Hello friends! I know you're all dying to hear about my super awesome trip, so I figured a new blog would be an easy way to keep anyone updated on my what I'm doing. Plus, in 5 years when I wish I could remember better what I did, I can just read this blog too. Please don't feel obliged to read. I don't guarantee humor, cleverness, or good storytelling. But if you do follow this blog, not only will you get to hear about the thrills of Lisbon and environs, but you also might get to hear about other trips I take in the future, such as my upcoming family trip to Yellowstone (ooohh--fancy) and Coronado. Maybe.
Anyway, my whole brain is currently in sensory overload combined with culture shock. I left Salt Lake yesterday at noon, then I had a layover in Dallas. I haven't been to Texas in about 9 years, and I hadn't been to the Dallas airport in 15 years, so here are my limited observations from the 1.5 hours I spent there: 1. Texas is really flat. 2. The airport is huge. I like the tram. 3. I wish I had time to eat at one of the barbecue restaurants in the airport, but I only had time to buy a sandwich.
Then I had a 9.5 hour flight to Madrid. The flight went better than I expected because I was only in a 2-seat group, and the seat next to me, by some miracle, was empty. So I think I got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep, which I was happy about. I watched the in-flight movie, Tower Heist. (Are you enjoying these trivial details?) also, I wanted to jokingly ask the flight attendants if they could find any drier bread for me because the dinner roll was like cardboard or worse. Probably cardboard is more moist on average.
So, then I was in the Madrid airport when things started to go wrong. I got off and followed everyone else who had connecting flights, using the pictures and letters to get to my connecting flight's gate. I got close to the gate, but there was another security line to go through. In the US, when you have a connecting flight, you don't go through security. Other countries are weird. So I just got in line, but I didn't have a boarding pass because they didn't print it in the US because it was for a different local airline. So the security people sent me somewhere else to get a boarding pass. I couldn't find the place they said to go to, so I asked a worker where I should go. They said to go 2 floors down. The counter person 2 floors down made me go 2 floors up. The person at that counter made me go to a different set of counters. The people in line at this new set of counters told me to go to a different set of counters. I finally made it to the correct counter after speaking a whole lot of Spanish, and made it to my gate with only 20 minutes to spare. It was quite stressful. I don't believe I would be in Portugal right now if I didn't speak Spanish. But then I got to Portugal my brain had Spanish in it, and it was difficult to switch. People shouldn't be expected to speak more than 2 languages in one day. It's too hard.
I arrived in Lisboa (Lisbon) and the Elders and the Bishop and his 1st counselor were there to pick me up. They have all been really great, and they are the ones who set up my housing, so I'm really thankful for their work. They took me to my house, and the Elders stayed and chatted with me and Joy, my host. Joy is a Filipino lady who has been working in Portugal for 2 years. She doesn't really speak Portuguese, so she was happy to have an English-speaking friend. Her husband and 4 kids are still in the Philippines, so she hopes she gets to return in a year. Joy made us lunch, and it was funny because she said she was at the store trying to decide what to get, and she thought Americans like bread and salad, so we had hamburgers with buns, and a salad. It will take some getting used to the food.
The Elders took me on a mini-tour of the area and helped me sign up for a metro/bus pass. Elder Brito is from Cabo Verde and has 6 months left, and Elder Willes is from Utah and has 6 weeks left. It was hard work keeping up with the Elders' pace. Really, I slowed them down and I still couldn't keep up. Now my feet are mostly blister I think. But it's good because I need to build up callouses as soon as possible because Europe is all about walking.
Anyway, I am finally back at home, where I will catch up on some emails and stuff. Joy is going to be working until 1 am or something, and she said she'll probably spend the night at her boss's house. (Part of her work is for some lady and Joy babysits and cleans for her). I will probably go on an adventure to find some dinner, and then go to bed. It's already about 7 pm here. Tomorrow is a holiday, and I don't have work until Wednesday, so I'm just going to go exploring the area.
I will try to post some pictures when I'm less exhausted.
