Paying the price for .....

Julie and I, too tired from the late night before, bagged the early keynote speaker; instead meeting at a coffee shop before walking over to the conference hall around noon. I love being an adult. Jeff and I attended an unusually blatant recruiting session by the American School of Doha and were quite interested as it appears there is not a strict age limit. I then attended a good workshop on bringing picture books alive and learned new ways to engage students in read-alouds. Afterwards we went back to our hotel to spruce up for the NESA "gala" dinner and Greek dancing, while Cole went out on the town alone for a spaghetti dinner. Jeff and I danced a few Greek folk dances, then headed home early - exhausted.

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EUA: tanto estrago em tão pouco tempo

As part of my effort to learn about Portugal, both the country and the language, I'm subscribing to the centrist newspaper, O Publico . There are plenty of newspapers: conservative tabloids, and socialist and communist-sponsored daily papers; I find O Publico to be most sober, with consistently interesting columnists and opinion pieces, in addition to some local (Porto) news, with just enough sporting news to keep me chatting with the taxi driver. Today's opinion piece sums up, I think, European pundits' view of the U.S. government. As the title puts it: so much damage in so little time. I shudder at the rank incompetence and corrupt behavior, demonstrating a cynical attitude toward public service, showing indeed that the cruelty is the point. What scandal, what damage will be the tipping point to collapse this government? And what will it take to recover from the damage? Who will be able to trust the US government again, ever? Only ni...

Fleeing Trump, Americans go to Portugal

Fleeing Trump, Americans go into exile in Portugal. “I'm afraid to go back” Not only minorities feel threatened by the Trump administration. Three couples, a mother and an academic tell us why they chose to live in Portugal. Some say: the American dream is over. The above is today's headline article in our favorite trusted newspaper in Portugal, O Publico . It's a centrist newspaper, owned by a big supermarket corporation. Let's combine this with the recent news that Portugal's Air Force is now shifting away from its planned purchase of F-35 jets. Even though Trump has not even mentioned Portugal in his various diatribes against former allies, Portugal and the rest of Europe are reeling from the attacks. We hope it has the ironic effect of freeing Europe from American dominance and improving the chances for centrist leadership (against Trump-like parties that have been gaining prominence). The original text follows: Em fuga de Tru...

De Montpellier à Bayonne

[25mar22] De Montpellier à Bayonne: Easy morning, clean up the apartment, walk the suitcases to Place de la Comédie , take Tramway one stop to the train station, get breakfast (regional specialties), train first class car #2 to Montpellier, changing trains is Toulouse. Second class is 2X2 seating while first-class is 2x1 seating with a bit more legroom and slightly nicer seats, but otherwise not much different. Fortunately these intercités trains have good wi-fi. Arrival at Toulouse is a bit delayed; Jeff runs to the ObjetsTrouvés office seeking his eyeglasses. Fortunately the office is open, the guy helpful; he shows me his box of found eyeglasses. Mine are not there. Disappointing, yet it's somewhat reassuring to know for sure that they are truly lost. I run back to Track #3, where our next train is boarding—we (and others) struggle to identify car #13. Even other passengers cannot find #13. Eventually I ask a worker, who...

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