the traditional chimneys of algarve, as seen through the holga’s plastic lens.
Category: in portugal
Categories
1000 days
a couple of weeks ago, we passed the “1000 days in algarve” milestone, and i stopped to think about it for a bit. here are some scattered thoughts.
reverse culture shock was quite acute in the first year. frustrations ran high because of the house situation, but not just that. being used to the german black & white culture, coming back to flexibly gray portugal felt like a shock. almost 10 years after leaving, we were lost in trying to deal with a grown-up world whose rules we had not really fully experienced as adults before going away.
so it took us a while to reach a sort of balance, an understanding by trial and error. and it forced us to review our ethics code, to understand what we’re ok and not ok with in this society. having different perspectives from having lived all around the world certainly helped shape our rules of conduct, and be more strict about them — even if sometimes it feels like we’re the only idiots in this country not putting all our lunches in the company expenses.
eventually, we learned to let it go and focus on other things instead.
things like the joy of being able to see family and some friends more often. the sun, kissing our tanned, salty skins. the markets, the popular fairs in the small towns, the countryside and the hills beyond the coast. the lagoon with its salt hills and flamingos. all the visitors that our extra room can accommodate. the freshly squeezed orange juice and the toasts made with alentejo bread. the local indie cinema, with its thursday sessions. the nice neighbours who bake us dessert. almond blossoms in january. and the quietness of living in a safe, calm place, at a slow rhythm and without so many distractions.
it’s been good for us, this small-town life. i look forward to the next 1000 days.
Categories
8 o’clock
we called her “8 o’clock” because that was around the time she landed on our balcony. a tiny little swallow that gingerly hopped onto paulo’s open palm and wasn’t eager to leave. she seemed okay, though perhaps a bit lost. she drank water, ate all the ants she could reach… and stubbornly refused to fly. our more knowledgeable bird-watching friends suggested we give a call to the animal rescue center in olhão, which we did and they promptly took over.
RIAS (aka the Centro de Recuperação e Investigação de Animais Selvagens) takes care of all sorts of wild animals from the southern region that were found hurt or mistreated. things like wildfires, birds falling off their nests, road accidents or the idiot that decides to keep wild animals as pets… they were happy to take care of our tiny swallow for a while, feeding it and patiently waiting for it to gain some strength to fly, before it was ready to be released. they gave us a tour of the place, and we got to peek at all the birds and other animals they were currently nursing back to health.
we were so impressed with their operation that we decided to sponsor 8 o’clock’s recovery, becoming her “godparents”. one of the perks of being an animal’s godparent at RIAS is being able to be there when it is released into the wild — so when they called us some time later and asked if we wanted to come and see it being released, we jumped at the opportunity!
it was over in the blink of an eye, but the feeling of having done something good lasted for a long time afterwards. it might be just one tiny swallow… but did you know that a single swallow can eat up to 300,000 mosquitos per year? i bet you wish you had saved a few of them too! :P
apologies for the silence and mostly automatic posts… august has been brilliant so far, which leaves little time for blogging. now that i’ve managed to somehow bust my back (again!) with an acrobatic jump to the ubahn though, i’m lying in bed taking it easy… on the upside, more time for posting! :D
anyway, here’s what july looked like:
highlights:
– crafty afternoons and many summer meals with friends
– hosting a biker cousin and his friends
– petsitting our neighbours’ friendly dog
– quick pitstop on our way north to explore maat with jenny
– paulo’s dad turned 80!
and then, really at the end of the month we jumped on a plane for a whole month of adventures abroad! :D
the days are longer, the sun shines and we breathe a sigh of relief. this is definitely the best part of the year.