Wymount fun!!

May has been rainy day after rainy day. Since the sun was out today the kids took advantage of it! 72 degrees doesn't feel very warm when you get wet. But that didn't stop them from having fun. There was hardly any room in that pool for water!

Remembering China

From the Bird's Nest, to the Water Cube, dancing on top of restaurant tables, and tai chi... China will be remembered forever as the new world, where I learned that the world is flat after all.

end of first grade

Here is Cuca with her 1st grade teachers: Mrs. McKinney and Ms. Bracha. They had a muffin breakfast at a nearby park. One of the students' mother made tie-dye shirts for everyone. Cuca had a wonderful year!

Tu Cumpleaños

Hoy quiero que sepas que te quiero,

Tengo que decirlo,

Pues me voy en la mañana,

Y llorare como un niño en la noche,

Ya no puedo vivir sin que sepas,

Que quizás podrías vivir un amor,

Olvidando las palabras de una vida,

O quizás me llevarías por la mano,

Donde el sol no se puede esconder.

Fría será la noche,

Porque aquí no estas,

Tu sonrisa me lleva muy lejos,

Vuelvo arrepentido,

Eres tan mala como bella,

Y cuan bella no lo sé decir.

Hoy es tu cumpleaños,

Podría darte una sorpresa,

Aunque fuera por un día,

Aunque fuera despedida,

Mismo un sueño sin fin.

Quiero decirte que te quiero,

Quiero abrazarte y decirte que te amo,

Pero no puedes escucharme,

Y no sé porque,

Y no te entiendo.

Todos saben de mi amor,

Tu alegría me ilude,

Mis sueños te traen tan cerca,

Casi mía,

Casi viva,

Pero no.

O Dia Depois

Querida angustia da madrugada,

Hoje me persegues com o frio do silêncio,

Chorei acordado quando perdi o tempo,

Esperei por um instante infinito,

Quis te dizer adeus e não foste.

Agora me atormentas com os contos do passado,

Que nunca sairão daquele quarto vazio,

Assopras os ventos que levam para longe minha alegria,

Me fazes tremer de solidão e desespero,

Inflamas um coração congelado.

Não é teu o desejo de viver plenamente,

Nem é meu o direito de ver-te eternamente,

Eras a alegria quando o sol saiu,

Queimavas ardentemente o fogo da esperança,

Agora a angustia do silêncio.

Eu quis te seguir aonde levam tuas asas,

Quis te dizer o quanto me fazias sonhar,

Quis te levar aos meus sonhos,

Transformar-te no horizonte que me guia,

Agora sei que não virás.

Ontem te liguei desesperado,

Como quem quer ganhar um jogo que já terminou,

Não tive medo, apenas loucura,

Ouvi a mais doce voz,

Dizer as mais tristes palavras.

Os mais tristes poemas foram escritos,

Por aqueles que te viram partir,

E choraram o resto de suas vidas,

Pelo dia que voltarias,

Para encher de flores o jardim da formosura.

O que o futuro me trouxer será a tristeza,

De viver os dias simples de uma vida,

Sem os olhos que me fizeram sonhar,

Sem a beleza que me fez desejar,

Sem a caciquinha que me fez amar.

Missing Laura

There are some things I enjoy a lot in life. Ice-cream, root-beer floats, movies, playing with the kids, just to name a few. I enjoy the most being with my wife. She knows how to make me laugh, and she knows how to make me happy. I miss her food and her cookies and her simple way of telling me how silly I am. Most of all, I miss just looking at her and seeing how prettier she gets everyday. Life is just not the same without Laura.

Life in Pennsylvania

I have been in Breinigsville, PA for 7 days now and I'm loving it. Life at Amazon.com could not be more fulfilling. Work is work, nothing can change that, but there are some jobs just more exciting than others, and I got the best. It is challenging, incredibly fast, and filled with visibility throughout the company. Call me crazy, but I rather be in a warehouse at 96º temperature with a machine that packs 40 packages per minute (or should, anyway) than locked in an office crunching numbers. I am going to know that machine really well this summer. We will have long talks. We are going to come to terms, cause come August, the CEO of Amazon will invite me into his office in Seattle and I will not disappoint him. Mark my words!

The Great Wall of China

The highlight of our Tuesday was the trip north to the Great Wall of China, or the Long Wall of China as it is known by the Chinese. We drove for two hours northwest, stopped for some mandarin cuisine on the way and finally made it to the site. It was cold and rainy, and I only had a t-shirt and shorts. The wall is ancient, and being in it gave me a different perspective of the age of this world. It was mentioned that the first wall was built 2000 years ago, just as Christ was teaching to the scribes and pharisees at the temple. That wall was partially destroyed and rebuilt in the 1400s. What we see today is the reminiscence of the wall, once a symbol of power of a great empire. They built it as a protection from the Mongolians, and used a million workers to do it. Its details are worthy of their fine Chinese architecture, even though we were in the middle of nowhere, high up in the mountain. It extended itself 6000 miles, although it is nowadays broken up into different sections divided by ruins. How I wished to have seen it in its prime, a sight even bigger that the magnificent view I experienced on our rainy day. I would have wondered as I did that day, the struggle that man will go through to defend and protect themselves from their enemies. Such protection will not last forever, as it did not. At the bottom of this great monument of the Chinese supremacy in knowledge and power in the past, stood in a peculiar row a set of local merchandisers, in their poverty, selling whatever they could to feed their own empty stomachs. I got two statues of dragons for about a fifth of what they first asked for. Bargaining is a cultural experience on it's own in China. I chose the smallest lady to buy it from. Standing on the wall on the highest peak available, I thought to myself about how we build our own spiritual defenses, sometimes long and tall and magnificent, only to see it crumble if we are not careful about it. I could almost see the enemy coming on one side, with his army as numerous as the trees that stood on the north side of the wall. Zeal in keeping it is as important as the strength in building it. The Great Wall of China is truly great, and I stood in it. I touched its bricks and walked through the shrubs and weeds that now cover the place. What a place it was.