Taste of Portugal

The Portuguese are a people who express love, faith and friendship through their cooking. Sharing a taste of Portugal is a delicious way of understanding its culture. Let’s try!

Daily Portuguese routine

The day begins with breakfast (pequeno-almoco). It is traditionally just coffee and a bread roll with butter, cheese or fruit preserves. Coffee tends to be served as espresso (uma bica in the south, um café in the north) or um galão, which is a milky coffee served in a glass. Lunch (almoco) is eaten usually from 1 – 3 pm and it contains soup and a hot meal. The last food is a dinner (jantar) generally served late – about 8 pm – and again is a cooked meal.

Traditional meals

Fishes! Portugal has a passion for seafood. Although most regions have their own special dishes, some meals are common to the whole country. The national dish is bacalhau, dried, salted cod. The Portuguese have been obsessed with it. Bacalhau can be cooked in 365 different ways, one for each day of the year. Sardines are close behind in popularity and can be grilled or barbequed, or there is the arroz de marisco, which is a bit like a seafood risotto. Meats! Probably favorite kind of meat is pork, cooked and served in a variety of ways. Roast suckling pig (leităo assado) is popular in the north of the country, as are pork sausages called “chouriço” or linguiça. Soups! Staple foods in Portugal are the various soups. The most common is caldo verde (thick vegetable soup) with potatoes, shredded cabbage, and chunks of sausage. Cheeses! The most common varieties are made from sheep or goat’s milk and the most popular is “queijo da serra” from the region of Serra da Estrela. Desserts! Chocolate mousse, almond cake and dose de ovos, made from eggs and sugar and many others pastry are extremely delicious. The most typical desserts are cinnamon-flavored rice pudding, flan and small caramel custard tart called „pastel de nata”. Spirits and beverages! There are many regional wines and beers. Obviously Porto and Madeira wine are the most famous, but these parts of cuisine needs to be explored individually by everyone. So, forget the waistline! Enjoy Portuguese meal.

Ewelina Poleszak

ewelina.cultura.rum@gmail.com

Hungry for an adventure?

Hungry for an adventure?

Summer time is coming and you don’t want to go with Mom, Dad and your little brother to Disney World. You want a wild adventure and excitement? So, there are two words: road trip and hitchhiking.

Hitchhiking is a cheap way of travelling. It costs almost nothing. Many people prefer hitchhiking to other forms of transport, because it’s not only sharing a way, but also possibility to meet a lot of people and make lots of friends. Today’s drivers are more fearful of picking up hitchhikers than in the past. Those one, who do pick up hitchhikers tend to be very friendly. However, hitchhikers also risk being picked up by someone who is an unsafe driver or even personally dangerous. The most scary thing about hitchhiking is the possibility of being involved in a car accident or being hit by a car if you stand too close to the side of the road. Despite the dangers, there are plenty of ways to minimize a risk. You can find out a lot of information about it searching by Internet. For example, there is a website http://www.hitchhikers.wikia.com. It is a community, a great possibility to discover new advantages, to share and add your knowledge as well. What’s more, by sharing our cars, we save petrol, and do less damage to the environment. This is ultimately related to economy. Cheap transport is generally shared transport and also more friendly to our environment. What attracts people in hitchhiking is the feeling of freedom and the opportunity to have the real adventure. It’s a challenge in some way and some people like to accept it. Now the hitchhiking has become some kind of sport – and there are some competitions in this field. The aim is to achieve some point in the shortest time and not to pay for it. Its popularity increases. Why? The suggestion is that people are fed up with their comfortable lives and like to feel the adrenaline and to participate in an adventure. Hungry for an adventure? Try on!!!

Ewelina Poleszak
ewelina.cultura.rum@gmail.com

The 4th Erasmus Language Café

The fourth ERASMUS LANGUAGE CAFÉ took place on 19th of April at 9:30 p.m. in Café Oscar, Guimarães – Rua dr. José Sampaio (nearby São Mamede)

Café Oscar is one of the most popular places in Guimarães. It is not only a regular café. It is also a social-cultural place, with a long history. It has been run since 1964. It was an initiative of a music teacher – Óscar Machado. Unfortunately it was hard for him to be a café manager and that’s why he passed the business into the hands of his brother, Manuel Ribeiro Castro in 1981.
A customers of Café Oscar have an opportunity to consult for free books, newspapers or magazines while consuming. The main goal though, is to improve the taste and reading habits, educate people in order to maintain social life in
Guimarães.

What’s more, there is a close relationship between the Oscar and Tuna of Engineering, University of Minho, who regularly performs in this place.

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Next meeting the 5th Erasmus Language Cafe will take place on 25 of April, Sunday, at 9:30 p.m. in Café Concerto, Centro Cultural Vila Flor.

Get motivated!

Motivation is to provide a person with a motive to action with positive energy and determination. It’s a state of mind that moves one individual into action. The best way to recharge the battery of your motivation is to create desires.

A self-motivated person can focus better, be more creative, accomplish bigger goals, and many other things. People who are really self-motivated produce the quality of work that only a passionate individual can, and they do it whenever they need. Experts agree that motivation is a personal thing, and not all people are motivated the same way or for the same reasons. So, before you are able to motivate yourself you need to know what motivates you.

Another important thing that you need to do to motivate yourself is to socialize with people that share your interest. When you socialize with those that have similar pursuits your motivation
remains high because your association with them will help in keeping you motivated.

