"Sabores do Mar"

Recently, I went to a restaurant called "Sabores do Mar" to celebrate my certificate of portuguese culture and language with a few members of my family. Located right in front of the beach near the capital of Portugal, Lisbon. There is a balcony-terrrase on the first floor of the restaurant which provides the clients with a marvellous view on the beach and the ocean where the fishing boats were fishing in the horizon. This lookout gives also the opportunity of eating al fresco. Moreover, the air is fulfilled with the delicate and traditional scent of sea.

The interior of the place is decorated with nautic motives without exageration. Wood is privileged over other materials and ropes and nets, reminding the ones used in fishing boats, are hung here and there. However, what surprised me the most was this immense aquarium situated in a corner of the restaurant containing the a wide array of fresh fish used in the meals. The setting of the tables is elegant in a casual way which endows the place with a touch of portuguese traditions and conviviality. The result of this is not only a warm atmosphere, but also a peaceful ambiance where people can make themselves at ease.

The menu is sophisticatedly written in Portuguese, but also in English offering a great selection of local meals based on fresh seafood like crabs, shellfishes, clams, prawns, etc. Obviously, the restaurant proposes especially for the young a variety of easy and more basic dishes. Furthermore, the customers can see the workers coming directly from the beach with the still alive fish to supply the restaurant. It can seem a little bit startling for some people, but personally I loved the fact of seeing the provenance of the products and I was certain that the food was not only fresh, but local and traditionally made on the spot. The servings are generous and enticingly presented. I was more than satiated at the end of the dinner with an exquisite home made meal. The dessserts are also made in the restaurant I could not find " Movenpick" ice cream, instead I could taste a well-known Portuguese dessert that my grandma used to make when I was a child. Moreover, the food is full of flavour bringing back memories of authentic meals cooked in my childhood.

The service is professional and friendly, attentive to the customers without being constantly intrusive during the dinner which allowed me to appreciate fully. One thing that I found myself delighted was that the waiting staff is knowledgeable about the menu and can help the client in its choices. In addition, they are efficient, I did not grew impatient since the waiting time between the different servings is not too long.

To sum up, I recommend this restaurant without any hesitation. Nevertheless, I have to point out that it is a little bit expensive. However, it stays affordable. Considering the quality of the ingredients and the aromas which emanate from the food and whet the appetite, in addition to the incredible taste, it is definetely worth it.

Noosa "Public Transport"

I have been in Noosa for nearly five months and I have really been appreciating the area, however I have an unique objection to that: the so called public transport of Noosa. Personally, I have had some misadventures with whatever related to these transports. I am sure that I am not the only one, at least it has provided my friends and myself with a topic of conversation. I spent hours debating on the total incompetence of the public transport.

We all know that we have to pay a careful attention to the timetables knowing that a bus comes every half an hour for the luckiest of ourselves, but most of the time we have to wait for another hour. Honestly, I think that this timetable is completely useless, bus drivers do as they please. I remember walking in direction to the busstop at least ten minutes before it was supposed to arrive and it was on the verge of leaving the busstop I could run as fast as possible to catch it, but it was already too late or sometimes the bus does not come at all. Why do I have to make an effort with the public transport if instead of spending thirty minutes and more to reach a destination, I can be in ten minutes exactly wherever I want with a car? We do not have to forget that the buses do not lead us to the spot that we really want we have to count an extra ten to fifteen minutes of walk. Well, I suppose this is what people call to be environmentally friendly, but it can get truly on my nerves. In addition, it really sets me back in my budget because the price of the ticket is exorbitantly expensive. But what put me down once, was that a bus driver made me to get off the bus because I had only fifty dollars and no change for the ticket. Why should I be obstinate to use the public transport if there are only drawbacks to it? and what about the fact that the last bus going from my house to the town centre is at six in the evenning? How can I do if I want to drink something in the evening or simply go out in a nightclub? Do all local teenagers have a car at their disposal?

