Finally a well earned weekend...

Classes/training finished 2 hours late, as usual, on top of all on a Friday and this time I didn’t have my usual healing at the end of the day (although it has as a consequence very few hours of sleep and people asking me why I’m so pale ;) But without this certain spiritual healing I couldn’t do this…

Now happy stuff, I bought this week nearly all the albums I still didn’t have of Beck (only One Foot in the Grave wasn’t at site, but 45 euros was a total madness on only one day and with no salary to smooth stuff) and here comes the really sad thing! Yes, once again! Tomorrow Mr. Beck is performing at Festival da Ilha do Ermal and tomorrow, or better saying, today is Sunday and Ilha do Ermal is about 5 hours, by car, from Lisbon! Unfortunately, Beck will start most probably at 1 o’clock in the morning and I’ve training at 9 o’clock in the morning so as you can guess there won’t be any Beck for me… :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

Although I still doubt it, because somehow Beck as forgotten that he’s playing there because if you check his site you can see that his last gig is at Spain (http://www.beck.com/tour/index.php) not Portugal and the webmaster never forgets to put our country down… But that is wild dreaming, as well as dreaming that he’ll come soon to Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon… My only fear is that tomorrow he’ll see so few people at the festival that he may think that we no longer enjoy him and that it’s not worth coming back… It’s the second concert I miss in a row and what’s hard is knowing I could have gone to the last, but sometimes you just have to do some huge sacrifices… Maybe I’ll grab one of these days a plane to London, with my best friend, and see him there, preferably at a small club! Oh, well dreaming does no harm, does it? Here goes his new video (http://www.beck.com/news) and I really hope people enjoy the one of the best concerts of their life in a few hours, I can only be there in spirit and hoping that my favorite radio (http://www.antena3.pt/) can transmit the concert, hopefully all the concert…

With loads of technical problems but at least it’s a post...

Ok, so for those who visit this blog regularly and I know they are very few, not even a certain person does so, and here is the latest news about me.

Well as you can read some posts below I started a job recruitment process on the 15th of June and after doing IQ tests and a job interview that day, I had to do another job interview the following day for the same company. The company was CGD, witch is the biggest bank in Portugal (it’s still public and all the public employees where forced, until some years ago, to open an account at CGD).

This all to say that on the 17th of June I answered a phone call in the morning which ended up being from CGD. They wanted to know if I wanted to sign a one-year contract with them and it was to start on the 20th of June that is 2 days after! And this all happened last week! As the job is being a cashier and who ever knows me well knows that (after my previous job experience at Caldas da Rainha, which only had my colleague as a very positive aspect) the worst thing I could ever possibly imagine me doing is being behind a balcony selling credit cards and insurance, specially to Portuguese who are already full of debt (they are using 117 or 115% of their salary). After all if it was selling stuff people actually needed…

On top of all I received an offer from Vodafone, but I had to refuse it although the internship was in the marketing department, but 600 euros, that would be only 470 or less euros per month after paying taxes and a highly unstable and fragile job position (no contract signed, it would be kind of a free lance job but with all the obligations of a employee and none of the benefits), would make it impossible for me to live in Lisbon and have money to eat at the end of the month.

I took the hardest decision of my life; I gave up all my dreams, because unless I can get a job soon in marketing it will be better to give up, as afterwards for all the marketing positions available in the future I will lack the most important job characteristic: marketing experience… I’ve given up my dream of working in development projects in Africa, now marketing, so goodbye professional realization, as another dream would be opening my own company but in Portugal that would mean bankruptcy at that takes all the fun of it…

On the bright side, I’m a women and, at least I think so, fertile, so if I can at least fulfill my dream of being a mother and I can feed my children then will have reached happiness!

Ok, now the job at CGD. Well I’ve started classes this Monday, just talking about the bank, how it works, what to do when the agency is robbed, which banking products and services exist, how the financial markets and the banking sector works (loads of the theoretical stuff are a revision from university, but then the bank procedures are not so I’ve to learn that). My colleagues are very nice, some more then others, and it has been tiring but fun, but only because of them and I’ll end up learning lot’s of stuff about banks, for example how they con and deceive us ;)

I’m still hoping I’ll be able to get into P&G as a marketing assistant, but only in a few weeks I’ll find out…

Updates only next weekend

But I can say it's because of a job offer I accepted and because I don't have net at my cousin's house...

Change of plans...

Sorry but I have 2 interviews, one tomorrow, the other on Friday, in Lisbon, so blogging will have to be left for the weekend, when I return from Lisbon (I think staying in Lisbon for the next 2 days will be cheaper for my dear car, poor thing it has worked a lot this week ;)

Just a quickie...

Tomorrow yet more IQ tests for yet another Job process (in this case the biggest bank in Portugal, but for a job as a cashier) and then helping my father so hopefully you’ll have some more news tomorrow/Thursday, I promise ;)

After all I've a higher IQ than I thought I had ;)

That’s it I passed to the second phase of yesterday’s job recruitment process! I kind of think, it is more a question of practice at so many job recruitment processes, as I had already done some of those exercises at other recruitment processes. Oh, well, that means I’ll get lost once again on Monday (if you ever drive in Porto you will understand why I’ll probably get lost twice ;)

The company is Lactogal and it's the leader in dairy products here in Portugal.

More of the same and getting lost ;)

Yesterday guess where I went? Ya, you got it right: yet another job recruitment process. This time it was only IQ tests but this time it had a twist and I’m not talking of the sets of drawings in which you have to guess the picture that is missing ;)

The twist was that it was in Vila do Conde, Oporto and guess you got lost on the way! Me, of course, but until you drive in Porto without having any knowledge of the city nor having a map recorded in your brain you would easily do the same has I did. My father’s GPS didn’t work until I got to Porto, and that was only when I got to Porto for the second time, as Porto has no road signs pointing to Vila do Conde so I was looking for roads I remember seeing in Auto Route the previous day. As IC1 is a road that nearly crosses the whole country, it was not a good guiding point and on top of all I couldn’t find a sign pointing to the airport, so I ended up going to IC2 to get to IC1 (which I didn’t find) and suddenly I’m starting to see signs for A29 – Espinho (if you see the Portuguese map, you can see that first you have Espinho, then Porto and then Vila do Conde, so I was going backwards).

