Z is for zon

Okay, so, I think the last few letters of the alphabet are hard in any language.  I mean, every children’s book that goes through the alphabet is getting desperate and very unoriginal at this point   Z is most often for zebra, but since there are no zebras living in Portugal (aside from the zoo), I came up with zon.  Zon is our cable company.  There are two major ones in the country, so some might disagree with me and argue that “meo” is better, but let me just say that I am thankful for zon because 1. it has provided us with internet access these past three years 2. it is kid friendly…my kids have their own remote, they know all their channels and there is even one with all the old ”classics” that Mg and I grew up with (and in English), so my kids have learned to love tom & jerry, the flinstones, scooby doo, etc.  3. I just love the way cable companies are here…they buy the rights to old American t.v. shows (old as in previous seasons) and so we can watch an entire season of the biggest loser or how I met your mother in just a few weeks because it comes on nightly.  I love that.  And I could go on…it’s a pretty great system they have here.  Plus, zon is the provider of our movie theaters here in town, so for that I am appreciative too.  Man…I think I might just miss the movie theaters here with their assigned seating and 7 minute potty break in the middle of the movie   So, that’s my “z” and this brings me to the end of the challenge.  It’s been fun.  Now, back to our regular programming…

Y is for yellow!

Y is the third and final letter that is not used in the Portuguese alphabet.  That is how they know right away that Henry and Lily are not from these parts   So, I’m going with my favorite Portuguese color…yellow!  There are SO many buildings all over the country that are yellow…and a LONG time I go I termed it “Portuguese Yellow” in my head.  I’ve always thought it was such a pretty, unique shade that Sherwin Williams should dedicate one of their paint colors to Portugal   This little gem is on my street and I admire it everytime I walk by.

X is for xixi

Okay.  You’ll have to hear me out on this one because there are not a lot of options for x…since I do not come across xylophones often enough to be thankful for them.  Xixi is the Portuguese word for “pee-pee” or “tee-tee”…however you refer to it.  Now, there are several reasons I went with this theme.  First, it’s just a fun word to say…it’s pronounced like “she-she”.  Then, instead of saying, “I need to GO tee-tee” as we would in English, here it is “I need to MAKE tee-tee”.  Just a fun language difference   And lastly, it’s just comical how often they make time for it.  Our Portuguese friends even make fun of the fact that when they go on a “road trip” (I use this loosely since this is usually only about 3 hours maximum within the country) they stop every 30 minutes to an hour to either grab a cafe (addiction ) or use the restroom.  You can see proof of this because there are a LOT of rest-stops along the highway…more than I’ve ever noticed in the U.S.  The other day we were caravaning with some other families going to a basketball tournament in a town 45 minutes away.  Twenty minutes into the journey we pulled over…several of the kids had to use the restroom.  Mg and I just cracked up.  They kept asking our kids if they needed to go and they said no, which shocked everyone   My friends are amazed when I explain that I used to drive four hours by myself with three kids in the backseat (from Dallas to Houston) and never stop.  You know us Americans…just get to your destination as fast as possible. Now, the two hour trek to Lisbon feels like forever to me.  We will just have to see if my bladder has weakened since living here…we’ll get to test it soon enough as we take a true road trip just weeks after our return and drive 10-12 hours per day.  I sure hope we don’t have Portuguese bladders and have to stop every hour, but we’ll see   I apologize if this was an immature post, but there you have it!  P.S. the W.C. in the picture stands for “water closet”…that would be the sign you would most often see here…and we’ve had people ask, so just in case anyone else was wondering the significance…

W is for walking

W is yet another letter that the Portuguese don’t actually use, so, I’m using another English word.  And I’m using an old picture…of course my dad took a butt shot of us walking (I think he might be famous for those at Disney World ), but it works for this occasion.  I really love how much we walk here.  Walking has kept us all in much better shape.  Between the truly organic and fresh food and all the walking we do, we lead a pretty healthy life here.  My parents always comment on it while they’re here too…they like the “exercise” they get on their vacations   I can remember how winded I was when we first got here…I wasn’t used to that much walking…especially uphill, but I’m thankful for the tolerance I’ve built to it.  People walk everywhere here.  Even today on my way home from running errands (in the car :/ ) I saw Calvin’s cute class walking up to the little festival going on in our neighborhood right now.  I had no idea they were leaving the school today, but it’s fine by me.  I saw another little school of children (we’re talking 3 and 4 year olds) walking uphill to the festival yesterday.  Henry and Lily’s classes walk for different outings.  It’s just impressive how much kids walk through the center of the city here and yet it’s totally normal.  They do a great job staying together and don’t complain about long distances.  Hope we can find a way to get our walking in while in the U.S. too.  I just never realized how good it is for you until moving here.  Love it.

