See you next week.

From the bizarre disembodied singing lips to the David Bowie-esque makeup, RHPS is a visual experience. When we found out that a couple of good friends had never seen it, a dinner party slash movie screening plan was born. If you aren’t aware, people don’t go to Rocky Horror to watch the movie, they go for the experience. Traditional chants and behavior have sprung up over the years, and it can be a very active moviegoing experience. Lisa went to many showings and even contributed a line to the audience participation. John went a couple of times. For both of us, however, this was in college, and memory is a cruel mistress. We did our best to prepare, so as to give our friends at least a taste of what puts the “Show” in “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

First, the menu:

• Hot Patootie Bless My Soul ~ Pumpkin Sausage Wheels
• Wild and Untamed ~ Roasted Pears with Feta Cheese and Walnuts over Greens
• EDDIE!!!!! ~ Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Citrus Roasted Carrots
• Absolute Pleasure ~ Rocky Road without marshmallows

We’re big fans of not spending too much time in the kitchen, away from our guests, so we made many parts prior to the day such as the puff pastry, Rocky Road, potatoes, and carrots. The Wheels were done in the morning, leaving only the meatloaf and pears to cook and everything else to reheat.

[Short aside: we really miss our US-sized oven.]

Our guests brought their preferred beverages and enjoyed their Hot Patooties while everything came together in the kitchen. The meal was great, with Wild and Untamed the unexpected star. It was Lisa’s first (homemade) meatloaf and while she thinks it needs tweaking, it turned out great. Dessert was at the couch, to be nibbled at will during the movie. (We were having so much fun, we forgot to take pictures of the meal!)

For those in the know . . . . we had props!

The newcomers were given newspapers and got them on their heads just before water misted through the air. Flashlights blinked on, rubber gloves snapped, and party hats worn. We drew the line at toilet paper and food being tossed. Nor did we try to recreate all of the audience lines, judging that too complicated for newcomers.

All in all, this was a ton of fun and we’d do it again.

Recipe Links:

• Hot Patootie Bless My Soul ~Pumpkin Sausage Wheels (We made our own puff pastry, used sausages from our local deli, substituted cheddar cheese and didn’t include the green onions.)
• Wild and Untamed ~ Roasted Pears with Feta Cheese and Walnuts over Greens (We added 1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon of fig jam to the hollow after the olive oil and before the cheese and walnuts. Salad greens were dressed with a vinaigrette. To serve, guests placed a pear half atop the greens.)
• EDDIE!!!!! ~ Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Citrus Roasted Carrots (No bacon, and I would cut the crusts off the white bread if I make the meatloaf again. The potatoes were the most disappointing, kind of dry and the topping didn’t add much. The carrots were excellent! We didn’t have multi-colored ones, so just made a point of cutting them to the same size.)
• Absolute Pleasure ~Rocky Road (Lisa was the most worried about this tasting good, but it was a perfect adult dessert. A little nibbly, not too sweet, and unexpected with its cookies and pistachios. It also makes a LOT.)

Mucky Mold

Let’s talk about mold for a moment.

When we moved into our apartment, it was clear that the previous tenants had no idea how to take care of a front-loading washer. The interior smelled horrible, and the rubber gasket was black with mold. Even after cleaning it thoroughly (Good Housekeeping has an excellent how-to guide), the smell remained until we replaced the gasket completely. Now we have no problem with mold or smell, as long as we run a cleaning cycle monthly (and wash out the detergent drawer), wipe the gasket dry after each session, and leave the front door open almost all of the time. (We closed it when we were fostering kittens, and when company is here.)

A lot of people don’t seem to know how these simple steps keep your washer clean, and instead use scented detergent products.

In the detergent drawer:
The little tab in the back is for liquid detergent
Left is for detergent, bleach, and stain removers
Center is for fabric softener
Right is for pre-wash detergent

So Many Settings

There are SO MANY different settings on a typical EU washer. And it is completely normal and deeply un-intuitive for a wash cycle to run 2.5-3 hours, which is typically a pre-wash, main wash, and three rinses. The clothes spend a longer time tumbling in the water which means you can use a fairly gentle cycle and your clothes will get clean.

We have a Bosch machine, so most of our settings should be similar to what other EU brands show. Fingers crossed!

