Well, the fellas are finally gone. It was one hell of a stretch. We really hit it hard on the beaches, at the house, and in the night clubs. I slept 14 hours Sunday night because I was so tired. Partying like that takes its toll on this guy but I wouldn't change it for the world. Jed and I finished off the week with an amazing trip to the restaurant Ostradamus (the best oysters you'll ever have), a trip to Guarda (a beach about an hour away), and three consecutive nights of unbelievable times. Our goal was to have a big steak dinner at Confraria on Saturday night and be home by 2AM. I think our actual bed time ended up being around 7AM. It was just too hard to leave. All in all, I had an absolute blast with everyone and I can't wait to have more visitors. As I said before, I was very much looking forward to having friends around to enjoy this with me. Also, it's a lot of fun to see the look on peoples' faces when they come here. I remember talking to Jed about the lifestyle here when he first got here and he told me that he was honestly skeptical. For those of you that know Jed, I urge you to ask him what he thought. It's safe to say that he is no longer skeptical....
The only downside of visitors is that I end up speaking too much English. When you're learning a new language, especially one as hard as Portuguese, you need to be studying, reading, and thinking in that language at all times. Therefore, I've been cramming the past two days to get back up to speed. Also, Alessandra ended up opening my eyes up to something really important. I have one friend in particular who helps me with a lot of random stuff. Part of that is because he has been here for 3 years and knows his way around but part of that is because it is, at times, very intimidating to venture out in an unknown world where I don't speak the language. Ale said to me, "what will you do if he's not around?" That simple question changed my paradigm instantly. Now I realize that I need to really do things on my own and that will only help in my progress here. My first instinct prior to this was always to pick up the phone and call someone. Now I just sack up and go get it done without any guidance. I went on two road trips with Jed, which I probably would not have done before, and they were both tremendously rewarding. Today I had a bunch of errands to do today and I just went out and did them without calling or talking to anyone. I know that doesn't seem like such a big deal, but trust me, it is. We take an extraordinary amount for granted in our day to day lives and living here has really opened up my eyes to that. Imagine trying to go the DMV in a foreign country where you don't speak the language and having a car switched into your name. Just thinking about that used to scare me to death, but now I've reached the turning point and there's no looking back.
A took a short video from the point above the waves at Guarda. It's an amazing spot to view all of the scenery. The waves were very big that day and I was psyched to catch a few. Some of the sets were big league size and this was one of them. For perspective on the size of the wave, watch how far inside the surfers are. Surfers typically sit right where the waves break but these guys had to paddle 50 yards so they don't get crushed....and most didn't make it. Enjoy:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nmlxRwCDsd0
As always, I have included pictures. There is one picture from a club opening we went to on Friday night and the rest are from our day at Guarda.
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