A peek into my life for my friends all over the world!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Papa: my hero


Spanish version below/version en español debajo
A little over a month ago I dedicated my weekly blog to my mother, as it was mother's day...well this time is Father's day and I decided that I had to do the same.

How to start? Let me put it this way, have you ever had to answer the question of who is your hero? Well, I've been asked that question a couple of times and for me, my hero is my dad.

And I don't mean it in the way that little kids always see their fathers: as the big and strong guy who can make everything well...maybe that was when I was a little girl. I mean it because my dad is one of the nicest persons that I know and he has so many qualities that I value in any person: he's an honest person, true to his word, patient, charismatic, charming, he always tries to see the best in everybody, hard worker, a wonderful friend, husband, brother and of course, father.

When I remember my happy childhood memories he's always there. He came home from work and he would whistle while opening the door! I can remember our Sundays...those were the times when we had more time, he would always take us out for lunch, to the playground, to the beach, for ice-cream...and when we were small those were the days he would bathe us and we loved it! And then at the end of the day (even when I was not that small anymore) he would put Francesca and me to bed and he would tell us a story before bed time. His imagination was endless!

Growing up in a country like Peru things are not like in Europe. Education is not for free and basically the great education, all the endless list of extra lessons, everything we had was due to his hard work.

He's the sweetest person, always smiling, always calming and soothing. Such a nice and romantic person. I'll never forget my last Valentine's day in Peru back in 2000...he didn't only buy roses for my mom, he sent 4 bouquet of roses, each in a different colour...for his 4 "innamorate". (And then you wonder why I'm so picky with men :-s)

So even all grown up now, even when it's the time when we tend to realise our parent's mistakes or faults...I wouldn't change anything from my dad. He's a great guy, he's a role model and he's still my hero. I love you dad! Thanks for everything!





And I also wanted to take this opportunity to wish my grandpa a happy Father's day! I love you nonno!






Version en español (sin acentos a proposito)
Hace un poco mas de un mes le dedique mi blog semanal a mi mama, en vista que fue el dia de la madre…bueno esta vez es el dia del padre, asi que hare lo mismo.

Como empezar? Dejenme ponerlo de esta forma. Alguna vez han tenido que contestar a la pregunta “quien es tu heroe”? Bueno, a mi me la han hech oun par de veces y para mi, mi heroe es mi papa.

Y no me refiero a esto en la forma como los niños pequeños ven a sus padres: como esa persona “grande” que puede hacer que todo este bien…tal vez eso es lo que sentia cuando era una niña. Me refiero a que mi papa es una de las personas mas increibles que conozco y tiene tantas cualidades que valoro y admiro en cualquier persona: es una persona honesta, una persona de palabra, paciente, carismatico, encantador, siempre trata de ver lo mejor en los en los demas, trabajador, un excelente amigo, esposo, hermano y obviamente, padre.

Cuando pienso en los recuerdos alegres de mi infancia el esta siempre alli. Llegaba a la casa despues de trabajar y tenia un silbido particular al abrir la puerta! Recuerdo los domingos…esos eran los dias que consagraba totalmente a nosotras, nos llevaba a preciosos lugares para almorzar, a los juegos, a la playa, a tomar helados…y cuando eramos mas pequeñas ese era el dia en que nos bañaba y nosotros adorabamos eso! Y luego, al final del dia (incluso cuando ya no era tan pequeña) nos acostaba a Francesca y a mi y nos contaba cuentos. Su imaginacion nunca tenia fin!

Al crecer en un pais como Peru, las cosas no son como en Europa. La educacion no es gratis asi que la excelente educacion que tuve y la gran lista de clases extras, todo es fruto de su arduo trabajo.

El es la persona mas dulce, siempre sonriendo, siempre paciente y calmado. Una persona tan maravillosa y romantica. Nunca me olvidare el ultimo dia de San Valentin que pase en el Peru en el 2000…el no solo compro rosas para mi mama, sino que mando 4 ramos de distintos colores a la casa…para sus 4 enamoradas. (y luego se preguntan por que soy tan quisquillosa con los hombres :-s)

Asi que incluso ahora, ya de grande, incluso cuando suele ser la etapa de la vida en que tendemos a darnos cuenta de los defectos y equivocaciones de nuestros padres…no le cambiaria nada a mi papa. Es una persona excelente, un modelo a seguir y es todavia mi heroe. Ti voglio tanto bene papa! Mi manchi tanto. Grazie per tutto!

