Amiga interesseira / Taker

Sabe aquela amiga que só te liga quando precisa de alguma coisa? Que só se lembra de você prá pedir coisas?

Todo mundo tem uma dessas.

E eu, que até nisso tenho sorte, tenho uma dessas ao contrário.

Ela só me liga para me "dar"coisas.

- Inaie, to numa correria só. Não posso conversar, mas tenho tickets para o show tal. Vem buscar?

- Inaie, que bom te ver ( por acaso). Toma aqui uns ingressos para a Formula 1...

- Inaie...

E esse fim de semana não foi diferente. Ela me ligou, se desculpou por não poder conversar muito e perguntou se eu queria ir ver o show de ballet cubano Revolution.

Eu estava doida para ve-los. Já tinha até pedido pro Fabio comprar os tickets ( 50 doli cada um)

Aceitei correndo, claro.

- Quantos você precisa?

- Três, se você puder me dar.

- Pega mais

- Não, obrigada, 3 está mais do que bom. Vou com o Fabio e a Lia.

- Pelo menos quatro...

Aceitei e agradeci. Quando fui buscar, ela tinha deixado cinco separados.

PS - o show foi barbaro!!!

****************

Do you know that friend that always call you when she needs something? That only remembers you exist to ask you for favours?

We all have one of those. And funny enough, I have one of these, but the other way around.

It does not make any sense? I explain.

She only calls me to give me stuff.

- Inaie, I anm sorry I can not chat now, but I have some tickets for this show...you want it?

- Inaie, how lucky i met you, here - have some F1 tickets...

- Inaie...

And this weekend it was no different. She called apologising for not being able to spend much time on the phone with me. Then offered me tickets to see Ballet Revolution - from Cuba, a show I was dying to watch.

Of course I accepted. The tickets are $50 each!

- How many do you need?

- Three please

- TAke more

- Three will be more than enough. I can take Fabio and Lia.

- Take at least 4.

I accepted, and when I went to pick them up, there were five there.

PS - The show was amazing!!!

Amiga da onça / Bad friend

                                                 

Uma amiga que eu amoooo, e que já não mora amis em Bahrain me manda uma mensagem:
- Eu to chegando na quinta a noite em Bahrain.
Só que um amigo que eu amooooooo tá fazendo aniversário e eu aviso que vou estar na festa dele.
- E que horas você volta?
- Festa é festa, nao sei, né!
Mas deixei a chave de casa escondidinha, para ela poder entrar e se acomodar.


A friend I really like moved away from Bahrain and called me saying she was coming to visit.
The problem is that another friend I really like is having a birthday party.
I did leave the key hidden for my friend to come inside and make herself comfortable. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a good day together.

What to say, Iane? Sometimes words scape me...

Eu que sou cheia de lorotas e conversa mole, vira a mexe fico sem palavras. Hoje foi um desses dias.
Minha amiga Renata tocou a campainha, e quando eu abri o portão, ela entrou com esses três quadros debaixo do braço. ( mentira, por que cada um mede um metro de comprimento...e ela teve que entrar com um de cada vez...)
Agora me diz se eu poderia ter recebido um presente mais lindo?


Out of the blue, my friend comes to visit and bring me a gift. Such an amazing gift, i am lost for words. She made three amazing portraits of me and my girls. 1 meter each. They are full of color, spank and fun. And she managed to capture our essence in them too.
Re, I love them!!! T H A N K   Y O U !!

Três fadas/ Three faries

Que eu estou descabelada com toda essa estória da dor da Lia, não é nem preciso dizer né?
E no meio dessa fanfarra, desse pega-pra capar, eu mais uma vez descubro que anjos são colocados no meu caminho, toda vez que eu preciso deles.Não demorou muito pra eles aparecerem aqui no meio desse deserto todo.No momento, os meus anjos tem nome e moram perto.

