One of our favorite things to do is hosting visitors and showing people around Portugal. We have one-day visits to Porto and Lisbon down to a science (as long as you’re willing to walk), and we can explore our home turf of Coimbra and the local area for days. Other relatively-unknown gems like Óbidos, Braga, Nazaré, Sintra, Cascais, Lagos, Braga, Guarda and others fill in the gaps depending on what folks want to see. Not to mention our proximity to Spain, just a relatively short drive away.
Thus we were excited to meet Efti’s youngest sister Fidelia “Fifi” and family in Seville. They flew into Barcelona and drove a rental car down to meet us. The only snafu was there was a little bit of miscommunication about how big a “medium” sized suitcase was. What we thought was a “medium” sized suitcase seemed to be “large” in reality. There have been a couple times when I wished Feijão was larger – this was one.
Somehow we managed to squeeze two large suitcases, four adults, a tween and three full backpacks into Feijão for the trip back to Coimbra. Those endless hours of Tetris I played in college were well spent, and it barely affected my grades. 😏 The heavy load cut down on Feijão’s range, but I had anticipated that and made sure the tire pressure was appropriately set before we left.
Although the weather was a little cold and wet during their visit, we managed to explore Coimbra and Porto on foot, and got in a nice bike ride around Coimbra as well. The day in Porto included about 6km of walking, up and down both sides of the Douro River valley.
After an enjoyable visit, we took them back to Madrid to catch a flight. We swapped out one of the large bags for a true medium-sized bag to improve the fit in Feijão. We’re getting better at navigating the Spain EV charging experience, especially the fast chargers along the routes through central Spain. Thankfully there is a concerted effort underway to improve the EV charging experience in Spain.
We then made a short visit to Toledo, one of the famous cities along Don Quixote’s trip through Spain, and home to some interesting Islamic architecture. Toledo is very picturesque, and sits on a beautiful bend of the Tagus river, meaning that one could raft from Toledo to Lisbon.
The reason we stuck around the Madrid area was because we were due to meet Efti’s sister Ita and family a few days later. With them, we explored Madrid together, including Plaza Mayor and the Plaza de Armeria. Madrid is a large city and difficult to explore quickly, but we hit the high points like the outlet malls and Costco. 😅
An unexpectedly beautiful city we encountered on the drive to Madrid was Ávila, a well-maintained, walled city that seems to rise up out of the plains as you drive up, with the bright, white walls shining in the night. We’ve decided to stay a night or two in Ávila on our next trip. (There are two Costco stores in Madrid. We bought a membership, so we’ll be back.)
We dragged Ita and family around Porto and Coimbra in much the same way we did with Fifi’s family. We also added visits to the surfing mecca of Nazaré, although the waves weren’t anything special while we were there, and the Portuguese walled city of Óbidos, one of our favorites.
Sandwiched in between and after the visits, we continue to stay busy with different groups of friends. Rustam has joined the Clube Fluvial de Coimbra, a kayak and canoe club whose members paddle on the Mondego River twice a week. The “sócio” also does a wide range of other activities together, including hikes, movie nights, dancing, bike rides, skiing, dinners and just gathering for coffee. They have been very kind and welcoming to fully embrace us into their circle, and we enjoy all of the different activities. Aside from making friends and all the fun activities, it’s a good chance for us to practice our Portuguese, and for them to practice their English.
Additionally, I am attempting to start up an Ultimate Frisbee community in Coimbra. Over the winter, there were very few participants in the cold and wet weather. However, as the weather has improved, turnout has improved. There’s even a chance Coimbra will field a team for the annual national university tournament this spring, which would be a first. The first few players were expats, but most new players are university of Coimbra students. There is a chance that I will teach a university course on Ultimate this fall. “Coach Kocher” might become “Professor Kocher”.
While the chilly and wet winter in Central Portugal had an impact on turnout for Ultimate Frisbee, it proved a successful test for the new windows we had installed this summer. With the old windows, sometimes it was colder inside the apartment than it was outside! When the music festival season starts in late spring, we’ll find out how much noise-blocking they provide.
