Speaking in broken tongues

Yesterday my sister said something to me that I didn't quite hear and I responded with, "O que?" As in the Portuguese for, "What?"

In the airport in France the other day a man was speaking with me in French, I think I responded in a strange Portuguese/English/Krio mix, just trying to find something that he would understand.

I am at this moment reading an article in Mens Health Portugal about the form of self-defense that James Bond or Jason Bourne uses. I'm understanding parts of it but feel like I'm in first grade again where you kind of word call until you get to something you understand and then see how that word might illuminate the parts of the sentence that were glazed over a moment before. If I was doing a running record for myself I would have so many "repeated phrases" marks that the score card would probably look like a game of shutes and ladders.

Today at the mall an Asian man asked me in hesitant English if I wanted a massage. I replied with, "Nao, obrigado" which translated from Portuguese means, "No, thanks". I'm pretty sure I didn't consciously think that a random Asian man in the Augusta mall would speak Portuguese, but that's what popped out.

Estrango/strange

This is an unexpected complication in my world tour. How many different bits of languages can my brain hold? It would be different if I was fluent in each, but I'm not. And I'm thinking that unless I decide to stay in each place for longer than two years I am probably not going to be reaching the fluency level in any of the places.

(3 days later)

Life is good.

I've been in the states for a bit over a week and am really relishing my time with friends and family. Despite the fact that this will be a shorter time in the states than previous visits I am squishing in together time with different people so as to make up for lost time. It's like a three week long round of speed dating (not that I've tried speed dating... I'm just saying it's what I think speed dating would be like...).

"Hey! How's it going?"

"Great, what have you been up too?"

"Not much, pretty much the same."

"Cool"

"Where are you going next year?"

"Staying in Portugal"

"Cool"

"Cool"

"Cool"

"Ummm, see ya next year."

None the less, broken conversations kind of match my broken language right now so it all works out.

Photo's of the latest

Leslie and João at Montemor-o-velho


Me at Montemor-o-velho

And again at Montemor-o-velho
Dancing with Rita and Leslie at our espectaculo (show).
One of the beautiful side streets in Coimbra

At Fatima, a religious pilgrim destination.

Lady Leslie in her renaissance dress.

The much awaited photo. Me in full renaissance mode.

Portugal vs. Sweden world cup qualifier.


(p.s. There are a lot more photos of the latest on my site http://www.flickr.com/photos/15104001@N00/ Enjoy!)

What's up

Lots of things...

Today I have reached the status of grandma. (Yes that is in fact a sentence I never thought I'd say) This morning one of my students (8 years old) told me to go to youtube to see this music video. Then she says she knows another one that's really good but I shouldn't go to it because it has bad words. I can just remember saying the same thing to my grandmother not so long ago.

I am really enjoying my tango classes. I've been going to and three times a week and feel like I'm starting to catch on. It's a bit frustrating because some of my teachers are speaking a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish which means I don't understand at all. The teachers who speak only Portuguese are a lot easier to get. (Which I think means my Portuguese is getting a lot better)

Monday I went to do another voice reading in Lisbon. I am really enjoying this opportunity and I think that they are happy with my work. However, you know at the end of the movies when they show the bloopers? Looks like a lot of fun right? Well the first few times it is kind of funny. After about the sixth time it is no longer quite as humorous. I had one line that I just flubbed over, and over, and over... but we finally got it right. Anyway, they were talking about another job either right before I leave for holiday or when I get back in August so that's cool.

Third grade is studying space right now. I know that I'm a social studies teacher but we had to move some things around so that we could cover all the things that we are supposed to before the end of the year. So I get to teach space! Which I LOVE!!!

The weather has FINALLY turned for the better! As of last Thursday we are finally having the weather I dreamed of in Portugal. The days are hot, sunny and beautiful. Lots more playing outside, lots more beach time and at least this past weekend lots more sunburns. Doh!

I have a conundrum. I was just told yesterday that the historical dance group that I am a part of is going to Bulgaria (I just realized I've been mistakingly telling people Belgium) for 4 or 5 days in the middle of July for a performance festival and that the city of Sintra is paying all but 200 euros of each person's trip. This would be an incredible experience for me. The uncertainty lies in whether or not to go as I was planning on being home for all of the month of July. Being that I don't get home very often I am hesitant to cut the trip home short. I have looked at the calendar though and decided that if I leave the day after school gets out instead of the week after I would only be cutting of my trip by a week. Then I could possibly have time to travel around Europe a little bit before school starts back and see some friends who I haven't had the chance to see yet. So I don't know and I think I have to decide by this afternoon or tomorrow.