A Renata apareceu do nada, numa mesa de bar, numa despedida de uma amiga comum. Isso já faz mais de três anos. Nenhuma de nós deu muita bola para a outra.O tempo passou, a gente continuou se esbarrando. Coisinha mais insistente esse destino.
Fomos ficando mais próximas, a amizade foi crescendo.
E agora, com Lia nessa ciranda de hospitais e procedimentos clínicos, ela tem ficado grudada em mim.
Renata que adora dormir até tarde, acorda cedinho pra saber da Lili. Foi fazer visita no hospital, levou escova de dentes pra mim, fica comigo no telefone quando eu estou arrancando os cabelos por uma razão ou outra.
Depois que chegamos em casa, ela já foi comigo á naturopata ( programinha de índio, ser acompanhante em sala de medico, mas ela estava lá, sentadinha ao meu lado), já despencou comigo numa visitinha extra ao hospital as 2 da manhã ( será que ela gosta de programa de índio?)quando a Lili teve outra crise feia de dor. A Renata é amiga de todas as horas, amiga de farra e de dor.
Mas a coisa não acaba aí não. Além de "invadir" a minha vida, ela trouxe com ela a patota que a acompanha há mais de dez anos. E "de brinde", eu ganhei a Patricia e a Silvana.

A Patrícia não vem sozinha. Ela traz com ela, a turminha da artilharia pesada. A filha dela dá a maior atenção e carinho ás minhas meninas, e toda vez que eu e o Fábio estamos tristes com alguma coisa, a gente recebe uma ligação:
- Vocês podem dar um pulinho aqui em casa?
A gente nem pensa duas vezes, desmarca o que estiver na agenda e corre prá lá.
O ritual é sempre o mesmo. A Patrícia enche a nossa pança, nos convence a tomar "alguma coisinha" e em seguida o marido dela nos ajuda a esmiuçar seja lá o pepino que nós estivermos enfrentando.
O cara é tudo de bom. Engraçado, divertido e espirituoso, ele divide conhecimento de vida e de Golfo com a maior generosidade e nos ajuda a ver o caminho que está confuso e enrolado á nossa frente. Várias vezes entramos lá com o coração apertado e saímos da casa deles leves como uma pluma.
Essa família inteira foi mais uma benção na minha vida. Não sei como vamos conseguir retribuir tamanha amizade e generosidade.

E ainda tem a Silvana.
Essa é um caso sério e a mais difícil de explicar.
Ela é "desencanada" e distraída. Demorou meses para conseguir diferenciar a Anita da Lia ( e uma é moreninha, a outra e mais loira). Eu a vi poucas vezes. Num café aqui, num jantar ali. E a sua presença leve sempre me atraiu.
Mas agora, com esse "negócio" da Lia, ela veio com o arsenal todo pra nos ajudar.
Além das visitas, do carinho e dos presentes que ela trouxe prá Lili, ela nos mandou para a naturopata dela. Essa mulher foi a primeira a ver a Lia depois que saímos do hospital. E foi também a primeira a devolver uma corzinha ao rosto pálido da Lili.
O diagnóstico foi um tanto assustador: alergia a 4 coisinhas simples:
Leite, glúten, açucar e arroz. E ela já aproveitou pra cortar a laranja também.
Saí da naturopata em lágrimas. Como é que eu vou alimentar uma adolescente sem pizza, pasta, pão?
Pouco depois chega a Silvana na minha casa, com mais dois presentes: uma sacola enorme de produtos sem glúten, sem arroz, sem leite e sem açúcar e um tratamento completo na naturopata. Ela achou que era meio difícil começar com o "regime"novo, então trouxe o "starter kit".
Cada vez que eu encontro a Silvana eu sinto um frio na espinha, uma sensação de conforto e de que eu estou sendo cuidada, como se eu a conhecesse de outros lugares, de outros caminhos. Se não fosse uma sensação tão leve, daria até medo. O negócio é que apesar de conhece-la a dois minutos, ela me traz paz e leveza.

Texto imenso, eu sei. Mas eu poderia escrever um livro de agradecimento a essas três almas iluminadas que apareceram no meu caminho. Que literalmente caíram do céu na minha vida. Cada uma, a seu modo, faz essa fase da minha vida mais leve, mais fácil, mais suportável.
E o maior agradecimento é para a Renata, que devagarinho trouxe o cordão das fadas madrinhas pra me fazer serenata.