Around the dial, starting at 1 o’clock:
Resistentes/ Algod. — Cottons, 90°C, hottest water, duration of 2:12h
Color eco/ Cor eco — Cottons, 60°C, hot water, duration of 2:15h
Sinteticos — Easy care textiles, like polyesters, 60°C, duration of 1:12h
Mix — mixed textiles, 40°C, duration of 2:12
Delicado/ Seda — Delicates, like silk, 40°C, duration of 0:40h
An image of a basin full of water — extra rinse setting, with spin
Centrif. adicional with an image of a spiral — a gentle spin, 0:12h
An image of a basin with an arrow going down — water will drain, but there won’t be a spin
Lana/ La with an image of a basin with a ball of yarn in it — wool, 20°C, coldest temperature, a particularly gentle cycle with fabric resting in water for longest periods with no agitation, duration of 0:36h
Ropa oscura/ Roupa escura — dark textiles, 40°C
Power wash 60′ — 60°C, for cottons or cotton-blends, shorter cycle (60 minutes)
Rapido 15′ — Super quick cycle, 40°C (15 minutes)
Sport with an image of a Tshirt with a 9 — textiles made of microfibers, 40°C
Clinic Wash with an image of a plus in a square — 60°C, for especially sensitive skin, includes increased water level, additional rinse cycle, and extended washing time

Additional Functions:
An image of a Tshirt — Wash Plus, extends the washing time
Prelav. — Prewash, adds a cold water rinse and spin before the regular cycle
Facil with an image of an iron — Reduced Ironing, adds a spin cycle with subsequent fluffing and higher moisture to reduce wrinkles if removed promptly
Skin Care — Aqua Plus, adds increased water level, additional rinse cycle, and extended washing time

Option Buttons
(Thermometer) Temperature — ranging from a snowflake (cold) to 90°C,
(Clock) Time — Cycle will complete in X minutes.
(Spiral) Spin — Select spin speed. (Some cycles have pre-programmed spin times)

Mais Simbols!

In the previous post there was an image of basins with numbers, dots, and lines. All of those change how the garment needs to be cared for, and its pretty logical once you know how it was put together. These are found in the garment itself.

Here’s a better version.

The numbers refer to optimum water temperature (go colder rather than hotter, if in doubt). If there are dots instead of numbers, one dot means cold water (20°C to 30°C), two dots mean warm water (40°C to 60°C), and three dots mean hot water (90°C or more).

Lines below the basin indicate which washing machine cycle to use. One line indicates a normal wash cycle. Two lines indicates the need for a gentle cycle.

Here’s a good chart of laundry symbols:

So, in the above image, we see that this item is best washed normally in hot water (60°C), no bleach (the crossed out triangle), tumble dry medium, and to not iron or dry clean.

I hope this is useful!

A few notes about laundry in general:

• Most washers are eco-conscious and front loading.
• Wash cycles can take hours.
• There is rarely a powered dryer.
• Mold is a big issue.
• Doing a smaller load is important.

Funny thing: most (all?) detergents and laundry products don’t come with a measuring cup, which is universal in the US. Look for the cups in the laundry aisle. Having everything in another language just adds a level of complexity to a much-needed household activity.

Water Temperature

The higher the temperature, the most expensive a load of laundry will be, but not all fabrics tolerate the same temperatures — high and low.

Since 2013, all washers must have a 20°C (68°F) cycle, to help save energy. This setting is best for very lightly soiled garments that may just need freshening up or very delicate items like silk, dresses, or bras.

• A 30°C (86°F) cycle preserves color and is good for a wide range of common fabrics. However, the detergent must be good to get the most cleaning.
• 40° (104°F) is better for everyday clothing and household linens. It is the best all around temperature and most modern detergents work well.
• Some like the 50°C (122°F) setting for removing stains from fabric that can withstand the higher heat.
• Running a cycle at 60°C (140°F) is good for killing bacteria on heavily soiled or sweaty items, like workout clothing. Some like it best for household linens like towels and bedlinens.
• Some machines have a 90°C (194°F) cycle, which I think is best for routine ‘maintenance washes’ on your machine. It might also brighten whites on fabric that can tolerate the heat.

Cold water (20°C or 30°C) is the best setting for dark or bright colored fabrics. There are some who say you need to use more detergent the lower the temperature, but modern detergents seem designed to work well at lower temperatures. If your clothing is regularly heavily soiled (such as when gardening or toddlers’ clothing) or sweat-stained, you might want to pre-soak the fabric to ensure the effectiveness when washing in cold water.

Warm water (40°C or 50°C) is usually the best setting for household linens as the increased temperature kills more bacteria and dust mites. If you wear a lot of white clothing, an occasional warm water wash can brighten them.

Hot water (60°C or more) is best for heavily soiled items, like diapers, or grease-stained fabrics. If the fabric can take it, you might want to run your towels and other household linens through a cycle once a quarter to refresh them.

Don’t know which temperature to use? Your garment will have a laundry label that can guide you. We’ll get to specific symbols a bit later.

Detergent

Let’s look at cleaning products.

Most of us probably grew up with powder detergents, and remember when there was a big push to get phosphates out of cleaning products because it was harmful to the environment (or was that just a US thing?).

Nowadays (and for several years), all detergents — liquid, powder, gel, capsule, and strip — are tested on the same variety of stains including grass, chocolate, soda, oil, red wine, and blood. They are also much more concentrated and designed to work effectively at lower temperatures. Capsules are convenient, no need to measure. Strips are the most environmentally effective.