Nevertheless, the main problem is situated somewhere else. How come that Noosa's translink is so backwards compared to other small towns where the buses come more frequently and are definitely cheaper? The council of the Sunshine Coast is oblivious about the matter and has been turning a deaf ear to the several complaints ro develop the network of the public transport. In the meantime, willing people as myself endeavour to use the deficient public trasnports of Noosa.

Things I want to achieve in the next ten years

I often think of the future as something blurred and unknown completely out of reach which I am afraid of. However, to counter this fear I tend to plan what I want to achieve in a certain time in outlining the most essential points. Obviously, it is a subjective point of view, but everyone has more or less the same aspirations and ambitions with slight differences.
In the next ten years, there are so many things that I would like to have accomplished to be blossomed. For instance, I want to undertake a humanitarian trip to a developing country to be really aware of another culture and way of life than mine, living in a developed country without having had a lack of any vital need. It is natural for me to have three square meals a day or water whenever I want. It can seem a cliche, but it is crucial to contribute for a better world or at least try to do something useful. It is a personal achievement to devote myself to the needs of others for once in my life and everyone should do the same. The awareness that an experience like that can bring is immense, advertisements and documentaries about global issues are no longer efficient because we have become immune to this bombardment of the media.
In ten years and in a more selfish way, I want to achieve success in my own life. Nonetheless, that does not mean that I have to do it at all costs in letting or pushing down people that are on my way. Success is self-challenging all the time and is the smiliest thing ever. For me it means to have a career that will allow me to sustain the needs of a probable family that I would like to form. " It is a platitude", you would say. You have to observe deeper what this actually means. The achievement and the challenge in having a family that you have to take care of and protect is self-rewarding. It is easy to be happy, but share your happiness with others and sometimes making sacrifices and still be cheerful, this is the hardest part of the challenge.
In ten years, I want above all to be knowledgeable and curious about things as I am now. I realised that people tend to lose their interest and passion when they are getting older. They take everything for granted and their lives are a mere routine. Passions maintain my interests and force me in a positive way to keep up my brain learning. It does not only lighten up my life, but it is also self-satisfying. Did you know that being interested all the time prevent you from contracting neuro-degenerative diseases?
In ten years I willl be 29 and I am already working on these abstract achievements that I want to carry off successfully. What about you?

My Ideal Home

The ways how a home is furnished and arranged can reveal a huge amount of traits of the owner's personality, as well as the kind of habits the owner has. You create your home and the atmosphere that you live in depending on your tastes. I am sure that when you visit a home from someone else, more than once you thought that it suits the owner down to the ground. Indeed, unconsciously people furnish their home as they are.

If I had my own ideal home, an essential point would be the sunlight. Windows would be gigantic to let natural light in as much as possible. I know that it has a strong impact on my mood. Then, my bedroom would be located in the East. In that way, I would benefit from the sunlight in the morning to wake up in a beautiful and comfortable atmosphere. It would lighten my day. In contrast, the living room would be inundated by sunrays in the afternoon due to the fact that I would probably spend most of my time there.

In relation to the furniture, I will avoid to have to many things. I want my home not only to be stylish, but also to be practical. Efficiency is one quality that I advocate in my everyday life, this quality should be directly reflected on my environment. Space would be a priority, I do not want useless pieces of furniture to be on my way. The furniture would be modern, but at the same time with a touch of tradition, materials as wood and glass would be privileged to others. Even if I am open to the evolving world, I am guided by my principles coming from mother's education. The colors would be pale from blue tones in my room giving the idea of a haven of peace. Sleeping time is crucial for me. However, the common areas as the living room and the kitchen would be a gradation of yellows to reds without forgetting the oranges, these are warm colors and convey the ideas of well-being and conviviality. The decoration would be simple some paintings of the Impressionist movement in the manner of Monet and some souvenirs coming from remote areas and former trips from all over the world. It means that I have a strong taste for travel and adventure, as well as my curiosity for other cultures. The paintings show that I privilege moods and impressions and that I rely on my emotions to make my decisions.