The email query from my aunt and uncle arrived late one evening, asking about which airport was best to fly into when coming for a visit. We told them to avoid the Lisbon airport when possible, and that the Porto airport allows for easy access. About 3 weeks later, we were picking them up at the Porto airport.
Thirty-five years ago, my aunt and uncle had been Rotary volunteers in a humanitarian project in the Montemuro region of Portugal. Among other work they performed, they brought two looms up to a small farming village, to enable village families to weave wool and flax fabric, creating income to pay bus fare for their children to travel to neighboring towns for school. The villagers already had a single 200-year-old loom, but adding two more would triple their capacity and create learning opportunities for other artisans.
Through Facebook and email, my uncle sought help in re-visiting the project sites. Through Lamego Rotary Club, which hosted the original project, plans were made to revisit the workshop where the looms had been installed.
Visiting the workshop was the start of a magical and meaningful day. Not only were the looms still in use, but they still play an important part in the economics of the community. The “Capuchinhas” workshop still employs multiple artisans in the small village of Campo Benfeito. We enjoyed visiting with them, and many smiles and hugs were exchanged. Efti and I were surprised that our Portuguese had improved enough that we could carry on basic conversations, especially since they speak slower and more distinctly outside of major cities.
The Rotarians had even more surprises in store. Another Rotary volunteer from 35 years ago made the Montemuro his home, starting an additional effort that is also still functioning. Ervital grows and harvests organic herbal products mainly used in infusions and condiments. They use solar energy to dry, cut and package their products, and are one of the largest lemongrass producers in Portugal. They employ numerous locals from the Montemuro area to do the work. The warehouse smelled amazing. We went for lunch with everyone, at a local restaurant. The grilling herbs used at the restaurant of course came from ervital. We used some at home for the evening’s chicken dinner, and not only was it delicious, it made the entire house smell delightful for hours afterwards. Highly recommended. We ordered 8 more tins of the grilling herbs after dinner - it’s that good.
After grabbing a charge for Feijão at the Burger King (the only fast charger in Lamego) and visiting the nearby Rotary-sponsored traffic circle, we walked through Lamego to grab coffee and visit with locals, and wrapped up with a visit to the coffee shop where my aunt and uncle had spent many evenings after their volunteer activities. It was a fantastic experience, and the Rotary Club members went out of their way to make the visit special.
The following week I undertook some long-delayed dental surgery to address some significant gum recession I’ve been experiencing. The recovery was a little rougher than I had anticipated, and I stupidly decided to overlap the recovery period with starting up a new Ultimate Frisbee club in Coimbra. The good news is that I’m fully recovered, and the Ultimate team is seeing regular turnout.
In the middle of all that, we had a very international Thanksgiving dinner with our multinational friends here in Coimbra. Every dinner participant drew a country for a main savory dish or a dessert, but none of the food sources corresponded with where people are from, so we had food from 10 different countries, prepared by people from 10 other countries. It was a delicious experience that we hope to replicate again next year. It was a fun challenge, and very flavourful.
The day after Thanksgiving, we flew to Istanbul to start an intense and moving trip. First, we had the opportunity to meet my brother-in-law’s new wife, Asti. They were in Istanbul on their honeymoon, and we managed to grab a coffee with them while we were all there.
The new airport in Istanbul is a long way from the city, and most Taxi rides are roughly 400-500 Turkish Lira. There is a bit of a game where most of the taxis serving the airport refuse to turn on their meter, and won’t accept credit card payment, instead trying to get riders to pay in Euro or USD. We had a rough experience on arrival and departure, and ended up over-paying in both directions. The return was especially egregious: The driver told me the charge was going to be 500 lira, but covered the screen as I tapped the credit card to the machine, and then handed me a receipt for 1,400 as he left. We toyed with the idea of reporting him to the police, but in the end, decided that karma would be a better payment method.