A few chemicals to avoid are:
Benzaldehyde — Irritant
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid — Reproductive and developmental effects found
Diethanolamine — Irritant
Quaternium-15 — Contains formaldehyde
Ethyl acetate — Neurotoxin
Petroleum distillates — Carciongen (also called naphthas)

Which means: use what you like.

For us, we use unscented strips that we buy in bulk in the U.S. (Tru Earth brand, to be specific). Strips are available in the EU, though not easily in Portugal. But most products here are scented and we really don’t like that at all. So we make an extra effort. As a bonus, the strips make laundry while traveling so much easier.

Size Matters

It turns out that keeping your loads on the smaller side makes a big difference in how clean your laundry gets — the detergent needs room to dissolve and the rinse water needs to get everywhere.

This has been a big adjustment for us. While we were only two humans back in the States, we regularly washed our dogs’ bedding and other household items to keep the cat hair minimized. We had big capacity machines in their very own room. The washer in our apartment is roughly half the size of what we used to have — a set of sheets fills it right to its capacity, and I would never wash our down comforter in it. Nor a pair of pillows.

To get an idea of washing machine capacity, think of it like this:

• 1 kg of capacity is equivalent to 5 t-shirts.
• 5 kg of capacity is enough for a set of bedsheets.
• 6kg would be 8 lightweight tops, 2 pr of trousers, and 10 pairs of socks, or a duvet cover.
• 7 kg is the right size for a set of towels for a family of 4.
• 9kg of capacity can wash a whole king size duvet and is the best option for large families.

Next week we’ll talk about dealing with mold and what the darn all of those symbols mean.

The thing about the “page 1” phrases is that people in those countries aren’t dumb – they know what’s on page 1 just as well as you do. Hell, they have probably memorized page 1 of their guidebooks for whereever they go on vacation. The moment you break out something from page 2, though, it can launch a much more genuine reaction or even acknowledgement. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the genuinely pleased look on the face of someone we interacted with in a cafe in Italy (I remember their face but I’ll danged if I can remember what town it was in) when I pulled off “come stai oggi?” – “how are you today?” Like, we aren’t hashing out political discourse, but just getting to the “we’re both humans, so how ya doin’, fellow human?” feeling loosened everything up. Embarrassingly, I didn’t understand most of what they said, but they could tell, and they laughed and switched to English; it still counted that I’d tried.

So, what’s on page 2 for Portuguese? We’ve got a few suggestions, and if any of our immigrant friends want to toss their favorites into the comments please feel free! Keep in mind, this is still rudimentary phrase book stuff. We’re not talking verb conjugation or anything, just a few extra things that we’ve noticed can really grease the conversational skids.

“Boa semana / bom fim semana“ – have a good week / have a good weekend. So, first of all, a translator on your phone would probably add “tenha um” which is the technical translation, but we’ve never heard anyone say that. Typically on a Friday or Saturday (maaaaybe Thursday, but I mostly skip it to be safe) you wish someone a good weekend. It’s very common, and you’ll know you got it right when they return with “igualmente” – technically “equally” but really just “you, too!” in this context. Seriously, so many interactions have been enlivened just by holding up either end of this exchange. The same goes for “boa semana” starting on Sunday, but Monday is good, too. Tuesday is kind of like Thursday for wishing a good weekend – you might get away with it but why push your luck? This is kind of like the “bom dia / boa tarde” divide, wherein different people draw the line in different places just use your judgment and accept any corrections with a shrug and a smile.

“Tudo bem?“ – all good? This is the universal, informal “how ya doing?” I don’t know that I’d use it everywhere, but it can be a friendly culture so the band of acceptable interactions is pretty wide. The traditional baseline response is just a return “tudo“. (all is good) The next level of this would be to ask “e contigo?” “And you?” That was definitely a phrase that won some appreciative looks – the extra bit of conversation that showed I’d at least turned the page.

“Não faz mal!” – no problem, don’t worry about, it’s no problem. This one’s a staple in day-to-day, going-about-your-business life. Somebody cuts you off at the grocery store, or backs into you, or the hundred other ways we mildly inconvenience one another, and you get an apologetic look or even a little “desculpe!” (I’m sorry). A charming little wave off with a “não faz mal” tossed in is peak participation in civil society. There’s also a good chance you’ll hear this one said to you if you apologize for, say, your poor Portuguese language skills.

Again, we aren’t trying to give you intensive grammar lessons. If you’re coming for a visit but aren’t invested in actually learning a new language, adding a few phrases like these into your lingo will let you at least crack the outer shell of pleasantries that “please & thank you” keep you on.

All of these items are in our active travel repetoire, if you will.

