And Who Will Have The Courage If Not Me?

TIPS for Lisbon

After living in Lisbon, Portugal for 8 months now - people refer to me as local. Which is cool and it’s nice that people see me as this way though I don’t feel local just yet. Mostly probably due to my problems while speaking in Portuguese. Here are some things I think are useful to consider before entering the country for an holiday or for a more permanent stay. The list could be continued on and on but managed to narrow it down to these facts. 

HIGH HEELS

Have probably heard of it but the city is covered with cobblestones and not very well if I may say so. They’re also slippery especially when it rains. If you’re all about the heels I’d recommend wedge shoes or heel that is thick and gives support. Wearing flats is still the best option though.

PORTUGUESE AREN’T SPANISH

Portuguese are introverts. So they won’t come and chat up with you like their social neighbours across the boarder. They will help, they are interested but usually it demans reaching out - from you. Especially in Lisbon people are more reserved than elsewhere in the country I hear. Folks are also very good English speakers here so don’t worry about not knowing enough of Portuguese. Even though making an effort in people’s native is always recommendable.

The difference between Spanish and Portuguese goes also for the language and culture in general. Don’t expect things to be identical despite of the large number of things being quite similar.

PORTUGAL ISN’T JUST SUNSHINE

Lisbon and Portugal does stand on the edge of Europe, next to the Atlantic that brings winds, cold ones and rains. Winter days may be +10 degrees but the nights get low as +2 or even lower. And the houses aren’t heated. So trust me it’s chilly. Also spring time March-April is supposed to be rainy though temperatures are up.

Not my pic! (Moomin)

DON’T PAY TO SEE THE CITY VIEW

The city has great miradouras, lookouts where you can admire the city view towards the river, see the famous churches, castle and landmarks. Enjoy the sunset and have a drink without paying the entry fees. The elevator of Santa Justa, the arch of Rua Augusta and the castle are nice to visit once or perhaps even twice but I prefer the the miradouras which are also the locals favorite.

EMBRACE THE HISTORY

Since Lisbon is the second oldest capital in Europe after Athens make an effort to know the main events in time that made Lisbon the city as we see today. Portugal as a country has a long, proud but not easy history for anyone who’s more interested.

GET LOST

There’s no better city to get lost in but Lisbon. Especially Alfama, the old part and Bairro Alto – the party district which opens up totally different way during day light. Take the most narrow street, celebrate the richness of details and colours around you. Go slowly and pay attention as many cool bars and cafes have no signs outside so these are the spots that only locals know about!

PASTEL DE NATA

The original pastry being almost 200 years old from the district of Bélem where the monks at the Jéronimos Monastery started the whole thing just to get their leftover eggyolks for use. In 1834 the recipe was sold to a local bakery which still exists today in the same spot. Only five men know the secret recipe and they never travel together in case of accidents etc so that there will always be someone to carry on the legacy and tradition.

Traditionally served hot from the oven and with sugar and cinnamon - you can buy them from almost every grocery store and bakery but the number one spot is still and will always be at Bélem. And trust me, they have earned their reputation. Make a stop while sightseeing and don’t be scared of the lines outside since they do have a quick service! If the trip to Bélem is too difficult to squeeze in, Manteigaria at Bairro Alto is the next best thing!

USE THE TRAMS

The old ones which you cannot find anymore in every city. They don’t go as far hop-and-off busses or tuk-tuks but within a normal ticket price you cover the classic Lisbon streets, plenty of sights and save your legs from walking. It’s not completely touristic because the locals still use them as normal transportation to get to work and about!

DON’T STAY IN THE CENTRE

In my opinion Lisbon does not have city center. The biggest shopping mall, sights and services exist different parts of the town. Touristic center can be narrowed down to Alfama, Baixa and Bairro Alto districts. But there are plenty of hotels, restaurants, museums and sights outside of these areas so no need to get stuck in downtown! Lisbon is totally walkable also and has tram, metro, local train and bus systems to make moving around easy.