Quise aprovechar esta oportunidad tambien para desearle un buen dia del padre a mi abuelito. Te quiero mucho nin!!!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Long weekend in Valencia

Already last year my friend Stephie told me that she was planning something big for her next birthday...this would include a trip. True to her word Stephie sent a mail during the first week of January where she informed us that this year she would be celebrating her b'day on June 9th in Valencia, Spain.
Of course it was several months in advance, but considering the nature of the cheap airlines, this was ideal...the earlier you book the cheaper it is! I have to admit that I only booked my flight a couple of months ago but I managed to get a pretty good deal and I was ready to join Stephie for her birthday!!!
In the end we were 22 persons flying over to Valencia from the Netherlands, Italy, London and Canada and she rented 3 houses where we all stayed. So all was ready for a really nice and fun weekend!

I took Friday off so first thing in the morning I met Aissa on Schiphol airport and we were both SUPER ready to go! All summery dressed with only summery clothes and sandals in our suitcases!

First things first: the beach!
We were one of the first to arrive, once there we met JB (Belgian friend who lives in Amsterdam), Stephie of course and 2 Canadian friends of hers. And of course the first thing we did is get ready and head towards the beach in Malvarrosa! The weather was great (30 degrees), the water was wonderful and blue, the beach was not too crowded....it was just paradise to lay on my towel and think how great it is to hop on a plane for 2 hours and be lying on the beach in Spain ;-) (it even made me happier to know that when I had left Amsterdam I left a very big thunder storm- sorry for the Amsterdammers ;-) )

In general I was at the beach the 3 days that I was there, at different times of the day. I really enjoyed the sun and obviously the beautiful Mediterranean sea. The water was rather warm- at least for me used to the Pacific Ocean close to Lima that is rather cold- and refreshing. There were some small waves...it was just perfect! And of course now I have a wonderful tan! :)

The house
Aissa and me stayed in the house 3 blocks away from the beach! We were sharing with other 6 girls: 4 Italians, one Kiwi and one German. I have to say that even though I thought it was going to be a nightmare to share only one bathroom among 8 girls we managed beautiful and it was nice to wake up in the morning to the smell of freshly brewed Italian coffee (the Italians were from Naples and of course they brought with them their Italian coffee machine ;-) ).

America's Cup
The America's Cup is the most famous and most prestigious regatta in the sport of sailing, and the oldest active trophy in international sport predating the Modern Olympics by 45 years. The sport attracts top sailors and yacht designers because of its long history and prestige as the "Holy Grail" of yachting.
And we were lucky enough that this year it is being held in Valencia! (the first time in over 150 years that the cup is being held in Europe). The names of the teams are actually the sponsors (big EXPENSIVE brands) who "sponsor" a country. At the moment the "Emirates" team (New Zealand) won the challenger's series and will meet Alinghi (Switzerland) later this month.

The harbour in Valencia has been totally re-newed and re-designed to host the top amazing yachts and all the big sponsors had their own buildings. A really modern and beautiful pier had been also built for the occasion. After going through security you could get into this really great place that had all kinds of restaurants, bars, entertainment, discos. And that's where Stephie's b'day party was held!

The Party
Saturday evening all of us eventually managed to gather in "Estrella Damm" the hot club in the harbour. You could tell it was "the place to be" ;-) There were several Spaniards but there were also several foreigners that were in Valencia for the America's cup.

We had a really fun night, having some chats, observing the different people, dancing to the music, making people guess where we were from ;-) and drinking...Stephie got a little carried away buying Vodka bottles ;-)

The party finished at 3am so we all went to "Dockas" a really massive night club where somehow all those Italian people made us jump a queue of about 100 persons ;-) The club was really rather impressive, it was HUUUUGE....I'm sometimes really bad al calculating but there must have been about 3000 people in that place!

The Dutch people were impressed because the placed closes at 7am....if they only knew how it's in Peru ;-) In the end Aissa, JB, Sander and me were the last ones to stay and we left a little after 5am.

Valencia
I have to say that I was REALLY impressed with Valencia. It's not that I was not expecting much, I just didn't know what to expect...and I found a really beautiful city. A mixture of old with modern, a really nice centre, well kept gardens, beautiful fountains, stunning churches, pictoresque squares...I could recognise the Spanish architecture from parts in the centre of Lima. Definitely a city to put in your "to go" list...and if you live in Europe it's not that far, several carriers fly there and cheaper than the further northern cities!

The Food
The food was DELICIOUS. A mixture of really nice sea food and fish. Tasteful jamones and quesos. Tasty different kind of paellas. Really good wine...AND so much cheaper than this part of Europe. Enough said! When you'll check the photos later you'll see that I photographed some of the dishes.





