Ode to Beja

To the castle, its tower a beacon of help as we loose our way along narrow, winding streets

To the café’ next door with its sweet treats, my lattes each morning, and friendly conversation in the afternoon

To the mandolin concert in Pax Julia and citizen band on the street outside

To the Heritage Center with its local crafts and our euros

To Paula who coordinates our presence in the schools

To Ana Paula and her jewelry—bracelets, necklaces, pins

To Joe our fearless leader guiding us to yet another new restaurant for dinner

To Helder and his photocopies of dictionary pages

To olives, bread, and cheese served at meals

To the metals platters full of meat and fries

To the pitchers of red and white wines that cushion our days

To the food—and lots of it

To all our new students friends

To the teachers who remain behind in the classrooms

To us—retired teachers who still have the spirit and spunk to engage students in learning

To Beja—our home away from home

- Kay Hendrich, volunteer on Beja team #6

Goodbye!

This morning we said our first “goodbye’. I don’t look forward to our final “goodbye” to our last class on Friday afternoon. Just last week we greeted our first class with “hello.” How quickly I became attached to our students.

We are fortunate, I feel that Robin and I have worked with the same teacher and classes throughout our stay in Beja. The students recognize us and greet us in the hallways with smiles, giggles, and proudly voiced “good morning” or “good afternoon."

I don’t remember their names but I do remember who plays the piano, who likes to read Harry Potter and who is the mother of a 2 year old son.

A Typical Day in Beja

The work of Tuesday actually began in earnest at our 6 o’clock meeting on Monday (10-5-09). It’s hard to believe that we have been here a whole week. We took time to look back at the goals we had set when we first arrived (cultural awareness, personal growth, providing educational services, improve the image of Americans, and humor). As a group we are making great progress on each of these goals. In the area of “humor” we scored a 15 out of a possible 10. We laugh a lot.

As in most of our 6 o’clock meeting we discussed the Portuguese educational system. Day-by-day we are getting a better idea of the “larger picture”. We understand what they are trying to accomplish, but we don’t always agree with the methods they are using.

Tonight we have a group meeting at 6 and a language lesson at 7. I’m really making progress on the language front—room number, thank you, beer and good morning.