Hahahahaha. Nostalgia.

This makes me laugh.

This makes me laugh too.

I miss these people.

ECCOMI!!!!!!

OK, CAN WE JUST SAY THAT I ROYALLY FACCIO SCHIFO AT BLOGGING?!

One thing I clearly know about myself (but continue to deny although I'd really just like to improve upon) is that I fail to be consistent with online mediums. I think I log onto facebook once in a blue moon, myspace even less so...and I'll spend a good hour leaving a thousand message everywhere only to disappear for the next month so that when I re-log on, I have a thousand message to respond to, the major part of them asking where I am. It's just that, quite honestly, keeping up with all this online updating is pretty stressful...and keeping in touch with friends or contacts shouldn't be a stressful thing.

Perhaps for someone like myself who works full time to be able to attend grad school part time (at a private institution that drains my wallet dry every paycheck) , while trying to balance all the more important non-school, non-work related aspects so that I stay sane and remember life's true purpose (that is, to love), the online social networking does become a stressful thing. The opinion I've always held is face-to-face is such a grace.

But at least I don't just give up!

I've decided to perhaps do a recap of things thus far to best explain why I've disappeared. Apart from the fact that I've work full time since July of last year, and started grad school in January, my mother was gravely ill through November and December. Devoting every free moment to someone so important because you feel as if it's the last moment is a very difficult, rewarding, exhausting, and growing experience...all at the same time. Now that my mother has survived an emergency operation that saved her life and 4 months at home recovering, she is back at work. In turn, that sensation of constant worry that eats at you has finally begun to subside and I can finally reflect on what we've lived as a family in these last several months. God's presence has grown 100-fold among us which is such a blessing. It's served to unite us more strongly than I could have ever imagined. Realizing this only reminds me that nothing happens by chance. Even my mother's physical hardship and our family's emotional suffering had a more significant motive in the end.

November.


Thanksgiving with my family before my mom went to the hospital.

January.

Renata and Gabriel came from Curitiba, Brasil to visit me in COLD COLD Chicago! It was their first trip ever to the United States and I attempted to show them a good time, Chicago-style. It was rough with school and work to navigate around to find the free time to show them around town...but it was well-worth it! I could be a tourist myself with them! I saw things I hadn't seen before myself, so it was truly a treat for me...as well as a RETREAT from the qualms of work and stresses of studying.

One day I will make it to Brasil as well.... in January...when it's cold in Chicago...and when in South America, it's SUMMERTIME.


February:

Journeying to Italy for a meeting on couples and the 'new family' that can bring about a united world...in a time when divorce is so common and 'non-traditional' family structures are becoming ever more...traditional...at this meeting I attended, we focused on the importance of putting God first in a relationship, in a marriage, in a family. In turn, this radical way of living within these different contexts brings recenters the values most necessary to bring about a united world, yet most lacking in our society today: faith, trust, reciprocal love, unselfishness, honesty. I only wondered if every couple could have attended a meeting like this, to hear the experiences of the family, shared among individuals from all walks of life. All these couples were REAL, down to earth, with problems I could relate to, with human characteristics that I myself shared...and yet, al had the similar notion to make God the first priority...not money, not security, not anything that breaks up the family of today...and instead, they really embodied these values that reflected only the most pure happiness with their choice to marry, to have children, and to heal society with that contribution.
















Here is the personal experience/reflection on the meeting I attended in Rome with Francesco. It's complete with photos from the congress as well as the trip to Loppiano (near Florence) we took after to visit my home of 6 months from Sept 2006 to March 2007.


Afterwards, I continued on my journey to Vicenza to meet Francesco's family and friends...there I got to know one of the most darling italian towns I've ever been in. It's Italian in many ways -- beautiful architecture (it's an UNESCO Heritage site), everyone's crazy about soccer, and there was church every 10 meters.


While it was classy and modern, it was still very 'old world', holding onto it's rich tradition (this I learned through all the eating and drinking of polenta, cheese, wine, spritz (which I believe is white wine and something like 7up). The locals -- the majority of which were people that had been born, raised, and thus couldn't leave Vicenza -- are the gem of this town. Everyone was so warm and friendly (not typical of northern Italy) though perhaps it was because they were mostly people that knew Francesco. I ate every night at someone else's house, gained 10 kili and learned to speak dialect (Veneto). Francesco's parents became my own and by the time I left it was like I was saying goodbye to my own mom and dad.

