Making Bureaucracy Lemonade
From all of those bureaucratic lemons
Hi friends!
This week we’re back in bureaucracy land, but making hay where we can. What did we get up to?
Turning a Bureaucracy Bungle Into a Nice Day Trip
Wandering Old Streets
Going Deep With Champions League Supporters
Unlocking Achievements
Enough with the throat-clearing, let’s get to it!
Turning a Bureaucracy Bungle Into a Nice Day Trip
Hilary and I both had our residency appointments with SEF (the Portuguese immigration bureau) in early November last year. They happened on the same day at the same time in two different cities.
I got my residency card in the mail within two weeks of the meeting, which has allowed me to get my driver’s license, set up my tax registration, get a social security number, and solve all sorts of other mundane goodness.
Hilary was warned it would take 90 days for hers, so she put her patience pants on and took deep breaths. After months without a card, we started calling every SEF phone number we could find… but not answer. There are offices but you will not be seen without an appointment, which you have to make by phone. It’s a vicious cycle.
We finally found an email address that would respond to us and learned that the post office had attempted delivery of her card in early February and returned it to sender. It’s been sitting at an office in Coimbra for a month, with no notice to us from anyone.
So the next day we headed an hour and a half down the road to the city where Hilary had her appointment to go knock on SEF’s door. This seems to be the one thing you can accomplish on a walk-in basis…
Wandering Old Streets
Coimbra is a very old city. Some argue it’s the original capital city of Portugal. Either way it’s filled with history, including plenty of 12th-century structures and a storied, ancient university.
Everything is stacked up on a steep hillside overlooking the river. Small alleys wind their way haphazardly throughout old blocks of stone buildings. It’s a great place to get lost for a couple of hours while your wife is waiting ever so patiently at the SEF office just to get an envelope.
It was a balmy 20ºC (68ºF), partly sunny day and I thoroughly enjoyed my wander. I hiked up the hill to the university and then cut back down through alleys, passing grungy student housing and what looked like fraternity houses. Extremely charming and fun.
Fortunately, Hilary had spent some time here when she came for her appointment in November, so I didn’t feel quite so bad leaving her to wait in line.
Hilary finally got her card about 2 hours later, and we have since applied for her tax status. She will be doing the driver’s license process soon. Problem solved!
Going Deep With Local Supporters
There was a big Porto FC vs. Inter Milan Champions League elimination match last week, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience this level of futebol. But it was completely sold out.
I headed to the stadium with some friends to try and find tickets. After 30 minutes of wandering, we met some kids selling seats for only 10€ more than I (as a non-member) would have paid for the cheap seats.
Turns out we were in the section right next to the Super Dragões, the local supporters club. We didn’t have seats, per se, we just had to cram into a section with everyone standing, chanting, and looking very… intense. There was a plexiglass barrier between us and the official supporters section, but our section was the same level of crazy.
The locals were smoking cigs and joints, lighting fireworks, and getting rowdy. Now I have a better understanding of why they don’t sell beer inside the stadiums here.
We chanted along and tried incredibly hard to fit in. Despite how rough and tumble everyone looked, we were eventually welcomed in, since we were also yelling loud and proud.
It was a surreal experience, and worlds apart from our last match, when we sat with the boring squad up in the rafters. I can’t say that I’d want to be that deep in the supporters section again (it was pretty stressful - we did get knocked around a lot), but it was far more fun.
The match was a 0-0 draw, but super exciting, and Inter advanced. I wish I could have seen a goal while in that section. I’m sure it would have been bonkers.
Unlocking Achievements
Just this last weekend we experienced a few fun Portugal firsts:
We went to our first Portuguese-music concert - Ana Moura at the Super Bock Arena. Our language professor recommended we go, as it would be a truly local experience. She sings fado (Portuguese blues) but does so in a modern way, with lots of international sounds woven in. The crowd ranged from youngsters to old ladies, and everyone was hyped. Way fun.
Hilary has been stalking a karaoke bar that doesn’t open until 11 pm (that’s late for us), and it happened to be the perfect timing for us to drop in after Ana Moura. We found locals belting out a mix of American and Portuguese music, raging pretty hard. It was a party and we both sang. We’ll be back.
We invited our neighbors Lúcia & Filipe over for a Vietnamese dinner. While they had been to Bali, this Portuguese couple had never tried Viet food. We served make-your-own salad rolls, and Hilary blew their minds with her pomelo salad (it’s next-level good). We played punchbowl across language and cultural lines and bonded even more with new friends.
Whew - it’s been a big week. What did you get up to?
This week’s music is another one introduced to me by my musical life partner Won M - Masego’s new album. I think you’ll like it.
It is great to see how successful you are in making new friends. I envy you. This week we got to our second home in Prague and dealing with ticking off the lists with dentists, optometrists, doctors appointments. Besides babysitting grandkids and reconnecting with friends.
I have always wanted to learn Portuguese so I could go to a fado and understand what they are singing about so soulfully. Amazing that you are getting there.