Day 5 in Porto

This morning started off with another great cup of coffee – always is a nice start to the day.
At the start of today’s board meeting, our member from Japan gave us staff members a gift. He handed it to me, so I was elected to open it. The wrapping paper was beautiful, had Japanese writing and symbols on it. The box was shaped like box that would contain chocolates. When I opened the box, there were individually wrapped crackers. The paper inside was in Japanese so I had to get him to come back and tell us what they were – they were shrimp crackers. Crackers made of finely ground shrimp. Out of generosity, I kept the wrapping paper and gave the box of crackers to my co-workers. Somehow, at the end of the day, I have ended up with them again. I am pleased to announce that as I sit here typing this journal, I am eating one. If you can get past the fishy smell when you tear open the package, the cracker is a good, salty, crunchy snack.

For lunch I walked to the local McDonalds. I was planning to skip lunch initially but the shakes started and I couldn’t fathom another plate of pork or fish. While the McDonalds was certainly good – it was still a little different which is expected.

When I returned from lunch, my roommate had arrived and moved in. She is originally from Indonesia but has lived in Amsterdam for the past seven years. She seems sweet – I look forward to getting to know her over the next several days. I have discovered that not everyone has a roommate. As I inquired as to the reason, it is basically those who are easy going were paired up. The “difficult to get along with” folks got their own room. I’m all about saving the company money, but if being difficult to get along with is so rewarding… hmmm… I may have to rethink my demeanor or perhaps my husband would be willing testify that living with me is not as easy as it would appear :-).

Interesting observations…

While walking down the avenue today, I noticed that several people have cats on leashes. In fact, the only cat not on a leash that I have seen was the one in the cemetery. I’m curious to find out if it is a city ordinance.

Also, I have come to notice that Europeans do not seem to perceive anyone’s “personal bubble space”. Everywhere I’ve been they don’t mind rubbing right up next to you. This morning, one of our board members was sitting at my table for breakfast with her five month old baby and a Portuguese woman came over and took her baby for a few minutes. She said that happened on the airplane several times too. Just interesting…

I have always heard, but am observing for the first time how much further along Europe is than the US in terms of being a “Green” society. At the grocery store, they ask if you need a bag for carrying your groceries home, if you say yes they charge you for it. If you use a shopping cart, you insert your money to be able to release it and then get your money back once it is returned. Refrigeration is not used quite so much. Drinks are served at room temperature typically. Very little ice is used – home freezers do not have ice makers in them. My hotel room has a card slot in the entry way that you have to put your room card in to turn your electricity on. No electricity works without it – therefore no electronics can be left charging, etc. when the card is removed. A lot of glass bottles are used rather than plastic. Trash cans are very scarce… making you think twice before you create garbage.

Tonight our Board wanted to have dinner with all of the staff who was already in town. Dinner was held on the top floor of the hotel in the VIP Lounge – it was super fancy. Here is a picture of my desert…

The main dish was lamb… it was cooked which is a huge improvement - so I ate it.