I guess now, I have vacation ahead as my first quarter as an International Public Service Management grad student comes to a close. After easter, there lies a wedding of a good friend, the opening of the quarter with new classes, and a training for a new supervisory position that I was promoted to at work. I believe the Pope comes to New York and I have to figure out a way to squeeze that trip in as well.

In short, as much as I want to try to keep up with this blog, knowing full well how FULL life will be in the next several months, I can almost bet that my visits here will occur more sparingly.

But I'm still trying :)

Sierra Leone: The Poorest Country in the World

My very great friend created a video documentary of her experience while living in Sierra Leone among the poorest of the poorest. It is one of the strongest pieces I've seen in awhile and it was created for her graduate project (she's on her way to getting her MBA at this time)...to see someone as passionate and driven as I know PJ to be rekindled in me the desire to really go ahead and do good in this world. I'm also reminded to not take for granted all that I have, to appreciate the privileged the environment in which I dwell, and above all, to live for my entire global family that becomes easily 'forgettable' when life's stresses and pressure amount. PJ did an amazing job and I wanted to share her masterpiece with all of you.

Iguazu -- la grandezza e la bellezza che solo puo' essere di Dio

momenti storici: fatto nel vero stile "americano"

IL CONGRESSO PANAMERICANO 2007
O'Higgins, Argentina

Nossa....non sapevo prima che sarei participando e costruendo un congresso cosi' forte, cosi' storico, e molto importante. Tutta l'America aveva sete d'un congresso come questo -- aveva ed ancora ha un sete d'un passo avanti per far diventare piu uniti come 'Americani'. Invece d'essere il Sud America, il Nord America, l'America Centrale, ecc., alle fine del congresso, era la prima volta che non sentivo le barriere che sempre avevo sentito quando viaggiavo, quando guardavo le notizie al TV, quando conoscevo una nuova persona da un altro paese.


E si, ogni conversazione che avevo con un straniero sempre mi illuminava perche quando si cerca a capire tutto d'una persona (sopratutto le differenze e i difetti) e amare gli altri, e inevitabile di sentire piu vicino a loro...pero' l'argomento e': quello che ho sperimentato e ho vissuto a O'Higgins, Argentina (ed anche dopo a Buenos Aires e Iguazu) era un scambio di quel alto livelo in cui ho descritto appena, cioe', di cercare ad amare ognuno e non pensando alle cose che ci dividiremmo ma di piu alle cose che ci uniamo.

Potete immaginare che bello era quando sucedeva un scambio cosi' -- ma in un senso più grande, su una scala più grande (che pecato che il mio italiano non può esprimere esattamente -- e né il mio inglese) era quello che ho ritenuto e che mi ha lasciato colpita. Anche, sono convinta che c'era una presenza sopranaturale in mezzo a noi che ci ha formato e ci ha cambiato in un modo cosi potremmo sperimentare e fare parte del miracolo d'un piccolo mondo unito li' nel un mondo molto di piu' disunito.
Al minimo, pero anche fondamentalmente parlando, era una sforza collettiva che ha fatto l'esperienza quello che era. Ognuno ha fatto la sua parte. E per me, era la scelta chiara d'ognuno -- quella scelta di constuire un mondo unito attraverso l'amore e la fede che Dio ci mostra, che Dio ha per noi -- che e' stata la cosa piu bella.


Ad esempio, se guardassi il post di sotto dello scherzo di GANSO (aaaiii che nostalgia che ho dei brasiliani) vedresti un video per fare un scherzo, per mettere dopo sul YouTube e far ridere tutti quanti...pero', per me, anche se e' una cosa di piccola, anche se e' una cosa che fanno i bambini, mi mostra che la carita' scambiata tra di noi non era qualcosa di superficiale. C'eravamo come fratelli e sorelle...non solo raccontandoci e condividiendoci le nostre esperienze o dandoci il consigilio...ma anche ci facevamo gli scherzi propio stupidi! Sono quelli attimi che vengono a mente quando penso al sentimento d'essere una famiglia (una famiglia Americana) in quei giorni.