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From Istanbul, we flew to Medina, Saudi Arabia. It was the first stop in our “Umrah” visit to Medina and Mecca. Getting passes to complete the required Hajj have been almost impossible post-COVID, so we decided that doing Umrah first would be a good way to learn more about the process and how things worked. The experience in both cities was intense and powerful.
Medina was first, and is home to the Prophet's Mosque, which incorporates the final resting place of Muhammad (PBUH). It is a beautiful spot, with large sun-shielding umbrellas that open in the morning to shield people from the harsh sun, and symmetrical two-color arches throughout the interior.
The Prophet's Mosque provided a relatively peaceful place of reflection. However, during prayer times it was crowded. It can hold 1.5 million people, and it does an excellent job of allowing ingress and egress to those large numbers of people.
After a few meaningful days in Medina, we took the fast train to Mecca to perform Umrah. Neither of us had ever been to Mecca, and we were somewhat blown away by the enormity of it. Masjid al-Haram in Mecca is the most expensive building in the world today and one of the oldest Mosques in the world. It is home to the Ka’ba, the ZamZam Well, the hills of Safa and Marwa, and is the place where every able-bodied Muslim in the world is required to visit if they can.
After our poor experiences in Istanbul, in both Medina and Mecca we located alternative modes of transportation than taxis. This resulted in good luck. In Mecca we arrived at the hotel in midafternoon after taking the public bus from the train station, and were upgraded to an executive suite which had just come available, overlooking Masjid al-Haram. In some cases, we were even able to jama‘ah from our room, without having to go all the way to the mosque itself.
We were able to complete Umrah that first night we arrived, with the assistance of an Indonesian who lives in Mecca and assists pilgrims with Hajj and Umrah. Afterwards, we were able to complete the Umrah again without any assistance.
It’s difficult to even get a picture of Masjid al-Haram due to its enormity. It is constantly full of people, and can hold somewhere around 2.5 million. It’s been expanded numerous times over its history, and there are parts which are still quite ancient, and other parts which are fully modern, with air conditioning and escalators. While we were in Saudi Arabia, we were lucky to be able to meet up with some of our Indonesian relatives, who also assisted us in navigating our way through the massive complex and with some of the finer points of the Umrah.
It’s hard to capture the true nature of the experience. It is intense, meaningful, crowded, hot, challenging and comes with a kaleidoscope of cultures, languages and people. I’m still mentally chewing over the experience. We hope to be able to complete Hajj in the near future, and feel better prepared for the experience now that we’ve completed Umrah. We also know that Hajj, with its immense crowds of people and additional requirements, will be even more challenging.
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With sadness, we left Mecca and flew back to Istanbul for a few days of sightseeing. We booked a dedicated van ride from the airport this time. It’s normal to get sick after the crowds of Medina and Mecca. Despite wearing masks as much as possible, we both ended up sick by the time we arrived in Turkey – Efti worse than I. What was going to be some local sightseeing turned into a 36-hour sick-in-bed-with-fever episode. Thankfully that episode passed soon enough that we were able to join a Sunset tour of the Bosphorus Strait that we had pre-booked.
Our hotel was in the old town, quite near to the ancient Roman Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque and Agia Sophia. After a couple days of convalescence, we finally managed to get out of the hotel and explore a little bit. Both Agia Sophia and the Blue Mosque have a very distinctive architecture, where four massive internal columns support multiple, overlapping domes. It makes for a stunning sight, both inside and out. Almost every other major mosque in Istanbul mimics this architecture, making for large domes, soaring ceilings and beautiful minarets to punctuate the corners.
This was our first trip to Turkey and KSA (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), but Insha’Allah will not be our last. We hope to further explore Turkey, and get outside of Istanbul to be away from the hordes of tourists and pushy salespeople. We also hope to complete Hajj, when we can win a lottery slot.
It was nice to come home, get the stitches removed from my mouth, and get clearance to participate in sports again. The kayak paddling club was happy to see me, and it was great fun to teach and play ultimate with some eager new faces.
Karma update: After getting ripped off by the Turkish taxi driver, we enjoyed three successive hotel room upgrades, so we figured we evened out our luck for the trip. Thanks Marriot Bonvoy!
