Melancolía atrapada dentro de mí
De suspiros están llenas las mañanas
Cuando me asomo a mi ventana
Mirando al mas allá en la ausencia de ti

Y te he buscado, hacia arriba
Entre nubes, entre el cielo azul, gris y negro
Te he buscado hacia abajo,
Entre flores, la tierra y los árboles
Te he buscado hasta en el fondo del mar
Entre esponjas, algas y corales
Pero no te encuentro

Y es que creo encontrarte muchas veces
Te he olido cerquita de mí
Ay y es que ese olor se parece tanto a lo que busco
Te he sentido cerca de mí
Pero una vez mas creo que me confundo

Melancolía atrapada dentro de mí
Con un suspiro que sale solo dentro de mi
Con un suspiro te anhelo,
Suspiros que llevan un solo nombre,
El tuyo.

Perceiving the world

How can two people perceive the world in different ways?

Their world, their homes…
How two people can grew up in different places and feel the same way about their home.
Not matter where you hometown is
Nor matter whether this place is a small town or a big city
I spend 6 wonderful days in a small town in The Netherlands, where a good friend of mine grew up. His house is located in front of a river. You can image the view. It is beautiful. From his room, you can see a river flowing everyday. You can hear ducks and birds swimming around the river or just resting after a long day. Every time, I woke in the morning and look at the window, i said to him: you are so lucky for growing up in this place! But he always answered me back, saying: This view is quite boring! And I just say what? Are you serious? This place is so calm, quite, beautiful and peaceful. But when he thinks about this place, he always says that He doesn’t like his hometown. He feels that he cannot breathe…And then I laugh and say: This is funny; you got the same feeling I get every time I think about my hometown; but the difference is that, I come from a very big city!
I am just saying that, two people can look at the same thing but have different opinions and perspective about that thing. And then, at the same time, feeling the same way about two different things, in this case, a town or a big city.
http://picasaweb.google.com/S.A.Valero/HolandaGissemburg#

Okinawa

After a long trip back from Okinawa, finally I got back to Europe and I said finally because it is such a long trip, it takes almost 12 h by plane from Osaka to Amsterdam. Other than being tired for such a long trip, I feel happy that I got the opportunity to see Okinawa. Okinawa is an island located far far far in the east coast of Japan. It is sub-tropical which means that it has a very nice temperature during the winter. While I was there the least temperate was 18°C it got beautiful white sandy beaches and the ocean is turquoise. The course took place at the OIST (okinawa institute for sciences and technology) sea side house. The view from there was gorgeous. I had an incredible view from my room and I could find a nice beach just down the hill. In this beach I took a break after each lecture session. I could tell you many many experiences. Everything it is new in many ways, fascinating and special in Japan. Hopefully, i get the opportunity to get back again. Even thought i know it is not easy to get there...I will come back!

View from OISTs sea side house. there was a nice beach just donw there where i was staying. It felt pretty much like back home. It looks very tropical with palms trees, mangrove forest, sandy beaches and nice weather.

Okinawan traditional dish. It looks like ice cream to me but it isn't this dish was the strangest thing i have had in my entire life. The name, well i do not actually remember it but i can describe you what it is. It is a cup with beans on the bottom. It has crushed ice on top and it is covered with green tea syrup. It sounds a strange combination, in fact it is very strange, but i have to admit that i liked the taste in my mouth.

Cover in snow

I got up from bed this morning and looked through my window and wow!!!!
It was snowing a lot!!!!!
It was pretty dark and the entire city was cover in snow.
The colors were special. All kinds of grays were mixed in many different ways. It was truly beautiful!! I guess you could see it in both pictures. If you are wondering how the temperature was (because i did it this morning); it was -1 degrees Celsius. Yes, it was cold. Actually, it's kind of cold for this time of the year.
I got my "proper clothes" because Norwegians always say: there's no bad weather only bad clothes" or something like that. I put on my "proper clothes"and, i will make a list for you so you get an idea: warm wool underpants and shirt, wool socks, a thin sweater and then a thick one, warm pants, a nice warm coat, globes, a hat, warm winter shoes and finally, do not forget your scarf !!! Yeah, you must put on a lot of clothes!!! but it keeps you warm and isolated.
After this complicated part, i was on my way to the door and wondered whether i needed skis to go down the hill, or was it slippery? perhaps icy? So, i opened the door and carefully step on the floor. I stared walking and realized that i did not needed skis. The cars made a trail so you could walk on it. However, it wasn't that easy. I forgot about something, the wind!!! It was bloody windy. The wind could blow me and then, the snow was coming in any direction. I couldn't see. I opened my umbrella but it was hopeless. There's no umbrella which could resist this wind!!!! Never mind, i just had to get to work, right? So i walked under this conditions. I stopped from time to time and took pictures here and there. It took me 30 min to get to the University and i live close to it... Uff!!! I got so tired! You have no idea! What a experience! Walking in a snowing, windy and cold day in Bergen; it is a challenging experience! and I love challenges!!!