Corpus Christi
Last Sunday was the Catholic celebration of the Corpus Christi and in Valencia they started celebrating last Friday evening. We were lucky enough to see some typical Valencian dances and songs that started the Christian festivity in an old traditional way, preparing themselves for the big procession on Sunday. You can view a small video of this from last Friday by clicking here.



Photos
In general as you can deduce from all this, a really fun and nice weekend. A beautiful city, some really cool people, great food, wonderful weather...and some photos for you to catch a small glimpse of my weekend!

I took an early flight on Monday morning and I was behind my desk before 12:30. In conclusion, I think I have to go to Spain more often ;-)

And a big thanks to Stephie for organising such a great weekend :) sei stata bravissima!!!

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

My friends: You can't find them on my "speed dial"

I decided that I will write this post on my friends here in Amsterdam. Several of you have sent me some mails in the past months asking about the people that are characters in my weekly blogs ;-)

So I decided that I'd do a little summary of them, after all me being so far from home, it's in them who I rely for everything: we have fun, we have some interesting chats, we give each other advice, they are the ones that are there for the good and the bad times! They are a little like my family in Amsterdam.

And if you want to understand the title of this blog...you should keep reading until the end :)

Let me introduce you to my friends, in no particular order ;-)

Joost

Also known as Joostje (pronounced something like "youstye")- adding the "je" at the end of words in Dutch is an endearment, and it means "small"- something like the "ito" or "ita" in Spanish! As you can imagine he was not very happy when I started calling him that way...but then he realised that it was indeed an endearment and I guess he's fine with it as he doesn't say anything anymore
;-)

I met Joost through Arnaud (a Dutch friend that now lives in Peru and one of my very best friends-we met through AIESEC). Joost is a really sweet guy, he works in "Rabobank" in Utrecht and lives about a 16 mins bike ride from me ;-) He's one of my best friends here. He's the kind of friend that I speak on the phone weekly even if we don't see each other just to catch up. He loves all kinds of good music, he knows how to party and in general we have several common interests. He's the owner of "Saxy" the boat that you've seen in previous posts cruising through the Amsterdam canals.

He's also the person that I turned to last year when I almost had pneumonia and I had to go to the hospital. I will NEVER forget that!!! It's hard being ill while being far from home. Since earlier this year he's in love with a sweet Polish girl, Aleks, who is turning into a close friend of mine and I'm SO happy for both of them.

Aissa

Brazilian girl who I met about 2 and half years ago through Yamil (a Peruvian guy that I actually met in Amsterdam). We've known each other for so long but it's only been about a year since we became closer. It started for a mutual love: the BEACH!

However that's how it started and in the past months we realised that we have much more in common. Like the fact that even though we are both South American we are always on time and we do plan things ;-) We both also share a big love to classical ballet and we've been several times to see some really nice ballet shows in the Opera in Amsterdam.

In general a nice girlfriend to spend my time with, share some girlie chats, some coffees, dinner, and discuss about shoes, work, the weather or men ;-)

Petter

Also known as "Petter-cito" is my favorite Swede guy (Linda you are my favorite Swede girl!).

Petter-cito and me met at Canon. He's one of the lawyers there and we started talking more when back in 2003 we decided to organise some post-work drinks with a whole bunch of people. Afterwards we used to go out with the whole "Canon gang" to party wildly!

We became closer friends the past 2 years. He's a really nice and sweet person who is also there always ready to listen to me and also ready for some interesting gossip (who says only women like to gossip).

Petter and me share some "ciggy-breaks" at work...he smokes I just enjoy the company and some fresh air. Another thing quite common among us are our "quiet evenings". Every time we've wanted one of those we've ended up in some obscure bar in the touristy part of Amsterdam at some unGodly hour ;-) in a very high inebriated state :-s AND it wouldn't be strange if he would have lost either his mobile phone or his coat (don't ask how many phones and coats he lost last year only)!

Believe it or not my beloved friend Petter is now a married man and I was so happy to join him and his lovely Norwegian wife (Stina) on their wedding last year. They are a great couple! And Petter is a great friend!

Carmen

I met Carmen back in 2003 during her assessment centre to join the Canon Graduate Programme. I used to work in HR and I did the interview with the personality test. Since I met her I really liked her and she was my favourite among the candidates. In the end she entered Canon and ended up working as a trainee in my department.

Even though her assignement in my department only lasted 8 months we continued our friendship even when she went for a period to Brussels. She eventually came back to Amsterdam driven by love ;-) and a new job at Ricoh.
This Spanish girl and me shared some Dutch classes together and now of course she is almost fluent and I'm not :-s ...she has a Dutch boyfriend, that's a good icentive! We meet each other every other week for some girlie chats and some coffee or dinner.

