I promised you two weeks ago an update on Micha’el and Tslil’s plans. So here, only one week late, it is.

Part of me – and it’s the part that I really strive to nurture – embraces the excitement of being Micha’el’s father. One of the traits that best characterises Micha’el is the enthusiasm and commitment with which he embraces new initiatives. When life’s measuring spoons were being handed out, Micha’el got only the one-cup spoon; he is incapable of doing anything by half-measures.

This can, naturally, be wonderfully thrilling and exhilarating, although there sometimes comes a point where I, personally, feel ready to come off the roller coaster and spend a little time on the roundabout. However, at the moment, a moment which looks suspiciously like the start of a ride on a whole new roller coaster, I am really looking forward to seeing how this pans out.

For some time now, Micha’el and Tslil have realised that their original hope that they would be able to commit themselves full-time to developing their piece of land is not realistic. A combination of circumstances have compelled them to adapt to a changing situation: two young sons at home full-time; COVID’s effect on international travel preventing an influx of short-term visitors to share work on the land in return for bed, board, and a taste of working the land; the vagaries of Portuguese bureaucracy.

Currently, Tslil is teaching some frontal and some online yoga classes and Micha’el is teaching English online. However, these endeavours are not enough to generate surplus income that can be invested in developing their land and they are not prepared to take the time away from parenting that would be necessary to earn enough from this work to provide that income.

In parallel to their exploring a business proposition with the potential to generate that needed revenue flow, Micha’el in particular has been going through some fairly drastic lifestyle changes. A couple of months ago he finally managed to quit smoking, in its various forms, and, at the same time, started a regime of physical exercise and a protein-rich diet designed to get him back in shape and build up his muscle.

The effect was instantly noticeable when we arrived in Portugal five weeks ago, both in Micha’el’s shoulders and upper-arms and in his energy first thing in the morning. He is very happy with the changes that he has made and is determined to keep it up. While we were staying in the house, Micha’el lost his exercise room (our bedroom) and had to exercise early every morning in the backyard. Now that the bad weather is coming, he will, I am sure, be grateful to have got his ‘gym’ back.

A few months ago, Micha’el and Tslil agreed on a suitable project which ticked all their boxes. If successful, it has the potential to generate the income they need. It could at the same time make a significant contribution to the community life in Penamacor, something in which the kids are very invested. The project represents something they both believe in and are very willing to pour their energies into. It also gives both of them an opportunity to play to their individual strengths.

After that build-up, you are doubtless curious as to what this multi-box-ticking idea is. [Pause for a suitable drumroll.] It is to open a health-focused bodyweight gym. Don’t think arrays of expensive machines, or even, initially, weights, but only minimal simpler equipment such as rings, and with the emphasis firmly on body weight exercises. These will include, but eventually not be limited to, calisthenics, yoga, Pilates, and martial arts. Both Tslil and Micha’el will be teaching classes, and also functioning as personal trainers, a role for which they are formally qualified, as well as both having very much the right personality.

They have pitched their proposition to the local municipality, who have offered to provide the use of a suitable hall for three months, rent-free, and to cover the utility bills. This trial period will allow the kids to make an informed judgement as to whether their business plan is viable, with minimum investment, before committing themselves by moving to permanent premises in which they can, we hope, grow their business.

Since there is no gym less than a 40-minute drive from Penamacor, there is a sizeable potential market. The kids have carried out informal market research, which has been very encouraging. As well as producing a thorough business plan, they have developed a website and publicity materials; they will be advertising in the mainstream media in their catchment area, which is the towns and villages in the administrative area of which Penamacor is the principal town, as well as social media.

If all goes well, then the long-term plan is for them to be able to generate sufficient revenue to employ one or two personal trainers, and for Micha’el to focus on running the business. They hope that this will leave them both able to devote time and money to developing their land.

The other major project looming is the question of Tao’s education. The Portuguese authorities require children to be in an educational framework from the age of 6, so next academic year Tao will be starting school. The state system in Portugal – and certainly in the rural region where the kids are – is fairly formal, and the one certainty at the moment is that they do not want him to attend state school.

They are seriously considering home-schooling, which is legal in Portugal, but which is fairly closely monitored by the Education Ministry. There is an official curriculum that must be followed, including, obviously, Portuguese language and literature, and Portuguese history and culture. The kids would, naturally, need to employ a tutor to cover these subjects, while between them the kids would be well able to cover the other subjects. They are currently exploring a number of options, including possibly sharing the cost of the tutor with other parents in a similar situation.

While we were in Penamacor last month, Tslil picked up some tahina from an Israeli couple who own land nearby and who import the tahina from Israel. One reason I did not offer to make the one-hour round trip was because they live at end of a dirt track and, having once got our rental car stuck in the mud of such a track, I am now considerably more wary. The other reason is that ‘picking up some tahina’ is fairly simple when it is a one-kilo tub; this, however, was a 20-kilo bucket.

While she was there, the seller excitedly told Tslil of a development in local education. Apparently, the Portuguese Ministry of Education has just granted a licence to the Clonlara School, to open its first campus outside the United States. Clonlara is an American initiative started in 1967, to provide an environment where students’ interests and curiosity guided their curriculum. Starting with a campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it has grown into a global learning community offering campus, off-campus and online programmes for students in over 70 countries. You can learn more about the community here.

The campus that Clonlara plans to open in Portugal, for which a licence has just been granted, and for which a contract was signed in 2022 with the local council, for the provision of a building for the project, is actually, and amazingly, in Idanho-a-Nova, the town 25-minutes’ drive from Penamacor, where our favourite supermarket is. I don’t yet know when the school will be opening, and whether it will open with 1^st grade, but the kids will, I strongly suspect, be exploring the possibility of enrolling Tao in the program, whether on- or off-campus.

All in all, 2025 looks like being a big year in the saga of the family’s life in Portugal. There will undoubtedly be several big decisions to make, and life in Penamacor may look significantly different when I am writing my blog a year from now. It’s fair to say that, with the advancing years, I have lost some of my own enthusiasm for embarking on new adventures, but I still enjoy the vicarious thrill of watching the next generation build its family’s life.