Ahem... time to advertise the fine country that is Portugal! 
Pretty much the same as Germany, but with far better climate, food and much friendlier people.
In cities, things are pretty much at walking distance.
As for prices, it depends a lot, but downtown Lisbon will charge you some 600~800€ per month for a one bedroom shitty apartment, while the "fringes" will take some 400~500€ for a better two bedroom apartment.
These fringes are some 20 minutes away from the center by public transport, or less, if you stay close to the subway.
As for the language barrier, yeah... portuguese does take some getting used to... but the secret is saying the R's like the russians, figuring out how to make new vowel sounds, like "ã" and "ê" and not messing up the gender and number of your determinants (in english, you pretty much have "the", here, it's more like "o" - male singular, "a" - female singular, "os" - male plural, "as" - female plural) and nouns (all nouns have a gender and you have to know it... most that end in 'a' are female, everything else is pretty much male, but there are exceptions!
). And learn the vocabulary.. that takes time.
People under 50 can generally understand and speak enough to make themselves understood... older people, not so much.
And yeah... gas prices in Europe are more or less the same everywhere. But Portugal has an average income below the average income of other european countries, making the cost of things higher in relative terms... bummer!
Other culture shocks... unlike the british, which must obey every rule and regulation, we are laid back while we avoid getting caught. That makes some things not work as well as they could, but it makes the lives of most people a bit easier when it's their turn to do things!
The food is the best in the world. We use little sauces and gravies and stuff like that, we like our food tasting of itself... meat that tastes of meat; fish that tastes like the sea... did I mention the cheap shellfish? We have restaurants dedicated to shellfish... they usually have a water tank where the little buggers are still swimming and you can pick out the lobster or any other animal you want to eat... I have 3 of these restaurants, called "marisqueiras", less than 10 minutes away from my home.
Food is generally a bit cheaper than elsewhere in Europe.... and better (but don't tell the french, it'll hurt their pride).
Politicians are pretty much the same as everywhere else... crap. You 'll find it difficult to avoid the public health service, and those guys don't seem to pay very well to the newcomers
The beach is close by and Summer starts in late April, and ends in October.
Plus: castles, palaces, museums, natural parks, sky resort (yeah... there's only one mountain for that and it only works in the winter)...
Oh, I recently changes my ISP and am now paying some 25€ per month for the tripple play chebang, 50Mb internet, ~100 tv channels and free phone calls to Portuguese landlines 24h/day plus free calls to landlines in europe and US (maybe also canada, would have to check) during the night and weekends. We do have some of the best ISP's in Europe...
Water heating.... I don't know how you do it in Canada, but according to US movies, the boiler seems a popular choice... much like in the UK. Around here, we use a natural (or butane) gas powered water heater, usually with no boiler, so you get water directly from the heater to the shower. It can take a couple of minutes to get hot water flowing in the winter, but I always need to dial the heater to the minimum in the summer and still need to add cold water to the mix.
It is not common for houses/apartments to have central heating, so your winter-time electric bill may suffer if you decide to heat the entire place with electric heaters. I only heat the bathroom and bedrooms when they're needed. The rest of the place is at whatever temperature it is... my kitchen gets very cold after the stove is turned off, so I just close that door and the rest of the apartment is comfortable... provided you're wearing decent clothing, like a sweater.
In the Summer, you just want to leave the windows open, so the air moves along and freshens you up a bit... yeah, it's also not common to have air conditioning.
The crime rate is low... unless you count politicians who never get caught and just keep at it.
Driving is on the correct side of the street and you get to walk on the portuguese calçada (that's the side walk, but it's not the ugly concrete slabs you can find elsewhere). This makes it look like the city is brighter and merrier.
Pretty much the same as Germany, but with far better climate, food and much friendlier people.
In cities, things are pretty much at walking distance.
As for prices, it depends a lot, but downtown Lisbon will charge you some 600~800€ per month for a one bedroom shitty apartment, while the "fringes" will take some 400~500€ for a better two bedroom apartment.
These fringes are some 20 minutes away from the center by public transport, or less, if you stay close to the subway.
As for the language barrier, yeah... portuguese does take some getting used to... but the secret is saying the R's like the russians, figuring out how to make new vowel sounds, like "ã" and "ê" and not messing up the gender and number of your determinants (in english, you pretty much have "the", here, it's more like "o" - male singular, "a" - female singular, "os" - male plural, "as" - female plural) and nouns (all nouns have a gender and you have to know it... most that end in 'a' are female, everything else is pretty much male, but there are exceptions!
). And learn the vocabulary.. that takes time.People under 50 can generally understand and speak enough to make themselves understood... older people, not so much.
And yeah... gas prices in Europe are more or less the same everywhere. But Portugal has an average income below the average income of other european countries, making the cost of things higher in relative terms... bummer!
Other culture shocks... unlike the british, which must obey every rule and regulation, we are laid back while we avoid getting caught. That makes some things not work as well as they could, but it makes the lives of most people a bit easier when it's their turn to do things!
The food is the best in the world. We use little sauces and gravies and stuff like that, we like our food tasting of itself... meat that tastes of meat; fish that tastes like the sea... did I mention the cheap shellfish? We have restaurants dedicated to shellfish... they usually have a water tank where the little buggers are still swimming and you can pick out the lobster or any other animal you want to eat... I have 3 of these restaurants, called "marisqueiras", less than 10 minutes away from my home.
Food is generally a bit cheaper than elsewhere in Europe.... and better (but don't tell the french, it'll hurt their pride).
Politicians are pretty much the same as everywhere else... crap. You 'll find it difficult to avoid the public health service, and those guys don't seem to pay very well to the newcomers
The beach is close by and Summer starts in late April, and ends in October.
Plus: castles, palaces, museums, natural parks, sky resort (yeah... there's only one mountain for that and it only works in the winter)...
Oh, I recently changes my ISP and am now paying some 25€ per month for the tripple play chebang, 50Mb internet, ~100 tv channels and free phone calls to Portuguese landlines 24h/day plus free calls to landlines in europe and US (maybe also canada, would have to check) during the night and weekends. We do have some of the best ISP's in Europe...
Water heating.... I don't know how you do it in Canada, but according to US movies, the boiler seems a popular choice... much like in the UK. Around here, we use a natural (or butane) gas powered water heater, usually with no boiler, so you get water directly from the heater to the shower. It can take a couple of minutes to get hot water flowing in the winter, but I always need to dial the heater to the minimum in the summer and still need to add cold water to the mix.
It is not common for houses/apartments to have central heating, so your winter-time electric bill may suffer if you decide to heat the entire place with electric heaters. I only heat the bathroom and bedrooms when they're needed. The rest of the place is at whatever temperature it is... my kitchen gets very cold after the stove is turned off, so I just close that door and the rest of the apartment is comfortable... provided you're wearing decent clothing, like a sweater.
In the Summer, you just want to leave the windows open, so the air moves along and freshens you up a bit... yeah, it's also not common to have air conditioning.
The crime rate is low... unless you count politicians who never get caught and just keep at it.
Driving is on the correct side of the street and you get to walk on the portuguese calçada (that's the side walk, but it's not the ugly concrete slabs you can find elsewhere). This makes it look like the city is brighter and merrier.
