Le France is Le Fancy

We woke up decently early to soak in as much of Paris as we could and we headed down to the complimentary breakfast that the hotel provides. It was a feast. They had all sorts of perfect foods to eat and the first thing my eyes saw was my beloved croissants that I so dearly missed already from Nice. There was also hard boiled eggs and little packaged jams to spread. We piled a large array of food on our plates because today was going to be a long day, and for long day a belly with food that provides energy is necessary. After goofing around for breakfast, we headed to a big red, double decker bus that was going to be our means of transportation for two days around the city.

One stop conveniently stopped right in front of our destination we were headed to; Musee du Louvre. That’s right, we were heading to an art history lovers dream place… a place that held them majesties that formed what is now known as art. It held some of the world’s most famous and well-known pieces that almost any eye could recognize, including the infamous Mona Lisa. When we stepped off the bus, Luey and I were seriously baffled by how large this was. It took up a good half a mile of the street and we could only see one side of it… meaning that there was two sides. Who knows how many floors it had filled with paintings and other mediums… So, we step inside the premises of the palace and walk and find the entrance which happened to be the large glass shaped triangle that it in itself is a prominent sculpture. After taking in every angle, we make our way down through the triangle to stand in line to what was about to become an art history overload.

After grabbing several maps of the vicinity, we headed to the 2^nd floor which contained the most exciting parts for both of us… Italian Renaissance. Holla. Going up the stairs and finding our way into the entrance, we may have gotten side tracked by large marble statues along the way, but we made it finally to where we had so badly wanted to go. Freaking out whenever we both saw a piece that we had once known every little detail for, for our class exams, we both became even more giddy. There were so many pieces that we made up our own little scenarios for each of them and we ended up being that couple that many older people scoffed at. We then realized that both of us were hungry so we (after getting lost an uncountless amount of times) headed to the Louvres’ own little café built in the museum to eat lunch. It happened to be a perfect lunch again with pita bread sandwiches filled with tuna and vegetables, and chips and a salad. This prepared us for the rest of the day, since it was only mid-afternoon by now… and when leaving, our visit to one of the most famous museums summed up to be 4.5 hours.

We headed straight towards the carrousel that was insight, which meant (of course) that there happened to be a small carnival strip that was always set up in that area! We quickly bought tickets to take a right on the carrousel that would give us a great top side view of all of Paris. It was really neat to see how crammed and packed the whole city was built, but knowing that there was a lot more space when you were on ground.. and it was funny to also see Luey have sporadic freak outs when he would realize the height that we were at. After having our feet back on the ground, we walked down the long row that was set up with fun houses, slides, and any and every both that contained carnival food. One of these we stopped at and purchased a Nutella crepe so I could experience all of the goodness that it withheld. After watching a kid try to win a prize from kicking a soccer ball against a fake “world-cup” wooden goalie and laughing at the kids getting splashed from the water ride, we walked back through the gardens where our red colored bus would arrive to take us to our next location.

With it being only one stop away, we hopped off in front of the Notre Dame cathedral. Holy smokes. This thing wasn’t like any other worship place back in the states. It had two of the countries largest rosaries and I deep down know that Quasimoto was still hiding up there with his gargoyle friends. We waited in line just so we could go into the historical monument and goggle at all of its’ pieces. The lights were set low, but the sunlight peering through made it look even more majestic. A man came over the intercom and stated that “we need to be silent because we were in a place of worship.”   So true. What a great reminder that these places aren’t just places to come due to their popularity level, but they were once (and some still are) used to serve a high and mighty God. So we did just that, we found a pew and we prayed.

After being freaked out by the gargoyles, we walked merely down the street to find another Paris treat. There were little vendors set up alongside the riverbank that held all sorts of hold books, posters, magnets, and many other old assortments. We quickly glanced through many of the sections and we loaded ourselves back onto the bus, because we had somewhere to be for the evening. That’s right… plans in Paris.

These plans were happening due to the fact that it just so happened to be Luiz and I’s 6^th month anniversary. Paris for our half a year anniversary… try and one up that one. So, we changed quickly into our finest outfit and we walked back down the Seine river where our dinner cruise that was going to explore the city with a perfect view of the most famous monuments was awaiting our arrival. We stood in line to check in our name and the woman smiled at us and said, “you two look happy.” She is right. So, we are seated underneath our glass covered ceiling and walls and we are greeted with a smile from our waitress. She hands us our menus (which we got to keep as souvenirs!) and we picked out our three-course meal items. There happened to be a live performance that set that mood due to the classic French tunes being sung... the night was only beginning.

There was a red-berry champagne served to us to toast off the evening, and from them on it was all such a beautiful rêve. As the meal was served to us, Luey and I were remembering all the past moments we had, and were forming all the future hopes and desires that also had for our relationship. It was such a blessing just to see how the Lord remained at the center of all this and is what holds us together. With spicy avocado salmon as my entrée, fresh gilthead fish for my main course (including fresh vegetables and taters), and my raspberry dessert being served, we once again were well fed. With our whimsical feeling, we walked on over to the dance floor where the live artists were performing something extremely suitable to truly dance to. The night was filled with a feeling that is rare, and we left never wanting the evening to end. Only in Paris, I assume…

Walking back to our hotel, we were conveniently placed in front of Mr. Eiffel once again and it brought so much joy that happened to combine with the already wonderful night. We kept peering back at the perfectly light piece, and as we were walking my flip flop broke… but, no worries… ole’ Prince Charming had the perfect solution to hold it up until we made it back to our hotel.

La nuit semblait un conte de fées ...

