Velhos são os trapos

Or, "rags are old" - age is just a number

I seem to have broken the run of weekly diary updates, so here's nearly two weeks of news from life in and around Lisbon. I hope you find it interesting.

Not in Lisbon - read on to find out more

There's not much to report from the office about last week (9th to 13th). On Monday I went out for dinner with Carly and Lauren to celebrate Carly's 25th birthday - she says she feels old so this blog's title is dedicated to her. It's a great idiom that I learned at work. There were three birthdays in the office during the week (and therefore three birthday cakes too :-D ), which led a lot of colleagues to pronounce on how I make them feel old, even though they're only a few years older than me. Maybe living abroad has made me grow up fast, so people forget I'm still the "office baby" until they ask my age.

At the weekend I didn't do very much worth telling you about in great detail. A rowing session on Saturday morning, a bit of wandering around Lisbon with Carly on Saturday afternoon, and a quiet evening at home talking to people on Skype (not least Stephen, as it was Valentine's day). On Sunday I went to church, then had an excellent 'English breakfast' at a nearby café with some of the growing church gang - Carly, Janice, Kinsey (a new joiner from the USA - the first person I've met living alone out here who's younger than me!) and Jesse. Also pictured below at coffee in the church hall are Feyikemi and Chris.

The 'church gang' - my friends!

Side note - Jesse speaks very Brazilian Portuguese, and Janice and Kinsey speak not much Portuguese. Carly and I speak Lisbon Portuguese and found it hilarious when Jesse asked the waiter for 'LAY-chee' rather than 'layt' ('leite', milk). That took some explaining...

Carly and I spent the afternoon preparing for her proper birthday party, mainly by making fruit kebabs and chocolate crispy cakes. Lots of people came round to her flat in the evening, bringing good food and excellent company. That party is also the reason why I didn't update the blog in my normal Sunday evening slot - and a very good reason indeed. It was a lovely occasion.

This working week has been more interesting - first because Tuesday was a holiday (it's not an official 'feriado' or public holiday, but many companies give their employees a day off), and second because a new colleague, who's working in my room in the office, arrived on Wednesday. She seems nice, and I'm sure I'll get to know her really well. (Who knows, she might end up featuring in the blog properly? That would be a high privilege for a work colleague...)

Torres Vedras - more information below

So, on to the major excitement since I last wrote - Shrove Tuesday, aka Carnaval here in Portugal. I spent most of the day in Torres Vedras, a small town about 45 minutes' bus journey away, which is renowned, at this time of the year at least, for its Carnaval celebrations. Carly and I went with Tosin, who had been at her party at the weekend - we decided to make an expedition of it because we'd both heard it would be good. We got the Rede Expressos coach from Lisbon at 12.30 in brilliant sunshine, and were pleased to see it was just as bright when we arrived. We immediately saw the castle, sitting at the top of a hill, and decided to go and have a look. It happened to be closed (because of Carnaval, of course) so we couldn't go in, but just wandered round the area and headed slowly down towards the main event - once we'd worked out where we were meant to be going...

Carly at the castle

After finding the right place, and purchasing our tickets, we went in to the area where the parade would be taking place, a small part of the centre of town that was closed to anyone ticket-less. Since there wasn't much going on when we arrived, we walked all round the zone, having a sneak preview of some of the floats, and found some lunch from one of the stalls on the streets.

Gradually the parade got going - and it was extraordinary! Carnaval in Torres Vedras is said to be based on "social and political satire" - as well as huge 3D caricatures of politicians and other public figures, there were marching bands and hundreds of people in a variety of costumes, some more shocking than others... it's very hard to describe the whole range in words, so you'll have to believe the pictures.

Cristiano Ronaldo and assorted sportspeople

The Carnaval organising committee

Papa Francisco 

Umm... a walking romantic restaruant?

The Banco Espirito Santo group

And trust me when I say that this wasn't even the half of it! We stayed for a good few hours, until it was more or less over, then had a warming drink and headed back to the bus station ready to go home to Lisbon. Since we are both still very English, Carly and I decided the day couldn't be complete without making some pancakes, which we duly did at her flat. (I hope her flatmates aren't worried that I'm going to move in - it does seem like I've spent a lot of time there recently!)

Then it was back to work on Wednesday for the rest of the week - it's gone in a flash. I rowed on Monday and Wednesday, and went to the office gym class yesterday (Thursday), and went out for dinner with Carly yesterday as well. We were both going to have pork as our main course (as well as our soup, pudding, drink, and coffee... did I mention this restaurant charges €7.50 per person for all of that?), but there was only one left, so Carly ended up eating chicken gizzards, which in fact were delicious (I tried some too). When in Rome...

Lemons, just for fun.

Language progress

I am here to learn to speak Portuguese better, after all - here's a little update. I'm definitely becoming more fluent and confident in Portuguese (yay). However, in the last couple of weeks I've become much more aware of Portuguese people laughing at me when I pronounce things badly (e.g. 'trinta', thirty, or 'tão', so).

I can think of a few reasons this might be the case:
1. I've unconsciously stopped avoiding saying words that I know I pronounce badly (like anything with a difficult 'r' in it). Possible, but seems unlikely.
2. I didn't previously realise when people were laughing at me. Possible, also seems unlikely.
3. I now speak well enough that Portuguese people think it's sufficiently unusual to be funny when I say things badly. Much as I'd like this to be true, I don't think it is.
4. I'm suddenly spending more time with people with a cruel sense of humour. I don't think this is the case.
5. My Portuguese has got noticeably worse. I hope this isn't the case.
6. It was just a few coincidences, with a bit of confirmation bias. Probably the most logical conclusion.

No relevance, I just like the photo.

A brush with celebrity

You might remember I met with a Brazilian journalist, Luciana Reis, a few weeks ago. It turns out she was writing a feature for this week's edition of Visão, which is quite a mainstream Portuguese current affairs-type magazine. And I'm mentioned in her article, which is about book clubs in Lisbon. Not only that, part of me also appears in a photograph. I'm practically famous!

Can you spot me?

The article says "Among the participants, Amanda Thomas, 21, stands out because of her accent. The English girl, who studies Linguistics at Oxford University, has lived in Lisbon for about four months. The penultimate year of the course includes an internship linked to the language being studied (and Amanda chose Portuguese, partly influenced by her parents, who lived in Lisbon for two years). Participating in the book club helps her practise her Portuguese, and experience sharing information about a different world and striking characters. Amanda brought her friend Nicki Biggs, also English, to take part in the group. The students remark on the importance of book clubs in England, which are widespread and traditional, where small groups meet to discuss a book."

As always, thank you for reading!