Nancy told you all about us going to Africa overnight... Doesn't that sound strange? Who goes to another continent overnight? We are doing it partly by necessity as we have to renew our visas by leaving the EU. Our other option is Switzerland which we will probably do the next time we have to "get out of town". We have a 90 day limit. Apparently crossing national borders like we will by going into Spain means nothing in Europe any more. The "united states of Europe" is moving toward reality... Anybody know any prophesies about that stuff???
We are concerned as Nancy's Dad has been very ill these last few days. Thanks for keeping him and us in your prayers..
Mike
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
November 17, 2009
I realized yesterday while I was supervising morning recess that fall in Portugal is like spring at home. The weather is damp and rainy and everything is starting to turn green. Every morning there is a fresh smell in the air and almost always a strong breeze...I guess that answers the question we had about gardening. We were rather puzzled when our land lord began to plant his garden as October approached...now we know why.
Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. It will be strange to celebrate the holiday far from home. We will be traveling to southern Portugal with the other missionaries for a 5 day conference. The yearly conference is held at a resort (its the off season) in an area called the Algarve. From what we have heard it is mostly a week of R&R.
Before getting to the Algarve we are taking an overnight trip to Morocco (yes Africa) via a ferry from Spain. This trip is necessary to renew our visas in a country outside the European Union. Our family, one other family and two single missionaries are going on the Morocco trip. We hope to have some interesting pictures to share when we get back from our adventure.
This past weekend Mike surprised me and took me to an art gallery in Lisboa. It was so cool. They have a number of original pieces including Mary Cassatte (a favorite of mine), some Rodin work, Monet, Manet, and a number of others. The gallery was built by a man for his own personal art collection of over 6000 pieces that date from early Eygpt to the present. It seemed a rainy, dreary day but turned out to be a romantic ramble through the gallery. I guess it is all about being with the right person.
Have a great Thanksgiving. We have much for which to be Thankful!
Nancy
Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. It will be strange to celebrate the holiday far from home. We will be traveling to southern Portugal with the other missionaries for a 5 day conference. The yearly conference is held at a resort (its the off season) in an area called the Algarve. From what we have heard it is mostly a week of R&R.
Before getting to the Algarve we are taking an overnight trip to Morocco (yes Africa) via a ferry from Spain. This trip is necessary to renew our visas in a country outside the European Union. Our family, one other family and two single missionaries are going on the Morocco trip. We hope to have some interesting pictures to share when we get back from our adventure.
This past weekend Mike surprised me and took me to an art gallery in Lisboa. It was so cool. They have a number of original pieces including Mary Cassatte (a favorite of mine), some Rodin work, Monet, Manet, and a number of others. The gallery was built by a man for his own personal art collection of over 6000 pieces that date from early Eygpt to the present. It seemed a rainy, dreary day but turned out to be a romantic ramble through the gallery. I guess it is all about being with the right person.
Have a great Thanksgiving. We have much for which to be Thankful!
Nancy
Monday, November 9, 2009
November 9, 2009
A couple of cute stories about Nina and Kati that will give you an idea of how they are doing here in Portugal.
On Friday night Kati went to an unusual birthday party for her friend Tori who just turned eleven. The party was a sleepover...I know that is not unusual for eleven year old girls but this was not only a sleepover for the girls but also for their pet hampsters. So, there they were, three little girls Kati, Tori and Sunny with their hampster cages and their pets Jessa, Lilly (should be Billy) and Gina. A great night and the next day of fun was had by all.
On Saturday Nina and two of her friends, Leah and Louisa decided to get their hair cut explaining what they wanted all in Portugese. They walked down the hill to the salon, explained what they wanted (Nina admitted they used a lot of hand signals along with their broken Portugese) and got their hair cut, washed and styled. Word has it all the girls were pleased with the results. After lunch at Louisa's house they walked back up the hill for some bonding time and dessert at our house...we were gone to Sintra so they had the whole house to themselves.
Nina mentioned she wanted to try an outing with friends taking the subway into old Lisboa for their next adventure...I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.
Yesterday after church we were invited to eat lunch with a young Romanian couple from our church in Loures (pronounced Lor-ish) named Cornell and Eunice. Both of them speak great English as well as Portugese and Romanian. They immigrated here to work nine years ago.
