We are here for almost two weeks and start getting settled. We had the luck to buy our house fully furnished, so no problem with furniture. But even if currently we only have those things with us which we took in our suitcases, it is quite a challenge to find and arrange the space to store everything. We are living in a separate small apartment of our house which also after reconstruction will be our family home. The house was uninhabited for more than half a year, so first task was to get rid of the stale air. In the Azores this can be quite a task as humidity levels are all year around very high. How to solve it, first, going to a household appliances shop buying a mobile ventilator with heating function. Second, going to the supermarket and buy air fresheners. The result, feeling at home.Living in an isolated place, Sao Miguel, the main island having larger shops, is 270 km away, Lisbon 1700 km, means we right know try to get a feeling of what is available on spot and what not. We do not have any DIY shops, large appliances shops or shopping malls, so if you need something, it must be done as in the pre-shopping mall days; you walk through town enter six shops and find in two of them three of the six things you wanted to buy. A great help is the local community, locals and other expats like us, everybody is very helpful with sharing their knowledge. You need an electrician: “Go to the photo shop in the main street, they are also selling lamps and have a guy who can fix things”. That is how we got back electricity in one part of the house when we arrived. The electrician, came, fixed it – how to pay for it: “Tomorrow go back to the shop, they will tell you.”
