Busy Busy Busy...

As ever I am feeling ridiculously busy at the moment. Just a little summary for those who care, here is where my life lies at the moment:

• Internship at an EU agency;
• Doing a research degree;
• Volunteer researcher for the International Drug Policy Consortium;
• Teaching English;
• Portuguese lessons twice a week;
  
• Running and DJing an indie clubnight;
• I'm the new Spotter on Lisbon's SpottedByLocals;
• Maintaining my blogs

It feels like I have my fingers in quite a lot of pies at the moment - I mean it's good to keep busy but it's going to take me a little while to get all this in some sort of manageable state.

My visit to the UK last week was amazing. It was great to see everyone and to visit my beloved Manchester again after 10 months away but I was strangely glad to get back to Lisbon and try and get my affairs in order.

I'll hopefully write more about the UK visit soon.

It's been too long...

It's been a little while since I posted in here, I've just been far too busy with other things...(urgh, I nearly wrote 'projects' then, I hate it when people say that, it makes them sound like such dilettantes.)

Anyway, since I last wrote in here we have a new, same government. The election of last week went smoothly and, amusingly for me as an outsider, produced a result that managed to please no-one (probably with the exception of Paulo Portas).

As expected Socrates' PS lost a load of seats, relinquishing their majority in parliament but still being the largest party and so forming a minority government. PSD gained a few seats but after a major case of mishandling the ball didn't pick up nearly as many as they had hoped to. They had tried to play some dirty tricks involving leaking emails and communications about government spying but it was all so badly done that it ended up back firing on PSD, and the President, Carvaco Silva, and making them look a bit incompetent. It's nice to see that doing things 'em cima do joelho' extends all the way up the government.

As far as the smaller parties went there were mixed feelings. The communists were replaced by Bloco de Esquerda as the main left wing opposition but early exit polls had put BE with as many as 22 seats so their eventual 16 was a bit disappointing (even though this meant they had doubled their tally from the last elections).

The really big winner was Paulo Portas' CDS-PP who went from 12 seats to 21, a worrying swing to the right.

All this means that the next few years will mean muddling through and trying to make friends with people who have just been stabbed in the back. It should make things a little interesting at least.

Roll on the municipal elections.

Em cima do joelho - the Portuguese way...

It's nice when nations have idioms which succinctly and vividly paint such an accurate picture of what that nationality is about.

Of course in English we have "stiff upper lip" which describes well our reputation for coldness, aloofness and stoicism. The Portuguese have, "Em cima do joelho" which literally means "on top of the knee" and perfectly describes the attitude here of doing things in a last minute, rushed fashion without thinking of the consequences.

In everyday matters if often hits you, "who would put a bus stop at the corner of a busy junction?", "Why do most bars and clubs only advertise their attractions the night before", "Why is this website so beautifully designed yet never updated". And these thoughts are repeated sources of amusement - until they happen to you.

So yesterday I get a phonecall and the chap whose bar I was supposed to be playing at on Saturday rings me to tell me he was just doing the week's agenda (on Wednesday!) and he's double booked the night. I had booked it two weeks ago and been doing my best to promote it myself, even been to the place twice to meet the guy and he tells me this now.

Now obviously these things happen, they happen everywhere, and I don't blame the guy, he's really nice and friendly and was genuinely sorry, even giving me 2 dates in October to replace the one that's canceled, but as I rang round everyone I had invited the reaction of people was extremely telling - how typical!

September brings ghouls and lesbians...

With the now inevitable end of summer firmly upon us (even though today, just to rub it in our faces, is a beautiful day with barely a cloud in the skies) this means the return of two of the most unwelcome styles of dress.

Now that the students are back at university we are now starting again to see the tunas on the street. These are traditional musical groups/choirs comprised of students and each university has them. They all dress identically in black suits (women wear suit jackets, skirts and thick tights) and capes covered in patches and badges (collected a bit like the scouts) and can be seen wandering all over the place, occasionally strumming a guitar or singing some traditional songs. There's something so obviously and overtly geeky about this (especially for people in their late teens, early 20s) that I can't help but to cringe when I see them on the street, thinking of the kind of stick they would get in the UK. Unfortunately I think this says more about me than them so if you are visiting Lisbon (or wherever in Portugal) then you should definitely take advantage of this strange sight.



It's now getting a bit nippy which means that thousands of young Portuguese women are putting their open toed cork monstrosities back in their shoe closets and dusting off that old hiking boot/jeans combo. Whoever convinced the women here that this look was attractive/flattering/advisable was obviously playing a huge joke on everyone. The only effect this look really has is to make it look like thousands of lesbians have descended on the streets of Lisbon (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Cork

The Portuguese are mad about cork. It’s one of those facts that the Portuguese like to drop on the unsuspecting foreigner,

Portugeezer - “Did you know that Portugal is the world’s biggest cork producer?”

