-------------------------------------------- Travelling more than I'd like 2019.05.17 06:55:47 WEST -------------------------------------------- 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 m family. Thankfully I won't have to go on a business trip again unt 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 actor re-enacted events from the Tea Party time. I took the opportunity 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 lo of bad context and connotation, but these weren't immediately clea 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 th Nazi regime to Portuguese colonization and that's not my goal, wha 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 alrea heard the culture was shaped by the fact Portugal was once a globa 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.