Good evening! Or good afternoon, for everyone in America reading this. I am currently sipping hot espresso (because, ya know, the Portuguese are too classy for regular mugs of joe...) from my new espresso maker (well new to me... a coworker lent me it! BLESS YOU MICHELLE!!!!) wearing fuzzy warm socks and listening to Sleeping At Last. These past two weeks have been CRAZY busy so unwinding after a long day like today has become an absolute necessity and routine.
So let's start a a few days back...
I have now met all, but one, of my roommates. Bruno, Elizabeth, and Junior (he has a real name, but being the *American* I am, I cannot pronounce it correctly. So he just told me to call him Junior) knocked on my door one night and introduced themselves to me. So sweet of them! Bruno works at a cafe just a minute's walk away and told me (in perfect English!) that if I ever needed anything and he wasn't home, to just come to his cafe and he would help me. I had dinner a few nights later with Elizabeth and Matheus (another roommie) and Junior. Their English isn't so great so I helped them with their English and they helped me with my Portuguese. We talked and laughed for probably close to three hours. I really like them. Hopefully they like me too....language barriers are tricky things... But here is a picture I took of them:
I have another roommate, named Pedro. I met Pedro because Pedro came knocking on my door one afternoon to inform me that I had exchanged his gas tank, which was not in fact empty, for a new one for myself. A gas tank? Let me explain... So this adorable kitchen is part of a very, very, very, very, very old building. So some parts of it are a little....quirky. In normal homes in the States, your water, oven, and stove are already hooked up to a gas tank and you never touch it. Or see it. Or even really know about it. Well here, these features are not hooked up to a gas tank. Instead, every tenant has his or her own gas tank that he or she stores in the dank kitchen pantry. He or she then drags the six million pound (or should I say 'kilo?') tank from said dank pantry and hooks it up manually to one of the valves for the corresponding place you want to send heat. (Sidenote: I was told that there was a specific way of doing it and if not done properly, I could blow up the house. So for the first week, nobody was home when I wanted to take a shower so I did not get a hot shower for nearly a week. Fun fact). The way you obtain these tanks is by calling the gas company and they deliver it to you, but you have to give them an empty one. So, in the first few days of being here, Michelle (bless her again!) helped me contact the gassy people (ha) and they delivered one. Well, the man said he needed an empty one so naturally I picked up one that felt lighter and had no name on it, thinking that is was truly empty. Well, it turns out that it was Pedro's. And it wasn't empty. Oops. So Pedro so kindly informed me (in English) so I told him I could share mine with him. He was cool about it. We chatted for a few and he invited me to have drinks a few nights later. So around 10 p.m. one night, Pedro and I had espressos and then went to his favorite bar (which wasn't really that thrilling, considering Evora is a teeny tiny town..) and we got to chat and I got to learn about Portugal. Pedro works half of the week in Lisbon and half in Evora, so he told me lots about the similarities and differences of the two cities. Pedro is a solar power researcher and works with a lot of different people so he knows English, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese fluently and can also communicate in French and German. I'm really not that impressed....
Something else weird about Portugal is their weird belief in not using dryers. Like for laundry. Living in Florida, I have no other choice, thanks to Mr. 100% Humidity Every Single Day of The Year. But since there is no humidity here, everyone just line dries all their laundry. Which I thought was super awesome. But then, I found out why irons and laundry softener exist....So I don't really have a solid opinion of line drying yet.. But here is a photo of my first batch of line dryed laundry!
On one of my days off, I went to the museum in Evora. It is a small museum, but very nicely organized. A normal person (like my sister) would probably walk through in about an hour. But because I feel compelled to read every word on every description of every piece (even if rock relic "A" looks identical to rock relic "B" right beside it...) and listen to every word on my audio player, it took me closer to three hours to go through the whole museum. The rock relics are cool because they are thousands of years old, but I spent most of my time upstairs admiring the paintings. They were not really my style, but I was mesmerized by the rich colors and odd styles of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Portugal. Also, the medieval Portuguese people were über obsessed with the Virgin Mary and her entire life. OBSESSED. Anyways, I took a few pictures while I was downstairs, but was too engrossed to remember to take any while I was looking at the paintings. There weren't any signs saying not to take pictures, but I have this irrational fear of someone yelling at me in a foreign language so there are minimal pictures.
I also found it humorous that someone corrected the grammar error...and with a red pen. It had to have been a teacher. Cuz who else just carries around red pens?!?!
After I went to the museum, I went to my favorite outdoor cafe and had a cappuccino. It was DIVINE. I am noticing that I have taken a few pictures of delicious food so I am just going to post them all. Lol
This is a empada do galina. Don't quote me on the spelling. Basically it's a muffin-sized chicken pie and it's the most delicious lil thing. And it's super cheap!! Lucky me!
The peach tea here is so much better than the peach tea back home. It just simply is. Don't ask me why.
This little banana was given to my by one of my coworkers, Vanda (the Portuguese equivalent to Wanda). I just thought it was so cute and picture worthy.
I had to cash some traveler's checks so I wouldn't starve (thanks, Dad!!). The lady at the money place told me it was complicated and to come back in a hour. So I went to get some lunch and decided sangria was a good idea. I was so right.
So everything has been very not work related, but I have been working. SO MUCH. I had two days off yesterday and the day before, but I couldn't find it in me to write a post because I just needed to chill. It is actually very exhausting learning new things and meeting and engaging with new clients constantly. I am loving my time here, though, and I love the people I work with. I went and had coffee with Soraia two days ago and we had a lovely time. She, and everyone else, has made me feel so welcomed and loved. ADC is an amazing place to work. I am so lucky and blessed to be interning here at this hotel in this beautiful country. I really love it. And I love that they had another intern start yesterday and will be getting another one next weeek...meaning I AM NOT LONGER THE NEW GIRL! Wooooo! Hahaha
One more story for the night. So in every touristy town in the world, you have Chinese stores that sell odds and ends and souvenirs and what-have-you. However, the Chinese stores here kick every other country's Chinese stores. Except maybe China. I have yet to confirm that...So. The "little" Chinese stores look teeny weeny from the outside, with postcards and straw hats on display. But, let me tell you, my friend, these stores are ANYTHING but little! Even though they are only like 10 feet wide, the go on and on and on and on and on and on once you get inside. You can buy ANYTHING in them. I mean it. ANYTHING. They are like magical Chinese WalMarts. I am not even joking. You need bobby pins? They got it. Dog bowls? You can choose between 10 kinds. Toilet bowl cleaner? Duh. Picture frames? Mirrors? Clothes? Shoes? Perfume? Snacks? Coffee makers? Laundry baskets? Area rugs? Deodorant? Knives? Toys? Toy knives? Lighters? Coffee mugs? Bungee Cords? Cat litter? THEY HAVE IT ALLLLLL. You can buy anything in these stores. I am going to take pictures next time I go to one, because it sounds unbelievable. It really is a dream come true, if you ask me.
So that's all I have for the time being. Here are some more pictures I have taken over the past few days. Scenery shots and selfies... I'm pretty much a photographer. Totally kidding! :)
Thanks for reading!! <3 Good night!!
