and october, at last!
that was a very full month, starting with world postcard day! the new theatre re-opened in town, and we saw some concerts and movies. we continued our korean saga, and added some korean food as well. and then mid-month we went north and stayed there to help manage some major life transitions for the in-laws and spend time with little niece. :)
so, again, i’m very late with these, but let’s try to catch up!
september was great! the family and small cousin were here for a mini vacation, then we went north for a uni reunion and came back south for the final stretch pre-World Postcard Day! there was a lot of attorney woo this month, some art, some bicycle woes, a concert, a race and the first (very shy) drops of rain!
have we really been in the north for four weeks…? time kind of warps itself when we’re not at home, bending in strange ways — these feel like weeks that aren’t part of the normal timeline, like they were hidden in a pocket somewhere.
well, life has been what one would expect from being close to family: a lot of time with them navigating some pretty big life changes and a lot of running errands, but also a lot of cuddling little niece and time spent with my brother and his wife. since we came over for an extended period, there has been a lot of time for other stuff too, like work, sightseeing, trying new things… and saying goodbye to the last bits of summer.
i went back to swimming, which i seem to only do in the north. it’s been nice, and i’m finally feeling ok to swim 1000m without stopping. i’ve tried a couple of new swimming pools and kind of decided that i’ll try and swim in as many municipal swimming pools in the country as possible, as a life goal of sorts. i’ve done 5 so far! :)
that said, i hurt my shoulder while stupidly bench-pressing without much of a warm up on the last day we were home, and it still hurts. it reminded me of this frame from alice bechdel’s the secret to superhuman strength, the book i was reading on the train on the way north:
there’s been a lot of reading overall, in all the in-betweens and late night insomnia, or while the kid sleeps on top of me. from romance to graphic novels to 700 page epic fantasy reads… my favorite of the bunch was probably remarkably bright creatures. i loved the characters and how nicely the story folded on itself. will probably be gifting the book this christmas!
we hiked up senhora da graça — the last time we went was in 2018 with daniela and my legs were sore for days after. 😅 it didn’t help that i went up in campers and my moomin socks, but we work with what we have!
these past 2 weeks we’ve settled down on a houseswap in ilhavo, a town near aveiro, to scout the area and get to know the place… and also, to kind of trial the life we’d have if we moved here. we don’t know what we want to do of our lives in the future, but i kind of want to spend more time around little niece and see her grow, be available for sleepovers and to help when needed.
this time around, we enjoyed some fantastic sweets, visited vista alegre and the local lighthouse, and enjoyed working from the university’s library!
it rained quite a bit though, which always taints the experience, but it’s typical for the area. there’s a lot of water around here overall, between the rain and the lagoon nearby. my sister-in-law’s family has a “marinha” in front of aveiro, a pond where they grow eels — it’s a nice place to work from while keeping an eye on the birds.
but the best part of the whole 2 weeks were the few days we got to spend with the little one! she’s in a very joyful phase right now at 2.5, curious and full of energy. she loves picture books, running and singing happy birthday to everyone (whether or not it’s their birthday)! :D
an in-between week of sorts — sandwiched between the intensity of the world postcard day and our impending trip north. a week trying to get things back under control and failing. a week spent getting the house ready for our next guests.
i took out the last of the tomatoes from the backyard, and planted some wintery crops, like cabbage and beets.
we saw eden in the cinema on monday, and it was unexpectedly brutal. the new theatre place in town is great though, and it was well worth the wait — i’m looking forward to many more movies there.
on thursday we went all the way to quarteira to get a couple new spokes put on my bike — it seems like we’re on a streak of bad luck with bikes recently, but it was nice to find a shop that services the same brand i use. and because we had to wait around for some time, we had some delicious korean food there and even stumbled on a romanian shop! it really felt like we were visiting a big city and discovering lots of new things… even though the city is not that big nor that far.
i finished remarkably bright creatures this week, and it was such a wonderful book, so tender… it’s probably going to go on my top 3 of the year.
and i finally managed to score yellow bird on vinted, for little niece. it’s a book about an inventor bird, and the book includes both postcards and the accurate names of birds (not an easy feat!). so of course, i had to get it for her.
did i mention that i’ve been sending her one book every month since she was born? it has become a really enjoyable project for me, to discover all these nice books and also take in suggestions from friends and their kids. and of course, it’s nice to see her enjoy them too and become a “reader”!
on sunday it was the local election day. an independent group of people lead by a local driving instructor won the presidency of the parish council, so they’re going to be responsible for what happens in our part of town for the next 4 years. i don’t know them, but in a way, it’s kind of nice that none of the big parties (nor the fascists!) won here and that the population organized itself to take matters into their own hands. let’s see what they do in the next few years! :)
how is it week 40 already?!
this was a super busy week, probably the busiest in the year, because of world postcard day. but, fueled by the usual mix of cookies and ravioli (both stamp-shaped) and a healthy dose of adrenaline, it went well. sometimes i get a bit teary-eyed thinking about the whole thing, the global scope of it, how we’ve (very slightly) influenced the lives of thousands of people out there, who are celebrating a day that didn’t exist some years ago. :)
the rest of the week was kind of nice too, with lots of culture thrown in. the old cine-theater in town reopened after years of reconstruction and we did a guided tour of the place. it’s brilliant — small, but super modern and versatile (the shape of the room can change as parts of the auditorium move!), and there are already lots of different shows planned for the next three months. of course, we immediately bought tickets for a movie and a classical concert. it’s just so nice to have this infrastructure in town again, to know that the cinema club will have a place to show their hand-picked movies and that we’ll be able to see plays and concerts in a place that was designed for that. i can’t wait! :D
we also went to see a modern art exhibition at the local museum (meh!) and attended a concert in a church. one of our friends sings in a choir and they did a show there alongside a dutch choir. it was a refreshing change of pace and we enjoyed it, though some songs worked better than others.
and we saw hackers, a movie that the boy is fond of. it’s kind of trippy, with the wild graphics and soundtrack, but fun too. i guess this was the “ally mcbeal” for computer science geeks — the movie that defined cool and inspired a generation. this week, i finished daisy jones and the six, which was nice but not my favourite taylor jenkins reid book. i don’t know… books with drugs and people being stupid kind of put me off.
the chinese classes finally started this week! the teacher is all full of energy and already assigning homework, so we’re jumping in with both feet, i guess. i’m kind of looking forward to it though – maybe after this semester i’ll finally register for the hsk5 exam!