Home Away From Home

Still suffering jet lag, pictures only Thursday morning, city tour Thursday early afternoon, first ceremonies @ Raj Palace Friday morning, Mehendi @ Raj Palace (yes, Thursday night missing, coming soon @ Amber Fort) Friday Night, Sangeet @ Raj Palace Saturday Morning various cerimonies @ Raj Palace Saturday Night, Wedding

Yes, something had to happen to keep me away from here for this long. I had been behaving so well blogging more and more and now what? Very simple, Francesco was born! In a day full of emotions, tears of joy and setbacks Francesco greeted me with his wide open eyes and his calm ways (at least for now). Everyone struggles to point Mum and Dad’s features in him but all I care about is himself. He has long been waited for in this world and I was proud to follow closely his first 4 days. Now, I have to limit myself to technology and hope Patricia likes to skype to make sure I see him growing, crying, moving and smiling. It will be a month until I see him again, precisely a month from the 12th of November and I will miss experiencing his first triumphs to win my sister’s heart. He has barely been here and I miss him already!

I guess some people found it weird that I had not posted anything about the big event of the moment yet. Obama! And here I am, in what was a couple of days ago center of the world. After endless months of listening to comes and goings of the American political world, I had tried to keep away from election day. Avoided election parties, had a quiet dinner with the girls and left behind the polls projections. I could not go any far sharing the table with i-phone owners and finding out about Pennsylvania and eventually about Ohio. And that is when it happened. The moment I left the restaurant no one new and the moment I got home and switched on the tv it said “Obama elected present of the USA” And that is when it came to me. After the defeat speech came Obama. And he was brilliant. Looking at the faces crying staring and listening I realized this was a milestone in history, just like the man on the moon and the fall of the wall of Berlin. The land of opportunity finally gave through sens

Today, once again (as if I am famous or something) I was live on national radio. A new programme about Youth and it seems I was their first guest. It is called “Fantastic Generation” and it aims at bringing testimonials of young Portuguese doing something (arguably) fantastic around the world. Well, I did indeed have a lot going on in a lot of places: Vienna, Berlin, London, Maputo, Boston and who knows what else further. It is funny how I will always remember how my mum told me to go abroad and I was so against it. And how my dad said it was ok if I did not want to take Morgan Stanley’s offer… And how certain I was that I wanted to do this IB thing that I had never wanted before… Life turns out to be in many ways unexpected and until today has not let me down. I guess that is my piece of fantastic in the world, follow what I believe and hope it will turn out for the best. I am hoping to hear many more stories of people alike around the world and see that it was not just me wanting

I know, it has been a while, but the week before getting myself to London was insane and this week in London has had a lot going on and I could not find a lot of time to sit by the computer yet. I am still in the London side of the world, amazingly enough I truly belief it is colder here than in Boston. Interviews and Coffee Chats are going ok though rather inconclusive. I guess that was expected. I had a great breakfast this morning though, and I am not talking about food. Sitting in a room with about 20 people that think the way I do and work in a sector that I have been struggling to understand was really good. It got my brain travelling and imagining all the things I could and wish I was doing. The result is that now I have all these business cards and pages filled with notes and it means blogging may not be a priority for quite some time… But I am alive and kicking! Oh, and the baby is kicking too!! It was Patricia’s birthday yesterday, happy birthday!!!!

It’s Friday afternoon and after 45 minutes of my Hanon Virtuoso Pianist exercises I gave in to the sleepiness and hit the bed for an extended power nap. Silent phone and well deep in my duvet, I woke up 2 and a half hours later with a couple of missed calls, one from Teeba. As I try to call her back, I find her in my sofa sleeping… Yes, confusing, especially if you consider I was totally asleep still. It seems the piano was not working. Given I had just played it was very hard to believe but in fact the piano was now echoing electrical sounds throughout the house. Three days old piano not working was enough to make me be in rage about the unfairness of the subject before one of my only weekends in Boston. It seems once again I did not trust the stars, the angels or whatever you want to call it. After some hours back and forward and some (not always) friendly interactions with the personnel we brought home a brand new Yahama P85, rather than the used Korg one, better sound, better qua

