Give (Send) me the good stuff, hehe!

My family is the best, I just received a package with typical Easter cakes (Portuguese and French!), a bottle of Portuguese wine and dried codfish!!! 

I didn’t knew but if I wasn’t at home to receive the package it would have been delivered to the closest neighbour that would answer the door, and I would have a postal in my mail box saying that I had to pick it up at that number. It’s pretty efficient. If you’re out you still can have your package as soon as you get home (unless it’s so late you wouldn’t bother your neighbour), without going too far. And that way the post office also works better because they don’t have to come back latter.

We received also the package of a neighbour without signing anything. They really trust people, and it seems to work!

Another example is serving at the terrace in cafes and not charging immediately. Because you can order more drinks… You don’t see that in Portugal, it’s a pity when we can not trust people.

Finding a Pharmacy

In Portugal (and in France) if you need a pharmacy, just look for the sign, but here it seems they have never seen one.

I needed to go to a pharmacy, I knew more or less where it was so I was already near the building, I looked around and didn't see any pharmacy. I called my partner to confirm the location, and he did.

I looked again to all the windows, and finally I decided to ask someone in the street. I asked a guy and he told me "Yes, it's here, there by the green plaque".

The green plaque only says "escura", which means "dark" in Portuguese! How could I guess? Their “kruidvat's” seem more like a pharmacy than the pharmacy itself (the kruidvats sell shampoos, deodorants, make up, detergents, stuff like that!).

By the way a pharmacy is “apotheek” in Dutch. This name suggests me a real estate agency or a book shop. Don’t ask me why…

Recycling...

I’m getting used to make a fool out of myself, so here is today’s story:

In Portugal we recycle almost every packaging waste. It’s very easy, you just have to separate the glass, the paper/cardboard and the plastics, and then go to a recycling bin and dispose it.

In Holland, we have to remember what we bought where, because you have to return the packages to the shop where you bought it! But at least you get a discount in your shopping.

Today I finally decided to take the bottles to recycle, we had so much bottles, mainly glass bottles…So I got on my bike with the heavy bag and I had to go in to the shop to the deliver the bottles, but most of them I had to bring home again (again mainly the glass ones).

I don’t really understand yet, because I’m sure that the beer is the same (I don’t know where my boyfriend bought them). The big bottles of coca-cola  where accepted, but not the little one, and I know for sure that I bought it there…

I had to return home with most of the stuff back, plus the shopping! :S

My partner could have said something when I told him I would go there to return the bottles…


P.S.: Even returning the bottles to the supermarket machines, there was so much plastic waste that we would throw out. It was making me sad. Just 3 weeks after I arrived, my partner gave me a letter that the city hall sent in the beginning of the year. He says that he kept the letter for me because he noticed that there was a "cute plastic bag". The letter explained what to do with the plastic waste! Argh!

Harmona Island - Fuseta (Portugal)

I can not hide the sadness to see this video ... it’s from the nearest beach from my parents house back in Portugal, 7 km away. I've always been very conscious that one day this would happen. I can’t count how many times I have told my friends and colleagues not to cross the dunes to get to the beach or not to lie down in the dunes.

However it still shocks me to see this destruction.

When you realise what is going to happen but don't know when, it will always be a "surprise", we will always be caught off guard ...

There is no point on saying "I told you so" or how it was "expected" until we learn to build with nature instead of against it. The strength of nature is always superior and when opposing we will end up suffering the consequences of her trying to return to her balance.

I hope spring tides will bring back some sand to the beach!

Cycling...

Ever since I remember I like to cycle! My favorite memory of the time I lived in France is going to the forest on Sundays cycling with my family. I remember picking chestnuts… Good times!

Now in The Netherlands, it has a special flavor, and it’s not just because it’s all so plane!

Here when you drive you have to look everywhere for other cars, bikes or pedestrians… There are so many people and lanes for all kinds of transport.
When you walk, you have to give priority to bikes (you have to be very careful), you have to wait for the fire signs to change (and they take long, because it’s the slower transport).

When you cycle, everything seems so much closer. The pedestrians and the cars give us priority when we turn, we just have to put one finger out to the side we are turning (you will have to pay attention to the cyclists…) and the traffic light for cyclists is faster also.

And we still have to consider that almost everywhere you could have to pay to park your car, meanwhile, you can park your bike almost everywhere without paying and you have free parkings in the center!

I just want to go everywhere cycling!

Sorry IKEA, I think we should start seeing other furnitures... :)

After going 3 times to IKEA (sorry about the publicity, someone once said, "Talk good or bad, but talk about me), we finally chose our shoe cabinet, a closet and some other stuff. We finally thought we would have our things all tight up, but… we brought the wrong pieces of the closet and one of the pieces of the shoe cabinet has a fault! So it was still not this weekend that we could close the deal. 

Of course, the store was closed on Sunday, so we went back Monday… everything ok, very easy to exchange the furniture, no questions asked.

Monday night we had capoeira lessons, and Tuesday we were in pain, but we still started to put the remaining furniture together! 

The shoe cabinet had another fault in the same piece and plus, it has no backsight! That's too much! 

We took a while to decide whether to return it or not, the defect was too big to not be noticed. 

We decided to return it, but our bad luck still haunts us, we can not find the receipt…

So it seems like we are stuck with a bad shoe closet and we have to reassemble it again!

P.S.: As they say: third time is a charm! We found the receipt had to reassemble the furniture but at least it's not defective.

I can't dance... :D

I can't even move... Yesterday we went to our first capoeira lesson in Holland! 