Mr. Eiffel

Well, we did it again. We grabbed our bags and we headed to the airport at 5:00 a.m. (on the correct day) for our flight to Paris. Parking and walking in, an overwhelming excitement came over me in realization that Paris was in sight for the next 4 days. Being so anxious neither one of us slept on the plane and when we landed in France, I became a little girl again. The most romantic city in the world and for four days with the ‘manfran’, not real life…. Not real life… We got a cab from the airport to our previously booked hotel and as we are zooming down the streets, Luey looks to his right and simply states “Oh… Lo… do you know what that is?”…… OF COURSE I DO! IT’S THE EIFFEL TOWER!!! After my slight freak out we land in front of our hotel, Hotel Derby, and we check into the small room with separate beds (note that the Lord holds standards in my heart and in Luiz’s heart and that we both hold steadfast to our commitment we have to Him, which kept us pure) and we tidied up and we out on a Parisian escapade!

Seeing the Eiffel tower straight from our hotel doorstep, we made our ways over to it and had to stop every other second just so I could capture the architectural  phenomenon from the 1880s. I was then impressed because the man I was accompanying was capable of switching from French, to English, to Spanish to help out other tourist… jeal much? After making our way across the large land space in front of the tower, I kept snapping pictures to try and capture how significant this huge monument is.. but it couldn’t be done. It was so breathtaking. Every time I would look at it, I would squeal with excitement. We found a little stand on the edge of Mr. Eiffel and we order panini’s for the two of us and we make our way up further to the Palais de Chaillot where we had the perfect view of the iron tower and a perfect spot to place our bottoms. Wanting to explore more we took our time just walking down little streets and absorbing the cool weather, and the clean and restored buildings which all held a little history within them. Paris is by far one of the prettiest cities. The structures that it contains, the history it holds, and the way it is maintained with vegetation and constant services to improve the streets of the city… it all baffles me. There were even memorials built on the side of the wall for the veterans and the government is what kept up with providing the flowers. As we kept walking (& after buying a can of Orangina, duh) we found ourselves in front of Hotel des Invalides which was another ginormous structure built to store all the historical treasures that revolved around the wars that France fought in, and if you mention fighting and France your brain probably wanders to the great Napoleon Bonaparte. Which his also overly large piece of golden-work building was placed directly behind the museum. We walked over there with our heads constantly looking up because of how massive this sanctuary was accompanied by an golden laid dome sitting on top.

If you had any doubts that this guy thought highly of himself, this tomb/cathedral was sure to remind one of his significance. There was even a private garden that had an wide assortment of neatly put together flowers and clean shrubs and large trees that had perfectly placed benches underneath to provide a little shade on a sunny afternoon. We walked over there and just sat and took in the fact that we were in Paris. Paris, France… not Paris, Texas. Once again, it felt like a dream. And feeling like it was a dream we headed back to Hotel Derby where we decided to have a little shut eye before we ventured out again… a nap on the plane would’ve come in handy here.

Waking up and feeling rejuvenated we walked outside and peered at all the open seating in the front of the restaurant that and after looking at a couple of menus posted outside, we chose the perfect place to dine. It had big, red velvety chairs and once opening up the menu, it wasn’t hard to decide what we each wanted to munch on. Being spoiled this entire trip, this night added to it. First off, I tried the most Frenchiest food of all French food… caviar. Not bad my friends, not bad… with a little lemon and garlic flavoring, I too could eat this snail without wanting to spit it out. I even ate 3 of them. Then I was served artichoke heart, sea bass, and a plate containing miniature sizes of crème brulee, chocolate fudge cake, strawberries, and an espresso. Parfait! The conversation was good and the food was even better and all in all, my first day in Paris couldn’t have gone better. Walking out the doors we came in, we had to go see Mr. Eiffel once more before saying goodnight, and as soon as we were making our way over there, he began to twinkle in the most magnificent way! I loved it even more if that was possible.

Not every monument twinkles and shines on the hour, that’s for sure…

"Desculpe-me, tenho cocô nas calças."

If you thought I'd be in Paris, France today... so did I.
So this morning, the alarm clock went off at 5:15 a.m. and our luggage was packed. (Including Jeff's. He was America bound.) So, we get ready to head to the airport in time to make it on our 8:10 a.m. flight straight to Paris. In the car it is quiet because of the early wake up call, but we eventually make it into the airport where we part ways with Jeff due to our separate destinations & we eventually find our boarding area where we follow the long line with our eyes are become a little agitated. This line was so crazy long. So we mosey on back which is incredibly far from the check-in counter that I literally thought that we may not make it. Then a pack of about, oh, 45 something French teenagers all gather behind us, and as I have learned previously... the French don't know a whole lot about personal space. Making our way to the very front after trying to claim our boarding passes electronically and duh, the thing isn't working, we were a bit irritated at 7:00 a.m. Yet, we handed the lady our passports and let out a sigh of relief... until... the assistant politely smiled at us and pulled out her pen to circle on our confirmation papers the date: July 30, 2010!

Yep! That's right folks! We were one day ahead of ourselves and were obviously overly anxious... I couldn't help but to start cracking up at the situation and think about how foolish we were for that even happening. Luckily, it is now a hilarious story. (& we were extremely up and ready for the day) So we went over to the airports little bistro and had ourselves some delightful breakfast. By this time Jeff had already checked through security which means that he actually was flying out on the 29th... Still laughing from the rare event that happened earlier we drove back to the apartment where we laid down on the couch, stuck in the movie Enchanted and caught some of the missing hours of sleep from the night before.

Waking up we all took our time to do little things here and there without any cares and eventually Luana and I decided that today was THE day for IKEA. (Not that IKEA needs a day... any day is good for that wonderful oasis.) Arriving to IKEA the day was still a little thrown off from the weird sleep cycle and the not really knowing what exactly what was going on... Walking into the IKEA Cafeteria I immediately  noticed the difference in food from the one in America. There were options of little cakes, fresh fish, loads of bread, a fruit and salad bar, and basically anything that is decent for your body. Including little 40 cent espresso drinks. That is something that we would never have. (Including the free refills if one so desired.) We went through the line with our plastic trays and gathered scrumptious food items on and eventually left the serving area with our meal desires, satisfied.

