than I've been in in probably 10 years or so.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Well, definitely. And you know, even you know, we've talked about burnout before as well. I think it took me a good 18 months to just kind of get out of that funk and like raise my head up and kind of deal with some of the things that were coming up and you know, try and process emotions and and deal with things that you're just you make yourself too busy and you make so many excuses to not deal with things and not be in the present, and to just kind of keep plowing through everything instead of just sitting. And I think that being here not only has allowed me the space to sit, but to pro and to process, but to grow and change and figure out, you know, what does that mean and what are those next steps for me and and all of those pieces. And, you know, um I think that, you know, now our our plans also look different. Like our days, uh, it's got a different rhythm. And I think that that's a very good thing. And I I know that there will be people who say, well, why couldn't you have done that in the US? And I think that the very there is a very real reason why we couldn't do that in the US. One is the cost of health insurance. Crazy. Yes, we do have private health insurance. Yes, we do pay for it every month, like all of these other things. Yes, we pay all these other things. But I think that's a huge, a huge chunk that really keeps people from being as creative and in living in a society in the ways that they want to. You just keep going through because you've you're kind of like wrapped up in a system and you, you, I don't think there was any way for us to get out of that system um living where we were and doing the things and having the kind of life we had. And so now it feels better to be in a part of a different system with different values on different pieces. And now is it perfect? No. I mean, today is a national strike day. It's the first national strike that they've had since 2013. Um, but because they want to change the labor laws that here, you know, you also get paid for overtime pay as a contract worker, please keep in mind that salaries here. I mean, we're talking people make like a thousand euro a month. We're not talking like really high salaries and those kinds of things in addition. And so when you do the math and and people start looking up and you're saying, I'm now gonna be missing on average an entire current month's salary, I'll be working for an entire month for free. They're pushing back and saying, no. That absolutely not. That that's the wrong direction of where salaries should be going. And so there are definite issues everywhere. And then then um there are different approaches, I think, culturally, the way that people want to deal with those things here as well. But I'd have to say that the lifestyle, the I feel a lot more freedom and creativity here for me to do the things that I wanted to do. I think that that's part of what you're talking about in your writing and all of those pieces. Um I'm I am on a mission because I said 2025 is the year I am going to knit a sweater. I am working really hard on that. Like I've always wanted to like learn how to do some of those things. So um we'll see how it goes. Uh I might it mind up looking like a straight jacket or a poncho. I have no idea. I have very little faith in it right now, but I'm trying really hard. Um but I think that we um we're also better at taking time and not working all of the time. I mean, you talk about writing a thousand, two thousand words a day and and all of those things, and that's part of how you feature soul. It's not just for work, it's also the creativity and the creation piece of things. And we never had time for that creation piece of things or that creativity piece because we were constantly putting out the fires or dealing with all the other things, and we're too tired and exhausted, and we're not as physically well as we are now, and and all of these other kinds of things, too. So I think that that's it's uh definitely a different perspective.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, I think if we were still in the US, I don't know if it's because of the system or if it's because of personality and how we are wired, but I think that if we were still in the US, you'd still be working at Simpson, probably still an associate dean, probably still trying to get a job someplace else and not, um, and running yourself into the ground, and I would be running myself into the ground, and our Jack would be a senior, I guess. He'd be I know he'd be going off to college. I just think that life would have been so much more high stress for us, and not happy necessarily.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