Water Bottle. The travel world has started taking these seriously, and it’s about time. We carried re-usable bottles for years because buying new plastic ones on the regular was slowly driving Lisa just a little bit . . . mad . . . about the waste and cost. Frankly, ours are from a deli in SFO, and no other airport we’ve been in sells them. (Upon further review, it seems they are a generic product that they offer to customize for businesses, so it’ll be hit or miss where you may find them.) So you’ll likely have to get yours elsewhere. They now come in .5l and larger sizes, even insulated to keep your water very very cold. Some travelers get a kind that come with filters and purification tablets, to keep themselves very safe; not a bad idea in some parts of the world (or if you have a tender tummy). While not ubiquitous, more and more airports seem to have refilling stations for water bottles – if they exist, you’ll typically find them near the water fountains and sometimes even *in* the fountain housing as a combined unit.

Carrying a reusable water bottle is better for the environment and more cost effective than buying bottled water. Bottled-water production in the US alone in 2007 required somewhere between 32 million and 54 million barrels of oil, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters (PDF). That’s roughly 2,000 times as much as the energy cost of producing tap water, and bottled-water sales in the US have grown to 15.3 billion gallons as of 2021, from 8.76 billion gallons in 2007. Bottled water is also a thousand times more expensive than tap water. Add in the fact that in 2014 nearly 64% of all bottled water sold in the US was nothing more than pricey, prepackaged tap water (PDF), and it becomes difficult to deny the value of a well-made reusable water bottle. No matter what ***never forget to empty the bottle before security, we’ve seen agents make the traveler throw their bottle away***

Packing Cubes. We love, love, LOVE, our compression packing cubes. Packing cubes, especially the compression ones, are a great lightweight solution to organizing your gear and reducing clutter in your luggage. Ours come in two sizes: small and large. The small cubes hold 6pr underwear and bras or 3 t-shirts, rolled. That’s enough for a week of travel (presuming you wear a set :-). The large size holds 2-3 bottoms (fabric pants, shorts, or skirts) and another 2-3 tops, laid flat. The more fabric the less you can pack. Our small (European compliant) carry-ons can hold two large and two small packs along with either a toiletry bag or pair of shoes.

Using compression cubes helps us travel for weeks with just our carry-ons; it’s one of our best “secret” weapons. There are many manufacturers, we chose Eagle Creek because of good reviews and they were the least expensive. YMMV.

Backpack. This may not be for everyone, but if you travel with electronics or have a bad back, we strongly recommend a good backpack. Our backpacks (John’s is the same brand, but larger to accommodate his beast of a laptop) [Editor’s note: RAHR!] are just right. They fit under seats and in overhead compartments easily, and have counted as “personal bag” on all the airlines we’ve traveled. The interior has a specially padded compartment for your larger electronics, space for personal items (like wallets, glasses, etc.) and comfortable padded straps. They are super spacious! As an example, Lisa’s bag is 44 x 32 x 17 cm and typically holds her 17″ laptop, kindle, passport holder, camera bag (with a Nikon body and two lenses), water bottle, snacks, power and charging cords, paper journal, jewelry pouch, scarf, comb, travel toiletry bag, and wallet. While they can’t “ride” on your luggage (you have to wear it), its a balanced load and won’t wear you down, like carrying a bag in your hands, or on one side (like a tote) will.

Hanging Toiletry Bag. We have two of these, different sizes to accomodate different-length trips, and have found them incredible useful over many trips. Able to hang in almost any bathroom (or nearby) they free up counter space, or provide utility when there isn’t a place to put anything (I’m looking at you The Wilder.) There is space for scissors, tweezers, or barrettes in the zipper pouch at the top. The first main compartment holds bottles (like the silicone ones we travel with, below) and suchlike. The remaining two compartments hold everything else, from full-size brushes to dental items. While its best for checking, its not hard to put liquids in the clear bag to go through security, then use this bag for the rest of your travel.

No Leak Liquid Containers. There’s nothing worse than arriving at your destination and discovering that your toiletries have leaked and your clothes are a mess. And we’ve all watched in frustration as there was one person holding up the line at security because they were carrying oversized liquids. (Pro tip, they will not accept your large bottle because it’s only 1/3 full.) One way to prevent this is to get a set of silicone, leak-proof containers. Our set (not the one pictured, but very similar) of three (3) 3-oz bottles are made of flexible food-grade, BPA-free silicone. They are very easy to fill and clean and have never — in multiple trips over ten years — leaked.

Luggage Tags. You can go the “pink duct tape strapping your suitcase” route if you like, of course, just like you can tie scarves around the handle of your bag. We like to go a “slightly” subtler route and roll with very bright, patterned luggage tags. We’ve never had the slightest difficulty getting out bags mixed up with anyone else’s, except for that one time where we simultaneously flew off in different directions and John landed in South Carolina with Lisa’s bathing suits while Lisa landed in Hawai’i with John’s khakis. Aaaaaanyway… They’re easy, usually quite durable, and relatively low maintenance compared to the other usual options.

Shawl/ Scarf. This one may seem a little off-base, but bear with me. A good quality shawl will fill a lot of roles — warmth being only one. You can lay it over your head to make it dark enough to sleep. When added to an otherwise “fine” outfit, it can lift it right into “good enough for a Michelin star restaurant” territory. They fold up into a bit of nothing, and once you start using them, you’ll be a convert.

