domingo, 28 de outubro de 2012

Oh, Sundays...

If I could use a picture to summarize my Sunday morning, I would sure pic this one, which has an incredibly weird angle, because Holly's arms were over mine while I held the camera:


 Anyway, my books and cats moment is over and I have to go out to that horrible sunny day. Wish me luck!

Before that, though, I'll take a look into my lists on...

4 Things Sunday


This was last week's list:

- write 2 letters - wrote only one. :(
- watch 5 episodes of my favorite TV shows - Ok!
- set the design for my thesis - Ok!
- go swimming twice - Ok!

I think that wasn't bad for my first try! Let's go on with new goals for a new week, then!

- read 50 pages on The Casual Vacancy
- put a new wallpaper on my office computer's desktop
- proofread my thesis
- drink 2 liters of water per day

I wish everyone a great week, and good luck with your goals!

sexta-feira, 26 de outubro de 2012

Snorlax and a parrot

Hey guys!
Some cute mail to show you today. :)

Incoming

Moscow's subway, from a postcrosser, a Penguin cover, from Fab, in Italy, and a card from my penpal Laura, in the U.S.

From Postmuse, for having helped on her Orphaned Postcard Project


And here's something really cool that I bought last week and received my mail:



My new favorite t-shirt!

This is the store where I bought it, I'm almost sure they don't ship internationally, but you can take a look if you like seeing some cool t-shirts!

Outgoing

A card for a postcrosser and a letter to Melanie, in the U.S.

To Ryan, in the U.S.

A package to Mariselle, in the Netherlands. Do you guys know the Disney character on it?

A letter to Kerri, in Australia

Have a great weekend everyone, and don't each too much salad!

quinta-feira, 25 de outubro de 2012

Postcard Thursday #5

Today's postcards are very special to me because they were the first ones I received from Postcrossing almost two years ago, so they basically started my collection! I have a few ones that I'd received before, but I wasn't collecting yet. The night I came home and found my first official Postcrossing cards I knew something was about to become an addiction, though.

from Finland

Czech Republic

Which postcards started your collection?

segunda-feira, 22 de outubro de 2012

4 Things "Sunday"


I love making lists and I love setting goals, so, when I saw this weekly challenge set by Sally, I was quite interested in doing it too.





Okay, it's not Sunday, but I just found out about it today. The thing is: every Sunday I shall set 4 small and simple goals for that week. In Sally's words: "I don't mean getting a promotion or buying a house. These are little challenges, relevant to how I feel that week, which will help me do away with the nagging 'shoulda, coulda, woulda' voice that constantly chatters away inside my brain"

Here's my list for the week:

- write 2 letters
- watch 5 episodes of my favorite TV shows
- set the design for my thesis
- go swimming twice

Now, I have a question for you guys... which is the best way to register how things  worked after the week? By writing a new post or editing this one? Please, share your opinion - and also your list, if you'd like to. :)

sexta-feira, 19 de outubro de 2012

Happy Taiwan Day

Last week it was Taiwan National Day. I admire Taiwan as a beautiful country that I want to visit someday, and it's very special to me because I have some good friends from there.
It's even more special to my good friend Juliana, from São Paulo, who spent one year in there back in 2009/2010. She kindly wrote this guest post to celebrate Taiwan Day.

Read it, it's worth it!