Siamo resi conto che veramente, viviamo le stesse vite in tutto il mondo -- sperimentiamo le stesse dificolta-- il lavoro mi annoia, i miei fratelli mai aiutano a casa, la benzina e' cosi' costoso, sono stufa d'essere dipendente dai miei genitiori, ecc, ecc... E' bellissimo di scoprire che la vita nel l'Ecuador o nel Paraguay o nella Costa Rica non e' come e' ritratto al TV, nella media storta -- e si scopre per parlare e scherzare e piangere e abbraciare e spiegare e capire e osservare e bere e dormire e mangiare con il vicino propio ACCANTO o DAVANTI a te.



Si, e' sempre dificile, ma quando viviamo insieme, sempre impariamo di piu' -- e secondo me, questi sono i lezioni di vita che mai si potrebbe imparare da un libro o dalla scuola, all'universita'. Ad esempio, posso imparare del clima politico teso e la soffrenza sociale quotidiana in cui la gente della Venezuela stanno vivendo e sperimentando sotto Hugo Chavez -- posso leggere dei giornali, posso guardare la telegiornale -- pero per CONOSCERE la vera esperienza e per vedere le cose che noi negli States non vedono (ad esempio, la bellissima SPERANZA e la forza de la gente di farsi sentiti) solo si puo fare per conoscere e vivere insieme.

Aparte di condiviere anche le spese del congresso panamericano (dove ognuno ha pagato lo stesso per assistere al congresso...e quando io penso al tasso di cambio tra un peso Argentino e un US dollar e un Euro, ancora sono rimasta propio stupita perche c'e l'abbiamo fatto, come una vera famiglia, lavorando e regalando e risparmiendo uno per l'altro -- i miei fratelli Argentini, per dire, hanno fatto un SACCO di cose per aiutarmi venire al congresso...mai prima ho sperimentato un'amore cosi' concretto...mi fa piangere quando penso ai loro gesti che erano propio amore - ed io ero pronta e sono pronta a fare lo stesso per loro, senza esitare veramente....(e perche' tutto il mondo non si puo' amare cosi'!?) Anche abbiamo fatto tante sperienze forte di rendersi conto dei nostri 'difetti', cioe', quelli in cui siccome siamo humani, abbiamo dei nostri giudizi sbagliati.


La foto di sopra era fatto dopo che quel ragazzo ci ha chiesto di scusarlo perche fino quel congresso, era cosi' arrabbiato con gli Stati Uniti, Bush, la cultura qua, ecc.. pero ha cambiato le sue idee dopo di conoscere alcuni ragazzi degli States come noi, che anche stanno vivendo per il stesso mondo unito di lui, magari nel un ambiente molto piu dificile. Abbiamo fatto un patto -- siamo impegnati a vivere uno per l'altro, sapendo che anche se la situazione sia diverso di la' da qua, cerchiamo ad amare sempre perche sara' l'amore che vincera' e conquistera' tutto quanto.






Questi sono soltanto alcuni sguardi alla esperienza indimenticabile che abbiamo fatto in l'Argentina.

Ma e' solo il primo passo. Non e' l'ultimo.

The BRASILIANS GOT ME: Ganso - una nuova cultura.

At the panamerican congress outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina, I was introduced to (and clearly became the butt of)

THE GANSO ...as in, GOOSE. and while I still don't understand completely why it's called goose, I found it pretty amusing. Oh how culturally enlightening even practical jokes from other countries can be.

Muito obrigado Valter e Gabriel de Brasil for expanding my cultural horizons ;) Veramente siete fratelli veri!

Click on the photo above to take a gander at how I became yet another Ganso 'victim'.

*la nostalgia dell'infanza*

Have you ever woken up with the most giant smile on your face and feel like you just want to laugh so obnoxiously loud because you're in the greatest mood FIRST THING in thing in the morning? As rare as that is for me, I was so fortunate to wake up in such a state THIS morning after managing to recall a mere glimpse of whatever epic of a dream that played in my head last night.

The snapshot that surfaced when I awoke this morning was that of Chiara, a girl with whom I lived in Italy for several months. She's not too much older than me, was very well spoken, and, in fact, had the most fantastic accent because she was a native Roman (now, while others may not share the opinion, I admit that I adore the Roman accent; the manner in which they pronounce and recount everything seems more poetic to me, as if it all just rolls off the tongue). When I met her, Chiara was a year away from finishing up university and proved to be very intelligent. While we did have our fair share of economic debates and philosophical bantering, the majority of our chit-chats at the fabbrica where we worked was primarily more juvenile and, to be honest, downright silly.

