Living La Vida Lusa

Portugal. Portuguese. Portuguesa. Port. Those are a few of my favourite words. Being Portuguese, being Portuguese-Canadian is one of the greatest things in my life. I am proud of my background, where my parents came from and proud to be associated with such a wonderful culture, that is not only located on a beautiful pennisula, but located near the ocean, the beautiful endless ocean. The Portuguese community in Vancouver is small, somewhat seperated and unlike other communities. We cannot be compared to the larger communities that exist such as the Filipinos, the Croations, the Chinese. We cannot be compared by numbers nor can we be compared by cultures. I love walking down Commerical Drive, listening to the sound of Portuguese spoken on the streets, visiting the PCOV, now newly renovated and open to serve you a wonderful Bitoque or Carne Alentejana....my mouth waters just thinking about it. And during World Cup Soccer time or even during the Euro, it's the greatest place to be to cheer on your favourite red and green team. Did I mention food and the love of sport (especially soccer, most defintley soccer) is a very cultural element of being Portuguese? Where do you think the song "Ole Ole Ole" came from? Of course, our brothers and sisters from Brasil, another great country, another great culture, speaking the same great language of Portuguese. Although their Portuguese has a bit of a sutac (accent) which sounds very song like, it's a beautiful accent that simply makes the language a bit more interesting to listen to....try rolling some words off your tounge like "bahia" or "matumbina". One of the funniest music videos I have seen is by Fernando Rocha, it's actually a great song if you like to move and shake. It's a hypnotic beat, so turn it up. Loud. There are lots of great Portuguese music and amazing singers....some favourites of mine are Roberto Leal, Quim Barreiros, Roberto Carlos, Teixeirinha, Jorge Ferreira, Emanuel and more....amazing music from such a small culture. Sometimes big isn't always better. Great things have emerged from Portugal and Brasil, even some great Canadian artists, Nelly Furtado, Shawn Desmond, the new Canadian Idol - Brian Melo. So hats off to Portugal, a small little country but with loads of passion and big foot prints left all over the world. Portugal meu amor. If you are proud to be Portuguese and you are Canadian, join us at PROUD TO BE PORTUGUESE CANADIAN. And while you're there, think of joining our youth group JovensVancouver and our community newspaper hitting world-wide stands, Lusitania. Try being Portuguese for a day or even for just a moment.