Home Away From Home

Sometimes it just sucks to watch story repeating itself, one more time. No matter how much you know it will happen, you are never prepared, it will never be ok. We'll live but it sucks.

I read an amazing book. I am not sure I blogged about a book before. But this one is hard to remain indifferent. Elena game it to me as a birthday present and the first chapter was enough to tell me this was not going to be a boring biography.  Three cups of tea should be read by about anyone passionate about non profits, anyone with a view on the war on terrorism, anyone with a view on the economics and politics of poverty, anyone with a view on how to change the world, one child at a time. Dr. Greg, as the book describes, makes me think of my so many times, though he is so much better. He had no ambition but to build one school when he started, all he wanted was to make that accomplishment in place of the K-2 failure he had. He was overwhelmed by all he wanted to do with so little time and so little money. He had the ups and downs of big donations and endless letters and proposals with no reply. He had worse, he had the threats of fellow americans that did not agree with him ...

Yes, I am writing this on July 14. In fact, I don't think it ever rains as much in London as in July and August. People have this conviction that it rains in London all the time. I guess it is a syndrome of the movies - they set movies to be filmed during the summer to see if the weather is better and then it always rains. As an example, last year, was the first Wimbledon that it did not rain (always in june) and in reality this was the first year that they put a glass roof over the central court. Who would think. Moreover, when we got to May and we were all happy about our new terrace, we had a warning that no one was allowed to water plants and gardens because we were having a drought in London. Indeed, it rained very little this winter. But I don't know why the authorities worried. You only had to get to June or July for the rain to start falling, and pouring, all the time, every day and every night. For those of you who hope for good weather and reserve the summ...

One should always love Friday night. But sometimes Friday nights can be beyond busy. Not only because sometimes we accelerate through our to do list towards the end of the list, but mostly because avoiding working weekends requires a discipline that frequently destroys Friday nights. It is not 20.52 and I hit Canada Water, only one station from my departure. Te audio version of the Economist is talking about how there is no way Greece can work and will have to leave the euro. I did not even have time to think about it the last 48 hours. Not that me thinking about it is going to make a huge difference in the world but it has been such a present theme in my every day that it is almost something missing though a relief. At 2054 in the tube you find all sorts of passengers. The banker on my left is clearly making a pass at the fellow colleague after they started about a vain conversation about commuting time. The couple on my left got in and brought with them a smell of parfume and they ar...

Once I read a book that a good friend gave to me that is called there is no such thing as far away or distance. At the time, i had no idea I was ever going to be living away from home. She might have guessed but I clearly did not. I barely remember what the book says but I will always remember the title, and perhaps the key message: in friendship sometimes distance does not matter, and when it does, it can be surmounted The reason I thought of this today is that today is a good friend's birthday. She is not a childhood friend, but virtually an adulthood friend, if you can consider me an adult at the age of 22. We tend to think the best friendships are those from childhood, and I don't question their value or strength, but I also do not underestimate how any point in your life can bring you a great friend. S's bday is today and she is on the other side of the world of where she was last year, and also half a world a way from me. We have been virtually half a word apart for ...

I am into Pilates now. Not that I am into it as in I like it. I am just into it as in I go to classes. Not sure how long they will last for, I am guessing at least 6 as those are as many as I bought the series for and money is not to be wasted. I go, and somehow I know it is doing some good for me but there is no other way to describe it as being medical. I do not take any enjoyment or fun out of it, I do not go with friends, I do not even speak to anyone in class. Unless of course one of trainers comes and tries to take me out of my misery by reducing the intensity of the exercise I am (not) doing. I just can not love it - I am not posh, cool and fit to love the class and always do the extra exercise and the extra push and that extra challenge, move your hand to the back of your shoulder if you feel you can do an extra bit! Just not me. So I go in the hope that I will feel better, more fit, more capable of surviving these exercises. The only way I guess I will feel better is when I ...

Sometimes I feel like writing but I don't really have a specific thought. Those days I typically don't write. But today I thought why not? Writing is a part of me and I always feel better once I have done it therefore I am sure it must be because I have something to say. I could speak about the weekend - which was great weird and good all in one. Even relaxing I would dare say though that word barely comes out of my mouth when talking about a weekend. So let's make this about the weekend and think about a title later (today this is all in reverse, I always have a title first). It started with a nice dinner at a French place (La Bouchee, in Old Brompton Road) that I so much liked and ended up annoying me because they charged me extra for extra bearnaise. For one not close to Bearnaise it may sound natural to pay extra for something extra. But me and B are 'afficcionados" of bearnaise and french steak places. We know our drill - no one charges for it. And having been...

