“I don’t speak Portuguese, but I can speak a little Mandarin!”
Today was another day at work–I finished off a “stab” at a larger project so I felt some relief going home, but it was a nice day overall.
After a quiet afternoon of an easy dinner and some phone calls, I went with the other interns to a meetup event called Mundo Lingo Lisbon. Here, they give you flag stickers representing the languages you speak/wish to speak that night at the entrance to a hip community space (and everyone gets a Portuguese flag because we are all here in Lisbon, after all).
I put American English, German, and Mandarin signifiers on my shirt, and I managed to speak all three languages that night–some even all with one person! It was a really exciting time and two hours flew by, so I got home a little later than a normal work night would ideally suggest–hehe.
Overall, I had a really fulfilling day, and I hope to go to more Mundo Lingo events–everyone was so friendly and eager (some people had arrived just 2 days ago!) to make friends for the summer, and it was exciting to be able to speak languages with so many different people and learn about a variety of topics from other Lisbon interlocutors (and some locals!)
Much love!
One note on tomorrow night: I’m going out with my housemates to Alfama for a traditional grilled sardines experience. However, it is the night of Santo Antonio, so literally everyone in Lisbon will be doing that exact same thing–so it’ll be crowded and I’m not sure when I will get home. Traditions may include staying out all night and sleeping through Thursday, which is a day off. 😉 On the bright side, I trust my housemates and they said we would strictly stick together (“otherwise you’ll end up in Spain or something”), and I look forward to socializing more with them.
What would Madame Court say to that choice of flags???
she would say something like “Quel Dommage!”