Intern@tional House Hunters: Portugal Edition

Intern@tional House Hunters: Portugal Edition!

Our flights were great, but despite enjoying lavish comfort on the plane ride over the Atlantic we arrived with familiarly foggy jet-lagged brains.  The high school principal, school director, and transportation manager (Nate, Blannie, and Jose, respectively) were there to greet us.  Nate took us on a stroll along the Tagus River in Lisbon to pass the time as we waited for the rest of the new international hires, and was exceptionally patient as we gushed with a menagerie of pent up questions about the school year, the staff, and Portugal in general.  The rest of the crew (Maria, Joel, & Jen) eventually arrived from the far-flung corners of the world and then we headed West along the coast, out of Lisbon and on towards Cascais (our future home) and Linho (the school site).

At the school we were taken on a tour and then fed an overwhelming amount of very useful facts that were reasonably difficult to keep from leaking out of brains and into puddles on the linoleum.  Of the many tasks they set before us, Mission #1 was finding a place to live.  In 4 days.  Better yet, 3, so that we have time to bring the Portuguese rental contract to our accommodating office manager.  Oh, and by the way, even though you asked for 2 bedroom places we set you up to look at 1 bedroom places... so you'll probably need to contact the agents and reschedule.  But you can't do that yet because you have your first meeting in an hour, and you have to check in to the hotel first.  Deep breath...

Although it all seemed pretty overwhelming at first, it fell into place fairly quickly, especially with the help of many warm and helpful Portuguese people that we met along the way.  As a result, we have a place all set up to go, just 3 days after arriving.  Check out the little video I made to document the journey, and vote on which one YOU think we should have chosen!