Reanimation post-mortem

I haven’t been particularly kind with this little blog of mine in terms of updating regularly. It’s not that there is nothing to share, it’s just that I didn’t take the time to sit down and transfer the thoughts from my head into readable bits on the Internet.

But when I look through the old stuff, I realize that I miss it. I miss remembering good times as much as bad ones, I miss seeing pictures again of places that I’ve been to; I miss documenting my thoughts, my little adventures, my life.

The good resolutions for this year are already taken up by a trivial one and an obvious need. However, for what it is worth; I’ll try to go back to blogging regularly. For starters, I’ll backpublish some of the events from last year, moving on to more recent stories and hopefully maintaining a steady publishing rhythm throughout the year.

Thank you for reading,

La puce

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Putting the puzzle together

You know this feeling when you prepare for something like – let’s say – the move to another country. You make every single step that’s needed, one after the other. But still, the final image – what all this really means – does not emerge till the very end.

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In the end, it meant for me to say good-bye to Belgium. And welcome to Brazil.

Decennial

Though I don’t remember the exact date; it is a good 10 years ago that I left Germany. What started as an Erasmus year in Grenoble, brought me back to Berlin almost 4 years later. Only to leave again after the best world cup summer ever to go to South Africa.

From there to Belgium and now? Now, Brazil after five long though full and fulfilling years in Brussels.

When being asked if I don’t miss living in Germany; my answer is no. I sometimes miss my family but not much more. I love to visit Germany and I still feel very much German, especially when it comes to football, but already the few months I spent in Berlin in 2006 felt like a step back.

Living abroad, may it be France, Belgium, Brazil or Trinidad & Tobago, is never easy. It’s often complicated, sometimes tiring and occasionally annoying. Not being able to communicate, not knowing where to go when you have a problem, not being aware of different social systems all make it challenging. And still, this exactly what I like.

To me, life feels richer, fuller. I know that this is just me. Other people think differently, have different values. I remember when being all new and naive at university, not even 19 years old; I met a French student, fluent in German, studying Japanese and preparing her next big trip. And I thought: Wow, this is what I want too.

Looking back at the last 10 years, it is kind of what I got. Do I enjoy it? Yes, very much so. Was it easy to get there? Hell no!

So, what do we learn from this? Not much, sorry. Try to do what feels right to you; correct it when it feels wrong. Not exactly rocket science but worth remembering sometimes.

2011 was

stirring.

A review

After I spent most of 2011 doing other things than writing posts; I feel that coming to the end of it, would be a good moment to look back.

There are just so many things that happened. It’s hard to believe that the past year had only 12 months and not, let’s say, 24.

From today till the 30th of December, I’ll look back at one month of the year. Or better, at what I remember from it. Some of it might not make an awful lot of sense to you, dear readers, but it does make sense to me and helps me to capture the moments, the feelings and the events that made 2011 what is.

Sign of life

Scary stuff

“Do one thing every day that scares you”, is one of my favourite quotes. If we don’t try to go beyond our boundaries, we’ll never know for sure where they actually are.

Though, in my life, it turns out that I don’t do every day one thing that scares me. I somehow save the day-to-day scare and then, every once in a while, I get afraid at myself.

• In 2002, I went to Grenoble. My knowledge of French at this time would be best described as basic.
• In 2006 – going to South Africa. When sitting in the plane, I had this nagging feeling that I had no clue what I was actually up to. Turns out the feeling was right – one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I ever made.
• 2010 – taking the decision of going back to school by starting a part-time MBA. And honestly, I’m scared.

Two things maybe to get out of this: 1) This startling sensation of uncertainty and having no real idea about what I’m just getting myself into; to do entirely without is boring.

2) If this blog goes a little bit quiet in the  next few months, it’s because I’m writing somewhere else about my current scary endeavour. It won’t be given up however.

It’s never too early and rarely too late*

It’s funny how life sometimes repeats itself. The initial name I’d wanted for this blog was taken so I had to come up with something else. In the end, it fits much better.

Opening finally and with just a couple of years delay a Twitter account; lapuce was obviously taken. In all languages I speak. So instead, you can now folllow @ilfautoserlavie; which, in the end, is much better as well.

*From the most famous and only known philosopher from Melmac.

Les plaisirs de tous les jours – fin de série

It started only in January and is now officially cancelled after 7 episodes. Even though I enjoyed the exercise in looking more carefully over my day and see if there wasn’t something beautiful, worth remembering or simply good; it doesn’t feel worth being eternalized blogged. There was always the danger of repeating myself but on top of this, I don’t remember some of the things I thought worth remembering in April…

Maybe it was only a wrong approach because the one sentence policy did not allow me to place the comment in a context. And though this is a blog (in case you didn’t notice) and I write about my life, I don’t feel like sharing everything either. Hence, the decision to go back to the ‘old’ style. Little posts, thoughts, trips, ideas, nonsense, observations and the usual chit-chat.

Feel free to visit.

Hotel Mama*

is having

• accommodation without paying for it
• someone who cooks for you and does the dishes
• a choice of what you want to eat

I love coming home.

*Imagine the title pronounced with a strong Italian accent. Prego!