We walked through the perfectly placed setting that is called IKEA and I filled my brain with so many decorating styles and wants and desires for my new room that will be empty for me to fill when I return back to Texas. I love that store. I love the furniture. I love the mirrors. I love the kitchenware. I just want a house full of IKEA... and maybe some other unique finds. But we spent a good junk of time just hanging out and choosing wisely what was really necessary and not just tempting due to the low price tags. We eventually narrowed things down after passing by too expensive bedspreads, and deciding which cooking dishes were necessary and we headed to the check out with multiple shelves and cute little other things. After finally making it out of IKEA after what seemed so short, but actually was so long, we headed to grab groceries at the mall.  Since the mall not only contains the grocery store but some other fashionable venues, we of course had to walk around and to find some of the essential Portuguese finds I had been wanting; yellow Havaianas and Aladdin pants. WINNERS! We then eventually pulled out the essential food pieces and headed back home finally to get ready for a surprise dinner for their aunt for her birthday (which accidentally happened the day before.)

We arrived back home and threw her present together and went to surprise her to tell her we were all going out to have dinner at a local favorite. She was so surprised when we had showed up and she was already prepared for bed. We all got into the car and headed over with hungry bellies. Apparently this place had any plate that you would be satisfied with, even if you didn't know any other language but English. Munching on little appetizers, we eventually picked out an array of genuine Italian cuisines. Laughing and not truly understanding the full conversation, our meals eventually were delivered to us and they were scarfed down instantly. After filling our bellies with a delicious meal (plus later on a chilly lime Calippo) and wishing their tia happy birthday once more, we all went back to our place of rest and we did just that because we had another early morning routine ahead of us.

Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisbon

Sleep is something I am gaining so much of this trip. I woke up when I was told to by my body and I then migrated to the living room where I eventually created a delicious bowl of cereal, and a movie was watched where I happened to drift off back into sleep. That was when I really did take a nap. You may think I'm lazy, but don't forget this rarely happens in my everyday life back in Texas. (& I don't go to bed 'til late here anyway) 

Moving around the house in my pajamas, I went back to my room where I sat down with Jesus. I sat and read over Galations 5, and reread and read some other parts of Galations, and journaled... It was good. The very fact that the Creator of it all wants to set me free from my burdens and to give me freedom in who I am in Him is one of the most satisfying things ever. The fact that I can live my life according to what is righteous and I can bare fruit from the Spirit is such a beautiful blessing. I have not been aware of this said freedom in a long while, and with the reminder of what Jesus can bring for me, I rest in knowing that I can be the fruitful branch I was intended to be.

After having some time, the boys were ready to go off into the heart of the capitol of Portugal; Lisbon. We continued on with what seemed to be our recent routine. We put coins in for our train tickets and we waited for the fast train to get us to Lisbon. Once arriving I finally was able to indulge in a lemon Calippo (backdrop story: I had been searching many stands & they had all been out of supply) and we walked on through to get to the good parts. The streets where created to go up and down the hills, there were trolley's sliding through the streets, and the setting reminded me a lot of San Francisco, but more ancient and rustic looking. 

We walked through the port's main square where there were giant statues and royal buildings surrounding it, and we realized we had made it to the most historic section. This is where the Queen of England would walk into and underneath this enormous bridge with intricate designs embellished on it. We continued to pace ourselves up the hill and eventually ran into a really large cathedral that we stepped into. The place had an odd stench to it. Yet, it was still really neat to be in especially since it housed 10 tombs of the saints and that the very church was the church that basically originated Christianity in that segment of the country. 

After gazing at all the detailed work and the amazing pieces we stepped out to continue up the hill to eventually make our way to the Castle of São Jorge. We stopped at a couple scenic areas to 1. catch our breath and 2. glance below to all of the houses and the way the city was created. Once getting up a large hill, we glanced over and saw that there was an outdoor urinol that was designed for a man to go behind the not-so-big wall and to use the bathroom. Inevitably Jeff wanted to try this out, and after some families and other tourists walking by with their mouths dropped, he considered it a great success! Hilarious. 

Realizing that you had to pay to get into this huge castle, we realized that maybe it wasn't worth the 30 minute wait just for the ticket into it and we headed back down all of the hills to get to where we had started. Stopping to watch a street performer, we were automatically sucked into his entertainment. Which wasn't even good... But, essentially this guy was screaming in English, dressed in a weird black clowns outfit, and showing how he could juggle knifes and get on a large unicycle. It was odd, but he ended up with a large audience (including us, sadly.) He kept talking and building up and I think the only reason we stayed was because there was another drunk man who was bickering with him the whole time and we legitimately thought he may push him off of is unicycle that he happened to take 20 minutes getting onto. Well... We eventually made it and we jumped back on the train to S. Pedro where our home was located. Before making it back through the apartment doors we did stop and get a handful of pastries and a pizza for the hungry boy, Jeff. With the breeze blowing on us we walked back and hung out in the apartment. Luana eventually came and snagged me so we could go over to the Brownings (YL Committee family) to have a late dinner and watch Penelope. 

I maybe should've reconsidered going due to the fact that it was already late and had yet to pack with our flight leaving for Paris in the morning at 8:10. Whoops... but, I went anyway and enjoyed sitting around the dinner table outside eating a good home cooked meal and having delightful family conversations going around. We eventually topped it all off with brownies and Saniti's gelato, and made it in to watch Penelope. 

Tomorrow, I will be in Paris, France. 

Putz grila ...

"...We eat like priests."

It is becoming difficult for me to wake up in the morning... I'm having to roll out of the bed. Sad... I know. We put on our gnarly-bro swim gear and we headed out to the 'windy' beach called Guincho where the surfers come to surf. We arrived and parked the car with the other locals, and walked through what seemed like a desert to get to a good place to hang out for the morning. I already liked this beach better. There was no large amount of children running around and the waves were really, really large and in charge. We parked it on the sand and hung out under the sun for awhile until it was pretty steamy, and then... then we were able to hop in the water. This time the water was just as cold, if not colder, but this time there was also an exception: fun waves to play in! So, that meant... I was goin' in. No matter what. I wanted to feel like a semi-surfer for one day. Minus the wetsuit and the board and the bronzed skin... but close enough.