Cable Organizer. This item came to us relatively late, and we’re kicking ourselves for not getting one sooner. Our travels have required more and more plugs/cables as the years have gone on. Phone chargers, the little mini speaker we bring for white noise, connectors to get photos off of cameras… they add up. Keeping them in one of these beats the heck out of the little zip baggies that John was using before. And besides, if all the cables have a place in the organizer it’s easy to know when you’ve forgotten to pack something.

Adapters for Power. Kind of feels like a “duh”, but there are a lot of solutions in the marketplace now; if you take a moment to figure out exactly what you need to plug in you may be surprised to find something very specific (like the device pictured above) that does everything you need with a minimum of sockets. The notion of “enough” sockets in a hotel room is wildly flexible; we’ve been in places where there was exactly one usable plug, which was tricky – see our comments on cable organizers, above. John actually harbors a fantasy of finding a surge protector that has USB ports and handles the adapter issue by having female sockets of differing countries and has models that plug into sockets all over the world. Alas, it’s adapters for now.

We encourage you to buy direct from the manufacturer when possible, or from a local business owner rather than the big name stores; it’s not always possible of course, but still worth a try. Note that the images are from all over the ‘net and not meant to endorse any one product over another.

Of course, it turned out to not be that simple.

A power of attorney (PoA) is a document that gives a specific person the authority to act in your name. It can be general, encompassing all financial and legal matters, or specific to a single area. Each state has a general form, easily found online. That form lays out the scope being granted and the timeframe or circumstances. Granting someone with your PoA doesn’t give them the authority to act instead of you unless you cannot — usually for medical or physical reasons.

This is a great instrument for those of us outside the country if we have issues that might arise in our absence. Such as selling a piece of property.

The California-specific form even has a specific version for Real Estate, and requires either two (2) witnesses or a notary acknowledgment. The witnesses can’t benefit directly from the PoA being wielded, but in the lockdown were easier to find than a notary. So we went with that. (This is what’s known as foreshadowing.) I got a copy, my sister kept the original and off we went to Portugal.

Eighteen months later, we’re selling the property. Of the (seemingly) hundreds of documents that needed my signature, only two couldn’t be handled electronically. Perhaps ironically, they both came from the organization governing the development my the property was in. “No worries,” I said with a flourish, “I left a Power of Attorney with my sister. She can sign on my behalf.” Send us a copy, the Title company rep said, we’ll make sure it will be all right.”

Turns out that since the PoA wasn’t notarized, it wasn’t acceptable. It wasn’t legal for real estate transactions . . .. DESPITE clearly stating that either two (2) witnesses or a notary acknowledgment were required. So sorry, but no amount of frustration or pleading will make it different.

So, all of the documents required to transfer the property were handled through Docusign, but two documents specific to the whims of a private organization needed to be notarized.

In Portugal (and my impression is that this is true for much of the EU) the role of a notary is much greater than in the United States. There, notaries are legal witnesses to a signature being affixed to a document. They must ensure that the signing party is who they say they are (by verifying identity, often a driver’s license) and they know what the document is that they are signing. Here, notaries ensure a contract and its implications are understood properly by all parties, that the contents of the contract are valid and lawful, that any agreed monies change hands accordingly and any taxes related to the contract are collected. Notaries are highly trained lawyers who have qualified to draft and legalize a range of private contracts and transcriptions within the Portuguese law system. Their status equates to that of a public official and they can insist on translators, or translated copies, being present when non speaking Portuguese clients are signing.

Argh! I said, and tried to explain that getting a notary would involve document translation and lawyers. Sorry, Title Agent said, my hands are tied. Oh, and I just found out that the documents didn’t just need to be notarized, but apostilled.

/sound of record scratch/

Apostille? oh no!

If you are interested in emigrating, you’ll come across the need for an apostille in a variety of places (such as in the process of preparing to exchange your driver’s license). At its most basic, an apostille is a document that authenticates the signature of a public official on a document for use in another country. The apostille validates the authenticity of the signature of the public official who signed the document, the capacity in which that public official acted, and if appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which the document bears, e.g. a notary public seal. In other words, an apostille says, “the State acknowledges the right of the person validating the signature as legally empowered to do so.”

Well. That was an additional wrinkle that added a whole level of hassle, because where we live the nearest government body that will provide and apostille is about 25 mins away . . . and only had available appointments a week later. No big deal in most circumstances, but closing was supposed to happen in three business days and even if I walked right out of the office and went to an international mailer, the documents wouldn’t arrive until a week after that date.

Time to regroup and reassess options.