Of course, by this time I was panicking as I had lost already 40 minutes trying to make the GPS work during the way and I only had 20 minutes to get to Vila do Conde at time, I really wanted to phone a certain person, but I ended up getting calm and phoning my Daddy as he had Auto Route in his computer and he is an Ace in traffic orientation. With my father’s directions I got back to the motorway in direction to Porto (not without getting again into the motorway in direction to Espinho, not my fault, as write after the roundabout you had a curve and straight away 2 signs on a fork one pointing to Porto and the other to Espinho, so I had a 5o% chance of getting it right, but I didn’t and there was too much traffic even if I wanted to violate law – Portuguese know what I mean ;)

As soon as I get to Porto, for the second time, the GPS finally decides that I’m no longer at Rio Maior but at Porto and starts giving me directions to Vila do Conde. So never mind what my Daddy told me and just follow the lady’s directions ;)

Well the tests were hard and I didn’t manage to end them in such a short period of time (except the verbal one, which I always find rather easy), so I wasted a gas tank and money at the motorways’ entrances (there are hardly any ones free of charge in our country), but I visited my grandparents so it wasn’t a completely waste of time and money ;)

P.S. – I really must put some songs up and some photos, as this blog must be getting very boring for you, only job interviews and misadventures ;)

P.P.S. – But that will have to wait as I’m helping out my father to do a Access database for Treasury Management (that is my father has done the most and corrected some of the stuff I’ve been doing, as mainly I’ve been coping what he already has done to complete the database).

Finito!!! :D

Well I’ve already finished Vodafone’s challenge so wish me all the best of luck, as I’m really starting to have little options or opportunities… On top of all every time you switch the TV on to the news you get even worse news than the previous day. I know our countries need urgent reforms and I know what is being done is too little, but we are already in our 4 year and a half of recession and crisis and I’m only seeing the poorer and the middle class paying for the incompetence of our last 3 governments (and the one that is now ruling is also highly incompetent, although I still have some hope in my professor as Finance Minister)…

In the end it means more unemployment and for me and some of my friends that is really bad news as it means grabbing anything or putting your life at a full stop and hoping your parents won’t get out of job, otherwise… And sabbatical years right after finishing your degree is not well seen by employers even if they are forced sabbatical years…

But I really have high hopes and it is for the department I most like, so maybe I’ll have good news in the following days :)

Another Job Interview, thoughts on it and shopping :(

Well today I got up at 6 am to arrive at Lisbon about 8 am and catch jam traffic as usual ;) But I got in time for my job interview at Ernst & Young where we did some team work and in the end the dreadful job interview. I’m really bad at “selling” myself, although with so many job interviews I’m finding it easier to just chute the first adjectives I can think of, preferably, those that I think the company is looking for, because it’s so hard to state one’s qualities, I really can’t think of many… In fact, I can stay the whole day just pointing my shortcomings, but if I did so I would never get a job… After talking with my best friend, I think recruiters should change their recruiting process and interview our best friends, after all they are the most fit to say which are our real qualities and state those shortcomings that wouldn’t harm us in a job interview! I’m sure of one thing I could “sell” my best friend to any company, because I’m completely sure about his qualities and his competence!

So after a joyful morning pretending I’m in a consulting firm and a job interview I was prepared to wait for my best friend (now that he’s doing exams I don’t even have weekends to see him), be with him and then doing something I really hate: doing shopping for me, specially when it suits ;)

But eventually after looking in about 5 shops and getting very, very, sore feet due to the bloody shoes (I really need to invest in a pair of Dr. Martens Mary Jane’s) I was wearing - and just whishing I had my Dr. Marten boots – I found a red blazer, 2 red trousers and a red t-shirt, besides a red casual dress and wonders of wonders a black skirt! I actually bought a skirt for work, of course it’s long enough to nearly reach my ankles and thus cover my whole legs ;)

So no swimming today, but yesterday I managed to do 1250 meters (and this morning, besides my arms, my legs were also complaining ;)

Tomorrow I’m going to help my father so I really don’t know if there will be time for swimming before 9:30 pm :(

Challenges and back to swimming ;)

Not much in the last couple of days, although the weekend was really great but until I finish doing Vodafone’s challenge I don’t want to get lost and unfortunately a certain site my best friend showed me has been doing such ;p

I started swimming again today and my first exercise was doing 1000 meters without stopping to get my base pace, which I accomplished with some cheating ;) as you can see:

500 meters in 12 minutes
1 minute rest
200 meters in 4 minutes
1 minute rest
200 meters in 4 minutes
1 minute rest
100 meters of cool down swimming (which I normally never do slowly enough)

Base pace: 2 minutes and 20 seconds per 100 meters

I really suck I know, but that is way I’ve decided I must really regain my physical fitness and now that I’m unemployed I can go to the pool during the mornings/afternoons and not at 9 pm!

Before and...

...after! I had a problem with Hello, but finally I can show you what happened to Mitsy last week! Poor thing she was so frightened when she arrived from the vet! It was the first time her hair was shaved, but she had so many knots that there was no other alternative ;)

Algumas das ideias mais marcantes para mim...

até agora (ainda estou a meio) do livro de José Gil, Portugal, Hoje: O Medo de Existir, Relógio D'Água Editores, 7ª Edição, Março 2005. Recomendo vivamente o livro, é excelente e o Sr. José Gil foi considerado com um dos 20 maiores pensadores vivos, por isso expandam a vossa mente e criem novas perspectivas da vossa realidade!

