A slow first full week of work this year, as we get back into the swing of things.
Finished the initial prototype of the game this week. Seems like everyone is satisfied with it so far. It’s reassuring, as I was being a bit of a harsh critic of myself when looking at it. The next step in terms of that is to just keep building on it, so that’s what I’ll be focusing my efforts on going forward.
I guess I haven’t talked about my Portuguese progress in a while, which means I haven’t yet mentioned that I have achieved two small but still personally significant milestones:
About two or three weeks ago I was at a bar with some friends. I was getting up to buy a round of beer for everybody, and of course I was asking someone to come along with me and do the actual ordering. I was met with a lazy “no, no” and “come on, you can do it yourself”, with the added “in Portuguese”. I was a bit shy at first, but after they urged me some more, I went up to the bartender and with all my brain power asked for “três cervejas pequenas, por favor”. And it worked! I don’t exactly remember if the bartender said anything back or how it went from there, but they poured me the drinks, I said ‘obrigado’, and then went on my merry way. It was exciting – my first interaction fully in Portuguese!
The second milestone was actually on New Year’s Eve. It was in the afternoon as a Portuguese friend of mine was coming to visit. Whenever I hang out with her, we end up stopping at every coffee shop that we come upon. Similarly this time, I was showing her around the area when we passed by a café near the office and had to stop. Since I knew we were going to be there for a little while, I sent a text to the other volunteers inviting them to join us. By the time Sofia and Giulia arrived, we had already finished our coffee and, in the spirit of solidarity, felt the need to get another one. In the vein of a true Portuguese person, she was enjoying her puff of a cigarette, and that was her excuse to send me to get coffee for us, in Portuguese, instead of her ordering it. But also in the vein of a true Portuguese person (or so she would like to believe) she drinks her coffee with sweetener as opposed to drinking it with sugar, although every coffee place I’ve been to in Portugal – and trust me, it’s many – gives you the coffee with sugar.
To get the sweetener you have to go out of your way and ask for it. And let’s just say I didn’t know the word for it in Portuguese at the time. I asked her how to say it, and she told me. After repeating it a few times and thinking I might have got the hang of it, I did a quick confidence check on myself and blurted out to her that, while I might remember how to say it now, here at our table, when I’ll be in the actual coffee shop, at the counter, my mind is probably going to be completely blank. But off I went and ordered “dois cafés cheios (that’s another thing…), por favor”. As the lady brought me the two cups, she also went to reach for two square-shaped packets of sugar. This was the moment – the time to ask to have sweetener instead! I peered open my mouth to speak but no words came out. The lady was still there, so I still had my chance. I gathered up the strength to try again, digging through all the crevices in my mind, but still – nothing. Defeated, I picked up the cafés cheios and headed towards the exit.
It was as I had predicted. That at the counter I would forget. I emerged from the coffee shop. There, still only one step away from the very entrance, it finally hit me. Adoçante. That’s the word I was trying to remember. So ever since this moment I’ve had the word stuck in my head, and I think now I will never forget it.
I guess one other thing I should mention is that we had a new arrival this week. The Portuguese keyboard on this computer doesn’t even let me write his name correctly, as they don’t have the accents Slovakian’s have. Sofia came with me to pick him up from the airport and ensure he gets to the house safely. Safe to say, everything went smoothly, except for the weather being rainy for the first time in ages. Let’s hope he likes it here as much as the rest of us do.
