Spring flowers

"A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring. In a pleasant spring morning all men's sins are forgiven."

(Walden, Henry David Thoreau, chapter on "spring")

My landlady's flowers. The ones above are the same as the ones pictured below... they  close at night!

Laughter and American flag heart earrings

Last night, my sister and I, plus her charming boyfriend (who really has become like a brother to me), went back to the fushion sushi place we went to last week. We stuffed our faces like little piggies, just like last time, and all agreed we had little sushi babies living in our bellies. It was pretty intense. Topics included soccer, my student's American flag heart earrings from Claire's (aaamazing... go Portuguese people that love America!), bulimia and hemorrhoids. I hadn't laughed like that in a while. 

Today, April 25th, is a national holiday here... the day Portugal had a peaceful revolution against the dictatorship in 1974. It's pretty cool because my parents actually participated in this revolution...!

Burned out

My weekend was off to a great start last Friday when I made Eggplant Parmigiana for the first time and it tasted like I was back in an Italian restaurant in the US of A! (based on Martha Stewart's recipe + parsley). And even though there were lots of great things that happened, including spending time downtown Lisbon (Bairro Alto) with my sister and a friend on Saturday night, I tired myself out. I'm officially a busy-a-holic. And because I started feeling sick, I've used that as an excuse to give in to laziness and do absolutely nothing yesterday and today. At least I'm feeling better...

3rd Sunday of Easter

This week's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday podcast:

http://lifeteen.com/sunday-sunday-sunday-042212/

(This week's readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042212.cfm)

My favorite thoughts from the podcast:

• There's a lot more to learning than just the technique, you have to trust me. 
• A lot of times because we don't have God's divine perspective, that we can't see that certain situations that are happening in our lives right now, that God is allowing to happen because he's trying to grow us, to refine us. Because he intends to use that virtue and that skill later in life. 
• Whatever is happening to us today, God can use it for His glory, whether tomorrow or a few years from now. 
• We were being prepared ahead of time for what happened to Jesus. 
• It says he opened their mind to understand the Scriptures... He was trying to open them to a bigger perspective. 
• By pointing back, He's actually encouraging them to go forward.

Caravaggio, 1901, Source

Sushi and sisterhood

I know my life is going okay when I have time to have lunch with my sister and talk to her on the phone at night before bed...

And I know living in Portugal is going to be okay when I find I have fusion sushi walking-distance from my house! There aren't a lot of good Japanese restaurants here... and this is the first fusion Japanese we've seen. Sushi with cheese and rucola... who knew! We ate the all-you-can-eat buffet out of house and home, as we usually do... and just when we thought we couldn't eat anymore they brought out avocado-covered sushi.... WOW! It was an amazing experience. We discussed various theories on why we eat more than the typical Portuguese person and came to the conclusion that it's the type of food they eat here (meat, carbs, fried things, very few vegetables...) and lack of exercise/sports.