It’s “Cheap” Because You’re Rich!
When we are living abroad with our salaries from home, who cares about our impact on the lives of the locals? Some do, but others screw everything.
Summer is here, and the temperatures are rising. And what I would give to be on that boat from the picture.
But well, we are not, definitely, all in the same boat. Some are drowning in the ocean, others are swimming against the current, and then there are others with a very tiny boat having fun because its engine stopped working, and we are now using paddles — I am in the last group.
With the rise of the temperature, It seems that is also my temperament, and forgive me for my lack of patience and getting down this low. I know I am better than this, but today I don’t care.
I wrote an article yesterday about job insecurity in Portugal and how inflation is killing us.
Yes, I know! It’s everywhere, not just here. But Portugal is just reaching the stupidity level.
For example, I delved into how my dear mother —a great example of someone earning minimum wage — now must work for more than one hour to buy six peaches.
However, someone always had to come and comment from the top of his pedestal, as if he were a king, shoving his money in my face, “how cheap things are here, not the contrary.”
I answer now for those who want to listen “ everything is cheap when you are rich.”
The reader in question is suffering from a significant disease called apathy. It doesn’t seem to have a cure and comes with a total alienation from reality.
Portugal has changed a lot over the years. From a closed country full of prohibitions that made us fear for everything to open our doors to everyone in exchange for lots of euros.
This and prostitution are not that different.
Golden visas were and are the new fad. Some Russian oligarch — yes, those — or Arab comes here, buys two houses, and gets Portuguese citizenship.
Meanwhile, the houses sit abandoned while locals look for a roof over their heads. Either they don’t exist, or the new constructions are made for the rich, with flats in local villages going up to 300.000 Euros!
In a country where many earn 700 euros a month!
The inflation is strangling us. I have a good life somehow, compared to my mom’s minimum wage. But food has gone up 300%! So I am earning less in my freelancer teaching job because I kept the same price, but life is now just impossible.
So, it doesn’t matter for wealthy people who can just come and go and buy houses here and there. It is cheap because they are like Uncle Scrooge, swimming in a pool of gold.
Fuck that shit! It’s not cheap. It’s fucking expensive!
Try to live on 700 euros a month, buy food, pay rent ( like 400 euros a month), have kids, and then come here and tell me again if things are cheap.
Portugal is now filled with brits, ex-pats from the USA, which love things around here.
“It’s so cheap” I can’t hear this thing anymore, in english with all the different accents. It’s almost like laughing at us.
Here they come, but they come with their salaries, living here.
I would love Portugal on a USA salary. How wonderful my life would have been. Free healthcare, free education. Awesome right?
But try now living with our salaries and then, and only then, tell me things are affordable!
I’m sorry. I know not everyone is this way. But there’s always that black sheep isn’t it?
Charlie Chaplin would agree with me, I hope!
Hello, I’m Araci, a female writer from Portugal navigating her thirties. If you have enjoyed this article, maybe you would like to buy me a coffee here https://ko-fi.com/joanaaraci
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