This would be perfectly my Ideal Home. The overall feeling would be tidiness, a life with no artificiality. You could learn all that about me if you pay attention to these kind of details in this Ideal Home of mine. In observing other homes you can find more depth in someone's personality than the person itself wants to show. Homes are our microcosms that we can control according to our wishes. A place that belongs only to ourselves and describes our beings, where our unfulfilled dreams and passions can be realised and we eventually claim out loud "Home sweet home".

Languages for communication

Learning languages has always been extremely important for me. Firstly, since I am living in Switzerland, where four languages are recognised by the government, I have to be at least bilingual. Secondly everyone knows that if you are a resident of Geneva as I am, it is essential to know how to speak a minimum of English to have a decent job.

Another reason for my interest for languages is the desire to communicate with other people from different cultures, so I was lucky to study some. I am bilingual since I was born due to the fact that my parents are emigrants from Portugal and could not speak in french at the beginning of my life. I just learned french when I went to school and when I created friendships with my classmates.

The third language that I have been studying is english. I first learned the basis at school as everyone nowadays do. However, it was not enough for me. I decided at sixteen years old to go to England for four weeks. It was a great experience because it was not only the first time that I was travelling alone without my family, but also the first time that was going directly to a country to learn its native language. I discovered a new culture and history and that helps to take a keen interest in this language. For instance, I am proud of being able to speak the language of Shakespeare, Oscar Wild and so many others illustrious authors.
I studied, as I mentioned before, not only portuguese, but also italian and german. Luckily, I could travel also in those countries and knowing about the country, the culture and even about litterature is highly fascinating. In addition, it definitely helps in acquiring knowledge about the language itself. Of course, watching movies in those languages and having the oportunity to practise them by speaking with people represents a great part of the process for being fluent in a language.

Nonetheless, learning languages includes very high difficulties as well. All the Grammar " stuff" is absolutely overwhelming and I have often the impression that even if I am supposed to be knowledgeable about a certain language, I just think that I do not know anything about it. There are always new words and expressions coming up and it is impossible to memorize them all.

Obviously, learning is not exhilarating at all times, but when we can communicate with people in another language and get across with most of ideas that they want to express, it provides such a feeling of pride and satisfaction that it really worths it.

Soraya

My sister, Soraya, is the most important person in my life even if our relationship has gone through ups and downs.

When she was born I was only sixteen months and of course as a lonely child a feeling of jealously grew in me. This sensation lasted only for a while. I got used to her and a very beautiful relationship was born. When we were children a lot of people thought that we were twins because we were always together and dressed in the same way. They might also have felt the strong bond that we had in common.

Later when she was the age to go to school, I was the one in charge because my parents were working a lot at that time and very young I learned to take care of her. My sistes has always been a little bit naive and I was always worried that something bad could happen to her. During break times at school I could not play with my classmates because I wanted to watch her. This struck the teachers because even if I was young, I was protective and caring towards my little sister.

We love so much each other even now we have a very close relationship. The fact that we have nearly the same age enabled us to share everything because we were living exactly the same things.

However our personalities are totally different. I am more intellectual and theoretical in my way of living, whereas she is pratical and extrovert. She is passionate and sentimental in everything she does. She can cry easily.

I regret to say something negative about her, but she is also bad-tempered. Her angers can be heard miles away from where she is. We have to be very careful with what we say to her because she is extremely touchy.

Nevertheless she has a sense of share that I cannot find in someone else. She is not only helpful and understanding, but she is also trustworthy and brave. We really get on well with each other. Although we have distinct personalities, we are complementary to each other. We have an essential point in common, we have had the same upbringing and the same childhood that means that we share the same morals, the same pains and happiness in our memories.

A Special Adventure

I am not a very adventurous person by nature, but the most adventurous feeling that I have ever felt was when I came to Australia. It was the first time that I was leaving so far away from my hometown and my family and for such a long time. I prepared this trip with great excitement during the academic year doing everything by myself. Australia was a kind of a dream I knew that I would be independent and totally on my own in a country that is reputed for being one of te most extraodinary countries in relation to the scenery including fauna and flora. I worked after school and during the summer to spare money for this big adventure. I really was looking forward to going.