Me – “No but I will store that in the part of my brain only accessed during pub quizzes and the annual family Christmas Trivial Pursuit Deathmatch. Thank you!”

If you actually live here then the love of cork slowly begins to seep into your everyday life. At first you begin by noticing that pretty much every woman is wearing cork wedges. This slowly builds and builds, next you might notice an attractively cork tiled floor. Head to Alentejo and most things there seem to be made out of the stuff.

There’s a novel by Jose Saramago called The Stone Raft in which the Iberian peninsular breaks off from Europe and floats into the Atlantic. If the unlikely happens and life imitates fiction then Spain is screwed but Portugal will just bob happily along.

Portuguese shoes



Portuguese handbag



Portuguese umbrella



Portuguese cap



Portuguese tie



Portuguese chair



Portuguese car

Multicultural Lisbon...

This weekend was pretty jam packed full of activities and so I've only just had chance now to write about them. Friday saw me visit a wonderful bar, O Século, for the first time. Located on the edge of Bairro Alto it is something of a cultural centre, offering tea and coffee with art in the day and beer and music in the evening. We went there on Friday because I had approached the owner, Manuel, about putting on my own DJ night. He was very enthusiastic about the idea and we arrange to put it on on the 26th September, so there's a date for your diaries.

The space itself is wonderful, it has a really informal atmosphere, something like a school disco. The night we were there they were hosting a birthday party held by this group, who were mostly African. When we got their they had their tables laid out and had been having dinner and then at about midnight they put all the tables and chairs round the edge of the room, turned up the kuduro and kizomba and had a dance. There were some really good movers in the group.

I'm really looking forward to the night but I'm also pretty nervous, I'm just hoping whoever does turn up will have fun.

On Saturday S and I met an old friend of hers, P, in a great park in the north of Lisbon, A Quinta das Conchas.

Now one of my big complains about Lisbon is that there isn't much grass but this place is amazing. It was a revelation to S and I. The picnic we had was very nice, just 6 or 7 of us. We chatted and P graced us with probably the best Tyra Banks impression I have ever seen. He's a talented chap.

When it started getting a bit tired and cold we decided to make an evening of it. We made a small pitstop back at the flat to get warmer clothes and then headed over to one of my favourite parts of the city - Martim Monitz. Now this area has something of a bad reputation amongst a few Portuguese. Mainly because the place is, what the UK press would diplomatically call, 'multicultural'. It is basically one of the poorer areas and so where a lot of the immigrants from Africa, India and China have come to live. There is a certain dinginess to the place but I love it. In the daytime the area has some of the best Indian, Chinese and African shops in the city as well as my favourite Indian restaurant in Lisbon, Palacio Indiana.

When we arrived at the square we re-encountered the other guys, this time with a couple of other friends and we went to the nearby esplanade. It was a really nice place with pumping African music, a friendly crowd (and a very friendly barman from Cabo Verde) and S and I have already promised ourselves that we will return. Most people are so nice round there and the Praça itself is one of the nicer in Lisbon and it's with a sense of incomprehension that I have heard some guys here talking about having to pluck up their courage before they go or recounting a night out there as though they had been to Iraq. Strange.

The main course of the evening was a big multicultural festival that had been taking place over the weekend which was being rounded off with a large free concert in the Largo do Intendente. Well now if Martim Monitz is like Iraq for some people then Largo do Intendente must be like walking through Bagdad with an "I hate Muhammed" t-shirt on.. It is the roughest bit of the roughest area but I used to work near there, know the area pretty well and I really like it. S and I spent a good while in awe of the apartments around there which must be huge and dirt cheap.

The concert was much better than I had dared to expect, I'm not the biggest fan of 'World Music' but the guys we were with helped me get in the mood and the band were surprisingly good. They were the typical mixture of umpteen different nationalities and styles but it was nice to have a dance and was definitely worth the free entry.

I have to say not everyone enjoyed it as much as we did though:



This guy had obviously had the foresight to bring a chair but not to stop himself from getting absolutely hammered on red wine that he kept in that coke bottle. Unfortunately I woke the chap up taking the next photo and then had an embarrassing and hasty walk away.

The concert was wonderful, it didn't finish too late but S and I were completely knackered (It's one of the things about Portugal, the night before, even though we didn't think we'd been out that late we actually went to bed at 03h30) so we headed home and to bed.

What a way to start a day!...

If I see another chubby legged girl in 'wet look' leggings I am going to scream cry.