Sara and I spend an inordinate amount of time talking about and/or cursing at the dog upstairs. Let me back up.
When we decided to move to Portugal, I spent a few manic nights researching, mostly about the financial side of moving. Some of this was on where to live in Portugal. But not much research was done on what it was actually like to live in Portugal, especially as a foreigner.
Note: Most foreigners use the word expat, which denotes a temporary status. Sara and I identify as immigrants, since we plan to live here long-term.
One of the things I briefly read about was that the infrastructure in Portugal isn’t the best. I didn’t really know what this meant, nor did I investigate further. After all, infrastructure can mean all sorts of things and our flat was newly renovated, so I was certain this didn’t apply to us.
Narrator: They realized very quickly that this applied to them.
I’m not sure whether the flats have paper-thin walls/ceilings/floors or if these elements use some sort of conductive technology that enhances audio but you can literally hear everything. I once heard a small ball drop on the floor upstairs, and then roll around. We hear radios, and TVs, and people talking, and the boys who wrestle, and the woman who cackles. And we hear the dog upstairs bark. The dog barks a lot. But with almost clockwork precision, it barks between 8:00pm – 8:30pm. It also barks at other times, but always at 8pm. What is happening up there at 8pm? I’m dying to know. Do the owners leave? Is the dog made to stay on the balcony? We don’t know.
The other day I heard the dog barking in our stairwell and realized it was going outside to potty so I raced to the window and took this picture. A little wiry-haired terrier. Yep, this fits, although I’m not 100% it’s the dog.
So every night when the dog starts to bark, Sara or I will say to the other “it’s time for the dog to bark!” It’s still funny, even though we say it every night. You probably want to know what the barking sounds like, right? I recorded it for you! Keep in mind that our washing machine was going in the background and I increased the gain, so you would be able to hear it better.
We still love our flat, but I am very glad I have fancy noise-canceling headphones. We live on cobblestone roads just steps away from amazing 17th and 18th-century architecture. It can’t all be perfect.
I’m sure that we annoy our flat neighbors with our loud American voices and laughter. I know that it’s annoying to hear me call/yell for Frank the cat every single night around 9pm.
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