General stuff

It has been a while since I last wrote you, but many small things were and are still happening, so I ended up staying away from my blog longer than I ever wished. Thus, without any further ado, let me up date you with some thoughts.

I am walking on clouds... I was asked to do my first photo job ever! Needless to say how exciting this is. The job will take the whole of February and it is for our church's web site and directory. My mother has always told her five children not to try something new when you have visitors and this goes for new recipes, new route, new software or whatever is new for you on a day when you have spectators. But, maybe with age or may be because of hormones, I don't know, I've decided to be a tiny little bit rebellious and use a brand new photo editing software with the church's pictures and madre mia madre santa... it has so many possibilities on how to change a photo that my "photo purism"  has been quite shaken. I still think that at least 80% of the photo has to be ready as you shoot it and leave at the most 20% to be repaired in the computer. I've always thought our church was nice and cozy and had a wonderful atmosphere for worshiping but my friend, I have just found out that for photo taking it's too dark, LOL!! Therefore, keeping my "photo purism" has been a real challenge. Oh well, guess my learning curve just received a huge load!

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Joel saw a possibility to quickly go away for a week. For that he came to me with the idea of a mini road trip around South of Florida. He quickly put it together and off we went. We landed in Miami to what we thought, to what we intended, would be a nice romantic quick get away, ha ha ha... in reality it was not fun at all. Everything or better saying, almost everything you could think of, went wrong; bad hotel service, I broke my brand new camera, a sun-set cruise that had all ingredients to be beautiful and fun was as boring as nothing else in my life has ever been and... Joel had gall bladder crises, ended up in ER, managed to fly back to Panama pain free and had a surgery two days after landing.  In actual fact, all the above was happy ending, nothing terrible, but honestly... not on a road trip, right? Surprises surprises life brings us which reminds me that we have to enjoy life at ALL TIMES.

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A week after Joel's surgery, he took off to Bangkok on a 4 flight trip and one of the flights lasted 17:50 hours. Really, after we left Asia, both os us quickly got used to the wonderful short flights, even when going to Europe we have short flights, so going back to a 18 hour flight takes a lot of breath in breath out, no? I mean, what do you do for 18 hours, even in business class? You sleep, you eat, you read, you watch movies and after checking how long you still have, you find out that although you have done loads, you still have another 8 hours to go! Ai ai ai ui ui ui. His flight took off at 10 AM Panama time and at 6:15 AM he wakes me up to ask for some help; he was not finding his Brazilian passport, the one he used to come in the Country. Ouch, that was not a cozy wake up call! We both turned this flat upside down and no passports were found. The time to leave the flat to go to the airport was long gone, we were late and still no passport. He then decided to try leaving the country with his other passport, the French one. Although he has a Panamanian ID proving he is legal in the country, he didn't have the Brazilian passport with the entry stamp and they usually like to see that too when foreigners go through immigration. I drove him to Tocumen Airport, and waited outside until he went through security. Sent Alice a bbm and together we went on a praying chain for him to go through immigration smoothly. Amen amen, it was all fine. As I was driving back home, he gives me a call to suggest it could  be in XYZ place. I got home and went straight there and it wasn't right there, but next to it, so once again, happy ending, yeaahhyy! 

While he was flying, I went to a concert here in Panama City that was just awesome for words. It was Yanni playing and the producer had set the stage nothing else but right among the ruins of Old Panama. So us, the spectators, were sitting around 500 something year old ruins. Just spectacular!!

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It was my birthday this past week and I invited some friends for lunch in order to help me welcome my new age. I loved having them around because, as we very well know, when we live this life outside our original comfort zone, away from family, these friends are out new family, they are the ones we run to in times of emergency or in times of fun, so many thanks for coming and for being there for me.

Some pictures taken by both of us. Enjoy them.

 

The bird with a polka dot tail

I sometimes call Joel " Jacare" which is Portuguese for "alligator".

Cuba through a hole

A wall with an opened and a closed window

Reading through a V

Joel looking at Cuba

Bye Bye, So Long, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu...

Life can be extremely tricky at times. Sometimes, it unexpectedly brings great surprises, sometimes disappointing situations and sometimes it starts by bringing completely undesired surprises which later turns out to be quite cool. That is what we have just experienced!

After many emails back and forth, plane tickets were reserved and bought LAST AUGUST. We knew Christmas is a time of the year when everybody in the Western world goes somewhere so as we really wanted to celebrate Christmas here in Panama with the girls and David, we started it all very early. Joel and I were over the moon, it had been five whole years since we last spent Christmas together as a family of five. I had announced to all my friends that "The girls and David" were coming, Joel and I had already planned to do all sorts of things with them around the city, had made reservations to go to one of the Pacific Ocean beaches to spend New year's eve there, had made plans to spend Christmas Eve at a friend's house, had tickets to the Christmas Cantata... we thought we had it all under control and well planned. All we needed to have it happening, were the safe landings of all three of them.

