Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hoping the magic and happiness of the Christmas season stays with you all though the New Year!

Naquy, my sister dog

Naquy before the surgery: she couldn't
stretch her legs

I already wrote about Naquy here on the blog, but I will talk about her again. In March (2015) Naquy will complete 14 years old. I'm 19, so as you can see we are together most part of my life. Years ago she had a terrible disease. Veterinarians didn’t know what it was. Until one day it was discovered: a bone disease. Fortunately we found the perfect remedy. Naquy still takes this remedy today and will have to take it forever. If not, she stops to walk and feels much pain. Years passed and she formed calluses on front legs (as you can see on the photo).

Earlier this year she had a bad cold and the vet did a general checkup. He said the callus became an open fracture and she had to be operated. I was afraid. She's an old lady for surgeries and also she’s so small and sensitive. Her surgery was last Thursday and I only saw her the next day. She was completely "plateau". Luckily she has improved a lot. She isn’t walking yet because she hasn’t confidence in his new legs, but with time everything will get better!

Naquy after the surgery with her legs stretched, still with
bandages and fleeced hair 

Vacations?

Reportedly “who feels a lot, keep quiet”. I don’t know if you know this saying, I think it's Brazilian. Well, I'm college vacation, but I think this hasn’t been enough. Maybe it's a small crisis of my "first year away from home". I don’t feel desire to come back to Ascurra, actually, only on weekends to visit family. I haven’t mentioned this on the blog yet, but a few months to here I feel bad. My nails are brittle, my cuticle is always poorly made (which never happened before); I literally can’t look at my hair - three years ago I only received compliments from my shiny curls, but now, especially after smoothing, I don’t know what are split ends: because I have a thousand tips on each end; I'm overweight I would like to be and the biggest problem is that I can’t lose weight. Of course I'm not above the healthy weight, but before I decided to live in Blumenau I practiced a lot of exercises. My legs are flabby and my abdomen is soft. Many people say that's bullshit, that I'm obsessed… But I’m really uncomfortable with this and how I don’t have time, I can’t go to the gym. To not to be really fat (because it's my genetics) I just eat a little. I'm not starving, but if I could I eat more, my stomach growls and if I eat more I feel very guilty. I will not get sick from it: I eat as is necessary amount of meat, vegetables and fruit. But when I was doing exercises I could eat sweets without worrying, because I could burn these calories.

This weekend I'm going to the beach with my boyfriend, my mother and my grandmother. I honestly don’t want to go, but my mother insisted, because she wants to buy our Christmas gifts. I ordered a flat iron for hair to my mom and my boyfriend will give me books. If you have any idea what I can ask my grandmother, I'm accepting suggestions. I don’t feel excited for Christmas.

I believe in ant logic. Little by little we can do much.
Sometimes the world seems to be too big for us, but our
persistence makes us biggest.

This year was, certainly, a year of major changes in my life. For 2015 I have planned many changes. I can’t tell you now, because one of the reasons for my "small depression" can read it and cause me problems. There are actually some people who are leaving me, in a way, with a kind of happiness sick. I want to turn me off of these people next year, probably in the first half of 2015, if all goes well. I need the right door to open at the right time, so I need to wait for the right moment and this makes me anxious! After all, patience wins all obstacles and that's what I need right now.

I work until December 19 and this same day I’ll come to Ascurra. Maybe I'll go to the beach. But I want to sleep a lot and to forget a little of this world. Lately there are few things that make me relax: my boyfriend, my guinea pigs, to sleep, to read books and your blogs!

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself. And sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can fall together.” Audrey Hepburn

Vacations: where are you?

Sorry about my disappearance.

The end of year is very busy; I had to study for tests and to do many and many homeworks. But I'm happy because my grades are pretty high. In Accounting, for example, I took 10 in all tests!

I have another week and a half of classes, so I can’t leave the blog updated now.

Hugs and see you later!

Dulce Maria

"If you look at the sky you will realize that there are a 

million of stars and that each of these is a dream to fulfill. 

Just never stop believing, because love and your dreams 

are the only door to eternity." (Dulce María)

No pares nunca de soñar

Nine years ago my passions have changed completely. I didn’t care about anything and anyone in my life until a Saturday I’ve heard a song in which I fell in love. I was so out of things that I didn’t even know the language of that music, and in that time it wasn’t as common as today to use Google. A while later I heard on one of the radios that the song was sung by a group called RBD. Then I realized: the so famous Mexican novel Rebelde. I had heard so much about it because my friends loved it, but, like I said, I was very turned off for everything. The next Monday I decided to watch the TV and in those few minutes I started getting interested in one of the greatest fanatical passions that I would have never imagined.  It didn’t take long time for me to become, madly, a big fan. In a few years I was with magazines, posters, CDs and DVDs all over the house.