The best option for us, because of the time factor, was to go to the US Embassy in Lisbon. The Embassy provides notary services for US citizens, requiring only a passport (or other US government issued photo ID), assurance that you understand the document you are signing, and are not under duress to do so. Oh, and $50 per document. We secured a 9am appointment on Tuesday (the only day they do notarial services) and set about figuring out how to manage the logistics. While a train ride was most efficient in terms of time, it was a PITA because no train would get Lisa there in time for her appointment, necessitating an overnight. So we rented a car late Monday and got us super early to get on the road by 9am.

At the Embassy, things were super easy. Note that you cannot take anything electronic into the Embassy — no Kindle, smartphone, or even smartwatch. They all get left with security. As does cosmetics, even my little lipbalm. I also couldn’t take my paper fan. They take your passport and it goes with your documents until you pay and are called up to do your transaction. (Which can be a little nervous making.) There was a problem with the payment system (albeit solved while I was waiting) which may have meant paying cash only, so I suggest bringing cash for your transaction, just in case.

We went right on over to a DHL service center and in 15 mins the documents were on their way. The finish was anticlimactic – it was not difficult to reach the drop point, we found parking, and there were no hang-ups with the shipping process. Whew!

Learn from our mistake:

• If you get a Power of Attorney in the US, have it notarized, not witnessed.
• Even with a PoA, be prepared to go to a lawyer and local municipality for an apostille or to the Embassy for a notary. Ask this question early, that is, verify that your PoA will be accepted.

One of our long-term plans for being in Europe is to create opportunities for long stays in places. (As an example, a bucket list item for John is to live in London for a year so he can see everything playing at the theaters.)

We’re not made of money, as the saying goes, so we’ve always known we’d need to be creative about how we made long-stay travel possible. Back in the day, pre-Portugal, our plans had to factor in long travels days as well as lodging costs. Now, it’s basically the high cost of lodging. Sheer practicality: even a cheap accommodation of $75/ day adds up if you stay there for a month. Back when we were working we could occasionally splurge, knowing we would make that back over time. Now we are on a fixed income and it feels scary to dip into our pool of moolah for such a large amount.

As a side note: our residency also carries a restriction about how much time we spend outside of Portugal. For the first two years its capped at eight months; then its eight months again, but it’s over a three year period. Permanent Residents, which can be requested after five years, are allowed to be out of country as much as six months each year.

As a side-side note: All of this is subject to the Schengen 90-day rule which states that you can stay no more than 90 days in any 180-day period within the 27 countries of the Schengen area. As a practicality, this means that can’t travel in the EU for more than three months, even if you are crossing borders during that time and not staying in one country.

The Schengen Area (SA) is made up of these countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

There are four EU countries that are NOT in the Schengen area: Ireland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus, although the last three are in the process of becoming members.

Sneak-minded readers may have figured out the “loop hole” of the Schengen Rule, which is that one can stay 89 days in the Schengen area and then travel to another country for at least 90 more days before resuming their stay within the SA for up to 90 more days. For example, you might spend 90 days in Italy, then step across the border to spend the next 90 days in Switzerland, before moving along to France. This is known as “doing the Schengen Hop”.

Side-side-side note: Future readers: as of 2024, visitors from 60 countries (including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and all EU member states) will need to apply for an online ETIAS, which is essentially a visa waiver, when entering the SA. The waiver will be valid for 90 days within a 180-day period.)

[Yes, this is a very long side note.]

So, unless we become permanent residents or EU citizens, we’ll always be conscious of the time spent out of country and within a Schengen area. Nonetheless, long stays are eminently possible, as long as we have the budget to support paying rent while not living in Braga (we’re ignoring the daily costs of food and such because that’ll be similar n matter where we sleep).

[Thanks for hanging in so far, btw.]

All of which is to announce (really, can this lede be buried any further?) that we’ll be adding a Page to this site for our new availability as house- and pet- sitters!

All props to our (fantastic) house sitter, Barbara Farfan. She first sat for us during our honeymoon in 2012, and returned again in 2017, and 2019. She was (and is) a full time ‘sitter who creates income with writing gigs and inspired us to contemplate using house sitting as a way to get to travel the world in our retirement. We figure that we’ve got some value-add as experienced pet owners who have had animals with behavior issues, as well as elderly/special needs critters who got all sorts of medications over the years.

We found her (and the others who covered other travel events) through an online clearinghouse (housecarers.com) where we’d found the people who sat for us in previous world travels. Since those early days, a number of sites have sprung up and are doing a roaring business. What we noticed was that the successful sitters had references.

Obviously we didn’t have references as sitters, so we’ve being doing sits for friends. As it turns out, our community of immigrants here in Braga is a den (heh) of animal lovers, so there’s been no shortage of friendly acquaintances who could use the help. Plus, bonus, we get to have pets for a few days without the actual commitment of having pets. Win win win… win? Four wins, I think? Maybe three. Anyway. It’s been a lot of fun to hang out with kitties and pooches again, with the added bonus of helping out people we genuinely like. And our friends appreciate that we aren’t charging for services rendered; not that we would charge friends even if it was just for kicks, but the fact that we’re just looking to build our resume makes it an easy sell.

