I’ve had the happiness to participate in the school exchange programmes, accompanying my wife, Vice-director of The Secondary School Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, by visiting different countries. All of them beautiful, wonderful, even mysterious in what concerns their very own characteristics, whether they are their languages, their costumes, their food or music. But amazing, truly amazing, a wonder for the soul, are the men and women (teachers, pupils and their fellows) that I’ve been meeting and with whom I’ve been interacting and established wonderful and healthy friendships. But all of them made me be sure that, on the contrary of what many say, the human being is, undoubtedly, essentially good, pure and loving. Of all the times I had to tell them goodbye, tears ran out of my eyes. I that am scared to death to get in a plane, think I’m cured. I think!!!??? Departure, arrival, connexion airports, I’ve seen some, but Frankfurt with all its automatic runners, is amazing. Stories and incidents of all kind have been happening, but only the good and funny ones rest in my memory. Without any chronological order I remember, among many: – The Greek teacher who, having got lost from the group, right in the middle of the Polish forest, got to the fine conclusion, after a long period during which everybody was looking for him, that all the other 30 had got lost, not him! – The terrible 40º C that could be felt, even at 19:00, in Venice. I can’t even remember the temperature we had to stand at noon! – In Grenoble, France, when going alone for a walk, I found myself right in the middle of a demonstration against the salaries ‘cuts and the retirement age increase. And Mr. Coelho (Rabbit) (Monsieur Lapin), the old emigrant who adopted us and showed us the city? – The theatre play, a real drama, we were presented with at the Vilnius School, which theme was all about kings, queens, kingdoms and their courts, words that in the Lithuanian language all come from the word KING. If you really want to know (you, Portuguese speakers) why I almost cut my tongue in order not to laugh, check on the NET to see how the word KING is written in the Lithuanian language. It’s too much! – In Germany, with its rigid timetables, which makes us really run from the Hotel to the School, we were under such pressure that teacher Dulce didn’t notice what she had done and showed up at dinner with two different shoes, colour and model. – A time when, in Treviso (Italy), I taught our hosts a song, IN ITALIAN, that no one knew about. They got amazed! – The chaotic, really crazy, traffic in Napoli. No entry signs? Red lights? Driving on the right? Those are simple details for the Italian Traffic Code! – That meeting, right in the middle of Piazza San Pietro (Rome), with Priest Eduardo, who was also there going for a stroll. Imagine the Italian teachers’ surprise when they saw me meeting, so far away from Portugal, someone from my home town. And, it was so incredible, because he had been the one who had celebrated my wedding! – The amazingly easy way in which I was able to make the Polish students sing “Atirei o pau ao gato” (I threw a stick to the cat), and the most amazing was that they could understand what they were singing! Yes, for me it was a victory, I just learned English for three years and for some more French, but that was never a reason for me not to communicate and speak with everybody from the participant countries, even by using some words of the host countries where I’ve stayed. I always try to learn some of their vocabulary, not only words, but also some expressions. – To come down, on foot, for several kilometers, from the Olympus Mount (Greece).The tasty wild strawberries we picked in the way? – Finally, in Poland, the fact of having been considered the best “insider” of all the “outsiders” of the project.

João de Deus da Silva Gomes