*********************************

It is unecessary to say I am pulling all my hair out with this painful saga Lia has endured.
And amid all this suffering and uncertainty, I once again find that angels are placed in my way, it never fails. It did not take long for them to appear here in the middle of the desert. At the moment, my Angels have names and live nearby.Renata appeared in my life, out of nowhere, we first met at a bar, in a farewell to a mutual friend. It's been over three years now. Neither of us gave the other any attention. Time passed, we kept bumping into each other. Destiny has it's own way of doing things.
We got closer, the friendship grew.And now, with Lia's hospital ordeal, she has been the closest person in my life. Aside from Fábio, who has also been amazing.
Renata who loves to sleep until late, has been waking up early to ask how is Lili. She went to visit at the hospital,even took a toothbrush wit her, because she knew I would need it. Renata is the person who stays with me on the phone when I'm pulling my hair out, not knowing what to do.After we got home, she was the one who took Lia and me to the  naturopath ,  it was also her who went to the hospital with me at 2 am, when Lia felt so much pain, all I could think was to go straight back into hospital.Renata is a friend for good and bad times.But it does not end there . In addition to "invading" my life, she brought with her two other friends. Patrícia and Silvana also took upon themselves to help me go through this period of pain.

Patricia does not come alone. She brings with her, some heavy artillery. Her daughter gives lots of attention and affection to my girls, and every time  Fábio and I are in a pickle, or we are sad about something, we get a call:- Can you guys come over?We do not even think twice, we clear whatever is on the agenda and run there.The ritual is always the same. Patricia feeds us, gives us some drinks and then her husband helps us  scrutinize whatever is worrying us.The guy is amazing. Funny, entertaining and witty, he shares the knowledge of a life time in the Gulf with generosity. Several times he helped us see the path ahead of us with much more clarity. Several times we got there with a heavy heart and left their home feeling as light as a feather.This whole family was a blessing in our lives.
And there is Silvana.She is the most difficult to describe. She is always day dreaming. It took months for her to differentiate Lia from Anita ( one is brunette, the other is blonde). I saw her a few times. We met at  coffees,  dinners, girly meetings. I was always impressed by her light, but our interactions were very superficial.
But as soon as she found out about Lia, she came  out with all her arsenal to help us.
In addition to the visits, the affection and gifts that she brought for Lia, she sent us to see her naturopath. The naturopath was the first to see Lia after we left the hospital. She was also the first to succeed in getting some colour into Lia's face.On our first visit, the diagnosis was a bit scary: allergy to 4 simple little things:Milk, gluten, sugar and rice. And she took the opportunity to cut oranges from Lia's diet too.I left the naturopath in tears. How can I feed a teenager without pizza, pasta, bread?Shortly after that, Silvana arrives at my house, with two gifts: a huge bag of gluten-free, rice-free, milk-free and sugar-free products, plus vouchers for a full treatment with the naturopath. 
She thought it would be kind of hard for me to start with Lia's new diet, so brought the "starter kit" to help me out.
Every time I see Silvana, my eyes fill with water and I want to cry. I lose my words and I have no idea why I feel so comforted, so taken care of.

And this is all thanks to Renata who came into my life pulling a string of fairies!

Undo edits

Sozinha/ Lonely

Acontece que desde que os conflitos comecaram em Bahrain, a grande maioria das minhas amigas picou a mula.
Teve gente que perdeu o emprego, gente que largou o emprego e gente que nao ta nem ai pra emprego e simplesmente se pirulitou. E teve um ou outro que foi embora por razoes pessoais.
Mas a verdade e que de uma forma ou de outra, as minhas amigas de farra, zona e risada, foram embora e eu fiquei.
Hoje foi um dia especialmente triste.
Fui fazer uma super massagem deliciosa/chiquerrima/carissima num hotel daqui. Calma la, a massagem foi presente. Fiquei super feliz, mas enrolei um monte ate marca-la ( mais de 4 meses).
Por que enrolei?
Por que tive que ir sozinha.
A Alice e a Francine, minhas grandes companheiras de massagem, simplesmente nao estao mais aqui.
E as nossas buscas por massagistas melhores/diferentes/exoticas/eficientes acabou.
Eu geralmente vou a uma boa massagista baratinha, uma vez por semana. Mas ir ao Ritz sozinha, sem ninguem pra conversar/rir/brincar/tomar cha foi bem triste. Apesar da massagem ter sido divina!

Eu gosto mesmo e de compania. E compania boa!!

My bad

I ahve this amazing friend who i love dearly. We have so many stories to tell, i could ( and may) write a book after she dies, so she won't kill me.

We are close, we are like sisters. And this year, she forgot my birthday!

Yep, she did. F O R G O T. Simple like that.

And did not even remember the next day. or the day after. Or ever. So I waited 5 long days, and had a hissy fit.