"(...) muito se herdou e se mantém das antigas inércias e mentalidades da época da ditadura: desde o medo, que sobrevive com outras formas, à «irresponsabilidade» que predomina ainda nos comportamentos dos portugueses. (...) no tempo de Salazar «nada acontecia» por excelência. Atolada num mal difuso e omnipresente a existência individual não chegava sequer a vir à tona da vida. E o que era uma vida, nesse tempo? Aquilo que ditava o ideal moral do Salazarismo: uma sucessão de actos obscuros, com tanto mais valor quanto se faziam modestos, humildes, despercebidos... Onde inscrevê-los, senão na eternidade muda das almas, segundo a visão católica própria de Salazar?
Nisso como em tantos outros aspectos, o Portugal de hoje prolonga o antigo regime. A não-inscrição não data de agora, é um velho hábito que vem sobretudo da recusa imposta ao indivíduo de se inscrever. Porque inscrever implica acção, afirmação, decisão com as quais o indivíduo conquista autonomia e sentido para a sua existência. Foi o Salazarismo que nos ensinou a irresponsabilidade - reduzindo-nos a crianças, crianças grandes, adultos infantilizados." Páginas 16-17

Esta última frase nunca poderia ser mais verdadeira, é o perfeito exemplo da mentalidade do deixar tudo para a última hora e a do "outro": a sida, os acidentes rodoviários, as gravidezes inesperadas, os preservativos rasgados ou furados, a hepatite, etc. acontecem sempre aos outros, nunca a nós ou a culpa é sempre dos outros, nunca nossa. São puramente incapazes de assumir as suas responsabilidades, o que explica, em parte, as taxas de infectados e mortes nas estradas no país.

"(...) a lentidão da «aprendizagem da democracia» (...) pelo povo português. (...) refiro-me ao medo, à passividade, à aceitação sem revolta do que o poder propõe ao povo. Como se, tal como antigamente, a força da indignação, a reacção ao que tantas vezes aparece como intolerável, escandaloso, infame na sociedade portuguesa (tolerado, aceite, querido talvez pela maneira como as leis e regras democráticas se concretizam na sociedade, quer dizer no húmus das relações humanas) se voltasse para dentro num queixume infindável quanto à «república das bananas» ou «a trampa» que decididamente constituiria e essência eterna de Portugal, em vez de se exteriorizar em acção." páginas 39-40

Exemplo disso é a passividade do povo perante a incompetência dos últimos governos, povo que se deixa deslumbrar por Expo's, Euro's e afins e que deixa que a corrupção e incompetência os governe até à falência.

"Porque o 25 de Abril não conseguiu abolir a divisão instruído/sem instrução (concordo totalmente, daí que em Portugal um licenciado é logo o Sr. Doutor ou o Sr. Engenheiro, dono de toda a verdade e sabedoria e se ele diz que é assim, é porque é assim, afinal de contas estudou, mas infelizmente os livros não ensinam a viver e por vezes os "sem instrução" tem tanto para ensinar) que correspondia mais ou menos ao par poder-saber/pobreza-ignorância do tempo do Salazarismo. Porque na sociedade portuguesa actual, o medo, a reverência, o respeito temeroso, a passividade perante as instituições e os homens supostos deterem e dispensarem o poder-saber não foram ainda quebrados por novas forças de expressão da liberdade." página 40

E aqui homenagear Estaline como um herói não é uma expressão da liberdade, mas mais uma vez o exemplo da passividade da sociedade portuguesa perante as instituições e os "homens poder-saber".

The Kills Session - BBC Collective

Yet some more jewels ;)

Love is a deserter live at BBC

The good ones live at BBC

Interview with the Kills

The good ones' video - I still haven't decided if I like or not the video, it remembers me too much of snakes ;)

Dead road 7 track

Ticketman track

And you will also need Real Player

Beck Session - Radio One - BBC Collective

Just some small little jewels you can find in the net

E-pro Live at Radio One

Black Tambourine Live at Radio One

Broken Drum Live at Radio One

Get Real Paid Live at Radio One

E-pro's video

This Summer's Hit: E-pro

You will need
Real Player

Resignation letters

This morning I went and give my boss and the employment center (that was co-financing my internship) my resignation letters, so supposedly from the 31st of May I’ll be officially unemployed :) Officially, because I’m already at home as my boss didn’t want me to work the remaining days.

Today I said goodbye to my co-workers, the oldest one even hugged me, such a sweet lady :)

I will really miss the other girl who was doing the internship with me, but as she lives really close to my hometown we will still see each other! I just hate the fact that I made her lie for me, without her knowledge, to my boss saying I went to accompany my mother to doctors, when most of the times I was going to job interviews… I really regret doing so, but my parents really wanted me to keep the job… Anyway at least 2 or 3 times she did tell the truth, as there were sometimes I really had to take my mother to see a doctor due to her back aches.

The best part was really arriving home and going to bed again ;)

Once again "Glorioso SLB" ;)

Photo by Paulo Amorim - Lusa

Here are some photos of the party I missed, but I lived 5 years with the both stadiums as a view and they didn't win, as soon as I return to my parents' house they win and I miss the huge party :(

Photo by Paulo Amorim - Lusa

The heroes

Photo by Paulo Amorim - Lusa

The winning team parading through the streets of Lisbon, from the airport to the stadium, way after 2 am

Photo by Andre Kosters - Lusa

The party at Marques de Pombal, the main central square in Lisbon!

Another job interview and quitting my current job :D

Today I went to do tests at P&G, but I really don’t know if I was lucky, they were more difficult than the ones I did last Friday at Galp. But hope is the last thing to die ;)

As doing these tests meant getting to my job only at 3 pm and I was really sick and tired of missing half days every time I wanted to go to a job interview and being forced to always invent lies to my boss, I decided to inform him I wanted to quit the internship!

It was the best thing I ever did! I was getting everyday more and more unmotivated to get up and go to a work where I hardly had anything to do, were I would never stay even if my boss wanted and even if the salary was attractive! I only had more 2 months of internship to do but that would mean not going to work more times to go to job interviews and being forced to lie not only to my boss but to my co-worker, which was horrible as she is such a nice girl and has always been honest to me! Lying like this was making me very guilty as it was totally against me ethics!

My father reacted better then I expected, as the main reason why I kept working was because he was making some pressure for me not to quit as the salary was quite good. Otherwise, oh boy, I would have quit a long time ago! Money isn’t everything in live, job satisfaction is the most important factor for me and having hardly anything to do, starting to feel completely stagnated and with the sense you are not learning anything and you won’t ever learn much in that place… Then being in a place where your boss talks about loads of projects and how he intends to expand and so on… But then seeing the months pass by (nearly 8 months) and nothing has changed due to lack of decision taking of your boss, working nearly 7 months sharing a computer with your co-worker starts to get on your nerves and throw you down!

