Episode 18: Things We Wish We Knew, Things We Love, Part 1

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of As the Dinosons Turn. And what do we want to talk about today?

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Well, you know what we've just gotten back into a routine. This the children have had one full week of school. They're into their second week now. Um we are six months in, and you know, we're kind of at that point now where it's really dawned on us that this is for real. It's uh we're not tourists, and and I think that I know that Tyler's kind of struggling with that. He misses some things a lot from back home. Um he mentions Hive and Casey's like every single day. Um, but I'd say that um it's still an awesome decision. So maybe we talk about like the top five things that we love and the top five things we really wish we knew before we got here.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Yeah, we we got the inspiration for this from an article, I guess, about what do we want to start with? Maybe we should do like negative, positive, negative, positive. So we end on a positive.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Yeah, oh okay, okay, I like the way that works.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Or I suppose we could do all of the negatives first and then all of the positives. But I think that that might be a downer to start with a bunch of negatives. So what did we say? Because I'm trying to remember we had talked this through, we should have written it down.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Oh Yeah, so um our number one negative has been driving chaos and parking.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yep, so I I read an article, it was an opinion piece from 2011 of the the author was an expat, I think they were from the UK and the title of their opinion piece was Are Portuguese Drivers the Worst in the World? And they they analyzed statistics that showed that as far as like deaths on the road, Portugal ranks in the middle, not the worst. But m every single comment on that article was that driving is very unsafe in Portugal. Now, the one thing I would say I agree with that, but to be fair, I have not driven in Italy or you know, some other country in Europe to really make that statement full force, I guess. But compared to driving in the United States, it is wildly different. And yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

You know, I've I've driven in quite a few states across the United States, and I'd say the worst drivers that I've seen are those of us who are from Texas. Um, and I put myself in there, Texas drivers are chaotic. You know, you use your turn signal, and that's a sign of weakness, that's automatically the sign you're gonna get kicked out or like knocked off the highway, that kind of thing. I've seen people jump off the highway to go down the frontage road, go down major ravines, go off-roading, and all of these other things. I have to say that even the Portuguese, um, they could give the Texans a run for their money. Um, when it comes to speed limits, when it comes to whipping around people, when it comes to just randomly stopping and being like, okay, I'm stopped in the middle of the street, and now everybody is like, I'm gonna park right here, you know. But at the same time, I don't know. Um, we'll we'll have to see what other countries are like. Um, but I'd say we they could give Texans a run for their money.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

One of the comments on that article was from someone who said, There's not a single day where I drive where I don't see something that is dangerous and potentially deadly.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

I would agree with that, actually. Um just even on the even on the rides to school and all of those things in the morning. I mean, if it's not somebody on a motorcycle who's decided that they are gonna go 90 and pass everybody in the middle of the road, it's somebody who veers out of their lane. Lanes are are not a real thing here. I've noticed that that even if you're on a two-lane road and there's plenty of room for both of you, the person who's coming at you will always veer into your lane, so you have to really pay attention. Defensive driving, I'd say that that is a skill you need if you're going to drive here. Granted, not everybody has to drive here, but where we live, we do need a car because it's more rural and we don't have access to um a lot of public transportation that is consistent. So, all right, but on the positive side, I would say that um what the number one thing that I am very excited about in living in Portugal is the work-life balance. I mean, it's stellar. Um, I would say that, you know, even though we take more breaks, we still get more done. It's amazing. And and I do really do, you know, I really do feel like that um filling yourself up and making those, like those harsh lines between work and personal life, and you know, making sure that you have time to fill yourself up is an essential rule that I needed to learn and to kind of be forced into that US culture did not allow for me. But what about you? What do you think about that work-life balance? We talked about this a little.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah, I think there's more work-life balance now. We can get up at a humane time in the morning, go about our day, and spend the morning doing whatever we need to do here, and then work in the afternoon and early evening, and it seems like we get everything done that needs done as far as work goes that wasn't getting done between normal work hours in the United States. It's really strange.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Well, and I try and do a lot of the administrative work in the morning or when the kids are at school. Um, they're at school right now, so that we can record this, but um, and then I like to spend my time with them in the evenings, but then I still do work randomly too. So I think that um but I ensure that I'm not working all of the time, and that's a that's a big step for me.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

I think it's more what theoretically, at least professionals and people who can who can work remotely or work from home. It's that idea of the true work-life balance where it's not necessarily I'm only gonna work from this hour to this hour, it's more work and life are integrated together so that you could do what needs done now, whether it's you know, eight in the morning or ten o'clock at night or whatever. You know, you would think working at ten o'clock at night would be a bad thing, but when it's integrated with the rest of the things that you're doing and you're able to get everything done that needs to be done, I guess it's different from what a lot of us experienced in the United States of you're working all the time and you're working at ten o'clock at night after you've been working from you know, there were times I would get up at three o'clock in the morning during tax season and start working, and I would work until ten o'clock at night. So it's a I guess it's a different integration. It's it's built together more.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