Went to her facebook wall and wrote a formal complaint. I even managed to complain about the fact that her boyfriend, who i really like, but has been my friend for...like... 2 minutes, did not forget. So the "new guy"in her life remembers, and she does not?

Oh man, was I mad...

After complaining about it, I decided to be even meaner, and went to all her posts from the 9th ( my b'day) and left mean comments for her.

Oh...so you write to HEEER on my b'day but not to me?

December the 9th...whatelse happens on this date?

And on and on I went. Until I saw a little link saying:

Luciane Raffa wrote on Inaie Ramalho's wall.
December 9th

oh, oh... and when i clicked, this image came up:

Shit! Shit! Shit!

I mean... Great! She remembered... and now I have yelled, cursed and trew a tantrum. A public one too...
So I better apologise publicly too.

Lu, I love you! Lots...

Generosity

I have been thinking a lot about the people who crossed my path throughout my life. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how generous people are and how much they are willing to help others.

I've been on the "receiving" end of a lot of generosity, people showing how caring and detached they can be when you need them. 
And I confess that I am not the most generous person in the world. I am not the girl who will wake up at 5 am to help her neighbor in need and can still carry on with her day as if not had happened.
I am an available person, don't get me wrong. But I'm the shoulder to cry on, the person to whom you turn to talk, but not the one who will help you carry the  fridge to the new house.
For example, when I move (and I'll move a lot), I contract packers, shippers and all other "helpers" that I can find. I would not call a friend and ask him/her to help me pack/unpack/move. 
On the other hand, if someone remembers to bring me a sandwich while I supervise the movers, I will be very grateful. And likewise, it will be much more likely for you to find me bringing a treat for those who are working, than to see me unpacking dishes and glasses in a friend's kitchen.
But all this "bla bla bla" and these  lame excuses are to say that I would like to be more generous and really help people.
It is easy to help when such help does not cost you anything, does not disturb your routine. If you are already doing somethuing, you can do it to your friend too. 
The thing is to help others when you do not want / do not like / would not be doing that anyway.
Taking care of the little child that you like is easy. But to be generous and take care of that twat who shouts all the time, is another thing all together. That shows real generosity.
Giving someone a ride to a place you are going anyway does not score you any points, but to cross town at rush hour to help that friend who is stuck there is to be generous.
In my "generosity"list you easily find things like going out at dawn to help someone in an emergency, listen to that friend who needs my lap / attention / affection until the wee hours of the morning, even when my family is hysterical because they think I like my friends best, stay in the hospital with someone, help with family dramas ... all this things are easy for me.
My problem is to help others with things I would not ask for help myself.

Can I call a  taxi? So I'm not going to call that friend to come pick me up / take me there.
Can i do it myself? I will spare the friend.
Can I pay someone to do it for me? No friends requested ...
But I also know that not everyone thinks like me, and that perhaps this business of being generous has more to do with what the "other" thinks is important and not what I think is important ...

Bons momentos/ Special Moments

Eu estava me lembrando da primeira vez que fui almocar na casa da Yolhi, minha amiga querida.

Eu vi que tinha duas panelas de cada coisa. Duas panelas de arroz, duas de frango, duas de vegetais...

Achei esquisito mas nao falei nada. VAi ver ela ta cozinhando pra muita gente, sei la.

Fui me servir e ela disse, toda orgulhosa:

- A sua panela e essa aqui!

Fiquei confusa e lisongeada ao mesmo tempo. Por que eu teria uma panela so minha? estava tao gorda que precisava de um panelao so meu?

- Obrigadã!

- E que a sua comida nao tem manteiga, por que eu sei que voce nao gosta!

Achei a coisa mais fofa do mundo. Eu D E T E S T O manteiga, e fiquei emocionada ao ver que ela se lembrou. Antes de eu poedr abrir a boca, ela emendou:

- E tambem nao tem sal.

- Nao tem sal? Por que?

- Por que voce nao gosta.

Nao entendi, mas tambem nao deu tempo de eu perguntar, a explicacao veio imediatamente:

- Toda evz que eu comi na sua casa a comida estava sem sal nenhum...

- Ah Yolhi, e por que eu NAO ME LEMBRO de por sal, eu nunca me lembro...

E nos duas rolamos de rir.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I remember the first time I had lunch at Yolhi's house.

I saw she had two pots of each food type. Two pots of rice, two pots of  chicken, two pots of vegetables ...

I found it weird but I said nothing. Maybe she's cooking for a lot of people, who knows?

