Fascismo nunca mais

Last Saturday Portugal was celebrating a big day: Carnation Revolution, also known as Revolução dos Cravos or 25 de Abril in Portuguese and Neilikkavallankumous in Finnish.

http://kleberly.com

I am going to put the idea here very simply: on the 25th of April on 1974, Portugal had a revolution and stop the facism. Good bye dictatorship, good bye Salazar. The reason why the day is called carnation revolution is because the revolution was almost bloodless and peaceful. The symbol of the revolution is of course the flower carnation that the military was putting on the pipes of their guns.

There was lots of things going on on that day and I think the biggest happening was going on on Rossio square, the place I work. In Rossio there was a big, I mean BIG parade (there was just people coming and coming and coming on!!) and some sort of concert and gathering. People were selling the flowers and many people were walking with these flowers on their hands (we had one at the reception as well).

On that day I wasn´t able to join the celebration since I was working. Anyway I was able to follow the party through the window-door we have at the reception. I also went outside just for a minute to try to take photos here but I did not make any success. All day I was listening the drums, music, singing and shouting people on the street.

Since I was not able to get you guys any videos, I am taking a right to put some here from Youtube.

Gathering at Rossio square:

Some clips from the parade from Marquês de Pombal to Rossio square:

Páscoa

The easter in Portugal is a bit different than in Finland. Even though Portugal is a catholic country, for me it seems that Finnish people celebrate easter in more visual way. Where is the decoration, easter grass, yellow small chicks and the hype of the easter eggs? There is no small children dressed up as witches or bunnies, though I know "virpominen" is a Finnish tradition, I felt that something was missing.

At least on the work I got to do some hand crafts. Our chefa decided to give our guests small surpises when they woke up in the morning and I was the one who got the joy of preparing this easter surprise. What I did was doing small bags of candy. On the 5th of April in the morning our night audit put these bags hanging on the guests door handles. Such a lovely idea, I would say. :)

It took me almost three hours to make 50 of them. Well, it was fun.

The weather here is like a Finnish summer. Last Wednesday we had around +27'c. The tourists here wear really tiny clothes, but me, as a person who is a bit afraid of cold, still using a leather jacket. Just in case.

I still haven't have any days off. I am supposed to have 9 free days from my internship, so I am going to have some good free time still ahead. This fact makes me realize how little time I am going to spend here.. Next month I'll be flying home. Next month I have to say goodbyes to all my wonderful working mates and friends in here. I am a bit conserned about my future. I am afraid to not to find a job in Finland and ending up unemployed. I have sent some job applications already, but in my case it's not a good thing that I am available to work (or to interview..) only on June.