OOPS! It has been sooo long since I have posted, and there are lots of very exciting things to catch up on! October was a really exciting month. We unexpectedly... well maybe not unexpectedly but many many months earlier than planned rescued a sweet puppy. Well actually sweet might be a little bit of a lie, she is sweet filled with wild on the side. Mel, which means honey in Portuguese and short for Melbourne for us was found tied up outside of a grocery store in Lisbon by a friend of Joel's co worker. They searched a week for an owner and were just about to take her to the shelter when Joel and I agreed to adopt her on a Monday. We anxiously waited until Saturday to head to Lisbon and pick her up. We really had no idea how big she was going to be, because we only had photos to go by but nothing in the photos besides her to scale. We didn't know if the collar we bought would fit, etc. They weren't sure of the breed, but for sure large amounts of Black Labrador. The family who was watching her was so friendly and the teenage children were definitely sad to see her go, but I can't imagine Mel living in a 14th floor apartment with them with how big she is now! The vets thought when we rescued her she was around 2 months old, but after all her teeth fell out she was actually more like 3 months old and is nearing 7 months old now. Mel definitely has had her share of puppy chewing and biting but I think overall we have had it kind of easy. No destroyed shoes, a few destroyed cables, and a part of a wicker chair, and lots of holes in the grass, which we plan to destroy anyways. Sooo not too bad, but I'm sure it's not over yet! She was house trained pretty quickly which was a joy but we still have lots of work to do with her jumping, and putting her paws on the counter top! She is much luckier than the average Portuguese dog, because she gets to spend time inside the house when we are home and sleeps next to our bed. She is an amazing sleeper and has only a few times needed to go outside for a potty break in the night. She is still a very carsick girl. We are always impressed with her if she makes it a 10 minute car ride to the city center for a walk and doesn't vomit. We have some meds we use for longer trips but hopefully she grows out of it! We want her to adventure with us, and not hate car rides!
On October 28th Joel and I got married in Portugal. We had a small civil ceremony in Aveiro with his parents and sister and her partner present. Afterwards we went to a restaurant to enjoy some tapas together and had an afternoon picnic in the backyard and got back to our sweet little Mel. It was a perfect little day except my family was missing! For this my mom helped us decide to have another wedding in the US. More details on that later! In Portugal your company is required by law to give you 15 days off for your honeymoon! We wanted to visit the Azores islands, however with the unexpected arrival of Mel we felt bad abandoning her again after she had only just gotten used to us. We made a roadtrip plan for Northern Portugal and the top of Spain.. that didn't pan out well we learned that Mel gets really carsick. Sooo plan C. Go somewhere and relax a few days and do some house projects! We painted our laundry room which we learned was previously a chicken coop! That was the main project. We went to a lovely B&B called Casa de Alpajares. The meaning of Alpajares has escaped me at the moment however we had the most amazing time. Mel was soo welcomed and the place was lovely and quiet. We walked around the tiny village the first day with Mel. Then went on hikes the other days. The afternoons we enjoyed the hot tub. They cooked the most delicious meals which were so fresh and used ingredients from their farm. The wine was divine! We brought back several bottles of wine as well as some of their olive oil, and as a parting gift because I was soo in love with the pumpkin stuff, they gave me pumpkin jam!
I also started doing a bit of a language exchange with a women who lives nearby. She speaks in English and I try to answer back to her in Portuguese. At first I wasn't sure how it was going to go, because usually when a conversation is started in one language it finishes in that same language. But we dio a good job of practicing together. She is also a very kind friend and always offering to meet up and do things together. I have also met her husband now. All four of us get along great and are around the same age and life stage.
We started receiving these farm fresh veggie boxes from a local farm which delivers each Tuesday to Bosch. This has definitely put my culinary creativity to the test and also gotten us to eat lots of different things I would never buy from the store. And holy cabbage! I thought of a million ways to use the cabbage because some weeks we were given 3 heads of it! I hope the cabbage slows down but it is so much fun to try and figure out what to do with everything and knowing that it is locally grown is excellent. Not to mention the difference in taste between stuff you get from the store and this bag! And we have to love Portugal, the 6kg delivery is only 7 euros! Incredible deal. I hardly have to buy any fruits and veggies at the store now.
Shortly after the honeymoon Joel and I had our first house visitor! Nichole came to visit us during her Thanksgiving break. We visited Porto for a day, enjoyed the best Pasteis de Nata in Aveiro. Then we headed down to Lisbon to explore! One day we tried to visit Sintra, and braved the weather! However that didn't pan out really well when we were nearing the top of the hill to get to the castle and got soaking wet! We had some pizza at the bottom of the hill to try and dry out before the train ride back to Lisbon but were soaked again walking to the train station. The train ride home was definitely chilly and unpleasant but once we got back to our hostel we warmed up with hot showers!
From there it wasn't long before I headed off to the US. As part of the visa process I had to purchase a ticket departing Europe before December 7th, so my flight was on the +6th. Just one week before my residency visa was finally all sorted and I had my card! The card is valid for five years but I can apply for Portuguese nationality after three years here. I will definitely do that but of course keep my US passport as well. Now most of the yucky admin process is done. I just have to exchange my drivers license for a Portuguese one, and a few other small things. But soo relieved to have the process over and done with. I hope my dealings with SEF are few and far between now.
I also have yet to change my name. I absolutely dread this process because it seems sooo complicated with so many things to change. For now I have decided to deal with it at another stage , I think Joel and I have had our fair share of dealing with the government for the next few years to come.. Procrastination at it's finest.
Between all of these exciting events, I was also teaching classes. In October my schedule really started to get busy and I was working almost full days including my prep and writing class feedback. My plan is to continue teaching with VIPkid but also to check the other options for teaching English privately. I also want to look into teaching part time at a language institute. The only thing I don't like about the language institute jobs is the hours, you will definitely be working the evening hours and I'm a bit spoiled now having the nights free to enjoy and spend time with Joel.
We took a frisbee hiatus after a beach tournament in Lisbon in late October. Joel's knee was hurting a bit and I think in general we just needed a break. We were not enjoying playing the way we once had. We have slowly started our return.
We were sad when the "cold temperatures" hit and we realized our house is very chilly. It usually feels warmer outside than it is inside the house wen the sun is shining on you. The temperate outside isn't too bad. Usually highs are in the 60s and low in the 50s (10-15 C), occasionally dropping lower than that. The humidity and moisture in the air is crazy to me! Even if it doesn't rain, the streets are wet and everything outside is wet in the morning. Though there has been a very big share of rain! Not as much as I was expecting though, because people were constantly telling me how wet the winter is. Maybe that was a tactic :P . The house temp is usually around 55-57 degrees F or 12-14 for my C people. It's okay when you are completely bundled up and under blankets, but when I am teaching my fingers were getting so cold by the afternoon. We have been on the look out for someone to install heaters/ air conditioning units and have some estimates and visits this week. Thank goodness!
Speaking of projects, the next project of the house is to turn the space between my office and our bedroom into a closet by moving a door and opening a hole on the other side of the wall. Hopefully we can get this done soon so we can actually hang up our clothes rather than using random boxes around the house and the upstairs wardrobe for lots of stuff.
We arrived back from the US on January 11th and business is back to usual. Mel has grown a ton since I left her and classes are keeping me busy! I'll save the exciting post of my US trip for another post. Sending everyone so much love for a great start to 2018 from Portugal.
xox
Nicole, Joel, and Mel.
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