Metro Stops and Meeting Needs

It is still hot in September, really hot, and most days we look to find some shade and/or a cool place to study where we won't get totally sleepy right away. The nice thing about city living and using the metro is that you have lots of options on where to go. Between our metro stop and where we get off to go to language school there are several nice choices.

One day, after class, we got off at the metro stop that comes out at Campo Pequeno, an area of the city with the building of the bull fights. We walked around until we found a park bench in the shade and then got our books and homework out. It was still hot enough, with very little wind, for us to have trouble staying focused and we began to watch some of the things going on around us.

We watched as some birds began to gather at a place on the cobblestones where the sprinkler that was watering the grass was getting water on the walkway and pooling up some. The pigeons were quite comical as they sat in the sprinkling water, taking a little shower like we would, opening up one wing and then the other and holding them out and up so the water could get under their wings. Other little sparrows would come right down among the pigeons and roll around, soaking up as much water as they could.

It made me think about how the overflow of water was being used by the birds, water not intentionally meant for them, and how our own lives should be a little like that. Out of the overflow of our walk with Christ, needs around us will be met and some of those needs we will not be ones that we even thought about meeting.

Campo Pequeno

Thinking about Golf and Cooler Places

It is hot in August in Lisbon, but it is also the month that a large majority of people in Portugal take their month long holidays. Shops will put out signs and say they are closed from this day to that day - usually covering at least two weeks or more. Our little neighborhood market was opened today but as of tomorrow they will be closed until the end of the month, and last night we went in and said, "Boas Férias" to our friendly clerks. We already miss these people and the hot rolls they sell every day : ) 

It is also strange for our "American" minds to think that they would just close up shop and miss all the sales that would come from the store being open.

Today we went driving around to see if we could find the golf course near our neighborhood. We drove in congested Friday traffic, took a few wrong turns, but found it at last. Some courses are better than others but Don would just like to play sometime. Well, this is August and once again we found that this place has "holiday hours" and you just can't walk up and play anytime.

Well, seeing this course today brought back happy memories of days of golf in Pennsylvania and reminded us that even though we had very long, hard, cold winters at least for awhile it was cool and beautiful ; )

We are finding though like Paul, that we can be content in all situations and even grateful for variety. But it would be nice for Don if he could play somewhere as it has been well over a year since he played and he would just like to play somewhere.

Doors and Windows in Évora

Tiny Streets and Open Plazas

There are tiny streets and open plazas in almost every town in Portugal. When you walk down the small streets, you have to be very careful because there is not much room for your body and a car that might be passing at the same time. This day in Évora, a very hot, over 100 degree, day (most of the people were in the shops, cafes or restaurants staying out of the sun), we were looking for a place to buy some hats. There was a sign at the head of a street,  just off the plaza, with a store listed that sold hats (chapéu). We went down to check it out and our friends each bought a hat. We then went on to a little restaurant, tucked away in another side street that served traditional Alentejo food (the region of the country). I found that I really enjoyed everything I ate - even the little appetizer that was made of bacalhau (cod fish).  We stopped at several cafés for water or coffee, visited the palace, an art exhibit, and the Chapel of Bones, and just had a very good day spent with our Portuguese friends.

A Normal Day

Yesterday we found out that our driver's license paper (the temporary paper we have before our real Portugal cards come) was expiring today.  A few months ago, I would have had a little worry attack, dreading all the possible difficulties, but this time the first thing that came to mind was, "Lord, help me not to worry about this and help us to just get this taken care of."

Not only were we able to find the place this morning (about a 25 minute drive away), with the help of good directions from a friend, be we also had our Portuguese friend able to go with us, as his day was open. There was no problems and then we went back in the afternoon (again with our Portuguese friend) to pick up our "renewed pieces of paper"(aka our temporary driver's licenses).

But the biggest thrill of the day for me was being able to drive there in the afternoon traffic, navigate the traffic, not stall the car or grind the gears, make all the right turns and have the sense of things just being a "normal" day. (Have we told you about there being very few legal left turns on the roads here and when you miss an exit or turn you have to sometimes go a long distance before you can find a way back?)

When we got back to our apartment building and were going into the garage I didn't have the sense of relief I used to have when we'd go somewhere new (usually with a few wrong turns) and would get back - so glad to be off the roads and safely home. It was just a normal day that I thought would never come!

From Segovia back to Lisbon

Castles, Kings and Queens

I have always loved going inside houses and seeing how people live (or lived), what their daily lives look like as they move around the rooms, how they decorate, the view from their windows...

I have always wanted to go inside a castle, too, to feel what it might have been like to have lived in a certain time period. Last week I got to go into two castles in Spain. The splendor and workmanship that went into the surroundings was beautiful and in some cases, according to my taste, almost gaudy. But more than that, I had a feeling of hollowness, an emptiness, of knowing that years have come and gone, wars have been fought, some of the kings and queens were good rulers and others horrible. Living in a castle might have made life a little better but not necessarily happier, and a life without God and the love of Christ leaves only the momentary wealth and power of a spec in eternity.

I am so happy to be living in a small apartment without a lot of worldly possessions and having a relationship with the creator of the universe! And, as far as grand houses go, isn't that what Jesus said, that He is getting a place ready for us in His Father's house?