Categories
in portugal

over the rainbow

fly me to the moon

now that the university is over and i hop intermitently between several places, without a regular routine, time has gained a strange anti-dimension. march was a non-existent month, i had trouble remembering the days of the week, what month it was even.

but with shanghai’s deadline on sight already, things seem to be fitting into place and more, i start paying more attention to things i know i probably won’t see in a while…
… lisboa, the light reflected on the buildings and on the imense water of the tejo river. lisboa makes the usual things sound special, the bica (coffee) and the pastel de belém (little custard cream tarts) with cinnamon…
… ermesinde, where i gathered a few friends for a sort of farewell dinner on the usual café, whose “francesinhas” (this dish i won’t even try to translate) i will surely miss. not as much as i will miss the smiles of the people around that table.


… celorico de basto, what we call “our village“, the place where most of my family lives. spring is in full swing now, trees and fields have a bright green shade, there are birds singing, the church bell rings.

… and braga, in my own house. the grass, the people on the streets, the flavours and scents on the cafés we’ve been to a thousand times before.

it’s hard to wrap up memories, but everything is more real and vivid on the eve of leaving. having been away of portugal for a while in the past, i realise how ridiculous it can be to say bye-bye, specially on this “online” era. life goes on, we soon forget the tears in the airport, months pass by and before we know it, we’re back to hug everybody, only to feel the eagerness to leave again, a week after that. it’s a cycle, hardwired to our “explorer minds” and difficult to explain.
my grandma says i’ve lost the “fear”, and now, nothing will hold me. i feel she’s right.

Categories
in china

one week left…

… and time seems to be running fast. i can’t hide the smile. shanghai looks… closer.


by theshanghaieye, on flickr.

Categories
in china music

we’ll have our own rickshaw cart

adventure movies come with a soundtrack. the opening tunes for ed harcourt and miss rita, who sent me and p. the song because it reminded her of us (thanks again!).

it’s called “Shanghai” and we hummmm it on a daily basis, it’s perfect. :)


Let’s move away together, go interplanetary
Maybe in Chinese weather, where it’s sanitary
I’ll go out trawler fishing, yeah we’ll have tuna steak
I’m on a special mission, for us to have a break

We’ll climb the corporate buildings
Spray-paint the outside walls
You bet that they’ll be yielding
When the castle falls
We’ll swim beneath the ocean

Near the coral reef I have a certain notion
That it will not be brief

We’re going to Shanghai
To watch the red sky
We’re moving to Shanghai
Goodbye, goodbye
We’re going to Shanghai
So don’t you cry

We’re moving to Shanghai

Looks like we might have made it
Put on your silkworm dress
You look so beautiful and I look such a mess
Across the city’s landscape, the sun burns crimson red
Maybe the moon will wait, before we go to bed

We’re going to Shanghai
To watch the red sky
We’re moving to Shanghai
Goodbye, goodbye
We’re going to Shanghai
So don’t you cry
We’re moving to Shanghai

Maybe, maybe we’ll have a fresh new start
I’ll learn the martial arts
We’ll have our own rickshaw cart
We’re moving to Shanghai…


(Shangai, Ed Harcourt)

Categories
in the netherlands

jelly good.

dear friends.
after six months here in portugal to wrap things up at the university, i am now, officially, an “engineer”. a pretty clueless one, career-wise, but i’m working on that bit. ideally, i would like to develop my designing skills, as i realize i still have a long way to go to get any good. i like information visualization and interface designing, but i want to explore a lot more before i choose what i really want to focus my attention on.

on a different (but related) subject, and since i’ve told it to my parents and most friends, i can give the rest of the internet the big news too: we’re moving to shanghai, me and p.
yes, shanghai. the biggest city in china, the 8th in the world, the “pearl of the orient”.
after my one year in the netherlands, and p’s 6+9 months in the netherlands and the usa, i think the “exploring bug” really got into us.
it just seems right. the right timing, the right city, the right person to hold my hand on the plane. and besides, if you don’t trust your intuition, what else do you have?

the details of the process of moving there include job hunting, a house, plane tickets and luggage allowance, visas and plenty other details that will keep us busy on the next few weeks. i’ll try to keep you posted. wish us luck! :)

Categories
music

wear it on

mr. bolinhos suggested i did a review of my ipod shuffle, and here it goes. :)
for those of you that haven’t seen it yet, here’s the ad from apple.

i got mine on xmas, and before i owned one, i used to think shuffles were… well, weird. i thought i needed to choose what i wanted to hear or to see what was playing at the moment. i wanted control.
but as i found out, i don’t need it. some things are just meant to be enjoyed and with the shuffle you can do just that: relax and listen. i love it precisely because they made it compact and light, and nonetheless, easy easy.

anyway, there’s continuous and shuffle mode, and you can always skip songs, or go back to the beggining of your playlist. or fill it with another playlist when you get bored of feel like shaking your bootie. with 1gb there’s plenty of room for many songs or audiobooks and the battery holds plenty morning jogs or train trips.

then there’s the apple details, the simplicity that makes a difference. there is a little dock, which you plug through a usb cable to your mac/pc. the shuffle fits the dock through the headphones hole (one plug less) and there it is, charging, or ready to take some more music (just itunes required).

but what i love the most about it is the clip. bigger ipods or other music players are usually heavy or otherwise noticeable. you have to be careful in which pocket you put it and you cannot take off your jacket with your headphones on. impossible to wear on your pijama while you vaccum clean.
no problem for the shuffle. clip it on your tshirt (or pijama) and do everything without having to notice it. it’s just so portable and easy to carry around that you feel like you never need to take it out or otherwise worry about it. and now they even have it in 5 different colors.

two not-so-pleasant points though. if you’re a last.fm fan, the shuffle won’t scrobble your tunes (hardware incompatibility) and also, if you wear it on your belt or trousers, careful not to bump against other surfaces, you might scratch it. it’s not exactly fragile, it won’t break, but you tend to forget it is there quite easily.

truth is, i love mine. it feels urban and very very “me”. :)