(Insert an hour pause here as I play around on the internet looking at flights)

O.k. so...
I think I'll probably go to the States from June 20th to the 15th of July then fly back to Lisbon. After that I'll go with the group on the 17th to Bulgaria. We'll stay there till the 22nd of July at which point they will fly home and I'll fly to Frankfurt (hopefully without my costume) where I hope to crash with friends for about a week (Julie if you're reading this I hope you're going to be around from the 22nd to the 29th of July). Then I'll fly from Frankfurt to Paris and stay with some friends there from the 29th to the 6th (Sofia if you're reading this I hope you'll be around from the 29th to the 6th). After Paris I'll fly to Amsterdam and spend a week there (Hanneke and Sandra if you're reading this I hope you'll be around from the 6th to the 13th of August) Then I'll fly back to Lisbon and have a few weeks to get my class ready before meetings and kids come back. All for the low low cost of 1,212 Euros. ($1,620)!!!
So that's the plan as of this minute! We'll see how that works out. There may well be some rearranging going on depending on availability but we'll see.

Oh, so this past weekend I went down to the Algarve with some friends. That's the southern most part of Portugal and it was BEAUTIFUL! We had a really good time, stayed in my friends apartment and spent a lot of time at the pool. Then Saturday, Leslie, a friend and fellow teacher, and I came back to Lisbon and went to a big dinner and dancing night with our historical dancing group. It was SO MUCH FUN! We danced swing, waltz, cha cha, foxtrot, tango, merengue, and probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting. It was amazing!

That's the news from over here. I hope everyone is well. I look forward to seeing you soon!!!

Randomness... Singing in the shower is one of my favorite pasttimes, it's impossible to dance too often, I still haven't taken the Christmas reigndeer down from the television in my classroom, the song "The Circle of Life" is really funny to sing on Singstar because one person says "Himinya way himinaminyawe (or something like that) for the whole time.

someone loves you

• That's what the note in my wallet says.
  
• It's been there for at least five years.
• On a small green post-it note.
• It came from a friend who now lives far away.
• And while our lives have changed drastically since the note was given.
• I know that our love for each other,
• while our lives may look different,
• remains as strong as the day she wrote it.
• The thing about the note is that,
• while I look at it nearly everyday
• and I think fondly on the friend who gave it to me,
• it doesn't only remind me of the giver.
• Rather, as I glance upon the note each day,
• not really needing to read it anymore
• because I know what it says
• but mearly seeing it's presence in my wallet
• reminds me of all the people who love me,
• of the adventures we've had,
• of the prayers they offer for me,
• of the kisses and hugs, tears and laughs that we've shared.
• And I know in these moments
• that I am beyond fortunate.
• That I am blessed beyond comprehension.
• That whereever I am
• Whatever I'm doing
• No matter how old I am
• or how long it's been since we've talked
• someone loves me
• and most fortunately for me
• lots of someone's love me.

So much I could say right now...

I like this blogging thing. I've just spent the past half an hour reading over previous posts, smiling at pictures from Sierra Leone, reminiscing about where I was when I wrote the different things I've written. Lots of amazing times. Lots of hard times. Lots of experiences that I'm glad I have chronicled.

When I look back on this past weekend I look forward to the smiles it will bring. (Note to future self... "Hey")

So I knew going home on Friday that the weekend was going to be jam packed. I actually wasn't sure that everything was going to happen that needed to happen but I was looking forward to all that was planned. So rather than going out with some friends whose Friday tradition is to go to a local pub I instead went to the new cafe that has opened a stone's throw from my house with a heavily burdened bookbag and began marking papers. I was still there marking when, an hour later, a man came in who was either drunk or not carrying a full deck. He proceded to walk around the cafe with drink in hand and talked to himself. At one point he came over to my table and started picking up some of the pictures my students had drawn and mumbling something in Portuguese. I waved off the horrified cafe worker as, at that point, he wasn't really hurting anything. Eventually he moved off, my stacks of paper none-the-worse for the experience and I went back to grading. As he was finally ready to leave a man in the cafe who was trying to help him to leave realized he didn't have enough money and the GNR (police) were called. At this point I worried a bit just because I was hoping they wouldn't ask me anything. I've picked up a bit (stress a bit here) of Portuguese but certainly wasn't up to explaining the odd behaviour of my fellow cafe patron. Luckily they didn't ask me anything and the evening ended uneventfully.