After all the talk, the Piano is finally here. Yesterday, me and Teeba went straight from the airport to the store next to Berkeley College (where else to buy a music instrument) and put a down payment for a Korg digital piano. It has the benefits of a piano and a keyboard all in one, it feels like a piano, it sounds like a piano, but it is smaller than one and you can use headphones. The latter are utterly convenient for me given I have not played at all in a year and the 3 years before were dedicated to computer keyboards rather than piano keyboards… I do not have all my note sheets here, which is unfortunate but hope to get them from home soon. And tomorrow Teeba is coming to play. We decided to do it together so we would incentivize each other to play (yes, the cost factor was an issue too). So pictures tomorrowwwwwwww. Time to sleep! I am happy that I finally am learning how to prioritize.

Me and Teebs took off on Tuesday, anticipating a fun weekend and some warm weather. It is easier to be better weather than Boston but we never imagined the 35ºC (we don’t do Fahrenheit) that would greet us. If you think landing at midnight would deter us from enjoying the first night in Miami, you are wrong. The impeccable sound system in the room lead the way for a quick make up and no later than 1.30 we were at Mansion. We met Teeba’s friends and had one of the most fun nights in a long time… Pictures? Not available, hehe We started our tanning mission on Friday and we had no clue where the announced storms were. We kept the warm up for the weekend and had a (too) expensive dinner at Forge, thinking the restaurant would turn out in a club. It never did so we ended up at Mint, another one in Teeba’s endless list of clubs we were supposed to visit in our 5 nights in Miami The girls arrived Saturday and that is when my trip diary is interrupted by big blanks. I am not allowed to tell an

Me and Teeba now have a weekly meeting in our schedule named “Sara and Teeba Pretending to Work”. We decided to do it as a way of making sure we find time to socialize and catch up every week but not feel bad about not working during that time. Today was the best one we had. I decided to cook and greeted her with an amazing (I must admit it was really good) codfish pie, home-made fries and feta cheese salad. We did do some work though. She reviewed my famous cover letter and I made her read her case for class under the threat of switching off the wireless internet to prevent her from emailing rather than reading. It is questionable how she will sit awake in class after this but I will hope that works out. On my side, I know the round big nice chair is looking at me with that look “come and sit in the sun reading your case” that totally ensures that I will be asleep within 5 minutes. To be seen if I keep away from it.

When it takes you six hours to write a cover letter, what the hell happened? I can find a handful of explanations and let you decide i) I have a hard case to sell; ii) I am too full of myself and spending too much time praising my beloved skills and experience; iii) I don’t know the company well and need to spend hours educating myself first; iv) I am watching NCIS and House in parallel, v) I am a perfectionist. For the ones that know me best, I can bet you started with number v). Bernardo is clearly betting on number iv) though wondering why not my favourite Law & Order SVU. It is nice of you to think that but, even though it is true that those are pieces of me to blame, number i), ii) and iii) also apply. First, I do have a hard case to sell. As impressive at it may seem to have worked in Morgan Stanley, how do I guarantee that it is not because the market is down that I am not going back there. As impressive as it may seem to have worked on the ground in Mozambique, what does i

Today I realized how anti-social I am becoming. I dare say more than my Morgan Stanley times. Today, I actually wrote an email to Sam saying I was too tired to come to his birthday but I never had the guts to hit send. Because that is when it hit me... I really like Sam, and I never questioned going to his dinner from the moment I first saw the email and there I was, 8pm, saying I could not come. I am glad something made me change my mind because I had a good time and it was one of those relaxed dinners where you get to chat and actually get to know a bit more about people. I always like that. I guess I accepted my tiredness in the section retreat since I had no alternative, my body was telling me how truly exhausted I was. But today I had no excuse, I slept 8 hours for the last 3 nights and I am sleepier than ever! Which means that maybe if I go back to my usual 6 hours max things may get back to normal. It is a real fight I am having right now. On the one hand, I tried so hard while

I am now legally part of the state of Massachusetts. I now have my own little Mass ID. For those unaware, it is just an ID card issued by the state of Massachusetts. For those that know the drill, it means I now do not have to carry my passport at all times, scared to death of losing it given the difficulty of getting a US visa but the need of showing it each time I want to have any alcoholic drink or just enter a bar… Yeah! And it also means I can travel to Miami next weekend since I was out of passport (in the Indian embassy!)