Plus she's been my hairdresser for over a year. Every couple of months we have a "Chez Carmen" session actually at MY house ;-) where she dyes my hair, we have a nice meal and a good gossip.

Laurent

Laurent and me met back in 2001 during an induction day at Canon for newcomers. I was in charge for the organisation of that event and I also delivered the Cultural Awareness training. Lets say that Laurent was the most active delegate ;-)

After that day he organised some drinks with the people that joined the event and I joined them. After a month I left for 9 months to London but we kept contact and when I came back to Amsterdam we renewed our friendship.
Laurent is one of the most intuitive males I've ever met. He has a deep sensitivity and he's a great listener. I guess one of the reasons why we used to have really long and interesting chats over dinner. Then eventually by mid 2004 when Gennaro, my previous flatmate, left I asked Laurent if he wanted to live with me.

We've been flatmates since then and we've managed to get to know each other quite well. He's a really nice and caring person, a great photographer and a great friend. I also think that living with him has been a great training for whenever I'll move with a boyfriend ;-)...what is it with men not picking up the towel in the bathroom? ;-)

Geert Jan

Also known as "Geertje" ;-) Geertje was also introduced to me by Arnaud and he used to live with him and Joost for 2 years in the Saxenburgerstraat REALLY close to me.

Back then the "Saxenburgercasa" as they used to call it was my second home...so much that I kept a spare pair of slippers that I would wear whenever I was there. I used to have dinner there at least once a week...these guys used to have a REALLY nice kitchen so I used to LOVE to go and cook there. They of course loved that!

Geertje is a really nice and fun guy. He's the person who will eventually teach Dutch to me...I know it ;0) I like it when he SMSes and e-mails me in Dutch...even if I answer in English. He will also take me to one of those REALLY house parties of which he's really fond of ;-) Unfortunately he's been living "REALLY far" lately- about a 35 mins cycle ;-) reason why I still haven't been in his "not so new home anymore"still we do see each other, we've had plenty of fun and some really nice times together.

Stefania

Known as Stephie. Stephie is an Italian girl I only met about a year ago. However since the beginning there was a "click" and we bacame rather good friends. This was obviously highlighted by the fact that the Football World Cup took place last summer and both of us watched all the matches where Italy played together until that wonderful final :)

Stephie, a real entrepreneur, knows SOOOO many people and is a really lively girl. I love her spontaneity and the fact that we can make last minute plans for drinks, dinner, a nice chat or a movie...after all she goes to the cinema about 3 times a week ;-)
.................................................................................
I think I'm going to leave the list there...and on another ocassion I'll introduce you to some other friends.

Now you must be wondering, why the title of this post. I decided I would talk about my closest friends and this means that I write about the ones that live here, however there's been so many friends that used to live here but have left. Persons that I've bonded with really fast. After all being away from home means that the experiencies you through with these people are rather deep. I remembered Gennaro, Sara, Emma, Linda, Bea, Martin, Arnaud, Bastiaan...these guys used to be in the "speed dial" of my mobile phone. Even though I'm not supposed to be supersticious I somehow thought it was a little of a "curse" having my friends on my speed dial and they ended up leaving...that's why I don't put my friends there anymore ;-)

Thank you guys for always beeing there for me!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

A long weekend in Austria

And again we had another long weekend in the Netherlands...quite some lately huh? Well actually this is the last national holiday there is until Christmas, so stop saying that we have too many holidays!


Anyway, I decided to make the most out of it and about a month ago I managed to find a good deal with one of the cheap airlines and I decided to visit my friend Martin who lives in Vienna. However the interesting thing is that my flight was not going to Vienna but to Bratislava (Slovakia) which is a 55km drive (about 45 mins) to Martin's place.


Martin is one of my best friends in Europe. I met him back in 2001 and he lived in London while I lived there and then in Amsterdam until last year. So we've always been rather good friends and somehow he's been now away over a year and I still hadn't managed to come and visit him. So I was rather happy. As I have already been in Vienna about 1.5 years ago I suggested doing a little travelling around and Martin was very happy to go along!


I landed in Bratislava on Friday at 22:30 and Martin picked me up and we went into town to park the car. We did a very quick tour around the city centre where I saw some really beautiful buildings...it was really nice and cozy. After that we went to have some cocktails and to catch up.
We drove back to Vienna at 1am and we made it back by 2am.