LISBON HAS A BOHEMIAN SOUL

If you bother to get to know Lisbon culture and history at all you’ll probably notice that every street, square and statue are not named after politicians but famous artists who made an impact. Some kings and famous historical figures might make an exception here though. This fact is highlighted by the street art, the status of fado music and music in general in here, the diversity of the buildings and local enterprises. Clearly there’s so much space to creativity here! Not everything works as it should and if they do it’s usually with the slow motion I’ve been talking about but there’s an irresistible charm in the local lifestyle.

I don't ask for anything more than what I already have

Great news!! I've nailed a trainee job! Two actually!

The first is Gallery Gora, an art gallery in downtown of Mtl which does all kind of event planning from wedding to corporative events. http://www.gallerygora.com/

Already done a couple of shifts there and I’m really loving it! It’s just what I’ve always wanted and been studing for all these years. Reminded me of the work I used to do at Sibeliushall, the local congress center of my hometown, a few years ago when I was an intern there. Preparing the spaces, detailing and customer service and that sort of thing. Unfortunately they cannot offer me full time position.

(Gallery Gora)

But luckily I found a hostel in Plateau, which is this super-cool French area nearby, where I’ll be starting on Sunday. My main working area will be at the reception but the manager was willing to show me some management stuff as well. I’m super-excited about that too!

http://www.hostelmontreal.com/plateau/index.php/en/

In both places I'll be working for free but I don't really mind. In my experience you can get better job opportunities when you're flexible with the salary. And I do get a free meal in both places which is cool. And thanks to my savings and Finnish Social Insurance institution I'll be financially fine. 

So far my future here in Montreal is safe until Christmas and after that I have to get a real job in which I’d get actually paid for.. but with this networking I’m not worried about finding a job in January.

(Gallery Gora, office)

I'm so happy and relieved after all the weeks of looking for a suitable trainee job and the fear of not finding it here. Also I didn’t expect to find an event related job. How lucky am I! I’m gaining so much many-sided working experience with these next few months! And it’s not like I’ll be working like crazy. It’s only like 30h/week or so. Having two jobs needs just a bit of organization with the shifts, that’s all.

I know that millions of things can still go wrong but at this very moment I don’t ask for anything more than what I have cause all of this, living up here and these professional opportunities are everything that I've always dreamed of. 

Last fall. Home

Some shots from my weekend trip in Nazaré a while back. This where the surfers come usually for the biggest waves during the winter season. 

UMK 2023 Song Review - Käärijä

The hype is very real around Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the Finnish national selection for Eurovision and the race to Liverpool continues with ..... I don’t know what this is actually! 

Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha 

Most of Finns had never heard of Käärijä before the artist release of UMK23 a month back. Including me. So zero expectations. I didn’t know the language he was gonna perform, I maybe expected some dancy sounding tune based on the title. However, he described his song that “this track combines all three big Finnish loves together: party, pop and heavy music”. Should have known something crazy will be coming up ever since I read he’s a ESC Verka Serduschka fan (Ukraine 2007).  

Cha Cha Cha gets your attention from the first second untill the last one. You know right away that you have something in here. The song kind of starts with rap, there’s techno sounds also, the darkness reminds me of Hatari (Iceland 2019) the chorus is aggressive almost violent but catchy and memorable as hell. The music video is a perfect fit to this! Be prepared to be knocked out by some Cha Cha Cha!

There’s no one like this in UMK or in Eurovision. Then when you think you’re figured out the song everything turns upside down and the song becomes this pop-folk banger. I can hear Verka here actually! A definite late night dancefloor hit in a Finnish bar! The ending is explosive, just pure fireworks and you’re like WTF did I just hear. 

There’s a wide selection of genres here, just take your pick while trying to put this guy into one box.

Käärijä likes to confuse people and traditional sounds aren’t his thing. This is definitely clear! Cha Cha Cha will surely test boundaries, push some people away as it will cheer up and encourage others. This will surely cause a reaction and sometimes that’s all it’s needed from a decent hit and Eurovision song. In the end lovers count more than the haters. This is by far the most played and watched UMK entry this year in all the platforms. Foreigner ESC bloggers have been mostly excited about this and highlighting how Finnish language fits these hard sounds perfectly. 

