Reaching out to the world

My kids just started a project last week that I have high hopes for.

We wrote a letter, as a class, telling who we are and asking questions like, "How many people are in your class?" and "What do third graders do for fun in your country?" We then chose 50 countries from all over the world that we would like to know more about. I then spent several hours looking up international schools in each of the 50 countries, (Which was way more interesting than I thought it'd be. I may have some new ideas about where I want to go next.) and copying down their addresses. The kids then practiced their address writing skills as they filled out 50 envelopes, folded 50 letters, placed a postcard of Portugal in each envelope and then carefully sealed each envelope.

We hope to get responses back from each of the schools. We look forward to learning more about others, to making connections with people from all over the world. To learning how other people lead lives that are different from our own. To discovering how much we have in common with people we've never met.

....

At times I find myself in a state of wonderment for the pathways that God has brought me down. I am so blessed. I have so much to be thankful for. There is so much to look forward to.
I hope that I can live up to the expectations that God has for me. I hope that I honor Him with my life. I hope that I make Him proud.

Love

I love grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Before you turn up your nose you must, as everyone constantly says to me, give it a try. The way that the peanut butter melts into the jelly, the warmth and crispness of the bread, the great big goopy mess of everything, the smell that fills the space giving your stomach a wake up call, it is a truely magnificent sandwich.

In Portugal I would be looked at funny for saying that I love a sandwich. I can really really really like the sandwich. I can adore the sandwich. I can say that the sandwich is the best thing ever. But to say that I LOVE the sandwich would instantly set me apart as someone not of this land.

In Portugal (in my experience) you love your family. You love your spouse. You might be able to love your country though I've never tried to say that. Other than those things I'm not sure that you say, "Love" to too much more than that.

Now I can understand the Portuguese mentality to an extent. Do I really love the new book that I just read? Do I really love chocolate? Or the new Facebook application? Does my claiming love for every little thing that pops up in my life cheapen the word? I don't know.

But I miss love. I miss hearing people claim that they care about something other than bloodties enough to say they love it. I miss people loving their job. I miss people loving an activity. Music, food, the ocean. I love a lot of things, certainly not in the same way that I love my family or the spouse that I one day hope to have. But I know that the way that my heart warms when I go to my friends house and their child laughs and reaches for me is more than me really really liking her. I know that the way my spirit lifts when I hear the first few beats of the first dance song of the evening are more than me adoring the individual notes that I hear. I know that, even on my most difficult of days, there is no other kind of work that I want to dedicate myself to and that the feeling that I have in front of the classroom or working one on one is soooo much more than appreciation.

I have conformed. While the word love has moved into one of the rarer words I use, (which makes me very very sad to type) I will happily look about the world I live in with love that hopefully pours out in my actions, my language, my very eyes, to the point that when people want to describe me to others they will be forced, despite nationality, custum or habit, to use the word... love.

The fight

Last night I went to Rock n Rio. A concert/fair/music explosion of sorts. I was looking forward to watching John Mayer and maybe checking out the Shakira concert as well. I had decided to go alone and just appreciate the music and the freedom to have some time to myself, with several thousand screaming people.

John Mayer was amazing. He can play a guitar, wow, like no one I’ve ever seen. Including at one point him laying the guitar flat on the ground and kneeling over it and then playing it without even holding the thing. It was ridiculous. When he sang “Why Georgia” I thought I was going to bust a vocal cord. It was so much fun and I had wheedled my way close enough to the stage that had I had a baseball John Mayer and I could have played catch. Which would have been fun.

After John Mayer finished (doesn’t he just seem like one of those people who you ought to say their first and last name, even when you’re talking to them) I made my way through the crowds to the rollercoaster that had been set up. I was so psyched because even though this had nothing on the Vortex or the Great American Scream Machine it was still a rollercoaster and it had the added bonus of cars that spun around in circles as you went up and down the tracks. Oh, yeah, and the cars were mice, one of whom was smoking a cigarette. Ok, so a little strange, but they were from Spain, so… whatever ;) Since I was on my own I ended up in a car with the two ladies in front of me, one of whom was probably about 13 and I am convinced had never ridden a rollercoaster before and the other, her cousin/sister/I don’t know who was decidedly cute and about my age. The car had some buttons on it that would add special effects and I asked the girls if they wanted to press the button and the younger girl said, in a no-time-for-a-breath-but-I’m-still-talking-somehow stream of consciousness in no uncertain terms, that she absolutely positively didn’t want anyone thinking of pressing the button. So I did… no not really, that would have been mean. And then the ride started and the girl started screaming and her friend and I started laughing and the ride started spinning and then a cat ate our car and there was a constant flow of what sounded like appeals to a higher power from the girl and more laughter from us and then the ride was over. As I asked the girl if she was ok as she shakily got off the ride she said that she was, in-between her continuing flow of unbelieving statements about how that was craziness to get on something like that. I thanked the ladies, waved and walked off to go hear Shakira. Which is when the craziness began…

