That is, we’ve been evicted if your definition of “evicted” is “when your previously agreed-upon move-out date has arrived.”

The really cool part about this particular move is that we have moved into a very nice apartment owned by our attorney. She wasn’t using it, and so offered it up while we await for our properties to close. This is but one of many kindnesses we have seen or been the recipient of from the Portuguese in general; whether strangers or friends. People are people, so it’s not like everyone in Portugal is dancing around throwing daisies at everyone while kissing them on the cheek (although they do do that here. That’s the standard greeting between females and everyone else (Men just shake hands with each other, thank God.). The standard greet and good-bye is air kiss-air kiss-both cheeks touch. It’s really kind of sweet. After I got over my initial American-bred discomfort with the practice, I’ve approached it with gusto. I did have to be reprimanded a couple of times though: “No tongue! No tongue!” Also, grocery store checkout clerks and cops aren’t particularly appreciative of the greeting.

The only downside to this apartment is that it has no internet or TV. I can get on the internet with my phone and iPad, but it makes handling pictures a little cumbersome. So, for the next month or so the blog may not be as bloggy, or as picture-full, as it has been. Which I know will disappoint all of our fans, most of whom have been pestering us with emails, and I quote: “Enough with the pictures already, I want to read more words!” And “You’re only blogging every couple of days, could you please try to make it a couple of times a day?” And “I’ve reread the entire thing from top to bottom four times now, going all the way back to your first visit to Europe, and I found a couple of typos. Can you fix them please?”

To all of you lovely fans, including those of you who were thinking all of the above but simply neglected to send the email, I say, “hey, I don’t want to walk out of this apartment to a hoarde of reporters and papparazzi, which will interrupt and complicate our sightseeing, so you’ll get what you get, and be happy with that. There’s always some John Steinway or Earnest Hemingbeck to read instead, y’know? Better yet, I heard something about this Shakespeare fella, apparently he’s an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more. Try him.”

In the meantime, we have made an offer and had it accepted on an apartment in the Alfama district. It’s a small one in a very old building, which is what the Alfama is all about. It is a tourist hotspot within Lisbon. We hope to close in a week or two, after which we’ll be scrambling to furnish it so we can stay there until we can move into our home on April 1st or thereabouts.

So yeah, if you’re wondering if we should “get a job,” somehow we’re staying plenty damn busy. We’ve been living out of suitcases for so long we can’t wait to get into our house. But with everything going so well and then some, we’re sure not going to complain about anything.