I remember Taiwan in a grey day

Last time I remembered Taiwan it was a grey day. Grey days are somehow a bit poetic to me; they release a certain feeling of belonging… belonging to life I mean, in the very spot you are standing right now. Belonging to being on your own. In grey days, you don’t necessarily feel you belong to the place you are, or the family you were born in, or the life you are leading; you rather feel like you belong right here, right now; like it doesn’t matter how happy or unhappy you are, it’s fine just to stay where you are and contemplate. Grey days invite you to contemplate. You see beauty you haven’t seen before; you see the trees and flowers without the exuberance of the sunny days, and without the strength and yet fragil-ness of a rainy day, and end up noticing a different kind of beauty, more reflective, more melancholic. In those days, you contemplate yourself. You see beauty you hadn’t seen, in a reflective and melancholic way.
In those days, I remember Taiwan as a place of reflection and growing. I see days spent in Danshui, the city by the sea I’d go to when needing to stop, to think, to understand. I see Taiwan, and specially Danshui, as a place to heal. I see the street I’d walk in Danshui, that one with the sea on the left side, and a night market on the right. The colors of the night market, the toys you’d win if shot the target or threw the ball on the right spot; the electronic games places; the huge amount of food available for whoever wanted to try it, going from sweet corn on a stick, to roast crab with sweet sauce, 30cm machine ice creams, stinky tofu, and even an Irish Potato store.
I remember my first host Dad, his funny laughter and funny accent. He liked me very much, and tried to be a real father to me. He took me to the Yang Ming Shan, a very well-known mountain with great views; took me to the hot springs, and to go dancing with the old ladies, every morning before school. I remember walking to the school where we’d dance, feeling the plants scent and hearing a rooster sing somewhere near, and how that surprised me, being the São Paulo native I am.
Remembering Taiwan in a grey day, I’d take the MRT (Mass Rapid Transportation – the subway) and go back, back to XinBeiTou station, to my Chinese drum class or the Sunday mass (in Chinese), where I’d have a friend, a maybe British nun who smiled to me and talked to me in English. I’d be back to – what’s the name of the station? – my second host home, the one I shared with Corinna. The one I spent Christmas in, a Nativity Scene straight from Brasil on the top of my desk, along with Sonhos de Valsa and a plush Santa, and a Christmas video on the internet. The one I had a German sister, a really nice and caring old brother, a smiley old sister, a grumpy little sister (but poor thing – her mom made her study so much!), a Taiwanese-speaking grandpa, and a caring, but crazy, mother, who’d tell my brasilian parents how lazy and messy I was. But that is some sort of love, too.
I’d remember the light rainy days I spent with my third host family, they all so nice and calm, some of the most patient human beings I’ve ever met. The short time I spent there was very happy, sharing fruits and stories with my host parents, eating a different MosBurguer Sandwich for breakfast every day, getting the latest curfew I had in Taiwan (11pm), and trying to decide whether or not I should give myself to being in love, with the short time I had left on the country.
I’d remember struggling with the language; struggling with shyness, mine and other’s; laughing with 10 different nationalities, telling my classmates random stuff about my country, learning how to drink. I remember having some of the closest and deepest friendships I’ve ever had, and how nice it was to walk from Taipei Main Station to Taipei 101 to get ice cream I won on a bet; to light our fire lamps and watch them rising, taking our deepest wishes to one another and to ourselves to the skies; going to Xindian to spend a day watching movies. I remember the temples, the incense smell, the high-pitched voices, the stares on public places.
In a grey day, I’d remember all Taiwan and remember how it healed me, and how it made me grow. I realize how awesome an opportunity I was given, and how blessed I was to be there, with those people, seeing those views. I regret bending to Time wishes and losing contact with people, losing a lot of contact with that part of the world that is a huge part of my world. I feel anxious and missing days that haven’t come yet, days where I’ll go back, and meet again those people and those places.
But most of all, I feel some sort of warmth; I have that feeling of very calm satisfaction, of realizing that, all in all, the journey so far has been good, and that is all due moments, fleeting but unique moments, where you’ve been truly happy. The kind of feeling you only have when your eyes are looking deeper. When you are lost in contemplation. When you are having a grey day.

terça-feira, 16 de outubro de 2012

Top List Tuesday #4

Today's top list is about stamps! Who doesn't like choosing pretty stamps to send on your letters and postcards? I sure do. And today I want to share my favorites with you!

Top 5 Brazilian Stamps

1. Folklore


These four beautiful stamps feature some legends of the Brazilian folklore. There is one really cool legend behind the illustration in each stamp.

2. Birds


I love how colorful these birds are - the third one has the colors of the Brazilian flag!

3. Acarajé and Carnaval

This is the Brazil-Belgium collection, although I don't see anything Belgium there. The first stamp show our Carnaval and the second one, some women making and selling acarajé, a typical food.

4. Wild cats


I really like stamps showing the nature on my country, and this one is special for showing two beautiful species of wild cats.

5. Fernando Pessoa


If you hadn't heard of this awesome Portuguese poet, stop what you're doing right now and go read his poems. Really. He's awesome. I'm happy he's on these stamps.

What do you think of these stamps?
And do you also have some favorite stamps from your country?

domingo, 14 de outubro de 2012

A busy girl

That's what I've been lately: a very busy girl. Because of that, I'm suffering from abstinence of letter writing. Shame on me. All I have to show you for the last two weeks is my incoming.
Oh, and friday was Children's Day in Brazil. To celebrate it, I want to share with you a pic from when I wasn't that busy.

This is me celebrating 1998's Fifa World Cup

Incoming

A letter from Kerri, in Australia

A first letter from Ryan, in the USA

A letter from Shannah, in the USA

Her envelope unfolded for becoming my letter

This is not part of my incoming, it's just Holly watching me while I was photographying my letters.

Yeah, that's all for today. But I'm sure this week I'll write at least one letter. :)

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For some reason, Google just deleted my register of pageviews today. Has anyone had problems with that too?

domingo, 7 de outubro de 2012

Saturday Morning Photos

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. I sure had. I went out with a group of photography lovers to take pics of one of São Paulo's most traditional neighborhoods, Bixiga, famous for being home of several Italian immigrants during the 20th century.

I feel like sharing some of my favorite pictures.




Me, trying out a Lomography Diana.




Some street poles (someone, is that the word?) are painted with the colors of the Italian flag.









This is what happens when I eat pasta.


250 pictures and a sunburn later, I feel ready for facing one more week. Opinions on my pics are always welcome. :)

quinta-feira, 4 de outubro de 2012

Postcard Thursday #4

Today's postcard has a little story behind it.

It was sent from a postcrosser. We actually exchanged postcards and she had a blog about homeschooling. By then, she wrote a post about her little daughter being very curious about Elvis Presley, and she wondered how the girl even found out about him, for starters.

I soon thought of Lilo & Stitch and told you that maybe the girl heard of Elvis from the movie. Then she was all like "of course, I should have thought of that!". After that, she sent me this postcard:


It came from Memphis, where his home "Graceland" is. And I really like it. I am a fan of Elvis' music, and actually dance it very frequently. But what makes this postcard more special is the story behind it.

Have you ever exchanged a few messages with a random postcrosser, other than "thanks for the card"? It is a cool experience, and gives me the real feeling about Postcrossing.