11 months ago...

I landed for the first time in Belgium. I have still lot of fresh memories of that day.

I want to share one.

When I got to the airport in Brussels, physically and psychologically exhausted, I had a guy who knows some friends of mine, waiting for me. The only thing I knew about him at that time was his name, the fact he belonged to a Tuna and I had some idea how he looked like because I had seen him before. Anyhoe… I was pretty lost when I got there, trying not to think in what I had just left behind but focusing in what I was about to start living, when I saw Picos, Luís Monteiro, a.k.a Uncle Picos :P smiling at me. Probably he said welcome and that kind of stuff but I cannot remember, I just wanted a bed…

Anyhoee, he couldn’t be nicer to me. Really. Everybody should have someone like him when one is moving alone to other country. We talked a lot, ate an ice-cream at Zi-Zi :), he took me for my first stroll in Brussels, I met some of his friends, I ate my first Pita in Belgium – somewhere in a side street of Grande Place. I still go there when I’m in Brussels :) Une Pita avec Feta s’il vous plait! – I bought a toothbrush :P, I slept over his place, he made me lunch the next day and after walking the whole afternoon in Brussels he insisted in driving me to Gent. Imagine that he was doing all this for someone he didn’t know, and always with a smile and nice gesture to give. Really, Picos, tu não existes. :)

After that we met sometimes (Brussels, Gent, Ljubjiana) and I easily start to adore this guy… but that’s not why I’m writing this post… For a long time I felt that I didn’t show enough how thankful I am. Picos, obrigado por tudo. :) Até já!

P.s. Of course there were a lot of more people who helped me out without asking anything back, but I guess there are some that for some reason remain special...