Lisbon up, guys.

One of the perks of working at an international school is that no school days often mean travel days! Can I get a woop-woop?!  Nah? Okay, well I'm going to keep wooping over here anyway.  Not only do we get some of the days off that a typical American school would have off, but we also get to honor the holidays in the country we're residing in.  We had only been in Morocco for about 3 weeks, and only about a week in school, when the Eid holiday was among us, and we would have 3 days off.  (Eid al-Adha is a Muslim lunar holiday in celebration of Ibrahim's commitment to God.  Because of the sacrifice of his son, God provided him with a sheep.  The meat was then divided for the family, other relatives, and the poor.  Our school raised money to assist some of our staff in buying a sheep, so they, too, could celebrate with their families.  Eid is a time of togetherness for family, food, and celebration.  In the time leading up to Eid, you see sheep EVERYWHERE--- it's similar to our turkey tradition at Thanksgiving).

Now that we all have some background to the reason why I was graced with an extra 3 days of vacation, let's go back to the travels.

Three friends and I decided to make our way to Lisbon, Portugal, where another family from our school was also headed.  Now, to all my teacher friends out there (and those who aren't teachers), let me just say that this family is #goals.  I mean who doesn't want to explore the world with their family?! The mom and dad are both bomb.com teachers (ya know, like those awesome English teachers you had in high school that taught you about life and weren't afraid to tell you that you needed to shape up a little bit? that's them.)  Their 13 year old son and I can bond on our nerdy love for Harry Potter (he even let me borrow his copy of The Cursed Child when it came out, & so now here I am giving him a lil S/O), and they are just a BLAST AND A HALF.  They also let us call them "mom and dad" and let us pretend their son is our little bro.  All of us young, twenty-something teachers are somewhat obsessed with them.  We use them for advice when we have to make some big adulting decisions a world away from home,  and we even have their anniversary dates marked in our calendars (ok, maybe that's just me....), but they rock.

Take Off

Soooo anyway, we get to the Lisbon airport.  And it is a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE. Let me repeat.  COMPLETE NIGHTMARE.  We waited probably 3 hours, bags and all, to get through customs.  Every couple minutes, we'd pick up our bag and move one foot.  Bless up that we had good company because it made the waiting much more bearable.  Remember, this is with the hoot and half family, so all in all, not too bad!  Sidenote: this has been my experience more than once in the Lisbon airport when I've had layovers, so let's just say me and LIS aren't really all that tight.

FINALLY. We make it through, and with the help of our friend who speaks fluent Portugese, we were able to navigate the metro and find our way to our Airbnb.  Lisbon's cobblestone streets make it a perfect Instagram background and a not-so-perfect street to wheel any suitcases, wear heels, or run while it's raining, but I loved them!  I think the amount of hills we climbed up and down also gave me some Carrie Underwood legs (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).

Oh, and Portugal was my first European country to ever explore!!! I'd only seen the Amsterdam airport prior to this on my way to Kenya, so I was beyond excited!

Lisbon was beautiful.  The place we were staying was super close to one of the most perfect overlooks of the city, and a couple of us ladies decided to make that our breakfast spot where we could have coffee, eat, and answer 20 questions.  No, really.  Remember we'd only known each other for about 3 weeks, and came from all over (except Dani- because she's from WINONA! #mnlove), so this was a good chance for us to bond.  Or at least that's what Dani and I, who were leading the charge told everyone so that they'd participate ;) Ben, if you're reading this, I know you did a big eye roll, but don't pretend that you didn't love it! (I also made everyone take the 5 Love Languages test before we went..... I know, I know. You're wishing you were there with us now, don't you?! LOL) We made a list of good "get to know you" questions that we found all over the internet.  Now, I'm sure anyone who knows me is probably thinking, "Why on earth would Jenni need a list of MORE questions?!" since I have no problem asking people questions and thinking them up, but guys, this just took it to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL.  So lookout if you're ever on a trip with me because I think this is fun.

My nerdy E=MC^2 pic for Mama Sher

Started from the bottom. Literally. We climbed all the way up there

Dani & I with our baby bro 

I want to remind you all that I'm writing this roughly 9 months after I took this trip, so my recall of all the exact things we did isn't all there.  BUT. We did explore a beautiful castle, where I took a candid pic for the next issue of "Unicorns Digest," and we walked A LOT. And enjoyed all the beauty of the city, as well as each other's company... Because remember? We had really "gotten to know each other" now ;)

thx selfie stick for the impeccable pic

Cover of Unicorn Digest

Anyway, g2g write the next travel post since I'm so far behind.  As I, Jenni from the Block, like to always sing, "If you wanna live your life, live it all the way & don't you waste it,"  Again, if that little lyric didn't make you groove while you read it, then you have some homework to do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q91hydQRGyM

Thanks for letting me live my life all the way, Portugal! And to all of you, thanks for Lisboning!

Jenni from the Block

What did I tell you about those cobblestone streets?