The tide was strong and we ended up staying for a long enough time and then it was our sizzling skin that let us know that it was time to head out. So we went back, and immediately jumped into the pool to wash off the extremely sticky sand. After feeling slightly cleaner, we went inside to order some Pizza Hut pizza. American food company in Europe? Around the that time Luana and I walked for a little bit and arriving back home was a brand new flat screen TV being installed by the boys and the pizza waiting for our munching. Which is what we did. We flipped through channels like it had never happened and ate a good amount of pizza.

With our bellies being full and the couch being available a sporadic nap came about. This nap accidentally led me into what is called as evening time though and that's when I got ahold of myself and got decent for our outing to Cascais which is another little sub-part of the Lisbon area. The sunburn was starting to take effect at this point, I could feel it. But, we got onto the train again and this time it was packed full of Portguese friends... even one lady asked me what time it was and I definitely just smiled back at her. At the last stop of the train we made it to Cascais and started to walk around the true bay area that was filled with many fisherman's boats and little tourist hot spots. There was a book fair going on, really intriguing statues that mirrored common day people, and other little hidden spots that Luey was able to lead us to. We walked around the outside of a castle and walked down a dirt road to see a landscape filled with overly sized rocks.

This part of town was so natural looking, which also made it naturally fancier. The houses were bigger and the cars were all similar, but it definitely was beautiful. We walked around to all this cool places and eventually made it over to meet Luana for dinner. While waiting we were able to see this guy attempt to water color this portrait of a girl, and while doing so he had on dark shaded sunglasses and was smoking a cigarette... poor girl.. As Luana walked towards us we went to this restaurant that Luiz had been looking forward to for a bit, due to the fact that it was a perfect place for men.

There was a buffet for those who didn't want to eat/choose between 14 different varieties of meat... that would be me. But, for everyone else, it was perfect! I went to the buffet and spotted salmon and I got overly excited, but I grabbed it before I grabbed the salad which I had wanted to eat first. So, I walked back over to our table and that is when the boys had switched the color red side of the cube to the color green which signaled for the meat to start being displayed to them. When the waiters would come around with a shish-kabob stick with one specific meat, they were able to tell them whether they wanted a slice of it or not... and eventually they would try multiple meats and get full from it.

There were some special kinds of meats and names that went with these meats, but the most interesting one (and maybe most disturbing) was this tiny little thing that once Jeff tried it, Luiz announced that it was a chicken's heart......... Oh my word... But, that is common and the two natives didn't find anything peculiar about it. So we finished up the assortment of foods that was served, and instantly as we stood up we felt the weight in which our stomach's contained... there would be no dessert tonight.

The night ended by once again crashing on the couch and viewing the moving "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" or as they know it, "Choven Almôndegas." It was good, except that all of us were hot from the heat and that didn't mix well with the comfortable couch and the full tummies...

Tão cheio o tempo todo.

Pastel de Belém

This morning we all had one mission in mind: da praia! We took our time (of course) to put together a meal to call breakfast and we eventually put together a beach-ready outfit and assembly. Except for no sunscreen for the pale whities... Problem. Solution: 20 SPF which was apart of an oil... But we arrive at the sand covered beach and we pick out a place to spread our towel and to catch some rays. This time, there were no chairs but many children field trips near us. It felt good to sit and soak up the sun once again.. I missed ya old pal... We lathered up in oil and laid down where immediately the hot day was upon us. The sun was bright and shining with no clouds to block its' power. To cool off naturally one would go over to the large, large body of water directly in front of them... so that's what I did. Minus the fact that the water felt like it was chilling even the bones in my body. It was so darn cold! Luey tried hard for me to go even shoulder length and no doubt that, that took some serious time and patience. I am a cat.

After taking in as much heat waves as we could, we headed back to make us something to chow on for lunch. But lunch only came after we immediately jumped into the complex's pool... so refreshing (and definitely not bone shattering temperature.) We were only there for a quick minute and then proceeded onward to the apartment. There was a concoction of food made and then a sprucing up before we were going to adventure out to the city for some site seeing. Once I was showered and fresh smelling, Jeff, Luiz, and I headed out to the tram. Walking through the neighborhoods, they related more and more to Cali-bro. We purchased our train tickets and we waited in the cooler shaded area for the next one to come along that'll take us to our destination.

We heard the bell chime and we hopped onto cart that was connect to the train that was leading us a historical part of Portugal. After a quick trip there, we were welcomed with a hot breeze into the coastal side of Belém. There is a multitude of historical figures and monuments in this part of the Lisbon area, and we were going to walk up to most of them.. if not walk, definitely look at them from afar.

First we walked past a bunch of parked sail boats, and across this intricate cobbled-stone artwork on the floor of the historical monument Padrão dos Descobrimentos that represented the Portuguese that took part of the Age of Discovery in the 15th & 16th century. Feeling like a small, tiny ant next to the gigantic figures, we decided to take over and go up the elevator the top of the concrete ship-esque statue. This allowed us to have a 360 degree view of the entire mountain side town. Really quite beautiful. But... hot. We went back down and spotted an ice cream stand, and from there we rehydrated ourselves. Moving on to another well crafted spot, we gazed at the extremely large Mosteiro dos Jerónimos... which was orginally built in 1497 for the seaman either entering or leaving port had a place of prayer. We weren't able to venture to the interior, but the exterior was just as pleasing to look at. Next but certainly not last we found the original spot of the famous Pastels de Beléms! Delicious little egg tart treats. These little guys were first created in 1837 by the nuns at the Monastery. Essentially there is a crispy, pie like crust filled with this delicious cream and has a flamed top covering that is sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Mmmm. We definitely bought to-go boxes. Heading back towards the train, we also spotted a new VW commercial being shot in the park.

