Today is a momentous day. We have been living in Portugal for one month. I suppose, we’re the only ones that think this is true, since we are here only on a residency visa awaiting our appointment with immigration which is March 10. So maybe “living here” is a stretch? At any rate, it seems that one should reflect on what one’s done when it’s so major.
Well. (don’t say, “deep subject”. I’m aware.). My back. My back has been an annoying problem for, like, a year. It’s all because of smugness. I kept reading about all these people having all this trouble with their backs. I wasn’t. I felt, but NEVER said aloud a bit smug. Next thing I know, I’m having this lower back pain. BEFORE my foot surgery. After the surgery, being in the boot made the back even worse. So lesson learned here, pay attention…. Do not allow yourself to even FEEL smug about anything to do with pain! I’m telling you. Don’t do it. You’ll regret it. Our furnished apartment here. Mostly it’s fine. But the beds. Not so much. I should have acted a little more quickly, but I wasn’t sure where to go to get a mattress topper. Turns out Amazon Spain was just fine. The topper is totally helping. I also got some microfiber sheets (at Auchon) that fit the bed. Heavenly.
Mail. I have always loved getting mail. Are you like that? Am I alone in this? Not junk mail. Real mail. Some catalogs I consider to be real mail. Anyway, I still love to get mail. I’ve read people’s stories of their bank closing their account because they changed their address to a non-US country. There have been other stories of bad things happening because of a foreign address. Many of those stories had recommendations for mail services to use. In retrospect, I waited to do this longer than I should have, but I was also expecting some specific mail and didn’t want to have to go get it. Ugh. The saga is long, boring and still not satisfactory. And that’s just on the US end.
I’ve told most of you, DON’T send anything to us in Portugal except maybe a letter or card. This isn’t because of all the downsizing we did or any reason other than receiving anything by post is just freaking ridiculous. I know we Americans have become very disillusioned by our mail service. I take it all back. We have an EXCELLENT mail service, even at its worst. First – there is no standard of mailing address here. At least as far as I can tell.
Our landlord, who has owned this apartment since 1996ish and lived here with his wife and kids for 25 years did not put the correct address on our lease. So guess what? If you got one of our postcards with our new address on it, it’s wrong. Yeah. Wrong. How do I know? How did I find out? First clue was the Bimby guy. Eh? What’s that? Bimby guy? Yes, the Bimby guy, Nuno. Different post. Anyway, he was having trouble finding us to show us the Bimby. But, more importantly, after I learned that Amazon.es will deliver here without hideous customs charges, of course, I had to try it out. Yeah. No. I ordered a heating pad (for my back, of course) because when I brought one with me last year, it would immediately cut itself off. So I let that be sold and ordered one on Amazon Spain so it would have the correct plug, etc.
Pretty much like Amazon Prime at home, I got an email saying it was on its way superfast! Text message. too – it’s coming! Hoorah! Day it should have arrived, nada. What’s that email in Portuguese? You couldn’t deliver it because no one was home? Uh. EXCUSE ME? I was here all day. Did anyone ring the buzzer? No. Next day email from Amazon that they are issuing a refund because it’s being returned. WTF?? Turned out that what they really meant was, we can’t find the address you gave us. Contacted the landlord. He actually made calls to the post office (called CTT here). I was given the correct address. So I ordered another heating pad, figuring it was too late for the one being returned. Without realizing it, I was back on the US Amazon site. This really is a stupid long story. To cut to the chase:
· I received the heating pad. Then I received another and then another. 2 of them have the European plug and one is the exact one I had in the US,.. with the US plug. I’m just freaking keeping all of them. If you come visit, you can have a warm back.
· 2 of these had to be retrieved from CTT. Not a close one, that’s in walking distance. No, one that would be a 45 minute walk – one way. Scott went on his bike to retrieve.
· I ordered something else with the correct address. Wow! Someone brought it, rung the bell and I got it from them. Then that happened again!
· Eureka! I have the right address and this process works!
· Not so fast. 3 things should have arrived today. I’ve been here ALL day. All I got was email telling me I could get these items, yep, at the CTT that’s a 45-minute walk away.
So REALLY! PLEASE! Don’t send anything here!!!!!
There is more to reflect on. But now it’s after 9pm here. All-in-all, we are glad we’re here, we feel lucky we found this particular apartment and we’re soldiering on. And we haven’t really even begun, I mean, it IS winter afterall. L8R T8Rs!
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