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Travelling more than I'd like
2019.05.17 06:55:47 WEST
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I know, who would complain about travelling? But this is very
subjective. I guess if I asked my 25-year-old self, he would not
complain, but things have changed.
Last week, on Monday, I travelled from Zurich to Boston, then flew
back on Thursday to spend the weekend with the family. Then last
Monday I flew again from Zurich to Boston and I am returning home
now (I'm typing this at the airport lounge).
I am so glad to be going home. I miss my own place and specially my
family. Thankfully I won't have to go on a business trip again until
next month.
On the other hand it was nice to work with my American colleagues.
We even had a very nice dinner at a museum restaurant, where actors
re-enacted events from the Tea Party time. I took the opportunity to
learn and ask questions about US history.
I know so little about US history. What stood out during the
conversations was how different the term "colonization" sounded to
my US colleagues and me. Coming from Brazil, the term carries a lot
of bad context and connotation, but these weren't immediately clear
to them. Even when applied to other scenarios, for example space
exploration and "colonization" have different meaning.
I was reflecting on this now and interestingly my stopover between
Boston and Zurich is in Lisbon, Portugal. So I started asking
myself: how did colonization impact the Portuguese culture and how
does it change their worldview? I know the shock of the events
during WWII shape the German worldview - I know I can't compare the
Nazi regime to Portuguese colonization and that's not my goal, what
I want to know is whether there the feeling of guilt for events
during colonization exists.
I also don't want to suggest colonization didn't have positive
effects, but one can't just ignore the negative either. I've already
heard the culture was shaped by the fact Portugal was once a global
power and no longer is. But was it shaped by the negatives of
colonization too? And how?
Too many questions. Too little time. It's time to board.