They have such a fast game. The last time I have done capoeira was 3 month ago, I couldn't remember almost any moves and here they were teaching me new ones, which is good, but I mixed them all up! The first "roda" was not so bad, but by the second one I was just so tired... 

It was fun!

Capoeira

For those who don't know, capoeira is a fusion between a martial art and a dance. This was developed from African slaves in Brazil because they were forbidden to fight, so they had to disguise it as a dance.

I started to have capoeira lessons in Portugal in September or October I can't precise and at the beginning of the year, when I decided to come to The Netherlands I stopped going to classes so I could make the arrangements for my new life. :)

Now I'm here, and me and my partner whant to practice capoeira here. So, we went to a class to see the conditions, price, etc. When we talked to the professor, he asked where we are from and when we said Portugal, he said: well, "let's talk in Portuguese then". We were surprised, and he his not the only one speaking portuguese because of capoeira.

I didn't have a clue that all capoeira movement names are not translated, they kept the original name in Portuguese. That will make it so easier for us!

Note: Portuguese and Brazilians speak the same language but there are several different word that are only used in one of the countries. The accent is not the same and they may spell the words differently also. If you learn Portuguese, you will find it easier with the Brazilian accent.

Well, I'm still on vacations from my old job, I've just arrived, I rather go out from time to time for sight seeing and get used to the local's habits.

I went to the market to buy some fruits and vegetables... To be polite, I asked if the sir spoke English. They have so much sense of humour, the response was "Yes. I love you... Is that enough english?" Well...oh, sorry.... hum... I would like some lemons, please... LOL

 

So from now on I wont ask if they speak English, I'll just try to make me understand using dutch, sign language and english, if needed, and we'll see...

 

Moving with pets...

This is not a post for someone who doesn’t care about animals...

I can live without the brands and products that I'm used to, but my cat... Well... Maybe I'm just too careful, but the fact is that we had to change her food and her hairball medicine, because we can't find the same here, and she had trouble going to the "little box" and wouldn't eat.
After 2 days her poop was so though... Poor little thing! She wouldn't get better so I went looking for another food, and I ended up buying food that also helps with hairballs. Now she eats more (but still less that in Portugal, I think mainly because now she doesn't go for walks in the street), and her poop is fine after only one day! Yeah!

My tip for these kind of situations is to bring your animal's stuff to your destination if you don't know if you will find the same things there. It's easier to change their habits slowly, mixing the new things with the old ones.

Better no floor than no roof, right? :D

So… this you should be aware, because it’s different: When renting a house in The Netherlands you can be renting a house with no furniture… and no floor!

That's right! Maybe it’s because of the carpets, I don’t really know, but that’s how they do it! You are supposed to pick a floor and have someone to lay it. When you move out you can try to sell it to the next tenant, but if you are not that lucky you will have to remove the floor! It’s not as easy as you would think! We tried to do it ourselves (to help the neighbour) but it was so well glued in all the area so we were exhausted after removing 50 cm!

Note: It turns out there are two machines – one that will rip up the floor and another to remove all the glue… But don’t be deluded - the floor that you paid for at the beginning will be completely ruined.
After this we decided to only have a floor when we have our own house!

 Here is an exemple of no floor, it's a store in a shopping.

First things first!

Well, I arrived so late that I only unpacked the next day, but guess what?

In the bedroom there was a noise like some kind of machine working. We couldn't find what it was exactly, and my boyfriend was like "this noise? It's normal, you will get use to it". (And I was like "will I have to explain again the harm that noise can do? Tomorrow? :D" 

I could get some sleep but I woke up several times during the night.

The fact that I had to leave most of my things back in Portugal had a advantage: I didn't waste many time unpacking and straighten my things, in around 20 minutes I was already helping a colleague of my boyfriend moving out to his new house.

Talking to another colleague that also lives in the same building, I found out that the noise in the bedroom can be stopped, but we didn't figure out how. The solution found is to turn off the bedroom fuse, so every night we go to bed at candle light, very romantic. LOL

Note: Having a limit to your luggage also means that some of the essencial stuff that you couldn't bring will have to be sent by post or eventually you will end up buying new ones.

First step - Pack and travel

For starters I could only bring essential stuff, many of my things are still at home. We really need to move out to see how many crap we collect in a small amount of time. Some stuff that I couldn’t bring will be send by post.


The flight was terrible; all I could think was “poor cat”! When I arrived to Rotterdam’s airport I had a back pack, two coats and my purse, and I had to go get my luggage and my cat. The airport is so little, two flights arrived at the same time, and all the passengers were around the only conveyor belt and everyone had a trolley…


My baggage was taking so long... I couldn't decide whether to get the cat first or the luggage. The cat arrived, she was fine but nervous and her cage was almost opening, don’t know what happened… I picked up my baggage and we went home.Finally she could smell around and began to eat and drink as normal. I was surprised by her reaction, she didn't cut us off or anything, she looks happy!


Note: when travelling with animals bring a leash – the animal may need to take a walk and mostly you need to take the animal out of the transport box to pass the x-ray machine!

The beginning

The story began when two Portuguese people fell in love but were living 300 km away from each other. We tried to live closer to one another but it just didn't seem to work - we couldn't find jobs that we liked in the same region...


So after making so many failed plans and moving several times, something unexpected happened: my boyfriend had an offer for the job of his dreams, but... it was in The Netherlands! I could not cut his wings, so I quit my job and moved to Breda.


After 6 month apart I'm finally here and brought our cat!