This weekend was Section a Retreat in Martha’s Vineyard. Friday afternoon, much against my will of taking a nap, me, Shilpa, Christine and Lilly headed to Falmouth and fought Boston’s Friday afternoon commuting traffic. I must say they put up quite well with my grumpiness and eventually I started behaving like a more social animal. By the time we made it to the ferry, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and met up with other Section A people that crowded the boat. Again prevented from taking another nap, I join the group for dinner at the French Bistro. We basically found the way by following the smell of the tasty French fries. We all got together at Nancy’s later, and I was impressed to see that Section looove is still very much alive as I realized the bar was all for us! The next day woke up chilly and lazy so we decided to swap the pre-ordered bikes for mopeds and spent the afternoon driving around the Island. We left Oaks Bluffs towards Edgartown, still had time for an afternoon drink a

Yes, it was indeed a short trip but worth no doubt every single minute. London even greeted my long absence with a stunning sun and a not too cold weather. Friday I hung out in canary wharf for the morning, after no sleep in the flight and a five am arrival to Heathrow. I was able to catch up with some friends and see how the emotions are tough right now. Sorry for all of those I ended up not seeing, I really wish I did but unfortunately time is always constrained in short trips like this. Next time I will try to be more organized and actually let you know in advance that I am heading there and not just call you when I am downstairs of 20 Bank Street. I am glad however that there was time for most things this weekend, mostly spending quality time with Bernardo with my sister but also some good time with some friends. It’s funny how I did not have a blog at the time but London was indeed a home away from home. And it still feels like such. It is nice to be back and it is nice to know

No matter airline I end up flying, there is one lounge that always makes me feel like home. As weird as it may seem to feel like home at a lounge, the truth is the BA Lounge does it. Always wondering why this student still has a gold card and typically the only woman around (at least until 5 minutes ago) I always play professional, have my orange juice and connect my laptop to the plug and to the free wi-fi. You got to love it. In case of doubt and small price difference it always makes me choose BA, to think that in a way I am ensuring the sustainability of this little yellow card. But enough with superficial stuff today. I am happy and I am sad today. Well, I am mostly happy, I am on my way to London and I could not think of a place I would rather be. But I am sad for Rosa and João. It is Rosa’s birthday today, and yesterday, as they went for a drink in Maputo to celebrate, someone decided not to like that they were white and started a fight. All ended up in the police, with the cops

Days have ups and downs, mine are just like any other person’s. However, nothing gets me more down than the hours running by me and feeling like I leave important things behind. Now, when you are a person that values highly about 10 things in life and very highly another 5, how do you go about sleeping, eating and all those human things that are meant to be in your day as well but do not always make it to the priority list. Have you ever tried to make a list of all the things you absolutely value and those that would make you very happy to accomplish every here and there? I am going to start doing mine and I will let you know how it ends up. Today I already took a nap, read my cases, emailed friends, booked an hotel for a Bachelorette weekend in Miami and I even ate and went to classes. On the list for the day, a panel, a dinner, recruiting, NGO emails, Craig’s list, rent a piano, and whatever shows up in the meantime… Good luck!

