Exciting times regarding politics in this country. The debate was excellent. It just amazes me that it was the first one EVER! I’m so used to debates in Portugal that I never thought other countries may not have them. Well I’m sure dictatorships don’t have them but I was surprised that they may not happen in a democracy.
It is a case of quality not quantity, however. It was done in a very English way: All very controlled, polite, organized… But in the end the result was very good. And surprise surprise with the Lib Dems. No one even knew who their lider was and what were their policies and now watch the changes in polls.
I think debates (if done properly) are essential to clarify policies and to allow the public to make informed decisions.
It’s a shame I can’t vote…

I can’t say enough times how happy I am we moved here. People a friendlier, there are shops around, we are close to family, easy links to the rest of the country, it’s cheaper, and I could go on.
One of the things I find funny is the accent. Being foreign it sometimes gets difficult to understand a thick Midlands accent. But slowly I’m starting to understand it better. It’s also funny to see that Russ is rapidly picking up on the accent as well.
I wonder if soon I’ll also be saying ‘I says’, ‘we was’ and calling people duck (is that the spelling?). I put so much effort into starting to say the ‘H’ (they are silent in Portuguese) and now I can drop it?
I just love the accent! But I hope I don’t get too caught by it, I want to keep my strictly foreignese accent.

It is finally on the news that there is an initiative to install water meters in every household. But only if the environment agency ‘has its way’.

It’s not surprising that in the country where it rains so much, there are actual droughts.

Why this wasn’t done ages ago is beyond me…

I am ashamed to say, I actually started to enjoy the game! Still a long way from understanding the endless rules but it’s a lot more entertaining that football

One of thing where I have to become more English and less…me… is small talk. I can’t do it! If I don’t have something really important to say or to ask, I just don’t! But I can see the advantages and I can see how rude I may look for not being able to do it.

Example: Gym dressing room, had my OU swipe card showing. A woman asks me if I work there. I say yes. She asks me where, I reply. She says ‘I’ve just retired from the OU’ I say ok. And that was it. I can see it in her face she was expecting me to say something and be nice, but nothing… I said bye and left.

The alternative would be me saying: ‘Oh really? Where did you work? For how long? Who do you know there?’,  etc. And the next time I saw her I would actually remember her face, talk to her a bit more, even about other things, and I could ask her things of my personal and professional interest, all that kind of things. But no… I just said ok and left.

Need to improve my PR skill. It is essential these days!

Well that was a nice back holiday weekend. Three days of pure relaxation.

The weather was good enough for us to do what we starting doing every good weather weekend: Cycle around.

We found very pretty places and cycling is a fantastic way to get to know MK and what it has to offer.

This time I remembered to take pictures .

The lake you are going to see is also the view from my gym.

English person: So how many medals did we win today?

Portuguese person: So did we win any medal at all this year?

(yes we already won a silver  )

I haven’t felt like writing much lately (maybe because I have enough to write already with the thesis , and to be honest there haven’t been many events or news to write about.

But this weekend I went to the reception of wedding of on of the students. It was a very nice and friendly reception, only for a few friends and family. The food was very good and the speeches quite funny

We ate, talked, took pictures. Because of their religion there was no alcohol which is a nice change from what you usually see in wedding with someone always drinking too much and making a fool of themselves.

Congratulations Imran and Selina. I wish you all the happiness!

Now here is something that I just only found out and left me very confused.

I’ve written before about abortion laws and how liberal they are in England. Abortion is permitted up until 26 weeks pregnancy and in practical terms all you have to do is go to your GP and tell him you want an abortion.

Oddly related to this is the fact that in the vast majority of hospitals, they are not allowed to tell the parents  the sex of the baby! I know that there are some people who like to be surprised and therefore, don’t want to know the sex of the baby. But being forbidden? I found that very odd. Then I found out why. Apparently some people abort if the baby is a girl. So to prevent this from happening the sex of the baby can’t be known until birth. Which leaves me with a question: one of the reasons why people defend abortion is that it is best to keep the baby from being born than to give him/her a life time of misery with parents who didn’t want them. I wonder how the lives of the baby girls will be with parents who didn’t want them. On the other hand, there should be no discrimination between boys and girls!

I’m still confused as to if this is a very conservative of a very liberal law

My mum and my friend R. came to visit for 4 days a couple of weeks ago.

Mum: Where are the people? There are no people on the streets! Is it always like this?

Me: Yes mum, it’s always like this. You only see people in the city centre.

Mum: And where are the cafes? And the shops?

Me: There aren’t any. Only in the city centre.

Mum: Well lets go to the city centre and have coffee and see people!

Me: There is no point mum. Everything closed at 5.

Mum: What???? How can you live here??? What do you do????

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