Evil Cats Destroy Lives In Europe

Category: Portugal

  • Surgery Day

    Surgery Day

    I arrived to inpatient check in at Hospital da Luz Guimarães, which is separate from the standard appointment check in desk, just before 9:00 the morning of January 31st. I felt a bit disembodied, floating around in a near dream like state. I had been struggling with my knee for such a long time that…

  • Lost Cities

    Lost Cities

    Another small two player game I brought on our journey to Portugal was Lost Cities by Reiner Knizia. This game is faster to play and easier to learn than Patchwork but has a depth of strategy that has kept me eager to play for many years. Before moving Michelle hadn’t played the game and I…

  • Torn ACL! Now What?

    Torn ACL! Now What?

    I had struggled with left knee instability for about 2 years. I was unable to run, jump or twist and dancing was right out. Lateral movements were limited and getting in and out of cars was challenging. If I stepped wrong or slipped on leaves or a slick spot on the ground, I would almost…

  • Navigating Healthcare Abroad

    Navigating Healthcare Abroad

    Access to quality healthcare that is also affordable was an extremely important factor when we started considering early retirement and a move abroad. Our 911 occupations in Oregon provided us with a “Cadillac Health Plan” and our employer paid the lion’s share of the expenses. We had become exceedingly spoiled, especially since we were double…

  • Holiday Celebrations

    Holiday Celebrations

    Andrew kicked off our preparations by lugging all of our holiday bins in from our still quite full garage. We planned to pull out all the stops and REALLY decorate this year. When seasonally bedazzling our home in Oregon, everything had its place, but we had to start from scratch here in Urgezes, having only…

  • Our First Thanksgiving In The North

    Our First Thanksgiving In The North

    It was our third Thanksgiving in Portugal, but the first in our very own house. Experiencing a very American tradition is a bit of an odd thing when living in a different country, not to mention that some expats’ relationship to holidays and their homeland can be a bit complicated. Some are homesick and missing…

  • Andrew’s Belated Birthday

    Andrew’s Belated Birthday

    With our move to Urgezes impending and our focus on packing and preparing we decided to put off my birthday celebration until September. I must admit that we made a late night order with Uber Eats and had a boatload of sushi dropped off for an impromptu dinner. Portuguese restaurants don’t skimp and it was…

  • Urgezes House Tour

    Urgezes House Tour

    We had the very best of intentions. The plan was to film a post remodel house tour before the never-ending unpacking began. Andrew, myself, and the pets arrived after 9:00 pm on Wednesday August 28th and by 8:00 am Thursday August 29th our property started arriving. I am not a morning person on the best…

  • The Small(er) Trip

    The Small(er) Trip

    We wrote about the challenges and excitement of our move from Medford, Oregon to Olhão, Portugal in the summer of 2022. There was an international shipment of our property, an emergency passport pick up in Seattle, a FlixBus trip to Portland, car trips, airport shuttles, and long flights with 3 pets and 6 massive suitcases…

  • Olhão: We’ll Miss…

    Olhão: We’ll Miss…

    We’ve talked a lot about why we decided to move to Guimarães but wanted to take time to go over some of the counterarguments. We weighed each of these ten things (and more) as we made our decision. In no particular order here are ten of the things we know we will miss that won’t…