Yesterday (or maybe two days ago given the time) was the famous and up to expectations Ibiza White Party. The idea is to dance the summer away in white to reinforce the beautiful tans. The reality is to try not to freeze while queuing at the club and try not to be the less tanned in the room. We started off with a dinner that promised to be just like any other but had a particularity that made me come here and write. It was the most international dinner I have ever had. We were 13 people at the table (no, I am not superstitious) and we were 13 nationalities! I considered myself very privileged to be amongst such diverse crowd and that set the stage for a great night. Indeed no one failed the dress code and the music was “Euro Trash” as we so much hoped it would be. Section A was widely represented and many RCs started to make a point about their partying spirit. It was probably my most fun night since I got here and it was worth the sleepiness through my Operations Strategy class. In I

Yesterday we went for a Polo game in Newport, Rhode Island. Truth be said, when I got the email reminding me that I had signed up for it a month ago I was not thrilled. But staying in the house is not always easy these days so I decided not to be a slacker and go. Mia threw the idea that we would dress up and wear big hats and as hard as that was to believe (at least for Pato), we decided to give it a try. I did not have a hat but I had good intentions so wore my white dress with brown butterflies. But I was in no way up to Teeba’s outfit, in her colourful dress but most of all, in her pink straight from Paris hat We had a picnic, had wine and cheese, snacks and beer as we “camped” by the Polo lines. As the game started some of us did try to pay attention and suffered those moments were the US was falling a lot behind the South African team. But I must admit most people thought the breaks between the “Chakas” were the true reason for us to be there so we could all run like maniacs to

Back to Boston, back home, which home… Leaving Lisbon and London was very tough, beyond description, coming back to Boston was not so bad. The emptiness of the house yesterday was contrasted by the huge amount of furniture I am selling for Bernardo and it makes me go out of the house to get some space. And then some things never change. I read one case out of four for today, which is a pretty good way to start the year. Then I just read cases from one class to the other but that clearly can not go on. This year, I have classes that get me tired after 10 minutes of trying to follow an insane discussion about stuff that I trust they are speaking in English but I am still not sure. Oh, and even better, this year, I have the phenomena of cold calls irrespectively of how much you speak. I had prevented cold calls for an entire year, by simply speaking frequently in class, but now it seems that does not work as a good strategy anymore. It was my first one but I can figure out not the l

I know, it has been a long time… The truth is life went insane just after I came back from holiday. First, the internet was not really in the mood for working in my last two days in Maputo, probably telling me that I better keep away from the computer and say goodbye to the city properly. And so I did, we had our leaving dinner, our leaving meeting and I guess our leaving moment, the one the tears let out the rage in me “I hate leaving this country”… The 11 hours flight took us to a crazy week in Lisbon. With the appearance on live national TV on Tuesday, the NGO phone, email and any contact method went totally insane. More than 150 people tried to reach us in the meantime. Yes, it is a good thing, but it is totally a killing as well. In the middle of trying to visit family and friends, buying flights in and out of home, figuring out what subjects to get in Harvard (once I get a loan) and worse than all saying goodbye to Bernardo, the week flew by with a feeling of being totally o

It is my last day at work and my bag is packed to go on holiday. It is a weird feeling, leaving it all behind with a simple goodbye. The truth is I never thought I would like living in Maputo as much as I did, I never thought it would be this easy. It was not easy in the sense of being so far from the ones I love, but it was so easy to just settle in a new life, have a routine, make friends. I will miss Rosa and João, though I am pretty sure I will see them again soon and they will remain a part of my life. I will miss being a car ride away from Zezito, the Nuns and all the children but I guess one just can't be everywhere at all times. I will miss being able to get it all done within 24 hours and still get 8 hours of sleep. I will miss having a simple life but worrying about meaningful things. But I guess at the same time my heart pulls me back. I miss Portugal and the idea of spending a couple of days in the beach surrounded with old (and eternal) friends. I miss London a

Yesterday was the first Startracker event in Mozambique. Startracker is a global talent network for Portuguese people. It is kind of like asmallworld but you have to be Portuguese and you have to have some kind of international experience. Cooler than facebook because it requires invitations, cooler than asmallworld because there is actually a sense of community. It is a place to show that Portugal is not that small and Portuguese people are doing great things around the world. A series of events have been happening in different cities and yesterday, Maputo was the place to be as a “Startracker”. João, an expat who seems to love organizing events (and is pretty good at it too) got Tiago, one of the founders, to stop by on his way to a family trip and gathered 90 of the 150 people Portuguese in Maputo that are Startrackers. He wants to make it to 500 by December, I think he can. But better than that, he wants to help me out! Well, not me maybe, but the NGO. He proposed Um Pequen

