Home Away From Home

I have been wanting to write but I do wonder what may come out of it. So much has happened since the last post that it gets hard to pick up on re-do function available. In any case, some days are so less good that indeed it gets easier to put words on paper.. Or ipad. It is not that my day was bad. It is weird that I am where I want to be and fought so much to achieve. And now I question if this is the right thing, if it fits me, if I will at all succeed on it. I am pretty entrepreneurial i would say. After all, i am running 3 business ventures in parallel with normal life. But now I need to find out how to be entrepreneurial in a highly unusual environment. And i struggle to feel that I am not one too many. I mean, we all fell that we are taking space that does not belong to us some times. Whether it is at a dinner with friends where we sudddenly feel wew are doing all the talking or not enough asking or at work, when you do not know whether to knock at the door of a meeting or walk i...

It is becoming a bit of a tradition to be the one reminding my friends about my birthday with a small fundraising initiative for “A Little Gesture”. I must say, I always wonder whether to do it or not, whether I am just nagging and disturbing. And in the end, for the 3 rd year in a row, I will end up hitting the send button on this fundraising link ! This year, my targets are higher and expectations keep rising. Despite the climate not always positive around us each time I go to Mozambique, my hopes are up. One more smile, one more child walking, one more that we manage to get the dream going . Yes, there are dark days, the one that died with AIDS, the one that died who knows with what, the one that runs away, the 13 year old that gets pregnant. We have learnt that we do not change them all, but with so many smiles around us, we are certain to change many. For all of you that wonder how I make it, despite the hours, the traveling, the sometimes (many) personal sacrifices. Words c...

I am looking forward for the holiday. For real, normal person holiday. Those without a schedule, without commitments, without even a computer (maybe keeping an iphone or even an ipad if i get lucky). Will i do that? Or will it be lunch here, dentist there, dinner here, drink there, quick sleep, pass by the beach, not too much, not windy enough for kite, someone else is waiting, check the email, go to meeting, house for sale, one more wedding? Looking forward for the holiday, any holiday really...

I am back to writing, so it seems. Finally, these holiday, I put some time to just let my mind wonder and let the pen lead the way. It felt good I must say. One day I wrote with a purpose, another one with no idea. In the beginning I was even disciplined enough to make sure I would do a little bit every day. It clearly never works all the way throughout the holiday but at least the mind was open to wandering away and let out a bit of all this jam inside! With such a scenario, it is hard to be vague in thought!

It just feels good, no matter what. Spring has more than arrived in Lisbon and even though there are stilk fears of more rain nothing can take the beach away from us. I grew an ability to work and decipher my laptop screen under the radiant sun, even with wrinklea in my eyes. What else was I expexted to do? I had to work and I absolutely had to get rid of my greenish sick colour. So working by the pool revealed itself the best solution. And if life gives you a chance to back in time, do not throw it away. There is nothing like closing the day in Praia Grande, playing rackets and just sitting by the sea with your best friend. As you grow older, life does not give you these chances a lot. We grabbed it, and it felt really good!

It's Friday night and I have rarely been so happy to just go home. Just do nothing, perhaps read a book, perhaps play wii, perhaps just sleep. I took the weekend for myself and to take care of the things I never do. Let's see by Monday how much I really took out of it, how much I worked, how much i NGOed, how much I slept. I am always curious to see if I can be really organized about enjoying my free time! It is a paradox but indeed necessary. In fact i see already how i am missing out for lack of planning - no tennis partner, no massage booked, no groceries delivery :-) oh well, good luck me!

It has been a while since I wrote on this blog as a real blog, i.e., not from the tiny iphone! The good thing about using the laptop to do it is I can upload pictures but not sure I can think of any right now! I am in Barcelona today, for another 24 hours. It barely feels like I am in Barcelona though, I guess because last time I was here was perhaps 15 years ago and I do not remember much of it. Also because I do not know many people here, or I was late in telling them I would be here and then it does not feel like I am in someone else's "home". In the end, I am just somewhere having some meetings and coming back at some point. And then again, it is Barcelona, the Barcelona everyone talks about. The city is full for a convention this week and even the hotels for me and Laura had to be far apart. Restaurants are full and we were lucky to get some nice tapas at Muncho's last night. But maybe we will make a reservation in El Solo tonight, or maybe we will take a stroll ...