So I was really glad when I told my boss I wanted to quit was to most freeing thing I’ve done in the last months and I came all the way back home with a smile on my face!!!

So know here I’m once again unemployed, about 1800 euros poorer but happy :)

Glorioso SLB

SLB, SLB, SLB, Glorioso SLB, Glorioso SLB!!! 11 years after, we are once again champions!!! 6 million Portuguese and some more benfiquistas (our club is considered one of the 10 mystical football clubs by FIFA because there are about 14 millions benfiquistas all around the world) won't sleep tonight, but I've a job interview tomorrow so there will only be 6 million less one ;) For those wondering, Sport Lisboa e Benfica (SLB) is the biggest and best ;) football team in Portugal!

Sweet red dreams ;)

Another case of injustice...

Our government has started a huge inspection operation aiming shops and restaurants owned by Chinese. That is fair; as if they want to do business in a country they should obey the laws of that country. However the truth is that this operation only happened due to pressure from Portuguese retailers and restaurants and here comes the unfairness: the same people who in most cases don't obey Portuguese laws!

In fact if our government went and check the Portuguese shops and restaurants that are next to the Chinese ones it would receive even more money in fines and I can say that hardly any restaurant in the country would remain open. Laws don't only apply to foreigners; it's only fair that Portuguese should also obey them. Closing down foreign businesses because they do the same thing as Portuguese owners isn't fair, it's highly disgusting in a country that should be tolerant. It seems that Portuguese have forgotten quite fast that they also had to leave Portugal looking for a better life for those that they loved.

I know Chinese constitute a threat too many Portuguese businesses, but Portuguese have also done nothing to prepare themselves. China has a competitive advantage in cheap labor, something that used to be a competitive advantage of Portugal, but it was obvious it would never be sustainable in the long term and what did Portuguese do? They bought luxurious cars and houses with the money they received from EU instead of investing in the modernization of their businesses and then buy the cars and houses with the profits they would eventually receive.

The solution is not to close Chinese businesses in our country based on the fact that they don't obey our law, as I can tell you loads of places where Portuguese sell counteract products and have cockroaches in their restaurants (at the very least), so law should be fair and close down all of those who don't obey Portuguese laws: including Portuguese owned businesses.
What I think that the world should do is take the advantage of the fact that Chinese want to get into the world trade (and benefit from it) and pressure it to finish with the violation of Human Rights in their country, not only of civilians but also of the conditions in which its population has to work (long hours for hardly any money or none at all), as well as implementing environmental friendly policies. This would of course mean work better paid for Chinese and less emigration as well as less competitive prices in the world market and more fairness in the world trade (the same applies to protectionist policies of the richest countries which only hurt poor countries, such as Latin and African ones).

O Avante - Portuguese Communist Party's official newspaper

I was so chocked to read these articles in DN (http://www.dn.pt/), one of the most read newspapers in Portugal, on Monday. It seems that our Portuguese Communist Party decided to compliment Stalin, saying he was a great man; a hero and implying that the "20 million deaths" he was accused of (by his own party, by the way) were excusable (with the "" saying more that it's not true, it was only a conspiracy against their hero).

I know we live in a free country and everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion, but for me that only applies when your opinions/actions don't cause any harm to nobody. Freedom does not mean you can say whatever you want and that you can do whatever you want, freedom is being free yes but respecting those that surround you and their own freedom, and it must be a responsible freedom.

I shiver when I read these news and think of the kids that read this stuff. What are we trying to do erase history? Stalin was one of the worst monsters who ever lived in the world, he was has bad as Hitler, he just was intelligent enough not to invade other countries and to kill all those who were against him, even those of his party.

20 million victims cannot be forgotten, nor the families and friends who lost them, millions who survived gulags and concentration camps, who had to survive the pain of losing family and friends. History cannot be erased like this, people must never forget the atrocities committed by Hitler, Stalin and such other monsters, and they must never forget how evil human beings can be.

Yes Russia was a great ally during the Second World War but that doesn’t excuse Stalin and what happened in Russia and the regions under Russia's control. Helping to win a war against Nazis is no excuse for becoming a Nazi!

And I can't believe that Portuguese don't go out to the streets and force this idiotic editor to resign and chuck him and his journalists out of the country, because defending monsters is something our country should be ashamed of!!! What I find quite amusing is the fact that Portuguese had no problems to manifest against George Bush and the Iraq war, but don't have the balls to do some justice in their own country!!! What do you want? A country who has forgotten the examples of the past, allowing that the same atrocities occur again?

In name of the Portuguese I apologize to the families and friends of the 20 million people who perished under Stalin's rule. Normal Portuguese don't worship monsters! And we don't want to live in a country where Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin's lovers can write barbaric stuff and influence our children's minds!!!

I'm starting to understand what a Polish friend of mine said about Germany's news coverage of the Second World War or the Chinese when Japan "forgot" to put in Japanese history books the atrocities committed by them in the past.

More job interviews

Well for those wondering, KPMG dispensed me as I must have failed the math’s tests.. Meanwhile, I’ll have some more tests at Ernst & Young on Monday morning (1st phase of the recruiting process), but I’m still hoping that I’ll receive a phone call from Vodafone saying they want me next week or next month, as it is a internship in marketing. P&G sent me an email saying they were sorry but their internship in human resources was only for students who are ending their course now (first time I was dispensed from a job interview because I had too much experience ;)

And I’m still waiting for an answer from Galp and Nike. Anyway, I don’t know whether my boss won’t fire me on Monday, because this month it will be the 4th or 5th time I go to a doctor or accompany my mother to the hospital (that is, I go to a job interview without him knowing). But if that happens I’ll be relieved as I’m really hating the fact that I’ve to lie to go to job interviews, even if it’s my boss’s fault that working in his company his boring, tedious and I’m tired of hearing promises about having a computer only for me or more work or having more products and projects introduced into the company. Sincerely I think I’ll be with out a job at the end of the internship and that will be in the begging of August, which means, that I’ll have to wait until January or June, again, to land with a job at a good company.

