We have been in Braga for more than three years now, and it’s safe to say that our blind dart throw of a location selection process has been a bullseye. We love the city, we love our community of friends, and we love all of the travel opportunities that are within reach. Being human, of course we could list off some minor quibbles (at the moment, hot water is a finicky situation in our home) but… why? Things are good, so sweating the small stuff? No thank you. However, just because we think we’ve hit the jackpot doesn’t mean that some people pull on the very same one-armed bandit and come up losers. So if it’s so great here, why do some immigrants leave?
[Caveat: our community is a lot like us – mostly Americans, mostly people that no longer work full time (or at all). The stories we know reflect this.]
The most common thing we’ve heard in stories where people returned to the U.S. is that they bounced off the cultural divide. On the one hand, this is a totally understandable phenomenon – a lot of basic cultural norms and customs that Americans take for granted are unabashedly different here. (There are whole books, and numerous blog posts (ahem), on the subject, so a list of bullet points now doesn’t seem necessary.) On the other hand, we can’t help but side-eye these folks a little. What did you expect? There’s a reason why, despite our rejection of the premise, most folks visit Portugal first to get the lay of the land. What even is “Portuguese cuisine?” Are the people friendly in the public square? Do I really have to use the metric system? If you have any kind of deal-breaker in mind, it’s totally worth investigating those things in person.
Adjacent to the cultural divide is the language barrier. We’ve mentioned this before, but the numerous reports out there that you don’t need to learn Portuguese and “everyone speaks English” are wildly overblown. For a tourist this is probably true. You probably are going to places designed for tourists, and those places hire people that have language skills as a result. And yes, English is a commonly-studied subject for kids in school and has been for awhile now. However… as John likes to say, remember your own language class back in high school? Remember how a few people would actually get good with the language, and most everybody ended up at barely-passing or worse? Yeah, nothing has changed. We’ve met immigrants who have been here longer than us who can barely get past “bom dia.” And several of those folks have packed it up because they feel isolated. Not knowing what everyone around you is saying keeps everything at a specific distance.
A reason you might not expect is finances, but sure as poop it happens. Yes, the national averages on cost of living categories are somewhat-to-very-much lower in Portugal compared to the United States, a fact that is often wildly overstated by certain “international travel” media. Some folks seem to think that this means it will be dirt cheap and they come here because they were barely making it in the U.S.. This is relative in so many ways! Just for one example, if you’re paying $1,000 a month for a 3-bedroom home, you won’t pay less that that in a modern (read: city) Portugal. Moreover, while it can eventually be fairly low-cost to live here, there are a lot of up front expenses that you’ve got to be able to absorb. Travel, shipping (if you’re bringing things), deposits (or purchase down payments) on housing, and innumerable unforeseen expenses. Because some things are just different. Also, those national averages include all the people in rural Portugal, who live a muuuuuuuch simpler lifestyle than folks are probably used to. You can rent a 3 bedroom detached home for 450€/month in Moimenta da Beira. “Where’s that?” you ask? Exactly. A similarly appointed home in Braga goes for ~1,600€/month. We’ve seen folks realize they can’t make it here while living a life they want to lead, and the compromises are too much for them.
We also can’t overlook the difference in food. Organic isn’t a label, and just because its a small farm or producer (including home grown) doesn’t mean pesticides weren’t used. Traditional Portuguese cuisine often tastes bland or unexciting to newcomers, and has a strong emphasis on using “everything” to be frugal. (A major problem during the dictatorship was a starving population. Anything that could be consumed, was. A trait that has been carried down.) Vegans, or even vegetarians, may have a lot of difficulty finding restaurants they can trust. Lard is popular here — pastries usually use that instead of vegetable oil or butter. Fresh jalapenos aren’t available, nor is sweet corn. (Unless you grown your own.) And even if a restaurant offers a dish we once loved, it’s not likely going to be anything like what we remember. Seattle style teriyaki. Hard shell tacos. Barbecue. Thick crust pizza. (Ok. stopping now.) Most of us make our own versions of foods we miss.
Really, all of these problems come down to “know thyself.” Yes, we moved to Braga sight-unseen. In fact, we’ve met others who have done the same, so it’s not even as wacky as we used to think it was. BuuuUUUuut, all of those folks (including us) knew that we had enough go-along-to-get-along in us; we had decided that we’d both had shit apartments for a year (or more) in our lives before, and that the worst that would happen is we don’t like Braga and so spend the year of our first lease exploring other potential landing spots. Oh no, seeing Europe! It comes up in the immigrant community every now and then – we are not a random sample of the United States. If you have problems with “foreigners”, people speaking in other languages, not being served the exact foods you’re used to etc etc… you probably didn’t come here in the first place. But that’s not an iron-clad rule and people are free to make their mistakes, so every now and then folk show up here and just don’t make it.