Back in January, a nice couple from Meerkerk, Holland, Hans and Josien, contacted us through People Like Us and proposed a three-week home exchange for late summer. Video calls were made, plans were settled. We both planned to drive and meet for lunch somewhere in central France, but eventually they decided to fly instead. We kept our plans for an extended road trip.
The drive seemed like it would be a fun and challenging experience. It would be over 6k km of total driving, and since Feijão only has about 300 km of range, that would mean extensive public charging. I did some research on my EV charging apps, and felt confident that we could make the trip without too much effort. I also loaded a few more EV charging apps onto my phone and created accounts with payment details. Never hurts to be prepared.
I tend to be “organic”, only looking for charging about 30 minutes from when we need a charge, rather than mapping out an exacting plan and sticking to it. It makes for a more flexible trip, although it can lead to some stress for the navigator at times. We found that Tesla Superchargers fit our needs (inexpensive charging, clean bathrooms and interesting locations) the best, but we used many other charging networks as well.
Prior to departing, we had the pleasure of hosting Chris and Sandra, some friends from Oregon. We were able to introduce them to Porto and Coimbra, and then drove them to Salamanca, Spain where they hopped a train to Madrid. We met up with them later in Holland to explore Amsterdam, Zaandam and Haarlem, and caught a Champions League play-in match between PSV Eindhoven and Rangers. The bookend visit happened during a big swing in temperatures: it started during a heat-dome event in Portugal and Spain, with temperatures in the 40s, and ended with more typical rainy Dutch weather in the teens.
From our base in Meerkerk, we explored around Holland and Belgium, visiting Den Haag, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Dordrecht, and Antwerp in addition to other places mentioned above and below. By bike, we explored the Dutch countryside around Meerkerk via the spectacularly well-connected and maintained bike paths: Leerdam, Vianen, Gorinchem, Woudrichem, and Utrecht - where we enjoyed a kayak along the canals.
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The bicycling in Holland definitely tops the list of highlights. The interconnected network of bike paths (bike roads, really) makes almost anywhere in Holland easily and pleasantly accessible by bike. Hans and Josien let us use their e-bikes, which made getting around a snap. Even the ferries and bridges are optimized for bicycle use. It’s bicycling heaven.
Other Dutch highlights included a visit to see our favorite Dutch painter, Marius van Dokkum and a Tesla V4 supercharger in Harderwijk, connecting with friends and family in Zoetermeer and Ridderkerk, a beach cleanup with an Indonesian group in Noordwijk which inspired this popular post, and the numerous Indonesian food supermarkets, open-air markets, and restaurants.
For the return trip, we drove back down south via the eastern edge of Belgium and France, passing through 5 countries on the first day of the trip. The day started in Meerkerk and ended up in Metz, passing through Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. There were some very pretty French cities along the way: Metz, Avignon, Montpellier, where we spent a weekend on a cat-sit, and Carcassonne were all memorable. Despite a desire to re-visit San Sebastian, a delightful Basque seaside city in Spain with a French flair, we decided instead to visit another Basque city, Bilbao, which we very much enjoyed. We will definitely make a return visit to Basque country.
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Then it was home for a few days, where we did umpteen loads of laundry and made ready for a small kitchen remodel and installation of new windows. Somehow, we foolishly planned to get all this work done in the 10 days between our return from Holland and our trip to Açores. The windows happened, as did delivery of the new kitchen appliances, but the partial kitchen remodel was postponed for reasons of sanity.
The trip to Açores, however, happened as planned. We joined a couple friends who live in Luso on a trip to the lovely, warm island of Sao Miguel, part of the 9-island archipelago. The Açores are typically described as the Hawaii of the Atlantic. The islands are volcanic in origin, and have a number of hot springs for multiple soaking opportunities. We visited at least a half-dozen “thermals”, and enjoyed each, although most were crowded with tourists, despite the mid-October timing.
