As the Dinesens Turn

In this episode we come back to why we moved, how we feel now, and we discuss our ever-present burnout and trying to find solutions.

After a 9-month hiatus, we are back! This episode gives an update on what we've been up to. We are back to weekly episodes now, so more to come!

We talk about how tax season went -- it went pretty well. We also talk about how there are clearly things that need to change in the future.

Hard to believe for us, but we've been here for 1 year now.

We were both horribly burned out before we moved to Portugal. Burnout, in fact, is really our "why" as to why we moved. We've talked about it before, and we talk about it again here.

Yes, we stayed up to watch the Super Bowl, til around 5 am our time.

We had to take a few weeks off because we've all been battling colds and such. Tracy and Jason talk about having a cold in Portugal, going to the doctor, the costs (or lack thereof compared to America) of everything, etc.

Jason is still in business as an accountant. We talk about how that will work.

Back in the swing of episodes for season 2. We talk about the holidays, moving around Christmastime, and what 2024 holds in store.

We've been off for a few weeks in large part due to technical difficulties (we had 2 episodes recorded that got lost in a computer crash). Anyway, we are back with an episode about December in Portugal, what the holidays here look like, and what holiday plans are.

This episode is about fall, Halloween, and what life in general is like when the days get darker -- and very, very, very rainy!

When one moves overseas, whether it's moving your home like us, or it's a semester-long study abroad or such, there's a honeymoon period. For us, this period lasted about 6 months. Now, the honeymoon is over and we're in the "this is the real world" phase of living here. Not necessarily bad, but a definite shift in the vibe.

Jason and Tracy continue their discussion of 5 things they wish they knew before they moved to Portugal, and 5 things they have discovered they are glad for. In this episode: Things they wish they knew: --Don't be naive about language --It can be oddly hard to find certain things such as green onions and jalepenos, and delivery drivers have a bizarrely hard time finding you Things we are glad...

In this podcast, we start talking about the 5 things we wish we knew about Portugal before moving, and 5 things we have discovered we love. In this episode, we cover the first 3 things, and next week we will cover the final 2 items. 3 Things We Wish We Knew: --Driving in Portugal is utter and complete chaos --Red tape, bureaucracy --The cost of day-to-day living is not necessarily lower than in th...

Jason and Tracy discuss having U.S. jobs in Portugal, and how Tracy is joining Jason on the dark side and becoming a tax preparer.

School starts soon (September 15th). Last week the boys talked briefly about their thoughts on school starting, and how the summer went. This week, Jason and Tracy talk more about school starting.

In this short podcast, we talk to the kids for as long as we could (**8 minutes!) about getting ready to start school next week.

Jason and Tracy cover a lot of ground on language learning. Jason talks about his philosophy when he was in school -- get B's because people leave you alone, getting A's is a lot of work with no real tradeoff, but getting C's means people hassle you. Plus does Duolingo work? And Jason tells the story about the first time his dad "took them outside the U.S." on vacation. DE...

Our journey of recovering from severe professional (and personal) burnout continues. We talked about this subject a few episodes ago, but our views on burnout continue to evolve -- and we have a lot to say about this topic -- so here is another episode! Tracy also talks about pottery, and how working with clay has helped her mental state.

August is vacation month for a lot of folks in Portugal, and our little town has lots of visitors. We also talk about driving and how it is (to an American) absolute chaos on the roads (always, even when vacationers aren't around).

We've had a lot of help from people here in Portugal, and we seem to get what we need, when we need it.

Tracy and Jason try to put burnout into words. They will be talking about burnout periodically, because their relationship with burnout, and ability to put it into words, changes daily.

Tracy and Jason received their residency cards last week. This podcast discusses what that means, and what the process was.

Jack recently got back from an overnight field trip. He didn't want to talk on the podcast, so Jason and Tracy talk about his trip. Plus we talk about taking Portuguese classes, and whether Duolingo is helpful or not in learning a language.

How does it work, working for U.S. clients while living in Portugal? How on earth did a move during tax season actually work? We discuss in this podcast.