What a meal Eunice prepared! There was enough food to feed twenty instead of just the six of us. She said she just really cooking. We had mashed potatoes, rice, a meat loaf dish with a hard boiled egg baked into the center of it, egg-roll type pastry filled with meat and peppers and onions, a cauliflour dish in cream sauce, salad, fish muffins that tasted a little like salmond patties, bread and a carmel pudding cake that was wonderful. They were so warm and hospitable and made us feel very welcome. We ended up staying at their house until around 5:00 visiting and asking them all kinds of questions about Romania. They told us if we decide to visit Romania while we are here we can stay with Eunice's parents who have plenty of room and will be happy to take us and show us around their country. When we first met Eunice and Cornell we found it amazing that they were from the same town in Romania where Kati's biological brother, Flavius is still living.
The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed! N
On Friday night Kati went to an unusual birthday party for her friend Tori who just turned eleven. The party was a sleepover...I know that is not unusual for eleven year old girls but this was not only a sleepover for the girls but also for their pet hampsters. So, there they were, three little girls Kati, Tori and Sunny with their hampster cages and their pets Jessa, Lilly (should be Billy) and Gina. A great night and the next day of fun was had by all.
On Saturday Nina and two of her friends, Leah and Louisa decided to get their hair cut explaining what they wanted all in Portugese. They walked down the hill to the salon, explained what they wanted (Nina admitted they used a lot of hand signals along with their broken Portugese) and got their hair cut, washed and styled. Word has it all the girls were pleased with the results. After lunch at Louisa's house they walked back up the hill for some bonding time and dessert at our house...we were gone to Sintra so they had the whole house to themselves.
Nina mentioned she wanted to try an outing with friends taking the subway into old Lisboa for their next adventure...I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.
Yesterday after church we were invited to eat lunch with a young Romanian couple from our church in Loures (pronounced Lor-ish) named Cornell and Eunice. Both of them speak great English as well as Portugese and Romanian. They immigrated here to work nine years ago.
What a meal Eunice prepared! There was enough food to feed twenty instead of just the six of us. She said she just really cooking. We had mashed potatoes, rice, a meat loaf dish with a hard boiled egg baked into the center of it, egg-roll type pastry filled with meat and peppers and onions, a cauliflour dish in cream sauce, salad, fish muffins that tasted a little like salmond patties, bread and a carmel pudding cake that was wonderful. They were so warm and hospitable and made us feel very welcome. We ended up staying at their house until around 5:00 visiting and asking them all kinds of questions about Romania. They told us if we decide to visit Romania while we are here we can stay with Eunice's parents who have plenty of room and will be happy to take us and show us around their country. When we first met Eunice and Cornell we found it amazing that they were from the same town in Romania where Kati's biological brother, Flavius is still living.
The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed! N
November 9, 2009
The big news from this weekend is...Alex and Jamie are engaged! On Saturday morning we received a picture of her hand wearing a beautiful diamond ring. I immediately emailed back to make sure we were reading this "wordless" message right...We were! We are so happy to welcome Jamie into our family...she is a wonderful girl and it is obvious she and Alex are devoted to one another.
On Saturday Mike and I went to visit Sintra Palace...this is a palace upon a high hill that can actually be seen from the backside of the hillside where we live...but is a forty five minute drive to get there. It was one of those fall days when the wind is a bit blustery and the clouds are moving quickly across the sky. One minute it is sunny and the next it is cloudy or misting rain...we even saw a rainbow on the drive out to Sintra. Due to the mix of sun and rain and clouds here rainbows are fairly frequent. Nina commented the other day that maybe that is because the Portugese need to frequently be reminded of their covenant with God.
Sintra is a place many tourists visit and this weekend was no exception. We wandered through the little shops and ate lunch in an old cafe that upon entering looked somewhat like a hole-in-the-wall. But as the waiter led us into the inner workings of the place it proved to be a popular, nicely decorated establishment. As with most cafe's in Portugal cheese, olives, bread and a few other tempting things were placed upon our table. The rule is, if you eat any of these you pay extra for them, if you don't eat them there is no charge and they remove them before the entre is brought out. A few other customs we have learned are these; you leave your napkin on the table (not on your lap), the Portugese do not touch their food with their hands, for example a sandwich or pastry is picked up with a napkin or these special little papers that are on the table, you turn you fork upside down and lay it across your plate next to your knife to signal you are finished eating, you must ask for your check or they will not bring it, and tips left are small or not at all.
Once we were back outside we were serenaded by a street singer playing love songs on an accordian. We thought of taking a carriage ride up to the castle but decided we would save that for another day when the girls were with us to enjoy it.
