#alemes

[wearealemes]

#49 So, this happened. Nuno and I were playing with the train set he got for his birthday. He absolutely loves it. And I love it too. I was setting the tracks and explaining to him what I was doing, step by step, as I always do. "E agora vamos fazer uma curva..." Moni hears the word "curva" (curve, in Portuguese), giggles and asks me: Do you know what that means? I immediately reply "... yes, yes, I know...", all smug... And add in a lower voice: "'kurwa' is 'puta' (whore) in Polish". And that's the moment Nuno puts on the happiest face in the world, raises a little curvy piece of wood up in the air, and shouts triumphantly: "Sim! GRAAAAANDE PUTA!!" (big whore).Moni and I stare at each other, trying not to burst out laughing. It's hard. Moni covers her face so that Nuno doesn't notice she's in tears already. I blush... and blush. And do my best to act cool and ignore the situation. He places the curvy piece of train track on the floor, all happy, and doesn't repeat the word. Let's see for how long... Oh, the joys of parenting.  :)

[wearealemes]

#48 Hmm… the Germans seem to be working on a large scale health insurance scam. While in every other country people are wishing each other a “happy new year” (in their own language, of course) or “boas entradas” (in good old Portuguese), the guys here just put on a big smile and keep wishing each other to slip. Not falling for that.

[wearealemes]

#47 New favourite word: "Noondlaa" 😂😂😂😂

[wearealemes]

#46 Happy (belated) birthday, avó Alice! :)

[wearealemes]

#44 “Mama, we’re on TV” http://www.rtp.pt/play/p2116/hora-dos-portugueses

[wearealemes]

#43

Greetings from Portugal :) If not at the beach, we're busy cannonballing into the pool. Yeehaw!

[wearealemes]

#42

Our Alemês is an IT guy in the making. We can already see him wearing plaid shirts tucked into his dad jeans, rolling his eyes every time someone forgets their password, and leaving the office everyday at 17h59 sharp. After using an up until then unknown gesture (at least to us) that simply shut down all the windows running in the background on an iPad (!!!), and video-calling Pedro on Facebook by himself, the little munchkin just figured out how to turn on the TV. It might seem trivial to you but let us explain. A couple of years ago Moni found a really nice TV set on the street and decided to take it home. Since the generous previous owners forgot to attach the original remote control, we had to buy a universal remote. Thing is: most of the buttons don’t quite correspond to the TV functions, and we could never figure out how to switch on the TV with the remote. Until now. Turns out, if you double-click the teletext button the thing switches itself on. Something we would never have figured out by ourselves but took Nuno a mere two seconds to crack. He then went on to flip through the channels and adjust the volume to his liking. We know kids these days are super tech savvy and all, but this is a bit much.

[wearealemes]

#41 Who said Germans have no sense of humour?

If there’s something Germans are good at (besides making cars, beer, wurst, and winning World Cups) it’s naming things.

If you don’t know the name of something in German, chances are you’ll get it right just by describing what the thing is or does. Like the word for “gloves” - shoes for the hands. Or “turtle” (Schildkröte), which means toad with a shield.

Why complicate when you can just say it like it is?

Germans are practical. Gotta “hand” them that.