Next morning Martin took me up in the mountains to this really nice place to have brunch and to enjoy a really nice view of Vienna. The weather was REALLY nice. It was over 30 degrees...and as I was coming from shitty weather I was extremely happy. So we decided to go to the Viennese beach. What is that? The old bank of the Danube river has been separated from the main flowing river and it looks like a nice lake in a small island inside the city. People go to this huge park to enjoy the weather and the water. It was rather pleasing to be there enjoying the weather and swimming in the "Blue Danube" :-)

That evening we went into the centre of Vienna for a really nice dinner and a nice walk. It is always nice to see a city in different seasons. I had seen Vienna during Christmas time and I have to say it's one of most beautiful (or the most) cities I've ever seen. So elegant, cozy and Christmasy. And during the summer...it's just stunning. All those imposing empire like buildings,w ith that magnificent lighting. It was really beautiful.



The next morning we woke up at dawn (actually not really because the days are getting so long that dawn it's before 5am ;-s so it was more 7am) and we made our way to Salzburg. The plan was to eventually end there but make a couple of stops on the way. We drove all the way to the area of "Salzakammergut" which is about 50kms before from Salzburg. We had a really nice picnic by a nice lake. Everything was so beautiful...all those green mountains, all that nature, birds singing, ducks with their babies (also of course lots of annoying mosquitoes but I guess it's part of the package).


After our picnic we drove a little further and we went to this small cute little town called St Wolfgang where we found a tiny private piece of "beach" where for €4 we could get in and for €2.50 we got a parasol and some very comfortable lying chairs. We stayed there for about 4 hours and Martin and me hardly spoke to each other...we were both lost in our own thoughts, gazing the view, enjoying the sun, the fresh and transparent water of the lake and of course Martin his Newsweek and me a brand new book bought at the airport.


We liked it so much that after that we decided to look for a Bed and Breakfast in town. We found again a really cozy one ran by this sweet pensioner couple. That evening we walked into town and saw a little of the rest of the town, we had a really delicious meal by the lake and we watched a wonderful show of fireworks. We walked back when it was fully dark at about 11pm and it was such a nice feeling to walk with the sound of the crickets...I'm just not used to this me being a city girl.


The next morning after a nice breakfast we headed towards Salzburg. For me this was something VERY special. My all time most favourite movie is "The Sound of Music" I can't recall how many times I've seen it but if I say that over 300 I'm not exagerating...I know all the songs, the dances, the words in both Spanish and English...you get the point. That movie is based in Salzburg and since I was a little girl I always dreamt about going there. And I WAS there!!! Of course I was extremely disappointed that Martin had NO clue about what I was talking about (he must be one of the weird people who don't know about this movie)...I wanted a singing partner ;-) But it was still rather nice to see all those places that you can see in the movie, includding the house of the Von Trapp family (from far away) and the places where they sang the songs.

Salzburg was BEAUTIFUL It was really breathtaking. The city divided in 2 by the river Salzbach, the castle or rather fortress up on a hill, all those beautiful churches, squares, statues, the really cute streets, the picturesque alleys, the gardens, the fountains. I have to say that it is now on the top 5 of my favourite sities!!! You'll see this and more on the photos.



Right before heading back to Vienna we made a stop in the Sacher hotel so I could have the famous Sachertorte which was really yummy. And then righ after we got ourselves into the car a big storm started- so I REALLY have to thank mother nature for being so nice to me this past weekend.

This morning Martin was SO nice that he drove me ALL the way to Bratislava and then he had to drive all the way back to Vienna to catch a flight to Warsaw. Martin THANK you SO much!!! After a 3-hour flight delay, a rather "entertainining" flight with the whole Dutch Volleyball team sitting in front, behind and next to me (boy are those guys tall!) I managed to arrive safely to Amsterdam and managed to be behind my desk before 3pm.


Now you can click here for the photos. I warn you there are quite A LOT! But the places are just too beautiful not to photograph...and I tried to write some entertaining captions...


All in all a WONDERFUL weekend and one of the reasons why I love living in Europe...a flight a way, a 45 mins drive to another city to catch another flight....different culture, different language...I just love to get away for the weekend and be able to be part of that ;-)

Monday, May 21, 2007

Ascension weekend: Spring cleaning and some fun!

(And some rather interesting facts and photos about my shoes- way at the bottom!) ;-)

April and May are great in the Netherlands! There are several days off due to holidays and it's always nice to have a small break from work. Of course what I still don't understand is why do we have Christian holidays considering that I still have to meet a Dutch person who is really religious...still, this is not the purpose of this entry ;-) so I'll proceed to share with you what I did during Ascension weekend.