This is RBD: Christian, Anahi, Dulce Maria, Poncho, Maite
and Christopher respectively

The good thing about this was that I changed. It was like everything I watched in the novel I could apply in my life. I started to make more friends because of it; I create interest in people; I started studying… Yes, I didn’t study before watching Rebelde. I have created interest for everything! Reading the magazines I became interested in books and thanks to this novel that today I’m attending Bilingual Executive Secretary at FURB. Because the novel is Mexican and the songs are in Spanish I created interest in languages​​. Before I fell in love for RBD I took English exam in the end of the year and it wasn’t because I didn’t know the contents, but because I wasn’t interested and I never studied for the tests. I started to love languages. First it was the Spanish, but then I wanted to do an English course. I'm here in this blog thanks to this.

My dream, as any fan, was to meet my idols. I went to a show in 2007, but I didn’t even get near them. On the other hand, just because I have seen them, already made ​​me very happy! As the group had thousands of fans in America it was very difficult to meet them. However, my hope never ended. I knew one day I would realize my dream to meet at least one of the six of the band. On August 15, 2008 the group disbanded. Some continued singing, others invested in the careers of actors/actresses.

So nine years after these the things never changed. I'm still fanatical for them, loving English and Spanish and with my dream upstanding. This past Sunday, the 22th, my dream was held. I went to the Dulce Maria’s show. I bought the ticket Meet & Greet and I could hold her and take a picture with her, in addition to having access to the VIP track. It was inexplicable how I felt. First I was very tired. The city of the show was four hours' drive from my town.  I woke up at 06 am. My parents and my boyfriend came with me and along the afternoon we did a tour to see the sights of Curitiba. On 4:30 pm I went to the row of the show. As my shorts was a light color I couldn’t sit on the floor to rest and I was standing by the end of the show, near ten o'clock. At seven-thirty of the night, approximately, the door was opened to take the picture with the singer. My legs were hurting so much, my back was throbbing, moreover sleep and fatigue. It changed in the moment I saw her from afar (I saw very bad, because I use two degrees of myopia and astigmatism and wasn’t wearing my glasses) all my pains are gone. I’m a very sentimental and weepy person, so can you imagine how I was? I focused on a single thought "I won’t cry before the photo, I won’t cry before the photo”.  

"No pares nunca de soñar" is a part of a song sung by
Dulce Maria when she was with RBD which means "Never
stop to dream"

The line went quickly and there I was! The redhead girl looked at me smiling and any thought at that moment was no more there. I hugged her and smiled for the photo. The photo will only be ready in fifteen days on her official site. I don’t make the slightest idea how this photo will come out! After the photo I was to the track to wait for the show. It was all wonderfully perfect. I got home nearly two hours in the morning and had to wake up early on Monday to go to work. I didn’t recover from the fatigue yet, but it was very worthwhile. It worth waiting nine years (and I could expect much more) to realize my dream. 

What I say to you is to never give up on your dreams, because when they are held everything in your life is worth, even the bad times. No matter what kind of dream you have, no matter if the others say it is impossible or ridiculous, just don’t give up! If it matters to you, run behind him. I can guarantee you won’t regret it.

R.I.P. Tom

Unfortunately Tom died Sunday at night ):

Yesterday the University Veterinary Hospital called to make an appointment. Too late.

But at least he is in a very beautiful place now!

Thanks everyone for the wishes. Surely Tom is also thanking.

My hamsters

This is the last Pita's photo. You can see the
tumor on her ear ):

Since I was a kid I always wanted a hamster, but my mom said "rats stink". I asked a thousand times and I gave up. So on my 16th birthday I asked again and to my surprise, my mother said "okay." I bought a pink cage and a small Chinese hamster. She was named Pita. Pita was very exciting. She jumped from the second floor of the cage like it was nothing. But she wasn’t eating much. I cleaned her cage once a week and rarely I had to put food for her twice. She was gentle and liked to walk around my room. I bought her in July and my boyfriend bought a boy in September to the next year. His name is Tom.

