You Can't Make This Up

October 6, 2024

I’m back! After two months crushing grapes in Portugal, I’m back to Italy, back to school, and back to blogging. 

The past month has been wild. I was working 7 days a week for over 12 hours each day, for nearly 35 days straight (minus one sick day, which I’ll talk about later). But despite the hard work, it was the best month ever.

Before heading to Portugal, I wrote about how I believe God is the best author of stories, and the past few months have only proved that true. Things didn’t go how I expected, they were better and they were worse, but I wouldn’t change it. There were so many moments, big and small, where I just thought “you can’t make this stuff up”. But God can, and He has a plan…and a sense of humor. 

I think the best way for me to write this post is by splitting it into chapters of sorts. To start off, I’ll set the scene: 

The Scene

Three other interns and I shared a beautiful house that looked out over the Pinhão river. The town we were in was small, and other than the tourist-centric riverwalk, it was falling apart. There were more stray dogs than there were people, and the people themselves were characters.

There was a woman across the river who would start yelling every evening around 7pm, and would continue shouting the same word every five minutes or so for the next hour, then we wouldn't hear from her again till the next day. There was a man who owned the best restaurant a few towns over, and he was also the town's carpenter and gravedigger. Then there was a man who would whack weeds along the river in a beekeeping suit, but only from about 6:30-7:30am. It seemed like he did it just to wake us up (if the dog who lived on the roof of a nearby abandoned house hadn't already barked enough to do it).

The house we shared was charming, with a little balcony and spacious yet cozy rooms, but it was old enough that noises would keep me up at night. In fact, my first night there, I fell asleep swiftly but woke up at 4am thinking there was something in the closet, or the window nook, or the walls. I checked every nook and cranny for bugs or mice or whatever else might be making the noises but found nothing. That night, my Duolingo lesson was literally on not being able to sleep in a room because of scary sounds and strange voices. Each night for the next two weeks, my nightly Duolingo lesson would scare me half to death before I tried to fall asleep in the noisy room. But I would put in my earplugs, say a prayer, and fall asleep from exhaustion anyway.

The Cantina 

We started work at 8:30 every morning, and usually went home around 9 or 10 at night, but thankfully we had three amazing meals at a cantina up the road every day.

The cantina used to be a little store for the people of Vale de Mendiz, but after it closed, Wine & Soul (the winery I worked at) bought the shop and turned it into a little cantina for their employees to eat. It was a white building with robin's egg blue shutters and cabinets; there was a small TV from (probably the 1970s) that would play soap operas, soccer games, or the news, depending on the day; there were two large tables where we ate, with checkered tablecloths and bread, olive oil, and a small vase of fresh flowers in the center of each; there was a counter made of old wine crates where breakfast was served in the morning and pre-meal-soup was served in the afternoon and evening, which separated the dining room from the open kitchen. Outside the cantina there was a built-in bench where the faster eaters would sit after meals, sipping espressos or smoking cigarettes.

The cantina was our little haven, and the food was incredible. Each meal had huge servings of meat and carbs, and desserts were always to die for, but the best part about it all was the sweet women who made our meals.

The People

Donna Barbara is the main chef; she is an aunt to some of the men who work at the winery. She always wears a dress, pantyhose, and crocs, and she has a heavy hand when it come to olive oil and salt. The other women were named Betta and Bemvinda. Betta is a grandmother of some people who live in the town, and Bemvinda is the wife of one of the winery workers. Both women were always smiling. On all my favorite days, Donna Barbara's nine-year-old granddaughter, Carolina, would be at lunch. She is shy and sassy all at once, and she taught the other interns and me Portuguese… or at least, she tried.

The other interns were a couple from Germany (Patrick and Leonie) and a gal from South Africa (Shanice). All three of them have worked multiple harvests in multiple countries, and they taught me so much. I had the best time with them. The girls and I were constantly singing and laughing.

My bosses were truly the best. Sandra and Jorge, the owners and winemakers, are so humble and hospitable, and I’m so grateful to have been able to learn from them. Rita, the other winemaker, was also so knowledgeable and fun, and she was always reminding us not to stress.

Pretty much all the men who worked at Wine & Soul are from Vale de Mendiz and related to Donna Barbara or from Timor-Leste, a small country near Indonesia where they speak Portuguese and use US Dollars. They are the kindest boys ever. They were always working hard and always smiling. It was hard for anyone to pronounce my name, so instead of Annika they called me "Monica", which eventually turned into "Monique", which eventually turned into "Unique", which I actually quite liked so I never corrected them. Only a few of the guys spoke English, but it's pretty easy to communicate through gestures and Google Translate. I'm pretty much a pro at it now.

The Work

The boys did pretty much all the manual labor at work, while the other interns and I spent our time sorting grapes (to the point where if I closed my eyes, I would picture diseased grape bunches), inoculating the grape juice with yeast, tracking temperature and density of all the wines, adding nutrients to the fermenting wine, etc. This was the first job I've ever had where I actually wanted to do everything... even the parts of the job that scared me. I've always been pretty timid at work. I don't want to make any mistakes, so I try to stick to easy tasks that are hard to mess up. With this, I'm so passionate and curious about what I'm doing, that I was eager to try different jobs and learn new things. A highlight was getting to stomp grapes in the lagar… I’ve dreamt of doing that ever since seeing an episode of I Love Lucy as a kid, and it was even more fun than I’d imagined. The other interns and I had a full on dance party while doing it. It was such a great experience!!

