Xpat Interview - 20 Quick Questions:

1. When did you arrive in Hungary and what brought you here?

I arrived in late February 2020, two weeks before the first lockdown. My Ministry posted me here, after almost 5 years in Mexico.

2. Have you ever been an expatriate elsewhere?

This is the sixth time in my life I live outside my country. It started in 1990 with Luanda, Angola, and then Brussels twice, New Delhi, Mexico City and now Budapest.

3. What surprised you most about Hungary?

I wasn’t expecting such hospitality and a city I can only say nice things about.

4. Friends are in Budapest for the weekend - what must they absolutely see and do? 

The city by night (I find the night cruises appealing, or a walk through the Pest boulevards), a thermal bath, Gellert and the Castle district, and Margit Island, to see how Hungarians enjoy their weekend.

5. What is your favourite Hungarian food?

I quite enjoy Hungarian food, in many ways similar to Portuguese cuisine, with all the cooking in pots. I love going to the markets and seeing all the local produce, full of colour, smell and taste. I have many favourite dishes. I’ll start with fish soup, which I know is a subject of contention between Hungarian regions, but I have enjoyed every version I have eaten. Gulyás is obviously obligatory, as is a langós or a lecsó. I love your duck, your foie-gras, your cold summer soups. I could go on and on…

6. What is never missing from your refrigerator?

Vegetables and cheese.

7. What is your favourite Hungarian word?

It’s more two words: Nem baj. I use them every day greeting people when walking my German shepherds. And quite handy in so many other occasions.

8. What do you miss most from home? 

Friends and family, but we are in constant touch.

9. What career other than yours would you love to pursue?

Ski instructor and lifeguard would have given me mountain and beach all year long…

10. What's a job would you definitely never want?

I honestly never thought about that. Would I dare say ‘politician’? 

11. Where did you spend your last vacation? 

In the Algarve, south of Portugal, in a secret place with almost no one. 

12. Where do you hope to spend your next holiday?

A few days in Austria, just to open the ski season.

13. Apart from temptation what can't you resist? 

Black chocolate with nuts.

14. What was your favourite band, film, or hobby as a teen? 

I was always for the Rolling Stones…

15. Red or white? 

There are people in Portugal who joke with that question: “Wine or white?”. I say it depends, and there are many more, from Port wine to palinka, from rosé to sweet Tokaj.

16. Books or films?

I’m more of a book person. Although I love going to the cinema, and Budapest has some incredible ones.

17. Morning person or night person? 

Nowadays definitely morning. I spent too many of my youth preferring the night.

18. Which social issue do you feel most strongly about?

There are unfortunately too many. Poverty is probably the one which sticks out the most.

19. Buda or Pest? 

Two different realities, both attractive. Buda is where I live and work, more laid-back and family oriented. Pest is where all the action is. In just one Pest street corner I see more people than in my Buda street all year long. This city would not make sense without either.

20. What would you say is your personal motto?

You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes…