Week 1

We survived our first week and am so glad to have the first week under our belt.   It is going to be quite an adjustment for us all and know that only time will help.  Adjusting to a new culture, new routines, new way of life, all at once seems very daunting at times.  I only hope and pray that our time here will continue to get better, more comfortable and that we can find ourselves enjoying our new "normal".  Living on the beach in a beautiful country is wonderful, but no scenery or way of life can replace being close to family and friends.

Some of the week's highlights:
- Getting caught in the rain and sprinting to a little resturant on the beach where we waited for the storm to pass with an order of french fries and glass of vino for me:)  Glass of wine - 2.5 Euro and Fries 1.5 Euro - that's my kind of snack.

- Doing laundry for the first time and hanging our clothes to dry on the clothes line.  We didn't think about if it rained the next day and the towels didn't dry how we would dry off after our shower (yes we used hand towels).  Guess we need to invest in more than 3 towels.  And air drying your clothes makes for some crunchy towels.  We missed the part that you put liquid fabric softener in with your laundry detergent.  We'll know better next time!

- Thursday night we had our first get together at our place.  I can't even explain how great it was to have human interaction and people over to talk to.  Not only was it refreshing for me, Annabelle was gleaming.  We could tell she loved the company and having people, other than her parents, pay attention to her.  Matt from Andy's office in the US was in town, so Andy invited Matt and two other guys from the Portugal office over for some pizza.  It was fun to entertain, although we had no serving pieces, utensils, really anything to use.  After we had gone through the 3 bottles of wine that we had to offer Andy pulled out a beer that we had purchased at the store over the weekend and offered it to our guests.  While Andy was drinking his beer, Pedro commented on drinking the local beer, and then continued to ask Andy why he bought the "non-alocholic" version of the beer.  Of course we didn't know it was the "non-alocholic" version, but guess we'll look closer at the label next time.

- Garbage Disposals - they exist, but we do not have one.  So doing the dishes is quite different than at home, where we would essentially throw everything down the drain.  We now have to clean our plates off into the trash and then empty out a sink plug that stops food from going down the drain.  Not sure how much I'm going to like that way of life.

- Hot Dog - Thursday afternoon Annabelle and I went down to Foz, the city we live in, to go to the supermarket and bakery.  It ended up being a beautiful day and knowing that rain was headed our way for 10 days straight, I thought it would be fun to go out to lunch on the beach.  And let's be honest, give us something to do to make the day pass.  I ordered Annabelle their "traditional hot dog" thinking it would be a traditional hot dog.  To my surprise, it was not an American traditional hot dog and came out as a sandwich - baguette with melted cheese, ham and a hot dog in between.  Thankfully I was able to salvage the hot dog and she knew nothing of it.

 Our view at lunch.

Annabelle running around the restaurant while we waited for our check.  They move at a different speed over here.

- Playgrounds - almost every morning this week we would walk down to the water where they have a handful of playgrounds along the shoreline.  I keep hoping that I will find another mom down there with the same thought as I, but have had the playground all to ourselves.  It's great to have an area where Annabelle can run around and the beautiful view helps!

 View from standing inside the playground fence.

Ocean is to the left and main path where everyone walks/runs is to the right, along with the main street that runs parallel to the water.