Let’s return to the topic why Portugese are weirdos (in polish eyes of course). So chips. Portugese eat them with everything. With chicken, with rice, inside hamburger. Strange? Not at all. Everyone knows famous English fish and chips and nobody is surprised. But what if I add “crun”. Crunchips with chicken, crunchips with rice, crunchips inside hamburger. Now you see? Yes, I would never think that chips might be a part of the dinner replacing boiled potatoes, rice or pasta. And eating potatoes with rice or bread in Poland? Ridiculous.
And the second issue: lavatory seat. First I thought only in my work place there isn’t any. Maybe they were broken or something. But it is rather impossible that in restaurants and public bathrooms also all were destroyed in some mysterious circumstances. Or it’s just that USA has their Cookie Monster and the Portugal has Toilet-seat one. Don’t know the explanation of this phenomenon but seriously I would never think that anyone uses toilets without lavatory seat.
Already passed the surprises of past week so we can go forward to deep or at least more complex issues that came to my mind during the stay here. Actually every day I get the hang of many aspects which include the way of life, system of priorities and social connections in case of myself and more globally. Yes that was REALLY deep and confusing sentence. But in general all I wanted to points out is that I think a lot about many different issues here and I realised that this is probably the purpose of EVS (or wider changing environment). Ok, maybe enough that confession.
Probably I should describe what I have already seen in Portugal, give recommendation where to eat and share tips about best way to reach that places because this is what the professional blogger is supposed to do. But luckily I am the amateur. So instead of using the proper names that person not from Portugal doesn’t know and understand anyway, I will write a little about my impressions.
First of all: tides. Of course I learned about them in the geography lessons but actually I have never assumed that the view on the low tide is so incredible. It was like the ocean pulled out in the front of my eyes. I really noticed the difference in the level of water during less than one hour. Seemed like the real power of the nature.
Next: Iron Maiden concert. When people hear Lisbone associate it usually with narrow charming streets, fado concerts and slow life in cafes. I took part in concert in Altice Arena. And it is easy to imagine that was far away from calm. The concert was amazing, more like performance with a lot of stage prop, changing scenery, lights, fire, fireworks and infinite energy of the band (seriously I would die I were them). So I explored different side of the city. The crowded part far from city centre where you cannot see these famous yellow trams climbing little streets. Actually it is also really interesting area of Lisbone–the most modern one,converted after xpo ’98. But it’s a different topic
What I want to say (and again it takes me a lot of time to come to conclusion) is that I have totally different view on Lisbone than I “should” have. I already heard some complaints about traffics there and experienced difficulties with public transport. In this side of the river the attitude to the capital is mostly negative. Tourists, traffic jams, extremely high prices and low wages. And first I got to know that attitude that the Lisbone itself. And it might be the reason that I haven’t fall in love with city (yet?). Actually the real exploring is still towards me. Maybe I will change my mind. Or maybe I will always perceive that city through the prism of the people from the other side of the river.
And now two digressions because the came to my mind during writing:
- Do people from the suburbs of the capital city always hate/complain about that city?
- The view to Lisbon from Almada is really impressive! Much better than from Lisbone haha.
And the last thought today. Not only Lisbone but whole Portugal we associate with charming streets, low buildings and all that stuff I described before. And now I live in town which consists mainly blocks of apartments. No ocean, no beach, no old tenements. And you know what, my first thought was what the fuck? But actually it makes sense that not each part of Portugal is charming and looks the same. And in fact there is probably more places like Miratejo or Laranjeiro than similar to Alfama in Lisbone. Life is life haha.
And with that positive notion I will end the post.
Stay tuned or something!