What I enjoyed most was the “natural pools”, which are swimming areas built into the ocean rocks, and are either replenished or are integral parts of the active ocean. We were able to snorkel in a couple, and all of them made for an engaging swim. The surf was extremely active due to some storms, such that our whale-watching plans were dashed, but it made for some fun swimming opportunities in the piscinas naturais.
Too fast
Upon our return from Açores, we had less than 24 hours to leave for another home exchange planned with a couple from Ourense, Spain. Ourense is known for its thermal springs and beautiful bridges. It is built on an ancient site of Roman baths which made use of the hot springs. We made the visit along with our friends from Carcavelos, and enjoyed dipping in the Spanish thermal hot springs, which were much hotter than the thermas on Sao Miguel. We followed the locals by making cooling dips into the Río Miño in between soaks.
The return home was tempered by the looming kitchen remodel, which actually went off without a hitch, capping a very busy two month stretch.
Aside from a rib injury to Rustam, picked up during the volunteer bridge cleaning event last weekend, we are none the worse for the wear. We will definitely not stack so many things back to back again. Our Portuguese friends were astounded at our overstuffed schedule: “you’re leaving again?!” We will endeavor to have a more relaxed schedule going forward. Ciao for now.
We’ve had a busy and pleasant summer so far here in Coimbra, Portugal.
Despite the persistent heat dome over Spain and Italy, Coimbra has mostly been spared, given its location near the coast, where it sits in a temperate micro-climate. We’ve had warm afternoons in the high 20’s and low 30’s, with overnight lows in the teens, cooling everything off. We’ve even had a few gentle summer showers to keep things green and moist.
Given we’re in a full-blown climate crisis, and the Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025, creating even more climate chaos, I’m sure we will look back on this delightful summer with saudade. When faced with such a massive pending calamity, it’s hard to find a way to make meaningful change. Here are some things you can do to lower your impact on the environment. If you like, please leave a comment below that shares how your household is limiting your climate impact. “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.” - various attributions.
We’re all on this pale blue dot together.
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The summer started with a pair of fun cat-sits. We sat for our now-family of furry kitties VJ, Tessa and Cosette in Caldas da Rainha for a couple weeks, where we took the opportunity to day-trip to Évora and Berlengas. Berlengas is a national park and wildlife refuge set on a few small islands off the Atlantic coast. The water was chilly, but we swam and enjoyed ourselves anyway. We were joined on our ferry by a large high school group, whose energy was infectious.
Évora is an old Roman city with a downtown which has been declared a UNESCO heritage site. It’s home to a “Chapel of Bones”, with an inscription that makes one pause and think.
Then we headed north to cat-sit in Braga for a week, where we also visited Guimarães and Vigo, Spain.
Guimarães was unexpectedly charming, with a cable car set up to reach the top of a boulder-strewn hill. A short walk from the base of the cable car was a quaint downtown area which is a UNESCO heritage site, just like Évora.
After watching the Portuguese Premier League for a season, I selected SC Braga as my Portuguese football (soccer) team. While in Braga I took the opportunity to sign up for the sócio (social club), grab a scarf & jersey, and get acquainted with the stadium. The Portland Timbers and Arsenal are my other clubs, for those who don’t know. SC Braga is a smaller club with a lot of heart and solid local support, and are referred to as the “Arsenalistas”, since their style of play and jersey mimic Arsenal. It was an easy choice, in the end. We watched SC Braga’s Champions League play-in match vs Bačka Topola earlier this week (a 3-0 win!).
We’ve also had the pleasure of welcoming some visitors to “141” this summer.
Our long-time neighbors from Beaverton, Todd & Rupy, came over, along with their daughter and some friends. We puttered around Porto on foot for a few days, then settled into Coimbra for a fun week of “Festas da Cidade” music and entertainment, river swims, gelato tasting, and a visit to a very strange art exhibition which allowed us access to the normally-closed Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova on the hill above Coimbra.
At Óbidos we climbed the city walls, browsed the citadel of books, enjoyed a medieval dinner, and Todd sampled the chocolate cup with “ginja”. The views from the city walls are marvelous, as long as you aren’t scared of heights.
