2015 is still here...

It's the most wonderful time, of the year...

Yeah! Here we are again folks. It's almost Christmas!

The year has basically packed its bags and is ready to leave...

Think about what you have done this year.

Think about the good things you had.

Don't focus on what you did not do (unless you are planning to do it next year).

Just enjoy and cherish the good moments and lessons you learned.

Enjoy November, it's still here and enjoy 2015, it still did not leave yet

;-)

Happy November!

Monday feeling

What's up with Monday feelings?
Anyone...?
Anyone...?

Sometimes I wake up feeling like I am going to start doing lots and lots of things... Cleaning, ironing, dusting, organizing shelves, donating old stuff, lots of activities... Even like painting a room of something... Hahahaha

I wonder if this is a normal Monday feeling...

:/

Rain, let it rain!

These days have been quite warm in Brasília and we have that feeling like as if we were living in the middle of the desert, far away from the sea... oh wait, that is actually it :D We are far away from the sea and Brasília is often compared to the desert!

But we do have a lake here, it's called Paranoá. It's a very charming place. We can go there and there are some restaurants and kiosks selling coconut water and ice cream. This is our brasiliense pride, our "beach".

Often people complain about the weather. It happens everywhere, all around the world. When it's too cold people complain. When it's too hot, people complain. When it's summer time (the clock goes 1 hour forward) people complain, clock goes back, people complain. And so on... Whatever happens, people will always complain.

Now with the hot weather, what can we say? We want rain! "Let it rain please, God". But I guess we are right this time ;-) It's been too long without a drop of rain and this year is unusually dry. So now our hopes for rain are legitimate. We need rain! It's coming... It will rain today they said on the News... However... What will happen after it starts raining a lot? That's right... People will complain... But you know what? Who cares, let it rain... Come on! :D

Some girls get it all wrong

Ok everybody knows that men are different than women. That is a fact, not a story made up by someone who wishes to say that men are superior or that women are the real bosses.
Nope.
And I don't even want to spend time discussing such arguments, cause they are pretty much useless anyway. Not worth the time.

My point is: women sometimes can get it all wrong. Now you may ask why, why? Because we want to understand everything and we think we know everything and that we are in control of everything. Besides that, we think that men need to understand us. We expect men to do what we want them to do. But they can't understand us completely, he will be your partner, but don't try to make him understand you! He won't.
It's not that he doesn't want it, trust me, he wishes he could! But he is not capable of understanding fully what you go through.

That is the reason why we should have great female friends. We girls speak the same language, we understand each other, we are from Venus! Hahaha (tell if you did read that book: "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus". If you didn't, I strongly recommend! In this book, the author will go through many of our differences (men and women) and obviously nobody is exactly like the other, but the facts are there, it's science. We are different.

Well, if we are different why do you, girl, expect that your partner will understand you? That he will do exactly what you would expect him to? He won't be able to, because he is not supposed to. He is your partner, and he will be there to help and complete the part which you are not able to do it, and you will do the same in his life. He will assist, you both will be two people merged into one.

Now what truly upsets me is that girls are so often competing with each other, being jealous or avoiding friendship with girls when they are in a relationship. This is a very bad decision. Once you are in a relationship, you are not supposed to make that one person your center, NO! And God forbid you date someone who tries to make you their center, NO, that is a big NO NO! Run, run, run far away from him!

Back to the problem: girls compete instead of helping each other. Being competitive is not a sign of being great, I am sorry girls, but that's a sign of weakness. Why would you ever consider competing? What do you think you are doing? How can people who are unique compete to one another? That is just not possible!
Instead of competing, feeling bad about something that you think (inside your own small head) that you should have, be happy for who you are. Be happy for what you have, be happy and try to be the person you know you can be (by improving something you think it's important, by doing something nice to and for yourself) think about it.

Being happy about someone else's success is a sign of maturity. You can only know you are mature when you finally know who you are and know your place in life. Just think about this. Cultivate your friendships, don't make any man your center, nobody takes that place in your life except God. Do that girl. Be mature. Be a friend to someone who needs you. Get it all right, from now on... Be who God designed you to be! What do you say?

