Language

We try to immerse ourselves in Portuguese every day. This month it has been much easier with having 20 hours of language class each week at the university. We'd do homework and go out in the evenings in the community or meet with friends or get exposed to some Portuguese media. We both loved this month of classes much more than we imagined we would. We learned a lot and both of us got better at the language. Jonathan got more comfortable with idioms and expressions nationals use and learned more about the culture, and Bethany was able to start talking about events in the past and future (both one time and recurring events) using the correct grammar.

We love the Portuguese language and think it is beautiful. We love the culture and people too. But as much as we love this, it has been nice to have an English week. We're in a town 3.5 hours north of Lisbon for a work retreat with colleagues coming in from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the U.K., Malta, Italy, Spain and other cities in Portugal. We have enjoyed meeting these other people and learning about their lives and cities.

We've had time together to worship each day in English and to attend training seminars. It's been nice to sing and listen and understand everything that is being said. I almost feel lazy since i'm not having to work to understand this week.

This has been a great refresher for us, and while we are enjoying the English time and being around other Americans, it makes us want to get back home and get back to work and get back immersed in our Portuguese. It's a nice break that gets you ready to go back to do the main thing and to love it even more.