The various pet-sitter clearinghouses online have actually become pretty competitive, especially if the ‘sit is in a popular destination. When we finally decide to start doing this for real we’ll have a few things (hopefully) going in our favor. First, we’ll have built up a good portfolio of references. Second, living over here and being retired, we can prioritize people who emergency/last-minute requests with little hassle. And third, we’re not too picky about exactly where we go so long as it’s interesting. We were just noodling on a ‘sit on the west coast of Scotland, in a little village. Nothing world-class sexy about it, but hey, it’s Scotland; plus, since it was “just” a cat-sit there’d be some travel flex and rail travel is dead easy over there. It may be a little hamlet that nobody has heard of outside of Scotland, but who cares? It looked pretty and it was logistically sensible. Anyhow, we didn’t try for it but it’s definitely the kind of thing we’ll be looking for in the future. Stay tuned!

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As an example: Before we arrived on Nov 30th, we’d been invited to the city’s Tree Lighting event by Cindy P. with the understanding that we might be too jet-lagged to cope. We managed to stagger out, had a great time watching the tree light up (complete with music and wide-eyed children in the crowd), enjoyed a nice meal, and met people who became good friends. That one invitation led to a holiday season full of meals and meeting new people. It was part of the reason we love being here.

Most of y’all didn’t know us in the States, but this level of social engagement is a gigantic difference from how we were. We had a solid circle of friends, but saw most of them maybe once a month. Having to work was part of it, but geography played a larger role, even with the couple who lived only a 10 minute drive away. Because it wasn’t so much as how close we lived, as our commutes ate into hours of our so-called “free” time. Now we live in a place where a 15-20 minute walk gets us to nearly every friends’ home or place we’re meeting. It’s probably the same distance, but its much more accessible. Moreover, John was the center point of the social circle; nearly every person came from a game he ran* in the early 00’s, either directly or brought in by one of those people. Lisa didn’t think she was particularly good at making friends, feeling more definitively introverted and socially awkward than John.

Before we left the States, Lisa (that’s me!) made a commitment to be more social. She knew she’d be unhappy if she let her feelings (aka, fear) keep her at home. Together, we decided to say “yes” as much as possible, and let events unfold as organically as possible. The opportunities rolled in and now we have to be careful to ration our social events or we get burned out, over-peopled as it were. We could spend nearly every day just seeing the people we consider good friends, which sounds great until you try it for a week or so. At least for us, it’s become a balancing act of wanting to see people but needing to reset and recharge.

We both feel a strong desire to give back, in part, the generosity we were met with on our arrival. It’s part of being good members of this community, creating strength and resilience through connections. One way we do this, almost since our first month here, is to host a monthly lunch at a local restaurant. We’ve negotiated a set menu and cost with the restaurant and invite anyone in the community to join us. We enjoy the meal with everyone and the restaurant gets a good crowd on an “off” day, as well as any extra monies collected. (We pay for ourselves of course.) Its a great place for newcomers, or scouters, to ask questions and enjoy a family-style meal. Breaking bread with someone as a way to get to know them on a deeper level is an ancient technique. We (mostly Lisa) also actively connect with scouters, people considering moving to Braga, to offer information, opinions, or meet for a drink to just talk. People she’s talked with have ended up moving here and know they have at least one person to say “Hi!” to when they see one another around town. This puts us in good company with other “locals” who do the same thing; something about this town seems to have attracted a welcoming sort of immigrant!

So many helped us, whether by answering a question, inviting us into their home for a meal, or sharing their own experiences. To be able to pass that along is how we help keep our community strong. It’s still a fairly new community, to be honest. We just had lunch with a couple who just celebrated being in Braga for five years, and when they first got here they say they could go weeks without hearing anyone speaking English without a Portuguese accent. They weren’t unique, but they were very rare and it seemed each person or couple was an island until themselves. Exactly what changed, and when, we’re a little unclear on, but taking a long view we’re still a ways from something you’d recognize as stable. Then again, that’s part of the fun! We didn’t mean for the monthly lunch to be a regular thing, but these days we get asked when the next one is. Our friend Cindy is the organizer of the “main” monthly meet-and-greet, and when the weather is good there will be 50+ people there; she’s done such a good job of making it a regular and important part of the community that it will probably be happening for… well, for forever. Who knows what other traditions have yet to be born?

* It was a role playing game and he was the gamemaster, the person making sure the players smoothly moved from event to event within a specifically defined environment. Specifically, it was based on Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books.

