It's day 12 in Lisboa (Lish-bwa), but I'll take you back to my second day. Here's what I wrote on January 23rd:
Here's some stories from yesterday, I was too exhausted to write when I came back to the room, ha. I got 10.5 hours of sleep yesterday, again, it was marvelous. I left the room around 2pm and turned left out of the Residencia, which I haven’t done at all yet! Right is towards the metro, which is my “usual” route…if I can even say “usual” yet. It was misting/raining lightly all day yesterday so I had my hood up for the majority of the day. Turning left means uphill the whole way, I got a LOT of exercise in yesterday, like miles upon miles. I stopped in a couple of side markets. A lot of fruit in one and not the kind of vegetables I’d want in the other. So I kept walking, I was very hungry at this point—kind of pushed it on the whole eating lunch thing. I walked past a couple of restaurant/sandwich shops, but none really tripped my trigger.
Finally at the top of the hill there was a hole in the wall restaurant I thought I’d take a chance on. I walked in, there were two men inside, one cleaning tables and the other doing something behind the bar. I asked in hesitant and slow English, “English menu?” The two men looked at each other and laughed. The man behind the bar pointed to a pot on the stove and raised his eyebrows as if to ask "want some of this?!" I shook my head “yes”, smiled, and said “si!” The man showed me to a table, pulled my chair out for me and kindly placed my purse on the char across from me. The other man brought me a white table cloth, a fork, and a knife while the man who was behind the bar (I’m pretty sure he was the owner) went back to the stove and dished me up a large serving of this spaghetti and chicken leg (yes, with the bones) noodle thing. It was delicious. Simple, obviously homemade, and obviously had been sitting there for a while, but boy did it hit the spot especially on that chilly day. The owner also offered me bread, water, and when I was finished a coconut biscuit thing for dessert that also, was delicious. He fed me good.
I couldn’t speak Portuguese and he couldn’t speak English, but we managed to laugh together. It was wonderful. Once I was finished he saw that I had a Portuguese phrase book so he gestured as if to ask “may I see this?” and then proceeded to find Portuguese nouns in the book and point to them in his restaurant. He was giving me a mini Portuguese language lesson, I'm sure I was beaming. He was such a welcoming and father-like man. I don’t remember much from that, but I did pick up that it is “sim” not “si” for “yes” and “nao” not “no” for…”no”. After my lesson I pointed to my purse and said “pay?” He hopped behind the counter and said “four euros”. Four euros for a full plate of pasta, bread, water, and dessert. I was stunned. My experience there was priceless. With a kiss on each cheek and many “obrigados” I was out the door and grinning ear to ear for a couple of blocks.
It sounds Disney movie-esque and it felt Disney movie-esque. It was wonderful.
Now I am in the beginning of my second full week here, but while many other ISCTE students are beginning their classes this week I found out mine actually wont begin until the 16th! So I basically have two weeks of freedom...in a new country. Ah-may-zing. Thank you, God! This past week was orientation for Erasmus (which I am not technically a part of, but I am invited to all of their events anyway! Woo!) and the "going by a pre-determined schedule" thing was really starting to wear on me. Met wonderful people, explored Lisbon, and figured out some logistics for school goin', but I was really in need of time to myself and time spent however I wanted to spend it. Then two days ago I realized I don't actually have class until the 16th and I literally didn't know where to mentally place this information. Such a gift from God and such a relief. So, it's Monday and I could do whatever I wanted...so obviously I went to Belem.
This is a beautifully quaint part of Lisbon that resides right on the Tejo River with a perfect view of both the 25 de Abril Bridge and the Christ the King statue. I meandered to museum of contemporary art, saw some pieces by some well known names like Picasso and Andy Warhol (heard of 'em?) and then by 3pm found myself in a green garden overlooking the river where I ate half an apple and some trail mix, journal-ed, watched an ugly duck try and "get with" cute lady ducks, and then picked up some dessert for Leigha and me at the traditional and original, Pasteis de Belem. Then I took this back to my metro station...
As Ice Cube would say, "it was a good day". Ciao for now.
Tan
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