Country Mouse

After twelve long years, I'm finally back in my home country.

Depois de doze longos anos,

 estou de volta ao meus país natal.

A little over two weeks ago I took off from Knoxville and landed in Lisbon.

Hà pouco mais de duas semanas levantei vôo de Knoxville e aterrei em Lisboa.

From the airport I came straight to my parents home,

a little village in a rural area.

Do aeroporto vim directamente para a casa dos meus pais, numa cidadezinha rural.

These two weeks have been filled with amazing feelings and emotions,

flashes of the past and wondering of the future.

Estas duas semanas têm sido preenchidas com sentimentos e emoções fantásticas, com flashes do passado e inquietações com o futuro.

Long busy days,

and for the first time in many many years

my days have been shared with actual people

and with the little things I was so used to and that are so natural

in everyday life here.

Têm sido dias longos e compridos, e pela primeira vez em muitos anos

os meus dias têm sido preenchidos com pessoas reais e com as pequenas coisas

a que eu costumava estar habituada e que são tão naturais na vida de todos os dias por aqui.

Slowly but surely things are getting organized

and I feel more and more at home.

Tough life in the country is slightly different from living in the city,

the difference is welcome.

Lenta mas seguramente as coisas estão a organizar-se e sinto-me cada vez mais em casa.

Embora a vida no campo seja ligeiramente diferente da vida na cidade, a diferença é agradável..

Days are long and full, and since I'm living with my son and his family in my parents home we always have something to keep us busy with.

Os dias são compridos e cheios, e uma vez que estou a viver com o meu filho e a família dele

na casa dos meus pais temos sempre coisas para nos manter ocupados.

It has been really really good to be able to share my days with the little one, my grandson, for whom I've longed for so long.

Tem sabido muito bem poder compartilhar os meus dias com o pequenino, o meu neto, de quem eu tinha tantas saudades.

My son is awesome with his hands and is always busy trying to figure out what else can he do outside.

O meu filho é muito habilidoso e está constantemente a pensar em coisas para fazer ou construir lá fora.

The pics bellow illustrate a bit how he has been keeping busy and some of the things he has already accomplished.

As fotos embaixo ilustram um pouco como é que ele se tem ocupado e

 algumas das coisas que ele já fez.

And for now I'll leave you all, with the promise of posting

on a more regular basis.

Till then, I'll see you all.

E por agora vou deixar-vos, com a promessa de publicar numa base mais regular.

Até breve!

What the Finns need to know about Portugal

I got an email from my sister today.

It had a video attached to it.

A video about Portugal.

Some of you may remember I am originally from Portugal.

And I do not (want to) know (much) about politics

but I do know Portugal is going trough

a real bad financial and political time,

and it's supposed to get a financial help package from his partners of the European Union.

Finland is one of those partners and it seems not willing/agreeing about helping Portugal. 

Have you ever been in a down situation

and been ignored/mocked/stepped on

by someone once you helped out...?

Please watch the video.

You'll never get confused again about this great country of mine!

Sharing some reflexions and feelings

Today I thought posting a brief heads-up 

since I was not able to post in more then a week.

It was a busy week, new job related, and I wasn't able to sew

or do anything else crafts related.

The cravings however were huge,

and this morning I've been sewing and sewing,

working on a new hexagon table runner.

Anyway...

I thought I would share a little bit how I feel

about the new job experience.

 I think I've told you that this is a part-time job,

8 hours per day, 2 days per week,

as an over-the-phone interpreter.

As some of you might recall I am originally from Portugal,
so my language target for interpretation is Portuguese.

Portugal

is situated in Europe,

the most western country in Europe.

Like Great Britain and Spain,
 Portugal was once a big colonial empire.

The Portuguese colonies would go
from South America (Brazil),
to Africa (Guine-Bissau, S. Tome e Principe, Cabo Verde, Angola e Mozambique),
Indonesia East Timor),
China (Macau)
and India (Goa, Damao e Diu).

It's understandable why Brazilians speak Portuguese, right?, as all of the former Portuguese colonies speak Portuguese also.

 The Portuguese language,

which derived from Latin and is classified as a "romanica language"

(along with French, Italian and Spanish), 

gave birth to all those Portuguese speaking branches all over the world, which have different accents, regionalisms and influences that absolutely differ from the original European Portuguese Language.

