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. :)

ahahah, the ending of the previous post was just inviting trouble from the universe, wasn’t it…? of course our good fortune didn’t last: we arrived back in aveiro to find a leaking tap, a flooded bathroom and ruined floorboards. *sigh* later in the week we also found a screw embedded in on of our tires, which is now leaking air. *double sigh*

anyway, it was actually a good week, overall. for one, there was pizza! the house of campos-magalhães has a few rules, and one of them is that we only eat pizza once every 2 weeks, so it’s usually a special treat. we’re now slowly exploring the pizzerias in aveiro, in search of our new favorite.

i started a course on chinese history, which i’m kind of excited about. i miss learning, and the local university’s masters in chinese studies is kind of tempting… but at the same time, i’m wary of putting so much time into pursuing something like that. so i thought maybe i could make myself a little “china studies” curriculum instead and see what i could learn by myself that way, by studying a bit everyday. i want it to be broad ranging, and cover the different subjects that would be covered in a uni program. so far, so good!

i managed to score “first orchard” on vinted, discounted and in very good condition, yay! it’s a collaborative boardgame for small kids, in which you play together to pick all the fruits before the raven gets to the orchard. the wooden chunky pieces are really satisfying to hold, and it makes a great first boardgame for kids. we played it with little niece, who immediately learned all the rules and challenged everyone to play with her.

the boy’s dad celebrated his 89th birthday this week, so we grabbed his mom as well as little niece and visited all our parents on the weekend. the village was celebrating st. peter’s, so there were festivities and music and lots of aunties and cousins to catch up with.

and because it’s summer, my parents’ farm is in full swing and we came home with the trunk bursting with produce! i barely have enough time to cook all the stuff before another batch comes in… the fridge is permanently bursting at the seams!

a week in aveiro, another in the algarve.

in the north we worked and settled in. we set up our new desks in the office corner, and it’s good to finally stop working from the dining table. i registered for the local swimming pool and trialed a skills class — just half an hour and not a lot of swimming… but it could be interesting to help me get proper form at some point. the joy and convenience of having a pool (and a library! and shops!) so close to the house hasn’t worn off yet!

i had a pair of good shorts that a cousin accidentally painted some dots on with a pink sharpie… which is pretty permanent. so i bought a fun patch on vinted to hide those spots and voilá: my new lowly worm shorts!

reading is still meh, and i’m procrastinating finishing my current “big” books… but i finished guy delisle’s hostage and jumped into muybridge. i also scored michael ende’s momo at a small book fair in my hometown — a book that has been recommended to me over and over by german friends as a childhood favorite of theirs. i’m keeping it for little niece, but will read it first.

the week in the south was brought on by an AC that has been leaking into the wall of our bedroom and needed to be fixed. in an unlikely turn of events for the busiest season of the year, a construction worker, a plumber and a painter were all quickly procured to fix the problem, and now things are ok again. hurray!

the painter turned out to be a super friendly guy from brazil who talked our ears off about his home country and even came around with a tupperware of açaí for us to try — how cool is that!

we celebrated postcrossing’s 21st anniversary in the middle of the dust chaos with a 16 hour community call/livestream and some pizza. and the rest of the week has been mostly catching up on housework, seeing friends, picking up the mail and just surviving the blazing sun.

in a twist of unexpected good news, our cholesterol levels are great! for a few weeks now, we’ve been reducing the amount of saturated fats we eat (and wow, there’s saturated fat in everything! 😱), drinking daily plant sterols, eating extra fiber as much as possible, drinking paper-filtered coffee, walking… basically anything the internet says might help bring things down. and it worked! i’ve never had numbers that are exactly within the right range, and paulo’s are even a bit lowish. so now the challenge becomes trying to maintain a low level, while making the diet a bit less restrictive. naturally, we had to celebrate with the worst best dish possible…

and last but not least — look at this magnificent sunset we saw from ayamonte!

i have to say, it’s been pretty good lately. i hope it lasts!