Mor Montemor

(yeah the title's very corny but hey Im crap at them - you know I normally cant even think of a subject for my emails)

Montemor - my "place" is the 6 palm trees in the middle foreground

Sunday was a shiny day so I went up to the castle and wandered around up there. This is where I should have lots of history about Montemor and its Castle .... hmm yes sadly lacking. Lots of loose stats about the place on the net so thank you http://viajar.clix.pt/en/dst3239.php?lg=en and www.portugalvirtual.pt/_tourism/ for the text but my photos are better than theirs :) Actually Montemor's really good for tourists as theres little silver plaques with tourist info on attached to all the sights and the different squares but as Im a local I have to go and read them at night when no-ones looking, wouldnt want people thinking Im a tourist!

• The town of Montemor-o-Novo was the birthplace of São João de Deus (St. John of God), born in 1495 and founder of the Order of Brothers Hospitallers which since then has followed his example of caring for the sick and the poor. His name was given to the central square where the 17th-century Mother Church rises, which preserves the font where the saint was baptized. Wouldnt say it was central, and certainly not big but a very pretty square, one of my favourite places

• The former Convent of São Domingos now lodges the Archaeological Museum with local finds and also old agricultural implements. The town's public fountain, ressembling an altar, is equally worth admiring. Havent been to the museum, as for the fountain theres actually two of them, both are worth admiring (the one they talk about is all marble), but neither are worthy of a photo here

• It was fortified by the Romans and Moors and reconquered by the Christians in the 13th century, but only ruins remain of its hilltop castle. Here Vasco da Gama finalised plans for his epic voyage, which culminated in the discovery of the sea route to India. I would have thought it would be better to finalise plans for a sea voyage near the sea…..

• Otherwise, Montemor-o-Novo is one of the largest counties of Portugal, an important centre for the production of cork, grain, olive-oil, cattle and wines. AND SOON TO BE GOLD!!!!

I took heaps of photos as usual and cos Blogger only lets me do 5 at a time I have to split them over a couple of posts so Ive divided them into "normal" touristy photos, and "arty" shots where Im trying to be all creative ‘n’ stuff. So which sort did you go for? Im sure it says something about you.... or are you just a greedy bloggee like me and want to see it all and more!!!

Theres a road which runs the whole way around the hill just below the castle which will be a good walking track in summer - for those interested in my health and well-being its about 20 minutes a lap. Another reason I can put off going to the gym or rugby - very bloody slack.

Ironically the day after I write “mind the Hundschiesse” on the log I step in some :(

The Portuguese seems to have a habit of driving to nice spots like near the castle or the riverside in Lisbon and sitting in their cars to relax and read the paper, or have a smoke. I passed a guy parked on the road near the castle who looked like he was doing his accounts in the car?! Guess it means you get some fresh air without the chance of being rained on.

Montemor Castle Touristy

The Clock Tower
Tower of the Angel with the ruins of the St. Maria of Bispo Church to the right

The Tower of the Bad Hour - no idea what the name is referring to, the tourist signs pointedly did not explain further
The western side of the castle - http://www.portugalvirtual.pt/ says something about it being a Moorish slaughterhouse which again doesnt sound so good. I think "The western side of the Castle" is a better description....

Montemor Castle Arty

Not sure if these cats are feral/living in the castle or not (it can be hard to tell here, cats dont spend a lot of time at home). The doorway is near the Tower of the Bad Hour it may well be the poor gate or something
The doorway of the Angel.... I like using arches to frame photos, or doorways or bridges (as above with the old man). My cousin likes doors too - maybe its genetic?! Some of the ones Ive seen here are amazingly ornate, as you'd expect from 16th, 17th Century churches, convents and monasteries (if Id studied architecture Id be able to tell you the period - sorry)

Alameda

My favourite place in Lisbon was the Alameda. Its a city park built around a monument - not to a revolution (like the rest of Lisbon) or to a war (like the rest of Europe) but to the guy who built the Lisbon water works or pipeline or something. Anyway appropriately (possibly wastefully!) the centrepiece is this bizare fountain/artificial waterful. Which is also spectacular. Unlike other city parks its not full of drug dealers but has kids running around, teenagers hanging out, guys playing football, dogs running around/crapping (mind the Hundschiesse) and its all very normal. Plus theres some great cafes and restaraunts in the roads leading away and up to the Praca Londres.