The real day off was on Thursday and at Canon we had an extra day off...this meant a nice long weekend :) For this occasion I decided to stay in Amsterdam, take some time to relax at home, go to the gym and do something productive and maybe have some fun in the evenings.

Well I have to say that it all worked out wonderfully!

THE FUN

I managed to do something fun each of the evenings. And you will be able to see some photos with some descriptions here.

However I wanted to tell you a little more about Friday evening. Aissa and me decided to go to the 80s party in Hotel Arena. Hotel Arena is a disco in Amsterdam and the third Friday of every month they organise an 80s party with all the old songs...it's always so much fun. People dancing, singing, the 3 big screens showing the videos of the songs or old TV commercials of those years. It's always a blast! You will see some of the photos of the evening and you can also see a video of Push It from Salt n Pepa and Like a Virgin from Madonna. Something interesting for the non Amsterdammers: Hotel Arena is one of the many old churches that is now a disco. Considering that not that many people go to church anymore, they had to do something useful with those big contructions...discos or concert halls is the perfect use for these old churches, the accoustic is great! If you look close enough at some of the photos you will see a Fresco with Jesus and his disciples...just on top of the DJ. In Peru that would be considered a sacrilege...but hey, this is the Netherlands!

Spring Cleaning

I decided to be productive this weekend by doing some Spring Cleaning. Don't even think that it was in the whole house...it was just in my bedroom. And if you think that I finished...you are well mistaken...oh Lord, do I have a lot of crap!

I have realised that before settling down in Amsterdam the moving around countries and houses was not that bad...it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of useless stuff and to sort out belongings. Well, I've been living on my house for over 3.5 years now...and the amount of stuff I have managed to accumulate is unbelievable.

Ok if you know me very well (and maybe even if you don't know me that well) you know that I'm rather girly and I just LOVE accessories...the amount of jewellery, scarves, hats, gloves, hand bags, make up and such other paraphernalia was rather amazing. And of course lets not talk about the amount of bags full of clothes and shoes that will go to charity...so I entertained myself during the day doing that....and I need another long weekend to finish :-s

I don't have photos of me in the mess this weekend. However I think that you will find rather amusing (or shocking...up to each one of you) some photos that Laurent took of me last year when I was organising my shoes on a day I was rather bored as I had been ill for over 2 months...yes I was shocked! After throwing away about 10 pairs of shoes I was left with 69 pairs...and that was last September...there are some new in the collection ;-)

What can I say: I'm Caterina and I'm a "shoeaholic" ;-)










Sunday, May 13, 2007

Feliz Dia Mamma!

Spanish version below/Version en español debajo
Second Sunday of May it's Mother's day in several countries. I know for a fact that it is in the Netherlands. However, just like some other holidays, it's not really known, some people think it's a commercial day and it's not really celebrated. Well, let me tell you that at the time I'm writing this, being 14:30 Peruvian time on Mother's day...your call won't be able to go through at this moment if you want to call to Peru. Mother's day in Peru is almost as important as Christmas celebrations! All kids (youngs or adults) will try to do their best to celebrate that woman who brought them to this world: their mother.

As this is the case, I decided to dedicate this week's blog to my mom. Just wanted to share with you some few photos I found in a box here in Amsterdam (most photos are in Peru as you can understand) and to tell you a little about my mom :)

My mom's name is Lupe and I call her by the Italian word: Mamma. My mom, being a cancer is totally devoted to her family and her 3 girls: Francesca, Antonella and me. She's the typical "mother hen" who has always been there for us, doing her outmost for us.

I remember when the 3 of us where still at school my mom would drive us around Lima (huge, chaotic, lots of traffic) taking us to all our activities: ballet, gym, English lessons, French lessons, gymnastics, piano,swimming, dancing....you name it! She would pick us up from school and take us to our friends. When we were even younger she would dress us in matching clothes!

We are all grown up and 2 of us live abroad...but you would be amazed at how close we are. Regardless of the distance she is still there for us, ready to give us sound advice and just a phone call away with her motherly voice and concern.

Mamma, happy mother's day, I really miss you! Thank you so much for always being there!

Version en español (sin acentos a proposito)
Segundo Domingo de mayo es el dia de la madre en varios paises. Se que es definitivamente en Holanda. Sin embargo, al igual que otros feriados, no se conoce realmente, algunas personas dicen que es un dia comercial y no es realmente celebrado. Bueno, dejenme decirles que en el preciso momento donde escribo esto, las 2:30pm hora peruana en el dia de la madre…su llamada no entraria si quiesiesen llamar al Peru. El dia de la madre en Peru es casi tan importante como la Navidad. Todo los hijos (jovenes y adultos) siempre trataran de hacer todo lo posible para celebrar a la mujer que los trajo al mundo: su mama.



