Posted inPortugal Daily Life

Third Week

December 6, 2024

Week 3 is November 29 – December 5. This was going to be our week. We would be all settled in and speaking some sentences in Portuguese. Well, maybe over estimated that.

Our return trip from Lidl or the Train Station

We have settled into going for coffee on MWF with people we met. On M&W, after pilates we go to coffee just below the gym with other gym members. On Friday, we go meet up at noon with a group of ex-Pats called “Tavira Friends.” So far, we have been to that meet up twice and each time it has been wonderful.

Happenings

December has arrived, and we are enamored by all the holiday decorations popping up. As you can suspect, nocturnal wanderings have become a mainstay.

Vila Natal

On Saturday, we took the train back to Vila Real de Santo António because it was the day for the tree lighting and Santa’s arrival. We arrived around 18:30 and went straight to the center.

See a video I posted of the event on Instagram. This should not need a login to view.

But by 19:00, the town just rolled up, and the next train wasn’t until 21:00. We ended up walking along the coast, looking at lights of Spain then ended up at a little neighborhood near the train station. We popped into a snack bar style restaurant called O Ratinho (little mouse). It was perfect. We watched as people entered, how they were greeted like Norm on Cheers (but way better than that)! I watched as the waiter rested his hand on the shoulder of a patron as he was ordering, and then chat with them for many minutes, seeming not to be in a hurry and without a worry in the world. It was inspiring.

Market Day

On the 1st Sunday of the month in Moncarapacho is market day. Here, we saw a variety of items including produce, textiles, household items, and live poultry. Our landlords took us here for spices but we didn’t find the kind we were looking for. And then, they took us back to their place and cooked up a lunch of chicken, pork, beef, with homemade french fries, and fresh fruit.

Pérolas do Gilão

A full agenda of performances are planned for the Mercado da Ribeira, roughly 400m from our apartment. On Sunday, we saw Pérolas do Gilão, a traditional Portuguese music group founded in 1997. This musical group belongs to the Sociedade Orfeónica de Armadores de Música e Teatro de Tavira, a non-profit collective founded on February 21, 1931.

Christmas Lights

As of December 1st, the Christmas lights are lighting up the town of Tavira.

See a video I made of the Tavira lights on Instagram.

Adjusting

Let’s face it, this was a big change in our lives and we are going to be in an adjustment period for a while. Many of the learnings are longish stories and can be found on this separate Daily Life post.

Things we learned

We are learning by trial and error, a lot less error than we had in the first two weeks.

  • DIY is not a Vibe. Weekend home projects are not a thing here. The hardware store is only opened a brief time on a Saturday morning and until 7pm on weekdays.
  • Interbank Network FTW. Paying with a U.S. credit card is impossible if you can’t enter your U.S. billing address. Yay for happy little accidents — I found “MB Way/ATM” (multibanco) an interbank network. It is so easy! With a QR code at a store or by manually entering the reference information, you can make a payment!
  • A Happy MEO Family. We got the internet/phone bundle when we moved here and they told us they could handle electricity too. Our landlords seemed to want to use a company called Endesa. After several calls and unreturned emails we went to MEO. We got switched over in under 10 minutes, and they doubled our internet speed for bundling.
  • Package Pickup. As detailed in my “Week 2 Woes” rant, getting Amazon packages is a bit tricky. I have tried courier delivery, lockbox delivery, and this week I tried having it held at the post office. The advantage of having it held: don’t have to wait at the apartment for the courier, don’t have to worry about if the box will fit in a lockbox. But the disadvantage is that CTT Loja Tavira is a busy office, and my pickup took 1.5 hours of waiting. See the Daily Life post for more.

Sounds

We hear a lot more sounds where we live, and are starting to get use to them.

  • Hourly Bells. Igreja de Santa Maria do Castelo rings on the hour and half hour from 7am – 10pm. Everyday in December, they ring extra long at 8am.
  • Siren. At 13:00 every weekday, a siren blares. It sounds like what you would expect if there was an emergency like a tsunami or bomb. We think it is the signal for lunch hour.
  • Trash & Recycling. Can’t believe they pick up trash and recycling in the middle of the night. When I first heard it, it startled me so much that I sat up. Now, I sleep through it.
  • Street Sweeper. It seems like the street sweeper comes multiple times per week in the early morning around 7am.
  • Garbage Disposal. This is the sound of silence because we don’t have one. I really miss the garbage disposal as dealing with food waste in the sink is rather icky.

Apartment Fixes

Water seems to be the theme here. With a higher humidity level, things in the apartment take longer to dry — dishes, towels. We also noticed we have a slow pipe in the kitchen and when we empty a sinkful of water quickly, we start to see it coming up from under the refrigerator. I’m no plumber but this seems wrong to me. We also noticed a water drip coming from the newly installed air conditioning unit in the bedroom. Finally, we need to switch over the water bill into our names and to do this we need our signed lease, the registration of the lease, the current water bill, and a photo of the water meter. All of this is taking multiple iterations to get taken care of — Tuesday, Wednesday and hopefully finished by Thursday.

Pet Projects

Melody and Maisy are settling in quite well. We were hoping to utilize the balconies for outdoor space, but we were a bit worried they would jump on the railing and fall 3 floors to the cement below. So, Tom was able to fashion up a catio of sorts. Still work in progress but it gives the girls a bit of fresh air and space to watch the birds.

Up Next

Portuguese Language

We are doing very slow progress on learning Portuguese although reading signs and shopping for groceries has become a lot easier. We are starting formal learning! On Monday, we met with a language tutor and made plans to meet once a week — me on Mondays and Tom on Tuesdays.

  • I’m learning my numbers 1-9: ooh-m, doy-sh, tray-sh, qua-true, seen-coo, say-sh, set, oy-two, nove.
  • My address has the number 25 in the street name so I am learning to say that too “vee-ent ay seen-coo” for 25 (vinte e cinco).

And I am learning some key phrases:

  • Estou fome (I’m hungry) — pronounced “stooo-w foam”
  • Estou sono (I’m sleepy) — pronounced “stooo-w sew-neow”

Exercise and Coffee

Mentioned at the top of this blog post, we have a regular gym and after gym coffee schedule. This coming week, I am signed up to try NetBall on Tuesday morning. This will be at the Municipal complex a little further away than Tavira Plaza. Netball is a version of basketball where if you have the ball, you can neither dribble nor move — the only option is to shoot or pass. This group does other things too so I thought I would give it a try!

Christmas Events

The Tavira December Calendar has so many events on it. Things we might be interested in:

  • Concerts at Ermida de São Sebastião on Dec 6, Dec 7, Dec 13th, and at the old Mercado on various days at 16h00.
  • Parade and Street performances on Dec 7th and throughout the month. Chegada do Pai Natal à Baxia da Cidade (Santa Claus arrives in the City Center), Animação de Rua (I think this one is a parade), Desfile de Pais Natis – MontoManos (a parade on motorcycles).
  • Mercadinho de Natal in Cacela Velha is a Christmas Market held in a nearby village of Cacela Velha (see map below)

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I am trying to capture life in Portugal with weekly posts, a bloopers post, pictures on instagram and information on how to stay in Portugal for more than 3 months.