Part of the reason I loved the Alameda was that it reminded me of Berlin - completely over the top and random yet spectacular and lovable and somewhat homely. Berlin has been on my mind recently - a combination of reminiscing after reading certain sites and the fact Im going to Germany for Christmas. Very excited about that. While I'll mostly be in the east and near Dresden I might even get back to Berlin and wander Kreuzberg again. Im still not sure what it was that I loved so much (though I know im not alone in loving it) but Im pretty sure I can blame Berlin for ending up here. In fact I should probably blame Berlin for a lot of things. And nostalgia too. Its never a good emotion to cultivate.

Friday after work

I have a Friday night routine. Its having a couple of beers with the guys out in the back shed behind the office, then trying negotiate my way back to Montemor without hitting anything. Its fairly similar to Fridays everywhere- standing around having a beer telling stories. There are times when I understand everything that is being said- plus my Portuguese gets better with alcohol.. Tonight was ok cos most of it was work talk and its pretty easy to follow. There are times when I understand nothing but nod and smile and pretend to listen, when really what Im listening to is the lyricism/music of the Alentejo accent. Its an intangible feeeling - the joy I get from standing around half cut listening to a story being told that I only half understand against a backdrop of concrete and fluorescent lighting and suddenly feeling all warm and fuzzy. Yes I've had a couple :) but I love the guys this week as theyve put in the work I expect, without me asking and without complaining or wanting praise. Theyve just gone and done it. And so at the moment I feel I owe them and will defend them to allcomers. I is loyal I is.

Think I wish Id written a few other things in Portuguese this week. Theres been extremes - at times I think I have been very wise and helpful, at times moderately annoying and attention-seeking (this paragraph might fit that category), and at times have said stupid things and been downright upsetting. Can those who Ive been good to please pass some of those vibes across to those Ive upset so the cosmos can equilibrate.

Pequena coisas 1

The hardest thing in another language is giving/understanding directions. Since coming here - the rugby club which Ive been invited to join trains "on the park of sand near the swimming pool, along from the bus station". When I asked someone where the bus station was they told me it was "near the swimming pool". Theres another gym which I havent found yet which is "on the main road, the Evora road, near the end". Since I didnt quite walk to Evora i presume I didnt find it. The Museum of Archaeology in Escoural is near a fieldys girlfriend's house. I think thats why he's never quite made it there despite being born here. I ate last night at the "restaraunt above the swimming pool". Last Saturday it was the restaraunt "above the gas station". When we tried to find a government department in Evora we were told it was near the courts. We asked a cop where the courts were and he didnt know.

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I sent some emails this week and bagged the guys I work with as they dont wear protective equipment like safety glasses, ear plugs, dust masks. Its not in their culture and its not usually available in the workplace. But in this country its mandatory to wear a reflective vest if you're walking along the road. And everyone does. Maybe people here are just smarter at recognising the risks.

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This is my favourite Portuguese roadsign. It says "This street is only wide enough for one car, but instead of making it a one way street we'll make it two way. To make sure no-one runs into each other the person with the red arrow has right of way". In reality whoevers gets into the street first wins. Or you play chicken with the other driver - especially if (like me) you have a decent sized car. Just to keep people on their toes Montemor also has more than its share of 1-way streets...

"... and the Romanian said to the Portuguese...."

