Overwhelmed and confused

I felt so overwhelmed late last week. Life in general is going great... There are just too many things going on at the same time and there're way too many responsibilities... I know! I know! I shouldn't complain much if I compare myself to women who have young kids and a super demanding career...
Anyways, I feel I need a mental break... but I doubt if it happens any time soon... It will take till fall at least... We also need to make a bunch of financial decisions... How are we supposed to know what's right and what's not?!?! I am worried that we make wrong decisions as we're both too busy and don't have enough time to think things in depth!

I've learned...

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."

Maya Angelou

planning ahead...

I am trying to plan a small wedding for next summer but I am finding it very difficult. There are so many tiny details I don't know about a typical Western Wedding and I don't have enough connections for quality wedding vendors in town who also fit within a standard wedding budget!

So far I have browsed tons of wedding sites and have bought 4 local bridal magazines just to have an idea... but the more I learn about the process the more difficult it feels!

I'll be having such a stressful next 11 months! I know!
sigh!!

Comfort Zone: An undefined term in Iranian culture

A friend (Iranian) whom I know through work since 8 years ago is quite kind to me but sometimes she passes the boundary and pushes things beyond my comfort zone.
She is unhappy with her job (I think it's mostly her fault) and she has applied for another company. She's scheduled for an interview and she wants to negotiate a very high salary. Which is not uncommon. She calls me late at night and she says: I want you to promise that you also move to this new company I have applied for, since I want to tell them "give me a good salary and I promise I'll bring good people to your company!"
I could feel the smoke coming out of my ears! I was very angry for the moment, and then I felt so frustrated... However I tried to be logical and keep calm...
I respond: "Promise? What do you mean? I don't know anything about them! I am not unhappy with my job! I might consider applying just to get an idea about their company, but promise to quit my job and move there? I am sorry!"
And I say to myself: "Is she out of her mind? With all due respect I have for her, but why many of us Iranians hardly know our limits? Why do many of us have dictatorship engraved in our genes? Why many of us find it so normal to use others for our own personal benefit and make it sound like doing a favor to them? Why do we assume people around us are so naive? If many individuals don't walk their democracy talks, how we can expect one day a true democratic government (which is made of the typical individuals like this) rule our country?"
Unfortunately I know many people like that in my culture... People who (regardless of their gender) want to dominate whoever around them if they are given the opportunity... Dealing with this type of crowd, you always have to be alert not to give them any opportunity! Thank goodness, I don't have to constantly worry about it with others!

Hot & Humid

It was such a hot and humid weekend. We were already invited by TC's mom to spend the weekend at her house which is equipped with multiple fans and coolers, but we weren't able to make it due to too many chores. But we took a raincheck so maybe we can save the offer for another time!

The only "us time" we had in the whole weekend was spending an hour on the beach on Saturday evening. Kits beach was jam packed. The diversity of the beach people is quite different that how it used to be when I used to live there. I guess it's more diverse now... equal blend of locals and immigrants.

The rest of the weekend was spent on meeting the people which we "had to" meet! Doesn't this sound so Iranian?!

Trip pix - final set

And finally the last set of my trip pix (link)



Some of these pix are taken in the town of Brugge in Belgium. Brugge was small, cute, and old. There were a lot of small handmade chocolate boutiques and some shops which served fresh Belgium waffles with ice cream on top! :)



I also took some pictures of the TinTin shop in Brugge. Everything was so expensive in TinTin shop so I just bought a pair of fridge magnets and left! I was wondering whether there's a TinTin museum in Brussles as Herge was from there?


The next day we ended our cruise trip in South Hampton (near London). Since our flight to Vancouver was in the afternoon, we had enough time to visit the mysterious Stone Henge on our way to the airport. Stone Henge is more mysterious than the Pyramids of Giza as there is so little information available about it. Quite impressive I must say!


I also tried to capture a part of the beauty of the British country side while we were driving towards the Stone Henge. Believe me, the pictures are not even half as magnificent as the real landscapes!

Trip pix - 5th set

Here is the link to the 5th set of the trip pix (link)





These pix are from Vigo (Spanish port), La Havre (French port - where the famous D-Day occurred), Rotterdam and Gouda.

Gouda is such a cute small town. We were there on a Sunday. So most shops were closed but we had a great lunch over there with some bottles of chilled Dutch wheat beer! Really thirst crunching...

I really liked Rotterdam. It was neat, orderly and clean. Since the heart of the city was completely destroyed during the World War, Rotterdam is also called as "The city without a heart". That's why there's a monument in Rotterdam with a hollow circle in the middle.

Because the vast part of the city center was ruined during the war, this city is full of modern and post-modern buildings. The yellow tilted cube apartments are a good example of such designs.

One of Netherlands' famous snacks are fries with mayo. There's a huge variety of cheese there as well. Of course, when you're in Netherlands you don't want to miss their famous Dutch Pancakes either. And for dessert try the caramel waffle sandwich! yummmmmm!

Trip pix - 4th set

Here the 4th set of the trip pix (link)
They are taken in Jibraltar, Cadiz, and Lisbon.

The apes in the rock of Jibraltar and also the fascinating view on top of the rock were my favorites. On top of the rock you have Spain in one side and Morocco (only 13 Km away on the other side of the sea) on the other side.

I was so touched by seeing how the apes protect their babies and their families that I had a hard time stopping my tears while taking their pictures.

Cadiz was small. Lisbon was clean and pretty with some very yummy Lisboa custard cakes! :)

Trip pix - 3rd set

The 3rd set of our trip pictures (link)


The pix are taken in Barcelona. The most famous buildings in Barcelona are designed by the architecture Gaudi's. The most impressive of which is Sagrada familia and also La Pedrera.



The church of the Holy Family is being built for the last 140 years!! and the construction is still in progress!!! It's Gaudi's most ambitious project and has the whole bible sculptured in it! It's truly breathtaking.

The link also includes the Canada day pictures while we were at sea and also some pictures from the Spanish port of Malaga, the house where Pablo Picasso was borned and also the Malaga fortress on top of the mountain.

Trip pix - 2nd set

The 2nd set of the trip pictures (link)

These are taken in Roma and Vatican City. Rome was truly fascinating.

Trip pix - 1st set

Here is the first set of the trip pix (link)

These are from Italy (Frascati, Grottaferrata, Rome, Florence, Pisa) and France (Cannes)

More to come...

I'm back! :)

We're finally back from our European trip. We were on a mediterranean cruise for 14 days. It started from Rome (port: Civitavecchia) and ended in London (port: South Hampton).
We stayed in Rome for 3 nights before the cruise started. I indeed fell in love with this city! I fell in love so bad that I want to retire there.
On our last night in Rome, in our hotel (which was a 500 year old castle in a romantic suburb of Rome called Grottaferrata), while we were walking in the garden, my sweetie proposed to me under the tree in the pic below, and I said "yes". So we're now officially engaged! :)





I'll upload some pix once I get a chance. For now, I am still recovering my jet-lag!

Besides, I need some time to enjoy looking at my ring! :)