Number One With a Bullet – Cross the Dang Street! The social contract in Braga regarding pedestrians crossing the street is pretty simple; the pedestrian has the right of way. No ifs, ands, or buts. They are so religious in their observation of this conduct that if you wait to see a car come to a stop you are actually being a little rude, because they were going to yield to you. All you did by waiting to see them stop was slow them down unnecessarily. Just go. I mean, yes for pete’s sake at least make eye contact, your life could be at risk. That said, most times you can’t even do the little wave to indicate that they should go ahead. “They’re in a car” you think to yourself, “they can get out of my way faster than I can get out of theirs.” Doesn’t matter. You will get into a waving contest while they stare at you wondering why you haven’t gone yet. Corollary to this advice: if you happen to rent a car, or you’ve been one over here, behave by this rule. Don’t get irritated that somebody blithely stepped out from the curb as you were approaching – they were just following a behavior that’s been ingrained in them since birth. Take a breath, you’ll get where you’re going.

Number Two – Release Your Expectations on Sidewalks. If you are the kind of person that gets irritated when people “can’t pick a side” to walk on, may I recommend the Waking Up meditation program? (That’s not an affiliate link.) That’s not a thing here. Many Americans presume that sidewalk patterns follow traffic patterns on the road – stick to the right, in other words. This usually works in other countries we’ve been to. In Braga, at least, no way no how. It’s not that it’s the opposite pattern. There’s no pattern. You’ll have five straight people cross your path on the left, then two on the right, then one, then seven, and so on. Now, not everyone will even care about this, but “know thyself” as they say. If you can be prone to irritation that people aren’t behaving in the orderly fashion you like to see, that’s a “you” thing not a “them” thing. You aren’t changing 100,000+ people. Learn to be at peace with this, or else learn to go through your days in a constant state of irritation.

Number Three – Don’t Expect Anyone to Speak English. We’ve written on this in more depth before, but since this post is trying put a lot of advice under one nicely-tied bow, let’s talk about it again. You cannot go through life tranquilly if your plan for navigating most conversations boils down to “ah, they’ll speak English.” It’s not even 50/50 that this will be true, anywhere. Bank tellers, doctors, government officials (e.g. getting your Utente or driver’s license), priests… none of them have a need for English, so it will be pure chance whether they speak it or not. We are only talking about life in Braga. I expect it’s very similar in other Northern Portuguese towns, but things are very different in Lisbon, Porto, and large swaths of the Algarve. In those places, they get a lot of tourists who either primarily speak English or, being from some other country that has its own tongue, learned English as their 2nd language instead of the much-less-useful Portuguese. Point is, because so much business in those places requires practical English language skills there are plenty of incentives for employees, officials, and business owners to be conversant. But in Braga? We don’t have an airport to make us an easy destination for tourists. We are very close to Spain, a country that apparently shuts all the way down on Sundays (at least on their southern end), so we get plenty of Spanish-speaking tourists.

Now, it’s still true that English is a globally-useful language and so there are more than a few English speakers. But, you just never know. At the hospital for example, figuring out who the General Practitioners are that have good command of English isn’t too bad, but once you need a specialist your choices are whoever the doctor is that does that thing or nobody at all. Then it’s down to a coin flip. If you don’t have any interest in picking up some Portuguese, we respectfully suggest that this isn’t the town for you. Speaking of which…

Number Four – You’ll Know What You Think of Braga Pretty Quickly. Of course this is not 100% universally true, but we have numerous example stories from our friends of people who visited Braga on their scouting trip or whatever and had a sensation of being home wash over them within an hour. There’s even a common variant of this story that goes something like “we had been in Portugal for four weeks and seen a lot of places. It was the end of our trip. We spent two days in Porto, and it was lovely. We had basically settled on <fill in the town>, but our agenda still had a day in Braga. One of us said ‘why don’t we skip it, we’re tired and we know we want to move to <town>’ but the other person said ‘well, it’s not that far away, we can just go for lunch and then leave.’ Except, when we got off the train in Braga we immediately felt something different. By the time we had walked downtown to the fountain (there’s more than one fountain in the city, but everyone knows which one is “the fountain”) we were in love.” This happens a lot. Don’t fight it. There’s a particular vibe here. We won’t call it a “good” or “bad” vibe, just a particular one. Counterpoint to this advice: if Braga hasn’t knocked your socks off in an afternoon, don’t wonder what you’re missing. You aren’t missing anything, it just isn’t the right place for you. That’s cool, it’s a big country and no one place is right for everyone. But if you like it here you’re probably going to love it here.

Number Five – Get Your Toaster from Antonio. Apologies, this is an unbearably-‘inside’ joke that at the same time just happens to be true. Confort Electrodomésticos is run by Antonio and his father. His hobby is repairing old sewing machines. While it is nearly universally true that the Portuguese are a kind and giving people, Antonio is just… well, absurdly generous with his time and expertise. Yes, he’s absolutely doing the smart business thing by treating his customers well, but between his passable English and his willingness to go the extra kilometer, but there are enumerable stories of him special ordering an appliance, delivering it, setting it up, and walking the purchasers through the operating procedures. You have to twist his arm or he won’t take payment until everything is finalized. He services appliances you bought elsewhere for practically nothing. Like, I’m sure there are many fine shopkeepers selling appliances in Braga, but his rep with the immigrant community is platinum plated for a reason.