Fall in Lisboa

Leaves are changing colors, and the air is getting a crisp to it. People are pulling out their coats, scarves, and boots. Even Eliana is wearing her boots and cute winter hats. Normally fall makes us think of football. While we still yell Geaux Tigers and Who Dat, fall brings different thoughts here. Instead of an American football game tonight, we watched the Portugal v. Sweden match (yea for Portugal winning!). While we do have a few Starbucks, we don't have pumpkin spice. Fall is a little bit different now.

Fall always brings us thoughts of change. Living in a different country brings new insight to this since it involves a lot of changes. Seasons are celebrated in different ways. While we keep some traditions, we let go of some as well and embrace new ones. This is what it means to live overseas. You never fully let go of home and its traditions and memories, but you fully embrace your new home as well. Your life has changed--it's a mixture of two lives, two cultures.

This month is when people eat roasted chestnuts. Of course we had to give them a try, and they're delicious. Christmas is when people eat king cake here. While it's not the king cake we're used to, we're going to give it a try as well. Our clothing has changed some--people wear more layers as soon as it's a little bit cool than we're used to. Our style of cooking as changed some too--partly due to some of the things we're used to not being available, and partly due to a desire to learn how to cook dishes we like here.

It's fall. It's time for change. We hope to embrace it fully each day and become a little more Portuguese along the way.