We arrived back and relaxed with Chef Luana was preparing a lovely amount of food for their traditional 'Monday night dinners.' Eventually the Brownings, another YL friend Katiana, and Jessica all arrived for the evening festivities. After playing around with the heat's temperature from the charcoal flamed grill, and swinging and talking in the hammock, dinner was finished thankfully for the hard working hands of Luana. She prepared a special red meat for the boys, an entire fish for ole' non-meat eating me, salad with tomatoes, and cooked potatoes. Around the dinner table there was funny conversations happening between the 8 of us. Much sprouting from sarcastic jokes from Jeff or random YoungLife stories we had that were ridiculous. Then came the tarts for our dessert. Everyone was satisfied and full.

Apples to Apples was then set up for the whole gang to join in and play and that is what we did for three rounds. We slapped together a bunch of silly nouns paired with the appropriate adjective and we had a fun time doing so. After being noun-ed out, we all decided to take a stroll down to the beach. Once there, we found a little concaved area that was perfectly filled with rocks for some to explore and find large crabs or other sea creatures and for some, just the acoustic guitar sounds from Luiz was satisfying enough. The moon shone bright over the sea, and worship was played before we all headed back and said our goodbyes.

Hoje foi o preenchimento de várias maneiras ...

"When there are men around, women don't get tired."

This morning there was an actual alarm clock that was being used because this morning, Sunday morning, we were going to attend church! I put on my Sunday best and the whole gang of 5 headed out the doors to the cobbled stoned sidewalks to head on over to the Riverside church service. We walked down the hill, across the train tracks, passing a small convienent store where Mama Baptista once owned and ran.. and voila, we made it to our destination! We walked down a couple of flights, and I realized that this church was technically an 'under-ground church.' That's pretty 'spy'cial if you ask me! We walked into the small venue and I knew that the crowd here were true Jesus lovers. Churches weren't common in Portugal. Let alone non-Catholic churches.

We made our way into the sanctuary and learned that today's service was going to be multi-lingual. The band started to play on their instruments and the worship felt familiar. The words would then interchange between Portuguese and English, and even in that... the Lord was there. He is here. Wherever I am, where you are. Languages aren't a barrier for His love. They do not hold Him back from His great deeds. Countries are tiny little speckles to Him, and the reminder of He is big hit me once again. We listened to the pastor preach about Revelations in Portuguese first, and then the translator repeat in English. Truly beautiful. God's word is definitely for every ear.

Afterwards, Noah (the little boy) insisted that Luish and I go to his house to play. This was after he picked all the little bugs out of my hair and hugged my neck from behind, and that is when I realized I had a new best friend. We explained to him that we had plans to go the Avó Baptista's house for lunch. We got back to the apartment and jumped right into the car to head to old town Lisbon to visit Luiz's grandma, aunt, and uncle. As we were walking over to her apartment, I noticed a sweet old woman on her balcony waving down at us as we walked in.. and immediately I knew it was their sweet grandmother. When we walked right in to the quaint apartment, we were greeted with hugs and kisses and cheerful faces to see us. There were pictures all around the house of small Luiz and small other little trinkets. We all sat around the already food covered table. There were so many options to choose from! All new sorts of food were going to be tried there. The majority of the food was fresh vegetables mixed together to make a creation. Finishing off the homemade meal with a from scratch cake and jello, we all walked down to the little corner shop for coffee.

Kissing their grandma goodbye, Luiz pointed out a couple past memories he had from the place, and that also including that her belongings hadn't changed since when he was a little boy. We leave their place with saying our 'goodbyes' and promising to learn Portuguese for next times visit, and we left with happy, full bellies. We arrived home where it wasn't long or hard to decide that the pool would be an appropriate place for us. So, we threw on our clothes there created for such a thing and hung out and around the pool for the next couple of hours. Getting a darker tanning color and a bunch of pages ahead in my book, it eventually creep to being dinner time. I know what you're thinking... food so quickly?! But Jeff, Luey, and I all made our way down to the ocean shoreline to scout out some appetizing places.

After gawking at the rocks in the ocean and the tide being low due to the full moon, we made it to a little corner shop that would satisfy our eating wants and desires. We made ourselves at home outside of the area and Luiz had to translate just about everything for us that was on the menu & we had to put our trust in solely his word. We laughed and talked and eventually all of our of meals had been served and consumed by each of one of us. Topics changed quickly in our group, and once again the whole "Oh! This is vacation." factor sunk in a little more.

With being wobbly from all the food, we walked back to our place but not without stopping at the local Caffe to slip in and grab a sweet treat. Jeffs' excitement became like a little boys when he realized that they had mint chocolate chip and Luiz's mirrored the same when he ordered one of his favorite childhood ice cream cones. Arriving back to the apartment, we all sat and watched some television while finishing off our after dinner desserts, and eventually Luana and Jessica came back home from their YL dinner. That's when Luana pointed out that there was a full moon tonight, and the statement "when there's a full moon, I'm going to go for a midnight swim" once occured....

SO WE WENT! We went for a midnight dip in the pool when the sun was definitely no where to be found and the water temperature had dropped by a couple degrees... but... once every full moon, eh!?

GLORIOSO, BENFICA!!

Another late morning for the travelers' clan. I go to bed way too late, and expect myself to wake up at an actual decent time.. and I'm figuring out that, well, that doesn't really happen. This morning I did happen to wake up at a decent time and I was going to read.. and do so many productive things.. and then, then I woke up an hour & a half later. Real cool.

