Quick Moving Update

As Brady mentioned, we just bought an apartment here in Lisboa!! It’s not in Alfama, but it’s just a few blocks away in Baixa, so still close enough to get to our favorite spots, but far enough away that we venture out to new places a little more than we have in the past.

Note: None of this is really specific to Lisbon, or even Portugal, just regular moving bullshit, but I wanted to give you an update on how things are going.

The apartment is *wonderful*. So much nicer than the one we were renting, by light years. Bigger, cleaner, just nicer all around. A place I’ll be thrilled to bring friends over to, versus the constant stream of apologies I had to make for our last place.

I admit that when we first started the moving process, I thought I’d feel a little more sentimental about the old place (since it was our first place here), but I do not. When we go back there (more on that in a moment), it feels yellow. It’s dark, it’s hot, it’s yucky and tacky, and I can’t wait to leave and come back to my real home, this new place.

So, speaking of moving, overall we’re very glad we don’t have a car here. Parking is a nightmare in Lisbon, and narrow streets coupled with people who drive like lunatics (and often cryptic road signs) can raise anyone’s blood pressure. But moving while knowing we don’t have a car, we asked around for recommended movers. We got a few well-trusted leads, but they were all unavailable because they were booked or because they were on vacation (Aug/Sept are big vacation months for Portuguese folks.)

Because the seller was motivated and we were motivated, the apartment deal went through a lot faster than Portuguese real estate deals often do. They can take 60 days or more, and ours happened a lot faster – which is great, but it meant we had a lot less lead time than we were expecting. Time to book movers, etc.

Fine, we thought… It’s just like seven blocks, right? We don’t have that much stuff, right?

Friends, you always have more shit than you realize.

We made it a point not to buy much here since we knew the old apartment wasn’t our forever home, but after a year, you do end up picking up some stuff. A TV (the apartment came with one that was 15 inches and had no speakers), a toaster oven (the apartment didn’t have a microwave or a toaster oven), dumb shit like that, but it adds up.

If we had movers or a car, this would be so simple, but were don’t, so it’s been a slog, especially after a 12 hour work day. We tried to be smart, to plan it out. Move two suitcases, empty them, and then do it again, over and over until it’s done. That sounds totally reasonable, right?

The only time Alfama is quiet enough to get through with large items is early morning or late at night, otherwise you’re dodging groups of 20-40 people on walking tours who have zero fucks for you and whatever stuff you might be carrying.

We have Portuguese friends that have offered to help, but I just couldn’t bring myself to ask. It seemed like we could do it on our own, and I loathe asking people for favors, especially since the friends who offered are some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met, and the thought of them using their one day off in a week to help the weird losers they met at their restaurant makes me feel horrible.

So it’s been a long week or two. We’re tired.

Our (soon to be former) landlady wants to show the house (to sell) ASAP, we still have a lot of stuff in it, and I still have to go through and clean it, and then transport my vacuum, etc to the new place. Thank goodness the heat wave finally broke so it’s not 32 degrees out anymore.

This process has spiked a weird ADHD mental blockade for me, not in work stuff – we’re still releasing versions of the software, still doing our thing, but I’m doing that thing that ADHD people do where I can’t do <insert very normal thing for people to do here> until <insert another very normal thing for people to do here> happens, and THAT can’t happen until <you get the idea>. It’s stupid and I can see myself doing it but I can’t always stop it or break the cycle, so I end up in a self-reinforcing stress hurricane.

But hey, I dyed my hair, took a shower and even shaved tonight. Baby steps.

And in very good news, the cat has already adjusted just fine to the new place (she hates the Roomba, but I think I do too), and while the nervous dog is still nervous, there have not been any indoor accidents since we got here, and the street we live on is a travessa (side street) so it gets very little foot traffic. The animals are all doing fine, I’m the one losing my marbles. 🫠

This too shall pass. I know it. And our new place is great, I’m just ready for moving to be over.

Até breve,
Alison (aka “snipe”)