This is a post inspired by another post, which was written by my friend Carla Raguseo. Although this post had already been written days ago – well in my mind, that is – only now did I gather the time to convert my thoughts into a post. So here it is a little bit more about myself:

1. I was born in the Algarve, but my parents are from the rural, Baixo Alentejo and we used to spend many weekends there when I was a kid. My grandparents lived in a small farm with no electricity or piped water. Hence no TV and lots of open air WCs opportunities. I usually liked the first day of my staying there, but the second day without TV was already too much! As a teenager those visits to the Alentejo were a pain, because it meant being away from my friends. Now looking back at those days I was the lucky one: As a kid I chased chickens, helped milk the cow, was scared to death of the big turkeys, learned how to get fresh water from a well, climbed trees with my cousins, saw how fresh cheese is made and was able to run and run on those fields and feel the freedom, which the big cities these days no longer can offer. Those were happy days, although I wasn’t able to recognize them as such all the times!

2. As a kid I was the shiest person on earth. I wasn’t sure how I would cope in the future: college, job, etc… because I was extremely self-conscious and had no confidence in me whatsoever. I reached a point in my life I started to get into things without giving it much thought. Once I was in it, there was no way out and so I had to manage and cope with my shyness dilemma. I can’t say I got over it completely, but I am much better. My main problem is still speaking in public and in front of an audience. It takes a big effort from me to be eloquent. I am conscious I still need to work hard at it.

3. During my teen years I became a mega-fan of a rock band called Bon Jovi. I like the music, the lyrics were thoughtful and brought me hope during my everyone-is-against-me phase ,and those rock boys looked good too. That was when I started practicing English really hard. I had loads of pen-friends from all over the world and there wasn’t a single day I didn’t get a new letter from one of my pen-friends. I dropped French to attend German classes, because the cheapest and best music magazines we got in Portugal at the time were German: Bravo, was one of them. I even dreamed one day I would apply to be their tour manager and thus kill not two, but three or four birds with one stone: I would travel the world and attend all their concerts. I would get an exciting job and have loads of fun. Of course, after a while I got over it and went looking for a real job, although I actually sent letters of application to some record companies, after I graduated from University. You will never know until you try! Needless to say, I didn’t even get an answer. :-S

4. I have a dream I am not even sure if I will ever be able to fulfill it completely, but hope to start putting into practice sometime soon…maybe when (if?) I get a more stable job. I hope once I retire I am able to do volunteer work in African and Asian countries. I want to be useful, but I also want to learn about those peoples and their cultures too. There are some programmes one can join to do that for one or two weeks, but they are extremely expensive and I just can’t afford it. I want through associations that don’t charge and welcome our good willing to help. I am sure if I had been born in the 50s/60s I would be a hippie. I would actually like that.

5. Just like Carla I don’t drink alcohol. Not that I have anything against it, it is just that I don’t like the taste of it. Socially it would be easier if I drank, but I am not going to play something I am not. I have made that decision a long time ago. And as long as people respect that, I will respect their approach to alcohol too. So in a party, if you see everyone holding a glass of champagne, for instance, and someone else with a glass of something else…maybe in a funny juicy color, that is probably me!

Well and that is a little bit more about myself.