So yet again, there was the afternoon becoming my morning again. Yet, this time I did do some things that I am able to check off the check list. AND Luey decided to be really great and served me well when make me cheese scrambled eggs with tomatoes. He is good for my heart. (& belly) We then hung out and Luiz was in chef mode because then he decided to create a fresh mushroom sauce from scratch for some noodles that needed a seasoning. The ladies in the house hung out until the creation was complete, and let me tell ya... it WAS definitely complete. It was so good. He is so, very talented. Luckily he knows how to create something edible in the kitchen, because I sure don't... I put my book down and plunged into the food that was once again served to me.

By this time it was mid-afternoon and Luana went out to run errands, and I got all done up in my red & white gear for the Benfica soccer game we were going to attend later on in the evening. Luey started to play his guitar and his strumming eventually led me into drifting off once again on the luxurious white sofa. This whole sleep concept is sure taking over my brain. That's okay, right? I woke up right in time to gather up my Portuguese colored Kanye West sunglasses and our "Foreigner" sign for the airport, and we headed out the big wooden door for the evening.

We drove to the airport to pick up a friend from TCU that had just finished studying abroad in Scottland and was now here in Portugal to hang out; Jeff Hartman. Go frogs! Seeing that his flight was delayed we hung out and grabbed a (super cheap) espresso for me, and anxiously stood by the baggage exit waiting for him to walk out. We kept questioning all the people coming through the doors with a "Jeff?" and eventually when he turned, we threw up our "Foreigner" sign just so he would feel wanted.

Now that Jeff was in town, it was time for the main event for the evening... BENFICA FUTEBOL! That is why the red and the white were necessary. Even though dear Luey doesn't support this team due to the fact that he is the other Portugueses' teams die-hard fan. We got the the car eventually through swarms of red and white wearing fans on the streets and joined the crowd headed towards the ginormous stadium. This is also when we decided to invest in a Benfica scarf to become even greater fans.. you better believe that thing was around my neck! Getting through the security, we learned that large cameras (thus being what I was carrying) and metal water bottles were in fact not allowed in the arena. That means... no epic pictures to capture every ball being kicked or every fan screaming obscenities. (But, luckily for me, Jeff had is tiny compact one for the times to be captured.)

Getting ourselves situated behind the gates we walked down to our seats... down being the first row on the side of the goal! Do you hear that!? Our seats were located to where we almost thought we were apart of the team and had to warm up on the sidelines with them... We were so close! Luiz prepped Jeff and I, and told us the most important chant, and that being "SLB! SLB! SLB! SLB! SLB! GLORIOSO! SLB! GLORIOSO! SLB! BENFICA!!!!" Now you try... So when it came time to scream and shout, we got that down. We waved around our newly purchased scarves, and we devoured many stadium foods. I loved it. Every bit of it. Then to really get the game started, their mascot, an eagle, flew around the sportsplex with pride and glory and eventually made it down to the center where the crowd went nutso! Epic. This eagle I speak of also was being brought around to the fans, and since we were located on the first row, we were able to snap a picture with it! YES!

There were many corner kicks and fouls called by the referee, and the love that I once had for soccer started coming back. I could've been there.... haha, that is not true. But anyway, the game was so fun and the team ended up winning 3-2 and that means that the spirit was high. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be European. If it were between football and futebol games, I would definitely purchase season tickets to the European sport. The cooled weather helped with the deciding factor too. I wasn't sweating in the hot summer heat to watch a game, which ended up boosting my enjoyment level. It was also really neat to see some of the World Cup players on their actual home team... I wanna be a true futebol fan.. I do, I do!

After leaving the game and walking proudly in my red & white, we went back to our car which meant that going the mall was inevitable. I then noticed that the stores were open much later, and that maybe a snack from the food court would be quite lovely. So, we made our way up there and Jeffs' milkshake desire was quenched and I ended up spotting a frosted strawberry muffin behind it's glass case. We were able to wait until the crowds died off which meant that the traffic wouldn't be so crammed on the highway. The highway led us back home and we showed Jeff the place and then everybody settled in for bed.

I really am not sure I will be able to leave this place...
Sou oficialmente um europeu, devido ao meu amor por jogos de futebol!

Breezy Days

Well, this will be a double whammy because my sleep took the time I was going to spend on it last night. Let me start off with that, these two days have been nice and lazy hazy days.

June 22:
I woke up once again from the manfriend coming and laying down by me, and eventually we gathered ourselves to get up for the day. Waking up, Luana & I had wanted to attend the BodyAttack class at her gym, but the TLC shows captivated us way too much to move from the couch. We ended up sitting and enjoying the oceans view while whipping up a breakfast sensation from the previous food items we grabbed from the supermarket and the fresh produce market. It was nice just lounging around in our pajamas until the time came necessary when we had actual set plans. But, somehow I did manage to make myself participate in some work-out activity on my own while the others swam.

Around 2 o'clock, we met some of Luana's friends from YoungLife named, Krista and Adam, (plus their mom) to head out to this European super cheap store titled Primark. Let me tell you, that this place was a hit. But, to get ready for this extreme shopping that was about to take place, a coffee had to be purchased and consumed before stepping through the doors. After delighting in the sweet bean, I walked in with wide open eyes. There were so many floral prints, pastels, cool rain coats... purses... so much stuff, and all of it was unbelievably cheap. Signs for flip-flops were plastered with €3, or a tank top for €5, or maybe even a really cool, bright shade of aqua clutch for only €9. A dream come true I tell ya. I picked up one of the large "Primark" shopping bags, and went on a rampage. After the 2 hour time passed (I know...), I had narrowed my selections down to the only deemed necessary ones. But, that didn't mean that there weren't a bajillion other cool things I wanted to so badly buy to take back with me and call my own.

