We had our much-anticipated appointments with Portuguese immigration on September 28 in Terceira’s capital, Angra do Heroísmo (“Cove of Heroism”). It was the culmination of a year’s worth of planning – from setting up a bank account and obtaining tax IDs to gathering copies of every manner of document imaginable to sending fingerprints to the FBI for a background check to the visa appointment in NYC – and it went more smoothly than we could have imagined! We were almost shocked by how anticlimactic the whole experience was and treated ourselves afterward to a delicious lunch of alcatra (a slow-cooked beef delicacy of the Azores).

Our residency permit IDs arrived today and it’s official – we are temporary residents of Portugal! What a relief to call this place home…

Festival in Biscoitos (next village over)

Progress in the yard – repurposing terracotta tiles

Playing with cement in the kitchen