4 more days - many more discoveries

Ola,

First of all - many thanks for your comments and wishes! I really feel closer to Lithuania, USA, Turkey when I get feedback from you:)

So, new days - new discoveries. An interesting remark - in 15-16th centuries Portugal was a very strong empire which eplorers discovered a lot of lands in Africa, South America, Asia, explored oceans and seas over the world. And it´s not strange that my stay here is also full of spirit of discoveries and eagerness to do this.

Discoveries of 4 more days:

11. Old town of Lisbon, Belem district - sighseeing and visiting touristic places... and eating cookies from Belem in the old town:) (Pasteles de Belem are very typical national tasty cookies that you cannot resist)

12. A very strange discovery: Lisbon, 3 a.m. at night, empty streets, open windows in the car, QUEEN concert is on very loudly. Amazing feeling that can be

13. Traditional coffee in a traditional cafe
14. Going in a trunk of a car:)

Coffee or kavyte. This is THE ritual. Here they have one the most delicious coffees in the world (Portuguese people say that it is THE BEST but let´s stay with the phraze ONE OF THE BEST here). And one of the discoveries for me was a small cup of coffee that is the most usual one here. I do not like strong coffee and especially espreso but this one is different, it is strong but has a veeery delicious taste (see the cup in the picture).

Old town. I enjoyed the days of finding the country in a local way but the touristic places are awesome as well. The old town of Lisbon is beautiful - with many statues, squares, St.George castle, little tram going around, their mosaic from ceramic bricks called Azulejo. So far I know their old town only from outside. But one day it will be a huge discovery while finding out the inside of those historic buildings.

Churches. Something from my short sightseeing experience:) I have visited 2 churches here in Lisbon - not enough to make an absolute conclusion but enough to say that they have a pure beauty inside. What I mean by `pure beauty´ is that almost everything is made of stone. Even the colors are got from different kinds of stones.

Belem and it´s cookies... Belem is a district of Lisbon where they have monuments for discoveries, amazing park, Jeronemos Manastery but the most known point in that area of Lisbon is the cafe where special cookies of Belem are made. Even though I tried these cookies in the Old town, local people say that it´s not comparable with the ones in Belem.

The trip in Belem was full of crazy mood: I took many interestin pictures, was walking in water spray, drank a cup of semi-hot coffee in the cafe in modern arts museum and got a nice paper swan from my buddy (person responsible for me from AIESEC).

Mothers. Hm, quite an interesting title for a blog, isn´t it?:) But I could not not to mention it. While my stay, I already know two mothers of AIESECers and they are really great. My buddy´s mother even helps us to fix the legal financial things. That´s when I went to financial institution of Portugal where she worked, was introduced to her colleagues and was treated to the national cookies of Portugal -Pasteles de Belem). Many thanks for that!

Football once more. Oh yeah, this is for sure not the last time I am going to tell about football. This time me a bunch of AIESECers went to watch football Portugal-Serbia. The match finished in draw and during the game were many emotions about the game and the goal (Serbian made it in offside, Portuguese coach wanted to beat Serbian players, the game almost finished in a fight). It is a very strange feeling when you watch a football match in a pub and you know the stadium is soem kilometres away. And the funny remark from the game: `Ruti, do you know that Portuguese wear red and green?` (no offense to the person who told this;)).

My welcome dinner. My welcome dinner took place on 14th, Friday and was together with one girl´s bye bye party. More then 20 people gathered there: delicious food, interesting chats, pool tables, and the slogan `let´s make Ruti drunk´. If I did not know that, maybe the mission would be possible but with a good publicity, the mission turned into almost impossible one and at the end of the day I was almost sober:) For the finish of the dinner we went to Bairro Alto streets and had some great time there (the description of Bairro Alto see in the previous message).

Going in a trunk. During one week I have seen people going in a trunk at least 3 times - something typical for Portuguese people, I thought... The same day, going back home from my`welcome party` there were 6 people who needed a drive. I guess... I was the one to go in a trunk. And I really enjoyed this strange cultural experience - seeing street lights above, hearing people asking if I am alive:)

Toy theory. During this week I kind of formulated one theory about internships and in general working abroad that I called ´Toy theory´. When you come to a new country and meet people there, you are a new and interesting toy for them. Some of ´children´ are keen on this new discovery, some of them are a little bit afraid. However, after 5-7 days you are not a new toy anymore. What happens? (no, shit does not hapen in this case:)) What happens is that after 5-7 days you are left with ´children´ who would like to know even more about you or already feel the beginning of a long term friendship (the feeling from the toy should be the same:)). So far, label `Made in Lithuania` is quite strong:)

For the summary of this message I could say that my life in Lisbon is very diverse - I have lots of crazy experiences, but not less intelectual conversations about poetry, economy, history, civil engeneering, etc. with interesting people. That´s the beauty of diversity:)

Kisses:*

Ruti