After the Storms

Back in this post we mentioned an essay which identified these common traits of Portuguese work culture: 

• Honor-based shame avoidance 
• High-context indirectness 
• Hierarchical authority preservation 
• Liability-averse bureaucratic instinct 

There is a weekly English newsletter here called Portugal Decoded, written by a native Portuguese who speaks flawless English, and it basically said the same thing in the context of the response to the recent string of storms and floods here.  According to the article, government response has been fragmented and ineffective because of the same cultural characteristics described above.  Rather than having one central authority to make decisions and take action, for example, there are dozens of administrative silos each reluctant to do anything because they may be violating a hierarchy or sticking their neck out which could lead to liability and shame.  There was too much pointing fingers and asking for opinions, and emergency response often didn't get done.  The interior minister has resigned as a result.  We thought this corroboration was very interesting.

We can see the effect in our daily transactions sometimes too.  When we lived back in the apartment in Gaia we bought an office chair and some other stuff.  When we got home we realized that they had forgotten to give us the advertised discount on the chair.  We went back to the store and showed them the error.  We were cheerful and pleasant; this stuff happens, no problem.  Three clerks gathered around the receipt, silently, and someone got the manager.  There was a quiet discussion and the manager stiffly presented us with the discount amount in cash.  They were all very uncomfortable and there was no apology or smiling.  We thought it was a little odd at the time, but now it makes more sense.

By the way, don't be concerned if you see "frango inteiro com miúdos" (whole chicken with little kids) on your package of chicken from the Portuguese supermarket.  Miúdos also means "giblets".  It is a mystery why they use the same word for "little kids" and "giblets".

Our house water pump valve started clacking too frequently, again, like it was doing shortly after we moved in a year or so ago.  This time Gerrit and his sidekick Gemini re-pressurized the expansion vessel without having to call in a plumber.  He reports that it was pretty easy.  If we have to do this once a year it's fine, but if it gets worse it will be time for a new expansion tank.

Gerrit just got his approval for his Portuguese driver's license transfer on Monday Feb. 16.  It was a piece of cake for Pat to set up her transfer appointment and receive her actual license in the mail, so we're hoping it will be as smooth for Gerrit.

Pat found a great recipe which is now a workhorse in our dinner stable.  It's a spicy curry with chick peas, pumpkin puree, spices, and rice.  Contact her if you want the full recipe, we think it's great.

On Friday Feb 20 the weather started shaping up and drying out, expected to be nice for a few days.  The following day was beautiful and spring-like, and we went to Ponte de Lima for an agricultural fair at the Expolima exhibition hall near downtown.  We watched a local traditional band in the main town square first:

Then as we wandered a bit a friend of ours called out from a shop.  He is a native Portuguese named António who comes to our expat meetings now and then, and owns a jewelry store near the town square.  It was established in 1903, and António is the fourth generation to operate it.  They carry hundreds of articles, mostly in gold, hand crafted filigree in the old Portuguese style.  The detail and craftsmanship are really exquisite.  Since our anniversary is coming up in a couple months, we found a beautiful set of earrings for Pat.  They are "hearts of Viana", a characteristic offset heart shape which is found throughout the Minho region (far northern Portugal, where we live).  Gerrit will hide them so Pat can pretend to be surprised on May 8.

Then we made our way to the Expolima exhibition hall, where there were some animals, some agricultural booths, specialty agricultural lectures being given, and some street food.  It had been a great morning, getting out in the fresh air and sunshine after weeks of storms.  We had some lunch, picked up some local foods, and headed home.

Pat and the tiny pony

Fresh local organic vegetables

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio)

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Being Thankful

It is becoming clear that the recent "storm train" (one storm immediately following another) that has been pummeling Portugal has caused some serious damage.  Since January 20 Portugal has seen storms Ingrid, Joseph, Kristin, Leo, and as of Feb 8 Marta, all directly following one another.  About two dozen deaths have been reported, hundreds are injured or displaced, flooding and power failures are widespread, and up to €4 billion in damages are expected.  People are banding together with donations and support, but emergency services are stretched thin.  We and our friends are lucky, we have not seen significant damage.

