Moving country ~ what's it like?

[Cbell]

Not sure if this is the right place to post these questions, please advise me otherwise if you know better.

My DH, 18 month old DD and me are currently enjoying a holiday in Portugal and have started to give some consideration to relocating here. It's not only holiday ravings, my DH grew up out here and we are actually staying in his family home that we've been coming out to over the last 10 years together.

Our circumstances have recently changed and my DH now works from home and I am a SAHM so in terms of work there isn't really a problem. My concern is how difficult we might find it to make friends and develop a full life out here. My DD would only be young so we wouldn't necessarily be meeting people that way. I'm just wondering who else has done this kind of thing and how they've found the experience.

There is a living overseas thread.

We moved from the UK, back to NZ (we are both NZers) when DD was 8 months old, while we have family here, we don't have any friends and family in the town where we are currently living. Not to lie to you, but it was really tough, especially as DD was going through a period of not sleeping and I had no support network. In London I had a really good close group of friends, even though I had no family.

Do you speak Portuguese? That would be my main concern. Is there the same types of baby/toddler groups etc as in the UK. We moved to a small town and it has been a lot harder to meet people here than I thought it would be.

What is the education system like? Would you be happy educating your DD there?

It depends so much on yourself. Do you speak Portuguese? Are you socialable?

I moved to DHs home country and have no friends here, other than his. I am a bit of a loner anyway so it rarely gets to me.
My language learning leaves a lot to be desired and I'm not fluent yet, even after 4 years. That does give me an isolated feeling but the internet and skype means I'm not cut off completely. I do rely on DH to translate my taxes or doctor appointments but can get shopping done with my basic words.

They are problems which I could overcome though, if I weren't so lazy with studying.

I don't get homesick and wouldn't move back. Home is firmly here now.

Could you take an extended holiday out there to get a feel of it?

Look into education! You need to be sure that you would be able to educate your DCs to standards that are acceptable to you - is there a bilingual school that you could afford to send your DCs to?