tiistai 30. elokuuta 2016

O melhor café

I know I am stepping on some Portuguese toes by claiming that the best coffee Lisbon has to offer is not a 'bica' nor is it from Delta.

This morning = dooms day. At 10am I had a meeting at ISCTE (Universidad de Lisboa) with my supervisor. I say it once, and I say it now. I will NEVER EVER study again. Its not my thing. I just want the diploma.

Nevertheless, life did not end afterwards, and my writing was so far OK.! OMG. I am surprised.
The rest of my day was free as of: freedom-do what you want-express yourself-YOLO.

So I drew in my coloring book. Had a mental breakdown of colors I mixed and got confused, cried even.. After my breakdown I felt calm. Pffiu.. lost my temper to a coloring book. No wonder people say drawing makes you calm...

Then I figured I need coffee. There is only one place to be when you need THE coffee. That is Fabrica. Foreign owned, I think Russian, serves the BEST coffee in town, and they have nice service. Check out this place, location is Avenida de Liberdade, hidden on a back street. Google this one.

I am sorry, my Portuguese friends, who claim Portuguese coffee to be the 'one and only'. Like the Italians do for espresso, Spanish for cortado etc.. Finnish people drink most coffee in the world. PANNUKAHVI! Thats the lamest thing ever..

Coffee know-how for Portugal

Bica - Bebe isto com acucar. (Sorry, don't have the PT letters.) Its an espresso alright, and the name is an acronym of 'drink this with sugar'. It gives you the instructions and all. Im no espresso person, so I comment no more.
Galao - also known by the outside world as "latte". Not a real latte.. but milk with coffee.. You know, what Finns drink most of the time. Only that its made on an espresso base.

There it was, Portuguese coffee culture. Btw, Delta is a Portuguese coffee brand, and their coffee is good.

Tchau!





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sunnuntai 28. elokuuta 2016

Cascais

The beach city of the wealthy (and tourists).

This weekend we celebrated my birthday in Cascais. Mister SwagN had booked a hotel night at a four star hotel to celebrate ME! We enjoyed our day at the hotel pool (no sand, thank lord). Would you believe that a Finn is bored of sand and beach and sun? Well not the sun, except the fact that you are sweating like a pig most of the day.

Most weekends this Summer I've been on the beach. Estoril beach to be precise. Its nice, packed. You are lucky if you are not partly under someones shade or touching someones beach towel. And then the sunscreen. Oh lord, all the sand sticks to your body, and you end up feeling like a stranded whale covered in sand and sweating on top of that.. Not this time, nope, not this time.

At night we had dinner at a local (not tourist) petiscos restaurant, Páteo de petiscos. Yummy,yummy in my tummy. Choco frito, carne maturada and atúm (cuttle fish, aged meat and tuna). Later we took a swing at the Cascais city centre, which was packed since the Cascais music festivals grande finale. It was fun, music and hot chocolate (due to cold wind), ahh life. I even managed to show my behind to half of the tourists on Cascais busiest street. And that was due to the wind, of course. My pretty little white dress above my ears and yes, my sun burned butt. Lovely.

Cascais is situated about 20km outside of Lisbon. The coastline to Cascais is full of beaches, which are packed during the Summer months. The fisher town is also known for its wealthy population. Not much to say; visit during the day, eat good fresh fish (not bacalao!! its from Norway.. or Iceland) and enjoy the nightlife which is more quiet then in Lisbon. Good for families and a romantic get away.





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perjantai 26. elokuuta 2016

Um Chapeu

For them who did not know, Lisbon is full of small antique hat shops. 

Ever since last fall I was wondering whether to buy one. So today, in a 35 C heat I decided to buy a hat. YES! For winter. Call me crazy, and I am. I took mister SwagN by the arm and dragged him to Rossio Square to an old vintage hat shop. I tried three hats, mister SwagN tried 20. I bought one, he bought none. Mine is a dark green and thick, which is good for the rainy weather.
I am prepared for you, vertical rain... I am prepared. 