And now here is a story which can be told.  A few months ago Gerrit's doctor saw his blood PSA rising, which can be an indicator of prostate cancer.  Gerrit went in for an MRI, and the radiologist identified a small nodule which he said was "highly likely to be cancerous".  This is not what the patient wants to hear.  Gerrit then had a guided biopsy by his urologist on January 22, which is the most accurate available, and the samples were sent to the pathology lab.  Then on Monday Feb 9 he got an abrupt automatic text message notifying him that he had an appointment with his urologist for the following day.  He began to dread the worst.  It sounded like his doctor had gotten bad news from the pathology report and wanted him in there immediately to break the news to him and start planning for treatment.  Or worse.

But no!  There was no cancer found at all!  19 samples had been taken, including on and around the suspect nodule, and everything came back clear.  Gerrit went from mortal dread to euphoria in about ten seconds.

Later he realized that everyone can have a little bit of that feeling of euphoria all the time, if we would only be grateful for all the good things we do have and the bad that we don't.  Here are some examples: We don't have cancer!  We don't have any number of other dread diseases!  We have normal good health!  We have loved ones we can be with!  Our brains are functional and alert!  The list goes on and on.  There is so much to be grateful for.  Just regularly pretend that you thought you had awful disease X but you suddenly realize that you don't.  Gerrit assures you that it feels pretty great.

Back to the biopsy though.  It required general anesthesia, so no food or drink was allowed following a light breakfast.  Unfortunately the procedure was delayed by about four hours, to six PM (someone else apparently had the nerve to have an emergency), so Gerrit sat in the hospital room for hours with nothing but his pathetic gown and panties on getting hungrier and hungrier.  Good thing the Pope didn't drop by.  Pat had brought some embroidery at least, but Gerrit got awfully tired of his phone after a while.  Finally he was whisked down to the operating room, and he lay there for a while listening to all the very Portuguese activity going on.  People were joking, laughing, and talking.  It was a pretty relaxed atmosphere, which helped to lower his anxiety level.  His urologist came by, soothed him, and told him what to expect.  After the anesthesiologist administered his drug, he was gesturing and joking with the nurses on the other side of Gerrit's bed.  There was none of that ominous "count backward from 100" stuff (like you'd get any further than 97 anyway).  Gerrit began to go under and said "estou com sono" (I'm sleepy).  The anesthesiologist said "com fome?" (you're hungry?) and the last thing Gerrit remembers was trying to say "não fome, sono" (not hungry, sleepy), even though he was in fact hungry too.

Pat got texts when Gerrit went to surgery, when he emerged from surgery, and when he was to return from recovery.  The whole time she got to wait in his room, not some waiting room.  It was all very reassuring.

When Gerrit came to in the recovery room, he felt no pain whatsoever.  There was no pain at all, even for weeks afterward, and with no pain medication either.  He doesn't know how his urologist managed to puncture him painlessly, 19 times in a very sensitive area, but he was thankful for it.  He also got the most wonderful sandwich in the world there in recovery after 14 hours of foodlessness, and about midnight we drove home.  Pat drove home, that is.

Overall the biopsy experience was great.  We used the private healthcare system, since that's what our insurance provides.  People were helpful and sympathetic, most spoke at least a little English, and the facilities were top-notch.  The urologist was very competent, spoke English well, and had a great bedside manner both in his office and at the hospital.  Our experience of Portuguese private and public medical care has been excellent, from routine office calls to this fairly major procedure.

So, enough drama, back to the mundane.  On Saturday Feb 7 our hot water tank began showing an error code and failing to heat the water.  This is not what you want in a hot water tank.  We started taking morning sponge baths, Gerrit called the technicians early Monday, and late Tuesday afternoon our favorite tech Filip (he's been here a couple times before) worked for a couple hours here to repair the tank.  It looked like multiple failures had occurred, possibly due to power surges, but he got it working again and hot showers were back on the menu.

