How can you tell for sure you're Portuguese?

- If you have ever been hit by a "Chinela " (slop) or "Cinto" (belt) or a wooden spoon.
- If you grew up scared by something called "O Velho" (the old man).
- If others tell you to stop screaming when you are really just talking.
- If you light a candle to the Virgin Mary on the night before a major exam.
- If you use your chin to point something out.
- If you constantly refer to cereal as "con flacs" or pronounc cherios as "she-re-owse".
- If your mother yells at the top of her lungs to call you for dinner, even if it's a one bedroom apartment.
- If you can dance "folclore" (popular dance) without music.
- If you use "manteiga" instead of olive oil and can't figure out why your "ancas" (hips) are getting bigger.
- If whenever you feel under the weather, you compulsively rub on some "Vic's vapor rub" all over your "Peito" (chest) and inside your nostrils.
- Your mom packs your "lanche" (snack) every day even though you've just turned thirty-two.
- If you call the corner store " os indianos."
[via e-mail]

Well, I get more and more confused. I'm almost there (i.e. ‘tou quase lá), but I miss a few things. So, I guess I'm not a real Portuguese. Have I already become this thing called "emigra tuga" or even worse, a "haveck"?

Why Portuguese people can't be terrorists...

- 8:45 a.m. is too early for us to be up.
- We are always late, so we would have missed all 4 flights.
- Pretty people on the plane distract us.
- We would talk loudly and bring attention to ourselves.
- With food and drinks on the plane, we would forget why we're there.
- We talk with our hands, therefore we would have to put our weapons down.
- We would all want to fly the plane.
- We would argue and start a fight in the plane.
- We can't keep a secret, we would have told everyone a week before doing it.
- We would have put our country's flag reflector on the tail of the plane.

[via e-mail]

I AMsterdam

I amsterdam!

Red-light district, coffee-shops, channels, street-markets, museums, parks, bikes and, this time, sunny weather!

I amsterdam! But then again, who isn't?

How's the weather?

The most usual question I get these days from people abroad is: "How's the weather in Brussels?"

An more and more I say: "It depends!"

Because that's the truth... It depends on the minute you ask, or on the street I may be, or on the window through which I look outside. It may even depend on the shadow of a tree: freezing wind under the shadow, which is not so bad if you get some sun.

Therefore, when leaving home you can never say that today looks good or bad, because it will just change. The best option is to be prepared for all the possibilities you have here: cold or not so cold; rainy or not so rainy; because that's Brussels!

But most of all, it depends on one's mood!

So you understand that I don't know how the hell to reply to such a simple question as

"How's the weather?"

Today? A bit cloudy! Ah, you mean outside !? It depends...