After lunching, shopping and exploring the only thing left to do was finding our car (parking is always an issue) which we had left along some alley way or street (it is sometimes hard to tell them apart). We did eventually find the car and headed out to pick up Kati who had slept at a friends house on Friday night.
N
On Saturday Mike and I went to visit Sintra Palace...this is a palace upon a high hill that can actually be seen from the backside of the hillside where we live...but is a forty five minute drive to get there. It was one of those fall days when the wind is a bit blustery and the clouds are moving quickly across the sky. One minute it is sunny and the next it is cloudy or misting rain...we even saw a rainbow on the drive out to Sintra. Due to the mix of sun and rain and clouds here rainbows are fairly frequent. Nina commented the other day that maybe that is because the Portugese need to frequently be reminded of their covenant with God.
Sintra is a place many tourists visit and this weekend was no exception. We wandered through the little shops and ate lunch in an old cafe that upon entering looked somewhat like a hole-in-the-wall. But as the waiter led us into the inner workings of the place it proved to be a popular, nicely decorated establishment. As with most cafe's in Portugal cheese, olives, bread and a few other tempting things were placed upon our table. The rule is, if you eat any of these you pay extra for them, if you don't eat them there is no charge and they remove them before the entre is brought out. A few other customs we have learned are these; you leave your napkin on the table (not on your lap), the Portugese do not touch their food with their hands, for example a sandwich or pastry is picked up with a napkin or these special little papers that are on the table, you turn you fork upside down and lay it across your plate next to your knife to signal you are finished eating, you must ask for your check or they will not bring it, and tips left are small or not at all.
Once we were back outside we were serenaded by a street singer playing love songs on an accordian. We thought of taking a carriage ride up to the castle but decided we would save that for another day when the girls were with us to enjoy it.
After lunching, shopping and exploring the only thing left to do was finding our car (parking is always an issue) which we had left along some alley way or street (it is sometimes hard to tell them apart). We did eventually find the car and headed out to pick up Kati who had slept at a friends house on Friday night.
N
Monday, November 2, 2009
November 2, 2009
I can't believe it is November already. At school we are doing grade cards...end of first grading period. Flu of all sorts is running thru Portugal. I have a child out who tested positive for swine flu. He was kind of sick for a day then really sick for another day...but unfortunately even though he is feeling fine again the law of the land is that he has to stay out of school for a week after onset of the flu...most clinics are not even testing for swine flu now, but instead just treating all flu the same...lots of rest and fluids and managing the fever...
This weekend we visited one of our malls...did I tell you we have about 5 within a 10 mile radius? I decided to take some picts of the fashions. They are pretty cool. Lots of mid-calf or taller boots, lots of layering, and lots of scarves. Skirts if worn are fairly short and worn with colorful tights and or leg warmers. Since it is still warm here we don't see much of it actually worn on the streets but the malls are full of it...things look very European! A big color this fall is plum, which I happen to like. It isn't that we are doing a lot of shopping, but it is fun to look.
I think the prices on clothing are about like in the USA. There are very expensive stores all the way down to WalMart prices. One thing that does seem higher priced here is shoes. I'm hoping the ones I brought with me will get me thru. I may end of buying a pair of boots though...there are some very cool ones to be had. Sizing is another difference. I've figured out I wear about a 38 in a shoe size and still a medium in a blouse...but pants, haven't figured that one out yet...
Well enough chatting about fashion...let's talk about something important...food! Yes, well food is different here. I think in many ways we are eating healthier...did you know they have milk that doesn't have to be refridgerated until it is opened...and all kinds of unusual juices that are real juice or nectars. Also all the cheeses are white...I guess they don't allow yellow dye #6 or whatever it is that makes our cheeses yellow. Some things are not to be found...like salsa and pancake mix, syrup, tortillas, chocolate chips to mention a few...but since we have friends who shop at the American Embassy (ex military folks) they will get those things if we ask them to. All in all we have adjusted to what there is and have found we enjoy the differences.
Enjoy! Nancy
This weekend we visited one of our malls...did I tell you we have about 5 within a 10 mile radius? I decided to take some picts of the fashions. They are pretty cool. Lots of mid-calf or taller boots, lots of layering, and lots of scarves. Skirts if worn are fairly short and worn with colorful tights and or leg warmers. Since it is still warm here we don't see much of it actually worn on the streets but the malls are full of it...things look very European! A big color this fall is plum, which I happen to like. It isn't that we are doing a lot of shopping, but it is fun to look.