If I was able to spike your curiosity about this beautiful European country of mine, you can check out here for more information.
Coming back to my new job thoughts/reflexions...

Since the employer does not make the distinction
between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese,

both Portuguese and Brazilian languages are interpreted

either by Portuguese or Brazilian Interpreters,

randomly.
And sometimes it's not that easy,

not only the accent is so much different as also

there are conceptual and cultural differences in both languages.

 Well... to put it all on one word: it's a very stressful job!

Very demanding and stressful,
since one doesn't know what about the next call will be,
and it can be about anything.

Literally anything:
medical, insurance, emergency services, legal, technical, federal or state services, court, legal...
... and one has to be ready
to quickly remember specific terminology types,
to be able to deliver a good, accurate rendition,
to be able to remember different customer services protocols
and so on and so on...
Overall... it's a field far away
from my professional special education background,

most customer service related,

with some nice and others not so nice CS representatives.

It's really demanding and stressful.

Will I keep on?
I can't honestly answer that question yet,

but it definitely leaves me with a nostalgic feeling on my soul,

from my days of teaching, and the contact with people in presence,

 real presence,

not just voices over the phone.

I hope to meet you all here again shortly.
Till then, you all take care.

A little Portuguese history...a little Portuguese Music...a little Portuguese Super-Star Mom!

Some time ago I've told you I was born in Africa,

in S.Tome e Principe.

So now you know where S.Tome e Principe is located...

As you can see,

S. Tome is one island and Principe is another island.

S.Tome is the island where I was born,

and tough I do not remember my time there

(I do remember my years in Angola and Mozambique),

I can still hear my parents telling me

it was the most beautiful place they've ever lived in.

 

As a matter of fact three of us (me and two brothers) were born in Africa.

The other three (my sister and the two younger brothers)

were born in

Portugal main land in Europe.

My dad was in the military and was placed in different countries of Africa

(then Portuguese colonies) 

during our growing up lives..

But all of us did live in Africa, sometime or another

(except for my baby brother, born in the same year

we all came back to Europe for the last time),

and my childhood was spent between Africa and Europe.

And today I live in North America... life can be weird, don't you think?

Why am I telling you all this?...

Because today I want to take you with me down memory lane,

sharing some pics and some music too.

My older brother
once introduced me to Joao Afonso music,
taping me a collage of one of his albums called Missangas.

This song (Fugir com o Cientista) is part of that album. 

Joao Afonso also lived in Africa

and his so beautiful music has lots and lots of African influence.

Carteiro em Bicicleta
is one of his most famous songs,

and really, really good music, wouldn't you say...?

Joao Afonso is
Zeca Afonso nephew.

Some of you know very well whom am talking about...

but for those of you who don't...

Zeca Afonso

 is (was) the most famous Portuguese Revolutionary Singer

(from before and after the Revolution)

and it was one of his songs
(Grandola Vila Morena)
that triggered the broad casted code
for the Portuguese Military Revolution in April 25th 1974.

No blood shed, only the people's will and

the soldier's carnation guns made it all happen...

no more war, no more deaths in the war...

I remember my mom just saying

"Thank Goodness my son will not go to the war!"

She was talking about my older brother who at that time

was about to be drafted and be called into the military.

And that was the FEAR of all the Portuguese mothers...
isn't it the same with all the mothers..., all over...?

Any How...

Africa does scar you for ever.

I used to dream of Africa, literally, when we definitely move back to Europe.

I used to wake up during the night and not being sure of where I was.

I'd miss my friends, my play grounds, my growing up fantasies...

my doll tea parties with my sister and friends,

my Enid Blyton like adventures with my school mates...

All of us girls were like The Five aficionados,

we even had a club named THE FIVE ,

and we gave each one of us the same names as the characters

and would try to run the same adventures...

I still remember the poor girl chosen to be Timmy, the dog...

if she wanted it in, she had to accept it...and she did, of course! 

So many stories and so many wonderful memories!

My older brother had the good fortune to go back

and revisit Africa a couple of years ago

(still waiting to see some pics brother...)

and if I ever will make out my bucket list,

go back to Africa is definitely one of my top ones!

And before I finish this post about my beloved Africa,

one last thing I would very much like to share with all of you:

the beautiful movie star like

 my MOM in Africa
(Guine-Bissau),

early 50's, when she married my Dad!

(We all love and miss you Mom & Dad!)