My wish list is frightening

I have only been adding CDs and I think I passed today the barrier of 80 CDs and I know there are still loads of CDs missing :((( I really must start to buy some, otherwise the list will only grow. I guess I will have to print the list as soon as I receive my next pay check (unless I'll end up needing the money to pay room rent if I land with a job in Lisbon). Music will end up making me bankrupt but I never had enough money to buy it, so now my CD collection is nearly 15 years late :(((

Old hand washing tank

You can't see very well, but it was the best I could find ;) Maybe someday I'll have a camera , when I see one of these as they are becoming quite rare, and I'll be able to post a better photo. This one is located in Azeitão, Portugal.

Palácio Nacional de Queluz and the Grupo Coral de Queluz - 08/05/2005

On the same Sunday as the Mamma Mia! Show I went with my mother to Palácio Nacional de Queluz to see a friend of mine perform in a choral group called Grupo Coral de Queluz. We only went to one of the rooms of the palace; I suppose it used to be a ballroom and it was beautiful.

We got there late so we missed the first 2 songs of my friend’s choral group but we were still in time to see the Jograis (people who sing/recite poetry) who were singing/reciting poetry, mainly poetry about the 25th of April which was the day that Portugal had a more or less pacific revolution (only a few people died in Portugal, in the old colonies there were still a lot of Portuguese who died) that ended the dictatorship regime in which the country was living. I’ve always found it hard to follow recited poetry, I really enjoy more reading the poetry to myself and absorb it that way, the message is much clearer to me. My mother didn’t enjoy the poetry as her level of Portuguese isn’t the best and even my friend told me that their performance was too big as they asked the Jograis to sing only for 20 minutes (they were the guests) but they nearly sang for 1 hour.

After the Jograis left the stage, we had the chance to enjoy my friend’s performance. I can’t say if she sang well as she was singing with the rest of the choral group, but as it seemed that nobody was singing badly I think she must have sang quite well. They repertoire was quite nice, beautiful Portuguese traditional songs and some were even accompanied by a piano, so it was a nice way too pass my afternoon.

After the concert we went and see the place where the choral group rehearses. It used to be a place were people, in the old days, washed their clothes by hand and I think you can only find these kind of places in Portugal, a few are still being used by older people. I remember going to the river, with my granny, when I arrived in Portugal, to wash clothes, but when I went with my granny it was to a natural washing place by the river (she didn’t enjoy the one which had been built, before the river and only my granpa gave bath to his dogs there). Maybe I can get a photo as I can’t describe this place to those who have never seen such a place.

Anyway they used the old hand washing place and covered it to build the rehearsal place and it is now quite a cozy place to be. Afterwards we went to have some a slice of cake with tea/coffee which my friend insisted paying so thanks once again for the lovely concert and of course the cake and coffee ;)

For those who live in Portugal I recommend a visit to Palácio Nacional de Queluz (as you can see in the picture it also has a beautiful garden that I must check, as I didn’t have time to do so) and to go and see my friend in one of her concerts (you can find a calendar with the scheduled concerts in this link http://grupocoraldequeluz.no.sapo.pt/agenda.htm).
Palácio Nacional de Queluz

Mamma Mia - 9:30 pm - 8/5/2005

Our gift for our mother on Mother’s Day was a ticket for a musical called Mamma Mia, which has as an inspiration ABBA’s music. As my dear father didn’t want to accept the other ticket I went with my mother.

Well ABBA remembers me a lot of South Africa, as much as Modern Talking and Queen (don’t talk with me I was only 5/6 years old, what option I had other than listening to my parents music?). Mozart and Phantom of the Opera remembers me my first contact with music chosen by me. Michael Jackson and Thriller, I’m Bad and Guns and Roses, remembers me summer holydays in Nantwich, England. Anyway they are all better then Marco Paulo (and Portuguese know what I mean;)), who reminds me of the trips to the beach, Foz do Arelho, when I was a child. I was quite amazed at the number of songs I actually knew (nearly all) and although I don’t appreciate this type of music I must say the musical is very well done. The whole story fits the songs, as if the songs are just an extension of the actor’s lines and it has a light British humor.

And I bet the choreographer is a woman or gay, men didn’t have that much to appreciate, now women… ;) Lots of young lads only with tight underwear or body board suits and none of them with a body too built ;) A nice sight for this time of the year ;p

The thing I found most interesting was the band/orchestra (kind of a hybrid between both). It had a maestro, computers, keyboards, electric guitars, classic guitars and bass, the rest of the instruments’ sounds, I suppose, where kept in the computer and most probably the musicians at the keyboards were responsible for the flutes and other which we could hear… It was the first time I was able to see all the gadgets of this technology as the musicians were unfortunately covered and I could not see the rest of the process (only in the break).

Anyway my mother just loved it, she even gave me a huge kiss and hug at the end of the show. We really don’t realize how lucky we are in having the opportunity of seeing most of the bands we enjoy live, even in Portugal, where unfortunately many bands seem to ignore us or maybe they just think we are also Spaniards ;)

It was nice to see loads of people of my parents age, even people of my grandparents age, getting up in the end and clapping their hands and you could see they were really enjoying themselves, as if something had awaken in them, something which was fast asleep for such a long time. Respectable adults screaming and whistling, even dancing as if they were teenagers/youngsters once again…

In the end as much as I don’t enjoy ABBA, I must say it was a fun show to watch and seeing my mother so happy was well worth it J

P.S.- Then came Come as You Are and my life and music taste changed radically, thank God, although I still love classic music ;)

Copenhagen (København), Denmark

It seems I have been having visits from Copenhagen, so here are my special thanks!!! I am only curious about how you found out this blog ;), maybe it’s my buddy… Anyway thanks, I enjoyed a lot my short visit in your absolutely beautiful city, it was only a pity all the rain ;)

Something to think about

The other day I saw a Portuguese blog criticizing people who are against the use of animals skins to do clothes. In the same post it also talked about abortion, as we are most probably having a referendum on whether we agree or not with the decriminalization of abortion until 10 weeks of pregnancy (although the law that the government wants to approve also legalizes abortion until 16 weeks of pregnancy in case of bad formation of the fetus, the life of the baby or of the mother is in danger or if the women states she has economic difficulties – that is, the government is trying to throw sand at our eyes, because 10 weeks are not 4 months).

