I'm back...

... after a long absence from the web. Took a few minutes to write something here before going out under a storm. A lot happened in the last few months, so lets see.

We had snow again! Not nearly as much as last year, but still it happened and one day sooner than in 2006 (January 29th). Don't think there's any record of Lisbon having snowfall two years in a row, but maybe in ten years time I'll be skying down the castle hill all the way to the river. Either that or I'll be longing for Sweden's winter.

I had a flu, but not the bird type (fortunately!), though still a flu. Got it from my mom and then my dad got it from me, so we all spent two "lovely" weeks of disease that gave a whole new meaning to the words «together as a family». Also, handed in my phd project last week, after gods know how many trips to Lisbon to collect all the necessary documents (recomendation letters, statements, official transcripts, etc.). Now all I have to do is wait for the college's scientific comission to judge it and either approve it or reject it. I should be getting an answer in the next couple of weeks.

Then we had a referendum on the decriminalization of abortion. The official campaign started in the last week of January and lasted until the 9th of the present month, with the referendum taking place at Sunday the 11th (no campaigning is allowed in Portugal in the day of the voting and in the day before). This was a remake of a previous referendum nine years ago, when «No» to decriminalization won, but this time the result was the opposite and the Socialist Party will go through with it and legalize abortion... finally! There's been a heated debated in the last few days regarding several details of the new law, as information starts coming out of parlament where they're still preparing the text.

Another hot topic we've been having is linked to the Portuguese version of the BBC programme Greates Britons, where viewers are asked to ellect the greatest personality in the History of their country. In the Uk people ellected Winston Churchill, in France Charles de Gaulle (Aurore will correct me on this if I'm mistaken), in the US Ronald Reagan and in Portugal... well, the competition is still on, but our former and long dead dictator is one of the finalists (full list here). It's been a bit of a collective analysis of how we deal (and have dealt) with our recent past and we're still a long way from the end of the debate. And as if that wasn't heated enough, the younger faction inside the governing Socialist Party is already campaigning for gay marriage. These are times of change in the westernmost European country. Not as fast as one would wish for, but still... :]

Appart from this, I'm gonna write a humourous version of the life of our first king with which I can compete in a new award for new Portugueses language writers. It's due till April, so I haven't got much time and there's a lot of research to do.

Hope you guys enjoy yourselves a lot in France. Wish I could join you, but no can do :( And Aylin, I also wish I could go to San Francisco, especially since a friend of mine is going to California this year :( Oh well, you and I will be partners in Latin, at least :p

Cheers!