After class

(This entry is directly continued from the last...)

So as we were strolling we encountered a lookout tower that looked out over the old city of Lisbon. We checked on the price of the elevator (2€) and decided to nix it. I thought we would just put it off and do it later, no big deal.

About an hour and a half later as we were walking around more up on the hill, we discovered the entrance to the catwalk type of deal that led to more or less the top of this tower. This is fantastic because all the tourists who were loading and unloading from their 2€ trip up the maybe ten stories in the elevator were pissed that they got all ripped off. This is another perfect example of my really good luck with finding things/always (except in Barcelona) walking in the right direction. Seriously, I am really good at this.

So we climbed the two more spiral staircases to the lookout tower and to the unexpected but not unappreciated bar there. We sat and listened to the live accordian jams and drank glasses of white wine overlooking Lisboa as the sun set. This was calm and simply lovely.

This turned into an even better decision than I had initially thought, too.

The waiters and bartenders were all Brazilian guys in their young 20s and they started talking to us (English) and refilling our glasses so we couldn´t leave. That makes it sound though like we wanted to, which is untrue. We had a fantastic time just sitting there and chatting/enjoying the city.

When the bar was going to close at about 9, a bunch of other kids (dudes and girls) showed to meet up with them. They proceeded to invite us to their house because they were going to hang out, drink and make a typical Brazilian dinner.

Of course, I immediately jumped on this. I don´t think Lauren was so convinced, but it wasn´t sketchy and sounded like the best time of my life so I was in.

We went with them to this tiny groundfloor apartment in an old building where they had all sorts of beer and wine and immediately began cooking. I went to a house party in Lisboa. This, to me, is very cool. All the house parties I have attended in California/Nevada and now I get to see what they´re like in Portugal.

They are almost exactly the same, except with more olives.

For some reason, folks in the Iberian Peninsula (and presumably other parts of Europe as well like Italia) can´t eat enough olives. I don´t particularly care for them, although there are some that are more edible to me than others.

People here eat everything, they´ve never heard of someone picking toppings off pizza or refusing fish. This is really weird to them when Americans do it. And we do this all the freaking time. Especially Lauren :)

She didn´t want to eat the olives, and to tell you the truth, neither did I, but when they offered them to us we both sacked up and popped them in our mouths. Not the disgusting ones like they always give me with a wink in the Museo del Jamón that I have to choke down with beer because I feel completely obligated. These ones weren´t too bad, so that was nice.

The food they made us was very simple in flavor, very rich, thick and meaty. Not really Lauren´s deal, but she was able to choke some down.

Meanwhile, I completely loved it. I thought it was delicious and enjoyed it very much. The first thing was this grits corn meal stuff. I had one of the guys serve me because I didn´t know how it was supposed to go. He spooned this goop into my bowl. Then he took scoops of a meaty beef broth from a stockpot and poured them into the bowl. Also from this same bowl came the thick chunks of steak that went right in with everything else.

Eating this mixture altogether was glorious, just delicious. About halfway through, the same guy who served me (who reminded me SO MUCH of an actor that I can´t place but who is most definitely good looking) told me that I needed more of the broth and meat to eat the rest of the corn meal. I didn´t object (me refuse food?? yeah right!) and found myself with another heaping bowl of this stuff. Fantastic.

I also chatted lit with the guy who belonged to the apartment. He spoke the best English out of them all (except this one really pretty chick who was the only Portuguese person present who studied for a year and a half in Minnesota) and it was a good time. He had shelves of books, about a quarter of them in English. I am always up for a little literature conversation and I oddly enough always find someone to join me.

So in Spain it is pretty much unheard of for guys to buy ladies drinks. At home this is very common. This is a tough change to get accostumed to, let me tell ya. In Lisboa hanging out with all these Brazilians, I definitely got a taste of this American custom again with those great Brazilian guys. I would be half-finished with a beer when they would hand me another and say, "your drink is almost empty." I couldn´t help but wonder if they knew the meaning of this phrase because at times my drink was nowhere close to empty.

After this apartment, they took us through the winding night streets of Lisboa and to this underground acoustic guitar (yeah, and I still don´t like it even when it´s in Portugal and in Portuguese) bar. They knew the guy who was playing and he sang to us! It was super cool. I felt pretty badass, not gonna lie. Very Euro.

We ended up hitting the road after this place, though, because Lauren didn´t feel well.

They were heading off to a club though, and it was probably about 2:30 in the am. This is how Europeans roll. Man, oh man, I was born to be European I suppose. I don´t sleep at night either!

OK, bed time. I have to write 3 papers for Jorge, too. One is actually due tomorrow morning and the other two are ones that I just didn´t do before. Story of my life, eh? Again... at least I am still me in España, yeah?

OH, and my mother got my flight changed to May 28! Good work, mom. This means I will be coming home right when I return to Spain from Egypt. Lots of flying, but I can´t wait.

Also, Carmen won´t stop giving me crap about not traveling enough. I don´t appreciate this because I AM traveling but just not every weekend like Vanessa. She´s making me look bad :)

Later alligators