Aquí probando. Abuela Ena en acción.
Ro.-
Ro.-
posted by Ro at
11:22 PM
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0 comments
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Corazón derretido...
Que alguien me diga... ¿Cómo hace uno para que no se le estremezca el corazón?
[Esta es la 2da carta. Ver los cambios hechos en la primera] Y no importa cuántas veces lo haga, siempre causa el mismo efecto. An y yo subimos, le apagamos la luz y la rellenamos de besos en su confiado sueño. Ella sabe que al día siguiente se levantará con más besos en su haber... y el amorímetro a punto de estallar.
[Esta es la 2da carta. Ver los cambios hechos en la primera] Y no importa cuántas veces lo haga, siempre causa el mismo efecto. An y yo subimos, le apagamos la luz y la rellenamos de besos en su confiado sueño. Ella sabe que al día siguiente se levantará con más besos en su haber... y el amorímetro a punto de estallar.
posted by Ro at
10:40 PM
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0 comments
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Communism 101
[Note: English is not my native language, so please forgive me for possible mistakes made. You're welcome to send me any corrections you'd find important.]
How's it like living in a communist country? people often ask me. I like the shielding and famous Vietnamese answers to almost anything "same same, but different".
Saying that you live in Vietnam displays a full range of mystery and exoticism to your profile. As we did before we came for the first time in 2003, we could only associate the name of this country with all kinds of TV and magazines memories of the war. Once you're here though and you find out that the last thing people are investing their family, business and spiritual time is exactly that: The War. They moved on long time ago. They don't talk about that, not because there's a scar or a trauma or hate or other things we westerners believe they should. Vietnamese people are investing their precious time in their challenging present and their amazing future ahead. They want to grow. They want to learn new stuff. They say welcome to all tourists as if they were one. They don't care where they're from nor their religion or colors. And yes, even Americans can come safely here.
The country has embraced capitalism in such a way that it's almost impossible not to feel you're in a non-communist country almost all the time. You can start your own business anytime. You can buy and own property if you have the means to pay for it. People study and develop themselves to get better paid positions in the open market businesses. It all looks and feels quite ok. Of course there are some remnants of the Party that are hard to detach from the status quo and that still gives the government some kind of "Power" over the people.
Facebook was "half banned" a couple of months ago for about eight weeks or so. Half because you could access it some times and sometimes not. If you had enough patience you could click on refresh a couple of times until it would show up... eventually. But for many the low patience was the retribution received by the authorities. Many would give up facebook because it was difficult to access. Score for the Party. There would not be a revolution about it, nor anything on the News or the Press... because it's controlled by the same guy.
Now, over the time we have seen little by little how the communication freedom (or access to it) gets expanded and now we can enjoy having access to Cable TV through different companies that provide the service. We have CNN, BBC, NatGeo, ESPN, SuperSports, Cartoons, HBO, MAX, StarMovies and we can catch up on American Idol on StarWorld too. There are other European and Asian channels like DTV, TV5, RAI, Korean, Japanese, etc. "Wow!" many would say, "that's really opening up". And it is! Listen, I don't want to show lack of gratefulness here because that's not my nature and I wasn't raised like that. Besides, I'm a visitor in a country that is not mine and is opening its doors tome and my family. But (of course, there was one coming), it does take me back to the communist life my family use to tell me before they left Cuba every time they suspend any TV channel in mid air when they say anything about Vietnam; not only about the war... ANYTHING!. All channels are monitored and censured on the spot. On line. Live! Documentaries on National Geographic or Discovery are interrupted by a "transmission interrupted" slide for as long as whoever's turn is it to monitor it feels like is "safe" for the population to be exposed to those "dangerous" information told by "the others" in a way that is not "the" way "we want you to know it". OOOOOOOHHHH!!! Scary, isn't it? Or boring, too.
