Office decorations

A certain someone I work with has a girlfriend that works in one of the Portuguese ministries. According to his girlfriend, after the elections, when the new minister arrived, the first thing she did was to change the office decoration and also bought a Persian carpet with money from the ministry fund targeted at an institution responsible for fighting cancer.

A matter of credibility

Yesterday at Work
Boss: Thanks to our new contract with company A, we are going to save much more money.
Me: That’s great. Aren’t we going to ask company B for new prices to check if we can save even more?
Boss: No.
Me: Why not?
Boss: Because that would make us lose our credibility.
Me: ?!

Today at work:
Boss: I asked company B for new prices, and now we are going to save even more.

Visiting Porto

I traveled to Porto, to go and speak with Eli S., adviser of the EURES network in Norway. I went to Porto by bus, departing at 9:00 a.m. (from Lisbon) and arrived three and a half hours later. I have heard of the hospitality of the people from Porto and today I got the chance to experience it myself. As soon as i left the bus station, I started asking directions to the place where i would find Eli, and not only I got the help I wanted from a nice man working at a traditional grocery shop, as he also offered me a lift to the place if I had the patience of waiting an extra hour and a half. As I was in a hurry, I thanked him and got on my way to meet Eli. I spoke to her about the Norwegian job market, and she explained to me how to write my CV and what Norwegian companies I should contact during my job search. After I left the place, I had three hours left until the trip back to Lisbon, so I decided to take a walk and explore Porto.

The city is really nice (very different from Lisbon). There are some degraded areas, but that also gives a certain ancient look to the city. There are a lot of churches and landmarks to visit. You can actually cross the Douro river on foot, and take a nice walk on the neighbor city, Gaia. It is also possible to watch, in the river, the traditional boats that carry the kegs with the true and original Port Wine. Also, if you ever get the chance of visiting the city, don’t forget to eat one of the traditional dishes called “Francesinha”.

Job interview

How to solve a crisis... the portuguese way

I just watched this debate about the status quo of the portuguese society, where a few experts, plus an ex-minister of the economy, talked about what should have been done, and what can be done, to slow down our economic debt. According to them, there was a street inquiry where people got asked about what was the prime factor to succeed in life. Among things such as good healthcare or education, the majority said the number one thing to succeed in life is.... LUCK. That's right, luck. Don't bother making your own luck, dont bother studying or working, in portugal, you will see that playing in the lottery is the most wise course of action to have a good life.

You are what you eat

Beautiful timelapse