Anyway my mind made a connection between the two topics. I know a girl who was asked by a university colleague to sign a petition to legalize abortion in Portugal. When she refused to do so as she is against the measure, the other girl started to offend her saying stuff such as “it is because of conservative/old-fashioned/ignorant people such as you that this country is like this. People who think the place of a women is behind a stove, at home, taking care of children, and so on…”

Never mind freedom of speech (this Monday Portugal celebrated 31 years of freedom from a dictatorship) as everybody is entitled to their own opinion and if a person does not agree with the legalization why should she be forced do sign a petition in favor of it.

The fact that I find amusing is that this girl that was trying to force somebody to sign a petition through social and psychological coercion is the type of person that will defend vehemently against the use of fur in clothes. For me this is a person with highly conflicting opinions (or better saying a person who is manipulated to think certain things because those that surround her think like that and she needs social acceptance) or she regards the life of animals as being infinitely more important than the life of human beings.

I have read that some psychologists have done research to find out at what age a fetus starts having feelings. They have found out that with only 7 weeks the child starts to have feelings in the womb of his/her mother. So I can’t agree with the legalization of a practice that will allow people to kill human beings, because for me a human being is one who has feelings. And I can’t agree with such a practice in a country where the pill is available for free in hospitals (and even if it where not what are 2,5 euros or even 5 euros – without prescription - per month), where the second day pill is available in any pharmacy with or without a medical prescription and where the law already allows abortion in case of rape, bad formation of the fetus or the life of the baby or the mother is in danger (which are for me valid reasons to do an abortion).

I think people should worry more about why so many women abort, they should concentrate in solving the causes of the problem, what is the use of allowing abortion at will? Will that make poor women’s life less miserable? Will that make mothers to be of 12/14 years stop getting pregnant (and most of them have access to information on contraceptives at school and how to avoid an unwished pregnancy)? Will that stop the culture of total irresponsibility of most women who get pregnant (with the exception of the cases the law already contemplates)? Of women/men who have sex unprotected, fully conscious of risking getting pregnant or catching AIDS?

Sometimes it would be useful for some people to hear some conversations between girls, some of them saying without a regret that they forget to take the pill or stop taking the pill and not telling their boyfriends in hope of getting pregnant and nailing the guy.

Well this just to say how can a person defend animals and abortion? I’m totally against the abuse of animals and having them being killed so that “oh! I’m so high society, chic, and so on..,” can use their vision jackets and such… I personally think Canadians who kill every year baby seals who are in extinction (no matter what they say) should be beaten to death just like they do to those poor baby animals. But that doesn’t mean I think animals are more important than people (at least than some people, as Bin Ladens, Kims, Saddams, Mugabes, Darfur’s criminals, and so on deserve to rot in a prison until they die, as death would be too humanitarian for theses monsters), for me harming animals is so revolting, even more when I think that does that do so are just one step of doing the same to a child, just one step… And that is shocking!!!

Killing a child because you were irresponsible isn’t a solution for me, people must be hold responsible for their acts and if they think they have enough age and are responsible/mature enough to have sex than they should just have to handle the consequences.

Just two thoughts to end:

How come women who do illegal abortions defend themselves most of the times with the allegation that they had already lots of children and that they didn’t have sufficient economic conditions to raise another child, but they pay for the abortion about 500 euros (how many pills, second day pills and condoms can you buy with 500 euros?)? This in a country where there are thousands of couples trying to adopt a child and where there are only a few hundreds of children in conditions of being adopted?

Why is it always the right of the women to do what she wants with her body? Doesn’t the father have something to say? Why can’t a man take the responsibility of raising a child by himself, as the woman doesn’t desire such a burden, why can a women just deny fatherhood to one who desires it eagerly, but decide to have the baby on her own as if the baby belonged only to her (as if a human being belongs to someone)?

A human being is not the body of a woman, even if she has to feed it for 9 months, and killing a baby because of irresponsibility and selfishness is totally inhuman!!!

So this is my statement: I don’t agree with the total legalization of abortion and I’m entitled to have my own opinion, just like other people are entitled to theirs and I respect them (as long as it doen's mean violating the liberty of others and doing harm to others). I’m a young adult, with superior education, i.e., educated and cult and I think women should have the same rights and duties as men, which includes the right to choose between having a job or staying at home (if the family can afford it and why not the man staying at home), the right of being respected as a fellow human being and of making her own decisions, but always accepting the consequences of her actions, behaviors and decisions.

FAREWELL RIDE

Ok, you really must hear this song, only then you can understand the irony of the lyrics and I just love the way Mr. Beck sings “all I need is two white horses” ;) This one is one of those got stuck right a way in my head… You also have obviously, E-Pro, and some other such as Sending a Message to Her or Qué Onda Guero or Black Tambourine

As usual listening to a new Beck album means hearing it closely, just enjoying the music and slowly starting to love what seemed so weird the first time you heard a specific song, but that is what geniuses usually do, they creep bit by bit until they become part of you and that’s when making music and listening to it is worth it ;) And Beck always suprises you with yet a new twist, something so not what you expected, but as soon as you start creating an intimacy and a bond with the songs, as soon as you connect with them (and you always do), you just start to love everything about them and you cannot wait until you see him once again on stage or for his new album!

I wonder what would happen if one just grabbed all of Beck’s songs and then just clicked the reshuffle button, I supposed it would be quite an schizophrenic exercise or else the big picture would just be so perfect, so clear, just has when you use for the first time a pair of contact lenses and the world seems so clear, not that you didn’t already see it as it was but it so much clear and this hits you so strongly as if you were seeing everything for the first time…

Didn’t understand? Listen to Mr. Beck’s lyrics, lots of bits that don’t seem to fit, but oh do they fit ;)

So here goes Farewell Ride

Two white horses in a line carrying me to my burying
ground some need diamonds some need love some need
cards some need luck
some need dollar bills lining their clothes
all I need is all I need is two white horses in a line taking
me for my farewell ride some may say this might be
your last farewell ride
I don't see the face of
kindness I don't hear the
mission bells I don't smell
the morning roses all I see
is all I see is
two white horses in a line
carrying me to my burying ground
some may say this might be
your last farewell ride

P.S.- By the way I also want “two white horses in a line taking me for my farewell ride” ;)

Um blog a ver...