I am leaning against a building. A man stumbles, steps on me while spilling beer on me. Words are spoken. Then the crowd begins to perk up. Heads turn. Bodies scramble away. A woman is knocked into and collapses at my feet. Suddenly where there was once a crowd, people are now shoving each other to get away. I see a man with no shirt on come out of nowhere and a vicious head-rocking right cross is thrown. There is blood. And screaming. More fighters show up. We are standing toe to toe. I don’t know what to do but Shakira has long since been forgotten. Angry women are trying to hold the men back. Beer is thrown on the shirtless man. And then I am surrounded by security. The man who threw the punch and the man who spilled beer on me have disappeared. The security talks so fast, asking what happened, I don’t understand and shrink back into the wall that I was leaning against before all this happened and try to disappear as well.

And then I left. Because security didn’t care about me, they were trying to figure out what happened with all the people who were fighting around me. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and after listening to some more of the concert, which was surprisingly good, Shakira puts on a good show, I decided it was time to get home. I walked away with slightly sticky feet from having a drop or two of beer spilled on them, a smile because I’d very much enjoyed my time, aside from watching a fight break out around me between some very intoxicated men, and a story, which is always a good thing.

We both made it out with our wallet and only one of us was hit by a car...

Turkey was amazing! My friend Nick and I flew out of Portugl on Friday afternoon, had an uneventful flight and arrived in Istanbul Friday night at about midnight. Nick's friend, Chadis, I think that's how that is spelled, met us at the airport and we set out on our adventure.

After briefly getting lost on the highways of Istanbul we successfully drove through the ridiculously think fog to Chadis' mother's house in Edirne. Although we arrived after 2 in the morning his mother and sister were still up to greet us with large amounts of food and his friends even stopped by to see everyone and share in the food consumption. Everyone was really friendly even though there was little English spoken round the table. The highlight of the night was when one of Chadis' friends was leaving and after having spoken only a word or two of English throughout the whole evening/morning he poked his head around the doorway he'd just left through to say, "I must go now...because I'm married". Being that almost the only thing I'd understood for the previous hour was the nearly constant ribbing he'd been given over his being married and needing to be accountable for his hours it was really funny.

The next morning we woke up to a feast of a breakfast complete with Turkish tea. Being a non-tea drinker I was a bit apprehensive but drank through a glass with the help of two sugar cubes. It wasn't too bad, but I politely declined a second glass. After breakfast we all, mom, sister, Chadis, Nick and I piled into the small family car and drove to the grandparent's place. As we drove Nick and I learned about how to great the older generation with respect. So when we met the grandparents we both took their hand, kissed the back, touched our foreheads to their hand and then gave lose hugs with a kiss first on the right and then the left. After that we were treated like family. They were wonderful people and, while I once again didn't understand most of what was being said, we all got on very well. At one point during the visit each person was given a small cup of Turkish coffee. I have consumed even less coffee in my lifetime than tea and managed to take a few sips before realizing that I just couldn't get through it. There was no problem though, Gulce, the sister, (it's supposed to have two dots over the u but I don't know where that key is) nicely dumped my coffee but brought back the cup with the residue in it. We were told that mom could read our fortunes and that we ought to flip the cup onto the saucer. A few minutes later I learned that I will soon come into a large sum of money, that I will be taking a big trip in either four days or four weeks or four months, she wasn't sure about the specific time and that currently I am thinking of courting two young ladies and I would be better served to make a decision. The whole experience was done with a sense of seriousness that let me know that while it wasn't concrete it was still taken with some level of respect within the family.

After visiting the late father's grave, which was my first time in an Islamic graveyard, they have raised graves that are covered with soil so that families have planted flowers on the graves, we all went to the Eski Camii. The Eski Camii is an enormous mosque in Edirne. It was amazingly huge and absolutely spectacular. As with most old cathedrals that I've visited there was an overwhelming sense of awe of how many hours went into building such an amazing place for the sole purpose of honoring and worshipping something greater than the people who built it.

After the mosque the five of us walked around town for a bit before going to a local restaurant that is famous for it's local quisine. Our new friends didn't feel the need to tell us what we were eating until we'd already devoured half a plate of whatever was put in front of us. It turns out we were eating fried liver. And loving it. The drink was something that Nick and I didn't go back for seconds on, a sort of salty yogurt. I never imagined I would like liver more than yogurt, it even feels weird to say, but man that was a great meal.

