lbrito, do you currently live in Portugal? And, how did you learn Portuguese? My wife and I are working on it (she is much farther along than I am), and man is it tough! So many times I thought I was speaking really clearly and correctly, but the person at the pastelaria just gives me a really confused look. (At which point I dig out my translation app. :-/)
I live in Canada and am Brazilian.
Haha, classic. Genders is what trips most people up. I've seen foreigners living in Brazil for decades still making funny mistakes on gendered nouns. I think at some point people give up memorizing them. Don't be discouraged though, it's not that hard!
Feel free to message me if you want to practice. My email is in my profile.