If for even one second you've had your ear turned to European news lately, you have probably heard that "The Cup" has officially started! The UEFA Euro Cup soccer tournament, that is, passing through the continent once every 4 years and turning everyone's eyes and ears toward the nightly games! We got together with a bunch of couples from Luis Miguel's soccer team, one of which happens to be our friends Carina and Marco. Carina is a speech therapist working at the Center with us, and Marco joined the soccer team last year, so we get to see them a bit more than normal lately, and we like that. :)
Monday, June 11th
As I have mentioned before, I haven't quite caught baby fever yet, but I have to admit, these books make me want to have babies so that I can read to them! (Pardon the low-quality phone photo). Too bad they were 14€ each! (And yes, of course I already found them on Amazon... but I want them in Portuguese!)
Tuesday, June 12th
We love walking through the small wanna-be park that is across the street from where we work, but sometimes while strolling, I feel like I'm being watched. Can you figure out why?
Wednesday, June 13th
As I mentioned, the Cup is on everyone's minds, and I appreciate how it brings out patriotism wherever you go! Back in the day, apparently just about everyone had their Portuguese flag hanging off their balcony to support the team, and though it's not as common these days, you can't help but notice a lot more flags around the city... including hanging from the clothesline on our balcony!
Thursday, June 14th
I am pleased to announce that after leaving San Francisco on April 2nd and arriving in Portugal on April 24th, a birthday package from my dear friend Lana is finally in my hands! We have had countless meaningless troubles with the postal border control here in Portugal, and after returning various forms they requested and finally speaking with them once, we determined that it was probably opened and held because the items had tags on them (though the prices were removed). We have heard that they get suspicious that foreigners in Portugal will bring new, foreign items into the country and try to sell them, thus hurting the already weak Portuguese economy. At least that's what we think. So we have learned our lesson: all tags off, everything out of the package and sealed in zipper bags! Love you, Lana, and thanks for thoughtfully sending me mail and unknowingly extending my birthday celebration two months!
Friday, June 15th
After a really tough, discouraging day being a foreigner in a European workplace, my sweet Luis Miguel rented a chick flick for me AND watched it with me, then spoke one of my little-known love languages: lists! I have had a recurring eye infection (which has turned out to be a type of conjunctivitis) which is forcing me to stop using contacts for a while, thus needing to buy new glasses, so we planned to spend our Saturday negotiating with all the little mom and pop places downtown to see who would give us the best price for lenses. How else would we organize our morning without making a list??? Love this guy, and love the way that he takes care of me!
Saturday, June 16th
I love seeing people walking down the street with fresh flowers, which I must admit, is a fairly common occurance here, and I always want to carry some myself! Near the end of our glasses hunt, we stopped at the local farmers market and picked up three bunches of flowers for 1€50! I love farmers markets! I love fresh flowers! (I even love them so much that I tolerated the old lady selling them being super pushy with me! Beauty wins over pressure!)
so 'glad' you got some flowers! :-) Paula B.
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