Some Things You May Not Know About Portugal - Part 1 of Many

It's going on 3 weeks now... all of which have been full of all of the routine busy bee hubbub present at the beginning of the school year for teachers the world over.  As such, we've been keeping our heads down a bit, and haven't had as much time to explore our new country of residence as we hope to in the months and years to come.  Even so, we've been watching and learning, bit by bit, and wanted to document and dispense some of our most preliminary of observations, undoubtedly based solely on a very small slice of experience.  So... take this as you will, but here goes a list of some of our first observations and hopelessly broad generalizations about the Cascais corner of Portugal.


1. The Portuguese are super duper nice ~ We've had so many lovely little encounters with people of all walks of life, from the bus driver who helped us figure out how to actually pay for the bus, to the nice lady at Vodafone who spent well over an hour helping us figure out the best phone plan for us to take, to our our amazing landlords who helps us with just about anything you could imagine.   He even brought us a large basked of figs and 2 bottles of wine that he grew on his farm an hour away.


2. The Portuguese love their coffee, and it shows in their driving ~ Maybe this explains #1, but it seems like espresso or coffee comes pretty standard after most meals, even if you've finished eating late at night.  Despite the caffeine, meals out seem to be long affairs, with no rush by those that are served or serving.  The blood-pumping stimulants must not take affect until they step into a car, because it seems that everyone (including bus drivers and expats) drive like they've got a baby crowning in the backseat.  Riding the bus can be an exercise in arm strength if you don't get a seat, because you can never tell when they're going to slam on the breaks or make a hard turn.  Surprisingly, despite the speed racer mentality, as soon as someone steps into a crosswalk the supreme civility (mentioned previously) takes control, and they will almost always go out of their way to allow pedestrians the right of way. 

The beer "selection"

3. Alcoholic selection leans towards wine over beer ~ As a recent brewer and long time connoisseur of cerveja, this is admittedly disappointing.  Selection is limited primarily to different sizes or containers of 1 or 2 different kinds of somewhat refreshing but relatively plain fermented rice beverage, with hops and richness of flavor profile no where to be found.  Wine, on the other hand, must be grown everywhere, because it's cheaper than water (quite literally, in some cases).  We tasted a vinho do casa that came from a $7 bottle that was every bit as good as those that cost $20+ back in California, of all places.


4. Movie theaters throw some curveballs ~ So... Jyl and I took an adventure to the mall on Saturday night in hopes of catching a feature length film, which are often in English with Portuguese subtitles (we're told that this is one reason why many Portuguese people are able to speak English fairly well).  First step: order tickets.  Walking in, we can either choose the digital console with portuguese words and such, or the concession stand.  We choose the console.  We think we choose the right tickets, although then a screen pops up in which we need to choose our seats.  Hmm... which is the front?  We head to the concession stand, which turns out to also be the place to buy tickets if you're not digitally inclined (or Portuguese literate).  We get our tickets and our seats!  We wander the mall for a while, noticing that the food court is infinitely better than most malls in the states, including my favorite, the "Navajos Cafe" doughnut shop.

When we return to purchase popcorn in the concession line, we dive into the shortest one, hoping to get a jump on the 100+ screaming girls that presumably have come to see the One Direction movie (luckily, we choose NOT to see that one).  As we wait, we notice that people are skipping us left an right.  What gives?  We had read that they were all about queues here.  If we learned some sassy Portuguese rebukes, we would've put someone in their place.  It happens right when we're finally up at the front, and the cashier informs us that because concessions and tickets are purchased in the same place, ticket sales take priority.  She points to the giant sign that endorses this plan.  Good thing we don't know Portuguese rebukes.

Time for some popcorn.  We're asked if we want "blah blah" with the "blah blah," which I interpret to mean butter, so I ask him to mix it together in Espan-uguese.  The popcorn dealer takes popcorn from 2 different bins, and we're on our way.  We sit next to our assigned seats (a guy has his motorcycle helmet in one of them.  We don't yet know how to say "can you move your motorcycle helmet from our seat, please" so we choose the easy way out).  We start to eat and I'm devastated.  "blah blah" doesn't mean butter... I have unwittingly requested that sweetened kettle corn (which I hold to be one of the great blasphemies of our age) be mixed with normal delicious popcorn.  Luckily, Jyl prefers this so we pick at it like chickens, trying to find our respective corns of choice in the light of the big screen.

One finally curveball.  In the height of action as Matt Damon starts to run from his evil pursuant, the lights come up, the movie shuts down, and everyone stands up.  What trickery is this?  An intermission?  It's a boon for Jyl's wee bladder, but I'm not so sure I'm down.  Regardless, it was a successful night to be sure... and the learning continues.