The Google Transdate

I was able to have some fun new experiences aside from work as well... one of them being a "Google Transdate", as my sister called it.

After a few days at work, I developed a little crush on a boy with pretty eyes. He never smiled, spoke no English, and was really good at using a pressure washer (swoon!!). After a few weeks of working together, he used Google Translate to tell me he thought my eyes were pretty, and he asked for my number. We ended up going on a few dates where we'd pass our phones back and forth in total silence, aside from the occasional "mmhmm". We actually had a lot of fun together despite not really being able to communicate. On our first date, literal fireworks even went off right above where we were standing. It was like something out of a movie.

The Day Off

In my all my days of work, I only got one day off, but instead of using it to explore the Douro Valley and visit other wineries, I used it to go to the ER. In Portugal there isn't really urgent care, so everyone just goes to the ER when they're sick. It felt excessive, but I hadn't been able to eat for a week. My coworkers said it was because of Donna Barbara's heavy cooking, my mom said it was because I was having butterflies over the boy at work, and my doctor said it was because of an ulcer. Who really knows the real reason... all the doctor did was press on my stomach a few times, write me a Google Translate message saying it felt fine, then he give me a shot.

Honestly, I think the drive through the winding roads of the Douro Valley in order to get to the hospital and back made me even more nauseous than I had been before, but the next day I was back at work, and after a few days of medicine I was back to eating!

The Miracle

Another hospital trip happened shortly after my own did, but this one was much more exciting. This time, Bemvinda (from the Cantina) and her husband Ricardo, were having a baby!

Ricardo spoke really good English, and I had the privilege of hearing some of his testimony over our weeks of working together. He was such a joy-filled guy. He'd blast worship music anytime he had the aux at work, and he was always talking about the faithfulness of God, even though he'd experienced heartbreak unlike any I could imagine. Three years ago, on September 24th, 2021, at 7am, they had a baby boy, but three days later the baby passed away.

About a year ago he and Bemvinda moved to Portugal, and shortly after they became pregnant again.

This year, when September 23rd rolled around, Bemvinda started feeling a bit off. She was 32 weeks pregnant at the time, so she went to the hospital to check that everything was okay. We were all praying all day at work for her health and the baby's.

The next morning, on September 24th, 2024, at 7am, their baby girl was born.

That day, their family back in Timor-Leste was throwing a birthday party in honor of their lost son, but when Ricardo Facetimed into the party, he was able to tell their family the good news. Exactly three years after such a tragedy occurred, a miracle happened.

I checked in with Ricardo today, and he said all is well with their little family, and they are filled with joy. What a testimony!! Mourning turned to dancing.

The Trip to Porto

When harvest slowed down, Shanice, the intern from South Africa, and I took a little vacation to Porto. Our first day there, the German interns joined us, and we spent the day tasting Port.

After a couple tours and tastings, we ended up going to Niepoort Winery to pick up some wine, and when we told them how we had just finished harvest at Wine and Soul, they gave us a complimentary tour and wine tasting, which included a Moscato from the year 1900 and a €650 port, and a conversation with the owner and winemaker himself. It was insane.

The next day, Shanice and I had plans to tour the World Of Wine, see the Cathedral, and enjoy some wine. We did none of that. I loved travelling with Shanice, because we both hold our plans very loosely, and we have a good time doing just about anything.

We didn't set alarms that morning, which was the perfect way to start our day. We woke up at around 9:30, then headed to a little market for breakfast. We spent the morning shopping, I got a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks, and then we walked around a bit. At one point, I noticed a pretty building, so we walked towards it, and it turned out to be right next to a tattoo and piercing parlor... so naturally we ended up getting matching ear piercings.

We took a short rest in the afternoon before heading out to go on our World of Wine tour. We started making the 35-minute walk-in-the-rain there, and about 10 minutes in we realized we forgot the tickets. We turned around to grab them. Tickets in hand, we headed back on our way and walked by an empanadas shop, so we had a quick snack. As we started walking again, it started raining harder. We walked about halfway there, then we decided to take a different route. The rain started dumping. We crossed the bridge from Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia, but I genuinely think we could've swum between the cities and stayed drier. By the time we crossed the bridge, we gave up completely on seeing the World of Wine, so we just went to see the cathedral. It was beautiful, but we could only see the outside.

We bought a bag of sour candy from a gas station near the cathedral, then headed back across the bridge to Porto, where we planned on going to a wine bar that a friend had recommended. Unfortunately, there was no wine bar where google maps dropped us off, so we headed into a little pub where they were out of beer. We each had a subpar drink, while sopping wet, and decided it'd be best if we went home and watched a movie.

On the way home we stopped for empanadas again. Twice. When we finally made it back to the apartment, we dried off, snuggled in, and turned on the TV to see what we could watch... but the only movie playing was Bad Moms Christmas. You can't make this up.

The Trip Home

It took blood, sweat, and tears for Shanice and me to lug our suitcases out of the third-story apartment, so I should've known that my luggage was over 23kg, but when I got to the airport, I was baffled to learn that my bag was a whole 8kg over. Thankfully, the EasyJet employee was an angel and let me check my backpack for free to average out the weight between the two bags, so I didn't have to pay €50 per extra kilo. Score!!

My flight was delayed nearly two hours, so I had one last Super Bock before flying back to Italy.

When I landed, it was too late to take a train back to Piacenza, so my sweet friends Tori and Teresa picked me up. It's good to be back with my people, and I'm excited to get back into a routine that involves rest and alone time instead of just work, but I already miss Portugal!!

The End