It’s a race against time writing this tonight, and I am definitely losing. We had such a short journey today that we could not use our power inverter to charge the laptops as we were driving, so there may not be enough juice in the leisure battery to see us through the night. As I start this the laptop battery says 17%. It does not bode well but there you go. Sometimes in life not everything goes to plan, and it is how you respond that counts.
I have responded by deciding to go for as long as possible until either I finish today’s piece or the black screen of death means the battery has given up. Today we just took a little tiny baby step along the N2 to Gois. It is beautiful with the river beach and the cafes and lots of families just enjoying time together. That is something that we have seen a lot on this trip already. The different generations just rejoicing in each other’s company. There are picnic tables everywhere, barbecue areas, sandy parts and grass banks with trees to shelter from the sun.
I have run out of adjectives to describe how beautiful Kimberley and I are finding this adventure. We are of course hopeless romantics who set out with rose tinted spectacles safely packed in TUT, but even so, we are loving this whole experience more than we could have imagined. We also have time today to discuss the first week of looking for a plot of land or an area or both. This will start on Saturday and will continue through the whole of next week. We now have confirmed meetings and visits in four areas of the central belt of the country. We are getting excited and nervous and happy.
Anyway, we spend most of the day sitting in between the sun and the shade thinking how truly blessed we are that this is not really a holiday but our new life we are experiencing. There may be a few challenges but as you all know by now, all you have to do is set the destination and take a few baby steps towards it. Today’s destination and potential challenge is going to be the language. Is it considered a difficult language to learn? Yes. Am I worried about it? Only in so much as until one can communicate then one is vulnerable and feels different. I am not sure I have ever felt the same to be totally honest. We have a long list of baby steps of which the most crucial is to give ourselves time. Time to learn, time to practice, and the space to get lots of things wrong without worrying about it.
People here like to help and love it when they have responded in English, and you thank them and then get them to clarify the Portuguese for the next time. It shows that you appreciate their help, but also that it is important to you to show respect for their language. As always, I am finding that the best tool one can use when appearing like a bumbling idiot is a great big smile. I use that a lot.
Phew, finished and a few percentage points of battery left.
Night night all.