The last few days have brought home just how similar and yet how different it is working in Portugal. On Saturday there was a couple of geos, 2 fieldies, a drill crew and a fitter hanging around a broken-down rig talking about the weather, football, drinking and places we'd been. The driller was trying to teach one of the geos his language. Only it wasnt Maori. Instead a Romanian was trying to teach a Portuguese some Hungarian. We talked football not AFL or rugby. And the conversation was in 4 different languages. But getting into drilling has been good - its a more familiar routine for me, and also I know what should be happening and what I expect to happen. However the scenery is still completely different to the backdrop Im used to behind a rig.

View towards Boa Fe

Rig hiding behind cork trees

Autumn colours....

Charcoal burning next to the drill site

For those who have made this far - I whinged about the weather last post and got reminded that all my photos so far have had the sun shining. Hopefully these correct my misrepresentation :)

Evora

Last week I went over to Evora for the day to do a couple of chores. As they involved interacting with the government - no chance of being successful. We needed to get a map but the only guy who could help wasnt there. The fact that he hadnt been there the day before made us a bit suspicious he even existed. Then it was my turn to try and get residency - well I got the form.... not much else (even though as an EU citizen this should be a formality). In a nice twist to get residency I needed a work contract, but the company lawyers wouldn't sign my contract until I was a resident. Portugals kind of like this. It seems to be that if you say "No" then people will start offering you things or take you to lunch until you say yes. Thankfully there are some helpful people around.

Anyway Evora is a nice town to be stuck in waiting for government departments to open or to wander round trying to find them......

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Its funny being asked questions like "Are you having fun" or "Do you think you've made the right choice". I have no idea y'see! I think you only ever know the right choice through hindsight. I think I need to feel a lot more involved in the project before I can assess the benefits of the job. And thats the other thing with having fun - I am working. While its great to be in a different place and while there is a lot of fun at times its not like being on holiday, theres a lot to do and there are the normal pressures/issues which come from work. Plus its winter - so on a Sunday when I am free theres not a lot of incentive to do much on a day like today when its pouring with rain outside. I am a bit itchy though - Id like to be getting out and seeing some more stuff, especially away from Montemor/Escoural . When I do go out I feel a lot better about life even if its just to walk down to the ATM. Eating out is one way to get out but theres no such thing as a light/small meal in the Alentejo, you get so much to eat at lunch that you're not hungry at night! and you cant eat a huge meal every night (although I say that as Im heading out for dinner 2 nights in a row!). Like the Spanish the Portuguese eat late (again not the best for diet!) although thankfully dinner is earlier than the Spanish, usually between 8 and 9. And eating alone takes something out of the enjoyment. All the geos live away from the project, all the fieldies live in Escoural. Last night I went out to a nice bar for a beer to watch the Porto game but all the cool kids were too busy gossiping in their groups to want to chat to the weird gringo. Mind you I wasnt at my most outgoing or chatty either - was working on my mysterious stranger in the corner look but that doesn't work well in a small town where you dont want to be the odd one out - another reason to get out of Montemor every so often!!!

Hello world

I had my internet cruelly ripped away from me last Sunday. Just as i was going to entertain you with stories of my Saturday night I found out the hard way that my ADSL was pre-paid :( One phone call/many automated menus in portuguese and about 4 switchboard operators later I also discovered you cant recharge it over the phone (only by using ATMs, conveniently my ATM card arrived on Thursday).

So the last week has been a lot of Portuguese TV. Very strange:

• My BBC Prime connection comes with bonus Hungarian subtitles?!
• Stingers is the only Aussie show, apart from V8 supercars or docos on the Variety Club Bash (comforting in a feral bush kinda way).
• The backpacker girl on the travel channel is possibly the most annoying, judgemental and insensitive Amercian tourist I have ever come across (well top 5 at least)
• Sex in the City in French?! Nuff said.
• Fox has realised that none of its demographic are awake before midday so just shows station IDs until then
• The same show appears on different channels almost like they have combined schedules- e.g. I can watch Futurama on Fox then on SIC Radical, I can watch 2 episodes of Coupling on people+arts (!) then switch to BBC Prime and only miss the first 5 minutes (tho made harder by the 2 season jump)
• Random British comedy - Yes Minister appeared out of nowhere one Saturday arvo, similarily Monty Python last Tuesday night.
• Everything stops for football. Even when its the U21 side. Or Italian Serie B.