When I went to serve myself,   she said:

- Your pots are these ones!

I was confused and flattered at the same time. Why would I have different food cooked for me? Was I so fat she needed to make extra food for me?

- Thank you!

- And your food has not butter, because I know you do not like it!

I found her dedication the cutest thing in the world. I hate butter, and I was thrilled to see that she remembered.  Before I opened my mouth, she amended:

- And it has no salt either

- Does not have salt? Why?

- Because you don't like salt. 

I did not understand, but also did not have time to ask, the explanation came immediately:

- Every time I go to your house, there is no salt in the food ...

- No Yolhi, the food is tasteless because I ALWAYS forget the salt... ...

Two years later we are still laughing!

SIMON PETERS

More than two years ago, I lost a great friend. One day woke up, got up, got changed and as he was ready to leave the house, he simply dropped dead.

He left so unexpecdly I found it hard to believe it was true. It was a shock I was not prepared for. I heard the news on Facebook, his son wrote to me when I was in Orlando on vacation with my family. All I could do was call them and have a quick chat over the phone. I had no chance to say my farewells, I could not be there to pay my respects.

Less than a week later I lost Beth, my friend and counselor. She was taken to hospital in a hurry and never left alive. Soon after that, I lost Ian, another friend, exactly the same way. It was the worst year of my life.

I managed to write tributes to them, Ian and Beth, but never wrote a line here about Simon.

I tried, but my words never came out. I felt like I had something blocking me from saying bye, I could not get closure.

I kept all the e mails we exchanged (sometimes 20 on the same night), I have all photos we took of dinners, parties, visits. But above all, I have my heart full of longing and love for this guy who meant so much to me and my family.

Simon was my mentor, my friend , he was my counselor, my compass. He yelled at me when he thought he had to, he cared for me when I needed. He listened to my concerns, my ramblings, my moaning.He was always there for me. And he laughed. He laughed at me and laughed with me.

He was the guy who gave me my first job in New Zealand. He says that he found it funny when at the end of the interview I asked, : So what now?Are you giving me this job? 

He laughed. It was the first time he laughed at me (and with me).

What he never knew is that I did not want that job at all. I had only gone to that interview so Fabio would stop bugging me to find work. I did not want to work in call centers. Did not want, did not want, did not want.

But when he offered me the position, I accepted, I still do not know why. Little did I know this was going to be one of the best jobs of my life. It did not  cross my mind this call center would give me the greatest personal and professional experience I've ever had.

In the first month, I hated the work, the company, I hated everything. And every Friday I quit. Got angry about something and quit. And every week he did not accept my resignation, said that day he would not be able to accept, it, but could I please go back the next day? The weekend would pass, my temper would calm down and I would stay one more week.  Until the following Friday, when we relived the story, step by step.

I remember two times when he deeply offended me. And he knew exactly what he was doing too...

He once compared me to another employee, who was the biggest performance competition I had. He said:

-  Dani is very passionate

- What? What about me? Am I not passionate?

- Not about the job.

I was so pissed off,  I made sure I showed him how passionate I was about that job ...

In four years he was promoted three times in the company - and every time he was promoted, I took his position. When he resigned to go to another company, I was once again pissed off - and wanted to go along for his job interviews. I used to say I had to like my future employment too.

The second insult came when I still worked as call center operator. A friend and I were talking and he interrupted us:

- Karin, you'd be great at key accounts (the elite of the call center)

- What about me?

- Not you.

At that time he was managing Key Accounts - months after I was sitting on his chair, holding his position. I showed him who's not good enough for Key Accounts ...

And we fought and fought about it. I always said:

- You see? You know nothing. Who said I could not work in Key Accounts?

-  I said you would not be a good operator. Operator...

But the discussion lasted forever. We used to joke I'd be 90 years old, he'd be 110 and we'd still be fighting for the semantics of this discussion. But he cheated, he left much earlier...

When our career paths parted, I continued to call him for advice, to share concerns, to share with him everything that annoyed me. And he would patiently cut my problems into small pieces and return them to be chewed and swallowed.

The guy was everything. Competent, dynamic and always light years ahead of everyone. But he  would always leave the office at 5 o'clock. He arrived on time and left on time, he had a life to live, a family to go back to.

And what a life!. Simon cooked, danced, Simon loved partying and enjoyed hiswine. Simon was a super dad, a super husband, a super friend.

