REVERSE CULTURAL SHOCK - Returning to Portugal after 20 years abroad |THE POSITIVES | PART I

[@MeetCarolas]

Thank you for watching our video! Sign up to email newsletter LIVE (where we share FREE resources to move to Portugal) - meetcarolas.substack.com/welcome

[@QGDeclined]

Great perspective, thanks for sharing, look forward to part 2!

[@MeetCarolas]

Glad you enjoyed it! We just release part 2 ;)

[@petertraudes106]

Bom dia, eu sou holandês que estudou Português quando tinha 25 anos. Logo durante a minha primeira visita a Portugal notei o calor humano e hospitalidad dos Portuguêses. Resolvi estudar mais Português na Hollanda e em portugal. Agora depois de muitas viagems em Portugal (incluso Açores e Madeira) e no Brasil me sinto mais ou menos compatrioto de voçes.

[@MeetCarolas]

Obrigada pela partilha Peter 🙌

[@julioc4978]

Great video, Another one, the quality of the groceries and produce, the food overall… Cheers

[@MeetCarolas]

Many thanks! That is a great point to! Groceries and produce are lovey here!

[@jul7291]

Great to hear a Portuguese returnee's perspective. This actually interests me more than a lot of those "expat" immigrants. I agree with nearly all you say about the positives, specially the first one - the welcome and the generosity, and the helpfulness. I think that is definitely the most important thing that we can all learn from. Because of my own experience when visiting Portugal, I try to give people the same kind of welcome. I think Portugal was probably the place that gave birth to the idea of paying it forward.

[@MeetCarolas]

Thank you Annie for your lovely insight and comment!

[@jul7291]

@@MeetCarolas E sempre a primeira coisa que digo quando alguém me pergunta porque eu gostaria de morar em Portugal.

[@adalas]

Great Video ! After 14 years in Canada it will be my turn within 2 years. I can live very well with all the negatives.

[@MeetCarolas]

Best of luck! on your move to Portugal ;)

[@djaykhay1953]

I haved lived for extended periods of time in various countries. It amazes me how lacking in relevant content many relocation related videos are when compared to the real experience. I have been living in Caldas Da Rainha now for several months and I have to say that based on real experience, this video does a down to earth and honest appraisal of life in Portugal. I very much enjoyed watching this video whereas many of the genre leave me asking myself if the the authors spent more than a weekend here. Great job!

[@MeetCarolas]

@djaykhay1953 Thank you for you comment! It means a lot to us! We've keep our videos away from "opinion content" we didn't know if the reception would be positive. We are super glad is being enjoyed ;) If you have suggestions of additional content like this we should explore it, let us know!

[@GLOBALSTRIDE]

Well, Well, Welcome back to Portugal! I used to watch you 3 years ago when you bought the house with a lot antiques. Do you still live there? What happened to those wonderful things that the previous owners left behind? At that time, I remember telling you that those things were worth a lot of money! My name is Antonio and I emigrated to the US from Brazil over 50 years ago. About 7 years ago I started looking into processing a residence Visa for Portugal. I did visit Portugal twice. The first time was in 2015 and then in 2022 to check it out again with the intention of relocating there. My wife and I visited Porto, Lisbon and the Algarve area. After a lot thinking we decided not to relocate because of health reasons and the cost of rent and/or housing increased twofold. Also, we live comfortably in a great closed community not too far from the parks with a lot of amenities for senior citizens. I wish you, Antonio and the kids the best of luck in your endeavors. Forte abraco e que Deus sempre abencoe voces.

[@MeetCarolas]

Obrigada António! For your lovely message! We really appreciate it :) we will be sharing more videos on the renovation we did our house :) tudo de bom para vocês e muita saúde 🙌🙌

[@KenshoQuest]

I agree, healthcare in the US is so stressful! We visited family recently, but only stayed 14 days because that’s how long our travel health insurance covers us while home in the US. We didn’t want to be in the US for even 1 day without health insurance!

[@MeetCarolas]

We can very much relate to it. When we did our 1y around the world trip we did 1 month in USA and had to top up our travel insurance with more $$$ than we had to pay for the 1y around Asia and South America. Its bunkers!

[@pnmoura]

Bem vinda.... voltar ao nosso país é sempre diferente!!!

[@MeetCarolas]

Obrigada Pedro!

[@tonistojcev6281]

Thank you for the video. Me and my wife are going to Portugal next year and we hopping everything will be good. My wife is Brazilian I’m Macedonian and we are from Chicago IL. Our kids don’t speak a lot português my daughter is good but our son not much. Do you have any idea where to start. Like schools ?? You think to put them in public or international schools for 1st year? We trying to move there as retirement I’m not planning on working but my wife might end up working one day lol. Please give us ideas. We like to be by silver cost.

[@MeetCarolas]

Thank you for your comment :) I would start by viewing our schools in Portugal play list we cover there your questions ;) kzbin.info/aero/PLErvrkC575QRLalYj1n4rXfdWSm9MlxZ3&si=r9waDfIlu1jJ1WzA

[@MeetCarolas]

If you can visiting the schools before hand is a great option to understand the resources they have avaliable for non Portuguese speakers

[@manuelgouveia2710]

Felicidade! 🇵🇹🇿🇦

[@MeetCarolas]

Obrigada Manuel!

[@pcampbell17]

Yea and the teachers in Portugal bully Brazilian children and mildly racist. I left as soon as I could when one of you people yelled at me in public for having blond hair. Never had a good experience at the Sao cristovao hospital - they wouldn’t even see me.