I can definitely see this advancing to ESC (I don’t think even a bad UMK staging might stop people from voting for this!) and put my money on it that Europeans will this time around understand a piece of Finnish crazyness! 

What do you think of the fifth UMK23 track and would you vote for Käärijä’s Cha Cha Cha to go all the way to Liverpool? UMK final takes place on February 25th!

My benefit

Never I would have thought of wearing a t-shirt in Montréal in October. Untill this week it’s been over 20C degrees over here and the fall has been sunny, dry and lovely so far. This weekend was the first one when you could actually feel winter approaching. The trees are getting bald and the temperature is dropping. A good thing really, cause all my biggest shopping findings (read: financial disasters) have been about fall/winter jackets! Totally unnecessary of course cause I brought my own from Finland but SO cool! If you ask me, snow can come in already.

(Moi, le touriste!)

At work, hours and days are passing by quickly and I’m gaining so much experience from every minute. Rarely I’ve been taught in a job as thoroughly. My employers seem genuinely interested about my learning experience. They’re quite different  but I think they balance each other nicely. I’m loving the fact that I get to see the two fields in tourism industry that interest me the most. I’m so glad to have (finally) some structure in my life and a real mission to be here.  Though gotta admit that it does bring limitations to my social life. I’m also missing some great events in the city but I guess more great ones will follow…

The atmosphere in both of them is very relaxed but still professional. Especially in the hostel where some of the employees live and there are long term residents, the atmosphere is very family like. The working tasks at the hostel are more routine based, normal reception work, taking care of the breakfast, doing laundry.. when at the gallery they’re different every time according to the upcoming event; preparing the space, decorating and that sort of thing. No routine there.. every day is different. 

I try to keep it as a 5-days working week kind of thing and to have some weekends off as well every now and then. I don’t work more than 30h/week so it’s quite flexible. At the hostel I work usually three 7hours shifts and at the gallery 2-3 shifts but not longer than 6h at the time.

(Oratoire St. Joseph du Mont Royal in August - around 2 million people visit it every year and apparently it takes another two million dollars just to keep the stairs in shape.) 

During my day off’s I’ve continued my sightseeing project. Visited the Oratoire St. Joseph du Mont Royal which is a roman-catholic basilica at the other side of the island of Montréal. Not the oldest thing there is but definitely the biggest. In the entire Canada actually. It took me hours to see the main sections. Definetely worth seeing for though. If you wanna know more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph's_Oratory

I also returned to “the mountain” of Mont Royal which the city was named after. It’s not really a mountain and thank God for that cause I couldn’t probably climb any higher than that. Yeah but people of Montreal love to call it a mountain and it is an insult to refer to it as a “hill”. Anyway spent a lovely afternoon there in the rain of the colourful maple leaves. My pics won’t do justice though.

I love it that it’s so close to where I live.. 30min by foot and I’m in this great forest without a sign or sound of the metropolitan city that surrounds me. People go there to run, cycle, for a picnic, whatever and also for famous Tam Tams, a free live music event that takes place there every Sunday afternoon in the summertime. Unfortunately I missed that one cause when I arrived here in August all my Sundays seemed so busy with everything else. Bummer. 

But I’ve got great stuff coming up!! Lots of things I’m looking forward to! Some personal stuff, favourite music and books coming out but also these great Northern American (sorry, don’t know if they are celebrated in Latin part of the continent) holidays; Thanksgiving and Halloween! I’m so excited! The first one is only one week away and I’ve been invited to a friend’s house to have a traditional Thanksgiving. So stay tuned! :D

(The monument of Mont Royal "The cross" in the night - the photo from: http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/mountain1.jpg )

Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your own mind. Something you dream about and sing about. Maybe it's not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you meet and places you VISIT, full of books and films you've been to. I'm not afraid of being homesick and having no language to live in. I don't have to be like anyone else. I'm walking on the wall and nobody can stop me.

Hugo Hamilton, The Speckled People: A Memoir of a Half-Irish Childhood

So sad and shocked about what happened in Sweden....

🇸🇪💔🇸🇪

Found these random shots on my laptop... When it was still summer but cloudy.

Lisbon!