Friday, June 20, 2014

Language is fun, part Portuguese

Hi! I am in Salvador, Brazil, for the summer. I could promise a blog post later where I explain that in more detail, but we've all seen how up-to-speed my blogging is, so I'll just say I'm here for field research for my PhD.

Few people in Salvador speak English. Thus I am learning Portuguese (and I fear harming my good French and obliterating my crappy Spanish at the same time, but whatever). Each language has its weirdnesses (yes, even English, you just don't notice them until a non-native English speaker asks why you say X or Y and you have no idea).  Remember how to count in French/Dutch? Among other things in Portuguese, I've learned the days of the week (should have gotten a gold star, I KNOW!). They are:

Monday= Seconda-feira (second-feira)
Tuesday= Tercera-feira   (third-feira)
Wednesday= Quarta-feira (fourth-feira)
Thurday = Quinta-feira (fifth-feira)
Friday = Sexta-feira (sixth-feira)
Saturday = Sabado
Sunday = Domingo

Feira means market. It seems to be a religious thing that Sunday is first, but weekdays are second through sixth market day. It is more confusing than it sounds, I promise. Try to remember what day of the week it is, then add 1 and translate it to Portuguese. Yup. They also abreviate the days as 2ª, etc., so you see shop hours listed as :

2ª a 6ª, das 9.00 às 18.00

which is fun when your best guess is that the shop is open five days a month....

Monday, May 26, 2014

Ouch

From a comment in a journal:


Monday, April 7, 2014

Well...

I haven't posted in way too long.  Now there's too much pressure to come back with something good, so instead please enjoy the song I'm currently obsessed with. Bonus gorgeous scenery.


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Hairsicles

Today I learned how fast your hair freezes when it's 10 degrees F (-12C) outside: fast. Very fast. Less than 2 minutes fast.