Flour Power

Eh, even with the posting schedule all messed up, I can at least help spread the word about stuff happening here in Galway.

The gathering is being organised by the Portuguese Association of Ireland to celebrate the 99th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic. And this time I got the information in advance, so I can show up and get to know the other Portuguese denizens in Galway. See you at Aras n’Gael!

The Google car is roaming around Portugal to add imagery to the Google Maps’ Street View. Needless to say, some unusual situations have been captured, and some people with too much time on their hands found them. And I’m glad they did, otherwise we wouldn’t have access to this:

And the best one so far features a monument by a famous Portuguese Sculptor – João Cutileiro – that makes the whole thing even funnier (it would be even better if the fountain was on…):

This last one was already removed from Google Maps…

Looking forward to getting some more of these

Yeah, I know it’s been a while since my last post. And it has been even longer since I did any proper post about the life here in Galway. I think the last ones were during the Volvo Ocean Race. But don’t you think that nothing has happened since then! It’s just that… well, instead of being lame and saying I didn’t have time to post, I’ll do a quick summary of what has been happening.

So, in reverse chronological order:

This last week was the “back to work” week. To start off nicely, I had a great 16-hour trip back to Galway (including a 7-hour wait at Madrid airport) which left me completely messed up for the rest of the week. And getting back to work after 1 week out also meant extra stuff to do and not even a bit of time to wander around the interwebs. Aw, c’mon, don’t give me that look. Everyone surfs around the Internet while at work…

The week before that was spent in Portugal. The 6-month INOV Contacto internship had ended and I so I took 1 week off to go back to my home country. Plans had been made to spend most of the time visiting friends and that’s what I did. Going to the beach and finally get some proper sunlight was also part of the plan, but with all the other stuff happening there wasn’t a whole lot of time for that. And there was also the not so nice part of taking care of paperwork. Anyway, it was a great week, and I wish I could have stayed longer.

Two weeks before leaving I had a friend coming over to visit. And as a good host I showed him the best that Galway has to offer. That means a lot of pubs. That also means going out from Monday to Friday (he left on Saturday). During that week we also visited Dublin, and more importantly, I finally went to the Guinness Storehouse. I got to see how the stuff is made, tasted the best pint in the world (right at the brewery, you can’t get any better than that!), and learned how to pour a pint of Guinness correctly. Also had a chance to show him that tag rugby is a lot of fun and not to be mocked with. All in all, I think I convinced him to come back one of these days, and that means it was a great week (the best bit was definitely the Irish breakfast…).

And going all the way back to June, 3 friends came to visit, during the last weekend of the Volvo Ocean Race. Listened to some concerts that were happening outside while confortably sitting down in the living room, watched the Portuguese national soccer team pulling one of those last-minute goals against Albania for the World Cup Qualifiers, and went out to enjoy the Galway nightlife and one of the most important aspects of Irish culture – the pubs.

And now that this has been taken care of, blogging will resume it’s natural rhythm.

Stay tuned!

Today, the 10th of June, is Portugal Day. I usually don’t celebrate it that much when I’m in Portugal and I don’t even remember there being any huge celebrations like for some other countries’ national days. But at least it’s a national holiday, and it kind of bummed me down that I had to work today. It triggered that “I wish I was there” feeling.

So, a little bit of history (taken directly from Wikipedia). Not that I don’t know it… but it’s just so easy to get it from there…

This day marks the date of Luís de Camões‘ death in 1580. He wrote the Lusíadas, Portugal’s national epic poem celebrating Portuguese history and achievements, more specifically the 16th century Portuguese explorations, which brought fame and fortune to Portugal. According to popular lore, Camões saved his epic poem by swimming with one arm while keeping the other arm (the one holding the book) above water.

He became a national hero and now the date of his death is the Portuguese national day. And there’s also a statue in his honor in Lisbon oldtown.

Lesson history over, off to work again now.

Over at Cracked.com there’s a list of “The 10 Coolest Foreign Words The English Language Needs”, which is a fun read by itself, but it’s the word in the top spot that makes it even more entertaining, at least for me (numbers #10 and #7 are also quite fun). The list goes as follows:

#10. Bakku-shan (Japanese)
A beautiful girl… as long as she’s being viewed from behind.

#9. Espirit d’escalier (French)
When you think of the perfect verbal comeback… much too late.

#8. Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan)
A look between two people that suggests an unspoken, shared desire.

#7. Backpfeifengesicht (German)
A face badly in need of a fist.

#6. Nunchi (Korean)
The art of not becoming a Backpfeifengesicht.

#5. Shlimazl (Yiddish)
Somebody who has nothing but bad luck.

#4. Tatemae and Honne (Japanese)
What you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively.

#3. Sgiomlaireachd (Scottish Gaelic)
When people interrupt you at meal time.

#2. Tingo (Pascuense)
To borrow from a friend until he has nothing left.

And the winner is…

#1. Desenrascanço (Portuguese)
To pull a MacGyver.

This is the art of slapping together a solution to a problem at the last minute, with no advanced planning, and no resources. It’s the coat hanger you use to fish your car keys out of the toilet, the emergency mustache you hastily construct out of pubic hair.

Where most of us were taught the Boy Scout slogan “be prepared,” and are constantly hassled if we don’t plan every little thing ahead, the Portuguese value just the opposite.

Fuck preparation. They have desenrascanço.

As the article points out, and well, desenrascanço says a lot about the Portuguese culture. If you want to know more about it, head over to Portuguese for Dummies (beware of the eye-bleeding yellow background), although I find it a bit far fetched in some parts.