Como este es el caso, decidi dedicarle el blog de esta semana a mi mama. Solo quiero compartir con ustedes algunas fotos que encontre en una caja aca en Amsterdam (la mayoria de fotos estan en Peru como pueden entender) y de contarles un poquito sobre mi mama :)




El nombre de mi mama es Lupe y yo la llamo con la palabra en italiano: Mamma. My mama, al ser cancer es una persona totalmente dedicada a su familia y a sus tres hijas: Francesca, Antonella y yo. Es la tipica “mama gallina” que siempre ha estado alli para nosotras, dando siempre lo major de ella por nosotras.



Recuerdo cuando nosotras 3 estabamos todavia en el colegio, mi mama nos paseaba por toda Lima (enorme, caotica y con mucho trafico) y nos llevaba a todas nuestras actividades: ballet, gimnasio, clases de ingles, clases de frances, acrobacia, piano, natacion, baile…y muchas mas! Nos recogia del colegio, nos llevaba donde nuestras amigas. Cuando eramos incluso mas pequegnas nos vestia siempre con ropa que hacia juego!




Somos ya adultas y 2 de nosotras vivimos en el extranjero…pero se sorprenderian si supieesen lo cercanas que somos. A pesar de la distancia siempre esta alli para nosotras, lista para darnos un consejos a tan solo una llamada de distancia con su voz y preocupacion de “mama”.

Mamma, feliz dia de la madre. Realmente te extraño! Muchas gracias por estar siempre alli. Ti voglio tanto bene mammina! Caty












Monday, May 7, 2007

Weekend in London

I'm currently involved on a big project at work that involves working with an English agency based in London. We needed a 2-day meeting with our Account manager and it was held in the Canon office in London. As it was on Thursday and Friday (ok, I conveniently planned them close to the weekend ;-) ) I decided to stay there to enjoy a little of London and to visit some friends.
The meeting was rather successful and packed with lots of information. Unfortunately I was getting a cold which got worse while sitting on the plane for almost for almost 3 hours on the plane on the way there. It's a joke sometimes how those annoying delays on planes make a 40 minute flight become such an long trip.

However, regardless of the bad cold, on Friday at 15:30 I bid good bye to Christiaan (my boss) in Terminal 4 at Heathrow airport and made my way to catch the Heathrow express that would take me to Paddington station in the centre of London!

Most of you know that I lived in London for 9 months in 2002 and that I absolutely love it. And of course I have been to London many times after that either for business or to visit friends (or a combination of both) and of course for shopping ;-) However I hadn't been to London since the end of 2005- I don't count the business trips to Canon UK because when I do that I even stay in the Sofitel hotel in the North Terminal of Gatwick airport!

I know my way very well in London, but was I in for some surprises! I remember that the first day I was in London back in 2002 I was in the supermarket and I was amazed to see that the prices had the same "numbers" but they were Pounds instead of Euros. Everybody knows that London is one of the most expensive cities of the world...but God it feels like inflation hit them in about 50%!!!

When I lived in London a Tube single ticket (for the ones who don't know "The tube" is the way the London underground is referred as) costed £1.90. Well, I was horrified to see that it now costs £4.00 !!!! (that is about US$ 8.00). Of course they now also have another system with the "Oyster Cards"...but I won't bother you into the details. Lets just say that just making my way from Heathrow into town I had some incidents and shocks with the prices...the 15 minute ride from Heathrow to Paddington was £15 (US$30)...anyway, I won't go on, but you get the picture.

As I had some time to kill until 17:30 when I was going to meet Carla in Liverpool Street Station, I decided to get off in Oxford Circus so I could do a little window shopping in Oxford Street where I didn't lose ANY time and bought the most beautiful pair of white sandals ;-) ...ok, I'm getting sidetracked again. By the time I was back in the Tube on the Central line going only about 5 stops from Oxford Circus to Liverpool Street...it was rush hour on a Friday. Oh MY GOD!!!! Had I forgotten how crowded the tube can get. The amount of people, all squeezed like tuna in a can, the door opening, then closing, the "mind the gap" voice in every station, everybody with their iPODs and reading their books or newspapers, nobody looking into anybody's eyes. And then when leaving the carriage walking with a pack of people, everybody looking for the long escalators: stand on the right, walk on the left, people walking and just walking and wanting to go home!!

