THE DECISION

Should we stay or should we go now (61)

Back AGES ago, when we’d first arrived and it felt like we were being hit from the right, left, up, and down, simultaneously, at least one of us was questioning our decision on an hourly basis. Adrenaline, force of will and a boatload of faith was the only thing staving off both daily tears and pulling the trigger on buying tickets back to the United States.

We had probably the smartest idea of our entire time in Portugal (7 months 11 days for those of us keeping track): We would push off of any decision on any staying or cutting bait until February 2, 2023. Why 2/2/23? Honestly, it was just a random date that felt about right - about six months from that point. We should be past the initial freak out of arrival, we’d have seen three seasons. At that point, if and only if we decide to leave, we would then start making plans for where to move to with our six bags, and also get in a bit of Europe/Northern African tourism before we depart to the new chosen location, whether that be Mexico, say, or back to St. Louis.

So. Here we are. Decision Day.

Josie was up first with a firm vote to stay. Always the happiest dog we’ve met, she has clearly never been so happy in her 9 years. She then went to sleep, waiting for her next walk where people would fawn all over her and possibly slip her a treat.

Then followed the awkward moment where Amy didn’t want to say how she felt in case it influenced Scott and vice versa. We were both Very Nervous. We decided to just shout out Stay or Go. Relief as two Stays echoed in the apartment! (Sadly waking Josie from her nap.)

We have a whole host of things that just aren’t a good fit, so why? Why stay?

For Amy, the biggest reason was just that she has a sense of being happy here. And that she wasn’t done being in Europe. (And if you’re going to be in Europe, this is a great place to be.)

For Scott, it’s a variety of factors. Most importantly, he’s generally enjoying this chapter of life and isn’t interested in making dramatic changes. It’s exciting being here. Frustrating, difficult, scary, and lonely, too, yes, but exciting. Even on a day where he doesn’t leave the apartment, a day where he sits and plugs away at the computer, maybe reads a little, flips on the TV, he’s doing it all in freakin’ Portugal! Things are far from perfect, and honestly many (most) days are pretty ordinary. Boring even. And that’s OK.

Things we especially like:

Living Well

Have you ever walked into a place and just felt comfortable, felt at home? That’s sort of what it's like here. We're both living well and having fun. Things are new, so there’s a lot to explore, and we’ve always liked exploring. This tickles our sense of adventure. So much to look at, so much to see and do, and everywhere something different.

Along with that comes a sense of freedom, an ability to take deeper breaths.

Walking

We love love love not being tied to our cars. Sure, it’s nice to walk out of the grocery, dump the bags in the back seat and drive home. But cars are expensive, parking can be a hassle, and who likes sitting in traffic or filling the gas tank? Having access to a functional public transit system (sorry, St. Louis, but your Metro never really served our needs) feeds into the sense of both newness and freedom. And that walking? It comes with a nice side benefit: one of us is (almost) back to his college weight.

History & Scenery

We walk out of our apartment building (or hang out of our Juliet balcony) and the view down our Rua takes our breath away. How lucky are we that every time we exit our building we gasp in pleasure?

The majority of the architecture in Lisbon was built after the 1755 earthquake and thus is neoclassical, with fascinating Moorish touches. The art in the city expressed through the cobblestones, famous Portuguese tiles, graffiti, and even the Metro is deliciously overwhelming. It’s amazing how much wonderful there is to look at.

Great use of tile in Oeiras

Building with likely Moorish influences

Fun cobblestone plaza in Cascais

Summer

We are rather deliberately making this decision in the midst of the cold of winter (think high 30s at night and high 50s during the day), after the torrential and near continuous rains of fall (apparently last season was wetter than normal, but the pattern is typical). None of that wipes out the glory of the summer months. We arrived in June and it was magnificent. We are anticipating that such weather will return as early as mid-May. And it stays until mid-October. Five months of splendor the likes of which we’d never experienced.

Along with those longer, perfect summer months come fruits the likes of which we’ve never tasted. And for prices the fiscally conservative budget adores.

The fruit stand at the end of our street.

People

Yesterday Amy had a conversation with a man in the Metro station about travel and Portugal - made all the more amazing because Amy speaks English and um pouco Portuguese and he spoke Portuguese (native), French, Italian, and German. Whether or not a common language is shared, in general people here have been very welcoming.

What we hadn’t expected and are finding vital and a delight is the vibrant expat community here. Through church, board gaming, and the Lisbon Social & Cultural Club Facebook group we’ve joined, we have good, solid friends already.

Safety

Amy is comfortable walking alone late at night on any street. As a woman, this is a Brand New Feeling. We also have a sense of not living with gun violence. It wasn’t something we were aware of when we were in the US. But being here, we feel different. If people are walking towards you at night you don’t have to cross the street, think about safety, be as situationally aware. We exchange boa noites, and move along.

Distance from US

We are both finding it much easier to manage the current political climate by being physically removed from it. Yes, we still follow news, write our representatives, and vote. But not having the political sniping surround us has really dropped our emotional blood pressure.

We’re starting to gear up for where to go once our lease expires. That’s not til April 2024 so we have time. We also have a lot to explore. Exciting!

That’s all for now.

Love from Lisbon,

Scott & Amy