Weekend Thoughts

My roommate Gina came back from a visit to the market this morning with a surprise for me - a bunch of sunflowers! They brighten up our living room and make me smile. :O) There are a few random things that have stood out in my mind as being "different" so I'll share those with you.

*All the sidewalks are made of cobblestones and sometimes they are very uneven or even missing in places. You have to always watch your step, I haven't tripped yet but it's only been 2 weeks. I hear they get really slippery in the rain! It helps give a quaint small town feel, but on the practical side I can feel each individual stone and the unevenness beneath me depending on my shoes.

*There are roundabouts everywhere! This is a picture of the roundabout close to my apartment building. The next shot shows you one of the streets that I walk down on the way to school. It's about a 5-10 minute walk to get to school. There are striped white lines for pedestrians to cross the street. Pedestrians always have the right of way. You just step out and the cars are supposed to stop. Some of the cars come zipping up and I'm getting used to taking the first step even though traffic is coming. Obviously you don't go if a car is too close but sometimes I feel as if I'm putting my life out there. :O)

*Frequent trips to the grocery store are very convenient because Pingo Doce (the name of my grocery store) is located right in front of my apartment building. You can see the store on the bottom and apartments on top. My apartment building is located around the corner directly behind the store. There are always cars coming and going. It's quite interesting to watch the delivery trucks trying to back out when they leave with all the cars parked around. I'm amazed at how people can maneuver their cars in such tight spaces and parallel park too. I've seen tons of SMART cars - even a Barbie pink colored one. Below is a picture of my apartment building. I'm on the 2nd floor, just below the light on the lamp post.

*A few final thoughts. Dryers are not very common. People hang their laundry out to dry. I'm sure I'll miss my dryer in the colder months when things don't dry as fast. Tile is used everywhere - in apartments, for street names, and decorative designs along the road. Cement walls are also very popular. Yogurt is a big thing here - so much that some grocery stores have 2-3 aisles of it to pick from!
*School starts September 1st! You can check out the school website here: http://www.icsc.pt/. I'll have two half days to start out the week. That's all for now...thanks to those of you who have sent me comments or e-mails. It's great to hear from friends.