I would say that the last time I remember having this type of work-life balance was, you know, pre-I'd say pre-2010, 2011 as a professor, really feeling like I had more control over my schedule, and that, you know, even if I was working at 10 o'clock at night, I would then arrange my day to get other things done, whatever needed to be done. And that was, you know, one of the things that I was able to do then. And then things kind of drastically took a turn for me, part ministration and part change of culture. But I would say, yeah, I mean, I'm starting to feel much more centered than I ever have, and and that's been fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

So this is it's really not five good things and five bad things, I guess, is it? It's five things that well, it's five things we wish we knew. So, really, when we say the driving is chaos, it's more something we wish that we had known that, I guess, before we went to the house.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

I think that we might have we might have made some different decisions um if we had had known that, you know. Um, I would say another thing that I really wish that I knew before we got here, um, I guess I knew I wish I knew the hidden steps and the hidden fee things that come along with things like buying a property that we were not as aware of as we thought we were. I mean, we did a lot of reading and education and all of those things, and we talked to our realtor, we talked to a lot of people. Um, at the same time, there are a lot of hidden things back there, and you're like, wait a minute, what's this for? You mean I wait what? You know, and things just keep appearing, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

And I think s some of it's also the randomness of the system and who you get. So you could walk into the bank or whatever, and you talk to this person over here, and it might sail through. You talk to this person over here, and there might suddenly be five different things that need to be done. You just never know.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Right. And so I I I wish I'd known a little bit more of that. And um, I don't know, maybe we need to sage smudge a few more things or you know, um bring a few crystals, but there's just something. I don't know. There's sometimes we are very, very lucky, and sometimes just like anybody else, we're like, okay, well, we'll try again another day. Um, but yeah, I wish I had I wish I'd known more how to like internalize that. I mean, I knew of it. I just wish I knew how to internalize it.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

And here's an example of that. You go to the bank like we did when we first got here, our account was open and had money in it, but we couldn't access it. Right. And we were trying to get access to it, so we had to fill out some kind of paperwork. Takes three days to process. The business office closes at noon on Thursdays and doesn't work on Fridays, so come back next Wednesday.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Right, and that's also part of the time of the year that we came. And so it was like everything, they were like five or six steps, and so we could do one a week for five or six weeks.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Right, and then we go back and oh, the home office says you have a different address. So you have to fill out this form to change your address. Then you come back a week later, oh well, the account got opened up in this city instead of this city, so we have to fill out this other form and send it to this city, and they have to give approval to it. So it took three or four weeks to get access to our bank account.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Yeah, and uh, you know, I I'm I I find like those are great stories in all of those pieces, but it is definitely and it's consistent. Anytime you deal with banking, um there's a there's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

That being said, once you get your account open, the technology is pretty slick. I love this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

So I love this, and and I know that people say, like, oh, well, we have something like this. No, we don't. It's not exactly the same. So um, yes, you can pay with like Apple Pay or something like that in the US, but um, here everything's connected through MBWay, and so you can actually just send people money by using their phone number, um, but it's all connected to your bank account, so it's just this one thing you pay um using that as well. So it's like you scan a QR code and it pays from that app and all of those pieces. Um, and it's in a national level and everybody does it. It's not one of those things where you're like, oh, I have this app and that app and this app and that app. There's like there's a national app that everybody uses, and you use it to pay all of your bills, um, you know, all of these things, and and it's also very, very secure, which I find very interesting because there are like five or six different things you have to put in in order to set all of this up, and even getting access to the apps for your banking on your phone. I mean, it's it's amazing the number of codes, and you get this special card, and they're like, on this card, what does it say on A6? And you say A6 is this number, and C5 is this, and G1 is this, and yeah, and that's how you get access to everything. So um, I find that that's just really slick. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

