Hi Everyone,

I know we promised to write during the summer… but life has its obstacles.


The most important thing now is that I’m writing this and I’m feeling like it’s the last post I’m going to write to this blog…

So, instead of feeling miserable and sad to leave my baby…

[ Yes… because this is MY baby TOO! :) ]

I want to ask you for a little patience and if you let me stay here for a while?

I’m already looking for a new baby to adopt but I’m fond of this one… really bad!

What are your plans?


Kiss Kiss Wish Wish**


PS – Why is she/he/it so… pink?

What the...?

... heck is going on here?

So, picture this: A girl... let's call her... I don't know... Vanessa... FINALLY has gotten free of all those damn exams and FINALLY has time to remember her name.
Vanessa (really have no idea where that name came from) decides to check the blog at 2h28 am (why not? Who needs sleep anyway?). What does she find? A be-a- uuuutiful definition of home, a review from a movie that looks really, really interesting, a new story (about damn time!), an argument (His Majesty... Ah Ah Ah) and... a completely different color. I thought I was daltonic for a second!

Aaaanywayyy... how's life treating you all (even you 'His Majesty- in your dreams')? Did the grades make you all happy?

My grades made me happy, except for one, which was the reason why only today I am free of those exams. I felt I needed a tinny, little "exame de melhoria".

Now, on a subject totally unrelated, two weeks ago I found two guinea pigs close to my grandmother's house. They were obviously abandoned. If it wasn't for the noises they made, I wouldn't have found the box they were in. They were beautiful, but they were dirty and obviously needed food and water (the people that abandoned them didn't even leave them some food and water, so I'm guessing that they really wanted them to die). My grandmother used to have bunnies, so she knew a little bit about how to care for rodents. Unfortunately I found them at night, so I couldn't get the things they needed (like hay, for example). So, I made do with what I had. I gave them carrots (boy did they eat!) and a water bowl (which is not recommended, but what could I do?). I spent all night with them (didn't even study, which was what I was going to do when I went to my grandmother's).
The next day I took them to the vet. I knew that at least one of them was hurt in his paw. There I found out that they were both female. They were both dehydrated and malnourished and they needed a bath really badly (and these animals don't need baths, because they take care of it themselves, so guess how dirty they were). The pig that had a hurt paw had to be given an injection. Poor thing shrieked so much! The vet asked me to hold her down and I was really scared that I'd get bitten. But that didn't happen. After the injection, I picked her up and held her. The sweetest thing happened: she calmed down, relaxed against me and laid her head on my shoulder. I fell in love. I just knew that I would keep these two gals.

Two weeks have gone by. They are happy, they are being treated with love, they always have food and water... I gotta say I'm proud of what I did and of what I'm doing. Those animals didn't deserve what was done to them. Thank God I decided to study at my grandmother's house, or else... I don't even like to think about it.

Oh, according to the vet, the guinea pigs are still very young (about a month and a half, maybe two months now). Their names are Brownie and Whitey (what's more original than that?). So... guess their colors!

A Whole New Blog

Woh! After reading this heated argument between Catarina and José…
I had the need to freshen up…

I present to you:

A whole new blog…
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to write
Or say we're only dreaming

A whole new blog
A dazzling place I once knew
But when I'm way up here
It's crystal clear
That now I'm in a whole new blog with you

(…)

A whole new blog
That's where we'll be
A thrilling chase
A wondrous place
For you and me.


Check out this song: Alladin - A Whole New World

Choises II

‘Fred...! Fred, wake up!’ said Simona, almost shouting as she opened the window. ‘Your aunts didn’t come all the way from Italy to see their nephews sleeping… Come on!’ Fred muttered something impossible to understand and rolled in bed, trying to fight against the light and the breeze that came from the opened window.
‘No… Let’s go. Griani is already taking a shower, you’ll be next. Okay, honey?’

Simona left the room, leaving also her son to his own mercy and choices. Federico stretched himself, rubbed his eyes and without opening them sat on the bed to his left side. He scratched his head and he opened one eye after the other unsuccessfully until he decided it was best to get up like a blind man. This decision made him stumble a little and collide slightly with the bedroom’s door jamb before turning left in his way to the kitchen.

Mia opened the closet door slowly. The coast was finally clear. She got out of the closet and noticed her shoes near the desk where the television was. Thank god, they were unisex and the most common sneakers within teenagers.

She heard footsteps again so she lean herself against the wall between the wardrobe and the desk. Someone walked through the corridor and disappear to a room next to Federico’s. Seconds later Dion’s song, Run Around Sue, started playing.

Mia stuck her head out to see if there was someone in the corridor. After verifying that, she quickly grabbed her shoes and looked through the window… but it wasn’t a good way out, she was probably in a third floor or something. Oh, no… footsteps again.

‘Fred!?’
With no time to think, Mia throws herself to the floor so that she would be hidden behind the bed if someone stood by the door.
‘Gosh, Fred…! Did you steal my Guiness black t-shirt?’
By looking under the bed, Mia could see someone’s bare feet near the door. Griani had heard the dry noise of Mia’s body crashing on the floor. He was now standing in the bedroom entrance just with a towel on thinking that the noise had been made by his brother.

