No rush
In Portugal everything and everybody is very slow. If there is one person in front of you in a supermarket or a self-service cafe, there is absolutely no upper bound to the amount of time you will stand in that line. First the customer will take forever to find out what they want or where their stuff is. Then the person behind the counter will take their time in preparing things, looking for everything, not knowing where the bar code is, etc. Then the customer will remember they want something else. And even when you think you are almost there, you are up for a huge disappointment. The customer does not not know where their money is, and it takes them forever to count it. The person behind the counter has to look for the change and count it as well. ETA: ∞.
Hence in order to live here one has to never be in a hurry. In fact, one has to understand that it is prohibited and very dangerous to be in a hurry. It is against the laws of nature. Once I ran on the stairs in our apartment, fell down, tried to hold on to the banister and broke it. The pieces fell on me as I was sliding down. The stairs are not intended for running, and the banister is not intended for holding on to. You break the rules - you pay the price. In the beginning we used to tell people who came to visit "be careful on the stairs!", until the landlord (she was very pregnant, and the thought of her tripping and falling down seemed terrifying) said "Don't worry, I am used to this". This is when I realized: they don't need a warning. In fact, although she is wearing ridiculously high heels, she would never fall down the stairs or twist her ankle on the sidewalk made exclusively of stones. Because she understands the basic law of nature: always walk slowly.
This is also why people here are extremely patient. They expect you to be taking your time. They would be surprised if you did anything quickly. No one will ever rush you or even get a little bit annoyed with you. Take your time.
This inefficiency used to drive me crazy. Now I don't understand why anybody should ever hurry anywhere. Seeing people running around in the streets of New York or Tel Aviv surprises me at first. What's the hurry? - I want to ask them. - We'll all get there...
Hence in order to live here one has to never be in a hurry. In fact, one has to understand that it is prohibited and very dangerous to be in a hurry. It is against the laws of nature. Once I ran on the stairs in our apartment, fell down, tried to hold on to the banister and broke it. The pieces fell on me as I was sliding down. The stairs are not intended for running, and the banister is not intended for holding on to. You break the rules - you pay the price. In the beginning we used to tell people who came to visit "be careful on the stairs!", until the landlord (she was very pregnant, and the thought of her tripping and falling down seemed terrifying) said "Don't worry, I am used to this". This is when I realized: they don't need a warning. In fact, although she is wearing ridiculously high heels, she would never fall down the stairs or twist her ankle on the sidewalk made exclusively of stones. Because she understands the basic law of nature: always walk slowly.
This is also why people here are extremely patient. They expect you to be taking your time. They would be surprised if you did anything quickly. No one will ever rush you or even get a little bit annoyed with you. Take your time.
This inefficiency used to drive me crazy. Now I don't understand why anybody should ever hurry anywhere. Seeing people running around in the streets of New York or Tel Aviv surprises me at first. What's the hurry? - I want to ask them. - We'll all get there...