However, that was not as God had in His almighty plans... thus new plans were layout before us.

The first one to land was Anna. She came from 40ºC Rio de Janeiro, so Panama's 29ºC was not bad at all. She arrived on December 14th. As she was the one to stay longer, she was to participate in a couple of year–end parties we were attending.

Then it was time for Alice to land from freezing England. She was to leave the UK on the 18th very early. Joel and I, as we always do when they are traveling, were keeping track of her whereabouts through the internet, using the "Flight Status" on the company's website or chatting using "BBM" or "WhatsApp" (amen for those, free and very useful!). It was all good, she had arrived safely at Heathrow, had checked in, was happy to have been given access to the lounge, had boarded the plane and had sent us a last BBM saying she was now seated on her seat, the plane's door was already closed and kissed us good bye, looking forward for our next chat as soon as she would land in NY after crossing "the Pond". Life was good... one daughter already here, another one on her way here and son in law closing his "to do list" before taking off on the 23rd... or so we thought...

A few minutes after Alice's last BBM to us, she comes in again to let us know that ... after reaching the "take off" point on the runway, her plane was going back to the gate for the snow that was falling had turned into a blizzard!!

Oh no, we really didn't need that... was she for real or just testing our humor at 2AM Panama time? We rushed to the company's web site and voila, the flight was indeed going back to the gate and was to wait for the blizzard to be over, therefore at that point, it was just a "delayed flight". Her connection to Panama in NY was slowly slipping away... slowly slipping away... probably was going to be missed and yes, it was missed.

My dear readers, we were just facing the beginning of an incredible long saga of a mother nature angry show of global warming with early winter blizzards in unexpected places and all the rest you can think of.

Making a VERY LONG story short, Alice and David were able to finally land in sunny Panama City, after THREE canceled flights, on December 28th. From the airport, we went straight to the beach and celebrated our Christmas on that same night. Surely, somewhere in this world of ours, it was still the 25th, right?

Their respective bosses, were very understanding and agreed to change their return dates, so oba, all good once again. It was awesome to be a family of five once again, with loads of chats and stories, loads of all reading together, cooking together... you know... just loads of togetherness.

This Christmas, we started a new tradition in our family: once a year when we are together, we will watch one of the traditional films out there.  The one chosen to start this tradition was "Sound of Music". Some of us had watched it endless times (some in days when VCRs nor DVD were available, which meant actually going to the movies accountable times, ha ha ha). The next movie to be watched has not been fully decided, but "Mary Poppins" has a good chance to win the election.

The cute thing of this new tradition (apologies for not been humble about our tradition, LOL) was the fact that in the film, at a certain point, Maria taught the children a good bye song to be sung to guests at their mansion and later at the end of the movie, at the festival the family took part of. So, suddenly, when we were waving good bye to Anna, the first to leave Panama, who was at the immigration line, the four who stayed behind (Joel, myself, Alice and David) sang "Bye Bye, So Long, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu..." for her, imitating the choreography they did in the movie. A few days later, the three of us (Joel, Alice and myself), sang it to David (also repeating the choreography) who was the second to leave Panama, and this morning, Joel and I sang it to Alice as she disappeared into immigration...

Driving back home, Joel and I were simply cherishing the memories of how it had all been so great in spite the endless negative surprises we faced. Amen amen.

The girls

 The boys

 

Togetherness

Happy New year to you!

 

Revivals

Joel had to go to Asia on business and our good old friends, the Appels, invited us both to participate of an old tradition they have established in Hong Kong; Thanksgiving on the Saturday that follows the real Thanksgiving in the USA. Hong Kong, of course, does not observe this American holiday, but the Appels, Americans who have been living in Asia since forever, have established the Saturday to be the day they invite friends to come and celebrate Thanksgiving. As Brazilians that we are, we did not have this habit, but after 9 years being very good friends with the Appels, we have kind of "incorporated" this holiday. Of course that for us, Joel and I, it has nothing to do with the tradition of the first British settlers in the US, but rather a time to stop and be officially thankful for the uncountable blessings we've received.

Needless to say that Joel hadn't finish his sentence and I had my bags packed. Planning was all very quick but in a way ok, because my reason for going was really to be there for Thanksgiving, to hug and kiss old friends and re-see HK, this place that we have called Home for almost a decade.