After leaving the Chadis' mother and sister in Edirne with hugs, well-wishes and hopes to one day see each other again the three of us went back to Istanbul. We spent a few hours seeing the Hagia Sofia, an ancient cathedral turned mosque, the Blue Mosque and a basilica, which we all decided had something to do with holding water but we weren't really sure what we met up with another of Nick's friends for dinner. After dinner we drove to the Asian side of Istanbul, (I've now been to Asia!!!) to rest and get ready for a night out. As we were driving around I was struck with the immensity of this city, it is easily the largest and most confusing place I've ever been. Nick and I quickly realized how fortunate we were to be traversing the city with people who knew their way around.

That night we went out for drinks, before Chadis, Nick and I went to a rock bar. It was great fun. We were out dancing till just after five in the morning. The band was great and I even tried to sing along at one point. I'm not sure I sang any of the right words, being that they were Turkish, but we gave it a valiant effort. I then got to drive home, being the non-drinker of the group, which was cool, I've now driven on five continents, before we all crashed at Chadis' place.

The next day we went walking along the Marmara Sea. It was nice looking out over Istanbul, just relaxing a bit. Even though we'd woken up at two we all decided we could use a nap before going out that night. We later met up with Nick's other friend again for dinner and drinks and had a nice relaxed evening.

The next morning we woke up early, made sure our bags were packed and went back over to the European side to check out the Grand Bazaar. Nick and I agreed we were expecting more of an outdoor market but it wasn't that at all. It was kind of like an ancient mall with lots of small shops selling lots of very traditional Turkish type things. I managed to pick up a little magic genie lamp, which is now residing among my "trophie collection" of knick-knacks from around the world.

After the bazaar we walked around for a few more hours before heading off to the airport.

I really had an amazing time in Turkey. The people were all very friendly, the city was amazing to behold and it was a fun adventure. One I would certainly recommend to anyone looking for something very different from the norm.

Oh yeah, and the car thing...

We were walking down to the ferry port and weren't sure which way to go. For some reason, which I definitely don't remember now I stopped in the middle of the road to look at a sign, not that I could read any of the signs but I must have thought it a good idea. Anyway, the driving in Istanbul rivals that of Freetown for the craziest drivers I've ever encountered and stopping in the middle of the road is unadvisable. I heard the briefest of "heads ups" shouted by my friend before I found myself flat on my back and a car wheel rolling up on my foot. I was more surprised than anything else at the moment and popped up laughing like an idiot. I think it was my bodies way of dealing with the stress. I limped off the road, waved to the man who looked aghast at hitting me that I was o.k. and trudged off down the road. I was and am fine, my leg ached for a bit and my shoulder was sore, but I'm fine and can now say that I've been hit by a car in Asia.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Last night was about as close to being perfect as it could be.

I went to Lisbon last night for the Salsa class that I'm taking now with an incredible instructor. He's really cool, does a good job teaching and just in general is a really great guy. Last night he brought his children, who were probably less than two and maybe four, and the kids were running about the class. Since I had shown up early for the beginner class I took it upon myself to entertain them for a while so others could focus on the steps they were being taught. We had a good time playing around in the hall, watching some guys playing basketball in the gym downstairs, "Uma bolla!!!", and in general just having a good time. Then it was the intermediate groups turn to dance and so after playing with kids for an hour I then got to dance for an hour. I'm not real sure what could be better than two hours with two of my favorite things. It was funny because a few times while I would be dancing with someone the little boy would come up with arms upstretched and wouldn't go away until I picked him up. I then was able to dance with him and my partner, who luckily thought it was fun rather than being annoyed by the disturbance. Anyway, all that is to say that I had a wonderful time last night in class.

This morning I recommited myself to getting in touch with God. I have once again become remiss in this and want to make myself more available to Him. So from now on, instead of reading random books on the bus on the way to school, I'll be reading His Word. This morning I read the first 7 chapters of Matthew. As I was reading the first chapter and reading the geneology of Christ I was struck with the fact that each of these men, and the few women mentioned too, are not just names in a book but at one point walked around on this earth. These people faced trials and tribulations, stubbed their toe, admired sunsets, loved their children, were frustrated by noisy neighbors, and all of the rest that goes into living a life. These people also lived their lives for God. There were three series of 14 generations which is like 30 something generations (or something like that, it's still early) and while I read their names in the span of a minute or two their lives spaned thousands of years. Thousands of years worth of stubbed toes is a lot of stubbed toes. Thousands of years worth of devoting their lives to God, stumbling, rededicating their lives, falling again, making good again, is a lot of years worth of what I am going through in my own life. It helps me to know that I am not alone in this. The things that I struggle with have been struggled with for years. The welcoming arms that God opens to me have been opened for years.

