One of the best connections I've made on this visit to Portugal is meeting Nicholas, my guitar teacher, and his mother Margarida. Margarida runs a volunteer Portuguese conversation group once a week in her home. I told her I wanted to buy a guitar while I was in Portugal and she introduced me to her son Nicky, who is a very accomplished musician and composer and gives guitar lessons.
He teaches me classical guitar songs which focus on finger-picking. It's been so much fun to go to his studio on Avenida de Roma and study with him and talk about music. He can play many different genres of music like, classical, rock, jazz and others. He's also a gifted instructor.
Sometimes after my lesson, we go down the street to a little "tasca" or restaurant called Vitta Roma for lunch. The food is great and very inexpensive. I feel much more like a native Lisboeta when I go out with Nicky and Margarida because they live in a part of Lisbon that isn't so touristy. Margarida always speaks to me in Portuguese so I get to practice.
I'm really going to miss these guys when I leave. I told Nicky maybe we can continue to do lessons on Skype after I'm back in SF.
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