📍O homem que reconstruiu Lisboa depois do terramoto de 1755 - primeiro-ministro, reformador implacável, e ditador virtual de Portugal durante quase trinta anos. 🎂 13 de maio de 1699, em Lisboa, filho de um fidalgo rural. O seu verdadeiro nome era Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo - só se tornou Marquês de Pombal em 1769. Morreu a 8 de maio de 1782, em Pombal, com 82 anos. 💡 Quando o terramoto destruiu Lisboa em 1755, o Rei D. José I entrou em pânico e refugiou-se no palácio. Pombal não. A sua resposta foi imediata e fria: "Enterrar os mortos e cuidar dos vivos." Reconstruiu a Baixa em tempo recorde - com ruas largas, edifícios antissísmicos e a elegante Praça do Comércio. Os edifícios pombalinos foram os primeiros à prova de terramotos no mundo. Depois expulsou os Jesuítas, executou nobres, reformou a educação e o comércio, e governou Portugal com mão de ferro. Quando o rei morreu em 1777, a rainha enviou-o para o exílio. Um homem que toda a gente admirava e ninguém queria como inimigo. 🍽️ Passeie pela Baixa Pombalina em Lisboa - a grelha perfeita de ruas entre o Rossio e o Cais do Sodré foi desenhada por ele. Depois suba até à Praça do Marquês de Pombal e veja a estátua - com um leão aos pés, que é mais ou menos como ele governou. 🗣️ Vocabulário: - o primeiro-ministro - the prime minister - o terramoto - the earthquake - reconstruir - to rebuild - implacável - ruthless, relentless 💬 "Pombal reconstruiu Lisboa depois do terramoto de 1755." ❓ Hora do quiz: O que fez Pombal logo depois do terramoto de 1755?

Thanks @Bob Wenger, Viv, @Brian Mathers & @Peter Haglund for committing to your missions for the week. Deculpe @Lori Wong, sorry we didn't get to you, but message me separately please 🙏 @Carl Munson's personal missions for the week... missions for the week 1. Dissect a formal Portuguese letter - Overcome the “court summons” feeling of official mail (banks, insurers, etc.). He plans a module on letter formalities/grammar. 2. Learn a Portuguese song (aim for karaoke-level; even “Happy Birthday” counts). Future online karaoke idea floated. 3. Escalate an existing mission - e.g., his own neighbor/atestado task (ask the parish president + another resident to accompany him). 4. “Break the spell” - Identify habitual self-blocks (“I’m too old,” “I’m bad at languages,” etc.) and work on them by Friday. He’ll write about common reasons people avoid speaking. 5. Teach someone else a bit of Portuguese (even a short household mini-lesson). People can pick from these, invent their own, or use classroom missions; review on Friday. What VIPs committed to - Viv: Read a letter; escalate a mission; “ring this bell”; teach “him” some Portuguese. Possibly learn a song. - Bob: Keep talking to his dog Gus in Portuguese + learn more commands. Prepare language for the neighbor lady on walks (especially explaining the dog is fixed/castrated — “es dominado?” situation). Learn the Happy Birthday song. Expand neighbor conversations (tech/DIY, farm/tractor talk, etc.). Essentially several neighbor + pet-focused tasks. - Peter & Brian (Mathers Haglund household): Do banking in Portuguese. Visit the Mercado (Governo) in Setúbal. Go to “Sunsets at the Castle” (São Jorge) in Lisbon on a Saturday and try speaking with people there. Brian also: learn the birthday song + possibly read a letter. - Ongoing: watching cartoons, an RTP 1 human-interest show, the game show Agarra se Puderes (“Catch Me If You Can”), and Preço Certo.

***You'll be seeing some BIG changes with this community, and here's why*** The best time to learn Portuguese was twenty years ago. The next best time is now. If you think you’ve heard that formula before, it was originally about trees, but I’ve seconded it for my purposes today, as I wish I’d started learning this country’s language a couple of decades ago, when I was just about to visit for a recce, and ended up falling in love with the place. Back then, on my first 'deployment', I remember getting a briefing from my host, which had me learning “Olá!” and “Superbock”, as well as surprised (and warned about) the Spanish similarity, and preferring Sagres anyway in my Central Portuguese location. There, I managed to get by, having a haircut and wet shave based entirely on mime, trust and hope - a formula that has done me proud to this day. That fact-finding, curiosity-satisfying and bond-creating trip was a great success and come this September, I’ll have lived in Portugal for nine years. I'm staggered by how quickly that time has flown by, which is of course what happens, when you are having fun. But I’m also shocked by my poor grasp of the Portuguese language after all this time. I live side-by-side with the lovely people of Portugal, and on the kind of reflection that big anniversaries bring about, I poignantly note that I have made so little linguistic progress. It’s embarrassing, frankly. At this point, the excuses can begin. “It’s a difficult language, even the Portuguese themselves admit this,” say other awkward expats when asked the “how is your Portuguese question”. “I’m too old, and I’ve always been rubbish at languages,” replies another, when the subject comes up as it invariably and eventually does. And, worst of all, as if we were not embarrassed enough already, “everyone speaks English here anyway!”. If we live here, and haven’t in reasonable time at least grasped some of the basics (hello, how are you?, thank you and goodbye), we might and probably should feel a pang of shame or awkwardness. These basic courtesies are what people might learn for a city-break or two-week vacation, and certainly not overlooked if actually resident somewhere, anywhere. Knowing your name, ordering basics in a restaurant, counting, the days of the week, and asking for help, all for example, could also be seen as basics for anyone with longer-term intentions to remain.