Ida a Portugal

Já temos data marcada para a nossa ida ao Porto! Chegamos Domingo 1 de Junho e partimos no Domingo 8 de Junho.
Vamos passar um fim-de-semana com amigos em Amesterdão à ida, e temos um casamento em Burgos na sexta-feira dia 6.

Meus amigos, toca a sacar da agenda: Queremos jantar fora, almoçar, tomar café, beber um copo (ou três), dar um passo de dança, ver casas novas, conhecer bébés e visitar crianças! E, acima de tudo, estar com a nossa família e os nossos amigos.

Ah, saudade...

Até breve.

Central Coast

Rita wasn't working last weekend, so we went on a little road trip to San Luis Obispo, a small town some 250 miles south of San Francisco.
We had lunch in Carmel on Saturday and started the drive south on the famous highway 1.

The weather was pretty bad ( a storm was going past), and 20 miles later, with the car's "low fuel" light on and with the GPS denying that there were any gas stations ahead, we turned back to Carmel and took the inland highway 101 instead. The valley we drove in for two hours was very pretty, much greener than expected.
We checked in the hotel in Arroyo Grande, did a little bit of bargain shoppping at a nearby outlet, and then went for dinner at A. J. Spurs Steakhouse & Saloon, a western themed restaurant. The meal included vaquero soup, tequilla beans, steak, spare ribs and root beer floats. We were stuffed!

We spent Sunday morning in San Luis Obispo, a cute little town. We checked out the local mission, the county museum, and just wandered about the place.

After lunch it was time to start the long drive home, this time taking the very scenic highway 1. The weather was a bit better than the previous day, so we were able to enjoy the natual beauty of that piece of coastline.

We saw elephant seals and had tea and cake at a little road side cafe in Gorda.

With the weather grey and raining, the landscape reminded me a bit of the ruggedness of Iceland.

All in all, a great weekend!

Useful website

Is it Christmas?

Best bumper stickers (1)

Jesus is a liberal.

US Elections

Today is an election day to decide which candidate will represent each party in the presidential election. While driving through a busy crossroad I saw a 60-70 year-old woman holding an Obama sign in the air. Just expressing her strong feelings towards him, and probably trying to convince a few people along the way. A few cars would honk and wave. I did.

Isn't it fun to live in a country where a person gets so excited about a presidential candidate that she will go out and share her opinion to strangers passing by in cars? I've seen it in soccer fans, never for elections. But there is an air of hope that there will be big changes. Either way... as long as it's a Democratic president, there will be big changes.

The other day I saw a calendar in a store about Bush: a countdown for the end of his term!

How much does a person need to know about shoes?

This had never crossed my mind. I have never stopped for more than 5 minutes to think about the essence of a shoe. I had never used the word "essence" and "shoe" in the same sentence!

You'd think that to sell shoes all you need to do is go up and down the stairs bringing people the shoe they've asked for. I certainly did. But 40 days later, I can say I have changed. I have more English than Portuguese vocabulary on shoes. I know materials and how much they stretch, which are the best, what a last and an overtoe are. That some brands also have width sizes. That Asian people adore Ferragamo and will not buy shoes made in Asia. That shoes can be hand made or hand assembled or neither. I know how to stretch shoes, how to soften leather edges and which type of pads to use and where to make a shoe more comfortable.

When a costumer asks for a shoe I can bring 6 similar styles from 5 different brands in less than 5 minutes. I know that when people can't explain what they are looking for and like everything I show them, they won't buy anything. I know how to charge one sale to two different credit cards and cash.

I've had people handing me a shoe and a roll of bills and nodding effusively. I had a person asking if they could maybe scrape the shimmer off of the $350 Prada tennis shoes because she was really looking for white ones. I've had people asking "I'd like this Ferragamo shoe, but this one has the symbol crooked, I want one that is centered". I had to bring the mate so she could see it was actually supposed to be crooked.

I've had all this in 40 days. So it's not learning about a possible cure for cancer, or teaching people how to read. It is not adding much to my CV and I have to touch strangers' feet. But I haven't been this happy for some time now.

I like my colleagues and have fun with them, I exercise going up and down the stairs, I have a reason to leave my house and I am earning my own money. People might think that I don't get as much respect as if I had an office job, but the fact is that I feel more respected at my workplace now (especially now that I am getting good at it) than I was as a volunteer in my last office job, or as an intern in Portugal.

Don't you sometimes wish you had a defined job, where you knew what was expected of you, and you didn't have to create anything? No big responsibilities, no long hours, no brainstorming. Just the simple life. I got to try it out, and it's been fun!

A different kind of Christmas

There were no cuddles from Mom, kisses from Dad.
No last minute shopping for a distant relative.
No lights in the streets, no annoyance with the traffic.
No side jokes with a sister, no revisiting old family stories told every year over Christmas.
No setting the table, no cleaning Christmas tableware.
No bacalhau, no turkey left overs.
No SMS, no phone calls to friends.

We hugged each other to help ease the saudades.
We cooked traditional Portuguese desserts, and got our own Christmas tree.
We used new technology and video conference while opening the beautiful gifts lovingly sent over by post.
We witnessed the family dinner also online, and had a chance to say hi to everyone and wish them a Merry Christmas.

So we still were loved
In every postcard written with such care.
In the voices of our parents.
In the lines written through instant messaging.
In the video clips our friends made with their children.

Thank you. It was a good Christmas and we also love you all very much.