I remember that I have always heard that some people like London but they feel overwhelmed by it. I always said that that was nonsense for me. After all I come from Lima, a massive, over 8-million-inhabitants, chaotic and noisy city...so I felt pretty much at home in London. But I guess that back in 2002 I had only been in Europe for a couple of years. After being over 4 years in a row in Amsterdam...where I cycle to go everywhere, where it takes not even one hour by bike to cross the city, where I don't have to fight with anyone to get a seat in the bus in the morning on my way to work, which is outside Amsterdam and it takes me half an hour (I guess it's also because I go to work rather early and I miss the rush hour)....I was REALLY overwhelmed by the whole chaos!!! I really missed my bike! ;-)

Of course on the other hand...London is London. And I was positively overwhelmed in the shops with the choice of things....so many nice things, so many things to choose from....too expensive though ;-)...and of course the amount of things to do: concerts, theatres, musicals, opera, ballet, museums. So as you see London and me have some kind of love-hate relationship, which is great because it's a "long distance" love affair anyway ;-)

I eventually found Carla and we made our ways to Chelmsfort, Essex just half an hour by train outside of London where she lives. We had a very nice evening the 2 of us, Julien (her husband) and Italo who joined us after work all the way from Kingston (about 1.5 hour away).

The next day we had already made our plans for the day. After breakfast Italo, Carla and me decided that the 3 of us would head into town. It was rather nice to be among Peruvian friends, speaking Peruvian slang, catching up and remembering our time at university. Of course Carla and my plan was to go shopping...Italo was happy to come along. I guess Julien was very smart as he went to play golf...and I have the feeling that Italo must have thought why on earth did he go shopping in London with 2 women!

On my defense, I did exactly what I said I wanted to do. I only went to 2 shops that I really like and that I had planned on going. Of course I won't forget Italo's shocked face when I came out of the second shop with only a tiny little carrier bag: "Over an hour for only THAT?????"...hey, doesn't he know that we women have to try everything before choosing the first thing we tried on?

After an afternoon of shopping we went for some coffee and rest in Starbucks while we waited for 19:30. We had tickets for a concert in St. Martin in the Fields, the church in Trafalgar square. While I lived in London I used to go a lot to that church on Saturday evenings as they always had lovely concerts. Just on Monday last week I received their newsletter and I saw that that the Belmont Ensemble was having a Candle night concert of Vivaldi's 4 Seasons...so I proposed Carla and Italo to get tickets.

Just as I expected it was beautiful. Nothing really fancy just this really talented musicians playing delicious music. Just some easy listening Barocque: some Vivaldi, some Mozart and some Bach...perfect 2 hours! I would have loved to take photos or to film, but it wasn't allowed. However I sneaked out my camera and covered it with my scarf just for the audio...so you can hear a little of the concert by clicking in any of the following links: Mozart - Salzburg Symphony No 2; Bach - Air on G string and Vivaldi - The 4 Seasons, Spring.


After the concert Julien joined us for dinner and eventually we headed back to Chelmsford after midnight on the last train. On the walk from the station to Carla's house I was reminded again of what surprised me back in 2002 about British people...my God why do they drink SO much? I know that I have already told this to several of you but I need to document it on my blog: First of all, I have never in my live have seen as many people being drunk at the same time in the street as in Britain- but when I say DRUNK I mean TOTALLY wasted! Second of all...British define how much fun they have according to how drunk they get...I take it as still an interesting cultural aspect. And of course, another typical characteristic: what kind of super genes do English girls have to be able to walk with tiny clothes, no jacket, no socks and sandals when it's bloody cold is entirely beyond me! Another interesting aspect ;-)

On Sunday I was positively surprised by a lunch invitation from Marco van den Berg and his girlfriend, Annette. I met Marco in a seminar in Mannheim, Germany back in 1998 just before he went to Peru for an AIESEC project. We've met some other times includding New Year's 2002 in Peru again and the last time we saw each other was in Paolo's farewell party in Zurich...I was really very happy to see him and Annette again. It was a very enjoyable lunch!

After lunch Marco drove me to Heathrow and after only about 45 mins delay I managed to land at Schiphol airport a little before 20:00. All in all, regardless of the cold (and cough I caught on Saturday) and regardless of the weather (it seems that spring is gone and rain is here to stay this week :-s...good for the plants though...) it was a really, really nice weekend. Met some old friends, did some shopping, went to an excellent concert, went down memory lane (Arnaud, Martin and David...I kept thinking of our time in London!) and as I said before, that's the way to keep the love on this long-distance relationship with London...lets see each other only every once in a while to keep the "honey-moon" period!
For a few photos of the weekend click here, can you tell that the weather is crap again? :-s ...so much for my new sandals ;-)