We continued south to Lisbon, where we took in the sights and sounds of the capital city, rode the famous Tram 28, which passes by many “miradouro” (viewpoints) and historical buildings. We walked through Praça do Comércio, took in Torre de Belem, and enjoyed pastel de nata from various famous bakeries; “you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy nata, and that’s kind of the same thing”, says one bakery wall. We took side trips out to Cascais, where we enjoyed the beach, live music, and watched teens jump from rocks into the sea, and to Sintra, a magical place that seems straight out of a fairy tale:
Near Sintra is the colorful Pena Palace, which sits atop a hill overlooking serene gardens, clear streams, bubbling fountains, cobbled paths and numerous paths thru carefully cultivated forests of native and imported trees and flowers. It was previously a hermitage, and is still valued for its serenity and quiet beauty.
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On our last evening in Lisbon, we rode the ferry across the Tagus River and enjoyed the sunset at a seafood restaurant along the south bank of the river. It was spectacular.
After Lisbon, Efti & I headed for home, while Todd & Rupy continued on down to the Algarve for some rest and beach time.
Paddling and Ultimate
We have spent the past 15 months trying to become comfortable: exploring our new home, learning the language, making friends with fellow expats, and getting a feel for how day-to-day life runs. We have now begun to try and engage a bit more with our local community.
I enjoy outdoor sports and activities, and so I joined the local paddling club, which specializes in canoes and kayaks. I had initially wanted to play Kayak Polo, which looked like a fun combination of water polo, rugby, basketball and kayaking, but the kayak and my back didn’t get along. So instead I joined a more sedate kayak group which meets up twice a week to paddle upriver. It’s been a wonderful way to make friends, practice my Portuguese, and get in a workout while enjoying the beauty of nature. It’s really a social club that happens to paddle together, and they have made us feel very welcome.
I’m always up for a game of Ultimate Frisbee, but the only place I have found to play is a 35 minute drive away in Aveiro. I join them from time to time.
Recently I played in an Ultimate tournament in Leria, and was put on a team with a handful of leftover and newbie players from Braga, Porto, Aveiro and Lisbon. We struggled early, but over the course of the tournament, three of us experienced players on the team coached and taught the new guys, and in the end we showed immense progress. It was a great day filled with throwing a disk and running around in the summer heat, and I threw a hammer for a score! It took me 3 days to finally be able to go down stairs without groaning out loud.
There is still more summer to go. There are more festas and performances to enjoy in Coimbra and the surrounding towns. We have a couple more house exchanges planned, as well as a visit from more Oregon friends. There will be more paddling, more river swims, and more Ultimate before the fall rains settle in.
We celebrated our one-year anniversary in Portugal on April 27th. We have added this date to our annual calendar as “Portugal Day.” We celebrated by packing to get ready for our trip to Porto, where we reconnected with some AFS friends from Indonesia & Germany who were headed out on a “Caminho” - one of the long walking treks that Portugal and Spain are known for. We spent the day with them exploring Porto on foot, climbed to the top of the former “Crystal Palace”, took in the sunset along the banks of the Douro River, and then wished them well on their trek.
We were also on the move: I was making the first trip back to the US for a visit with family and friends, with some work sprinkled in, while Efti traveled through Northern Spain and France with friends. Both trips were long-planned, and had a lot of moving pieces. Thankfully, unlike our recent Bali trip, both trips were free from any travel difficulties.
We had planned to fully retire here in Portugal, but it seems I’m a failure at retiring. I’ve been doing some consulting, since my specialty, transportation electrification, is a pretty hot topic these days. There were a couple big events going on in California in early May, which coincided with my dad’s birthday and some home Portland Timbers games, so the idea for a trip was born.
I started by attending the ACT (Advanced Clean Transportation) Expo in Anaheim, California for four days, along with 12,500 of my fellow EV truck and bus nerds. This event is hosted by my biggest client, GNA, and it was a chance to connect with the team, put faces to names, and introduce myself. The ACT Expo just keeps getting bigger, and with recent legislation passed in California regarding clean fleets, it’s only going to continue to grow. I’ve done a lot of work in the battery electric truck space, and it was a lot of fun reconnecting with old work buddies, respected competitors, and fellow collaborators. I love the electric truck space because the spirit of “co-opetition” pervades. We all know that the work we’re doing is important, and we all root for one another to be successful.