Last year, at the end of May I realized that Pita was thinning. She scratched his ear a lot. A few weeks later a small ball appeared inside the ear. I thought it was not serious because it looked like a cone like that when we grate the knee. In mid-June I realized that it wasn’t only a bruise. Pita was thin and the little ball turned a big ball. In Brazil a veterinarian who serves hamster charges a consultation around R$150/R$200. So I asked for help to a boy, he is a veterinary student. He said he would talk to the teacher and I sent him Pita’s pictures. The next day he answered me. He told me to buy a spray and an antibiotic. How it was July the University Veterinary Hospital was on vacation. The vet teacher only returned in August. Pita had a query and was free, but we had to wait two weeks.

This is Jujuba

Pita didn’t survive until her query. The remedies helped because I realized she wasn’t in pain, but the ball just grew. It was a tumor. She died on the coldest day of the year. She was by my side, curled up in my cardigan with a lamp to stay warm. I looked at her and she was looking at me. A few minutes later I went to look at her again and she was exactly the same. Then I realized she was dead with her eyes opened like she wanted to say “thank you, but now I need to go”. 

I was very sad, so that week my boyfriend took me on a farming to buy another hamster. I definitely felt better. Jujuba (in English Jelly Bean), my new hamster, decreased my sorrow. This year she made 1 year old. Pita died at 2. The life of a hamster is usually below 3 years old. Tom’s coming in the second. They (Tom and Jujuba) live with me and my boyfriend in Blumenau.

This is Tom

Yesterday were the day to clean the cages and when I got Tom I saw he's sick. One eye is all white and puffy and the other has a very small white spot. I guess that is cataract. Today I called the University Veterinary Hospital and I asked to an urgent care. The man said he will need to talk to the vet teacher, but he thinks they have a time next week and he will call me back to confirm. If it’s cataracts Tom'll become blind. Of course I don’t want it, but I'm hoping that it is, because I'll take care of him, blind or not. But if it is a tumor he will live only a few weeks.

I'm hoping for the best and praying that the vet will have time next week!

Meow!

Hello guys!

Today I decided to change my blog. Now I have a lot of cats here!
Do you like it?

15 years old

I have many cousins ​​from my father because he has five sisters and one brother. My mother has only one brother and he has two daughters. The oldest is called Natália. I always had more contact with her because my grandmother lives with me and Natália always visits us at the weekend. She is four years old younger than me, and this year, in September, she's birthday: 15 years old.
I remember well my 15’s. Everything was easier. I was model those years (with 13, 14, 15 and 16 years old)… I remember it was very easy to lose weight! I took care with the food and went to the gym. I lost weight well. Today this is no longer true. People say its age. I gain weight anyway, with or without gym. I'm not overweight, but I can’t lose weight if I want.

I had many friends when I was 15. In my party that year I invited 72 people. And do you know the truth? I don’t speak with anyone. Some people because they are no longer my friends and others because they take different paths to college and work. It’s common to happen with all us, isn’t it? With 15 years old everything was “pink” for me: friends, modeling, lose weight, good grades at school. Now I just have good grades at school, two or three friends and my boyfriend. But it’s enough!

Now I can’t be model anymore because my hip has 95 cm. Models must have a maximum 90 cm. This frustrated me at first. I thought it was unfair because there are many models that are skinny and ugly. The fashion world prefer thin and ugly than pretty girls with more than 90 cm hip. Today I don’t care anymore.

But back to 15… In September is Natalia’s party. The party will be amazing. She invited me in August; I'll be one of the “bridesmaids”! And I never knew you can have “godmothers” for 15 years. Did you know? She handed me a piece of tissue. The tissue’s color it's a nude, almost a color of coffee-with-milk. This color should be the dress I'll wear. Last Saturday I rented a very nice dress with this color. After the party I post the pictures here on the blog! 

Coins?

Maybe we are close to having a new economic crisis. Of course not as big as the 1920’s. Do you have many coins in your purse? Do you have a fat piggy at home? In my case no. I even have one piggy, but there is only a shirt button.

Another day I went to the supermarket to buy a few things. As usual I always use the food card. My company pays this card. I gain as worth R$250 per month in this card and it can only be used on the market to buy food. When I showed the card to the man, he smiled and said: “Coins?” Then I showed him the card again and he said: “You can shoot the value with coins. Do you have coins? We don’t. And we really need.”