With my internet redone Ive also done some playing in an effort to try and syndicate this for those misguided people who want such things.....

RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BillosDiary

Atom: http://billosdiary.blogspot.com/atom.xml

I have no idea how to use either - the privilege of being the blogger not the bloggee

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday nights all right?!

Theres always a story when i got out drinking overseas. This is just one of them (someone tell me which TV show I've ripped that off?!):

Saturday night I went out for dinner with one of the students from work then we headed into town for a beer or three. Id seen a place that morning which said "Bar Pub" on the sign (unlike the rest which are all cafe sort of bars), so we thought we'd check it out. When we got there it was closed up but as we walked off the door opened and the guy yelled out at us to come in. Fair enough. Wandered in, grabbed a beer, looked around. The place was completely empty and seemed a bit weird. Why was there a little raised area, looked a bit small for a dancefloor. Why was there a mirrorball and spotlights on it when the rest of the place was pitchblack? And why was there a pole..... we'd wandered into the local strip club. No wonder the beers were 5 euros. And no wonder the guy was on the phone looking a bit frantic. Sculled beers, headed out (with the guy trying to make us stay by telling us the girls were on their way).

I nearly had bar choosing duties taken off me, but since the other guy was from out of town we went somewhere I knew was safe - the fake English bar. I'll describe this one in more detail another time, but in small towns they seem to be always run & staffed by one old guy, only ever have 4 people in them, smell funny, have way too much wood and strange seats and layouts (Im thinking the one in Ako as well). After that we tried to find a place for coffee, but wracked with indecision we ended up in the local nightclub (anyone actually believe that? cos its true).

All I can say is its very hard trying to drink two bartabs of 4 euros (otherwise its a 15 euro entry fee) when beers are 1.25e (Note to self: find a euro symbol on this computer!). If you lose the bar ticket - 60 euros to get out. Mightve been worth paying as it was the usual small town nightclub- everyone under 20 and too afraid to dance with, let alone talk to, someone of the opposite sex. We ran into a guy from work who'd been telling me all week that he knew all the girls (cos I need to be introduced to the local ones?!). All the time we were there he introduced me to one then he did a bunk and never came back. I spotted him hiding behind a pillar on the other side of the club half an hour later.....

Red wine and chestnuts

Friday was red wine and chesnuts day. All week everyone had been telling me how we were going to drink red wine and eat chestnuts on Friday. When I asked why I got this blank look and "Because its red wine and chestnuts day". Obviously I hadn't understood.

I found out on the day it was the festival of San Marthinho which celebrates the first bottling of the new vintage. And we weren't really drinking red wine - instead 'agua pe' bottled from the first (water) flush of the wine vats. The guys kept trying to tell me it was non-alcoholic but I'm not so sure. Saints days are big here - today is St Fatima's day (the most important Portuguese saint) and theres a huge procession carrying lights through Lisbon (or maybe its just the prelims to starting riots a la Paris!).

The BBQ setup - suddenly my one in Yokine doesnt look so bad

The local favourite sausage - farinheira - pork fat and flour grllled on the BBQ

Just like in Australia a barbie need to be watched....

Dinner at my place

Some photos from dinner at my place on Thursday night. This will sound familiar to some of you but I didnt cook, or buy anything (except provide beers from the fridge), or even set table, cut bread or do dishes (this time its cos I have a dishwasher)!!

The cooking process - the pan is wild mushrooms handpicked from the side of the road

"How the hell do I have dinner for 5 when I have 3 dinner plates and only 4 forks!!!"

The essentials - bread and cheese. No Portuguese meal starts without them. I got in trouble for suggesting we get bread from the supermarket, nup, only the best bread will do. Anything else can be compromised on.