The weekend was GREAT, full of animals and animation. We took off Friday afternoon and if it was not for an hour on the border we probably would have made it in an hour. Roads in South Africa are clearly better, and driving is not that full of unexpected events like the N1 to Xai-Xai. We stayed at a really nice B&B in Malelane, next to the Malelane gate, the Vila Langa, that I definitely recommend. Cheaper than the big lodges and really nice people. They organized everything for us and service was great and very familiar. The adventure of “where-on-earth-did-they-leave-the-service-concept” started early at dinner. We went to The Deck for dinner, a nice place by the river, amazing food, inexistent service. Just hard to believe… We had an early start on Saturday, at 4.30 and at 5.15 we were already by the Echo Safari office, ready to go in our adventure. At 5.45 we were queuing at the gate, led by Washington, our guide, in an open vehicle. The camera was not even out and a Hippo ran

My bag is packed and I am ready to go. Before that, I still want to get a draft Board Presentation off the way. Yes, I am back to that! Well, in fact I never left my beloved slides but these ones are aimed at Board and not just management as until now. What this means is that I am almost done with my internship, one more week to go. It makes me happy now (that I am working for 9 weeks and Bernardo drops me at work every morning) but I am sure I will be sad in a week as I realize my time here is ending. The balance will definitely be positive, despite the ups and downs. I have no doubt about that. Thanks for all the support on the items on the to do list, with help I can definitely get it done. The projects for 2009 are starting to get in shape so that means the Business Plan will follow, we managed to send the pictures out and are all set for the fundraising event on Monday, I decided to postpone the first edition of the newsletter to August 31st (help still welcome on this one) and

So I just have not been sleeping well. Between mosquitoes, nightmares, a cold that is stubborn in staying and lack of water in the morning, there seems to be a conspiracy to make my head a mess when I go to work. To the point that I don’t feel like going and it takes me at least an hour to get in the rhythm of the thing. And it is not that it is that fast paced… Oh well. Yesterday, me and Bernardo decided to stay home and enjoy the rest of the Crab Curry (peanut, not coconut) that Marisa prepared for us and realized it was probably even better than the day before. As I struggled to go through my to do list I realized (one more time) I did not know when to start and decided my work day was stopping at dinner time. At least it gave me a deadline and a higher willingness to get things done. But it did not help me that much. If you wonder how much can you have to do in so little time… well, pictures to send to the tv program we are participating on and for a sort of fundraising event next

I tend to be quick to post an update from the weekend, especially when I visit one of the missions, but this week started sort of bumpy. I go through pictures, movies, files, lists, emails and projects and try to make sure I forget nothing of what my head likes to think when I do not have a notepad handy. But mostly I am still in the process of absorbing the weekend. For two reasons: one because I was curious to know what Bernardo thought of all this, two because the weekend was indeed tough. On one, I guess I can now breathe deeply because I know now that he understands. He always helped me out with the NGO, but he helped because it was me. Now, he has seen it, he has lived it, he helps me because he wants to, not necessarily cause I am on it. Which is a good thing, which is the great benefit of people coming to visit. You realize that little things do make a difference and you can’t help but trying, even if you think it is a long shot. He know sponsors Paulo and got a friend to spons

A weird feeling invades me as I get Bernardo back after two months that seemed to have no end. But he is here now and it seems just as surreal as him being away from me. But just immensely better! Things started smoothly with me skipping work for the afternoon. I greeted him with a semi fresh crab in Sagres and a first taste of the quality of the service in Mozambique. To make up for it, we had dinner in Taverna with Tricia and Claire and the waiter was more helpful than I had ever seen in Maputo. Maybe he figured it was Tricia’s last dinner. Or else, he just wanted a good tip, which he got, clearly! It is sad for Tricia to leave as it makes me start to feel away already, it makes me feel like my time is coming soon as well. I read Rosa and João’s blog about how people come and they go and I can’t help sharing the feeling that I have been living for 4 years. Meet new people, make new friends, know a new city, have a new house and then pack your bags, have a farewell dinner, send