I could be a million things Be a million miles away Never know what a day brings I want to go but I want to stay I could live a million lives See the world through different eyes Play for different colours and sides The winner that laughs the winner who cries. I think of living all these dreams I think one day I'll have the time But life keeps going so it seems The clock makes hard for dreams to shine I think of going through my list And think one day I will be half way But then the hours don't exist And one more day seems like a replay. If i would have one thing to chose That dream of mine might be just time To win, to dream, to play, to loose To welcome each thought and say goodbye - Sara @ iPad Location: Heathrow Airport

On my way home - hard to imagine how I got here. It has been a long month but I struggle to have a sense of achievement. Yes, I found a flat. Yes, i over-performed and did some ground breaking analysis at work. Yes I even met some friends. But today is hard to feel I have accomplished and rather feel all that I have left behind. I am going home with my London home half in boxes, a project at work unfinished and no-one to cover for me, ngo work delayed immensely and a feeling of tiredness that I cant get rid of. But then again I am going home. That should suffice ... Once I get there... - Sara @ iPad Location: Heathrow Express

Blogging or not here I come you can't hide... Not really sure what this means but that was the reason that pulled me into my newest ipad app to blog so ai thought it should start like that. Blogging less again means I am working more. But this time not even for a little gesture - I am working more at work. Despite the longer hours and weekend stretches I must admit it is one of the best times since I started this role. And don't get me wrong, I am now coming from low expectations or low satisfaction. I was already pretty delighted with the work I was doing and felt I had come along way from putting my advisory skills to work for real. But now I am putting those together with a lot of excel, models, analysis and today I even took a shot at a 3 variable optimization equation which I don't think I have done in many years. It's being a lot of fun and highly challenging - the only question may be after this how do you go back to any less? But I need not worry about it right ...

I struggle I struggle and I struggle. It seems to be a never-ending story. I have been depressed for the last 2 weeks for the lack of an apartment to live in very shortly. It was as shortly as next Friday but I think we managed to extend it to the 2nd of April. It is still not that much time, but better than in 4 days time. Life has been complicated trying to juggle work and flat hunting and the NGO has been left behind. I desperately need to review 2011 accounts and status of donations for 2012 but I seem to go in circles and always get trapped on something else. And then I keep going back to flat hunting anf offers that do not get accepted or flats that get rent out to someone else. Last night, we decided to have 2 hours for ourselves and a piece of it we went to Mass. Trying to put it back on my routine, it helps making you spend an hour thinking and reflecting about life and what really matters. And it brings me and B together. As I was leaving (late of course) I got a portuguese-m...

Sometimes I just feel out of place. And it is not that people put me there - it is just me. Here I am weekend away with friends and kids everywhere. I love kids. You can't even say it is my biological clock because I always did. I changed nappies before I was old enough to do so and I was never scared by screaming or putting kids to bed. It was all very natural. So what I feel is not that it is un-natural what is around me - I just feel the un-natural one. All seem to be living their lives and I seem stopped in some different dimension. I seem to have moved away and everyone continued life as usual, seems like I missed reality train. I am typically happy in my life - challenging job, so much charity, so much happening. But in a moment like this, I can't help but wondering - why am I the odd one in the group? - Sara @ iPad Location: Algarve

There are weeks that could just be erased from the map. And it all started so well with me and nephew #3 spending hours doing leggos and him surprising us with full sentences in English (English is his third "native" language so he is not keen to speak it). And that was it, the last remaining pieces of good stuff in the week.. Back on last Sunday! They always say bad things come in sets of three but I must have lost count by now. It all goes from being delighted with the new flat we made the deposit on to the landlady deciding to go back on the agreement and taking someone else's offer. I had already done my IKEA shopping list, the new table, the new closet, new stuff for the kitchen. I am not a compulsive shopper but I do love buying things for the house, or should I say home. But we have options, so no panic, despite being upset, we have options. So I cross town in the middle of the day to go confirm option number 2 and find out the landlady does not want me to put a sh...

Last week's event was a blast. I have to admit. It beat even my own ambitious and so-I-thought-unrealistic expectations. From an initial target of £15k, we had soon realized we had been too conservative to want to build only one water well with such an evening. By the time the lights were on and the event started we were well over it, net of costs. The moment the auction had the first bids we knew we already had secured another well, only with the starting bids. But the night went on. The speeches, though a bit long (including my own), went very well. People were touched and impressed by how little it would take to achieve so much. And that is in the root of all of our fundraising - asking people for little gestures, to get great helps.  I will admit, my own expectation was at £50k, assuming the evening was a success. But truth be said, I was far from the almost £70k raised and still counting, pre-matching and with some gift aid to go. What a blast.  More important than hav...