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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.