I once mentioned to him my mother in law was arriving in Auckland with my children. Without been asked, he went to the airport, took them to the domestic terminal with lots and lots of bags and sent them over to us.

Simon visited us twice in Palmerston North. He met our friends, everyone loved him.

And I had not had the courage to write anything about him until now because I'm never going to be able to describe this enlightened person who crossed my path and left so many memories. My friend, two years after you have left us, I still can not get over it.

When everything is shitty, I want to call and share with you. I want to cry on your shoulder. When I'm happy, jumping with joy, I want to share with you, because I knew it made you happy too.

I love you Si.

FISH PEDICURE / PEDICURE DE PEIXE

Se voce ja esta rolando de rir imaginando como e que o peixe pode ir a pedicure se ele nao tem pes, pode parar ja com a piadinha.

Eu fui, testei e aprovei!

Fish pedicure nada mais e que uma "nova"modalidade de pedicure. Voce coloca os seus pes num tanque ( chiquerrimo, mas nao deixa de ser um tanque) cheio de peixinhos que "comem" a pele morta dos seus pes.

Como se voce fizesse uma super esfoliacao.

Eu fui com uma amiga. Nos botamos os pes na agua, os peixes vieram, fizeram um banquete, nos rimos, conversamos, falamos bobagens e saimos de la com os pes super macios e a alma lavada. Eu recomendo!

Eu ainda nao vi seu nome no sorteio do scrapbooking digital da My Memories. Vai la, nao deixe de concorrer. O software e barbaro!!

***********************************************************************************




Yeah, yeah, yeah... You are asking yourself how can fish have a pedicure if it has no feet, right? So I suggest you stop with the joke and give it a go. Then we shall discuss the matter...


I've tried and approved!


Fish pedicure is nothing more than a "new" type of pedicure. You put your feet in a tank (chic, but it's still a tank) full of fish that "eat" the dead skin of your feet, as if you did a super exfoliation.


I went to try it with a friend. We put the feet in the water, the fish came, made a feast, we laughed, talked, laughed some more and left with a super soft feet and a shinning soul. I recommend!


.... what about or digital scrapbooking kit give away? If you are not participating yet, just click here and join the competition!

GIFTS

'Speaking of which...are you participating on our Digital Scrapbooking Give Away? Just click here and follow the simple steps. You may be the lucky winner of this amazing promotion.

But today's post has nothing to do with gifts for you, but it is all about my very own gifts. I love giving and receiving them. I simply love it.

Another day Shanthi, a great friend of mine, came to visit and casually said: 

- Wow, that's cool.

- Was a gift from one of my girlfriends.

- And that thing there is beautiful.

- Someone else's gift.

- That stuff there is so cute

- Gift.

- ... 

- Gift.

It was only then that I realized all the gifts I get. 90% of the plants in my house were gifts. And I love plants. The photos on my walls (various photographers, independent friendships) are mostly gifts, I also got masks, perfumes, clothes, bags, decoration stuff, glassware, jewelry ... 've got a bit of everything gifted to me at one stage or another.

And you know what touched me the most when I realized this?

What every little thing I've ever won was the result of someone thinking of me, when they were not with me.

And in every corner of my house, I have memories of loved ones, people I love and who have left their fingerprint in my life. What an amazing feeling! And the greatest gift of all, is the affection and friendship that fills my heart with joy!

Friends

We have just celebrated Friend´s day. I never realized such day exists, I can~´t recall ever celebrating it, but by coincidence this year I had the opportunity to be in Brazil, with people I love and haven´t seen for millennia.

Since I arrived, I have been overwelmed by the attention and love I am receiving.I am feeling special and cared for. After so many years away, I realize how much my friends are  important in my life, how responsible they are for the person I am today. Each interaction helped forge my personality.

It's amazing how much I learned from them, how obvious are the transformations that I went through with their intervention, how much change was generated from words and gestures from them. ...

And how good it feels to be here, to hug, laugh and remember special moments.

Thank you my friends. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for been part of my life. You helped build the person I am today. Thank you for caring, for your generosity, and for making me feel part of your life. 

BRASIL!! BRAZIL!!

Foi otimo ver meu pai me esperando no aeroporto. Eu nao o via ha 4 anos. Comemos uma coxinha quem inventou de meter catupiry nas coxinhas modernas??? e fomos pra Campinas. Viagem longa, mas a compania nao poderia ser melhor.

