Categories
foooood in china

not only with chopsticks…


no matter how much vla i ate in the netherlands, there were still no natas anywhere to be seen — and i missed them dearly.

so, the last time i was in lisbon, to take care of the passport/visa issues, i made a point in going to belém and eating a “nata” with an expresso. my little ritual consists of taking the coffee spoon, dipping it into the nata filling and slowly eating it, while drinking the coffee. only in the end i eat the shell that is left. natas go well with coffee: both are hardwired in my brain as “portuguese flavours”.

little did i know by then that the chinese are great fans of these “egg tarts”, as they call them! some of them know these are portuguese (some think they are from macau) and they enjoy them just as much as we do. of course, they don’t taste exactly the same – the filling is more pudding-like, i would say. but still, we’re quite pleased. :)

Categories
photography

post sem razão


quando éramos pequenos, no verão, sabíamos de onde vinham os emigrantes franceses, pelos números nas matrículas, tantas vezes perguntados ao pai. e 75? paris. e 69? “leão”. e ouvíamos a história, muitas vezes repetida, da gare do metro de paris com cheiro a limão, tão cheia de gente que ao andar, não se tocava com os pés no chão.

não rimava, que eu me lembre. mas agora quando me dão as saudades, fico a pensar que um dia destes, as histórias exóticas que ouvimos de um pai ex-emigrante em paris, se vão transformar nas nossas histórias de shanghai, e que, se calhar, ainda alguém há-de ouvir que aqui as pessoas também se empurram para caberem no metro e usam máscaras à frente da cara. porque não cheira a limão, só a poluição.



(image of a metro worker in paris (1971) by Dizzy Atmosfere, used with permission. second picture by raemin, a shanghai metro station on a friday evening. )

Categories
in china

looking for a job in amsterdam or shanghai?

this post is an unusual one: i wouldn’t usually post job-ads, but i’ve heard of a couple of interesting opportunities, that can maybe be of use to someone out there. i hope so. :)

* i received an email from greenpeace international, noting two positions that they have available for portuguese speakers. bad timing for me, but if you’re portuguese or speak the language, and looking for a part-time in amsterdam, maybe you should give them a look. the jobs available are web-editor and media relations specialist. you can apply on their website.

* also, the company where p. works is looking for php developers familiar with symfony, to develop web communities.
you have to either be in shanghai (or willing to move here), be passionate about what you do and be able to demonstrate your know-how. the team is very multicultural, they pay well, have a new loft/warehouse/office (complete with 2 very neat gigantic aquariums!), in-house cook and english/chinese teacher, and a bunch of cool bonus. oh! and the overwhelming experience of living in one of the biggest cities of the world is included. :) interested? leave a comment or send me an email.

Categories
geek in china

self portrait tuesday… and wipha.

i love threadless. they’re a company that works with user-generated content at its best, while giving a good part of their profit back to the community that makes them successful. sounds like a recipe to success to me.

still doubtful? let’s see. you submit a design and win a couple thousand bucks if it gets selected (by the users) to be printed, plus several bonus. if you’re not a designer, you can still buy a tshirt, submit a photo of it and get $1.5 worth of discounts. or if your picture is really good, $15! how cool is that?

to tell the truth, i think the average picture that users upload isn’t exactly “gallery-material”, and anyone can do a far better job with a little imagination. sooooo, right after we bought the camera, i kept bugging p. to take pictures of our tshirts, and guess what, so far, with 2 pictures taken, i’m stocking $16.5 in discounts! i’d say it’s well worth the shot, even if you’re a little camera-shy!

oh! btw, they’ve just opened their shop in chicago, and i heard it has some cool features. besides being a perfectly good example of how an online business can break boundaries and stretch towards the real world.

i would tell you more about it, but a (recently upgraded) super-typhoon is scheduled to hit shanghai this evening and i’m super-excited and semi-worried and i can’t think of anything else. our first typhoon. some 200k people have been evacuated and let’s hope i remember to park the bike indoors. basements are spooky. i tend to avoid them.


Categories
links and ideas photography

shoes and breakfast


the breakfast and shoes projects are two similar photographic essays. they both aim to capture the details of strangers by sharing their photo, along with what they have for breakfast, and what they wear on their feet.
the result is a colorful mesh of portraits and a precious insight into anonymous lifes, both well worth the visits.