Pretty amazing...

Catching up

So, there aren't any months in between July and mid-October, right?

Ok, so lets see, what's been going on?

I feel my biggest crime is that I went to the Açores and somehow didn't right about my time there. Unforgiveable! I had a blast! I went with several of my friends from here in Portugal and was able to meet one of my friend's family who live in San Miguel, which is one of the islands of the Açores. The most beautiful island if rumors are to be believed. We stayed for five days and traveled the island over. It was absolutely amazingly beautiful. There were black beaches, waterfalls every few miles, amazing vistas over green rolling hills, hot springs which we layed about in for hours, and lots of happy cows. The Açores are actually known for their happy cows. I often wondered what made them happy but when I saw the amount of lush green grass that they had available to them and the relative ease with which they lived their life then I kind of understood better. My friends family was wonderful. They welcomed us in and spoke very slowly for me, which helped a lot as their accent made Portuguese even harder to understand. We even went whale watching and saw two or three Sai whales and a pod of bottle nosed dolphins, which I was able to watch play at the front of the boat as I hung off the front by my toes, or so it seemed at times. That was fantastic!

Since returning to the mainland life has resumed in it's normal busy manner. School resumed and I, for the first time ever, am teaching the same grade for two years in a row. I have 16 students this year, which seems like half the number I had last year, even though it is only 6 less. I have 5 students who are in ESL1 or English for the first time and a student with MS, so there is a lot of planning lessons with differentiated aspects to do. My kids are pretty cool this year though. I'd forgotten how far my students from last year had progressed throughout the year and so was a bit surprised at the level of my new students at the beginning of this year, but we've figured things out pretty well in our first six weeks. I'm now the fourth and fifth grade basketball coach for the school, which has been a lot of fun. Trying at times, but overall very rewarding.

Outside of school things are going very well. I continue to dance with the Historic group that I started with last year. We have a performance in the Castele San George in Lisbon. It is great to be working with them again as they are a great group of people and we tend to have a lot of fun in our various adventures. They help me out with my Portuguese a lot to and are generally very patient with me.

In addition to this I have been going to a Lindy hop lesson that has just started in Lisbon. I am really excited about this since I have wanted to learn this style of dance for years. The woman teaching it is really cool and has become a fast friend. Actually I've gone up to Porto a few times to see all of my new friends up there and to work on learning Lindy as they have a group that's been established up there for about a year. The people up there are great and I love the city, if we could move our school I think I'd be game for living in Porto.

I've continued playing football/soccer with the group I played with last year and continue to love doing that. They are a lot of fun and have helped me to learn the kind of Portuguese I should not be learning from my students. :) I occasionally get to play on the offensive side of the field now, which has been fun as I've been a defender pretty much the whole time I've played. Still haven't scored a goal yet, but I had a "brilliant" cross for an assist in our first game of the season and that was pretty exciting.

I am still single, which, as I just told a friend I'm talking with on Facebook, is o.k. because it gives me the freedom to fill my hours with all sorts of things and make snap decisions about where I want to go and what I want to do without checking in like a lot of my friends have to do. Having said that I will admit to having joined a Christian online dating website and have talked to a few people. If nothing else it's fun talking to new people. I continue to want to be a father and have continued to do research into adopting at some time in the future, which I think will be absolutely amazing, when it happens.

So I'm thinking that, if everything works out, I'd like to stay on in Portugal for a while longer. I really like my work and have found several niches that I feel I fit in well with outside of school as well. Add to that the fact that I am now, finally, getting to the point where I can hold brief if not totally correct, conversations in Portuguese and it all adds up to making more sense to stay on here for a while longer. If I can straighten out the details I have nothing to complain about.

I'm looking forward to going to Turkey at Thanksgiving. I've heard a lot of amazing things about it and my friend and I have a lot that we already want to jam into the few days that we are there. I have some friends from college coming over at new years. They will be my first official, "International Visitors" but I'm hoping to get many more. My parents have said they are coming out in the spring and I am superpsyched to be having them, they are going to love it! I specifically rented a place that is too big for me so anyone else who wants to visit and have a free place to stay, this is a not so subtle hint that you're invited! :)

I'll write more soon (as in more soon than two and a half months later)!

Hope you are all well!
God bless,
Justin