As some of you know, the last couple of years have been very difficult for my family and I. We decided to move to Portugal, as my husband had been offered a good job with better money, he had been looking for equivalent positions in England but had been unsuccesful, not sure why. I had just been made redundant from my job and we were standstill. So when this opportunity came along, we took it. It was good to start with but unfortuantely after a year, my husband was made redundant and things became difficult. We decided not to go back to England (right or wrong) as our house was rented (nowhere to live) and we still wanted to give it a go here.
When we arrived in portugal, my plan was to learn the language and get a job but portuguese is a very, very difficult language and Im a little ashamed to say, after almost 3 years my portuguese is weak. I have done an EFL teaching course but have been unable to find work. But with family support we have managed to weather the storm and hold on, but there have been tears, sleepless nights and shouting and a lot of unhappiness and stress and we are not out yet. My husband is working now, but the job is not good at all, there are no conditions to do his job and is not a situation which can be sustained. So we are really no further along and in no way secure.
But out of nowhere came an interview this weekend, so we packed up and drove all the way (almost all the way) to the other end of the country to Porto. Courtesy of a contact, we stayed in a beautiful 5star hotel, Hotel Infante Sagres, and he had a long interview, hopefully a good sign. The job is good, but means he would need to be away for several months, which I can deal with if the conditions are right and will be in our benefit to do it. So by wednesday we will know, or we have another option. We are looking at the possibility of renting a bar in town, the bar is all fitted out ready to go, but its risky in this climate, but to stay as we are is not sustainable either. So we are at the crossroads, trying to find the right path to a better life, keeping our fingers crossed for better times.