Day 55

Not knowing the city at all, I had to rely on google maps again to get me to church. It suggested I take the tram. Okay! :) The tram is super cute and super bumpy winding through these hills, and it makes noises like it’s falling apart. At the second stop it filled with Oriental tourists who made “OHHHH” and “OOOOOO” sounds throughout the ride snapping pics of EVERYTHING. That was fun. Once I got off, I got a little lost, but at last found where the tiny ward meets. I was a little late, but fortunately Relief Society is the first meeting so I didn’t miss the sacrament. I got to play piano, one language I can speak anywhere.

I discovered that I actually can understand some Portuguese. It made it easier in Sunday School, following along in my Spanish scriptures, it really is very similar, and it gave me a better idea at how to pronounce things. Basic ideas and testimonies were easy to understand, and the spirit still feels the same. Most of the members speak English, and the ones who didn’t, I could use Spanish to communicate with. I met a super nice boy from Idaho here for an internship, he helped translate a bit with things I couldn’t understand, so that was nice. After church he showed me around some pretty areas of the city, and escorted me back to the center before he ran off to catch a train for his four-day adventure exploring Northern Portugal. I saw the rest of the sights through the city tour bus. Wide range of beautiful architecture similar to what I’ve seen in Madrid to other. . . not so beautiful architecture but definitely very interesting and unique. I hung out in one of the pracas, I’ll admit to watching a little bit of the England v. Italy game, and ate an octopus salad, oh yeah! 

The Portuguese impress me as a very beautiful, sweet people. When I smile at people in Spain, they typically just give me a weird look and scrutinize my outfit, here they smile back with huge, shiny, brown eyes and say hello. This makes wandering one of my favorite experiences.

So unreal that I fly back to Madrid tomorrow, then just a few more days until I’m home.