It is D-Day today :-) I took out the braids, and the clock is ticking. Bernardo will be in Maputo in two hours. We have plans for the weekend and so much to catch up on. I doubt I will be blogging soon, hehe

So I finally got outside and I could not believe my eyes. The children are singing in changana (the local dialect), asking for “Mana Sara” until I show up. And then they sing “Here she is, now we are happy!”. Suddenly I realized the children in front of me were not from the Escolinha but from the Orphanage. They did the trip just to celebrate my birthday. But the children of the Escolinha were there too, some 100, many had not seen me in a couple of years given I often come during their holiday period. Grown up, little men and women came to greet me happy to see that this volunteer came back and kept her promise. They sang and danced for me for more than an hour, songs of love, of joy, of happy wishes and most of all, songs of gratitude. I can not help but feel unworthy of all they sing for me but in that special moment they are really happy that I chose to spend my birthday with them. And I felt sad of all I wished I was home the day before. They invited me to dance with them, lift m

It is 10:15 am and the children started arriving a while ago. I can see a lot of movement outside but I am not allowed to be there. And I also can’t talk to anyone because everyone is busy running around. This morning, the sister asked my car to go and buy wood. Clearly, she went to buy the Cokes and Fantas for the kids that I said I wanted to buy… I just found the boxes being unloaded from my car by mistake! Not only am I not allowed to walk around freely but also everyone shuts up wherever I arrive. I gave up now and sat in a room by the laptop, trying to write a business plan while someone braids my hair. It took an hour and a half until they would let me out and still I had to run away. I could hear the children singing and calling for me… and finally the time came!

This year, I am having a different birthday. I keep on telling myself not to be sad from being away from my friends and family. The truth is… I am. I wish I had the usual family problems of lunch and dinner with who to manage, the stress of booking a dinner for 20 people, the novelty of spending a first birthday with Bernardo. But then again, I am not sad to be here, I am just sad not to be in two places. I just had dinner with 7 friends and even had a candle at midnight. Tomorrow, I have a chocolate cake in the office, I am driving up to Xai-Xai and on Saturday I have a big birthday party with the children. And I am sure once I am there (if not before) they will remind me of the important things in life. Truth is, I may never spend another birthday here so I decided to cherish this one as much as possible. As part of my “mission” here, I also took a decision for my birthday. This year, I am asking my friends for a little gesture , rather than a birthday present. In fact, it w

I know, it is a weird topic, but I did not get it out of my mind since Sunday so I guess I will just have to write about it. As part of our visit to the Orphanage, we distributed some gifts and a mere 3.5 Euros blackboard was a great moment of celebration. As each of the 1st graders showed the others they could write their name, the blackboard filled its mission: to teach. From that moment, we learnt Paulinha has dyslexia and writes her name perfectly backwards. From that moment we learnt that the walls around us needed more colour, the chairs asked for some paint and we definitely needed to get money for a solar panel and finally ensure continuous light in our “playroom”. As each child wrote his/ her name in the blackboard, I learnt something else. I learnt that the combination was beautiful, I learnt that having different names on the board that all fitted together was what made it special. And I learnt a way to fit more names into the blackboard of this NGO that tries to chan

Today I made up for yesterday’s sadness with the world. Me, Rosa, Teresa and João went to the Nursery of Chaquelane to visit the children one more time (for me) and the first time (for them). Not even the rain would stop us and, to the sound of Adéle, we were off before the sun was too strong (which never happened today) and had a smooth ride to Chaquelane. Now I know that there are 30km after the left turn in Macia, and next time I won’t be hitting the breaks and looking for a sign from km 15. Between singing, dancing, tea and early morning salad, I was happy to see they had a good time. The truth is I always wonder and I always fear people may just find me ridiculous for loving this so much… But they did not. Moreover, we left with our hearts full of plans. In the way to Xai-Xai they already got themselves “invited” to come along when Bernardo (finally) comes and sees this little thing that rocks my world. But they are not coming empty handed! They promised to bring along b