Salvation!

Thank Christ! The internet has just arrived in the flat and I can finally find out the footie scores without facing the miserable witch in the internet cafe.
Update: The job has been a mixed bag so far. It's much more work than Japan was. I have to mark homework, set tests and plan my own syllabus etc. It's not the job for teachers straight from the Celta course without experience, as some of my fellow newbies have been finding.
On the other hand, I have much more freedom in class than I did with Nova in Japan. Plus, the class sizes are much bigger here, so the whole dynamic is more fun. It's a lot more responsibility, though. If everybody in my classes fail at the end of the year, there is nobody to hide behind.
I have started Portuguese classes which means that , after two months, my Portuguese is probably better than my Japanese is after a year spent in Japan.
I had never really thought about just how different Japan was when I was there. I just accepted it because I had never lived anywhere else. Now that I am back in Europe, I am finding it comparatively easy to get along. To be a bit teacherish for a mo, the fact that the language shares thousands of words that are English cognates makes it so much easier to teach. The average Portuguese Joao knows about 5000 'English' words before he even has a lesson.

We haven't really done much sight seeing yet. The first month is always a foot-finding exercise, but hopefully we will get to see some of the country while we are here. Portugal is still really old-fashioned (read: inherently racist, mysoginistic and massively patriotic) so there is plenty of old wine-making country to explore. Like everybody's Nan, they have a natural, naive unincumbered gift for the un-PC. The same was true of the Japanese, but I didn't think it would be the same in central Europe.
Teacher: Who makes bread?
Student: The baker.
Teacher: Who cooks food?
Student: The wife!! HA!
Teacher: Who grows crops?
Student: The farmer.
Teacher: Who builds the houses?
Student: The niggers!! (uproarious laughter unsues)
In black and white, this seems outrageous, but it is a million miles from the angry racism we see in Britain and is closer to the attitudes of a different generation. It's still a fairly backward facing country, truth be told.

The flat we found is small but nice. It's really central, but in a traditional, quiet travessa. It's a studio, but we have tried to separate it so that it is divided into different sections. The neighbours seem quietly concerned about the foreigners next door, but their kids play football right outside our front door - safe in the knowledge that I have no idea how to tell them to bugger off! It's really handy for going out. The night life is quite studenty. All of the bars are down little side streets and everybody just drinks in the street. It would be perfect if there weren't so many pickpockets about, forcing you to keep your wits (and your wallet) at hand.
Lisbon is full of cool little bars, good restaurants and pricey boutiques. it also has the fantastic feeling of a small city. Kind of like Liverpool, it is a big city with a small town atmosphere. Everybody knows everybody elses' business and it couldn't feel any less like a capital city. Which is a good thing.