The man told me that this year more than half of purchases are paid by credit or debit card. This is a big problem for all commerce. So, all employees ask (or should ask) the customers if they have coins. He told that there are few people who have and those that have, have few. I had forty-five cents. It seems very little, but if all people can exchange a few coins, in the end the supermarket will have many.

Good morning Brazil (?)

Good morning to the Brazilian people that wake up sad today. The “washed” was terrible yesterday. I've never really followed a World Cup. I watched this only because I had nothing else to do. Really. I never liked soccer. I was afraid of physical education class at school. I didn’t play anything, then people made ​​fun of me. But anyway…

"I just wanted to give joy to my people who are
suffering so much for so many things, I wanted
to apologize." (David Luiz)

What foreigners remember when someone talks about Brazil? Pelé and Gisele Bundchen?  Yes, and that's our biggest reality. Brazilian girls grow up wanting to be models and Brazilian boys grow up wanting to be soccer players. This way, fashion and soccer only grow in our country. And that's not shameful, no child's dream is shameful. That’s why the defeat yesterday was so sad. On the one hand, the political side, it was good. Dilma and their "sheep" deserved this defeat and I pay tribute to them all seven German’s goals. But then the children cry. Anyone who watched the game saw that they really cry.

What not to miss in the media is the jokes. Some people are giving thanks to God everything turned out. Some people think that the money spent on Cup could be invested in hospitals and schools. It is clear that Brazil needs hospitals and schools. But with or without Cup, more hospitals and schools wouldn’t exist anyway.

I remember when my school class earned money to go on an exchange to Italy. My school was private. In the same year the public school asked for a library and they didn’t win. Can you imagine the revolt of the city? But we had nothing to do with it. The politicians who didn’t want to give money for the library. With or without our trip it wouldn’t change the decision. Our country is corrupt. Education doesn’t matter for politicians. Neither health. Unfortunately. I'm not the type of person who does demonstrations of anger on the streets. I'm working and studying all day just to not depend on politicians of my country. 

I was sad for the Cup. Seven goals is a shame. Neymar and Thiago Silva couldn’t play. Of course that made ​​the difference. But it was sad. Is sad because a large country was so united and cheerful… Because a suffering people can twist while they have to pay taxes until to drink water. I think this is amazing. It's amazing how the colors of the flag are everywhere. And now that dream is over. Of course it was deserved to Germany. They played very well. Congratulations! David Luiz has nothing to apologize. He is and still will be an idol for dreamy children.

As they say: if Brazil lost the World Cup, Dilma loses the elections. Now is just wait for the second part, the best. But I doubt this wonderful thing will happen.

Italian, German or, after all, Brazilian?

One more semester of school is over. The third semester. I've never been so happy to finish a season of studies. It was a very difficult period. I don’t know why. Maybe I didn’t adapt myself to the new city yet. Blumenau is very different from Ascurra. I miss a lot Ascurra. Of course Blumenau is better in several respects, for example, here is all: supermarket, pharmacy, shops, my college and my job. But it's hard to be surrounded of German nationality when I grew with the Italian dialect. And I'm not talking about the accent. People are very different. In Ascurra everyone knows each other. You go out in the street and talk with many people. You can leave your house with your gate open. You know even the dogs in your whole neighborhood. You can speak with “R or L pulled” (how we say, like Spanish people) and nobody will make fun this. I felt very safe there and when I moved to Blumenau many things changed. It’s very strange to me walking down the street and don’t have anyone to talk to.

Now things are getting better. I already know the drivers and conductors of buses. I always gave a good morning to board in the bus and now they look at me already waiting my good morning. And there's also the janitor. Sometimes, in the morning, I find him cleaning the lobby of the building.

At college the things wasn’t good. I didn’t like some teachers and some subjects. And about the oral presentation, thank you for your good wishes, I was really happy with your comments! My score was 10. 
Because of the college I disappeared from the blog. All the teachers were crazy and gave us a lot of homework. One of this was a business plan. In a team of four, we had to create the organizational part, financial, human resources, marketing, strategic analysis and competition from a company that we had to create. So we create an Italian delivery food called NonnaMangiare. It was so hard.

I never felt disheartened before. I had studied about it and I thought it was something like dismay. But it is somewhat different. What's worse: I don’t know why. What makes me happy now is get home, lie down with my boyfriend and my guinea pigs to watch novel. Maybe it was because in recent days I've had so many homework and tests that have left me very stressed. Or it’s age. Friday is my nineteenth birthday. And what's the best? Brazil will play Friday because of the World Cup, that’s why I'll leave my job three hours before. I can go home. I can go to Ascurra.