Adorei o meu comite de recepcao: pai, mae, sogro, sogra e as minhas princesas.

Agora so preciso fazer caber em tres semanas os quatro anos de atraso com amigos, familia e tudo mais!

*********

It was great to see my father waiting for me at the airport. I have not seen him for four years and I miss him like hell. My first stop was at the cafeteria, to eat some Brazilian delicacies. Stomach full, we drove to Campinas. It was a long trip, but the company could not be better.

I loved my reception committee: father, mother, in laws and my princesses.

Now all I  need to do is fit in three weeks, all four years I spent away from family, friends and everything else.

Friendship

Post em portugues logo abaixo desse, como sempre!

I have finally realised I am the luckiest person in the whole world!

I travel the world, living here, there and everywhere, but it does not matter where I am, I always have the most amazing friends around me. Friends for life.

And today I want to talk about a very special friend, someone very important in my life.

The gorgeous lady in the photo, not the one on the  left, the other one is Francine, who will kill me when she  realizes  I wrote this post. She hates publicity, but the blog is mine, and I'm so used to her nagging,, I'll say what I have to say. And deal with the consequences tomorrow. 

Francine is my companion for parties, massages, manicures, visits to art galleries, cooking classes, visits to museums, soccer games (in Qatar), lunches, dinners, breakfasts, boat trips, mornings at sea. With her I go to five-star hotels and get lost in poor villages, with the same sense of adbenture and fun.

She is funny, fun, friendly, crazy, intelligent, talented, and lots of other things, but I am not here to talk about any of these.

I have some tales to tell.

Stories that have left deep marks on my heart, stories I'll never forget. Yes, we partied together, we had lots of fun. But she also stood by me in the difficult times I spent here in Bahrain.

She held my hand many times. She helped when i had no idea what to do with my misbehaving teenager daughters,  she ran like crazy to help me catch my running dog who has no sense of danger, she gave me a shoulder to cry on, she was caring and affectionate every time I needed. She also told me off and gave me huge lectures when I deserved them.

She has been with me through good and bad.

 I remember the weekend my dear friend Ian died, and she spent hours kayaking with me while I cried my eyes out.

Recently I had a patch filled with sadness. She came here, took me out of the house, drove  me to a beautiful place and took dozens of pictures of me. Pics with swollen eyes, crying, in despair, pulling my hair out,  looking like a zombi - and then told me I needed to record the moment, so I could look at those images andb make sure I would never let myself feel this way ever again.

One of these days she arrived with a mirror cell phone cover and screen protector.  It was a gift. I thought it was a hint for me to take a look in the mirror in the morning, and at least comb my  hair!

But it was not. She said that the idea was to have the mirror always handy, so if I ever felt down, i could just get the mobile, look at it's mirror cover and remember how special I am...

Now tell me: don't I have the most amazing friends?

Francine, my life is much more colorful with you in it. Thankyou for being my friend!

somehow alone

I am here, surrounded by people, going from party to party, having fun, laughing and still feeling lonely.
I am not complaining - my life is good, my friends are very interesting, loving and caring, but somehow I am feeling lonely in the crowd.

The longer I live, more confused I get

I have some spare time now a days and I found out how fun it is to play online games, so I joined two facebook games : farmtown and farmville. They are both interactive, and you can play with your friends. It is an interesting concept. You have your own farm, but you can help each other,sending gifts, doing small jobs at each other farm.


The new feature on farmville is a cooperative, where you can join your friends and plant/harvest crops in a specific period of time, it is a group challenge and it is fun. I have joined many, I started others. It is always a laugh.

Last week I joined Anida's coop. Anida worked with me in New Zealand, and when she decided to move to another city, I helped find a job there. Soon after, she had a gorgeous baby girl and I sent her some gifts. We were not friends, but we had a good relationship, closer than I had with most of my team members.

I joined, the coop, the program crashed and I was unable to harvest my crops or plant anything new.

Next morning, I get a very rude message asking me why did I go to her farm if I was not even planting the same crops as her (the question was pertinent, but the tone was dreadful). When I tried to reply, I found she deleted me from her list of friends. Let me be clear here. She did not delete me from the game. She deleted me from her network on facebook.

I was disappointed and sad. Since then I lost my interest for the games. I am not prepared to deal with fanatism or obsession. It is just a game!