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

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Daily Life, Daily Downpours

Now that we have all our Seattle goods in boxes in the garage, waiting to be unpacked, we have decided to paint the house interior first.  Good grief, you'd think we would have planned that a little better.  We guess that the recent wine explosion all over the walls and ceiling gave us a little extra impetus to paint, but also we realized that it would be quite a bit more difficult to move everything out of the way for the painters once we'd loaded the place with our stuff.  Right now the china hutch is still wrapped up beautifully for shipping protection, for example, so all we need to do is slide it out from the wall to paint.  No tarps or fragile china rattling on the glass shelves involved.  And the new cupboards and shelves we'll need in the rest of the house are still figments of our imagination, which are easy to paint around.

Pat keeps up with a large network of support chats, and she found us some local references for painters right away.  Gerrit will follow up with them in the next few days.

On Tuesday Feb 3 Gerrit had an appointment for his free tetanus vaccination in the public health clinic in Ponte de Lima, so we both headed down there.  When we got there the entire lower floor of the clinic, where vaccinations were given, was torn up for construction and the whole building was being refaced.  We didn't know where to go at that point, so we went upstairs and began getting a ticket to ask someone.  A kindly security guard approached Gerrit, and from Gerrit's halting Portuguese the guard learned what we were there for.  He verified our name on a list, directed us to another room next door, told the nurses we were there, came out to tell Gerrit "one minute" in English, smiled, and touched him on the shoulder as he left to help others.  It's another example of the kindness of the Portuguese.

After the appointment, on the way home, a phone call came in for Gerrit.  It was the plumber he had requested just the previous day.  Gerrit told him he spoke only a little Portuguese, and for the first time he kept his head and asked the caller to repeat, more slowly.  The plumber did, Gerrit did a passable job of understanding, confirming, and responding, and he completed his first actual phone conversation totally in Portuguese.  (The phone is the worst.  It's in real time, the audio is often bad, you can't see gestures, expressions, or body language, and you can't watch their lips as they speak.  It's a communication nightmare.)  In twenty minutes we were home, with the plumber waiting there as Gerrit had asked.

He was there to fix a clog in our garage bathroom drain.  He did a great job, and he even mopped the floor afterward with disinfecting cleaner.  Gerrit was able to communicate and make small talk with him pretty well in Portuguese most of the time, too.

On Wednesday Feb 4 we went to Viana do Castelo, about 30 minutes from home, to the equivalent of the Department of Motor Vehicles so Pat could complete the transfer of her driver's license.  (For some reason Gerrit's is held up.)  It was in a slightly dingy governmental-looking building with a dozen people waiting.  Typical DMV, in other words.  Pat was called within a few minutes though, but the clerk spoke no English and had some complicated questions.  She recruited the next-door clerk, and as soon as the English-speaking clerk was free Pat moved there.  There was something wrong about the appointment Pat had made, we couldn't quite make out what it was, but the clerk cheerfully said she could process Pat anyway.  After a few minutes with the friendly and helpful clerk Pat handed over her Washington license and received her interim Portuguese license.  (Transfers like this require that you hand in your existing license.  We could have gone through the long expensive process of a complete driver's ed course, written test, and driving test, but opted to just do the transfer instead.  The Portuguese license will still be usable in the US.)  All in all, it was about the best experience either of us has had at a DMV in any country.

As of Thursday Feb 5 the rains have been heavy and continuous for most of about two weeks.  The Lima river is seriously flooded.  The parking lot adjacent to the river is under about 3 meters (10 feet) of water, and water is even over the new walking path (the yellowish stripe in the foreground here) by about a half meter (1.5 feet).  Everything is fine up at our home's altitude, but water gushes from every culvert and drain pipe between there and Ponte de Lima and floods everything downhill.  It's like little rivers in the road in places.  This flood is nothing compared to some historical ones though.  There are arrows and dates on the sides of buildings in the center of town showing flood levels a meter or two above the street!

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

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