Sept 6, 2009

I still can´t get over the view from our house and from the school. My classroom is on the down side of the hill (thankfully) and I can see the Tejo (Tagus in US) river and the otherside all the way to high hills in the distance, at least 20 or 30 miles when it is clear. Since I face kind of east in my desk, I can see the hills that were opposite the old school (our 1986-87 experience) as well. There are still barren of houses and have olive trees on their flanks. I also see the airport and look down on the planes as they land and take off invariably (so far) from the west to the east. If I lean a bit forward I can see downtown Lisbon (which we have yet to visit), a couple of hugh soccer stadiums, and the roof of the largest mall in Europe. I think a foray Sunday pm into the city may be in order if I can get my guts up to drive it. The GPS is great but not foolproof. The driving is more of a challenge than I remember. I think because we didn't drive that much then and it was less busy as well. The freeway system is well developed but I have not yet been able to make it orderly in my brain. Plus once you are on it, right or wrong, exits are few and far between. There are also no as yet discovered, easy-off easy-on situations either which makes for a high price extracted for entering a wrong on-ramp. Landmark recognition is still out of my grasp as I have to focus so much on avoiding contact with the other zipping little autos trying to qualify for the next Formula 1 race...
I bought a butane tank for the house yesterday... another "great" learning experience. My inability to glutterize and roll r's at the same time led to lots of puzzlement on behalf of the gas station staff. Another quart, oops, liter of sweat on that one but finally got it. (saved by someone who knew English).
Also found the Ramada (formerly Odiveles) church yesterday. It is at the bottom of our hill and surrounded by housing. It was isolated on a dirt road before.
School starts tomorrow and we are all ready. I hope I don't start drifting into day dreams as I glance out the windows...