Olá de Portugal!

Olá a todos! (hi all...)

So I'm back in portugal. wow.

last week was pretty uneventful, but nice. My mom's friend Stéphanie came, and we visited some more of Paris with her. My new medicine is working great, so I only had to go to the hospital for a check up, and was able to do more. But I'm having trouble remembering what we did. hahaha
The most exciting thing was our trip to the Opéra Garnier to see a ballet adaptation of Les Enfants du Paradis, a famous story that was first made into a film during WWII, then adapted to become a theatrical show. It was quite well done and I really liked the dancing.
We also went to the Petit Palais for lunch, and then looked around at the interesting artwork they had there: it was cool because they had art from all different styles and times, like ancient greek pots mixed with modern photography.

On our last day in Paris maggie, her sister and her mom came over, so it was nice to see them again. I went to visit a hostel where I'll be staying when I come back in a couple weeks.

Then on friday we flew from Paris to Lisbon! When I arrived in Lisbon I got a wonderful surprise: two of my best portuguese friends were there to meet me at the airport! it was so good to see them, but really hard to speak portuguese because i'm out of practice.
My host sister Joana took us home--I'm staying with my host family, and my parents are staying in a hotel nearby. After having spoken some more portuguese it has started feeling better--I still trip on my words sometimes, but I've surprised myself with how much I remember.

Friday night I wanted to stay home and relax (I am a certainly a homebody!) but my host mom had other plans and "sent" me out with my host sister Catarina. I got to see some of her friends who i had met before, and though we didn't do much, it was good to be with people my age after so much time with just my parents and their friends. Everyone wanted to know about the elections and approved when I said I had voted for obama.

Yesterday my parents, Xuxu (host mom) and I went to the Palácio da Pena in Sintra, a town near lisbon. I had already been to the palace, but it was fun to go again and show my parents. Xuxu drove all around, giving them a tour of what was in store.
After Sintra we went to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of the European continent---coooool. I had already been there too, but why not go again?

Last night I went out again to the birthday dinner of my friend Inês. We ate in a restaurant and then stood outside saying "ok let's go do something" and not doing anything. typical portuguese, haha. I got to see three of my closest portuguese friends (Inês, Inês, and Mariana) and some other kids I had known through school, so it was nice. My portuguese was good until I started getting sleepy and couldn't think anymore :-D.

Today Xuxu took us first to try Pastéis de Belém, really famous portuguese pastries (and really good, too!) and then to the Palácio de Queluz, a very nice palace near Lisbon (I had been there, too). For lunch we went to Ericeira, a cute fishing village where my host family has two summer houses. We ate prawns, mussels, octopus, and barnacles (which looked really desgusting--like toenails--but actually didn't taste that bad) and of course fish. The portuguese eat A LOT of sea food, and it's not for the squeamish.

Tomorrow my parents and I will head out on our "grand tour of Portugal" in our rental car: We're planning to visit some of my favorite places in Portugal. We'll be back in lisbon next weekend!

It's good and a little strange to be back in Portugal after spending 10 months here a year and a half ago. I'm glad my portuguese hasn't suffered too much!

Many beijinhos (kisses) to all!

Lydia