Easter week in spring and Italy
hello people!! i know, i haven't written in a while, sorry for those who actually read this, but I've been too busy and too lazy in this past week in helsinki, one of mylast here..... But anyway, Italy was just perfect. Too much to tell, so I'll just mention how beautiful spring is there, with the birds and the bees (fine, I hate the bees, but you get my point here), and a loooot of flowers everywhere. We rented a car, so we travelled quite a bit: Bergamo, Lugano, Genova, and a bunch of other little cities near - and not so near - Milan. And of course, Milan itself. Milan is not sooooo very nice, it is big and veeery unorganized. And I come from Sao Paulo, so for me to say that that's not organized, please, imagine it. But it's a nice city, great shops and friendly people. Well, kind of. But the little cities were just great. Perfect, looking like something out of a fairytale story. A lot of churches, old buildings and nice cafés.
And after a week of sunshine and 22 degrees, i came back to Helsinki only to find more sunshine! But I'll post more about Helsinki later - and about how absurd it is on the street this weekend. 
So, that is a very quick summary of Italy. I left a lot out - but then again, who really needs all the details? Another beautiful country, nice, niiice food (especially the day my brother and his roomate cooked for me), some sunshine for me (thank God, since I'm becoming transparent by now), shopping (shoes, shoes and shoes), and of cooourse, my mom (and stepfather and brother, let's be fair)!!! It was much, much better than anything I could have hoped for. And my mother did bring me easter eggs from home!!! And that was Italy, more or less.
Well dears, see you later then.
beijos
The bunnies and the boot
So, in a few hours, I'm in Italy!!! My mom, my stepfather, sunshine, nice food, shopping... easter eggs!!! I don't really know what to expect, since all the cities I visited ended up surprising me in a very nice way.
This is just to wish you all a happy easter holiday, lots of chocolate - that one day will be calorie-free, if God's willing, lots of nice fish-dishes (ok, catholic thing, not sure how it works in Europe, but in Brazil, you should eat fish. And my mother and grandmother always make veeery nice fish). I will quote someone here "i wish you sweet, beautiful things" this easter.
See you next week!!!! Itaaaaly!!!!
beijos!!
The Bell
"No man is an Island, entire of itself
Every men is a piece of the Continent(...)
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee." John Donne
(introduction - "For whom the Bell Tolls")
I finally finished the never-ending book!!! Thank God. It was good, but, to be honest, I was tired of it. For 400 pages, you wait for the climax. And it comes and goes in ten pages. And that's when you realize, the important thing in the book was not the climax, but all the rest, all the process. The thing in itself is futile, but the beauty of the book is the process. The process the people go through, the conscience flow narrations of the character's thoughts. Their actions, their mistakes... in the end, it all blends together. And in the end, what explains the book is the quote above, in very small letters in the first page...
A Finnish edition of 1946, signed, from "Helen", as a Christmas present - "you will find some of Spain here, and not the romantic Spain of the tourists". God bless the books and their ability to make us think, and to make us see. Be it in 1946, as a gift, or in 2006, as a curiosity fulfilled.
beijos
"oh dear, is it really all true??"
You know, at times, I begin to understand what my grandmother means when she says "the world is ending!". Or, to quote the favourite band of the month (the past 3 to be honest, but nevermind): "Oh, dear, is it really all true??". Here's the story: a couple was brutally (in their sleep, hit with iron bars and suffocated with a towel) in their sleep about 3 years a go in Sao Paulo. They had two children, the oldest was 18 and a law student, filling the pages of the newspapers crying in their funeral. Later, they found out who killed the couple: the girl's boyfriend and his brother. Who let them in the house? The girl. And she stayed downstairs, making a mess of the house to fake a break in of the house. And faking surprise when she came back to the house, after picking up her brother. So, there you have the background. Now, she is free awaiting trial, accused of planning the murder. And now, 2 months before the date set for the trial, she was the cover of one of the biggest weekly magazines in Brazil, and appeared in the sunday tv-show of the biggest network, crying, acting like a traumatized child, and saying how much she wished she could take it back, and that her uncle doesn't let her have contact with her grandmother and the rest of the family (well... i wonder why!). It is quite annoying to watch, because a 22 year old girl acting like a 8 year old child tends to be annoying, and because it's a bit strange to watch a person attempting to cry several times, but see no tears. But that's not the problem.
The problem is, before they started filming, but after they had already attached the microphones to the girl and her lawyers, they started talking. And what did the lawyers say? "Cry. Put your head down and cry." "When they ask you about your ex-boyfriend, cry, and say you can't go on with the interview anymore. Cry and say you can't do it anymore". Mind you, they have this on tape. It is really, reeeeally bad. Actually, it's worse. It took me a while to believe what I was hearing. I thought the fake crying was bad, but hearing the lawyer (ahh... I forgot a detail! The lawyer is a friend of her father's) instructing her to cry and hug him, and put her head down, and tell them how much she missed the parents she murdered was just beyond my comprehension. Well, like my grandmother says "the world is really ending". And it's really all true.
ps: this is obviously just my opinion on the fact itself. but for those who are in brazil, i guess you will see the video over and over again, since the network won't stop playing it. Then you can take your own conclusions. This is just me and my incapability to shut up.
update: she's back in jail again, "preventive prision"(noo idea if this is the english version of it, but anyway). and the lawyers are in trouble as well, being investigates by the order of lawyers (or something) of brazil, after they were recorded telling their veeery innocent client to do a fake cry. well, "tables, they turn sometimes". the publicity-stunt-gone-wrong of the year.
beijos
whenever i'm down....
'Whenever I'm down
I call on you my friend
A helping hand you lend
In my time of need
Whenever I'm down
I call on you my friend
Whenever I'm down
And all that's going on
Is really going on 
Just one of those days (and ju-uh...) You say the right things
To keep me moving on
To keep me going strong (going strong)'
thank you.... although i'm not in a bad moment (no, people, don't worry, i'm fine. as white as a ghost, or so I've been told, but still fine), you are just always, always there. For hours and hours, for everything and for nothing!!! And that's just... priceless and irreplaceable. Thank you for the 10 years, for the 7 hours or so, and for the many still to come! love you soooo very much!
ps: I love being so persuasive, you see? there is the picture i wanted to post!!!
beijos!
Done!
Hello my loves! So, this is the last post about my looovely trips around Scandinavia with Isabella. And, for once in my life, I'll keep it short. After Sweden, Denmark and of course, our lovely Finland our tour of the scandinavian countries had one last stop in Norway's capital, Oslo. Oslo is... well, expensive, for one thing. And small, very small. But other than that, it is very nice. The park with the statues is beautiful - and so is the neighborhood we crossed to get to it. And the harbour area is the perfect scenery, with all the mountains half covered with snow and little red houses on the side of the mountain. It doesn't get better than that, concerning the view.
We basically walked around it, saw the main tourist points, went to smaller city about one hour away from Oslo, and shopped a little bit. And, oh, one advice: do not go to Oslo on a sunday. It really feels like you are in some strange horror movie where everyone is gone. Or like a very small version of that scene in Vanilla Sky, with Tom Cruise all alone in Times Square. But well, that's all about Oslo, I'll just leave you with the pictures. And look!! Me!! In a picture! Oh well, there you go!
beijos 