I think the prices on clothing are about like in the USA. There are very expensive stores all the way down to WalMart prices. One thing that does seem higher priced here is shoes. I'm hoping the ones I brought with me will get me thru. I may end of buying a pair of boots though...there are some very cool ones to be had. Sizing is another difference. I've figured out I wear about a 38 in a shoe size and still a medium in a blouse...but pants, haven't figured that one out yet...
Well enough chatting about fashion...let's talk about something important...food! Yes, well food is different here. I think in many ways we are eating healthier...did you know they have milk that doesn't have to be refridgerated until it is opened...and all kinds of unusual juices that are real juice or nectars. Also all the cheeses are white...I guess they don't allow yellow dye #6 or whatever it is that makes our cheeses yellow. Some things are not to be found...like salsa and pancake mix, syrup, tortillas, chocolate chips to mention a few...but since we have friends who shop at the American Embassy (ex military folks) they will get those things if we ask them to. All in all we have adjusted to what there is and have found we enjoy the differences.
Enjoy! Nancy
Nov. 1, 2009
Yesterday (Sat) was another wonderful day. We didn't do much during the day except shop a bit, take a walk (Nancy picked a ripe orange from a neighbor's tree), do laundry, and homework until nightfall when we went out for supper with Brian and Lauri Dix and their HS sr son, Matthew, who is a great kid especially in Kati's eyes. We went to a place where you cook your own steak in a rather unique way. They bring you a tray with some condiments and a big thick chunk of raw meat on it. In the middle of the tray is a 5' X 5' piece of (very) hot granite rock so you slice off a piece of meat, decorate it as you like, put it on the rock and cook it to your preference. Great fun and delicious! Sides included salad and the ever present french fries. We had a great time. Kati even ate the "whole thing" which disappointed me a bit since I was hoping for an extra share. Topped it all off with some chocolate mousse and something called "camel's drool" (somekind of caramel thing). This place has been at the same location for over 150 years. I can't believe it hasn't been franchised all over the place. It is called "O Patermice" which means...oh, I don't know... maybe "O how my stomach hurts like it is Thnaksgiving"? Anyway we are adding it the places we will take visitors...your treat, of course..
Mike
Mike
Saturday Oct 31, 2009
Friday we had no school, sleep-in, relaxed, peaceful day that lasted until about 7:15 when Nancy jumped up with a great idea. "Let's re-arrange the house. We'll put the dining room stuff in the living room and move the living room into the dining room" I was too drowsy to think of a good reason not to...so we did. Wow, what a difference it has made. We have so much more usable space and it looks a lot better as well. What a woman!
We also took a short shopping trip to a store called "Lidl's". It is named for the brother of Aldi's. Seriously, they flipped a coin. Aldi got the US and Lidl got Europe. The stores are exactly the same right down to pay for the cart and bring your own bags. The layout of the stores is the same and the one here carries some things that other places do not. They do have some brands that are a bit different. They carry Lisas (chips), Nougat Pillows and Wellness Flakes (cereals), Bimbo Bread, and Finkbrau (beer) which I don't think I would buy even if I had a use for it. I bought a box of "MyTime" as well. You will not guess what it is. We will keep you posted as we discover more of these. We also have a lot of familiar brands as well. Total and BP gas, Pantene hair care, Nestles (with General Mills), and Kellogg's, etc.
Of course, the best stuff is unbranded fresh and homemade (in somebody else's kitchen or a restaurant). We love a place that sells grilled chicken and fries by the kilogram. We were there early the other day and the owner was peeling real potatoes for the fries. No wonder they are so good!!!
Mike
We also took a short shopping trip to a store called "Lidl's". It is named for the brother of Aldi's. Seriously, they flipped a coin. Aldi got the US and Lidl got Europe. The stores are exactly the same right down to pay for the cart and bring your own bags. The layout of the stores is the same and the one here carries some things that other places do not. They do have some brands that are a bit different. They carry Lisas (chips), Nougat Pillows and Wellness Flakes (cereals), Bimbo Bread, and Finkbrau (beer) which I don't think I would buy even if I had a use for it. I bought a box of "MyTime" as well. You will not guess what it is. We will keep you posted as we discover more of these. We also have a lot of familiar brands as well. Total and BP gas, Pantene hair care, Nestles (with General Mills), and Kellogg's, etc.
Of course, the best stuff is unbranded fresh and homemade (in somebody else's kitchen or a restaurant). We love a place that sells grilled chicken and fries by the kilogram. We were there early the other day and the owner was peeling real potatoes for the fries. No wonder they are so good!!!
Mike
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