This is the video we did! Who speaks here is my two 

grandmothers and my boyfriend's grandfather

in our Italian dialect

Oral Presentation

Last week my teacher gave to my class a difficult homework:  make a presentation in English in front of the class. I really don’t have problems with presentations because of my High School. But it changes when I have to change my language.  It’s easy to speak in Portuguese, because even I don’t know well the subject, I can improve. But in my second language it’s not so easy.

We could choose a subject involving Business. We have at least 5 minutes and no more than 7 minutes, but without readings, no way! I searched a lot and I decided to speak about Public Speak. What could be better? I found a good and easy text to study. The title is: “6 Things You Should Never Say During a Speech” by Jacqueline Whitmore.

I’ll explain it:

When you’re new to public speaking, it can be difficult to say everything you want to say. That’s why a lot of people never want to speak on public. But, in true, the content of the speech is often less important than how you present it. When we attend presentations by speakers who appear calm, confident and organized, we feel more interested. Even if you’re nervous, it’s better to act confident and to try to not reveal your true feelings. The trick is to stay as calm as possible and to try to do your best.

1. One thing you shouldn’t say during a presentation is “Hello? Can everyone hear me?” A lot of new speakers will tap the microphone and ask if the people can hear them. In Brazil we say “Alô, testando, 1,2,3…”. If you’re speaking at a large conference, there’s a good chance that someone in the audiovisual department already checked the audio. But it’s always a good idea to check it before you go to speak. You shouldn’t think that your equipment will or won’t work correctly. Arrive early to check everything out so you will be better prepared.

2. Other thing is “Are you out there? These lights are bright.” When you’re on stage, the lights can be very strong and you become blind, but no one needs to know you can’t see anyone. Just speak into the dark and give the best presentation you can. Alternate where you direct your attention to give everyone the impression you’re looking right at them.

3. Never start your presentation with an excuse like “They only invited me yesterday” or “I didn’t have much time to prepare”. The people listening to your presentation are expecting you to do your best, independently of how you feel or how much time you’ve had to prepare. If you don’t have a lot of time to practice, choose a topic that’s familiar to you. If you don’t feel well, keep calm and stay hydrated.

4. “In the future, I plan to…” If your new product is still in production, try not to tell anyone. Your plans could change. Most new products and ideas will change and evolve based on new information and feedback. Tell about your new designs, products and offers when they’re ready. Most people don’t want to hear about your hopes for the next five years. They only want to hear about what is available to them right now.

5. Don’t use “Um,” “uh,” “you know,” and “like.” Using these words often takes away from the effectiveness of your presentation. They are also distracting and make you sound unsure about what you’re going to say next. Try pausing if you have to think of the right word. Or tell a story. This words oftentimes vanish when you get involved telling a story. Besides, people will remember a good story after they’ve heard you speak. Not be nervous thinking in what your boss, colleagues or family will think about what you say wrong. Be calm and do your best.  

6. “Hmm, the font is small.  Let me read this slide for you.” A visual presentation full of words is boring. Use pictures, short phrases and bullet points are ideal. Try not to read your slides. Everyone came to see you speak, to share your ideas, not hear you read. Any visuals you choose to bring should only serve to make better your speech. Remember, people came to see you, not your PowerPoint presentation.

The presentation is today at night! I know the subject. Now it’s time to stay calm and I hope everything will be ok!

What's the color?

I finally finished reading the ten books of the Princess Diaries. And I'm not disagreeing! The movie is even wacky. I don’t know why, in my opinion, the filmmakers decided to destroy the story. Several things can’t be explained as:

- in the book Mia’s cat is orange, in the movie he is black and white;

- in the book Mia’s father has a disease, in the second movie he's dead; 

- in the movie Mia’s grandmother is a love, in the book she’s not it;

- in the book Mia's bodyguard is called Lars, in the movie his name is Joe;

- in the book Mia’s love is Michael, in the movie is Nicholas.

This is my cats: Farofa and Britney, respectively. Do you confuse the colors? I don't think so!

But I loved the end of the book. It was exactly what I imagined. Mia and Michael get together! I tried to search something about this big mess between the book and the movie, but I didn’t find. For me, to change the cat’s color and really delete Michael (one of the main characters) was terrible. So I can write here the books are better than the movie! As always! Or do you know some movie is better than the book?