Nice Brazilians x Corruption??!

Sometime ago I was speaking to someone at a friend's party about Brazilian culture. He was from USA and moved to Brasília recently. He said he could not understand why there is so much corruption in Brazil. He could not believe as he feels people are so nice, the country is so beautiful and yet has such a high level of corruption.

I remember talking about it with another friend who also lived abroad several years. I told her the same. How come there is so much corruption in Brazil? What is in it's culture that opens that type of door for this behavior? People are friendly, sometimes in a queue at the supermarket, we just start chatting, at the bus stop, people try to help you, on the street, they are so warm and nice. In Europe, on the other hand, you don't feel people are that friendly. Depending where you are, you may need help and they won't even look at you. Once my car broke down right in front of a supermarket in Barendrecht and my mom and I were trying to turn the engine on again by pushing it, and I saw men walking down the street and they saw us too, and no.. THEY DID NOT STOP TO HELP US.
Hahahahhahaha!!! They didn't care at all, that 2 women were having car issues, they just ignored us completely. Now if that would be in Brazil, in a matter of 30 seconds, there would appear men out of houses, bushes, stopping cars to help us out...

Interesting to notice this difference in culture during traffic. Europeans are cold people and not so often very friendly. In Brazil people are very friendly and very helpful. But what happens when they get in a car?!! What happens in traffic?!! CRAZY! People in Brazil drive like they are the only ones. They are extremely egoist and they don't think about the others. In Europe however, just the opposite. They drive thinking about others and being very conscious about the rules. How can we explain that? I am sure a sociologist or perhaps psychologists have a good opinion and plausible explanation for that, but sometimes it's quite difficult to grasp.

It's hard to accept that corruption is so common in Brazil, and at the same time seeing how people can be so caring then why they don't think about the interests of others as well when they are in a public environment or deal with public money? Perhaps there are many explanations to that, and obviously there are also exceptions but I just wonder if this will ever change. This is what we all hope for. Friendlier people and less corruption!

Yes! That is who I want to be when I grow up

Today I had spend a great time with a dear friend. We drank coffee and spoke about trips, life, people and culture, subjects which I am really a big fan. Besides the coffee we ate some nice cake as well. I also tried the Chai tea, apparently it is Indian, it has some exotic taste, with herbs like cardamom, and I believe cloves too. I recommend this place,  it's called Torteria di Lorenza, a cozy place with some interesting food options.

After we met, I was heading home and then I noticed that there was a traffic jam. So I thought to myself, well, I will probably spend as much time as I would to get home if I just decide to wait somewhere else. So I drove around and stopped at another charming little coffee place: Fran's café. It is quite popular and I have never been to this one in particular. The environment was oke, the atmosphere also quite inviting. I saw the menu and many good options were there for coffee and dishes. I chose their special, Frans Café cappuccino chocolate, something like that, and I also ordered some sweet churros (Gosh, am I a sweet tooth or what? Heck, that's why I go to gym anyways...) It was delicious. The churros were served with some doce de leite and it was decent.

When I was sitting there I was having some funny thoughts... Hummmmmmm. I started to think: "I should be a food critic". If I was sent out by some magazine, for instance, I could sit there, and evaluate the place, eat the food, order all I could have, all dishes, eat half of them and still didn't even have to bother to pay for the food, cause, well, they would probably pay for me cause the very reason I would go there was this important mission: eat the food and provide a review. I can't help but to say what a luxurious life these food critics have... Come on! These people are paid to eat?? Hello??? Is this real? Ohhhhhhhhh oh,  I know who I want to be when I grow up!! :D

Later I continued with these incredible thoughts... Hummmmmm,  "How about the servants", if they started to pay attention to me, and if I was some kind of food expert, they would probably want to please me even more... Huh... They will notice I would be there to judge their food and establishment and they would definitely serve with a much bigger smile. :D. Not that they were not serving well tonight, in fact, I really liked their service, very polite, friendly and professional, didn't take long, they were very attentive, I am impressed. But can you imagine if I was the food critic? And they knew they were under trial? Hummmmmm ha ha! NICE! I could just imagine them being even nicer!!! WOW! What a fantastic service I would get, huh?

