It’s summer on Madeira and at the beginning of July it’s exactly 2 years since the emigration. It’s strange, on the one hand the time has somehow passed very quickly and it really doesn’t feel like 2 years, but on the other hand a lot has happened and changed during this time.
My life has changed a lot during this period and my old life seems so far away. I can’t imagine how I used to commute every day between my old home and Maastricht and spend all day in my practice. Yet this was my daily routine for years.
Even though I no longer have a practice, I still use the acupuncture occasionally. Nowadays, however, I only treat friends, which is nice. I don’t want to work in the health sector any more, but of course I’m still interested in the Chinese medicine and don’t want to get out of practice completely.
My daily communication / language has also changed a lot. In the last few years I mostly spoke Dutch and my German friends pointed it out to me when I spoke some strange Dutch-German again. Now I speak English most of the time and try my best to practice the Portuguese.
So now I got better again at my mother tongue German, but now it happens I have to look for some Dutch words. How quickly you forget a language if you don’t practice regularly.
After the last blog, I received a lot of questions about the construction, so here’s the requested update:
It took a very long time to organise and obtain all the necessary permits and papers, before the construction finally started at the beginning of the year. In the meantime, things are progressing very quickly on the construction site.
At the beginning it took a while to construct the support walls. Of course, this is the most important part of the construction and has to be done with care. As the property is located high in the mountains of São Vicente and is spread over different levels, these walls are very important to secure and stabilise the property and the house.
After this was done and the construction of the house has started, things are really moving fast. Every day I pass the construction site and see the building growing.
I don’t have much knowledge about construction and regularly I have to ask things or get something explained to me, as by the workers or the construction company. But that’s how I learn something new every day and I’m sure I’ll end up a (semi) professional.
Even though I already know that I probably won’t do another project like this. Personally, it causes me quite a lot of stress and anxiety, because I have to think about so many things, make so many decisions, constantly check everything, attent so many construction meetings, put countless signatures … and not to forget, this is all in Portuguese. It would probably already challenging in my mother tongue.
At this moment you can already see the structure of the house, the walls are being built, the stairs are going up to the second floor and you can actually walk through the house. And although I’m at the construction almost on a daily base, it still is a bit unreal and difficult to imagine to actually live there. But it won’t take that long before I can move in. Due to the planning I will celebrate Christmas in the new house. But of course, lots of things can still go wrong or delay the process…but who knows. Lets wait and see.
During these summermonths, there are a lot of tourists on the island. Apparently even more than before the pandemic. I also notice it at my work, all rental housen are fully booked for the next months.
Also got another rental home to manage, so in total I manage now 10 houses. It is a lot, but still a lot of fun and I really enjoy my flexible working hours.
https://airbnb.com/h/oceanviewmadeira4
In May my parents were visiting for a few weeks and for them the emigration also getting closer. They are planning to move to Madeira, when the house is ready, so it should be in the next 6 months. Accordingly, right now, they are busy with all the things we did 2 years ago. And an emigration takes a lot of time, planning and organisation.
To be more flexible, we want to have 2 cars and due to a good offer, they already bought a car here on the island.
My parents decided to buy a fully electric car and until they move to Madeira, I will be testing it.
First I was a bit sceptical, but it is a very convenient car here in Madeira. With a range of almost 400 km, you can easily get anywhere you want. And the battery recharges itself when driving downhill and during braking. And with all the mountainous roads on the island, this is of course very practical.
Electric cars are very common on Madeira and the network of public charging stations is well developed. At the new house will be a wallbox installed, so then the car will be charged from home, convenient and cheap.
Despite all the work, we manage to keep up our Sunday hikes. At the moment, however, we are trying to look for paths away from the crowded tourist routes. We still want to enjoy our green therapy in peace and calmness.
Summer greetings from Madeira!
Até à próxima!
Janine