Well, besides that I can say that it's pretty cool to live here. The food is great (when you get used to it), the country itself is amazing. Security is great. No much crime and you can walk at night or ride your bike almost anywhere. The people receive you warmly everywhere. There's a lot of culture and history hidden in every village waiting to be rediscovered and... facebook is up again. Yay!!!!
How's it like living in a communist country? people often ask me. I like the shielding and famous Vietnamese answers to almost anything "same same, but different".
Saying that you live in Vietnam displays a full range of mystery and exoticism to your profile. As we did before we came for the first time in 2003, we could only associate the name of this country with all kinds of TV and magazines memories of the war. Once you're here though and you find out that the last thing people are investing their family, business and spiritual time is exactly that: The War. They moved on long time ago. They don't talk about that, not because there's a scar or a trauma or hate or other things we westerners believe they should. Vietnamese people are investing their precious time in their challenging present and their amazing future ahead. They want to grow. They want to learn new stuff. They say welcome to all tourists as if they were one. They don't care where they're from nor their religion or colors. And yes, even Americans can come safely here.
The country has embraced capitalism in such a way that it's almost impossible not to feel you're in a non-communist country almost all the time. You can start your own business anytime. You can buy and own property if you have the means to pay for it. People study and develop themselves to get better paid positions in the open market businesses. It all looks and feels quite ok. Of course there are some remnants of the Party that are hard to detach from the status quo and that still gives the government some kind of "Power" over the people.
Facebook was "half banned" a couple of months ago for about eight weeks or so. Half because you could access it some times and sometimes not. If you had enough patience you could click on refresh a couple of times until it would show up... eventually. But for many the low patience was the retribution received by the authorities. Many would give up facebook because it was difficult to access. Score for the Party. There would not be a revolution about it, nor anything on the News or the Press... because it's controlled by the same guy.
Now, over the time we have seen little by little how the communication freedom (or access to it) gets expanded and now we can enjoy having access to Cable TV through different companies that provide the service. We have CNN, BBC, NatGeo, ESPN, SuperSports, Cartoons, HBO, MAX, StarMovies and we can catch up on American Idol on StarWorld too. There are other European and Asian channels like DTV, TV5, RAI, Korean, Japanese, etc. "Wow!" many would say, "that's really opening up". And it is! Listen, I don't want to show lack of gratefulness here because that's not my nature and I wasn't raised like that. Besides, I'm a visitor in a country that is not mine and is opening its doors tome and my family. But (of course, there was one coming), it does take me back to the communist life my family use to tell me before they left Cuba every time they suspend any TV channel in mid air when they say anything about Vietnam; not only about the war... ANYTHING!. All channels are monitored and censured on the spot. On line. Live! Documentaries on National Geographic or Discovery are interrupted by a "transmission interrupted" slide for as long as whoever's turn is it to monitor it feels like is "safe" for the population to be exposed to those "dangerous" information told by "the others" in a way that is not "the" way "we want you to know it". OOOOOOOHHHH!!! Scary, isn't it? Or boring, too.
Well, besides that I can say that it's pretty cool to live here. The food is great (when you get used to it), the country itself is amazing. Security is great. No much crime and you can walk at night or ride your bike almost anywhere. The people receive you warmly everywhere. There's a lot of culture and history hidden in every village waiting to be rediscovered and... facebook is up again. Yay!!!!
Screen used to censure TV programs in Vietnam. This one is National Geographic Channel NGC. It could last seconds, minutes or hours, depending how long an information about Vietnam is broadcasted.
posted by Ro at
5:21 PM
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0 comments
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Where it all took place...
On this very ugly and non-romantic place (ha ha ha) An and I shared our new vows in company of our dear friends, Nicole & Dani (Iva+Nina), Claudia, María Luisa, Yil & Lía and Julie & Stéphane (Artur). Check out the rest of the pics.
posted by Ro at
6:17 PM
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0 comments
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Lía on her math test...
Q: The mini market sells soap in small packets.
a)15 for 5,600vnd
b)24 for 8,600vnd
c)36 for 13,200vnd.
