Hello Lisbon. And Goodbye...

From Mozambique to Europe, the change is always enormous!

Still getting used to the cold, I wander through the former familiar streets, inspecting every stone and plant to see if they are still there. Some are, others have changed into buildings!

It's good to see Portugal once again. But now it's with a different set of eyes and ears. Critically and conceptually I place Portugal on the global map, not ethnocentrically but merely geographically. It is still home, but not my anchor.

After working in Mozambique, the plan was to apply for a Master Degree in Development in Europe: either in Pavia, Italy or in Manchester, UK. As a last resort, or plan C, was to apply for a similar master degree in Portugal but the goal was the UK!

Then the time came to go through the applications, and surprisingly I got accepted in all of them! UK was the goal so I turned down the other ones.

Before leaving for Manchester, I joined the Amnesty International for their Face-to-Face project to occupy my time. It was fun and rewarding to talk to people about human rights. It's a shame that most don't know much about them or the International Charter for that matter. And the amazing thing is that people thought that they knew the human rights. "It must be common sense or something..."

Anyway, The University of Manchester accepted me for the Masters. Until September a lot had to be done. Finishing a trainer's course, meeting everyone I know saying hello and goodbye again, playing some gigs with my tuna, and of course, visit the places I missed the most.

My next post will be on the arrival at Manchester, but for now, here's some pictures from Portugal...