Our mailed-in absentee ballots have been held up in Customs. From Dupage County we received e-mails with a sample ballot and instructions. We printed those out, filled in the forms, signed them, and put them in separate ordinary #10 business-size envelopes. We mailed them at our local Portugal post office 23September, sending them Express mail, with tracking (but no signature required). In one previous example, that method took a week to deliver to an Illinois residence. Then I sent a birthday card to my sister in Texas the same method, on 06October–it arrived 15October. My mail ballot is still in Customs! Barb's ballot was sent in the same type of envelope, at the same time, same method. Both are held up in Customs. As of 27 October, here is the tracking information for my ballot: We queried the Wheaton Clerk's office, and they confirmed that they had no record of receiving our ballots. I filed an inquiry on the usps.com website, lis...
I just got vaccinated, at the Farmácia Central de Gaia (within sight of our balcony). Covid in the left arm; Flu in the right arm. This year Portugal provides it free for ages 60-84, and records it in our online SNS record (called "utente" number), that tracks our prescriptions, vaccinations, and anything done at the public clinics; includes our medical-wishes data (that we just filed a couple weeks ago, the "Rendev" document). Our visa requires us to have private health insurance, so we use the parallel private system--a LusÃadas clinic is just a few blocks south of us. We consistently hear that the private system is quicker and nicer, but the public system is better suited for the really serious issues. Of course even the private health care here is much much cheaper than in the US, and all health care here seems to be a quality at least as good, if not better. Two different friends, one US, one UK, with recent hospital & ...