Tag: expat life
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Festival Sao Joao
The Saint and Sardine Mashup Also music, dancing, feasting, Super Bock, parades, more music, more Super Bock, more dancing, more music, more Super Bock, and fireworks. Festival Sao Joao is a week-long festival that originated as a pagan celebration in the 14th century. It was repurposed by the Catholic Church as a festival for St.…
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Questions You Have Asked, Part 2
Have you met people? Have you made some friends? It’s easy to meet fellow expats here. There are multiple Facebook groups sharing information, events, and experiences. I joined a group called International Womens Chat. We exchange information on WhatsApp (the must-have app in Europe, everyone uses it). This is an amazing group, hailing from many…
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Questions You Have Asked, Part 1
What do you do all day? I’m asked this question a lot, and I’m a little nonplussed as to how to answer. Did you ever have a busy day, but when someone asked what you did, you couldn’t really say? You just know you were busy. I could tell you about the hours spent going…
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Stop That Thief!
Porto is considering making it illegal to feed seagulls. They are noisy, messy, wily thieves. I was having lunch by the river in Ribeira when two gulls swooped in and stole cod pastries right off my plate, swift as a hawk on a dove, without so much as a “Pardon me, have you finished yet?”…
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Street Art and Color
Color Everywhere To all my readers, thanks for your encouragement and feedback! Some of you have mentioned that you are having trouble subscribing. If you add your email below, you should receive a confirmation email in your inbox. Check your spam/junk folder if you do not see it. It is not necessary to create a…
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APPROVED
Just as I was publishing the December update earlier this week, an email from the Portuguese Consulate arrived: “We inform that your visa was approved and is now ready to be issued, you can send us your passport by mail so we can stamp the visa and mail it back to you as soon as…
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Chasing the Visa
In exchange for a long-term visa, Portugal requires assurances that I can afford to live there and that I’m not a money launderer or similar undesirable rascal. As with any bureaucratic endeavor, it begins with a form, backed up with extensive proof. All in all, about 50 pages of documentation. I hired a professional from…
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Esquires Coffee, Porto
The Best Way to Begin Your Day in Porto The day is quickly approaching for my return to the US to complete my long-term visa application. In this blog, I’m bidding “See you when I return” to the team at Esquires Coffee. I was surprised to learn that it’s a franchise, because it doesn’t feel…
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In the Beginning
I had been dreaming of experiencing the expat life for years. Extensive research produced a list of possible countries, including Panama, Costa Rica, Columbia, Ecuador, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. This was before Portugal was the hot “go to” destination it is today. In 2018 I visited Porto and was smitten. After a pandemic delay of…
Mamie Moves to Portugal 