Tem fotos fabulosas, não sei aonde é que ela vai as buscar mas algumas são de cortar a respiração!

http://estrelavertiginosa.blogspot.com/

O mundo é tão pequeno, basta ver aonde é que eu encontrei um link para o meu blog favorito ;) 

Job Interviews

Yesterday I went to a job interview at BP. It went more or less, it could have been better, but I always end up getting too nervous and I think I talk too much, too fast and always at the job interviews that I'm most interested in ;) Now I'll have to have a stop in job interviews as this month I've already been to the doctor twice and I can't afford to loose my actual job ;)

So as you can see not much as happened in my life...

Posts eliminados

A pedido de uma pessoa tive que eliminar alguns posts, se mais alguém não quiser as suas fotos neste blog podiam-me avisar para as eliminar. Não quero violar o direito à privacidade de cada um, por isso senão quiserem ver fotos vossas divulgadas neste site avisem-me. De qualquer forma o site não é público (ou seja, se procurarem num motor de busca ou no motor de busca do blogger ele não aparece), é preciso que eu dê o link do site a alguém ou alguém escrever no endereço sem querer lerato.blogspot.com Como é óbvio não quero que toda a gente tenha acesso facilitado à minha vida e nem me dava jeito dado que teci comentários sobre o meu emprego que convém que o meu patão não as leia ;)

Peço novamente desculpa por ter posto as fotos sem consultar-vos, mas como só eu e a Rita é que as recebemos, pensei que assim seria mais fácil toda a gente ter acesso às fotos.

My Copenhagen Photos 2...

...have been updated with the photos Kazik so kindly sent me! Thanks once again! The photos were taken by Martim another polish who will visit our University this winter.

Thanks Kazik for the photos! And this is one only Martim could have taken: taking a photo with a sign saying "No Photos" and just after our guide had told us not to do so ;) This is the famous Pusher Street in Christiania (The Free City), Copenhagen, where you could buy and smoke joints without a problem. Or at least that was how it was supposed to be, as the Danish police was trying to close down their business. That is why we were not supposed to take photos, so there was no proofs of the traffic. 

So isn't he just absolutely divine ;) It's just a pity he's already married ;p

21, 28 or 29th of March??? Who cares I just can't wait...

and next week as soon as I arrive home I'll have the new deluxe edition of Guero by Beck waiting for me ;) After all the reviews I've read it seems it will be another fantastic album, it may not be a huge suprise as all the other albuns, but I certain it must be still an evolution as this is only one of the biggest genious in the music world and one of the 4 most divine, still living guys, in the world ;)

Here is www.allmusic.com review:

"Ever since his thrilling 1994 debut with Mellow Gold, each new Beck album was a genuine pop cultural event, since it was never clear which direction he would follow. Kicking of his career as equal parts noise-prankster, indie folkster, alt-rocker and ironic rapper, he's gone to extremes, veering between garishly ironic party music to brooding heartbroken baroque-pop, and this unpredictability is a large part of his charm, since each album was distinct from the one before. That remains true with Guero, his eight album (sixth, if you don't count 1994's Stereopathetic Soul Manure and One Foot in the Grave, which some don't) but the surprising thing here is that it sounds for all the world like a good, straight-ahead, garden variety Beck album, which is something he's never delivered prior to this 2005 release. In many ways, Guero is deliberately designed as a classicist Beck album, a return to the sound and aesthetic of his 1996 masterwork Odelay. After all, he's reteamed with the producing team of the Dust Brothers, who are widely credited for the dense, sample collage sound of Odelay, and the light, bright Guero stands in stark contrast to the lush melancholy of 2002's Sea Change while simultaneously bearing a knowing kinship to the sound that brought him his greatest critical and commercial success in the mid-'90s. This has all the trappings of being a cold, calculating maneuver, but the album never plays as crass. Instead, it sounds as if Beck, now a husband and father in his mid-'30s, is revisiting his older aesthetic and sensibility from a new perspective. The sound has remained essentially the same — it's still a kaleidoscopic jumble of pop, hip-hop and indie-rock, with some Brazilian and electro touches thrown in — but Beck is a hell of a lot calmer, never indulging in the lyrical or musical flights of fancy or the absurdism that made Mellow Gold and Odelay such giddy listens. He now operates with the skill and precision of a craftsman, never dumping too many ideas into one songs, paring his words down to their essentials, mixing the record for a wider audience than his friends. Consequently, Guero never is as surprising or enthralling as Odelay, but Beck is also not trying to be as wild and funny as he was a decade ago. He's shifted away from exaggerated wackiness — which is good, since it wouldn't wear as well on a 34 year-old as it would on a man a decade younger — and concentrated on the record-making, winding up with a thoroughly enjoyable LP that sounds warm and familiar upon the first play and gets stronger with each spin. No, it's not a knock-out, the way his first few records were, but it's a successful mature variation on Odelay, one that proves that Beck's sensibility will continue to reap rewards for him as he enters his second decade of recording. " By by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

So just enjoy!!!

The desserts!!!

As many people have asked me for the recipes of the desserts here they go (sorry but as my melktert was not right and I was only able to get the recipe in Afrikaans I cannot post it, as I don’t understand a word of it)…

30-days Muffings (which means you can have the dough in the fridge for 30 days before baking it)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups and a half of all-purpose flour / 2 chavénas e meia de farinha
- 1 and a half cups of brown sugar (the original recipe asks for yellow sugar but I think brown sugar tastes better) / 1 chavéna e meia de acuçar mascavado (a receita original pede açucar amarelo mas eu acho que o mascavado sabe melhor)
- 2 and a half teaspoons of bicarbonate / 2 colheres e meia de chá de bicarbonato de sódio
- 2 cups of bran flour / 2 chavénas de farelo

- 2 well-beaten eggs / 2 ovos bem batidos
- 2 cups of milk / 2 chavénas de leite
- 1 cup of oil / 1 chavéna de óleo
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence / 1 colher de chá de essência de baunilha
- Nothing or raisins or, as Paulo suggested, peanuts ;) / Passas, Tamâras ou nada ou outro fruto seco

Mix all the dry ingredients and then join the liquid ingredients. Mix it all very well and leave it in the fridge from one day to the other (or just do it like I do, bake them straight away ;) Bake it for about 15 minutes (or until dry when you stick a piece of spaggetti in the muffing, when they have already grown and become dark brown) in the oven at a medium temperature.

