Today, I woke up in Portugal for the second day in a row. And, like yesterday, it was a day without a plan. Something that would make most people feel pretty uncomfortable but not me.
I checked my phone - it was 7:15 am - and I decided to sleep some more. I then woke up around 9 and slowly started my mourning routine; meditating, emptying my bladder and making breakfast: coffee, lemon ginger tea and oatmeal with yogurt, almonds and apple. Yeah, my bladder produces pretty magical stuff.
Bio Market
As I have to go outside for the aforementioned - there's no kitchen or toilet in my tiny caravan - my Dutch neighbor noticed that I was among the living again. She had discovered there was a bio market, today, in a town nearby. If I wanted to come along?
I told her I was still awaiting my money but I would like to go with her. Perhaps, I would just come along for the outing and not buy anything. I had to have breakfast first though.
Yeah, I might not have any plans or do a lot but I know what my priorities are these days...
Flash forward an hour or so. My neighbor and I are walking around the market, we had only just arrived and hadn't bought anything. Then a woman approached us, saying "Dutch People!" (She overheard our conversation). We paused and started talking to her. Apparently, she was living a stone throw away, renting a huge apartment for only 400 euros a month. *FYI: that is what a student in The Netherlands pays for a tiny room these days.
As both my Dutch neighbor and I - let me use her name from now on (hope you don't mind, Wilma) - are looking for a house in Portugal, the Dutch lady invited us to take a look inside her house. It was amazing! Huge with many rooms, high ceilings and loads of space. And - as icing on the cake - it appeared to have a giant roof terrace, where you could easily host a party for 50 people.
Another great thing was that this woman appeared to be an artist. Being a creative myself, I love these kind of people. She appeared to be a paintress who also makes other extremely cool things with her hands. In fact, so intriguing, that I had to take some pictures. Here you go:
The above art appears to be made of animal bones, painted with 24 karat gold. Pretty crazy, right? She makes all kinds of great figures with them with a story behind every single one of them.
Her partner is - not coincidentally - an artist too: painter and photographer. She told him to come join us at the little terrace were we planned to sit down. Being from Northern Europe, we drank coffee, water and soda and no alcohol. Even though it was early in the afternoon (early enough for most Southern Europeans).
We talked for an hour or two and the overall vibe was great. Wilma felt like she could easily live in a town like this and I was just happy to meet two creatives that I might meet again in the near future. To have a little network of like minded people, out there, waiting for me, willing to help me out whenever I would need some assistance. They appeared to be pretty known in their town, having a great exposition place ready to use. So, if I would ever want to show one of my films in a 'cathedral', that could be arranged without a problem. Fun fact: I showed a short film in a church (7 years ago, Easter 2011), so this almost felt like a deja vu.
In the end, we left the town without buying any bio food. The market had been finished but it was all fine. It was meant to be.
It was just another fun day in Portugal. I don't know what tomorrow will bring me and that it totally fine. I'm satisfied with today and I can only look forward to the future without any expectations.
Lessons Learnt Today:
Don't talk Spanish to Portuguese people. Tough for me, as my Spanish is good and my Portuguese extremely poor. But, this is yet another reason to learn Portuguese asap. Wilma told me about an app called Babbel that she is using and I installed it today. Let's see what that leads to.
Perhaps I should not find myself a home in the Serra da Estrela region? More and more people tell me how cold and rainy it is there. I am not moving to Portugal to settle in a place with Dutch weather.
Meditation starts to become a Habit. I finished a month of daily meditation. I usually manage to go through two sessions per day - a total of 25 to 30 minutes - and I'm starting to reap the rewards. I'm feeling better overall and I'm hardly stressing out over anything.