The washing tank

I washed my rugs again (see last year) in the washing tank about two minutes from my house. The fact that there are still washing tanks is one of the things I most love about Portugal. I don't know if there are any more washing tanks anywhere, but I am sure glad I have one near my house. Because it's just cooler to wash my rugs in a tank. The water is clear and running, and it's easy. Just dip, scrub and dip again. There is even a separate pool you can use to rinse in non-soapy water. It's a shame only me and the gypsy women that live nearby use it!

Gifts and support

Week one of my new job is over... phew. I'm almost just as nervous about week two, but I'm trying not to think about it. It's in tough and stressful times that you realize how much support is really at your disposal. I had several little treats this week: lunch with one of my favorite friends I haven't been in touch with recently, figs and fig jam from my landlady, a new plant from Daniel, little text messages, etc. These are the things that remind me I am being taken care of. 

8 reasons for lifestyle blogs

Why should anyone keep an online diary, sharing private moments of their lives with strangers? Here are 8 reasons I love reading lifestyle blogs, write a lifestyle blog and think they can serve a purpose: 

1. They are visual and beautiful. Everyone knows "beauty will save the world" (Dostoevsky), right?
2. It's interesting and cultural to see how other people live, both those close to us and around the world. 
3. Because that's the core part of life: "In these pages I tell secrets... because that is one way of keeping track and becasue I believe that it is not only more honest but also vastly more interesting than to pretend that I have no such secrets to tell. I not only have my secrets, I am my secrets. And you are your secrets." (from aholyexperience.com)
4. Focusing on lifestyle, hobbies and interests can be a common ground between people with religious or other differences. We might not agree with another person's beliefs or religion, but we can nonetheless like their lifestyle.
5. They have ideas and inspiration for new ways of living and looking at life.
6. It's a fun way to keep in touch with and share pictures with loved ones that are far away. My parents and my friends (and second family!) in the US, for example, live far away. 
7. It helps focus on what really matters in life and makes us happy: "factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time, parenthood, body and neighborhood."
8. It helps focus on the simple and small things: a cup of tea, a chat with a friend, pushing a child in a swing. Or, as seen below, a cup of coffee and a wonderful "couple's sharing time" I had with my boyfriend this summer!

Any more ideas?

Joie de Vivre

 Last week, I saw a beautiful French movie, The Women on the Sixth Floor, about a rich, French man who falls in love with "the help": Spanish women who really have "joie de vivre". It's the second French comedy I see that is really funny.

It's one of those movies where someone rich and disconnected discovers love and joy through a poorer (but more family and community-oriented) culture in his own country. Like Spanglish, for example. Some of my favorite things that the French man said were, "They're poor, they get up at six in the morning and get home late and tired, but they're happy." And, "I've found a family here." I really identified with the movie because I had a similar fascination for the Mexican culture my last year in high school. It was actually through that fascination that I came back to the Church. When the French man in the movie went to mass with them and prayed the rosary with them at night, I saw the same beauty I had seen back then.

I loved how they had so little, but they were rich in community and friendship with one another. The movie showed them supporting each other in hardships, helping each other with their work, laughing and telling stories in the park, making fun of each other in a playful way. It made me sad to live alone and far from people I'd like to build community with, but it was definitely a reminder of what's important in life.

Back to Lisbon

Well, I'm back in Lisbon, to a new job and to the adventure of everyday life (as opposed to the comfort of being taken care of at my parents' house on an idyllic island). 

I miss my mom's crunchy salads everyday for lunch and the latte my dad makes for me everyday after lunch. It's a stark contrast to the leftovers I eat for several days while braving life here on my own. Everyone says their mom's cooking is the best, but I do appreciate my mom's healthy food (I guess I owe my health-freakness to her) which you just feel good about eating. She always has salads for lunch and soups for dinner. 

Every now and then, when I get nostalgic, I think about those salads for lunch and that coffee sprinkled with cinnamon.