Remembering

These past few days have been unbearable...

tears, fear, memories..

they all creep up on you when you least expect them.

Gabriela and I, along with others of our friends, have been trying to support one another through these times.

I am not sure if the reality of it really is described well enough with words through our blogs.  I will try again to describe this...

not for just our readers, but also for myself.

Living overseas, as an expatriate, for a short amount of time...

that is what we have all been doing these past few years.  The perks are great.

The community is your support system, your friends, your acquaintances...

most of the people here, especially in an assignment where there are a lot of expats, are more just people that you pass by in school, at the clubs playing tennis, a birthday lunch where all have been invited..

just because you are a member of the expat community.

So this has hit the whole community.  We see people walking around our schhol who have been so affected that they just burst into tears...it doesn't matter if they were your best friend, they were still someone you know, who is living the same situation you are, and now they have to live it differently.  They have to live with a loss, a precious life has been abruptly halted...

and the lives of their families, utterly thrown into chaos.

So we all feel hit.  It makes me realize how precious and fleeting life really is..

and I must not take anything for granted....

most especially, the life of my family.

Update: A Sad Day

We never know when it is 

"our time"...

Today we learned of a few friends that were on the AirFrance flight that went missing from Rio to Paris.

One was a couple that lived life to fullest, always enjoyed themselves and the wife (who I knew more-so than the husband) always had a smile.  

My last image of them is dancing at an American Society Texas BBQ for St. Patrick's Day.  They were great dancers and looked so happy.

The other person is the husband of a lady that my kids play tennis with their kids, who are only 4 and 5.  He worked occasionally with my husband in the same line of work.  

I wanted to add here that I just heard of another British lady who had her 11 year old son, flying alone, back to his boarding school in the UK,

 also on the plane.

Also, another Brazilian gentleman that just got married this past year, who had celebrated his birthday this past weekend, and also worked with my husband occasionally, was also another on board.

May God bless them and their families, and help them to find peace in the coming days, weeks, months and years of their lives....

Nicole B's Scavenger Hunt

This is Nicole B's 2nd Scavenger Hunt.  

We had to find and foto these items that she posted and here are my versions!

1. A souvenir

2. A Fish

3. A Religious Building

4. A Fire Department

5. A Manhole Cover

6. A Postcard

7. Water

8. A Communication Device

9. A Life Event

(Flying!)

10. A Foreign Stamp

11. A Tree

12. The Living Space of a Non-Human

13. A Street Mirror

14. A Decoration Fixed on a House 

(remember, most people live in apartment buildings here!)

15. A Foreign Flag 

(this is a flag for a local soccer team)

16 A Fire

17. An Antenna

18. A Phone Booth

19 A "Verboten" Sign

20. A Beach

21. A Cityscape

22. Something Goofy

23. Something Carved

24. An Eye

25. Something Rural

Competing forces

A few weeks ago I was still walking Bella on her long walk at 5:30 in the morning.  Something that I found so interesting was that the moon seemed to be daring the sun... it was a competition in my eyes.

The moon was out full force in the night...it reminded me of a huge flashlight shining a path on the ocean.

Then the next morning, as the sun was rising, it was still daring the sun...

still high in the sky.

The sun won...because it took over the moon's bright light, even if the moon was still hanging there for all of us to admire

:)

Saturday Night Lights

Looking for something to do on a Saturday night?  Well, why not just come here and watch the creation of a flying saucer?!

Yes, you read right...a certified flying saucer, lights blipping and flashing, and even I heard faint sounds of the Star Wars theme song......

Ok, the whole story....

Some man made a flying saucer and decided to fly it here past all the beaches, which were lined with people to see it.

The flying saucer was escorted by 2 "visible" helicopters and one "invisible" helicopter that was flying the flying saucer through the sky.

Sorry that pictures are so blurry, but it was the best I could do at a moment's notice.  

This was one of the strangest things I think that I have ever seen.  People were clapping on the beach for it and everything...I was lucky any fotos came out at all because I was laughing so hard at this situation...

Anyways....

one for the records for sure :)

Longing

What am I longing for, you may ask?!

Chinese food....good Chinese food. 

I am so surprised in a place like where I live, very cosmopolitan, very hip, very trendy...

there is not ONE single good Chinese food restaurant in sight.  Not even one that comes close...and trust me, there are only less than a handful to try anyways!

Last night we went to see Angels and Demos, (highly entertaining), and then for dinner.  I was craving lettuce wraps and orange spiced beef, or sweet and sour chicken....or anything that slightly resembled what we used to eat from the Chinese food joints in the US and even in Venezuela!

But nope....I find the sushi here (I know that is Japanese, but hey, here they combine it all!) to be gummy and not really made with fresh seafood.  Then we ordered some beef and vegetable wakisobi dish....it was edible.  But the flavors and taste are just nothing resembling ANY Asian dish that I have ever tasted.

So, I long for June when I can go and savor my lettuce wraps, orange spiced beef, sweet and sour chicken, spring rolls, shrimp fried rice, sticky rice, beef and broccoli, chicken and veggies.....

Tell Me Why

Such a powerful statement....