Motivation is not an accident or something that someone else can give you – you are the only one with the power to motivate you. Motivation cannot be an external force, it must come from within as the natural product of your desire to achieve something and your belief that you are capable to succeed at your goal.

There are many people in the world with amazing talents who realize only a small percentage of their potential. So, be honest with yourself. Have you set realistic goals for yourself? How can you develop the internal motivation that really counts? When it comes to motivation, knowing is not as important as doing. Now open your eyes, stretch your arms to the sun, take a deep energetic breath and take that first step… go push your own limits and succeed!

Ewelina Poleszak

ewelina.cultura.rum@gmail.com

The 3rd Erasmus Language Café

The third ERASMUS LANGUAGE CAFÉ  and declamation poems by Ismael Hipólito Djata.

It took place on 12th of April,  at 9:30 p.m. in São Mamede – CAE, Guimarães – Rua dr. José Sampaio, 17-25

Let’s see the slideshow…

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During the meeting the poet Ismael Hipólito Djata made presentation of his art works. We were listening the poems and divided in a small group we tried together understand the art.

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Next meeting, the 4th Erasmus Language Café on 19th of April, Monday, at 9:30 p.m. in Café Oscar. Guimarães – Rua dr. José Sampaio (nearby São Mamede)

“Outras Caras” – painting exposition

“Outras Caras” (Other Faces)

From April, 2010 there is an exposition of handmade paintings by Ismael Hipólito Djata in Morocco House of Tea, in Guimarães. Most paintings in one way or the other depict human beings. The exposition could be seen as a voyage of discovery a real – a wild life – the culture of Guinea Bissau and Portugal as well.

Ismael Hipólito Djata is a painter, a poet and a sculptor. His paintings transmit cultural messages and the mysteries of the universe. The art is an expression of his heart and soul. Through his works we see, that art has no borders, no race and no language. Ismael Hipólito Djata is a hyperrealist painter. His painting reflect the abstraction. He tries to find his world on human figures, customs, movements and chromatic treatments.

The painter is the founding member of the association of visual artists in Guinea Bissau, of the group United Brethren and of the club of dead poets in Guinea Bissau (Poetas Mortos da Guiné-Bissau). He got a prize for several contests “A Millennium without Hunger” held by United Nations Population Fund “UNFPA”, “Give a little bit of your blood to save a life” World Health Organization “WHO” and in 2005 on behalf of the United Brethren received the award for best young painters of the year in Guinea Bissau.

In Ismael Hipólito Djata’s painting there is no pursuit for trends and no language of advertisement. I propose you to go and to take a look. It‘s worth your time. There is nothing more to say, because “A picture can paint a thousand words”. The artist’s blog http://ismaelhdjata.blog.com

Ewelina Poleszak

ewelina.cultura.rum@gmail.com

Language Café’s advice!

The more time you spend with the language, the faster you will learn. This does not mean sitting in class looking out the window. Take action, go out and try to talk the foreign language. Have you already participated in Language Café? It can really help you to meet other people to practise speaking Portuguese.

Remember, there is no “best” way to learn a language, because everyone learns slightly differently. The most important thing to remember is that learning a language can be frustrating at first, but it is worth the effort.  Once you have set your mind on it, learning a language can actually be surprisingly simple. During Erasmus Language Café you have possibility to talk to native speakers. Do not miss the chance. Improving your pronunciation will obviously help you to communicate, as people will understand what you are saying. Less obvious is that improving your pronunciation can help you to understand when someone else speaks the language (as you better understand what the sounds represent). You don’t have to be perfect, but if you improve your pronunciation a bit, you might improve your communication a lot. What you can do more? Read in the language as much as you can. Try children’s stories first, moving on to newspapers and magazines as your vocabulary builds. Reading will dramatically improve your vocabulary, your spelling, your grammar and your knowledge of the language culture.

There is one of truth. If you do not want to learn the language, you will not. If you do want to learn the language, take control. Choose content of interest, that you want to listen to and read. Seek out the words and phrases that you need to understand your listening and reading. Discover the language by yourself, like a child growing up.  Enjoy it!

Ewelina Poleszak

ewelina.cultura.rum@gmail.com

After Easter…

How are you? Hope you had a good time during Easter holiday!
I would like to invite everybody to the 3rd Erasmus Language Cafe.

We have a special surprise for all participant – declamation poems by Ismael Hipólito Djata **

When? on 12th of April, Monday, at 9:30 p.m.
Where? São Mamede – CAE, Guimarães – Rua dr. José Sampaio, 17-25

The topic of our meeting is „ hobbies, interests, culture”. We are going to talk about favourite things which we do in free time. I propose to bring dictionaries and books and other materials which can help you to have a conversation.

** Ismael Hipólito Djata – a poet, a writer and an artist plastic. He was born in Guiné-Bissau. Actually, student at Tecnologias and Sistemas de Informação at Universidade do Minho. He is a fundator of Associação dos Artistas Plásticos da Guine-Bissau, member of Irmãos Unidos group and member of Clube dos Poetas mortos da Guiné-Bissau. Read on… http://ismaelhdjata.blog.com, http://ismaelhdjata.artelista.com

Do not miss the chance. Come and join us!

Best wishes,
Ewelina Poleszak
EVS volunteer at Radio RUM & Cultur@rum
phone: 962 561 472
http://www.rum.pt
https://erasmuslanguagecafe.wordpress.com