Nonno

Exactly one year and one day ago I was coming back from the beach when I received the news you had gone to the hospital. Well, I didn’t worry so much, because grandfathers are our heroes and heroes are always strong. I knew I’d see you soon and I’d hear you complaining about the medical care, the remedies that you’d have to take, we were going to laugh all this and for your stubbornness you were already going to work. But it didn’t happen. Then, the next day I received the news that nobody in the world wants to receive. But I still don’t know to define this kind of feeling, because day after day, even passed the three hundred sixty-five days of the year, for me, you're still alive. It seems that when the weekend comes from, I feel I’m going to visit you and you’ll be there with your dark pants, light shirt, the same hat ever and, of course, the good humor that only a grandfather can have. I honestly can’t remember seeing you angry. That's how I’ll always remember you: smiling... And I know that your smile is the brightest star in the sky.

Books, books and more books

I'll tell you a secret: I have an addiction for books. And how many people I also have a dream: to have a big library in my house. I love reading. I like romance, comedy, drama and a bit of suspense. I don’t like thriller. I tried to read a thriller book when I was about 12 years old and I never more interested in it. I like books cliches like the Twilight Saga, Harry Potter and the Princess Diaries.

The first book I read was Lassie Come Home and I was very young to face a big book! I was still in elementary school with 11 years old. That's how I started to enjoy reading: reading dog’s books. A while later I read Marley and Me. Then I read maaaaany books…  I have nearly a hundred books at home and when I was at high school (two years ago) I always went to the library’s school. Now I don’t go anymore because in my college they don’t allow you enter with your bag. You have to leave your things in a lockable cupboard. The problem is that last year I discovered something: any key opens any closet. In that day I had a key and, unintentionally, I opened the wrong cupboard. I only understood when I opened the cupboard and I saw that it was empty. Then I looked at the key number and the number of the closet and they weren’t the same! After that day I never left my things in the closet. I think they are trying to change the system. But since that day I almost never go to the library, so, I really don't know about it anymore!

I buy books from a bookstore called Livraria do Sebo. It’s a bookstore with used books and the prices are the best! Today I bought seven books for R$48,00 with free shipping. For you understand $1,00 corresponds to R$2,21. I don’t know how much cost the books in other countries, but in Brazil, to buy one new book you need at least R$50.

The books I bought are:

1. Huck: a História de um Cachorrinho Que Ensinou Lições Sobre Esperança (Portuguese)

2. Princesa: Mia (Portuguese)

3. A Princesa no Limite (Portuguese)

4. A Cabana (Portuguese)

5. Cat Among the Pigeons (English)

6. Angels & Demons (English)

7. Infância (Portuguese)

It will be a great challenge for me to read Angels & Demons in English. But I know it will help me to learn more English! 

Crosswalk

In Blumenau the town hall and Seterb launched an amazing and very cute campaign!

On the first day the campaign began, I went to work and I've seen the board of a Border Collie near the semaphore. I thought it was a campaign for the animals. Then, I saw that the dog holds a plaque "The pedestrian’s best friend - Respect the crosswalk". So, at night I saw the advertisement on TV. "The goal of our campaign is, mainly, to encourage people to use the crosswalk. In 2013, Blumenau recorded 205 roadkill and, this year, only from January to April, 53 accidents have occurred as well. Of these, 38 occurred when people were in the crosswalk and, in total, two of which died. We want to alert and attentive people to do their part in traffic" explained Chisté. I loved the campaign. I think if they hadn’t done it with a dog, it doesn’t call much attention. After all, if you're walking down the street and see something like this, you probably will want to know about! In the first days many people were frightened. I saw some people stopping to read the yellow nameplate. The ad was very well done. Because it's true: people don’t expect the green light to cross the road. They think it will “take time” and run in front of cars. When I'm on the motorcycle with my boyfriend, we have to take care because if traffic is slow, people come from all sides trying to cross the street.According to the website SBT, nine thousand people die each year in roadkill in Brazil and one reason is the insufficient time to stay open the pedestrian traffic lights: only 38 seconds. When I cross the street from my apartment and college, I have to cross two crosswalks. The second is opened just about 15 seconds. Of course, that’s why, the university risk their lives crossing the street at the red light. I also saw in Blog do Jaime than May is a reference to transit actions, because in 2011 the United Nations (UN) declared the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020). Well, I hope the vandals don’t ruin this beautiful art that the town city and Seterb had the great idea of ​​creating. It's great to see that politics works in this city! And the photo is from Blog do Jaime!