So we've got things we wish we knew, driving, and the bureaucracy, and then things we're glad of so far. We have the work-life balance, and I guess the second thing would be the people.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Oh my god. Yeah, I mean, so uh the people make everything uh absolutely worth it. Like the connections, the conversations, the making sure everybody is okay, you know, um connecting with somebody when you ask somebody who they like how they're doing, you really have a real conversation about it. You don't ask that unless you really want to know. Um, I think that that is like you just I don't know, the people are amazing. Like I feel the warmth and the acceptance and the love from so many places. It's it's just great. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Yeah, I agree. And the the culture we talked about the culture of helpfulness. Oh yeah. And just how people you talk to them once and you're their friend. And it I it's just kind of a heartwarming thing, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Well, and even just an example um of looking out for people, all of our neighbors, like we don't really hang out with them, but we all look out for what's going on. So, you know, um if somebody's got you know problems with their electric or their water, then everybody's outside also, you know, running up and down the mountain or surveying or collaring up and down the mountain to make sure that things are getting taken care of. Uh, you know, we had an electrical problem up the mountain, and so we're like, do you have what power now? They're like, okay, check your power. All right, and then how does it work up there? You know, like all of these things in Portuguese and somebody's down at the pole and they're directing. It's just making sure that everybody's getting what they need and that they're taken care of. And um yeah, if if if I you know, when we had those first problems um with an electricity because a a tree fell down, they came and knocked on our door and came and got us. Like now it's like, oh, I hear something, I have to go outside and investigate. You're expected to kind of keep track of that and make sure everybody's good. And if we're gone and somebody delivers a package, you have to deliver a package to someone, so our neighbors will come and get it. And when they see that we're back, they'll come down and bring it to us. I mean, it's just I I love the people in the conversations, I really do.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah. Third thing that we wish we had known is I think that this is not a cost savings bonanza in I think this is true in most places in Europe. Yeah. I think there's an assumption when you talk to people in America about moving abroad and they think that Portugal is the place to go. Because it is more financially attainable as far as the amount of money in the bank and the amount of money that you have to bring in each month to be here. That is very attainable to the average middle class person. Right. By just selling your house, basically, you could meet that. But once you're here, it's not it is cheaper, but it's not the kind of savings. I mean, housing is basically exactly the same as in the United States.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

In the Midwest of the United States. In the Midwest of the United States.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Food is very similar, restaurants are very s so grocery store food is very similar, restaurants are very similar, um, electricity and such is probably a little cheaper, but I don't know if that's because it's really cheaper or because the climate maybe is different from where we were from, and so you're not using, you know, net we don't even have a gas line here.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Well, we don't at this and at this address. So, you know, when we you know, if we are able to actually close on an apartment that we're trying to buy, then we will have gas there, and so we'll see how that goes. But I can tell you there are some things that are infinitely more expensive, like gasoline for a car. I mean, when you figure like we have the equivalent of a 10-gallon tank and 10 gallons, even when it was like four or five dollars a gallon, you know, it's like 50 bucks. Um, no, the equivalent of a 10-gallon tank here, remember that's about 40 liters. Let's keep things round. The last time I did that, it was 88 euros to fill up that tank, which is about 95. And yes, um, the cars are more fuel efficient, but they're not so much so that it's like, woo-hoo, you know, I'm only filling up once a month if I'm going between Brago or the kids are back in school or all of those things. It's more like I still have to fill up twice a month. Um, I'm not filling up every few days, but oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Yeah, I think that if you're looking to do what we're doing, be realistic. Um, Portugal is very attainable and it's wonderful pace of life and wonderful people, but it's not the big cost savings thing that you might think it is. I have a friend who's looking at Paraguay and Ecuador. And those are those are legitimately much lower cost of living places, but then you have to look at well, what are you going to be doing there? And do you have reliable electricity and and internet access and such?

SPEAKER_01 17:42

I would say that while, and now I'm gonna switch to a good, so while there's not a whole lot of cost savings in the same sense that people say it's not this big windfall, however, I love the mentality of making sure that you're purchasing quality because things are not disposable. So it's not this consumer lifestyle that I, you know, that you don't buy, you know, I I don't know, I spent 300 euros on a vacuum cleaner. Um, but it's a vacuum cleaner that comes with automatically a three-year warranty that is the is the best rankings, that's got you know this amount of energy consumption and all of these other pieces. And I would say that, you know, even clothing, you spend more, but it's higher quality and it's not disposable things that you just kind of let go.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

So you had bought back to school clothes for Jack, and what was it about the jeans? If they get a hole or anything, you just take them there and they like special tailor them or something.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah, they actually will fix them automatically. They've come like the jeans come with a two-year warranty. And then for those of you who buy certain brands of jeans for work and all those things in the US, I'm sure that this is a thing. But this is a standard here that if you get a hole in your clothing within the first two years, they will either replace it or repair it. And then after that, you can that's for free. You don't have to do anything. But then after that, you can bring it in for repairs and maintenance and pay a fee for it to be taken care of. So it literally is yes, I'm I'm buying this thing and I'm going to have it for a long time. So I I love that focus, but also it's not just on consumer goods, it's also on food. There are so many fewer ingredients in everything that we actually eat and consume. Um, it doesn't have all the preservatives. And if you look at ingredient labels, you're like chips have two things in them, and you're like, potatoes and oil, it's fantastic. Right. And so I think that those things, just by in and of its by itself, if you didn't even change the way that you were eating, the kinds of food you were eating, it's still healthier food and less preserved than it was in the United States. I just I'm in awe of the focus on quality and the common good for everyone when it comes to products and also for um food.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

And join us again next time for another episode of As the Dinoson's Turn, where we talk more about things that we wish we knew before we moved, and the things that we have discovered we love about Portugal.