The cat in the bus

I just could not leave this behind today. This post is just something; I wanna share with all of you. It may be a bit funny, but it can also show how different reality can be from one place to another one. I read the news everyday. It’s not because I want to be smart or something like that. I basically read it to check the weather report for next day :P Anyways, every time I do it, I also check other stuffs. I sometimes notice that Bergens news are estrange, unusual, funny and naïve. Maybe it’s nothing going on in this city. That may be the case. I usually check two websites: bt.no and ba.no. Last Saturday, I found two examples of what I call stupid news. Please, my Norwegian friends correct me whether I am misunderstanding the content of the news. They may probably be important. I just needed to show you an example of what I mean. BA newspaper posted the news about a cat "The cat in the bus" This cat likes to get in buses. They reported that the cat did not pay the ticket http://www.ba.no/nyheter/article3909394.ece

Come on!!!!!! I swear!!!!! this was news front page in BA.no last Saturday. Can you believe this? You do not need to read Norwegian to understand it; I guess you are getting my point right? The same day, I checked my country’s news, and then finally bbc news. The perspective is totally different from one website to the other one. It seems to me that people in Venezuela are living another world. This world is an unknown dimension in this country. It is just me or Norwegians are too naïve. Again, I have nothing against Norwegians (my friends can tell you this) I do love Norway and its culture but sometimes, they must need to see a bit of what reality is, outside their amazing country.

A new life in Bergen

I moved back to Bergen. I move back, with a new life. I got back to this lovely town (well, i admit i change my mind when it starts raining a lot) When I got back from Venezuela, I was feeling incredible bad. More like sick and unbalance. I got very sad when i left home.

View from our place at Fjellien


I was feeling confused as well; but, as soon as i got back here i got much better. I do not know why. I guess that it is always hard to say goodbye to family and friends. I do not really know. The fact is that i am feeling better. This week has gone quickly. I got back last thursday. I got straight to my new place. The new place where i live is great. I live by the mountain, it is not too high. I just walk like 10 min from downtown. The street is called Fjellien. The house has a amazing view. You can see the fjord, mountains and the city. It is very calm up here. I share the house with two more people. My flatmates are a girl (Mia) and a guy (David), both from Sweden. They are great people and friends. Both scientists like me and we have a lot of things in common. So far, it's going great with them. When i got here, they were waiting for me to give me a welcome hug :)
I spent most of the last weekend unpacking and decorating my new room. It felt so great because i was moving from place to place for about 3 month and having my stuffs in boxes and bags. So now, i have settleed at last!!!!!!!!
So far so good. I feel very excited about my new life in Bergen and looking forward for what it will come next!
My room (half of it): a perfect decoration for a hippie girl :)

The chaotic city

In this post, I am not pretending to complain. I don’t even want to offend anyone. I just need to express my disappointment and frustration with what i call: “the chaotic city”
Caracas, my hometown, is the capital of Venezuela.
Place where I was born. Place which keeps my family and people I love.
Caracas has a population of around 5 millions. Caracas is contained entirely within a valley, and separated from the Caribbean coast by a roughly 15 km expanse of El Ávila National Park and its beautiful pick Pico El Ávila, which rises to 2,159 meters. The valley is relatively small and quite irregular. The main body of water in Caracas is the Guaire river. The climate of Caracas is wonderful and described as intertropical, with precipitation that varies between 900 and 1,300 millimeters (35–51 in) (annual) Actually, it can rain the same amount in one month in Bergen. The annual average temperature is approximately of 25 °C , with the average of the coldest month (January) 22 °C and the average of the warmest month (May) 24 °C
So, it sounds perfect! so far you may think, this is a beautiful place to live...
Sorry for disappointing you, but it is not.
I swear, I do not want to complain. But I am totally pissed off….
What is happening? This place and city is totally fucked up.
As an example; the other day, i was coming back home from my dentist. I wanted so badly to walk. I am tired of being sitting in a car; expending hours stocked in traffic. Believe me! you can expend 2 hours in traffic in just 3 km! I am not exaggerating this! So i told my mom today: Do not pick me up, I'd love to walk because I just like it and I am very used to do that in Bergen. So i did it, i walked back home but i got so disappointing again! As i walk, i noticed how messy the city is. Garbage everywhere blocking the sidewalk so it seems that you're crossing thorough some sort of obstacle race. Then, you get a nasty smell all the time, garbage, decomposed stuffs, drained water, cars oil etc etc etc...Besides that, it is an adventure to cross a street. You gotta be careful because a car can crash you! In addition to this, you must watch out people in cars. Actually, a guy in a car stooped beside me while i walk. This guy stooped his car in the middle of the street. Then, he started talking to me. He told me a lot of dirty things. I got scared and though! this guy will kidnap me. Maybe i am just paranoid! Am i?
I could make a huge list of thing that are totally fucked up in this city...
I am just tired of seeing people living in this mess. They are not doing anything about it. Everybody seems to just be conformed and that's it! Come on!!!
I am just wondering, when did that happen? What happen to Caracas? Caracas was a beautiful place. Caracas was an inspiration for musicians (like the famous Billo's song "Caracas, Caracas, como me gusta esta ciudad" in the 50's), poets, painters.
Can please somebody do something? Can please someone help me to understand?