However, I was so enthralled about this that I did not bargain for the drawbacks of such a trip. I remember being at the airport and realising that I will be alone without any support that I will miss my family and my friends. Suddenly, a feeling of great loneliness came over me as a prediction.

What is more, my mom, since she works at the airport, could come with me in front of the gate and she broke down at that very moment when I had to enter in the plane. I felt upset because it was my fault if she was in this state. She was absolutely terrified that it could happen something to me in the other side of the world and be helpless.

Later, being in the plane I found myself torn between the desire of cancelling everything and the wish of completing my ambition.

Eventually, I arrived in Asutralia safe and I have no regrets at all. I am not saying that I have not felt lonely and depressed sometimes because it would be a lie, but I have been experiencing not only extraordinary, but also unique moments in someone's life. Independence and maturity are what this trip in Australia is bringing to me. Two outstanding and necessary qualities to survive in our society nowadays.

Geneva has been my hometown since I was born. It is considerably more cosmopolitan than Noosa since Geneva is the cradle of a great number of international organisations and a lot of people from everywhere in the world come to work there. In addition, half of the population are foreigners.

Geneva is located in Switzerland in the middle of Europe, therefore there is no sea only the famous "Leman" lake, whereas Noosa is situated in the East Coast of Australia and is well-known for its "Main" Beach.

According to my point of view Geneva is easily the most fascinating town that I have ever been. The landscape is unique. The center of the city is old and authentic with walls and buildings dating from the Middle Age. The atmosphere is traditional and convivial. People can find small cafes or chocolate shops. Noosa is as convivial as Geneva, but it is considerably more modern with its beaches which attract a lot of surfers and holiday-makers from every part of Australia.

Around the lake there are much more hotels than everywhere else in the city. These hotels display their luxury not only in the architecture of the premises, but also in all the cars parked in front of them. Facilities are provided to satisfy whealthy people as high quality and expensive shops as Rolex, Channel, Christian Dior, Prada, etc. Noosa is nowhere near as sophisticated as Geneva in relation to this characteristic. Obviously, since Noosa is principally a holiday place, the life standard is quite high too, but it is not as high as Geneva's is.

However, lifestyle in Noosa is barely similar to Geneva's one. Indeed, in Noosa everyone is chilled out and relaxed in contrast to Geneva where inhabitants are pretty much stressed out and frenzied all the time. Geneva is a city of work and perfection and has rarely a rest. People work not only meticulously, but assiduously to achieve their highness in whatever they do as watchmaking, chocolate making or even in the financial system where banks are by far the most safe than everywhere else. Whereas in Noosa work is essentially related to tourism.

Impressions and expectations of Australia

I have been in Australia for more than a week now. The scenery is absolutely magic. I love the fact that nature is very present and it is in total harmony with human-beings. I have to get used to it because I am scared of seeing big insects and everything.:-)

Actually, I like Noosa. It is really a magnificent place to be and to live. Everyone is relaxed. It was exactly what I expected from this spot.

However, what is weird, because I did not realise that before departure from Switzerland, is that I am a little bit homesick. I miss my family and my friends so much, but apparently it is quite normal at the beginning of a long trip like mine.

I am staying as an Aupair in a lovely family. This means that technically I have to work fifteen hours a week for the family. I have to deal with my work and the CAE course and homework. It is quite hard to do everything, I have actually not a lot of free time left during the week.

I expect a lot of this trip in Australia because it is really an unique experience to be indepedent for a while and do things by myself. I hope that after this trip I will be changed in a good way. I guess that I will be more mature. At the same time, I will come back to Switzerland with much more knowledge.

Furthermore, I really hope that after my trip, I will speak perfectly English. For the moment, I am attending the CAE course, but then if I sit the CAE exam, I willl attend the CPE. It is like a challenge for me and I know that I am going to do my best.

I want to take advantage of my trip as much as possible. Learning English, travelling around Australia for a while and understanding a different culture from mine are the main aims that I want to reach during this six months away from my homecountry.