V is for Veranda with a Visto :)

Our whole family enjoys our back veranda, especially during these months when it’s warm outside!  It is the perfect place to sit and reflect.  Even though we are in the middle of the city, this street is quite and has a beautiful “visto” (view).  My kids play out here all the time…you can see in this picture that they have colored all over it with chalk   And, they sit out here and yell down to any and all “vizinhos” (neighbors) in the street.  They especially like to try and grab Raul’s attention.  He is the “velhote” (old man) who lives above us and takes care of all the flowers, but he is practically deaf, which is why they love to see if they can grab his attention :/  My…there are actually a lot of words that start with “v” in Portuguese…veranda,visto,vizinhos,velhotes, etc.   One thing I’m super excited about though, is buying some proper patio furniture for our veranda while in the U.S., then we will all enjoy it even more when we get back!

U is for Universidade

The whole reason we chose to move to Coimbra was because it is a University town.  Perhaps this stems from our love for College Station, but whatever the reason, we love students and love that the heart of our city is the University and it’s students.  I will miss our little city and this beautiful University campus.

T is for traje

Disclaimer:  I do not know these two guys, I found their picture online…they look like fun people though   Okay, traje is the traditional uniform for university students.  It consists of a suit (pants for men, skirts for women) and long black capes (like seen wrapped around the guys in the picture).  To this day, I have not figured out the rhyme or reason as to when or why they decide to dress up.  They wear it for the first day of classes, for all special events, and for the beginning and ending party weeks (like literally, every day), but we also see it all throughout the year.  It’s as if Tuesdays are special so they go with it, I don’t know.  I am still amused when I see it because it reminds me so much of Harry Potter…especially when we are out at night and everyone is running around in their capes, I feel like I live at Hogwarts.  (By the way, J.K. Rowling DID live in Portugal for a time before she wrote the books…perhaps she was inspired by traje )  Now, if I see anyone running around in a cape in the U.S., I will be scared to death, but here, I love it.

S is for saldos

You can probably tell from the sign that saldos are “sales”!  In Portugal, there are only two seasons for sales…the entire month of January and the entire month of July, and the whole country goes on sale.  I pretty much save up just so I can splurge during these times…they’re one of my favorite times of year, when everything goes half off!  Unfortunately, I will just miss the summer sales this year, but as evidenced by my Target poem, I am super excited to shop in the good ol’ U.S of A this year!

R is for roupa

Roupa is the word for clothes and I went with this one for several reasons.  First off, as you’ll see in the (adorable) picture above, nearly everyone hangs their clothes outside their apartment windows to dry.  My mom thinks it’s hilarious…she still comments on it (often) every time she comes to Portugal…she says “it’s so funny”.  So, for one thing it makes me think of her.  While usually I just see it as normal now…it is sometimes funny still…to see your neighbors nasty old undies hanging out there with pride   The other thing that hasn’t gotten old to me yet since living here is some peoples’ style of dress.  Pretty much anything goes here.  While most of our friends dress super nice, there are still people around town DAILY that Mg and I just shake our heads at or can’t help but comment on.  While we enjoy our little jokes…it’s also nice that truly, one can where whatever they want here and won’t be judged, AS LONG AS IT IS WEATHER APPROPIATE.  Now, if I wear flip flops too soon…yikes.  Or if we neglect to put hats on our kids in the summer, shame, BUT, does it have to match?  Absolutely not.  My Lily thrives in this culture…she puts all manner of mix and match outfits together   Anyway, it may be quirky, but these little things about the clothes are things I love about Portugal and will miss.

Q is for queijo

I must say, aside from missing good old cheddar cheese, the cheese in Europe is everything one would expect it to be…marvalous.  I found this picture of some traditional Portuguese cheese.  You cut off the top and the inside is a real soft cheese that you spread on crackers or bread and it’s delicious.  So, we have easy (and cheap) access to this Portuguese cheese and others imported from around Europe…the French cheeses being my favorite.  I’ve heard from friends that are currently back in the States that we will miss the cheese and I believe it, so that’s what I’m going with on this day.  I suppose that I’m a cheese snob now