Bem Vindo a Portugal!

Welcome to Portugal! We arrived in Portugal late Saturday the 5th, after nearly 24 hours of travel time, which included a 12 hour layover in Germany. Our initial intentions were to explore the city of Frankfurt, but we decided to catch up on much needed rest, leaving Germany to future adventures. All together, our flights were great, all our luggage arrived with us, and Leeloo made it through her first plane flights!

The first couple of nights, we stayed with our team leaders and their kids because our apartment didn't have water or heat yet. However, they did take us by to see it during our first full day in Portugal. It is located in Vila do Conde, about 30 minutes north of Porto, and we are very happy with it. Might I add... it is literally across the street from the beach. So, we meandered down to the water after looking the apartment over. And because we were there on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, there were a lot of people out. Here, Sundays are family days.

Us (far right) with our colleagues.

On our second full day, we moved into our apartment. However, we still had no heat or water. Water was going to be turned on the next day and we had warm blankets for the night, so we bought jugs of water and decided to stay. I think we were just anxious to move in. Our first dinner in the apartment looked something like this.....

With no heat to cook food and no utensils or plates
to eat civilly, we made sandwiches. Note that Hodge
is using a chip to spread the Mayo. He is very creative :)
Also, he says that Portuguese mayonnaise tastes like
Miracle Whip... which he loves. Score!

The next day, we unpacked some, our water was turned on by a nice gentleman who spoke no English, found out we won't have cable and internet until next week, ate around the corner at a pizza place (it was delicious!), walked to the grocery store.... o and went to the beach.

Across the street from our apartment and to the left.

Across the street and to the right.

I think Leeloo is happy with her new home...

... and so are we.

Well, after staying in our place for two nights with no heat and no warm water, we found out that our heat actually won't be turned on for several more days because of new Portuguese laws. SOO.. our colleagues invited us back to their apartment. We packed a bag and soon enough, we got warm showers and internet! After that, we did some shopping for our apartment and looked at getting phones. We also got the equivalent of a SS number. In Portugal, you need this number to buy or do a lot of important things.... like open a bank account, buy a phone, sign any contract with companies, etc. 

So far, it has been a great experience. We have a lot to do to get really settled in, and all of it is a process. Until we get on the company car insurance and get metro passes, our colleagues have been driving us around. They have been really great, extremely helpful, and such a blessing.

I will post again soon with more pictures of the city!

For now, that is it :)