‘Unff… Where are you?’ After concluding that it had probably been their cat, Mia saw Griani’s bare feet turn around and walk, just like Federico, towards the kitchen.
Mia sighed with relief and she decided it was best to roll over, stay under the bed and wait.

Whale Rider - Film Review

This film tells us the story of a young Maori girl named Paikea Apirana, a surviving twin. Her twin brother died at birth as well as her mother. Her grandfather was very disappointed because he was expecting a primogenitor to lead his people (His son, Paikea’s father had given up leadership for a career as an artist in Germany), to be a chief and a prophet. The leader was supposed to be a boy and a direct descendant of Paikea the first of its people who rode a whale from Hawaiki, the birthplace of their ancestors. But Paikea Apirana was a girl and in her grandfather’s eyes it was impossible that she would ever become a leader. He starts looking for a new leader amongst the village’s boys.

The relationship between Paikea and her “Koro” (grandfather) is one of love and rejection, and the story shows this man divided between the love of her granddaughter and tradition. Paikea, against her grandfather’s wish learns about her ancestor’s traditions, and she does this even better than the boys. She doesn’t want to accept the fact that she could never be a leader because she is a girl, and somehow she feels that it is her destiny, so during the course of the story, and till the end, she is going to prove that to everyone including her grandfather.

Niki Caro directed this film (adapted from the 1987 book of Maori writer Witi Ihimaera) in a touching, simple and intelligent way. It is beautifully filmed and it has moments of intense drama (without being over sentimental), as well as humour and joy.
The story sets place in one of the amazing coastal regions of New Zealand in a local Maori village, Whangara. The “scenario” is astonishing! The “extras” are the village’s people it selves, the Maori people, and maybe that is why the story breaths authenticity.
This film, a mix of fantasy and reality does not disappoint. In spite of being inspired by a legend it shows how difficult it is the relation between tradition and modernity. This is shown mainly in the relationship between Paikea and her Koro (grandfather).


The cast is amazing and the young actress Keisha Castle-Hughes gives a performance difficult to forget for an eleven year old actress. The casting director, Diana Rowan, was the same one who chose Anna Paquin for Jane Campion’s” The Piano”. Both actresses were nominated for an Oscar, and Keisha was the youngest ever to be nominated!
This is a very beautiful film that I recommend to anyone between 6 and 100 years old!

Home

There are lots of “catch phrases” to convey the meaning of the word “home” as a psychological sentiment: “Home is where the heart is” is probably the most well known one. But there are others: “Home is where I feel safe”; “Home is where I feel protected”; “Home are my friends my mother my…”and so on. These are my interpretations and also someone else’s I’m sure.

If we think about the English word itself, “Home” is a warm word even when said in a harsh way it always sounds tender…”Home”. We almost feel the warm air that comes out of our mouth…Home. But since in the Portuguese language “Home” does not have the same deep meaning, I think the English word is far richer in meaning. Home as an “object” can be small, cosy and even a place where sometimes I don’t want to be. But it is always my final destiny. Home is my house. Home is my neighbourhood, my city, my country. And it is also a very deep feeling. For me starts to have sense when I’m far from what Home represents to me. That is known as “homesick”.

There were two times in my life when I really felt “homesick”. First when I was five years old. My mother was trying to get a job and things were not so well. I had to live with my grandmother (from my father’s side) for about six months, so I moved to Vila Real in the North of the country.

One day my mother went to visit me, as she often did whenever she could, and said: “this time you’re going to Lisbon with me." That was the moment when I felt the importance of home for me. During my stay there I had lots of sad moments because I missed my mother. But it wasn’t only that, I missed my little friends, my home, and my toys!

It was at that particular moment with that particular phrase that I felt how deep my feeling of being a Homesick “victim” was. I burst into tears of joy and I just kept asking my mother if it was for real. She never forgot that moment and neither did I. I was inexplicably happy. On that weekend I never lost my mother from my sight! And though I did feel very well treated by my grandmother and aunts, my heart was with my mother in Lisbon. My town, my place, my Home.



The second time was in 1999 when I made my first “big trip”, at least in distance. I had never been so far away from home. I had only travelled throughout Europe. When I arrived in Cuba with my boyfriend I had what I call a “one day depression” because it really just lasted for one day! I just wanted to get on the plane again and fly back home. My feelings and thoughts were very strange, almost as if someone had died; I had anguish inside me. I felt the huge distance that separated me from my “Home”, and an urge to speak with someone from across the Atlantic. Everything around me was so different. Not that I didn’t like it, but I felt detached, alone, sad. The next day I felt better. I saw the turquoise sea, talked with the people and tasted the food. I put away my “homesickness” in a “little box” for a month and had a hell of a time!

I don’t know about other people, but I guess the feeling of being homesick is very Portuguese; hence the word that we use with such frequency: “Saudade”.
For me Home is where I feel safe, with the ones I love. My safe heaven…

What a mom says in 24 hours in 3 minutes (hilarious and so true!)