On the Way Home

Every day we walk to the metro stop; go down the escalators; go through the turnstiles; walk down more steps; and, if we get there at the right moment, we can walk right into the "cab" or whatever the compartment is called on a subway train.

Most days we just miss it or it hasn't come yet and we have a short wait for the next one. We are at the end of the green or "Verde" line and we have to ride one stop and then transfer to the yellow or "Amarelo" line.

If we are having good connection times we can jump through the doors and hustle across the platform and squeeze into the train. Most days we have a little longer wait than the first time and we have to stand up for the next four stops, packed in like sardines.

Once there we go back up the steps, through the turnstiles, down a tunnel, up some more steps and into the bright sunshine. We cross several streets - one a major intersection where we often cross two lanes and wait in the middle until the next light turns for us to finish crossing the street. We walk a few more blocks and come to our school building.

Coming back after class, shortly after noon, the ride and walk home are a little more restful. The stations are clearer, the trains much less crowded, and the traffic minimal. These pictures show the last station and part of the walk home. The construction is for a new bike lane and the graffiti under the bridge is ever changing. Notice the pink buildings in the last picture that Don is walking towards. Those are our buildings - we are almost home.

Interesting Things

In this updated building they chose to keep some of the old character. The calling tubes still work, I believe and I intend to ask Don to call up someday when I go up to the school rooms first - there is one tube on the wall when you go in the classroom suite door. The other interesting thing was the old peep that is on the door. If you look closely you will see Don's eyes and nose on the other side of the grate.

Our School Building

We think we have a very interesting school building. For one, on the outside it looks nice but not particularly eye catching. The glass door with the green grillwork is pretty heavy to open and to get in you have to ring the bell so the receptionist can buzz you in from the 3rd floor . Our classroom room suite just has the basic small white rooms and narrow hallways and looks like a completely different world that the foyer. The foyer is - well, I don't know the word to use right now. The building is old and Don is standing by the original talking tubes for calling up the the upper floors. It is really pretty in an ornate sort of way but I think the heads are a little freaky as they stare at you from above, almost as if they are watching who comes and goes.

Beautiful Places

There are many beautiful places here. One day our team leader took us for a drive and we stopped at one area and walked around a little.

They have these kinds of "non-portable" potties near the beach areas. We didn't go in that day but are told that they are nice and clean but you have to pay 50 euro cents to use them.

Language School Is Fun but Hard

I haven't taken my camera with me to school yet but will one day and get a picture of our room and teacher. The building is nice and well kept but they still have the old brass speaking tubes in the walls and tiny brass door peepholes.

We are really enjoying our class time with our teacher and not only learning language but also learning about culture and getting to know Senhora Isabel personally. Mike and Sarah (our friends and fellow team members) are the only other students in the class and it is an encouragement to share time like this together.

Today is Saturday and right now Don and I should be studying language, but we are sitting on the couch trying to get a lot of things on the to-do list done. (There are people we know who are at the beach for the day!) We have set up Skype on my computer, Don is working on a monthly report (very frustrated right now with Word), and we keep thinking of the things we have not done yet but really need to have in process - like applications for the monthly metro card, the library card, the car toll pass...

Anyway, about the language - after two weeks of school we are understanding some things but realize that it is going to be a long time before we will be able to communicate in Portuguese! We will continue with the school that we are in for another month and then we will transfer over to a university for their semester class. It will at least be a shorter metro ride ; ) Still, we ask you to pray for perseverance and understanding!

Yes, We Live in a Pink Apartment Building

We live in a nice area of Lisbon called Telheiras. It is what our language teacher called a middle class, but very nice, neighborhood. A

good place to live.

There are other colored buildings besides pink, but there is a lot of pink. We were told that pink was the color of royalty.

The blacktop area goes down to the underground garage.

Our windows and balcony (in the last picture) look out on a nice green area and across the way to other pink (and yellow) buildings.

This view is very different from the backyard view we used to have but I am very thankful that we do have some trees and grass to rest our eyes on.

If we walk down the sidewalk (in the view off the balcony) we come to a nice area between buildings with benches and wide sidewalks, little shops, cafes, and restaurants. There is a small mercado (market) that sells breads, fruits, milk, juice, and other small items. We bought some peaches, lemons, limes, and bread rolls there the other day when we were walking back from the Metro. I'll take some pictures of that area another day.

On The Way to Language School

Well, here are some views of the route we take (by car) to our language school. Of course now we are taking the Metro (subway) everyday, but for a few days we braved the roads, three lanes going the same way and sometimes four. This particular morning we were a little ahead of the rush. The top right picture is taken from our classroom window - we are on the 3rd floor. Across the street are several buildings that have tile fronts. It is strange to see some of the more modern buildings right next to some of the buildings that are from ages ago.