Music

I really shouldve written this last week - but seeing a million free postcards with "MTV Europe Music Awards" on them today reminded me to have a rant.

You see the music you hear around you in Europe is crap. Plainly and simply. I dont think I wouldve known that Robbie Williams had a new album out if I was in Oz. But Im here and Ive heard his new single about 6 times a day since Ive been here. MTV Europe has to be the worst music video channel invented. There is no alternative radio station here. People seem to have to find their own music meaning the mix gets very bizarre - e.g. the music out of the office next door to mine which ranges from Rammstein-like German hardcore to Portuguese pop and classical music.......

And then we come to the awards - which were in Lisbon last Thursday night. The Black Eyed Peas - two albums ago the new thing in hip hop were nominated for Best Pop. Everyone was talking about what a great year Green Day had had. Chris Martin from Coldplay couldnt sing in tune. But apparently it was the event of the year. Borat hosting it couldnt make it entertaining. It was funny for someone who's tried to learn Portuguese to hear a lot of "stars" try to connect with a local audience by learning the word for thank you ie Obrigado. That was it. Hey I speak fluently compared to these guys.

Doing a language course with the usual "I like...." reminded of how commercial my tastes have become. Outside of Australian alternative I like Coldplay, Gorillaz, the Killers, Jack Johnson, Interpol (phew one with some credibility!). That was the weird thing about the awards - seeing Gorillaz "performing" - well as an animated performance anyway. We've grown so used to anime that we can tolerate this level of "non-live performace". But it seemed a little more real than some other performance too - and certainly involved a lot more creativity.

O meu trabalho

In a way work here is the same – assessing prospects, planning holes and probably will be all too familiar once a rig gets here. Just like in Australia my head fieldy tells me what to do (except here I get told to take off my seatbelt instead of to put it on!). I also get the feeling that people are waiting for me to start telling them what to do or how to do things. And as I havent started telling them what I want done Im often waiting on others as they've been caught up doing other things which probably aren't as important.\ Dealing with Portuguese bureaucracy can be counted on to take up a significant part of your day. Attitudes are certainly a lot more relaxed – the normal driller’s obsession with earning money is incomprehensible to the guys here as their priorites are food, drink, football, women and then money. Instead the most important part of the day is lunch/almoco. It takes at least an hour (its written into every work contract) and spent either in a restaraunt or back at home for the guys who live close. Guys working in the field will drive back into town for it and dont understand why the rig doesnt stop for it. And It gets a lot harder when we’re celebrating as we head to the next village for the local speciality (stewed wild pig), have a couple of beers and a liquer then have to get back to the office for the afternoon.

Another difference is the countryside as its green - not red or brown. We work in movie-like farmland not like the stations or bush at home so Im still getting used to driving past more than one farmhouse in a day (hell more than one village!) plus all types of cows/sheep/goats/turkeys/geese/pigs. Our main enviro issue is cork trees - if we knock one over or have to take one it out its a big deal. Roll on screw-top wine bottles (Im not allowed to say that too loud round here!). Archaeologically there are apparently enough Roman artefacts for metal detectors to be banned although I havent seen any yet. The one place I’ve visited where there were definitely Romans (they had some mine workings there) doesn’t look any different to anywhere else – you can play “Spot the Roman” at home if you scroll down.

But its lunchtime now…

Traffic jam

Rockship sampling pretty much in someones backyard!

Cork trees - the number painted on the trunk is the last digit of the year the bark was harvested. After that you wait 10 years and then harvest again. Not exactly a consistent or secure income - a lot can happen in 10 years.

Old Roman workings - apparently?!

Os meus scrittorio

Escoural - the town where our office/base is

Our office Inside.... the difference in size of the flags is supposed to reflect the proportions of each nationality in the workforce?!
Out the back - this is probably the only Aussie looking photo here (note the windmill)
View out my window when im daydreaming