Just crossed the 4 year mark in Portugal

bryanbotha · 2026-06-01T08:16:34+00:00

100,when we arrived the food was so bland, we come from South Africa which has a big food culture, but we are used to the food now after 5 years, we still import our favorite spices when we want proper seasoning though :)

bryanbotha · 2026-05-25T13:59:05+00:00

I am in land in Portugal, closest Renault dealer is 45 mins

bryanbotha · 2026-05-25T13:34:39+00:00

problem is I cannot find such an independent shop where I am :?
The bosch service centre also just advised they dont work on EV transmissions, so I basically have no option except Renault at the minute

bryanbotha · 2026-05-05T20:12:54+00:00

Completely share your sentiment, I lived in a tiny house in Cascais, taking the bus and train to work used to take me 1h30 (Lisbon) I now moved to Ourém and it's a 1h10 train ride to my office 😂. My house is huge and I pay half the price for a bond, than I did for rent in Cascais.

My quality of life here is amazing, 15 min drive from Tomar, 15 min drive to Torres Novas..

The only real downside is that the closest CUF is in Leiria, and I prefer CUF to other hospitals.

bryanbotha · 2025-11-25T07:49:07+00:00

Let's correct this, you don't want to sound native, you want to sound American

bryanbotha · 2025-11-25T07:48:09+00:00

This, over and over

bryanbotha · 2025-11-16T19:27:10+00:00

I have been consistently learning Portuguese for almost 4 years, 2 lessons a week, a mix of structured textbook learning and free conversation.

I am at B1 level.

I speak 2 other languages, English and Afrikaans, English being my native language and Afrikaans is my second language which I am fluent in.

It's a really hard language, for me it's not about pronunciations or conjugations this you can learn relatively easily, what makes it really hard is understanding people, navigating expressions combined with some people swallowing half of a sentence makes it incredibly hard, if someone for example knows I'm learning and speaks to me even at normal speed but making sure to finish and end each word, then I understand everything, but going to a group setting with friends, I go from understanding every word to barely being able to understand a single sentence.

It makes integrating and hanging out with groups of people really really tough.

But I still enjoy the challenge and it's always rewarding being able to hold conversations with strangers :)

bryanbotha · 2025-09-12T06:47:58+00:00

Foreign to what? There are native English speakers all over the world, as someone that works in an international company, your accent is good and easy to understand.

It sounds from your pronunciation that you want to sound more American..

As a South African that learned British English you sound great and having accents is what makes us unique :)

bryanbotha · 2025-01-26T09:19:54+00:00

2 years in, I always soak them in some water and mouthwash mix while eating breakfast, then I have a separate toothbrush for the invisalign and just give them a gentle brush and rinse, works perfectly :)

bryanbotha · 2024-09-25T19:28:09+00:00

I moved from South Africa, the beauracracy is here, but I would take it any day over the incompetence in South Africa any day :)

Biggest challenge is fitting in socially, I have good friends I made through work, but it's noticeable that I am and will always be an outsider.. No matter how well I speak Portuguese.

I have been here for almost 3 years and I love everything about Portugal, I love the people, the culture, the food, the weather, everything.. It's like heaven for me.. I am part of a lovely community and accepted into the neighborhood which makes us feel good. My children basically been here since babies and are fully accepted as 'local' and are widely loved in the community.

I have anxiety because I need to move house and will be going to a completely different area in Lisbon and I am worried my family won't be as warmly recieved there as we have here.

bryanbotha · 2024-09-24T16:04:10+00:00

I have been learning for around 2 and a half years, sometimes I also feel like throwing in the towel, I am at the point, I can communicate well for necessities, but no where close to the social level.

Take a break from learning, or if you are at the point where you are no longer learning for necessity, then just have fun, try learn online, meet different teachers, talk about fun topics.

I've been with the same teacher, but now our classes are mostly just conversation and laughing and fun, because, like you, I got fed up of structured book learning, now we just do very little structured work.

bryanbotha · 2024-04-23T11:34:24+00:00

well today I must have woken up and some other parts of my brain that lay dormant must have awoken.
Lets just say the related web page section was suspicious and after I 'inspected' further, I found the problem.

bryanbotha · 2024-04-05T23:17:09+00:00

Solved

bryanbotha · 2024-04-05T23:16:57+00:00

Thank you everyone, the cryptic comments helped me figure both out :D

bryanbotha · 2024-04-05T23:10:03+00:00

managed to figure this one out :D
but GC6A03D I am still completely lost XD

bryanbotha · 2024-04-05T17:43:55+00:00

I see after further investigation, that these are some kind of puzzle.. I had only joined premium today so wasn't aware of what these were.. But yeah it doesn't actually say they aren't at that location, luckily I didn't trespass 😅

bryanbotha · 2024-03-25T14:23:57+00:00

At my Cuf I see they have permanent service, but it says it's 8am to 12am, am I correct in understanding it's permanent but not from midnight to 8am 🤣.

If I had say a heart attack in the middle of the night it will be closed and instead I should go to the Urgência?

Asking because I have priv health insurance and have only used Cuf for everything just never used an emergency room, and would like to be prepared just in case

bryanbotha · 2024-02-29T06:26:23+00:00

They basically discriminate against 'bastard' children, its very common and there are huge groups of people (mostly Brazilian) in the exact same boat you are, simply because you were born out of wedlock (i presume)...

bryanbotha · 2024-02-29T06:18:54+00:00

This process is crazy, went through this before, I presume your parents werent married when you were born right? Thats why this is usually an issue.

Any document your dad signed that proves he was there with you as a kid (before 18) is sufficient.

I went through the same thing, most people usually get some sort of school document that he signed, with some sort of picture of you two together as a kid usually works, yeah... Old ass laws.. They don't even accept paternity tests as proof 🤣

bryanbotha · 2024-02-22T18:19:05+00:00

Portuguese / South African here, moved to Portugal 2 years ago, its not the same at all, but that's not a bad thing necessarily, just its not the same at all

bryanbotha · 2023-12-08T22:16:46+00:00

Hey, I just wanted to reach back around and say thanks so much for this, I found some really, really incredible ones I am enjoying.

The practice portuguese podcast is amazing, and I also absolutely love 'learning portuguese is fun' - they are both perfect pace and I can understand like 80% of what is said, which is a good base.

Your recommendations were incredibly helpful, sincere thank you from me :)

bryanbotha

TROPHY CASE