I left there with being satisfied with the things that I purchased... I left being amazed how inexpensive everything was... and I left already wanting to go back in. We went back home to the boys, who had been swimming and doing boys things all afternoon, and Luana created a masterpiece of a dinner.. FISH STICKS! So good. Fish everyday, all day people... So, we ate dinner and enjoyed the nice breeze that was coming in through the always opened doors, and then we loaded up the 5 seater car with 6 of us to head over to the movie theatre to see Inception! But, in Portugal they would call it... A Origem. We get there and awesome fact #1 about Portugal movie theaters: you can reserve seats and (not wait in line) and pay for the amount of people that actually show, so that is what we did. Rad fact #2: there is an option of popcorn... either salty or sweet. BAH! Why doesn't America run like that again?! So we all have told the movie lady what we want to munch on, and as Luiz finishes off his order, I turn around with my sweet popcorn, and of course, it bumps into the counter and flies everywhere. Only me would this happen to... Real smooth. So, I start apologizing in English, but duh, she doesn't understand but she simply smiles and says "It's no problem!"

Oh, thank you thank you lady who satisfies our candy cravings! We all then moved into the movie theatre, which fun fact #3: there is assigned seating there! Say what!? That way, silly couples don't try and take up 4 seats with their purses and what not... Brilliant. As the movie starts and we are getting to the good part crazy fact #4 happens: there is an intervalo! (Intermission!) 5 minutes to buy more candy or to go to the bathroom. Genius. I want it. Also, don't worry this movie was in English with Portuguese subtitles. Over all... we left the theatre wondering if it was a dream or reality...

June 23:

This mornings routine was similar to the other mornings, but instead my body was restless and the construction works make a rhythmic tune with their pounding hammers woke me up... Also, once again Luana and I had maybe decided that cycling class would be fun to go to... but, then we decided against it. The Ikea couch that had become a place to nest was once open to us sitting and being couch bums all morning and submitting to the silly TLC (or in Portugal... Travel & Living) shows that were airing. I by now am learning more about Jon & Kate Plus 8 and sick ink at LA Ink... Oh, vacation time.. what you do to me.

The food today was exceptionally random too. There were little crazy cow cheese's being eaten, a whole bag of salt & vinegar chips, and little sweet bananas. The food here is good. Everything here is pretty homey. Not that my home has a really beautiful view of the Atlantic ocean.. but, you get the point. As Luiz went to do man things with his cousin, Luana and I slowly gathered ourselves to come up with a list of things that would be nice to get done. Not a big deal if they didn't happen either.. I'm tellin' you people... lazy, hazy days..

Right as Luiz knocked on the door, dripping wet from the pool, we all headed out to the places on our list. First, we stepped into this really cool home furnishing place that their logo was centered around a giant cat. (You automatically know that, that place will be sweet) Second, we did some more investigation on Luana's television that was going to soon be purchased. Then having actual plans, we headed over to the main leaders of YoungLife's house.

Formally known as the Gammell's. Luiz worked with them after he had graduated high school, and currently Luana was officially going to be on full time staff pretty soon. When we pulled into their moutain side condo, we all made a decision as soon as the wind hit our face getting out of the vehicle... that today may not be the best day for a pool.. We waited for the them to get home from picking up their kids, Noah (3) and Isabel (1), we waited with style too.. Upon their arrival, we learned that the kids needed a quick mood pick-me-up which would come with their yogurt snack time. Which is when Noah proceeded on to wanting to play, but as he said "I want to play chase... naked!", and that is when he decided to take off all of his clothes. Boy oh boy...

We all just hung out, and played outside. The reoccurring characters that were being imagined from Noah's brian was the "garbage girl" and he was a 'pirate that didn't have to do anything all day.' We ran and ran and ran... while Noah created more adventures that included wings that made him fly and my black scarf became some sort of garbage disposal. Obviously.. duh. I forgot how easy going kids are when they're free to create whatever world they want. They can become anything, do anything, and I can only imagine that it all seems so real and vivid in their minds.

It was fun playing with them for a solid amount of time, and then it became time for dinner which everyone had definitely worked up an appetite for. Pizza was the food of choice, for the kids and the adults. So, we all sat around and ate pizza while the kids had to lay their heads, and we put on the game Scene It! This was won by the girls, but for the boys sake... they were close behind. (Also, it was 4 vs. 2) The fiesta didn't stop when the game was over... but eventually our brains couldn't compute any more movie quotes or box covers and we headed back to our place of rest.

Outro dia ventoso em Portugal passou ...

Cobbled Stone Streets

Let me tell you that this morning the grass cutting man was awake before me, therefore I then woke up when he decided it was time to do his job and trim the bushes right outside the window. That also means that Luiz wasn't going to be able to come in and gently awaken me from my slumber... but have no fear... we reenacted the whole morning routine just so it could be like every other morning. We then slowly got ready for the day and for breakfast this morning, I consumed what is also known as candy. It was different, yes, but still equally good.

With a new friend from YoungLife Belgium here for a visit, Luana, her, and I all packed up the car to head over to the YL office once more to pay a visit. Luey went and had his eyes checked, meaning he wasn't with us. So, after popping our heads into the office, Luana and I, then headed out to one of the largest outdoor markets in Lisbon. Goody goody! We make it to the tent covered place where there was a huge variety of goods from flowers to fresh fish to little Catholic saint figurines. It was unreal. So many older business people asking "what can I get you?" if you stop in front of their booth for just a quick second, or other merchandisers screaming out the low cost price that they have in their own area. It was a riot... there was such an assortment of things in the section that looked to me to be one large garage sale type of deal. You could buy knock-off handbags for only € 5 or they even carried jeans, books, anything and everything that isn't really a necessity... it was there.

In the front of these large flea market area there was the fresh fish market, which we of course had to go and check out the little guys to keep the high (fish) protein diet alive. Walking into that place was like a smack down of being right underwater, as if in a submarine. There were sooo many different types of fish all flopped onto the table organized in a matter that only one who truly knew their fish would be able to choose the right section to buy from. They had to be fresh... and to be fresh, there were certain qualities one would look for. With all the shiny scales that distracted me, I let Luana do her thing and decide on which little fishers we would be taking home for dinner. Once chosen, the fish expert went right away at preparing the entire fish to a standard that was meant for home dining. (I'll save you the gorey details.)

