International Remodel, and a Spooky Good Time
Catching you up on the biggest project in our life, plus more
Hi friends and family,
It’s time for more International Adulting! Thanks for subscribing and following along with our adventure. It was so great to hear back from so many of you letting us know what you’ve been up to. This is all about staying connected, so please keep the updates coming!
What’s on deck this week?
Why “International Adulting”?
What’s going on with our remodel.
Champions League futebol.
Halloween in Porto.
Why “International Adulting”?
We have studiously avoided as much adulting as possible for the majority of our lives. Sure we had careers, bought a house, and did adult-like things. But not having kids means that we have side-stepped a lot of the more difficult parts of being a grown-up.
A big question we’ve faced, not having kids, is what are we working so hard for? So that we can acquire things? Keep up with the Joneses? Go deeper in debt for more convenience? What does a midlife crisis even look like when you don’t want to buy a Porsche?
For us, this is what it looks like: our love of travel and desire to live abroad have thrust us face-first into the reality of needing to act like adults and do adult things so foreign governments will let us stick around… legally.
That means dealing with byzantine bureaucracy in another, incomprehensible language. Jumping through uncountable legal hoops. Acquiring a retinue of support professionals including three tax advisors, a lawyer, architect, real estate agent, translator, language professor… hey can anyone recommend a good general contractor in Porto? Ha!
So that’s it - while we are doing a ton of fun stuff, our part-time jobs are being adult enough to get our residency and learn to operate in a whole new culture.
Fall in Porto: Hilary at Jardim do Palácio de Cristal, a small capella with beautiful tile, views up the Douro toward Vila Nova de Gaia
So, about that remodel…
We bought a penthouse apartment in Bolhão (the historic center of Porto) in April of this year. We came here to find a year lease, which is required for our Portuguese visa, but we were also looking at places to buy, and stumbled upon something too good to pass up.
The catch? It desperately needed a complete gut-job remodel. We 1000% were NOT looking to get into a remodel situation, but the moment we walked into this place we both knew the potential was simply too great. Impeccable location, lots of space, great patio. We were hooked.
Coincidentally, we had just met Miguel, an architect on another property we looked at. We had clicked with him immediately, so Hilary told our agent, “If Miguel will do our remodel, we will buy this place.” He agreed, and we did the deal.
We flew home the day after closing and started our months-long visa process (and selling our house, and selling our things...)
Over the summer we worked remotely with our architect to design the space, and Hilary had the idea to get started on the demolition right away, since that doesn’t require finished plans.
When we landed here in August, our place was a complete shell. We spent HOURS cleaning up after the demolition crew, who left the place a mess. Granted, they had to carry all the debris down 5 flights of stairs (there’s no elevator), so they left as much mess as they could get away with. After 20+ hours of collecting and carrying bags of leftover rubble down to the dumpsters ourselves, I can sympathize.
An adulting lesson for us - we need to supervise our work here.
Concurrently, we have been fine-tuning our architectural plans and trying to find contractors and get bids. We taped out all the walls and fixtures on the floor so we can ensure America-sized-me can fit into a European-sized design.
Another complication - the roof. Turns out the wood in the vintage roof structure was infested with wood-worms, and the 60+ year-old tile roof needs a replacement. This is a homeowners association matter, so we are juggling working with them to address the roof while figuring out timing for our project. It’s a chicken/egg scenario.
And of course, everything in Portugal moves staggeringly slower than the US. An exercise in patience… but part of the reason we moved here was to slow down a bit and enjoy life. Portugal is forcing the issue.
There’s a lot more to share about our adventure with this remodel, but I’ll save it for future letters.
Champions League Futebol!
To say that attending a Champions League futebol (soccer) match was a bucket list item for us would be an understatement.
Some friends from Portland (Timbers Army faithful, and adopters of some of the kittens we fostered in 2019) were in town to visit Porto, and it coincided with an FC Porto vs. Atlético Madrid match. A perfect excuse to grab some tickets!
Estadio do Dragão holds around 50K fans and the quality of talent at this level is absurd. We had a blast despite not understanding any of the chants or announcements, and Porto won!
Takeaways:
Unlike the US, they don’t serve any alcohol in the stadium. We discovered this when they tried to pour us 0.0% beers at the stadium “bar.”
The visiting fans are sequestered behind a wall of plexiglass and surrounded by cops. To protect them or us? Who knows?
Portuguese are somewhat reserved people. We experienced this at a Macy Gray concert too. It takes a LOT to get them out of their seats. But when they do, they go nuts!
The vibe at Providence Park in Portland is world-class. PERIOD. I have compared and can attest.
Halloween (O dia das bruxas):
Halloween in Porto was surprisingly vibrant! It’s obviously new to the culture, but in the run up we noticed a lot of decorations around and the few costume stores in Porto were packed.
We happened to be out on the town on the night itself and people were out in force, many costumed and having a blast. Turns out that Nov 1 is a national holiday (All Saints Day), which is just more of an excuse for everyone to go big on o dia das bruxas. Next year we’ll definitely be dressing up.
What kind of fun did you get up to for Halloween?
By the way, I also enjoy keeping in touch via community based apps I use every day. If you’re on any of these apps, find and add me: Strava, Duolingo, Instagram, Alltrails.
You had me at Korean cauliflower! I look forward to following your trials and tribulations. I hope to be able to connect to you during my upcoming visit! Tell Hilary hello!
So proud of you for bravely jumping into European life and for being crazy enough to buy and remodel a fabulous apartment.