I start getting worried

Posted on October 9, 2007
Filed Under General, The English People and I | 1 Comment

When even my supervisor is on face book… Really don’t like these things. This blog is enough for me. But if you can’t beat them, join them…

5th October

Posted on October 7, 2007
Filed Under Portugal, The English People and I | Leave a Comment

Friday was the 5th of October. Doesn’t say much to the English but it’s an important day for the Portuguese. 5th of October 1910 was the day we ended the Monarchy in Portugal and we became a Republic.

But England had it’s influence on it. The British Ultimatum was one of the events that were the last drop against the Monarchy and after most of the royal family was killed, the remaining prince (which was only king for a very short period) ran away to England.

So on the 5th of October we also got a new flag and a new National Anthem. It’s lyrics reflect the revolutionary atmosphere of the time against the English and the Monarchy. But we are all friends now :)

flag_portugal.gif

If you want to know more the is something on wikipedia about it. It is in Portuguese though. You can ask google to translate it but I can tell you it does a very poor job.

NHS Vs Servico Nacional de Saude (2)

Posted on September 27, 2007
Filed Under General, Portugal, The English People and I | 2 Comments

STILL wondering which one is worst

What the F*****

Posted on July 27, 2007
Filed Under General, The English People and I | 1 Comment

Am I paying more than €50 for waxing if when I get home I have to do it all again??????????

25€ in Portugal and you wax whatever you want properly!!!! Not a hair left!!!

:@ Not happy!

And then…

Posted on July 18, 2007
Filed Under General, The English People and I | 2 Comments

A small nice gesture from someone unexpected and it puts a smile on your face :)

Rubbish

Posted on July 10, 2007
Filed Under General, The English People and I | 4 Comments

Can’t help but finding it really annoying that we can only take the rubbish outside once a week…

One of the differences between the countries that I can’t get used to…

Fitting in

Posted on July 9, 2007
Filed Under General, The English People and I | 2 Comments

Russ and I were talking the other day about what we thought of each other when we met. Before we even imagined something would happen between us. He said that he saw me as the smoking girl who didn’t quite fit in.

A year and half later, I feel the same. Although I don’t smoke anymore, I’m still the girl who doesn’t fit in. I think I never will really…

Most heard sentence in the last 7 weeks…

Posted on June 8, 2007
Filed Under General, The English People and I | 1 Comment

and daily in the last 3 weeks: ‘Ok, we’ll sort it out for you and give you a call back today‘

My phone never rang. Not ONCE!!!

If you want something done, do it yourself!

Maintenance men

Posted on June 8, 2007
Filed Under General, The English People and I | 3 Comments

When someone comes to your house to fix something (electricians, gas people, painters, etc) it is polite, if not mandatory, to offer them:

In England-A drink, i. e., tea or coffee and/or some biscuits.

In Portugal-You fill your fridge with beer or take them to the nearest cafe on their break and buy them some.

(After 3 weeks of chasing the estate agency and desperation we finnaly have our boiler fixed!)

Holidays

Posted on June 4, 2007
Filed Under General, Portugal, The English People and I | 7 Comments

I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time now…

I was very surprised to know that there are so few holidays in England. I soon found out that besides Easter, Good Friday and Christmas, there are no religious holidays in England. Well in Portugal they make the majority of them. Most people in Portugal don’t even know why there’s a holiday. All that matters is that you don’t have to work that day ;)

After reading this, you may think that Portuguese people are lazy. Well it’s not exactly like that. Working conditions are very different, pay cheques as well, and there are many differences in the number of hours people work in a week.

Basically, if you are a civil worker in Portugal not only you do nothing during your hours of work, you also have a lot more days off. I must say that although in England civil workers have as many days off as everyone else, opinions about them are exactly the same (it must be a global problem :s )…

The major differences are: In England there are no religious holidays (besides the above) and if Christmas and New Year are on a weekend, an alternative day is given.

In Portugal you have loads of religious holidays, no alternative days are given if they are on a weekend and if you are a civil servant and the holiday is on a Tuesday or a Thursday, chances are you’ll get the Monday or the Friday too.

Total number of bank holidays in Portugal: 14 (8 religious) + one regional holiday=15 Although more for civil servents (this year around 5 more days) and some may be at a weekend.

01st Jan: New Year

Tuesday 47 days before Easter (mobile): Carnival

Friday before Easter (mobile): Good Friday

Sunday (mobile): Easter

25th April: Liberty day

1st May: May day

Thursday (mobile): Body of Christ (or some other translation)

10th June: Portugal day

15th August: Don’t know the translation but it’s to celebrate the rising of Mary’s soul (death of Mary)

5th October: Republic day (when we ended monarchy in 1910)

1st November: All Saints

1st December: Restoration of Independence (We had 3 Spanish kings ruling Portugal because of a succession crisis. This is when we ended that!!)

8th December: Don’t know the translation but it’s the patron of Portugal Imaculada Conceicao.

25th December: Christmas

Plus one day that is the patron saint of a region ( in Lisbon it’s Saint Anthony on the 13th June)

Total number of bank holidays in England: 8 (3 religious)

01 Jan: New Year

Friday before Easter (mobile): Good Friday

Monday after Easter: Easter Monday (don’t know the reason but maybe because Easter is on a Sunday)

First Monday in May: Early May bank holiday (May Day)

Last Monday in May: Spring Bank holiday ( Reason? Maybe just because they felt like it? No idea)

Last Monday in August: Summer bank holiday (what about Autumn and Winter?? Again no idea about the reason. Do you need a reason?)

25th December: Christmas (can be a different day if the 25th is on a weekend)

26th December: Boxing day (day after Christmas on the next Monday if 25th is on a weekend) This one I know the reason! Comes from the day when the boxes of donations on the churches were opened to give money to the poor :)

There you go! Another big difference between these countries.

Although it saddens me that I can’t have the Portuguese holidays off (not the religious because I’m not religious), I still remember them and celebrate them!

And I can’t complaint because being a student I have a lot more holidays than the common worker in both countries :p

P. S.- Christmas and Good Friday are called public holidays and the others are called bank holidays. The reason? Google it is you are interested (which I doubt ;) ). This post is too long already :d



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