portugal notes

1 am on a random tuesday in lisbon: the air is hot and humid. every metro is packed. people are roaming the streets, some 5 people waiting by the bus stop, one eating a sandwich. two women just jogged by. some other ladies are smoking and chatting loudly on the sidewalk.

if this was sweden, there wouldn’t be a single person in sight.

portuguese people seem to enjoy life more than swedes. they also don’t care much about work. are the two correlated? i’m not sure. probably not.

anyway. below are random notes i took during my 10-day stay in lisbon:

• people just sit in their cars? (i’d peak into some parked cars and see a dude just sitting there staring ahead or listening to the radio or something.)

• people stay outside veeery late (what are they doing out in the streets or in metro at 1am on weekdays? don’t they have jobs??)

• lots of sirens (kinda nice, distant noice.)

• lots of black people.

• lots of adidas sambas.

• adults play mobile games (it feels like everyone is a kid lol. i saw people playing mobile games in the metro, at the supermarket, at cafés...)

• lots of arm tattoos.

• people either give you a death stare or don’t look at you at all. i noticed no between. (they were friendly if you actually talked to them though, people just LOOKED scary).

• cleaner than expected.

• everyone smokes, even 14 year olds. (smoking is still ”cool” i guess?)

• only blue collar jobs? (i saw max 2 people in suits in 10 days, and i was outside all the time.)

• few dog owners.