Which packet is the best value for money?
A: I think all are really good because 13,000 for 36 soaps is really cheap followed by the others. But if I had to buy, I would buy fifteen soaps because first, it's cheap. And second, who would keep 36 soaps in their house?
There was an X in the middle of her answer and the correct one next to it written by the unjust teacher. Btw, she got a 7 out of 8 on the whole test. And she has a very proud dad!
Some Facebook comments:
Ineke Hodder
I would have thought she would have put à plug into the answer for Unilever soaps...
Yesterday at 5:51pm · Delete
Allyson Keane
Can't fault the logic on the 'wrong' answer though!
Yesterday at 6:05pm · Delete
Ro Verdeja
Sure! Totally agree.
Yesterday at 6:36pm · Delete
Bunthida Saeui
smart girl!!
Yesterday at 9:07pm · Delete
Ianko Selig
preciosaaaa asi mismo la logica verdadera antes que la matematicaaaaa
Yesterday at 10:07pm · Delete
Christina Creighton
She will succeed in life!!!
Frinnette Bodden
Rodolfo!!!...y tu te quejas de esa respuesta!!!!.....es igualita a ti!!!!!!!!!...jajajajajaja
Ro Verdeja
La verdad que no me quejo, me encantó!
posted by Ro at
12:41 PM
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0 comments
Friday, September 04, 2009
About love...
Looking into my pending mails I found this follow up from Jullie, the therapist who conducted the weekend workshop "getting the love you want" in which An and I participated last February in Hong Kong. It was great to go over it and just wanted to share with you all. I love the phrase "what you focus on grows".
She said:
How can you continue to grow in connection? Do what you did this weekend! Continue to:
Then she added the note from the creators of the Imago theory.
Love, in Imago, is a verb, not a noun.
It is created or destroyed minute by minute by our actions.
Love is an act that is accompanied by a feeling, but it is not a feeling itself.
Love is the behavioral commitment to another's physical, emotional, mental and spiritual potential and welfare
that is equal to if not greater than the same commitment to oneself.
Love is free from negative judgement; it is the full acceptance of another as they are, not as one wishes them to be.
Love accepts and honors difference. It is the hyphen between the I and the Thou.
-Harville Hendrix, Ph.D. & Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph.D.
Attached is the picture of the group who did together the workshop.
She said:
How can you continue to grow in connection? Do what you did this weekend! Continue to:
- see your partner in a positive light; what you focus on grows!
- dialogue about how you see them positively ...
- share appreciations of your partner; what you focus on grows!
- dialogue about what you appreciate about them ...
- focus on what YOU do to contribute to the safety in your relationship; what you focus on grows!
- dialogue about what you and your partner need for greater safety between you ...
- develop compassion for yourself and your partner; what you focus on grows!
- dialogue about the thoughts, feelings, fears, and childhood experiences that lie beneath the surface on nearly every frustration ...
- have fun; what you focus on grows!
- dialogue about your own reactivity; take ownership ... get curious about the wound of yours that has been triggered and give voice to the 90% that is old stuff ...
- share your frustrations in the form of a compassionate, Intentional Dialogue
- be curious !!!
Then she added the note from the creators of the Imago theory.
Love, in Imago, is a verb, not a noun.
It is created or destroyed minute by minute by our actions.
Love is an act that is accompanied by a feeling, but it is not a feeling itself.
Love is the behavioral commitment to another's physical, emotional, mental and spiritual potential and welfare
that is equal to if not greater than the same commitment to oneself.
Love is free from negative judgement; it is the full acceptance of another as they are, not as one wishes them to be.
Love accepts and honors difference. It is the hyphen between the I and the Thou.
-Harville Hendrix, Ph.D. & Helen LaKelly Hunt, Ph.D.
Attached is the picture of the group who did together the workshop.
posted by Ro at
12:10 PM
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0 comments