Our most memorable conversations were those in which she attempted to speak English, and those that made their way back to childhood memories. One thing that we loved to do was to teach one another nursery rhyme type songs ('Sono andata dal dottore...e mi ha detto 'b-boom be-boom boom" which is like a "The wheels on the bus go round and round" type of kid song). Interestingly enough, even THOSE conversations (as it was with every other moment I spent traveling and living abroad) served me well in broadening my cultural understanding of the world, and, at times, helped me to realize that it can feel a lot smaller than we think it is . One laugh-out-loud session (and by far, the most fond memory I have with Chiara) that occurred back in our house in Loppiano grew out of a conversation on cartoon tv-shows we watched as children -- it began something like this


SASHA (walking past CHIARA, is singing to herself en route to -- none other than -- the kitchen, to -- what else?! -- EAT CEREAL, ): 'teenage mutant ninja turtles, teenage mutant ninja turtles, teenage mutant ninja turtles, heroes in a half-shell....turtle power!'

(and I honestly cannot remember why the hell that song was in my head in the first place):

CHIARA (stopping abruptly): ahhhh! I a-know-a dat-a song-a!! Eats-a fa-rum-a ... dee-a tee-voo show a-weed-a dee-a tartarughe!

SASHA (confused look): the wah?

CHIARA: dee-a show-a on-a tee-voo per i bambini! le tartarughe!! che sono nominati dagli artisti italiani che sono molti famosi...a loro piace tanto la pizza!

SASHA : yea, Michelangelo, Rafael, Donatello, Leonardo. And yea, they all liked pizza .

CHIARA. Si, anche c'era l'animale grande , il loro insegnante.

SASHA: That was their teacher Splinter and he was a rat.

CHIARA: Sai, sempre vedevo Le Tartarughe quando ero bambina.

SASHA: I watched the Ninja Turtles all the time when I was young too.

CHIARA: End-a eye-awlso a-ree-membeh-re la canzone : "QUATTRO TARTARUGHE, PER DIFENDERE IL MONDO, SONO NINJA!!!"

SASHA(at this point, laughing uncontrollably after the initial look of disbelief): Chiara, ti assicuro, che that is soooo not the Ninja Turtle song. It goes 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, heroes in a half shell...turtle power!'

CHIARA: No, pero' la nostra era diversa.

And so continued our laughter and a random conversation discussing our favorite Ninja Turtle and what we thought of April O'Neill, etc. While it was all really silly, trivial, stupid stuff that, in any case, didn't do much to contribute to our knowledge of anything worldly, important, or life-changing....I was definitely fascinated by how we, as children growing up with an ocean between us, watched and LOVED the same tv show cartoon (the 80's version, at that!).

And all this nonsense storytelling relates to this morning's positive awakening because I had dreamt of Chiara's face... but she had been April O'Neill in my head. That's honestly all I recall, unfortunately.

So to further humor my fond memories with Chiara, I decided to look up the Ninja Turtle cartoon theme song on YouTube. Not only did I find the original 80's English version, but I also managed to locate a German AND a Hebrew version! While each of the non-English versions are unique in their own way, each, to me, still seemed able to maintain the punchy, cheesy spunk of the English intro. Basically, if a kid speaking German or Hebrew were to bust out singing their known theme of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 80's tv-cartoon, the average kid growing up in America familiar with that cartoon would recognize that it was a song about the Ninja Turtles.

And then, I finally located....the Italian version. And let me just say.... for some reason or another (well, knowing Italians, it's more like -- for MANY reasons or another), they managed to do it AGAIN! What I mean is, of course, OF COURSE, the Italian version would be in a class by itself, in a genre on its own, and clearly, that 'one thing that's not like the others' :







Suffice to say that all memories of hearing Chiara sing her version of the Ninja Turtles theme song came FLOODING back when I watched this intro. And that whole urge-to-laugh-uncontrollably-and-obnoxiously-loud-first-thing-in-the-morning-because-
you're-in-such-a-great mood thing (that I mentioned at the beginning of this post)? Well, my abs are still sore.