Welcome MARTIM

Once upon a time there was a guy on the last year of school. His name is the only name I remember from a class of over 50 students. And if I am correct, he was not even in my class. Scary.

Rodrigo and I were friends. We laughed together, we aimed to be different. We criticized people for being boring, normal, annoying. We had a good time. We did "teenagery" stuff.

This guy gave me a black leather jacket and I wore it over and over.

Twenty years went by. I moved away from Santos that same summer. He came to visit once, we had some fun. We barely kept in contact, but I keep good memories of that time and a special place for him in my heart.

When I found out I could never scuba dive again, I wrote an e mail to him, I knew he would have the right thing to say, and he did. Made me feel much better. Made me laugh as he always did.

This morning I woke up thinking:

- I must write to Rodrigo. See how he is doing. Ask about life in Bahia...

When I turn my computer on, there is a message from him.

Martim has just arrived. It filled my heart with joy!

Rodrigo now has a baby to follow his foot steps.He will teach his son how gorgeous this world is, he will play with him and MArtim will be scuba diving before he walks, I am sure of it.

Congratulations my friend. And welcome Martim!

- The funniest thing was to find out Martim was born exactly on the same day as Khadija, daughetr of my great friend Fabiana. Coincidences never cease to impress me!

Fighting for my right to be "P" OFF!

I know I am lucky, I know I have a good life. I am healthy, I have a great family, enough money to get by, a wonderful hubby, perfect TEEN daughters, a lovely dog, bla, bla, bla. But sometimes I want to have the right to be pissed off with things that happen in my life and upset me.

Today I had this issue with the visa, passport, this FU**ING SH**, and I dared to complain about it.

Some of the replies I got:

- You have nothing to complain. So many people have much worse problems...

I KNOOWWWWW but this is my problem at the moment. And I want the right to suffer for it. And I want the right to complain.

- O dear, it could be so much worse. Imagine if someone gets sick in your family.
Yep. That would be much, much worse. It would be very shitty, but Thank God, no one is sick and the problem I have is this one. About visas, passports and this crap.

- Inaie, just remember you can choose between being angry or being OK.

And am I stupid or something? CAn't you see I already made my choice? I AM ANGRY. I was angry about the current situation and now I am also angry with YOU, Juliana.

- Oh! You are always so spoiled. Only child and all... You never have real complains or real problems.

Sure. I live in a fairy tale. The same one all spoiled, only kids live. And being spoiled and the only child should be enough to guarantee a lifetime of happines, right?

- You complain about bureaucracy...What about me? I don't even have money to travel.

Ok. This is really important. My right to complain DOES NOT take away YOUR right to complain. Go ahead, complain, yell, scream, say some bad words. I may even lend you a shoulder to cry.

What about the ones who want to solve the problems for you? I am not talking about people with sugestions, or helpfull insights. I love those. I am talking about people who can not see all you want it to express your frustration!

Well, when I am annoyed (and annoying), when I am upset, angry, pissed off, all I want is some simphaty. All I need is someone to yell and scream with me. To help me find swear words.

That's all. After that I can let go and move on to solving the problem, as I always do.

Thank you Fabio for understanding my "grieving process"and letting me be. Thank you Francine (brazilian) and Rose, for helping me abuse the perpetrators! I am all ready to get on with life now.

KHADIJA

Ontem nasceu a Khadija, filha de uma grande amiga minha, a Fabi e do Fabio Mesquita.

A bichinha nasceu la nas Filipinas. Benvinda a esse mundo maluco, princesinha!!!

Sim, a foto e dela mesma!!

Khadija arrived yesterday. Her parents, Fabi and FAbio Mesquita are living in the Phillipines, where she was born. Welcome to this crazy world, gorgeous girl!

Yep, it is her in the pic...

World Cup - Mexico X South Africa

We were watching the game with another couple when South Africa scored the first Gol on Mexico.
I imediately got the phone and started dialing my Mexican's friend number.

Dee, who was with me, asked:

- What are you doing?

- Calling Yolhi.

I had to hear a huge lecture about how "not nice"that was, and  bla, bla, bla. While lecturing me, Dee notioced no one was anwering the phone, so she said:

- Call her from my mobole - she does not know the number ( well, I guess all the PC instinct went out the window, right?)

Dee was right. Yolhi answered the phone and we both yelled:

- GOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL

It was hilarious when my Mex friend replied:

- But it was not a Mexican gol!

kkkkk - I swear she is not blond.