Thoughts of the week

Some thoughts:
1. Hairballs in the Metro are absolutely sick
2. I think I'm about to demolish this bag of Peanut M&Ms my mom sent me today.
3. I've become a professional at ripping open packages. My apartment is a football fields length from the post office and when I receive a package, its demolished by the time I get home.
4. Went running this morning and forgot how out of shape I'm actually in.
5. Something I love about Portugal is the fact that I am walking distance from a restaurant where I can get skewers of meat brought to my table for crazy cheap, relatively speaking.
6. After living here in my apartment alone, I greatly appreciate stay at home moms because it is insanely difficult to keep this place clean, and I feel that cooking just takes up way too much time.
7. I believe that I'm obsessed with coffee. The real problem is that the caffeine no longer affects me. That's not good to be able to drink espresso shots and not be phased by a bolt of energy.

Saying Goodbyes...

After a great week of spending time away with old and new friends, I feel refreshed, but feel a sense of sadness. Ever since high school it feels as though I have simply been saying goodbye to people. I know what you are probably thinking, “Craig, this is just the way life is.” But to tell you the truth I don’t like it. I don’t like the feeling of becoming friends with people and then having life change on me. It’s part of life of course but I don’t like it. The problem that I have come to realize is that through this I have begun to put up a shield, not allowing people to come in very easily. Over the past week I feel that I might have done that some and I greatly apologize if I have done this to you. Not being open and honest is the last thing that I want about myself. Distancing myself from people is not showing the love of Christ in any form or fashion. I want Christ’s love to pour out of me. I want to be open and real with people daily no matter if I am not going to get the privilege of spending much more time with them. Two things I can take from all of this is the realization of my fault as well as the greatness of Christ’s love for us. He never leaves, and His peace and comfort and friendship are always there through all that we go through. Through my time in training back in the States, a man gave me a passage which sums it all up – Psalm 139. So through all of the goodbyes, we can know that Christ has always been there, is there, and always will be there with us.

Is asking for help really that difficult?

I think it’s funny how things work out. In the past several years I have been very independent, feeling able to do everything without the assistance of friends and family. Asking for help has been something that I have been working on since living here but is a constant struggle still. A colleague gave me several bags of food because they were headed back to the States. As I was being dropped off by him, he asked if I needed help carrying the many bags of groceries as well as a coffee maker. The amount of goods would be large loads for two people, but instead of receiving help I struggled to grip everything as I trudged up to my apartment. Ridiculous.

Here I am today, one good ankle. Been on crutches since last Friday and will be until tomorrow. Asking for help is mandatory. Had to ask someone to go to the grocery store with me because of my lack of ability to carry the basket. I had a football meeting a few days ago and was required to make it be in a location close to my apartment. I hate doing stuff like that, making someone go the extra mile because of me whether that be helping me out or meeting up somewhere out of the way for the other person. It isn’t that I feel that I could do things better. I am simply insanely stubborn and do not want to put the burden on someone else. But in the long run, it ends up keeping people away from me. People want to help whether that has to do with a sprained ankle or without. I do not allow this to happen. I guess what has really hit me is how I heard before that you aren’t able to help unless you allow people to help you. Now this could be stretched into something a little much but I do see some validity in the statement. I need to ask for help. I need to allow people to see that I truly am not able to do it on my own.

Bikes

Something I saw while in Germany as well as in Austria were bikes. Bikes were everywhere. Now not motorcycles, but bicycles. It would be crazy easy to ride a bike there because bike lanes were everywhere. I'd love to get a bike for here in Lisbon but am a tad bit afraid of getting ran over. I have almost been ran over twice now by the "cautious" Lisbon drivers while just walking across the street. What's up with that? Is there a sign on my back that says "American-knock me out." Ok, back to bicycles. But seriously I'd love to be able to ride here. We stayed in a small town in Germany for several days. I walked into the town two different days and was always overwhelmed by how many people I saw on bikes. Talk about going green. They all had their little baskets ready to go get their groceries. Just a very cool feel to the cities.

Trip to Salzburg, Austria

Last week I returned from Germany and also from spending three days in Salzburg, Austria. The city is beautiful. If you ever get a chance to make it there, I would highly recommend it. Here are some pictures from Salzburg.

Never know what you are going to get…

All in all, there can be no complaints about the food in Portugal, but over my time here I have come across some interesting plates. Not too long ago I ordered a plate from a restaurant of what I thought was going to be fried fish from the picture display. Upon receiving my lunch, I found out that I did not order fish but calamari. I thought to myself, ‘Ok, no problem. I’ve eaten calamari back in the States and have really enjoyed it.’ As I attempted to cut into it I had a problem. It was hard as a rock. Finally making my way through it, I took a bite and felt like I was chewing on a rubber ball. Quickly I grabbed the Tabasco Sauce and downed a few pieces but called it quits as my jaw became exhausted. This is only one of few meal choice disasters, but these little rubber pieces of squid made a lasting impression on my choice of ordering seafood.