Not a meal or a coffee went by without the chance to catch up with an old friend, colleague or former co-worker. It was great to reconnect and even expand my network. While at the event, I also found four separate MCS connectors displayed on the expo floor, which made me immensely proud. Up until I retired last year, I led the global industry taskforce to develop, design and standardize the MCS. The work that team has accomplished is extraordinary, especially in light of the “connector wars” we’re now seeing in the US EV charging market. I have high hopes for the positive impact the MCS will have upon all forms of electrified transportation, whether it rolls, floats or flies. There’s still some work to be done on the standards, but it’s moving in the right direction, although things could be moving faster.
After four exhilarating but exhausting days at ACT, I flew up to Portland for a 4-day weekend. I stayed with my parents, who live in Portland. It was wonderful to see them in person after a year away. I tested for COVID every day I stayed with them, to try and keep them safe, especially after the long international flights and attending the ACT conference with thousands of people. Thankfully, all tests were negative and no one turned up sick. I even managed to connect with a fellow Timbers Army member and EV enthusiast who owns an F150 Lightning; he picked me up from PDX and took me to visit Electric Island and then my parents. Timbers and EV connections are the best kind of connections.
While in Portland, I took the opportunity to play some pickup Ultimate Frisbee with my old crew at Overlook Park, followed by a “team” dinner where we sat around and told stories. It turned out that one of the ultimate players is friends with a former coworker of mine from Daimler Trucks, who was planning a bike tour in Portugal. Long story short, we managed to meet that coworker and her husband in Figueira da Foz for dinner a few weeks later, and had a wonderful time with them and our friends who live in Figuera. The world is a small, delightful, connected place.
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While in Portland, I also visited our former neighborhood in Beaverton to meet the new folks who bought our house, and reconnected with many old friends and neighbors from the neighborhood. We’re excited to host a couple of them this summer! We’re really looking forward to it. It was odd to sit and have coffee while looking across the street at the house I no longer owned, but lived in for more than 20 years. However, it was fun to reconnect with neighbors I probably should have gotten to know better when I did live there.
One of the most exciting reconnections was with our former Pakistani AFS exchange student who had been missing from our family orbit for about 3 years. He had been struggling with immigration, jobs, marriage, and life in general, and was too ashamed to reach out for help for a long time. Thankfully he finally reached out a few months ago, and we were delighted to welcome him and his enchanting wife back into the fold. We really look forward to having them both back in our family orbit again.
Then it was back down to Long Beach, CA for the “VOLTS” (Vehicle Interoperability Testing Symposium) conference focused on interoperability testing between EVs and chargers. I had a chance to meet with folks from CharIN, who hosted the event and who sponsored the MCS work. I also visited the newly-opened WattEV public truck charging site where the VOLTS event was held. I serve on WattEV’s advisory board, and I’m very excited about the work they are doing: building out public truck charging depots. I also had the chance to tour the Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT), which is the first fully-automated and electrified container terminal in the US and the cleanest and most environmentally-friendly terminal in the world. It’s a marvel.
While in Long Beach, I also had the lucky opportunity to reconnect with one of my kids, who drove down from the Bay Area to spend time with dad. It was wonderful to spend time together and just talk. I hope to do it again soon.
After Volts, I again ran back up to Portland for more family time, another pickup ultimate frisbee game (I can still throw! Running is another thing though…), took in another Timbers match with my dad in attendance for his birthday, (a 3-1 drubbing of Cascadia rival Vancouver BC), and a family dinner at my sister’s house.
The flight home was uneventful, and my Portuguese residency card allowed me quick and simple passage back into the EU in Schiphol Airport. Landing in Porto and a quick shuttle trip back to Coimbra, and I was home again. It felt like home.