Community spirit is alive and kicking!

Today I reached a moment where I think I started to miss work when I started facing up items on the shelves of my aunties supermarket when it was closed lol

They're going to hate me when I get back and pick on them about things not being neat lol but hey I've always been of the thought that the basic rule of retail was good presentation of your stocks :-)

Auntie told us the story tonight of how she started a not for profit community organisation.

Basic gist of the story was when a local factory closed down, at which she was working also, there were many people left without a job.

She identified a need in the community for the provision of assistance to the sick and elderly as services were lacking at the time.

Using her knowledge of locals from her former job and also through the running of the supermarket, she formed a volunteer group of about 20 people (including many of those who lost their jobs from the factory closing) who would go together visiting some of the local elderly people who needed help at home, cleaning, cooking, washing/bathing, spending time etc etc

They would create things by hand to sell to others to help raise funds for their volunteer works and have stalls at local fairs etc to continue their fund raising efforts.

After some time they developed a plan and raised funds, including a substantial government grant, to buy a block of land and build a community building facility.

She took us there after dinner tonight. Wow. It's quite a feat!

The building has 3 levels to it.

The top level houses some permanent residents requiring full time care.

The ground level has rooms for socialising, eating, a hairdressing room to which they have a local person come each week to volunteer their services, a few large disabled access bathrooms, a day room (for those who come to spend the day but require a room to rest or have medical appointments, blood tests etc), offices to help operate the organisation and building management and more.

The basement level has a garage/storage area, massive laundry rooms and another large social/activity room.

In the process of their efforts they have been able to employ staff to help run the centre and purchased a minibus to help transport those who make day visits or others who require transportation to other important medical locations etc

They continue to do fundraising as it is still predominantly a volunteer based organisation and they are 20 months away from paying the loan/mortgage off in full.

This all started about 12 years ago and is a fine example of how getting involved with your community can really make a difference to at least one life.

There's much more she spoke of that I haven't written about but I just wanted to jot down the main storyline of it all.

This would be something that if I could afford it, I would give as much as I was able to help them reach their current goal of successfully paying off their loan in full and on time.

Future plans include extensions to provide additional beds and upgrades of the basement activity rooms.

I wish I had the courage to do something bold like that.

Certainly explains why she says hello to almost every person she walks past!

Wow........!!!

Saturday evening....

At tia gentil's place tonight.

Damn the weather was absolutely perfect today. Blue sky. Sunshine. My best guess would have been close to 30 degrees. It was hot. And I loved being back in my shorts and wife beater.

Went to mum's old place this morning and I helped dad try to clear a shit load of weeds and overgrown grass to create some sort of access around the place. The ruins of the house are beautiful but should be even nicer once the house is rebuilt. I love the open staircase in the middle of the house. It'll create quite a feature once finished, as it already does as ruins.......

Then alex's friend carlos came to visit. He's a lovely guy and it's very interesting listening to him speak as he is originally from Spain but has been living in England about 12 years now. I first met him in 2004 when I went overseas and Alex was still living in Horsham.

So carlos has this accent that you can tell is Spanish but regularly breaks into an English accent. Very interesting to hear hehehe

Did a lap of bom Jesus which was great given the lovely weather. Took heaps of pictures. Alex gave me a coin to throw in a wishing pond. Fingers crossed it comes good hehehe

Another short perve on a couple of cute cubs on the bus..... Small pleasures lol

I'll be home this time next week. That's a nice thought :-)

Friday night

Said goodbyes to auntie edina monsoon and uncle mick molloy tonight. They're going home to Paris in the morning. Swapped phone numbers to stay in touch. Really would love to see them again soon. They're my favourites as they treat me like their own kid and tell me the same. It's a comfort when I'm a part of a family I don't always feel like I can get along with all the time.....

Had a nice lunch at a restaurant with them in montalegre today.

The weather has been so beautiful this last couple days - actually got to wear shorts today!

On the down side though, I think the liquid in my right knee is building up again which means probably the arthritis is back.... just as well the weather allows me to wear shorts cause my knee needs some open space to breathe, as opposed to the tight fit of legs inside jeans.....

After dinner tonight a bloke knocked at the door. Some old friend of dad's, and a couple of others. He was a bit of alright to look at and he had this cap (don't know what they're called but it's like an old man's beret hat type thing) - well it looked good on him and it was made of black leather which is always a win for me lol so now I want one for myself hehehe

Reminded me of the hot cub back home. One of his profile pictures is him wearing one of these caps, just not a leather one hehehe

Going away for the next few days with Alex and Jack. Alex's friend from the UK is coming to spend the weekend in braga and then we're going to Lisbon for 2 nights so I might get time to myself. At least be away from dad for the best part of 4 days.

So back up here in Pisões on Wednesday to pack up and get ready to fly home on Thursday afternoon. I'm looking forward to being at home.

Had a horrible dream last night that it was my first day back at work after holidays and the whole doors and joinery area was a mess. Everything out of place. Doors in wrong locations. Timber mouldings like a jungle lol it really was a disturbing dream lol

Almost, roundabout, sort of, little bit, close to half way mark....

Got the rest of the shopping done today with Alex in Chaves. Was good fun and a nice day to be outside.

I got a nice soft dark blue pair of jeans, hoodie jumper and some shoes, along with the rest of the souvenirs I wanted to get for people.

We had a lovely lunch at an apparently traditional Portuguese cuisine restaurant. The building was amazing in style and character, just wonder what it was used for in it's previous life/lives......

