Our Dreams…

Today, like millions around the globe, I witnessed one of the most amazing things ever done.

Felix Baumgartner did a freefall of 23 miles high. When I hear 23 miles (39km), I can’t really imagine it being very high, but it’s actually 128,000 ft or 39,010 meters. I mean, come on, pretty bloody high if you ask me.

It took him 2hrs to go up and 4min to get down. My heart stopped for a few seconds, I am certain of it, Felix was spinning like crazy and all of a sudden his parachute opened, he was flying like a bird. Then, as fast as I could catch my breath, he had landed, right here in the Southwest, in New Mexico. What a guy.

In 1969, a man named Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. I wasn’t alive then, but I hear stories and I’ve seen thousand of times on television. In 2012, Neil Armstrong passed away, but he still lives in the hearts of all these men and women who try to defy gravity. Felix Baumgartner is one of them and I am happy I got to see it live (not thanks to CNN or any other american news channel who cut it right as he jumped) on the internet.

One hour before he jumped (already  a few thousand miles up in space), he tweeted: “Live from Space! World you are beautiful”, once he landed he posted: “Mission accomplished” and about 20min ago: “We live to conquer fears and pursue dreams, may our attempts and accomplishments progress humankind”.

Somehow, hoovering the house seemed pretty dull after today’s events…

 

UPDATE: I read this article this morning on the guardian and it answers a few questions that people like us might have, such as, how many hours did he sleep the night before the jump, etc. Also, the quick video shows the view from his head cam, which is pretty cool.

The Power of Parents

I’m not talking about me as a parent, I’m talking about me as a daughter.

I have to say that I’m so thankful for the parents I’ve got. Yes, we argue and we have our issues, and we are not perfect, in fact, we are far from it.

You know that feeling of… all is good? For example, when I have good news, they are always one of the first ones to know, because they are so supportive of me and my brother that no matter what crazy idea we’ve got, they will first tell us what they think, but if we take a different path, they will still be there for us.

The past few days I’ve been a bit blargh and tonight (my dad’s bday) when we spoke on skype, we had a good laugh, made a few jokes, my mum drove me crazy teaching me some origami (yes, over skype and because I’m a bit slooowww for crafty things) and they made it all better again.

I don’t think they understand the power that they have, even in their voices.  I’ll love them always.

The Unexpected

Just the other day Paul and I were looking at dogs for adoption. We were trying to decide what type of dogs would fit our family better, what we agreed on, what we could put up with and so on. We literally spent hours looking and reading about dogs online.  We weren’t going to get up the next day and get a dog, it’s a plan, for a near future, but something that we were really excited about, especially because we knew Victoria would be thrilled.

Yesterday, however, we adopted, I mean we were adopted by a kitty of about 5-6 months. I am not even a big fan of cats, I’m a dog person, love dogs, the bigger the better, nothing of these tiny little dogs, the smallest dog I can handle is a beagle, nothing smaller, I can’t stand it (that’s me and my opinion only). Anyways… there is a cat in our house and I have to say… one happy little 5 year old.

This Very Important Day of the Year that I Forgot

2 days ago I remembered that on August 22nd 1995, I traveled from Brazil to Switzerland to stay 1 yr and haven’t been back to Brazil since.

17 years living outside of Brazil. It feels weird, it really does. Although Brazil is in my heart and always will be, at some point you stop thinking of yourself as a “1 country citizen”, especially if you have lived in different foreign countries.

When I met Paul, he’d been living in VA for 17 years, and I thought that was incredibly long (I’d been away for 6 1/2 yrs then, and was planning on moving back for good). Funny how our perspective of time change.

I remember working in a hotel in Switzerland when I met this Brazilian lady who had been living in France for about 8 yrs or so. I asked her how did it feel and if she’d ever be back, she told me “no”. I couldn’t believe it. I told her I would definitely go back, etc, etc. She laughed and told me that when you live outside of your country for so many years, you start seeing things for what they really are, without our “idealistic glasses”, where  everything and everyone is perfect.

Here I am, 17yrs later and I’ve realized that many things that I loved about Brazil I know I can find elsewhere and many other things that I didn’t like about Brazil haven’t changed, are still there, and in some cases, worst than before, so I am thankful I have the opportunity to visit Brazil every 1 or 2 years. My family and  friends (a few now) are still there, the country is beautiful and so unique, but I can always come back to the place I call home, wherever it may be.

Gas or Electric? Love or Hate?

People are all different, which is great, some like yellow and some like blue, some like gas stove tops and some like electric.

I prefer gas 1000 times over. I’ve had electric when I lived in Switzerland, but I was a student, and although hospitality students are always showing off their culinary (and drinking) skills, we didn’t use it as much as I do now for example.

My father-in-law had an electric stove, which I started to create a love and hate relationship with while living there, and now we have one at our house, which I completely despise.

When it’s gas, you turn on, it’s on, you turn off, it’s off, like magic. Electric? No chance. You turn it on… wait until it warms up… then you turn it off… and wait until it turns off… argh! Not to mention, when a recipe says to turn down the temperature… well, in an electric stove you are out of luck, because the temperature continues the same for a few minutes, then it might just be too late…

So, there you go, I am posting about stove tops… I’m really out of ideas here, can you tell?