Turning Portuguese, I think Im turning Portuguese, I really think so

I might have only been here 2 months but something tells me Im turning Portuguese far too quickly. Consider:

• Im starting to plan my day around lunch, instead of just having it when it fits in
• I know by look whether the bread served in a restaraunt is good or not and rank the restaraunt accordingly
• I can argue for hours over the best way to cook prawns (similar to the curry arguments at home I guess).
• Ive eaten pork for lunch yesterday, after work last night, lunch today and dinner tonight
• I think nothing of gunning the car up to 140km/h on the only 1km of straight road between Montemor and Escoural
• I overtake tractors on corners or solid lines
• The first question I ask someone is what football team they follow

I still haven't flashed my lights at someone when Ive driven up their back on the highway (mostly because the Strakar only gets up to 150 and that isnt quick enough to challenge).

Im also adjusting my scheduling. Any dealings with the government or another company I add 2-3 days to my expected deadline. Instead of expecting a dozer on site within the hour I feel proud if we get it there the next morning. For example when we were looking for a hire car we called one place who was very ready to help until they found out we were a company. No chance of a price over the phone - instead two days later came a very respectful email and nicely presented quote.

The dozer is a little more complicated. You see its a family company. Except none of them get on. One son isnt talking to the father after Dad got divorced. The rest argue amongst themselves or with dad. Tis all very "complicated". Which is the most common word in Portugal. Getting to Lisbon is "complicated" and usually requires 4 people arguing over which is the best route. Getting a car unbogged is "complicated" only when it requires two tractors.

But there always ends up being a solution. It works. It might take a while but things get fixed. For example I was driving through one of the farms the other day and some cows had got out and were wandering up and down the ditch and the road and enjoying themselves as cows do. The guy from the farm was standing there watching them, smoking a cigarette. In Australia there would have been three utes pulled up, or at least the guy would be making some of effort to move them on. Nup. Just standing there having a smoke. I'll bet he was thinking what his options were. Might have taken him all day. And he wouldve stopped for lunch. Lets face the cows werent going anywhere. But I'll bet the cows were back in by the end of the day. The Portuguese are pretty resourceful in a country which is historically poor. Anything needed can be made first, bought later. There is no 2nd-hand market in this country as anything old might be useful later.

But the most typical Portuguese happened today. We went to our normal cafe for lunch (Cancela in Escoural - they wont mind the publicity and they deserve all of it). We're trying to not eat so much so we asked for rice only, no chips (yes here you dont get a choice. You get both). But when it came it had a massive pile of chips and a decent pile of rice. Carla explained that the kitchen had thought they didnt have enough rice for us both and they were worried we'd be hungry. How many restaraunts worry that their customers arent eating enough?!