At some point I thought, well... If I can maybe pretend I am a food critic, get inside the room, looking around, with a analytical face on, you know? Like, paying attention at the decoration, hand on the chin... "Hummmmm, sir, can you please tell me: who is the chef? What his/her name?... Where are the toilets located ? How many people can be in this establishment? Hummmmm Ahan....." If I started asking those questions, maybe I could get away with it? :D Could they suspect me? Cause of course they should not know a food critic is in the house but they could just suspect...
Then when the food arrives, look at it, how it's presented, checking it very carefully before eating, slower, with that same analytical, quasi judgmental face on, observing, focused. Take a spoon, look at it, from different angles, smell it, and then just eat it and continue.. (Important: the look has to be the same, very focused and not easily impressed). So, would I sell as a food critic? Huh? I wondered...
Bahhhhh, but then it hit me: I would have to pay the bill afterwards anyways... Darn!

Cozy days

It's funny, when I was in Holland, every time the sun was shinning it gave me the warm feeling of Brazil... And now that I am back to Brazil, every time the clouds are there... I think about Holland...
How crazy?! Hahahahahaha!!!!

Well.. this morning it was a very cloudy day! Not like the song from Temptations, hahaha... But it does make me feel like getting a nice book, watching a great movie and enjoying the cold days.

Welcome again, Holland.. Ops, well.. Brazil... It feels funny
;-)

Pleasure is addicting...

Today I was thinking about the diets and life style we have and how we function.

Well, most of us love to go out for a nice dinner, or just to sit relaxed at home with a nice bucket of popcorn... Hummmmm... Food gives us pleasure, and it's comforting, specially right after a difficult day. Food works, in this case, like a gratification: you grant yourself a nice bonus after a day of hard work.. ;-)

But what does that entail? You work hard or study and go to gym (or do any type of physical activity) and then you think to yourself: "I deserve a nice piece of cake today..." or perhaps "I deserve some wine and cheese, well, why not some peanuts, nuts as well?" Why not...?

Obviously, you can't stick to only one single piece of that nice cake, you never stop on the first glass of wine (at least not on your best inspiring moments I suppose hahaha). The point is: Pleasure is addicting...

What could be the problem with this then? No problem at all! In life, we are supposed to enjoy the little things. In fact, you may indulge yourself once in a while with something you like. I am talking about food, but you can easily think about other kind of gratification, for instance, going to the mall, playing a game, doing something that gives you pleasure.

We are designed to feel pleasure. It's much easier to go do something you enjoy than to do something that gives you discomfort. If you could choose, you choose pleasure over pain. However, pain is part of life. You need to apply yourself for something bigger. You need to make an effort in order to get something in return. Nobody can only have pleasure and still have a purpose in life. We hear about some people who are considered the richest in the planet, when they live such idle lives, aimless without  a purpose, they may find themselves very bored and useless, because deep down, we, human beings, need discipline and targets in life. We need purpose.

Whenever we feel like eating something really special right after a nice productive week, we are actually telling ourselves: yes, you deserve this, you earned this. That is even another reason to look for. After accomplishing something, you give yourself the well deserved pleasure. Interesting huh? It's almost like a vicious circle. If you think about diet and life style... Well, each day you get one step further to your goal, without such heavy burdens... Unless you over indulge yourself... hahaha, well.. at least you have a new goal after that! 

Handwriting... Keep focused!

Here we are again, another month has passed and 2015 is now shorter than ever...

Remember when we were in school and we had the first days of classes, and our handwriting was perfect in the first page of our notepad...? Hahahahahahaha! I think we do the same with our goals and plans for the new year. We always start from the beginning with a strong motivation and sometimes that will last a few days or, for the lucky ones, more than a month...

But I didn't mean to be negative now.. I do believe we can change things around us and accomplish our goals. I just wanted to set a kind of reminder to myself, you know? This is just like a nice tap on the shoulder, like: "keep on, we are now in February... Keep on going... we have 11 months to go..." This is it. We can do it!

Well, here we go... Is my handwriting already changing...?! No... no... no! Time to focus!