Just a thought....
Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

Thursday, 20 January 2011

The good and the interesting


The bench I use at the park next to the Itaú buildings and the leaning tree from my earlier post, except that this is the real tree the post was based on.

Life is immeasurably good! Sure, my finances are a challenge and Jurgis is eating me out of house and home *laugh* But... Life is so good!

As I sit here back in the little park outside Itaú, I look at the cool damp of mossy tree trunks and wet soil. A half-inch long ant passes my foot on its way somewhere important. A light breeze stirs the palm fronds to the beat of the song playing in my ears.

A random stranger just walked up and asked me where I live. I answered that I live on the other end of the city. "Are you American?" he asked. Apparently, I look foreign : )

......
The song that's been playing in my head for the past few days.
It's impossible Not to grin and want to dance in dizzy circles while listening to it.

Every day, without consciously looking for it, my faith in humanity is being reaffirmed. Wow! There are awesome people out there! Even bureaucrats! Yes, I was dumbstruck too. It's an entirely new experience for me to have a South African official  be kind and accommodating to an expat and to process a document on a same day basis. If that wasn't enough, the document has more info than I originally expected! That a friend bent over backwards to make it work comes as no surprise. I choose my friends well. Even so, I'm so, so grateful!! Thanks Marianne. Have I told you you're a star? : )  I'm now, once again, the proud owner of a drivers licence!! *huge grins*

I finally finished the project for el scrawny one. I'm fairly chuffed with the way it's turned out. Now to finish my other projects for other random scrawnies (and even not-so-scrawnies *laugh*). We packed up two large boxes for donation and burned a box-full of old paperwork. The clearing out process is slow, but we're getting there.

The rain continues. Daily storms and lots of water. We discovered that the water is coming *through* the front door. No, not because it's open, but through it! That is aside from the various other leaks and seepages. (Today is Saturday and the sun shone for a while. Everyone is on their rooftops attempting drastic repairs. The neighbour is complaining that the plaster has fallen off their soggy walls.) Brazilian houses aren't known for their water-tightness.

Then along comes the neighbour with a reality check. He's the guy living in the other house on this property. 11pm the phone rings. Jurgis has been in the land of nod for the past two hours, but the neighbour urgently needs to speak to him. I woke the bear up... The emergency that required an 11pm call from his door no more than 10 metres away? "Could I borrow some milk please?" Eish!

15 comments:

  1. yippee!!! happy dance for you getting your DL. :) i dare you to call your neighbor 11pm tonight and ask for eggs. hehehehe Love that song. :D A good one to have in your head. I'll have to add that one to my playlist. glad things are going well for you tint! xo

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  2. What a nice blog Tint!!

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  3. Obviously you're way too scarey to borrow milk from in comparison to Jurgis! :P
    Such a great song!!! I like it. And I love your little bench! we will have to find you another one with a different view! :) And btw the ants don't have an agenda here ;)
    All good news! yay for the drivers!!

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  4. Lovely read into a slice of life with you! I love that leaning tree, too! I hope that Jurgis said SURE to the neighbor and that YOU took it to the door with a smile :-)

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  5. That is an awesome song! I love reading you little slices of life. I can relate to the wet weather, now that I live on BC's "Wet Coast". Your post makes me grateful the building codes in Canada are decent and our house, thankfully, is one of the dry ones so far. The shop and garden sheds are quite musty and wet. . .we'll have to do something about that one of these days.

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  6. Kimmy, I'm over the moon over the licence and not just the licence. The document I have states that my slate is nice and clean and that the licence is valid for international conversion.

    Thanks Kat : )

    Katey, I'm dreadfully scary, especially in my night time shabbiness (no hair curlers though lol). The guy knows Jurgis. They're all a little afraid to talk to me in case I insist that they speak Zulu or something. I'm the Foreigner, y'know ; ) I think I'll like your ants. Benche's aren't a problem. I'll just get the man here to make one. Will you join me there? I must tell you the driver's story sometime. It's amazing!

    Marty, Jurgis says Sure to everyone. He'd give the shirt off his back if he thought it would help. I think the guy would have run screaming into the wilds if he had seen me approaching with the milk. No curlers in the hair or face pack, but I was hanging around in all my bedtime shabbiness =Þ

    Maggie, I'm just grateful for the people here that the main flooding and landslides have eased off. We only had one nearby landslide and the houses luckily didn't come down, but they're not far off from that.

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  7. I just love the happiness that oozes from this blog, Tint. haha. Have to laugh at the urgent 11 p.m. phone call! Who knew that Jurgis is the keeper of the milk in your house? :)

    I foresee lots of happy blogs in the future with beautiful photos to go along with them. I'm so happy for you!

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  8. Jurgis is the coms keeper. I guess that's what it boils down to. This guy has even asked Jurgis to do his laundry and he's regularly over there playing Mr Fixit. The only surprising thing about this event was the time.

    Happy blogs are delayed by a month... bureaucracy *laugh* but they'll come anyway : )

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  9. Augh. Figures. But so long as the light stays steady on the horizon ... :D

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  10. Yup... the light's on and it's steady : )

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  11. Dear Tint, how wonderful to see your life take some turns for the better. It has been a long time coming. That neighbor is too much. GRRRR.

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  12. What a lovely blog! Glad all looks bright!

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  13. It is only a pleasure, as I told you. Maybe one day I will need your help, or someone who knows you will say, we must help Marianne, she helped Tint, or maybe I just get that extra pleasure because I could help you and it gives a warm feeling to be able to. Hugs. PS, the papers are in the post, see your PM *smile*

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  14. It is only a pleasure, as I told you. Maybe one day I will need your help, or someone who knows you will say, we must help Marianne, she helped Tint, or maybe I just get that extra pleasure because I could help you and it gives a warm feeling to be able to. Hugs. PS, the papers are in the post, see your PM *smile*

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  15. Ien, the neighbour doesn't bother me. It's actually nice to have a neighbour that acknowledges our existence *laugh* Yes, I agree... the changes happening now have been a long time in coming. They say that good comes to those who wait. We've done the waiting part ; )

    Thanks Michelle!

    Marianne, huge, huge thanks!! If what goes around comes around, you are about to have wonderful things happening over your way!

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Tint~