Well Traveled Scarf

There are so many aspects and stories surrounding our trip I feel bad singling out one. However I feel the need to relate the end of a story that started in Villa Real and ended this month in Raleigh.

As part of our tour one day we were experiencing sweets, enjoying the farmers' market, and shopping. Now anyone who knows me knows I am not much of a shopper however when you are visiting another country you are always looking for something to bring back to friends and family at home. Usually I do not buy things for myself (the pictures are my memories and present to me), but this day I couldn't help it.

We started to walk by a shop that was having an incredible sale. When I looked more closely I realized it was a yarn store. I love to knit. So much so that I knitted a scarf on the way to Portugal, one while we were in Portugal, and another on the way back. Just about everyone on the trip knew of my hobby (or perhaps obsession) and did not seem to mind stopping for a moment as I gawked at all the yarn. Harriet Edwards joined me and tried to help me narrow down the possibilities. I started with a navy yarn, and Harriett picked out a white yarn with green ribbon weaved through it. 4-H colors of course. We talked about the uses for it and decided that it would be great to knit an item for the State Volunteer Leaders' Association auction. So I quickly purchased the two items in hopes of not holding up the group any longer and secretly hoped to return and shop until my heart was content.


I packed the 4-H yarn (as I have been referring to it ever since) and placed it on the top of my yarn pile at home. Finally I came up with a scarf pattern and adjusted it until I knitted a scarf that I was happy with. The item went to auction at the state 4-H Volunteer Leaders' Conference earlier this month. After explaining the story behind the 4-H yarn and talking about all the miles it had travelled the bidding started. At the end of the bidding the scarf raised $35 for the association and I got to share another wonderful experience from Portugal with our 4-H family.

We're Home!

I admit this post is not as timely as it could be, but we are back, safe and sound, and reunited with friends and family that have been so supportive during our trip. I must say the 8 hour plane ride followed by some delays in Philadelphia (in part thanks to the remnants of Hannah greeting us there) forced us to be about two hours late getting home and somewhere in there I converted back to a Portuguese time zone and found myself dead asleep at ten thirty last night (about 3:30 a.m. in Portugal) and not even stirring until 10 this morning. But I feel much better now.
During the next few days we will be processing the trip and sharing our thoughts and insights with you through the blog. Right now I think it is safe to say that this experience has touched each of us, and changed the ways that we look at things. Hopefully it will allow all of us to keep open minds and be more open to accepting other cultures and differences and allow us to help others.
We hope that this exchange will result in a future exchange with our Portuguese colleagues visiting us. No matter what happens we will carry with us all that we have learned and will continue to embrace the kindness and warmth that was shared with us by so many during this visit. E-mail will allow us to continue to develop the relationships we started and we are looking forward to seeing being able to host our friends and colleagues here and introducing them all to you.