6 Months

In a few days, it will be six months since I was back in the States. Crazy to think that it really has been that long. Before I came here, I was informed about some of the stages of culture shock such as honeymoon, rejection, etc. It’s something that is simply expected, daily a challenge in my life. I used to have this idea of things being similar to back in the States, but actually far from it. The little things are what take time to get adjusted to. For example, people standing in the middle of aisles and not moving or the length of travel time on public transport. A couple of days ago I rode with a colleague into a gated community of houses with actual backyards and pools. Almost surreal in a sense, reverse culture shock seeing the yards and open areas.

But through it all I’ve grown accustomed to living here. Believe me there are still things I find very different, but it is life, not better or worse, just different. Like a lot of the Portuguese, I long to have that coffee after a meal. That is something I love is how much I walk now. Just makes me feel so much healthier. It keeps me in shape, and there isn’t a better way than to see the city than on foot. There have been and there will be days when I want nothing but to be back in the States, but for now this is my everyday life.

Randomness

This is a picture from my apartment window. Yep, I'm a ways up, but its nice. Get a nice view of every where. Hard to believe but this past Thursday was my last day of class. Time has flown by since January. I have a big speaking exam this Friday as well as a written and listening exam the following Tuesday. I still continue to help out with ESL on Monday and Wednesday nights. It's crazy how quickly the days fill up. This past Sunday, I went up to northern Portugal to check out where the football camp in June is going to be. It was amazing to get out of the city for a bit and just get a chance to walk on grass and get some fresh air. It's the little things that I miss. Two weeks ago it started lightning and thundering, ahhh so nice! First time I've heard and seen that in a while. Random but today I found two really cool cafes right by my house. Finding a good coffee shop is important. Now I can go there and work, read, just whatever. Very exciting! Haha wow, I'm a nerd. Again, crazy how the small things are so exciting!

Public Transportation

Before moving to a large city, I always had this magical idea of public transportation being the greatest concept in the world. At this point in my life I am beginning to have a slight bit of disagreement with my previous thinking. Public transportation is my life right now. Waiting on the bus is what I do. Hanging out for the metro to come around is another hobby of mine. It is always interesting to ride on both of these to see the variety of people in this city and to see the cultural interaction between them all. But something that Papa has taught me through this is patience, patience on the transportation as well as on people. At the same time as teaching me patience, I have been taught a lot about prayer. Through my time of commuting, I have begun to pray while on the metro and also on the bus for specific people in my life. It’s such a great time with Papa. All around are people that need prayer over their lives. A lot of the time I try to make excuses for me not being in the word and not talking with Papa, but He provides opportunities all around; I just have to seize them. So the tough question really comes down to what are we really doing with our time? Are we popping in our iPods to have some more “noise” in our lives like I do way too often or are we taking advantage of the time that we have with Papa?

Indian Food and Country Music

Something that always takes me back to being home is food and music. Eating a home cooked meal brings me right back to the States. It is crazy how easily food can make you relate things in your head to memories. Tonight I had chili at my colleagues’ house. Talk about delicious. Takes me home to those cold nights where I’d get all snuggled up in this huge white blanket that my parents have. Eating Indian and Chinese food always does the same. Brings me back to Wan Fu off Camp Bowie for Chinese and to Oscar’s apartment in Lubbock for some great Tiki Masala. Music does the same to me. Here lately I haven’t been a huge country music fan, but something about listening to some here takes me home. Not so much the upcoming new pop artists because they are always played on the radio here, but it’s that music that just isn’t heard very often. It’s that music that I would roll down my windows to while driving around at home. Some days those little pieces of home are needed. They kick start me back into learning more and more about the culture that I am living in and loving. It is crazy to think how God made us to where the little things bring memories back to us. God created us so unique and just sends me desiring more and more of Him. When I get those pieces of America, it sends a smile over my face but it is short lived. The Lord though lights that fire and keeps it going and going. Happiness from the world does not compare to the unending joy from our Heavenly Father. I just challenge you to seek after that joy that He has for each of us, because His joy is never ending. His love is more than enough for all of our hurts and needs.

Welcome to Lisbon!

Hey everyone! So I’ve been getting settled in and really enjoying meeting all the team. To say that I’ve got a great team is such an understatement! Everyone’s so friendly and helpful in everything. I have asked a million questions as usual and they still help which is great. Portuguese people are so nice and very understanding with all my pointing. Basically this is the way it goes down when I order something. I just point or attempt to butcher the word. Haha always comical. Now I am just finishing up my second week of language school and have learned so much in such a short period of time. I start at the university on Monday and will be there until the end of May taking a Portuguese class. Football has already started as well. We have practice every Saturday and all of the football teams watching the Superbowl Monday morning at 12:30 at the Hard Rock Café. I am going to be playing running back. No lie. Running back. That’s a lineman’s dream position. But yeah everything's going great. I appreciate your prayers so much and hope everyone has a great weekend!