Tirza e Beatriz

This is Tirza's best, best friend at school. They have been best buddies since the beginning of LAST year, yep last year as in when Tirza didn't speak Portuguese yet.

Tirza started talking about her within the first month... she called her Blakblack:) Some of you may remember hearing stories about this mysterious Blakblack, after a while I concluded that it must be an imaginary friend. I had even asked Tirza's teacher about it and she couldn't figure out what Tirza was trying to say:) So one day when I was picking Tirza up from school she wanted me to meet Blakblack and to my surprise she was a very real, adorable little girl, named Beatriz:)

They have been asking to play at each other's houses so last week they finally got their wish. Bea's mom picked them up from school after lunch and let them play all afternoon at her house. Tirza had SO much FUN! We had Bea over to our house later in the week. From the second I picked them up from school until the elevator doors closed when Bea was leaving, both girls were giggling and talking. So CUTE! They played and played...

I have a feeling this was the first of many play dates!!!

New Old Stuff

Let me preface this post by saying that I am not a yard sale/ antique hunter person... at ALL! But awhile back our friend Caroline called and said she had just rescued a dresser and two end tables from the garbage for us. I thought, free furniture- can't hurt to look! I was pleasantly surprised!!! Beautiful, old wood furniture... extremely expensive and hard to come by here. Like I said I am not normally a fan of "old". But this dresser has such charm, beautiful wood work. So we hauled it off to our trusty carpenters, he agreed that it was vale a pena (worth it) to have it cleaned and re-varnished as well as make a few small repairs.

It wasn't cheap, I will admit, but since I didn't pay um centimos for the stuff I figure it evened out in the end. So a few centimos later.....wahhhlaahh...... my new buffet and end tables!
Aren't they pretty!?! My linens are all on top because I was still trying to air out the varnish smell... many coffee beans and a few dryer sheets later (internet tips and yes, suggestions are still welcome.) I have put my linens away and even bought a new bowl for the top.

Bria's 7th Birthday

Make a Smilebox slideshow Bria had a great birthday yesterday. Her party was a blast! Lots of friends, presents, food and CAKE! Happy 7th Birthday my sweet Bria girl!

Aqueduct

One of my favorite things in Lisboa is the aqueduct. I really can't explain why, I just think it is so unique. It stretches across two hills of the city, its huge and for the time it was built it was a major engineering accomplishment. It is a piece of the old city, beautiful and full of history.
I love driving under it, being able to see how huge and old it is.
Today, on our way home from a birthday party, in a part of town we had not yet been in we got to drive under a different part. It was a smaller part near the end of one side. It just renewed my fascination with the aqueduct.
Our afternoon was great... big girls had a birthday party, we had no idea where it was so some friends let us follow them. Somehow we have found the most wonderful group of new friends (somehow... we know how, GOD!) They let us join in their events, conversations...lives and they are always kind to us and our girls and patient with us as we learn the language and culture.
We have past our grace period now where people talk slowly and make sure we understand what they are saying... Now they speak full speed and expect us to understand, keep up and respond. It is GREAT! I can not think of a better motivation to keep learning and progressing in the language. I look forward to the day when I can not only keep up with all that is being said but can jump in and say whatever is it I want to say.
And if you know me you know I have plenty to say!:)

Fixed Car Anxiety

As many of you know I had a little fender bender in July. No one was hurt, thank goodness! And although you never want things like this to happen, I was glad it happened when it did and not sooner. It was actually a fear of mine during our first few months here... that I would get in an accident and not be able to communicate well enough to handle the situation. So I was glad it happened after a over a year of language. I successfully navigated filling out the paperwork and explaining to the other driver that we did have insurance.
Anyways, I didn't think the damage was that big of a deal, just a bent license plate and some dents on the front, but the car place said different and so last week we got the car "fixed."
Yeah, it is all taken care of... yeah! But now I am again afraid to drive. Well not afraid just worried about a car accident again. Now the car looks brand new, no dents, no scratches... perfect. And here, well... driving is a little crazy, parking is a lot tight and there are these crazy parking guys who scratch your car if you don't give them change. Aggghhh, it is a dangerous world out there for the newly fixed, brand new looking car.... anxiety!
Now don't worry I will get over it... most likely the call of IKEA or H&M will soon beckon me loud enough that I will forget my anxiety and drive again. And I am sure someday, somehow a new scratch or dent will come... I am just hoping next time it won't be my fault!

Bom

I realize that this might be showing off just a little bit but oh well... This certificate is a BIG deal to me! It represents 10 months of my life. 10 months really hard work! It means that I passed the B1 language level of Portuguese with a BOM. I didn't even just pass it I got a BOM which means GOOD!

I was extremely nervous about this exam. I do NOT like taking tests but God really gave me a calm and clear head that day. The significance for us now is that we are out of full time language stuff and can start "working." We will always continue to work on the language and we still have pass the next level sometime in the future. But for now we can relax and learn in less formal ways.

Oh and I say WE because Mark has the same certificate with the same score as me:)

Okay I am done showing off for now... time to go do something with my accomplishment!

Field Trip with Vera

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