Man, I feel like a woman

Continuing the week of goodbyes, my adult English class and I had dinner at an American diner instead of class. They ate BBQ ribs and chicken parmigiana and thought it was okay. The food isn't great at the diner, but the karaoke is! We sang my favorite, "Man I feel like a woman" and many more. They were definitely one of my favorite classes. They are such good and funny people. They remind me how genuine and also hardworking Portuguese people can be. 

Goodbyes

Goodbyes for me are heart-wrenching and terrifying. It is a human reality even Jesus had to go through. I always reflect on goodbyes during the second glorious mystery of the rosary, the Ascension. 

This week I'm saying goodbye to the people at the English school I'm at now because I've accepted a new job, at a bilingual elementary school. Even though I'm changing to something that's better, this week has been t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e. It's breaking my heart to leave my coworker who I love, the secretary who has faithfully given me rides home all year and my students who I've grown awfully attached to. 

“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” 

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment

A sushi dinner yesterday with my wonderful coworker and friend. While watching Portugal lose against Spain in the Euro! 

Sexuality and Marriage in Islam and Catholicism

Here is the post I wrote at IgnitumToday:

http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2012/06/27/sexuality-and-marriage-in-islam-and-catholicism/

I hope you like it! It's obviously more written from the Catholic perspective, seeing as I don't know a lot about Islam. I hope it's respectful enough and that I get good feedback so that I can learn more. 

A people-filled weekend

There's nothing like a weekend full of people. Here's to a super-stressful week, but my last week of work!

Watching Beauty and the Beast in 3D (wonderful!), lunch at the Irish Pub in Parque das Nacoes, Vasco da Gama Bridge, my sister and her funny friend preparing a delicious Mexican dinner, watching the Spain vs. France game...

Missing Turlock...

A really nice, thoughtful friend back from my hometown sent me this interesting news article:

http://www.turlockjournal.com/section/12/article/15503/

The International Young Adult Teams of Our Lady Meeting will be held in the town where I was born and raised and, more specifically, at the university where my sister got her college degree. Young Adult Teams of Our Lady are really popular here in Lisbon and, ironically, people from PORTUGAL are going to this meeting... in Turlock! I suddenly really wish I was part of Young Adult Teams of Our Lady! 

Turlock

The Turlock Canal, where I used to walk my dog

Almond Orchard in Turlock

Cooking and growing

These past weeks, and especially days, have been hectic and a lot of change is going on in my life. So it was especially nice to not plan anything this week and slow down a little. I went back to cooking for other people, which I love. I made Greens, Potatoes and Feta Cheese Pie from my favorite cookbook for my sister. 

Plus, my orchid is growing and budding like crazy... non-stop! And a cat that likes to hang out in my landlady's garden.  

The good kind of wandering

"Not all those who wander are lost."

– J.R.R. Tolkien

Tamale Pie and white wine at my house with my really funny and down-to-earth coworker; a Corpus Christi procession in downtown Lisbon; me listening to Mariachi music at a Mexican restaurant in Algés, with mi corazon. 

What I've been doing lately...

...among other things, "folcloring"!

As of December, Daniel and I have been trying to learn Poruguese folclore dancing at the Rancho Folclorico Casa do Minho em Lisboa. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ698QGscXQ). We haven't learned the dances well enough to be able to dance in the shows this summer, but we stand on stage dressed up as the newlyweds. These are the traditional bride and groom outfits from the most northern part of Portugal, Minho. It's so fun!

Portuguese angst

I thought this graffitti I saw on the train last week was funny and sad, but a perfect summary of how Portuguese people feel about government and life:

"The government of Passos Coelho [current Portuguese prime minister] and the BPN gang (Cavaco's friends) [Cavaco = current Portuguese president) ruined our lives! Sons of *?!$*!"

Except, of course, some people express it more eloquently. 

Grace and gift

"Love and life according to the Gospel cannot be thought of first and foremost as a kind of precept, because what they demand is beyond man's abilities. They are possible only as the result of a gift of God who heals, restores and transforms the human heart by his grace: [...] we are speaking of a possibility opened up to man exclusively by grace, by the gift of God, by his love." (Veritatis Splendor 23, 24).

Pictures from the Alentejo this weekend...

England, France, Saudi Arabia, America, Portugal...?!

Hanging out with my sister's crazy English and French colleagues, plus a Saudi Arabian, at an American diner while drinking Welch's Grape Soda... in Portugal? Divine. I loved hearing the "habibi" (sweetheart in Arabic) being tossed around everywhere and finding out about the VERY different culture called the MIDDLE EAST. I mean really, I didn't even know what kinds of questions to ask someone who lives in a country where all women wear burkas. Crazy. So I asked who is top suggestions for Arabic music were. And they are: Mohamed Abdo (Saudi), Om Kolthom (Egyptian) and Karmin Suliman (Egyptian)... winner of Arab Idol (?). 

Pictures of us at the diner and overlooking the Cascais marina.