Leaving the festive fish area, we stepped into what seemed to be a fruits and veggies farm. Once again, sharp eyes were needed to scout out the best looking produce for our purchasing. Were the strawberries ripe enough? The peaches squishy enough? So many questions had to be considered before choosing which would the highest quality... When we finally gathered about every delicious fruit you could imagine, I then was shocked at how cheap all of the fresh supply actually cost us... and total it was ONLY € 15... Un. real. y'all. We got so much natural, definitely organic, produce for such a low price. I want that in the states.

Leaving with sacks full of yummy treats, we headed back to the apartment where we grabbed Luey and his two cousins, Gui and William, and headed over to their place where there was food waiting for us. His aunt had prepared just the basics, but it was a good home-cooked meal which we ate in front of the TV that was showing the Brazilian news. Having fully bellies we went back to Luana's to munch on ice cream, and without a doubt drifting off into a nap...

We all piled into the car and then headed to the YL Bible study that was going to take place. Everybody in a large group was so cool... everybody spoke English, and most of them weren't from Portugal. Meaning, there were many different countries filling this one room to worship and learn about Jesus. Okay, yes! Meeting all these new people and getting to know the basics about them, I could tell that this YoungLife group was authentic... their relationship with Jesus wasn't because that's what they knew to do. (like parts of the U.S.) To end the learning session, we all gathered up our stuff and walked over to apparently the most famous little gelato shop in town... Santini's. It was precious inside. Sort of like an old 50's diner... but with solely ice cream! Whammy!

After hanging out for a bit longer on the cobbled stone sidewalks, we all eventually went our separate ways and that meant back to the house for us where we were going to prepare a dinner of fresh (super fresh) salmon from the market. We hung around and killed time soaking up the fresh breeze from outside, and taking in the view of the sunset causing there to be multiple shades of pinks and reds in the sky while Luana prepared a extraordinary meal for the 4 of us. We ended up all sitting around the dining table with the same course meal, but with all different fruity drinks, and appreciated each others company. Night time snuck up on us quickly and little meaningless things filled it up until it was time to go to bed.

Ciao, ciao!

Foamed Milk & Espresso makes a Treat

Bom dia, bom dia! Gaining an extra hour of sleep does the body good, and so does fresh cool air blowing in from the Atlantic ocean that is placed right outside the apartment window. I woke up because my body said so. We took our time putting on our breakfast attire and we headed out the door to the apartment centered café called Garden Café. 


This little café held all new sorts of pastries and a variety of coffees that were waiting to be tried. We sat down on the cobbled stone patio where the breeze was still strong and the sun was still bright, and we ordered our breakfast. Luiz had tried back in the states to create this coffee drink that we were about to swallow called a galao! It was way more delicious here probably because it was originated here... but, essentially it's made from espresso and foamed milk. You know you want it. I then ate a grilled cheese with tomato, which almost seemed to me that it was lunch... not breakfast. After finishing off what was on our plates, we felt satisfied as we went back to the apartment just around the block.


When getting back, we had no set plans but to go buy a major stock of groceries, so we just sat around and remixed t-pain and other R&B artists songs into an acoustic jam session. Including the craft of us making up our own sweet, sweet tunes that will soon be produced. (That last sentence is not entirely true... the part about production.) After sitting and just enjoying each others company, we finally became productive and headed to take Luiz to his Aunts' house to hang out with his cousins. 


This was done so that Luana and I could go to the YoungLife Portugal office and run some errands. Holla. So, we attempted to find a parking spot located semi-near the office. Walking down the rock laden roads, we landed in front of the YL office which blended in with the rest of the building complexes. We were buzzed in and instantly it felt kinda surreal that this place was essentially the same as the one where I worked back in Texas... God is so big and so crafty. With the two YL Portugal crew members wanting to take a mid-afternoon coffee break, I couldn't say no to another galao! Luckily my quick eyes noticed a new found French friend of mine that I thought I had to break from... ORANGINA! Purchased.


Learning facts about the first peanut butter, we then left the office to go on our adventurous errands. Starting at the animal doctor. I want a basset hound so, so bad. So bad. Then we hit up this huge mega-store grocery palace. It was connected to a mall, and the place had two whole sections for yogurts only... ohhh, Europe... Luana and I of course had to walk through the mall first, and I realized this huge, epic sale that was happening in France was expanded into a whole European sale. Which means people, that this saldes was in Portugal! Just for me. 


When starting off in this new cultural supermarket, we had to place 50 cents into the cart so we could just drag it around the store. We loaded it up with about half a barrels' worth of drinks, and other new fun foods that one would only purchase while staying in Europe, we worked our way through the aisles. Of course there just so happened to be a few products with Hannah Montana dawned on them, and a Destiny's Child song playing over the intercom, but everything else was new to my eyes. Smaller portions of food, smaller selections, more cheeses, a massive amount of bread, and all new brands. Our cart was full to the brim before we knew it, so we went and checked out... well, at least tried to. 


After ringing up the total amount, Luana placed her card in the slot to finish off the transaction, and the machine said that there was an error. So, she tried another card and by this time all our of food was sacked and a long line had formed behind us... and card #2 wasn't exactly working either. That meant that we had to leave our cart there and luckily walk out the doors to the bank in front of it and make sure there was actually enough euro to pay for it, and luckily for us... the solution came and the food was ours to take! It was quite hilarious though. Jokes were made about it being just a fun dream cart that we could've had, but when it came time to take for us, it was all just a game. Good times, folks, good times.


We made our way back to where Luiz was and we picked him up to go back to our home, sweet, home. The PURCHASED groceries were put away in their proper places, and we sat around and played little silly games and eventually I made myself participate in an active workout, and after that... the rest is history. Day 1 of Portugal was a success. 


Este lugar é bom ...