29/08/2026
When we moved to Bairro last year, we knew almost no one.
One of the first community events we attended was the village festa. We loved it, but we were very much the Americans standing on the outside, watching and trying to understand the traditions around us.
A year later, something had changed.
This time I was singing at Mass while Scott played guitar. We walked in the procession with our neighbors. Scott was somehow recruited for the married men's football team despite having absolutely no idea how to play football. 😂 And later I found myself in the kitchen, drying utensils and putting together place settings alongside Portuguese women who have been doing this far longer than I've been here.
None of those things sounds particularly life-changing.
But that's kind of the point.
I've realized that when you move to another country, belonging doesn't necessarily arrive with a residency card or when you finally understand the language.
Sometimes it happens when someone asks you to sing with them.
Or invites your husband to play football.
Or simply hands you a dish towel because there's work to be done and you're part of the group now.
Last year we attended the Festa do Bairro as outsiders.
This year, for the first time, I think we experienced it as neighbors and friends—as people who belonged.
Last year, we came to this Portuguese village festa as "outsiders"....
