It is without shame, guilt, regret, or apologies that I acknowledge:

• I will never be Portuguese, no matter what I do or how hard I try.

• I will always be a foreigner living in Portugal. Even with permanent residency and Portuguese citizenship, I will still be an outsider who has been allowed in.

• Belonging, however, is different. After five years, I really do feel a sense of belonging here–that I have adapted to my habitat and that it has adopted me.

• Whether I like it or not, I cannot help but interpret what’s happening around me through the lens of my personal upbringing and cultural heritage. This may or may not be a good thing.

• Things are done differently here. I need to take deep breaths and exercise my patience when I do everything correctly but the “system” malfunctions or the bureaucracy balks.

• I am an immigrant residing in Portugal with no intention of moving “back home” (or anywhere else). Others who live here for a time and/or a reason, but plan to move on, are the only real expats.

• I will never speak Portuguese as the natives do. But I can strive to communicate with others in myriad situations and to do my best to understand the people’s language.

• Out of respect and interest, I participate in Portuguese holidays, ferias, other events and rituals; but I’m engaged without being able to fully feel, appreciate, or identify with the spirit and soul — the “why” — behind some cultural customs and traditions.

• It is because of my homeland that I can live as I do in Portugal.

• Although I have left my homeland to live abroad in Portugal, I can never cut the umbilical cord that ties me to whence I came. I vote from abroad here and care what happens there.

• While I live in the midst of Portuguese people, my lifestyle is probably different from theirs. I can afford big and little luxuries — air conditioning, a modern kitchen, extra bedrooms, a new car — that many of them can’t. It behooves me to be sensitive to this difference.

• Whenever possible, I try to buy locally … without disrupting, depriving, or displacing the Portuguese people or their land.

• Because I benefit from residing in Portugal — health care, education, elder care, etc. — I contribute to the country’s Social Security … even though, because of my age and limited years of contributions, I’ll never qualify for even the most minimal of pensions.

• I am but a guest here, yet I do have a right to abhor malevolent practices–from abandonment, abuse, or neglect of domestic animals to charging different prices for foreigners and native locals.

• For whatever their reasons, some people decide that Portugal is not for them and leave the country. It is incumbent upon me to be empathetic and understanding, not snide or sarcastic, about the life they choose to pursue elsewhere–whatever and wherever it may be.

Bruce H. Joffe is publisher and creative director of Portugal Living Magazine.