A letter from Portugal No. 45 Hello, how are you ?

  We started the third life in Portugal now.

At the first one, we lived in the suburbs of the capital city. Lisbon. It was a modern and urban life. At every point, our life was very convenient and it was easy to live. Now we recall that the life style there was almost the same with what we had in Japan. We were, however, very keen and assumed a posture believing that we started new life in Europe which belongs to a different culture. It started in 2002 and continued 4 years.   Then we moved to Olhxo which is an old fishermen’s town in Algarve, the south end of Portugal. The reason we moved was that Euro got stronger against Yen and the amount of our pension which is based in Yen, lost its value about 30% in terms of Euro. Therefore we moved from urban city to local town, where we found fresh and tasty foods. We also found many friends there because Takae joined a painter’s group and Seiji participated a chorus group.

　　We returned to Japan in September last year and spent 9 months there. Now we are starting our life in Portugal in the third place which is located in the suburbs of Albufeira city in Algarve.

Orange yard view from our window

Albufeira also used to be a fishermen’s village but it has been developed to a resort spot where many people from other northern European countries visit in summer. Our house is located some 10 km away from the city and it is an orchard area. The quietness occupies whole day long.   In the morning, I awake with chants of birds and cock’s cries. There must live many varieties of birds and I hear many different types of birds songs. If I had a wide knowledge on birds, I could come to know the names and to imagine the appearances of      Orange yard view from our window these birds. How wonderful it must be ! I am familiar with a song Le chant des oyseaux (Birds chant) by Clement Janequim who was a French composer in the 16th century. In this song, there appears reproduction of varieties of bird singings and this song used to be the favorites of our chorus group. If I were more talented in these fields, I could enjoy more and could make some artistic products. Birds’ singings are good presents for me to awake in the morning.   And the blue sky of Portugal welcomed us again. We live in a house next to our owner’s house. The ground floor is their garage and storehouse.

Left back is where we live and front right is owner’s house

At the first floor, we live in. At the second floor, we have a rooftop. From the window, we have a magnificent view of the ciders and pines, and several houses are dotted among them. Green of trees, white walls and red roofs. And in its background, we have the blue sky where you find no clouds at all. Many birds fly through the sky. This scenery is something we cannot find in Japan and I feel totally relaxed.

  Other than ciders and pines, we have almonds, olives, alfarrobas, corks and jacarandxs. As for fruits, we have plenty of oranges, figs and pomegranates. They are all specialties which grow in the area where they     have small amounts of rainfall. In southern area of Portugal, Algarve, we have almost no rainfall between May and September. Sunshine of this season is very strong and we can not keep our eyes open without sunglasses. The fruits are getting sweeter every day, so I feel.-   One of the points we love of this house is that we have windows to three direction. We can enjoy the rising sun which comes up the hill and we also have the view of the setting sun far west to the horizon. We appreciate these views and find that the sun sets below the horizon of the west end of Eurasian Continent.

  In front of our sitting room, we have a terrace of 4 x 9 meters and at its end, we have a barbecue grate.

Barbecue Grate at the terrace

It seems to me that the grate invites us “Why don’t you enjoy barbecue party right away.” It must be wonderful to taste wine with barbecue under this blue sky.-   To be frank, moving is a tiresome work especially for the aged. During the time I worked in a business field, we experienced 16 times of moving both small and big. I can say that the know-how of moving which we acquired through this experience, contributes much for our moving of this time. The work of moving for the aged, however, is a hard work. We have lost strength and have lost quickness of action. Even two of us  together, are not enough for the work of one young man.   Today goods for living which we left at a warehouse in Algarve, are to be transported to this house. Another hard work is necessary for us before we start to enjoy the barbecue party.
June  2011 【 Seiji & Takae　】