Voce´ tem com leite? (Do you have coffee with milk?)

With a week now in Portugal under my belt, I can give some insight into the Lisboa culture. I say Lisboa because other parts of the country are apparently a little different including the language pronunciation.

Well, already I can see a major difference between here and other regions I have been. Life is much more relaxed, people take more time, not in a hurry, a little more patient than what I have seen thus far. I have noticed more smiling faces and comraderie here than in UK. Not that the UK doesnºt have this but it is not as apparent in public to me. I feel a little more at ease with finding my way around even though I have no idea where Iºm at sometimes. Actually, I havenºt been lost yet.

Lisboa is easy to get around in. Transportation seems very advanced as far as a wide range of public transportation to choose from AND so far understanding how to purchase a ticket has been straight-forward. I can even say that the public transportation here is better than in Denver.

I will wait to comment about the food here. I had one meal that was pretty tasty which consisted of a crepe with some kind of mushroom/bolognase(sp?) type sauce but otherwise, I think I need a ibt more time to figure out where is good to eat.

I find that fashion here speaks to Portuguese culture. For instance, the Portuguese do not customarily wear shorts out in public except at the beach. Regardless of how crazy hot it is outside, they wear pants, long skirt or calf length pants (forget the name). Quite a style of their own to me versus London - wonºt even mention Denver. Style is fairly consistent as well with only one or two that are different. Girls wear jeans with cute tank top or strapped blouse usually orange, brown or some other more latin color, women wear slacks or long skirt, men wear whatever - some younger ones wear jeans or long shorts and men will wear nice slacks with short-sleeved button-up shirt with colar. Seems a bit conservative to me yet with some flair especially since the clothing is cut very differently than we are accustomed to. I have explored some of the clothing shops ( would you expect anything less?) and immediately noticed that all the pants & jeans are cut very long - canºt find anything that wouldnºt need a seamstress. Women and girls here are fairly petite and especially skinny. Rare to see a girl under 30 who is even slightly overweight! Hardly anyone colors their hair here, that I can tell. So as you can imagine, I no longer have the luxury of blending in. In fact, I really felt conscience of glares when I wore my shorts out the first two days. I would say it is a bit more formal here.

For the most part everyone has been very nice to me and willing to help. Sometimes I have needed to speak without the aid of English on the other end but all in all, I have managed albeit with itºs challenges.

At the moment I am renting a room in an apartment that my friend found me in Carcavelos which is a town not too far up the coast from Lisboa on the beach. It is a decent place and my roommates are very nice and speak good English. It is a 5 minute walk to the beach and I pay 7€/night.

Excuse the drabby nature of this post because of itºs more informative nature.