The final countdown

The studies in Helmi Liiketalousopisto are soon to be over. We finally bought the tickets back to Finland. The flight will be on the 27th of May, which means that I have only 19 days left here. Ten of them will be working. I never got a change to have a big vacation from the work so now I am doing really tiny weeks, for example on this week I am working only tree days.

From the beginning it was not quite clear if we should go back to Finland or not. After all we ended up with the decision going back. As a realistic person, I honestly think that we both have better opportunities to work and live better life in Finland than in Portugal. In Finland the working hours and conditions are better, we are going to manage even though we are not able to get a jobs on the first try and the health care system is way better in Finland.

I feel anxious going back. It has been great to hear from some of my friends that they are continuing working on the companies they were performing their on-the-job learning periods. For me, I have nothing quaranteed when I go back to Finland. I have sent some job applications but the biggest problem is the timing. Usually this is already the time when people are getting interviewed to the summer jobs but I am still here. Anyway, I am trying to be positive and think that getting this experience in Portugal is worth of a small stress.

Despite the fact that I feel a bit blue leaving Portugal, I can't still wait to see my friends, family, old apartment, going to Alepa next door and be able to do things in the easy ways. Being just one person among the others, not the "weird Portuguese talking foreigner".

The view to Praça Marquês de Pombal

 

 

 Elevador de Santa Justa in Baixa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Rossio

Around two weeks ago I started working in the new hotel, that was opened on the 7th of this month. It's a brand new hotel with 46 rooms and a small inner garden. All the floors have their own "theme" written on the walls, amor, fado and lisboa. The location is perfect, Rossio Square, in the heart of Lisbon. It has been interesting to be part of the fresh team. I have to praise them, they are amazing, just like in the other hotel as well.

Of course it took a while to get used to the new reception. First of all, it is way smaller than in Ouro. Also because of the new "chefa", boss, the ways to do things are a bit different so once again I am learning some new stuff and again more passwords to remember... not mentioning the rooms and their positions. Also at Rossio I have started doing evening shifts, from 15-23 o'clock, which are easier for me than 11:30-20. It feels like the time goes faster and I have always things to do. I guess I am a night person, not a morning person.

Here is couple of pictures from the new hotel. They both are from the hotels instagram account.

My life here has been going pretty normally. It is easier for me to understand (and especially read) Portuguese, but still having the encourage to using it properly, is missing. I am too afraid of making mistakes, even though I know I shouldn't.

Updates

Time. Goes. Too. Fast. I am having small anxiety sometimes that I don't have time to do everything I would like to do here in Portugal. On the week I don't really have time to do anything and the weekends seem to pass by way too fast. Also, am I learning Portuguese fast enough? Am I getting everything out of this?

I don´t even know what I should write about here... So many things have been going on, some of them have been a struggle. I think me and my boyfriend have a poltergeist in our apartment. These are the things that have happened:
- Washing machine leaking water
- Toilet seat leaking water (and other nice liquids)
- Coffee machine broken
- My computer (!!) broken
- Wardrobe broken

These things have been really getting on my nerves. Also sometimes I feel I don´t have time to do anything but being at the hotel. My days are 8,5 hours and it takes almost an hour to get to the hotel from where I live. Luckily my Fridays are shorter. Another good thing, I haven't felt homesick at all, actually it makes me a bit sad that I should go back to home on May. The only thing I miss is talking in Finnish. I haven't talked in Finnish in two months (no, I don't talk with my parents in Skype or phone) and sometimes I really feel like letting things out in Finnish. Because, it is my own language after all.

Back to the work. The new hotel is going to be opened soon, the first guests are going to arrive on next Friday and I might start at Rossio next week with a new team and new people. I am looking forward to that, working in a brand new hotel.

At the hotel I have been improving a lot. I feel like I can almost do everything that the real workers could do. My only problem there is Portuguese. Answering the phone is a bit embarrasing since I my Portuguese skills are not enough for that.

Plus being at the reception, I have been running errands, such as going to the bank, to the post office, buying some things such as cakes for guests that have birthday or candy to the reception.

Last Sunday we were having a family celebration. My boyfriends grandparents were having their "golden years", 50 years of marriage. Having that kind of party is a bit different than I am used to. It was like a second wedding day, money was spent a lot and the whole family was invited. First we went to the church, after that we had a restaurant rented only for us with a big poster hanging from the ceiling. The day included a long lunch, speeches, dancing and eating cake. 

As frieiras

Also known as chilblains, or kylmänkyhmyt.

From Wikipedia: Chilblains is a medical condition that occurs when a predisposed individual is exposed to cold and humidity, causing tissue damage. It is often confused with frostbite and trench foot. The cold exposure damages capillary beds in the skin, which in turn causes redness, itching, blisters, and inflammation.

Me as a Finn I am used to the cold weather. Suffering from the cold has never been something that I have done but oh boy. In Portugal the coldness is way different. I have no problem waiting for a bus in -20'c but hanging out here with friends in +10'c is really nasty. It's the moisture that makes the coldness rough and going through your bones. Wearing lots of clothes doesn't help that much since the clothes are moist as well and there is no warm layer of air inside the clothes layers.

Because of the cold I have now experienced something I had never even heard before. Chilblains. Couple of weeks ago my finger started to be red and sore. In the mornings it's hard to bend it. My boyfriends family told me it is probably a spider bite which is normal here. I totally bought it. The weird feeling in my finger didn't go away but instead I noticed the same feeling in two other fingers. I had a conversation about this with my friends Lia and Rui and I got the answer: "Aaa, it's a frieira! From the cold." Rui had the same thing on his middle finger. I was a bit confused. Me, who is used to handle the coldness, chilling with -10'c, had never heard of this condition. I was familiar with frostbites (that is more serious condition) but I had never heard of chilbails before.

Swollen red fingers. 

Luckily they sell this specific cream to cure these frieiras, called "Friax". So today, I am heading to the drug store and to Forum to buy gloves. Hrr!

It feels like home

I have settled down here quote well. I have been working on My Story Hotel Ouro now over couple of weeks and I have learned many things at the reception. I still do mistakes - for example today I almost gave the guests un-checked room (cleaned, but not checked), but I guess it is normal at the beginning since I am a trainee. First standing still for 8 hours was a huge pain in the back but now I am already used to it. Back in Finland when I was working for Hilton (just a small comparing: Hilton Helsinki Kalastajatorppa, over 200 rooms. My Story Hotel Ouro, 51 rooms) I used to walk all day and I was moving constantly. Standing still is surprisingly hard.

Mostly I have been doing reservations and guest profiles. I am starting to be good at check-ins but I still need more practice to be more self-confident with the guests and remembering all the things that we are supposed to say at the check-in.

We also have had couple of Finnish guests. It's always funny when they notice that there is another Finn greeting in Finnish and I'll tell you something - It's even more funnier to my co-workers to listen Finnish. Another day a waiter from the restaurant was listening the conversation I had with the Finnish guests. After that he came to me and ask what language was that. Oh, Finnish...

On the weekends I have been just chilling and laying in X-position in Barreiro with P. The next weekend is supposed to be sunny, so maybe then I'll go to Lisbon and explore just a bit more.

Now it's time to go to sleep and let's see what tomorrow will teach me. Boa noite, todos.