[@MeetCarolas]

I'm sorry you've experienced that, its not acceptable. If you are exposed again to racism in Portugal this is how you report via [e-mail] , these situations need to be registered so these business/schools/hospitals get hold accountable for it. The organization that handles this is: eportugal.gov.pt/servicos/apresentar-uma-queixa-a-comissao-para-a-igualdade-e-contra-a-discriminacao-racial

[@ivanbarbosa81]

Eu estive 8 anos fora e sinto-me um outsider.Community in Lisbon is not the same concept.Willingness to help the same.Our public health service is certainly better and cheaper, almost free, but it's degrading so I got an insurance and went private.

[@MeetCarolas]

Indeed, big cities is a different vibe.

[@pcampbell17]

And also when I went to vermilho Cruz I had to spent 98 euros up front with insurance. There are a lot of things you are leaving out.

[@MeetCarolas]

It depends a lot on the insurance you have, each one is different with different fees for appointments.

[@teddydavis2339]

I wish I could say that my stay in Portugal was positive. I am usually an optimistic person, but I had so many negative experiences that I almost have nothing positive to say about Portugal. My impression of the Portuguese is that they don't like black people. I went to Guimaraes to visit. I got some very nasty looks. I ended up getting lost, so I asked a man for directions. He was nice enough to walk me to the train station, but he didn't waste the opportunity to tell me that they didn't like black people. Yes, you heard me right. He said we don't like black people. I thought to myself, "I can't hate someone I don't know." So apparently, in Portugal, this is normal. Another time I went to a hotel in Oporto and the hotel receptionist told me that the hotel had no rooms available. I didn't believe her as it was low season and I could see all the keys behind her. So, I went to another hotel. It bothered me to I called the hotel to see if they had rooms, and of course they did. I returned to the hotel to confront the young lady, in a very calm manner. I just wanted to know why she refused to rent me a room. She told me to leave or she would call the police. I begged her so do so because I knew that what she was practicing was discrimination. I waited for the police and once they'd arrived, I explained to them what happened. She went on to tell the police that she had orders from the own, not to rent to certain people. I knew what she meant. Another time in the train station, I sat beside a Portuguese lady. I didn't know that she was waiting for her family. A few minutes latter a little girl came and asked her mother why she was sitting next to this "preto", which means black man. I was shocked. I didn't blame the child, I blamed the parents for not educating their child better. I had a few more incidents, but I won't go in to them. Needless to say, living in Portugal made me lose my faith in humanity. Hence, it is my least favorite country in Europe.

[@MeetCarolas]

Teddy, I'm so sorry you had this experience in Portugal, what you've experience is unacceptable. Unfortunately in all countries we always encounter folks with prejudice and ill intent, I'm sorry you've run into do many of them. I follow the channel @OurRichJourney and so far I hadn't seen them report these types of encounters so I assumed we had evolved and had put behind this prejudice. The channel to report these situations via [e-mail] , we need to register these situations so these business get hold accountable for it. The organization that handles this is: eportugal.gov.pt/servicos/apresentar-uma-queixa-a-comissao-para-a-igualdade-e-contra-a-discriminacao-racial.

[@JoaoMartins-v9r]

I feel so sorry this happened in Portugal is not nice he must be stress full for you but I just wonder if another country in eu is different! By dway so sorry,I still believe you have good people in Portugal

[@letsgetdoing]

Trying to move to Portugal myself. I fell in love with Europe 10 years ago and am ready to realize my dream of moving now. Been in NYC for 15+ years and it started going downhill, with vibrant life and individuality, around 2016. It's a giant 9-5 boring city now with JUST violence and zero vibe. When I first went to Europe, Paris to be exact, the vibe was amazing!!! Not just working to no ends, talking about how much you work and make, but completely lack common skill (such as drivers license in NYC) and lifeless as a person. EVERYTHING is a facade and I cannot stand fake people. This has been a great series on the truth of LIVING in America. Especially when mentioning "gun drills" and "health" care.

[@MeetCarolas]

🙌 all the best on your move to Portugal!

[@glastonbury4304]

Personally would of never left Portugal 🇵🇹

[@MeetCarolas]

We wanted the experience of living in different countries :)

[@glastonbury4304]

@MeetCarolas ...oh I agree, did the same, I'm from the UK, but Portugal is just a lovely country...bet you're glad to be back...always a nice feeling knowing your country is a great place to live once the wander lust has been fed 🥰

[@sarasimoes9845]

As someone that move from Lisbon to UK, I can't really relate with the positives culture shocks as we have almost all of them in here. But love the video. Can't wait for the negatives.

[@MeetCarolas]

@sarasimoes9845 Thank you for your insights Sara! You can view the challenges here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKLXlH2sgdKtmqs they come from a place of love, Portugal could be so much more if we tackled these ;) IMHO of course!

[@antoniorosado5647]

Are you for real ?

[@MeetCarolas]

😁

[@pcampbell17]

My wife made 750 a month in Portugal and met with racism all the time if I wasn’t with her.

[@MeetCarolas]

😔

[@carlosvictor8679]

evolution 🙂

[@MeetCarolas]

😀

[@PTdreaming]

Great Video! I find the restaurant culture in the US really uncomfortable. The servers rush to you, and push to take an order, the food often comes quickly. They will make any changes with a smile ,Acoomidate all kinds of strange requests, and after the food is on the table a half hour, they are hovering again to take the plates away " Are you still working on tha?" they will ask. I say "I'm not working I'm eating" SO American!! And the Tip that you have to pay no matter what because the workers are not paid a decent wage. So much better in Portugal.

[@MeetCarolas]

in 100% agreement!

[@antoniodasilva1230]

Was twice as long in the USA not really any culture shock 😂

[@MeetCarolas]

thats awesome!