a quiet week in aveiro. little niece has 2 weeks of holiday from kindergarten, so she’s at her grandparents in celorico. we came back from there with a trunk full of produce, and as usual, struggle to eat everything before it goes bad.

it was a quietly productive week too — the first week in a long time in which we didn’t have to take some hours from the holidays to run errands. we saw the odyssey with friends, and it was as epic as promised. other than that, nothing special, mostly work, study and food. we went to bertrand and fnac and found some nice books for kids.

the chinese political & intellectual foundations course continues, now with a lot of confucian and daoist philosophers making an entrance. this is the first of five harvard courses on china, and i’m really enjoying the format. the assigned reading is the part i struggle with the most, but it feels manageable for now.

i also got a cool new pizza-themed jason polan tshirt that uniqlo just launched… and promptly made it dirty eating pizza… so it was sad but also felt somewhat appropriate.

a week in spain, and the main event was of course the eclipse!

seeing a total solar eclipse has been on our list for years, but i think it rose higher on the list in the last decade or so, as the US saw a couple of them that missed us here in europe. seeing videos from our favourite youtubers about their experiences of a total eclipse solidified the goal and the certainty that, if one ever came near us, we’d go see it. and would there ever be a better chance than when the eclipse comes to your neighbors across the border? so, a couple of years ago, we put it on the calendar and started planning.

we scouted a few locations on the days before the main event, and landed next to a field of sunflowers… with dozens of others who had the same idea. initially, we thought we’d like the quiet solitude, but there’s a kind of magic in being with others too in this kind of events.

and the eclipse itself was beautiful, of course. it’s hard to explain, even when you’ve seen it with your own eyes. when the moon finally positions itself in front of the sun and you finally take your glasses off, all you see is this huge white corona stretching outwards from a black circle… whoa. rationally, you know what is going to happen, but at the same time you feel like a pre-historic peasant fearing the end of the world (what did i do that angered the gods…?!).

it felt a little bit like the earthquake in sichuan — like something unstoppable, humungous and completely outside of your control is happening around you. it feels immense, and it makes you feel tiny too, like your life and your petty problems are so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. the planets and stars will align and do their thing, regardless of your worries and dramas.

and somehow it also feels really emotional, to be alive and able to see this thing happen, and to share in the beauty and joy and amazement with others. a bit like this.

so i’m glad we went to see it, and i think we’ll probably try to catch a few more in our lifetime, if we can, and bring others with us. other than that, the week was just work, some spanish meals and the very cuddly cat we shared the apartment with in valladolid. :)

first of all and most important, little niece is now three years old! 🥳🥳🥳 has it really been 3 years since we held her in our arms for the first time…? what a miracle that the universe produced this beautiful creature, filled with joy and mischief, who demands to be held closely and tolerates being covered in kisses. we gave her a shelf to store her (many) story books, and she was happy to show us all her (many) favorites.

august is the month when all the emigrants are back in town for their holidays, so we get to see lots of friends who are usually far away. we played finspan with some of them, and they brought us some pão-de-ló in a nicely shaped boat that is typical from their parents’ town — how cute!

we also went to check out the codfish museum in ilhavo, did a boat tour of aveiro on a moliceiro with other friends, and had dinner and tripa with yet other sets of friends! it’s been a particularly social period for us, which is a little exhausting, but also super nice to catch up with everyone and their kids (and dogs!).

now it’s time to pack and head off to spain for our first total solar eclipse! paulo has been planning this moment for the last 2 years, and i’m also super excited about it — even made some special postcards for the occasion:

i wanted just 20 or so, but the printing company did a mistake and ended up sending me 50…! 😱 it’s a little disappointing that correos did not make an affordable postage stamp for the occasion, as it would be cool to send some matchy-matchy postcards… but oh well! i’ll still have fun making some mementos of the day and sharing them with friends. :)