The next day I woke up early and went to meet my teammates for our trip up to Porto. Our club was going to play a rival club in a football match that has been going on for nearly thirty years (note the game hasn't been going on that long as games don't actually last for thirty years, rather the rivalry has been going on at least that long). Our trip up was great, I was able to get to know some of my teammates a lot better. Then we played our game and won! Which is good because our club hasn't won in a few years from what I understand. We played really well, worked well together, and were really aggresive. It was a lot of fun!

After the match we hung out for a few minutes before going to a World Cup qualifier match between Portugal and Sweden. On the way I managed to pick up a 76 euro ticket for not swiping my metro card at the appropriate place. I've since talked to a lawyer friend of mine here who seems to think I should be able to get out of it (let's all collectively cross our fingers right... NOW!). When I finally did get to the game it was amazing. The stadium was incredible and the players were amazing. We were crazy close to the game and I saw Christiano Ronaldo do ridiculous things with a football. Unfortunately we came away with a draw which is REALLY bad for Portugal. Craziest part of the game though was the teenage girls behind us who swore like sailors at the top of their voices throughout the game. I felt fortunate at my lack of Portuguese understanding but still understood enough to know that it was not good at all.

After the game we went for dinner and then drove back from Porto at three on Sunday morning. It was an uneventful trip despite the fact that our driver was bent on breaking land speed records. It was actually the fastest I've ever been in a car, maxing out somewhere around 200 kph (125 mph).

Sunday was really cool too. I slept from six in the morning to twelve and then woke up to go to a dance performance. It was my first time dancing with the Historical Group that I've found myself a part of. I still laugh everytime I see myself in my costume in a mirror. In the below picture I'm the guy in blue in the center of the picture. Anyway, I managed to withhold the laughter for the most part, enjoyed dancing in an amazing garden setting with turrets surrounding us, and am now able to say that I've been part of a tourist attraction.

I ran out after the performance ended to catch a train, to catch a subway, to run a kilometer, to get to my Tango class. Unfortunately the class was ending as I got there so I wasn't able to get in on that and didn't really feel like going through the rigamarole (spelling?) of asking people to dance so I instead walked about Lisbon and talked to family back in the States, which was just as nice.

And so another weekend has passed. Five more school days till spring break. Good times.

Justin

Random thoughts: I haven't done random thoughts for a while, I should be doing report cards, I wonder if luck is real or not, I have had a blessed life.

Lately...

Lately

Things have been going well.

School continues to be a place that I look forward to coming to. The kids come in each morning and without my needing to say anything other than a "Good morning" along with their handshake they know what to do and how they are expected to come in each morning. They are constantly doing or saying things that make me laugh and we seem to appreciate each other. I had parent conferences the other day and everyone seemed pleased with how the year is progressing.

I am dancing several times a week. Around four or five if I keep going with the new classes I've started. Tango on Sunday. Historical on Monday and the occasional Wednesday. Contemporary on Tuesday and Thursday. Clubbing on Friday or Saturday if anyone is going. It's a good life.

I get to play football (soccer) two to three times a week, which has been wonderful. Two weekends from now we are traveling to Porto, in northern Portugal, for a tournament. Then we are going to go and see a World cup qualifying match between Portugal and Sweden. It should be a really great weekend as I get to know the guys from my club better.

As I sit here trying to think about what else is going on I'm kind of hard pressed to think of anything. As I tend to do I have kind of filled up my days. Which is good. And I am continuing my lifelong pursuit of balance. Sunday morning I woke up early, went to a nearby cafe, ate my breakfast while listening to a sermon on cd and grading papers. It was a very nice morning followed by a football game and then some good beach time.

Speaking of beach time!... I have just recently found out that it is possible to rent a smart car for a euro a day! In case you don't know what these look like I've added a picture below.

Can't you just see me bebopping around town in one of these! Anyway, my new plan is to go rent one and drive it up and down the coast for a day. This way I can get to see more of Portugal without relying on when my friends decide they A)want to go somewhere and B)want me to go with them. Plus it will be a TOTAL BABE MAGNET!!! Ok maybe not so much be there's no harm in trying? I guess we'll see.

So that's my life at the moment. Hope you're well