It would have been very different, it definitely would have been different. And we even have these conversations with the kids. Like, yes, he's he's behind one year compared to what he would be in the United States, but university here is only three years instead of four years. Um, and a lot of programs are actually combined undergraduate master programs and doing that in five. Um, and he's had those conversations too about you know, what would it be like? Both kids would be in high school, Jack would be driving them everywhere, they'd have jobs, they'd be involved in all of their things, we'd be working all the time. I feel like we'd be missing out on a lot of the things that we're able to be here for. Um, and I think that's a piece of this that I wouldn't want to give up. You know, it's made everybody so much closer.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Well, we've talked so many times about burnout, and it's always hard, I think, to articulate what it even was in the United States. The the it the burnout or the mental whatever it was, the mental fatigue or whatever you want to call it. And I've said before, so I'll say it again, that I felt like what we needed, and this may not be what everyone needs, but what we needed was a drastic change that would kick the ladder out from underneath and force, force a reset, force a change, force a different way of being. And so I don't that's why I don't know that we could have gotten into a better headspace with where we were, like with what we were doing in the United States. I think that we were like trapped on a treadmill, and there wouldn't have been any way to get off of it, I don't think. And so that's why I was like, Well, we've got a you know, it was my idea. People don't realize that they assume that it would be you, um, you know, because I'm the I'm the quiet and reserved one here. Um so they would assume it would be you who would be like, let's go do this, but I was the one who said, let's move. And it was exactly because I was seeking something different. I was seeking something that I felt could never have happened in the United States, whether it's the US's fault, I don't think it is. I think it's more just the headspace we were in. I don't think that we could have made a positive change with what we were doing, and I don't know that we could really get out of what we were doing other than doing something drastic like we did.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Well, and I think on top of that, though, you know, we had talked about, you know, waiting until the kids were gone, and one of the things I'm so glad that we we didn't wait because now they are doing very well, they're using Portuguese, you know, they're in another language and another culture all the time. They've had the feeling of what it likes it's like to be the other, which is something they never would have experienced. Um, yes, they are still white males, and so there's still a lot of privilege that goes there. But I'd have to say that being a non-Portuguese speaker, um, in a very small community where most people expect you to speak Portuguese and are hesitant to speak English, um, that has been very good. Um, there were times I questioned our sanity and I thought we should have moved someplace where there were more English speakers, um, maybe a bigger place. And and we still kind of go back and forth on that, I think sometimes, because we also know that we might need to move when Jack does college and university. And, you know, the film programs and the things he's looking at are in Porto. Um there are some in different countries as well. So I think that we're just kind of leaving things as open to see kind of what happens over the next year, two years. You know, to see where we end up and what we decide to do. But I think that even at that, I am so much better with the unknown and things that I know I can't control. Um, not that I've ever had the ability to control things, but I like to live in the delusion that I could control things and tried really hard to do everything in my power to do the everything. And um even now I still do too much, but we're I'm getting better at that, trying to control other things like that. And um they help me with that, you help me with that, but the culture helps me with that all the time, to be humbled. Um, and I think that that's that's a great thing. Um I don't know, like I'd say that the kids have grown so much and done so many great things, but they they have some good connections as well. I mean, we have friends that we, you know, consider our Portuguese family, you know, they're our Portugal family. And we'll we're gonna go and do Christmas things with them, and they're gonna come over and we're gonna decorate cookies and all the same kinds of things we would do if we were living near family. Um, so we've we've kind of created this other system and network for ourselves too, but of people who are going through the same kinds of experiences and that kind of bonding piece of it, I think is wonderful and important. Um the kids are so much more adventurous, you know, and I think that's another reason why, you know, I'm so grateful for this. Like one, they feel ultra safe here. Um, they, you know, take public transportation, you know, all these other things, which is great. Um, but they also are more adventurous and willing to take risks. You know, we while you were in Atlanta, we went out with our dear friends and tried sushi for the first time, and they did it. They were using chopsticks and trying really hard. I was impressed because food has always been one of those things where they're like, no, I'm not trying anything new. I don't want to know. And and it was hysterical because they did. They, you know, went through and tried all kinds of things and, you know, raw and cooked and all of these things and really went for it. I was very proud of them and impressed. And, you know, they're like, well, if I hadn't had Portuguese school lunch, that would never have happened. And I think that's true. I mean, they eat fish all of the time and all these things, like, which they never would have even done before, you know, because that's not really part of the Midwestern diet at school. You know, um, not the ways that you would find it here. So they're much more adventurous. And so, and and coming into their own, and that's wonderful to see. I think that that's another piece that that we would have really missed out on, their their resilience. And being here has also given us the bandwidth and the focus um and the ability to really be there and support them as they are dealing with their own anxieties and their own growth. Um, so you know, all of that support and all of that care has really been possible because of where we are and the lives that we lead here and the schedules that we have. Um and that's fantastic. I'm I'm just grateful for it. So yeah, I don't know. I'm I can't even believe that we're working hard to get all this stuff done and you know, get everything approved. Um because you know, people who followed us along this journey like had known like right away, we were like, oh my god, this is not gonna work. This is just too hard. It's this is crazy. Um and it's still hard, and it's still crazy. And there are times we're like, what? We're like this would be, you know, um, this could be so different, or this could be X, and yet yeah, I think it was totally worth it.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Absolutely our New Year's our New Year's resolution needs to be not just to do the podcast regularly, but also to document better all of the stuff that we do. We've never I think for you and me, it's because we're we're old enough that we're from that generation that we're just on the border of it where it's like, oh, we don't know.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

I'm I'm full on Gen X, not posting everything, and we need to be better about it. Exactly. I've even got videos on my phone that I need to pull together and put up because I had yeah, we're the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

I recorded it.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

This is also like my favorite kind of time of year here, and I know we're gonna talk about that in a in a different episode, but this is this is part of my favorite time of year. I mean, yes, it's cold and rainy, but I'm just saying this is this is magic, you know, like it feels like a magical place, and and and there isn't a day that goes by where the awe and the oh my gosh, look at this, or I'm so glad to be able to be here. There's not a day that I don't have that feeling where I'm like, wow, you know, look at this. But it does feel like home now, and I think that's a good thing. It took a while, but it does feel like home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

All right, well, let's wrap this episode up. We'll talk to you again soon on As the Dinoson's Turn.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

You've been listening to As the Dinosons Turn, a podcast presented by Dinoson Media Ventures. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and catch us again next time for another episode.