Living Abroad

Yes, i lived in portugal for 8 years only returning to the uk in 2010

As you know I am in Bulgaria as well as UK, so happy to help with any questions you wish to air on the fourm (as I know we discussed details by pm already).

3 years in Cyprus, 1 year in the Middle East and various other places for months at a time courtesy of the tax payers

Sweet ride !!!

So how does Portugal compare with the UK other than obviously the weather?

Is it a better/worse standard of living? Do they do things better/worse than us?

As a pre-teen, yes - does that count????????

We spent around 10 months in Quebec. I got narked having my pefect English spelling corrected (eg "tyre" was wrong and "tire" was right) and worried about disappearing for ever down snow holes but it was a life-changing time and I'm so glad we went.

it was a great place to live, though the rich poor divide has widened and there is now a "neuvo middle class" emerrging with poor education and too much money

beurocracy is hardest thing for business over there, far too much red tape and a , still, corrupt governing system

weather is great

cost of living has risen far too quickly, certainly in a country which has a monthly minimum wage closer to our weekly minimum wage

when we went over, as an expat, with money still in and coming from the Uk you got a lot for your

Must have been quite an adventure for a kid With my bad spelling, I would have fitted in alright!

It was wonderful! And sometimes scarey too for a sheltered English child.

Just behind the apartment we lived in, there was a forested area that went on for miles - we were warned not to stray too far because if we got lost we might not get found again (being kids we believed this!) - and things like poison ivy, snakes and rabid foxes to avoid.

I went on my first ever organised summer camp in the Laurentian Mountains - canoes on the lake, mountain walks, singing round the camp fires in the warm evenings, crafts activities, etc (didn't want to go home!).

I learnt to be less parochial in my attitudes and assumptions, definitely A Good Thing. Being welcomed by the Canadians so kindly has made me try to follow their example when I meet strangers.

Canada did wonders for our social confidence too. The other kids thought it was special to have an English accent!

I learnt to value England and family much more than I would if I'd never left them.

Though you wouldn't expect a child to feel strongly about landscapes, I really missed the hills, green and beaches of England. It felt very odd and sad not to be able to visit the rest of our clan as we'd normally have done - we used to see different family members and long term friends about 3 times a week in England.

Our lives would have been much the poorer without that 10 months away. You might think of it as an early "gap year"!