While I was trying to make mister SwagN buy one, the sales person told me that "The hat chooses its owner"... I had an odd feeling I've heard this one before. I KNOW. Harry Potter "The wand chooses its owner mister Potter" -hehe for that. Moreover, I don't wonder J.K. Rowling was so inspired by Portugal. More about that later. 

Some traveling tips for Lisbon: Rossio Square is the old meeting point for Africans, Angolans mostly. Most of the immigrants in Portugal are from Angola due to the old colonies. On this square you can also drink Ginja. Its a cherry liqueur. Some love it, some hate it. Try it! It tastes like christmas. 

The Angolan culture is alive in Lisbon. My favorite underground culture (if I may) is the dance culture of the Angolan youth. My newest invasion is Kuduro. And I love it. Portugal is probably the only place in Europe you can find this marvelous dance. Its so fast your legs get tangled up, its cool, its swag and its young. I recommend. 

Até já (See you later) 






Lisboa

Lisboa, linda Lisboa. During the summer the city is beautiful, hot, but beautiful. I almost forgot the shock I had last Fall, Winter and Spring when it was raining vertically outside 24/7 (no kidding..) and at least once a week inside our old apartment. Then I disliked Lisbon. Much. Then the Summer came and we moved to a new neighborhood. Now I like Lisbon - Much. My previous shock might be due to my expectations of an ever sunny paradise where people are chilled out and theres surfers everywhere. I admit, I had absolutely no idea where I was moving, and this is not a secret island in Asia... But hey, its part of the adventure. Although, as a warning, the Atlantic Ocean does the trick. I think it's rainier than in England.
The Summer has set an ease on the city. People are chilled out, friendly. Unfortunately, my experience of people in Lisbon has been extremely different from most who visited the capital. Let me point out the word: visited. Dude, if you move to Lisbon in the hope to get a wide network of friends, you are mistaken! The people are more introverted than the Finns. Go Finland. It has been extremely difficult to make native friends. I have many good foreign friends, thus, all of them struggling with the same issue in order to integrate into the culture and call this place home. *sob*
However, on the bright side (and there always is), where I just trespassed when I returned this Summer from Finland, when you unlock the language of Portuguese people open up to you. So therefore, I have had some lovely conversations with random people in the cafe, supermarket, gym, basically everywhere I go. Let it flourish! And one more thing. I visited Porto two weeks ago. People were so super nice and open to me that I just wanted to kiss them. (On the cheeks, of course)
Ps. I have some native friends now. One fell from the sky and we were friends in 30 seconds. Others were accumulated over time.
Beijinhos! (Kisses.. in Portuguese)

Quem Sou?

Who am I?
The answer is longer than there are words. And what the heck is Mirtilo Finlandês? Well its a Finnish Blueberry... Howerer, I am a multiple personality-person. My background is colorful, not that I have made the craziest rave in my past. I am pretty normal, weird, almost dull. Like for all of us, the life of my past has made me who I am today. Which is reflected in my writing. 
Me: Heidi, 26 years old, blonde with blonde highlights, sporty (sometimes till obsession), working (loving it), and writing thesis (not so much). Best part. I live in Lisbon, yes, capital of Portugal. More, I speak five languages. Here goes the jargon: I was born bilingual (Finnish and Swedish). I learned English from an American kid when I was a teen. In my early twenties I moved to Spain for erasmus. Surprise! I caught on Spanish. Last fall (2015) I moved to Lisbon. I have been struggling to learn Portuguese for the past 12 months. Yes, STRUGGLING. My year of Portuguese language integration has not been like waltzing on roses. Despite my blonde hair and extremely northern character I am usually mistaken Spanish. Then, the conversation I started in Portuguese goes into Spanish and then I explain I'm from Finland and man... THEN it gets confusing. I reveal now, eu falo Portugues, sufficiently to have almost any kind of conversation..
Let's keep it short. I want to tell you about my life, then, now and future. Promise: I will try to keep it short folks! ...if anyone is reading. I am. ..my own blog :D
Diverta-se! (have fun ... in Portuguese)

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