Due to Joel's other traveling schedule, we didn't fly together, therefore I had freaking 24 hours of flights and lay-over, thus loads of time to think about what would the next ten days be like for me. I confess that, although we have left HK only 1.7 year ago, I had forgotten what it's like to sit for 15 hours in a plane... ouch that was no fun... one sleeps, watches movies, reads and when you check, you still have 8 hours to go, ha ha ha.

But anyway, after so much thinking, I realized that although VERY excited to be going back for a visit, I was a bit concerned about the "revival" part of it all. Our life in HK has been very special, very blessed, very cool so half of me wished it stayed that way, sort of a "freeze the moment" type of thing. The other half was full of plans, full of excitement to have succeed in "booking" friend's rushed year end life for lunches, dinners, teas, coffees and so on.

All these thoughts came to an end when the Captain broke the silence on board announcing our descend into HK, the weather was hazy (tell me something new!) and already dark when we landed... "ouch I've really arrived", I thought... no going back now... here I'm... and voilá, BEAUTIFUL 10 days were unfolding right before me, amen!

It was easy easy to arrive, go through the "HK residents" immigration empty line, luggage came out promptly, knew exactly where to buy my express train into town ticket, which by the way, was costing the same as it has cost in the past 10 years, the journey lasted exactly what it used to last, on the HK side of the train trip, the last taxi line to the right was still the shortest line, Chinese taxi drivers were still almost rude, as only they can be, traffic organized and flowing as it always did, buildings decorated for the Christmas seasons and loads of street light... yes I had arrived in Hong Kong and the "feeling of belonging" was right there in my heart and that felt good and comfortable!

It was deliciously good to be at the Appels for Thanksgiving, thank you for the invitation and for having us over. I loved being with my scrapbooking girl friends (and their husband too) who managed to also repeat a tradition we had of going for a Christmas High Tea. I had an awesome time with my church girl friends with loads of chatting and yet another repeating habit, massages! Joel and I were taken for lunch and dinner by dear friends, coffees with loads of photography conversations, local phone call conversations... all very good!

My "revival" ten days came to an end when, yet again, the Captain announced we were descending into Panama City and as always, I looked out onto the window and the sense of belonging was there once again... the Bridge of the Americas was lit, ships lining up to enter or exiting the Canal were lit, the Causeway strip was lit... I was back to Panama City, our Home Sweet Home and that also felt very good!

So, should you be facing a revival in the near future, do not hesitate and go for it!

Eat Pray Love

Have you seen the movie, Eat Pray Love? Joel and I went the other day and you know what? In spite some not so positive comments about the movie, I liked it. For sure my eyes were happy with what they were seeing; Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, strolling on roads already traveled by me, all in the same package does make life much smoother, doesn't it? On top of that, Javier plays a Brazilian man, so yet another touch to my heart.

But in fact, these were not the reasons that really got my grip, but rather the "re-inventing her self" aspect of the movie and in that, Julia's character and myself have quite a bit in common. In this life of ours, we kind of design a path for our professional lives when we reach the age of college. In most cases, we'll carry the skills learned at university throughout life. But sometimes, life presents us innumerous challenges or opportunities to change this path and when we embrace it, life really becomes a thrill and I love it! It's not like we are loosing our original line of work, but rather gaining, adding, new skills and with them, broadening our horizons.

Our life in Panama is completely settled, amen to that and I'm gearing my time to becoming an official photographer. The only thing that is still holding me back a tiny little bit is the thought: will turning photography into a business harm my passion for it? Let's see.

October was a cool month. We went to Rio de Janeiro for my niece's wedding. Alice and David were there too, as they were both part of the wedding party and it had been a few months since the five of us were together... so all good!

Alice and I on a "Thelma & Louise moment".
Later I realized that the groom's building is reflected on my sun glasses.

Alice & David ready to accompany
the bride and groom
Rio's Botanical Garden - 1
Rio's Botanical Garden's - 2
Two generations crossing the street - mom & Alice
The cousins together.
Fernanda, the bride, is in the middle.
Actually, without any planning, they are in order
of birth, Ana, Fernanda and Alice.

Shots around Panama City

Yesterday I spent many hours shooting different corners of Panama City. This meant coming back home with many shots and of course, super dupa happily exhausted! Some of the results are here. Enjoy them.

Taken at Punta Culebra right below where
Noriega used to have his library.

An iguana hanging around the
Smithsonian Institute Research Park.
Please understand that we don't share
the streets with iguanas.

Entrance to the Smithsonian Institute Research Center

The Causeway

Just a Tree with its resident.

Smithsonian Research Center

Cinta Costera Avenue

Sun-set at Punta Culebra