Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

Sorry it's been a week, I just haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write. I'll do a bit of a quick overview for now, and go and elaborate perhaps a bit more tomorrow.

Thursday - My German teacher exiled me from the class for drawing too much attention for being a foreigner...whoops. =)

Friday - We had a family friend come and visit, so of course the dinner was out of this world. Salad, Bacalhau, Dessert...yummy.

Saturday - Started out feeling pretty lonely and homesick. Then it got a LOT worse. I was stuck in the house and not able to receive my package from home, which was very aggrivating. Finally I was about to lose it when Ines and I took off for NorteShopping at last. We met up with a few of her friends for dinner (they're really nice) and went to FNAC where I got a few English books. After dinner I went bowling with some kids from school for two of their birthdays. Can you believe they have AMF bowling in Portugal?!?! Well they do! I even rolled a strike, but we all did terrible. No one got higher than an 86. It was one of those nights where they do blacklights and disco balls and strobes and stuff. The kids were all nice to me. Sometimes it pays to be the cute foreigner! (though with all these pastries I'm getting fatter every day...)

Sunday - I woke up on Sunday and ate breakfast with the host Pais. I then proceeded to go around Vila do Conde taking some video. It was a gorgeous day - wonderful walking weather. Expect videos soon...I'm still figuring out how to change them so I can put them on the internet. After I came home, I headed to Porto to meet with some of the AFSers (Raven, Johannes, Elif, Melody, Christina, Svenja). We did the usual of AFS kids - wander around the city looking for good cafes. However, we did stop to look around Casa da Musica - this strange place that's a concert hall but also weird with design and architecture. We had lunch on the other side of the river where I tried francisinha. It's a porto specialty, but I probably wouldn't have it again. Basically it's Texas toast, sausage, ham, beef, cheese, special sauce, and french fries all on a plate...I felt like a beached whale afterwards. We then traipsed back across the bridge to Porto and went to this AMAZING chocolate place with these things called Mocha-chocs. AKA heaven on earth. It's sort of a thinner version of hot fudge, condensed milk, and whipped cream. Oh my goodness....so after Porto I went to Vila da Cha to my host grandparents' house. Where we had afternoon tea (launche) and cake. Fatness.

Monday - The day of chasing trains. I woke up on time. Got ready. And the damn metro was 20 minutes late...never mind I had to catch a train to Lisboa!!! So anyway, it finally got to the station and I had to SPRINT to my platform (which I had no idea where it was). I got on the train about 5 minutes before it left. It was a good trainride, about 3 hours more or less. When I got to Lisboa I met Nadia, this really cool volunteer. We went to lunch in this huge mall and then to the American Embassy. And now I can finally have some piece of mind about the passport...it should be in the mail in 2 weeks! Then we had a few hours, so we went to the AFS headquarters in Lisboa and baixa, the downtown. What a small world, but Kip was leaving baixa, Lisboa about exactly the same time as I was coming into baixa! If only we could have met up! I didn't even know!! But I did get to see Martina, and the three of us talked about exchanges and stuff...got pastries (I need to stop!) and walked around. Then I realized I was late for my train. Again. So I parted with Martina (so sad!) and Nadia and an AFS staff and I ran to station...where they weren't selling anymore tickets. So I had to buy a ticket for a later train and wait another hour...but eventually I did get back to Porto!

Tuesday - Finally got that package! Lots of goodies. Getting mail here is like Christmas in an envelope. Write if you want! I also met another American who said he's here because his wife is Portuguese and has daughters my age.

Today - Long day! Wednesdays are my only day with morning classes so I have to leave the house at ten til seven. I had all my classes except Filosofia (probably a good thing since the teacher wasn't too happy when I had the Portuguese lesson yesterday instead). I went to Casa da Musica for breakfast with Maria Joao. My classes can be a bit boring and I tend to daydream sometimes...but that's ok. I had lunch alone, but after everyone heard they were like "next time you'll eat with us". I came home...we had salmon for dinner...yum.


Hopefully this weekend/Carnaval I will get the chance to go to some discos/bars with Ines, other AFSers, kids from school...we'll see where the weekend takes me! And Kip might visit soon!!!


One thing that does bother me a bit about the Portuguese is that they don't have a lot of regard for personal possessions. So if you have a book on your desk, they'll take it off and flip through it without asking. It just sort of bugs me, especially if I have stuff I've written and they start looking through it. Today I was passing a note with this guy Joao in my class, and there wasn't anything really in it. Just sort of like "oh where do you eat lunch? You live in porto? what are you doing for carnival?". But still people (who I like, they're nice but...) just picked it up and read it and started passing it around. I guess I just have to get used to it, and keep personal things WAY personal.