Wandered up to the bus station to head back to montalegre to find we just missed a bus and the next was almost 2 hours away so we caught a taxi instead. Beautiful new looking Mercedes e class. Leather interior, all the gadgets you could ask for, like an aeroplane screaming down the runway for take off but without the noise. It was a lovely ride :-)

Did another lap of montalegre waiting for the next bus to friães which turned out to be the school bus service lol so a typically 20 or so minute trip became an hour and a half lol

Then went back to montalegre for dinner with auntie and uncle who I stayed with the other night - their daughter's birthday. Got to meet and make friends with her husband who was very lovely and intelligent - qualified aeroplane mechanic but working as a driving instructor at the moment.....

And afterwards came back to friães and went to the local cafe with most of the dinner crew for a last coffee/tea before bed.....

Tomorrow we get to goto porto to visit some of mum's side of the family which will be good as I haven't seen them since 1990.....

Night 6 (I think lol)

Got some shopping done today. Couple of things for friends who asked me to get them something in particular. A few things for myself.

Got a beautiful silver bracelet from my favourite jewellery store in montalegre, I've had things given to me from there since I was a kid so it's nice to know a business like that is still operating today after all this time.....

Went to see the construction of a new old people's home that tia lola is building. A guy met us there with his mum, the mum is also a partner in the new business. The guy was pretty cute so it was nice to have some eye candy close by for half hour or so..... After we finished and were about to head off he was telling me a few phrases he still knew in English after living in Germany for a year... had to double take at one point when I was sure he said "I love you" as one of his English phrases lol I think he said he was 28 so not too bad of an age lol

Started to feel a bit worse health this morning. Woke up being barely able to talk from a very scratchy throat and I had a splitting headache driving me insane..... certainly felt like a hangover even though I hadn't had alcohol for a couple days lol

So most of the days until we head home are pretty much sorted out now, including a couple days in Lisbon (hopefully a trip to sintra.....), visiting relatives on mum's side in Porto, spending a bit more time with auntie edina monsoon and uncle mick molloy on Friday...... Alex has an old friend coming to visit on the weekend.....

Hopefully I can boot this illness quickly.... don't like being sick, especially on holidays!

Meanwhile I'm thinking of buying a t shirt that says "I'm not her husband" written in Portuguese with an arrow pointing to my sister...... certainly make introductions slightly less embarrassing for me lol

I mean, do they really think that if I were to ever get married (which I wouldn't) that the best I could score was my sister?!?!!!? LOL

Today was THE day

Wow.

I've been part of a truly amazing and historic day in my family's history.

My grandmother, avó Emilia, turned the big 100 today.

A fair turnout for the celebratory lunch of I think around 30-40 people.

Caught up with relatives I hadn't seen for many years, others I had never met before and may not see again, but given the circumstances of the day in question, everyone treated everyone as though they had just spoken yesterday.

Took a bundle of pictures, a few videos, ate lots of food and laughed like there was no tomorrow.

I really did struggle a few times to hold back the tears just seeing the look on avó's face, just wasn't quite sure if she knew exactly what was going on around her but I think deep down she knew what the fuss was about :-)

Got to have a great catch up with my cousin Paula who I hadn't seen for many years. She's done this amazing research on our family tree and produced booklets covering the generations of those under avó Emilia.

Also got to have a good d&m with her about coming out to dad etc as she was expecting a bad reaction from him towards me as well. She was very supportive and that made me feel really great too.

All in all it's been a terrific day. I'm so lucky I could've been here to take part in it.

I certainly feel more a part of a family than I have in a long long time, if not, for the first time.

Parabens avó Emilia. Muitos feliçidades para voçe xoxox

Night 4

Today ended much better than yesterday.....

I'm staying at tia marianna and tio guerreiro's house on the banks of the biggest dam in the country.

They are so lovely and cool.

Tia reminds me of Eddie from absolutely fabulous with her slightly eccentric fashion sense

Tio reminds me a bit of a bear and he was calling me his little boy since I haven't seen them since I was 6 back in 1990

I just feel comfortable around them even in spite of the language barrier. With people like them, I make more of an effort to try to communicate cause I really like em.

It helps after last night's events to actually feel like I am indeed related to parts of this family and not so much of an imported adoptee lol

Went to visit grandma again this afternoon with mum for a few minutes. She pointed at mum as if she knew who she was but then said she couldn't remember where from or mum's name. So mum reminded her again who she and I were and it slowly came back to her.

So big celebration tomorrow. Be interesting to see what happens and how I'll handle it all.

Tio said tonight that if I'm not good in crowds that it's going to be a lot worse tomorrow. I said that I had prepared for tomorrow being full of people though I hadn't planned for every other day to be full of people lol

Got to talk about my job to them. About stuff in general. Kangaroos being roadkill. The story of me telling vin that the beaches in Portugal are full of rocks instead of sand and described how vin demonstrated someone putting down a beach towel on rocks to sunbath on a rocky beach lol

wrote vin a postcard to send to work. Hope he gets a laugh from the picture :-)

Went to montalegre today with mum, Alex and Jack. I love that place. So pretty and lovely little castle on the hill to explore.

Hoping to go back again this week when the shops are open. They have great quality traditional Portuguese homewares. Saw a great dessert serving set in a shop window..... and my favourite jewellery shop is still there and I'd love to score a good quality chunky chain for my neck and/or wrist

I'm looking forward to the view in the morning when I wake up so i best sleep to get there sooner :-)