Misturar todos os ingredientes secos e depois junta-se todos os ingredientes liquidos. Mexe-se bem e deixa-se repousar no frigorífico de um dia para o outro. Esta massa pode ficar no frigorífico até 30 dias. Podem fazer como eu que depois de misturar tudo não coloco no frigorífico mas logo no forno médio durante 15 minutos ou até o pau de spaggetti ficar seco quando o espeto num dos muffings, que devem já estar crescidos e castanho escuros.

Cheesecake

For the base:
- 1 packet of Marie Biscuts
- 125 grams of margarine (and only that otherwise the base will become too hard)

Melt the margarine and mix it with the Marie biscuits already crushed into small pieces (I find the 1,2,3 very useful to crush the biscuits into small pieces ;). Use a pie plate (or a pirex) or some kind of recipient that has a flat bottom and is high all around the plate and cover the sides and the bottom with the margarine/biscuits mixture. Afterwards melt a packet of jelly (any flavor you like, but tutti-frutti cuts a little bit of the sweet of the condensed milk) with 250ml of boiling water and stick it into the deepfreeze (if you don’t want to wait for too long), mixing it once a while until it cools down. Beat 200ml of cream into chantilly (don’t worry if you can’t I never can as I double the recipe, but it helps if the cream is very cold), then add a tin of condensed milk, 250ml of cream cheese and the jelly already cooled down. Mix it all and pour it into the pirex and let it get stiff in the fridge.

Para a base:
- 1 pacote de Bolachas Maria
- 125 gramas de margarina (e só mesmo isso senão a base fica demasiado dura)

Derrete-se a margarina e mistura-se a com as bolachas Maria todas esmigalhadas (a picadora/1,2,3 ajuda imenso a esmigalha-las). Cobre-se um pirex no fundo e dos lados com esta mistura. Depois derrete-se um pacote de gelatina (pode-se usar o sabor que se quiser mas a de tutti-frutti é a melhor que corta o doce do leite condensado e não torna o cheesecake enjoativo) com 250ml de água a ferver, deixa-se arrefecer no congelador (se quiserem que arrefeça rapidamente), mexendo de vez em quando até arrefecer. Bater 200ml de natas até ficarem duras (não se preocupem senão ficar, eu faço sempre o dobro da receita e nunca fica, mas ajuda se as natas tiverem bem frias) e depois acrescentar uma lata de leite condensado, 250ml de queijo creme (ou queijo natural paturagés que vem num boião de 500ml, daí que faça sempre o dobro) e a gelatina já arrefecida. Mexe-se tudo bem, deita-se no pirex e deixa-se ficar firme no frigorífico.

It was my Aunty Irene who gave me these recipes so: Thank You and thanks from everybody who always enjoys your wonderful desserts and dishes ;) ENJOY!!!

The long awaited lunch at my house 13-03-2005

One day somebody remembered from our university group of girls that, as most of us didn’t have enough money to go to last-year trip abroad with all those who had entered university at the same time as us, we should do our own last-year trip. Our trip would consist of sleeping over each others house and getting to know different parts of Portugal. So after a wonderful lunch at Ana’s house near Torres Novas (you can see the maps below if you are interested), it was my turn to invite the girls and, of course, their boyfriends to my parent’s house for a lunch with some South-African dishes: Boerewors (Farmers sausage), Mealie Pup (Cornmeal mush), Melktert (dessert), Chessecake and Muffings!

Unfortunately not everybody was able to join us, but if they ever want to drop by they are very welcomed! The same goes for Tasquinhas (type of a gastronomic fair in which all the small villages around Rio Maior compete with each other, during a week, with their traditional dishes and in the end the one with better decoration and food wins the 1st place), as only Ana, Henrique, Fatima, Rui, Nuno and Marina joined me!

I hope everybody enjoyed the night and day as much as I did and lets see if we meet once again very soon!

A picture of part of Portugal where number one is my hometown, just so you can have some perspective...

Rio Maior (my hometown) and Ana's hometown

If you ever want lettuce free of any kind of insects, even the smallest just ask me, but be kind enough to tell me about 1 hour and a half before, that was how long it took me to clean a big lettuce and a half ;p

Mommy will kill me for posting this photo ;p

Rita, Ana and Henrique on my kitchen's couch

Marina and Fatima in my kitchen

The river that gives our town's name or is it the town that gives our river's name? Ya! Very polluted but that day it was more or less at least Caves Dom Teodósio (a factory that produces wine in Rio Maior) didn't give it a red wine colour, as it does sometimes...

Gooses or another kind of duck? And once again river Rio Maior (Rio also means river and by the way Maior means bigger and as you can see our river is huge ;)

One of Rio Maior's alleys

(I'm not religious and I've only seen this celebration once when I was 7 or 8 years old when my Granny from Oporto was here passing some days with us, so I think it's every year) Every year, 2 weeks before Easter Rio Maior has a religious celebration called Prossição do Senhor dos Passos. Senhor dos Passos means Lord of the Steps and this celebration is the most important at our little town, lots of people come and watch the volunteers carry Our Lord and our Lady from this church (which we call the old church, as we have two) which is quite beautiful from the inside, unfortunately is always closed and we didn't reach the church in time as it opens to let the men carry Our Lord and Our Lady from this church to the new church!

Another shot of Senhor dos Passos

Lots of people celebrating the mass and hearing the priest in silence although it's in the middle of our oldest square (we only have two)

Our Lady carried by some volunteers