Have a look in the video... Is the dog a good actor, isn't he?  

The Princess Diaries

The books tell the story of Mia Thermopolis, a younger student. She lives with her mother and with her cat Fat Louie. Her best friend is Lilly and Mia loves her brother Michael (but nobody knows). She always writes in her diary (that’s why the title). Sometimes she tells what happened in her day, what homework she has, what she has to study (like Algebra) and what she dreams. What Mia didn’t know was the true about her father’s family: the royalty. Mia, indeed, isn’t a simple student, she is a princess! She is the princess of Genovia! It really changes her life. Her grandmother trained her to be a good princess, teaching good habits, etiquette, way of walking/dressing and she changed her haircut. It was a secret, but one day everybody already knew and Mia started to be famous in the entire world, mainly in her city. During the book Mia and Lilly has some problems and Mia makes a new friend: Tina. Mia, in the middle of one of the books, is girlfriend of a boy she doesn’t love. She only likes him as a friend… After she discovers that Michael also loves her and she broke with the boy. On the end of the year (and in the other book) she travels to Genovia and she doesn't talk to Michael for some months. At the end she meets him and Lilly, they had a good day and they’re very happy.

Mia before (student)                     Mia after (princess)    

Anyway, I read the first four books. In total there are ten books. I bought the fifth, but the post office is having problems with delay. I couldn’t stand my curiosity and I watched the movies (two). Now I'm confused! In the first, tells the story of the tree first books: even when Michael and Mia are together. Until this ok! But, in the second everything changes! Some years have passed... At first Mia is on the plane reading her diary and she thinks "Now Michael and me are good friends." And finally, we don’t hear about "Michael" in the rest of the film. HOW? I really don’t know. 

Mia would be crowned queen, but there was one problem: she had to be married. And she, herself, said: "How will I get married if I never fell in love"? NEVER? AND MICHAEL? WHERE IS MICHAEL? The production of the film, literally, deleted Michael. (Maybe) Do they have problems with the actor? 

Nicholas, Mia and Andrew

Her grandma says that's how the Princepessa’s world works: with arranged marriage. Mia thinks it's ridiculous, but if she doesn’t marry, her family wouldn’t be of royalty anymore and it’s a very big tradition. In honor of his father (he died of cancer) she decides to meet some princes. Lilly surprises her coming to Genovia. Together, they pick through all potential husbands. Mia chooses Andrew Jacoby and they decide to get marry (everything because of the royalty, for him too). But Mia is falling in love for Lord Nicholas: the second in line to win the crown of Genovia (after Mia). The biggest problem is Nicholas’s uncle wants Mia isn’t crowned and he becomes an enemy. Nicholas fights with his uncle and says he doesn’t want to destroy Mia (he loves her) and not "run down" anyone to achieve his dreams. At the end, Mia doesn’t marry Andrew. She makes a speech saying that the law shouldn’t compel the princesses get married to be queens. The parliament agrees and Mia becomes the queen. After, Mia and Nicholas get together.

A scene of the first film (Mia and Michael)

After the disappearance of Michael on the movie I read some spoilers of the book. In the blogs I've visited nobody mentions Nicholas. Mia won’t get with Michael in the end of the book anyway. But this is a big mess! She will get with a third boy, from what I understand. I think the filmmakers invented Nicholas for people like more the movie, because I think if Mia gets with a third boy who appears only in the later books (and he isn’t Nicholas), for me, it will ruin all the books. I don’t know where Meg Cabot was thinking... But I still need to read all the books to write about my possible revolt. I just wanted to read this collection because is the genre of fairy tales, with a happy ending. Can Mia have a happy ending without Michael? I think no.

What is a foreign language worth?

JOHNSON is a fan of the Freakonomics books and columns. But this week’s podcast makes me wonder if the team of Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt aren’t overstretching themselves a bit. “Is learning a foreign language really worth it?”, asks the headline. A reader writes: My oldest daughter is a college freshman, and not only have I paid for her to study Spanish for the last four or more years — they even do it in grade school now! — but her college is requiring her to study EVEN MORE! What on earth is going on? How did it ever get this far? … Or to put it in economics terms, where is the ROI?
To sum up the podcast’s answers, there are pros and cons to language-learning. The pros are that working in a foreign language can make people make better decisions (research Johnson covered here) and that bilingualism helps with executive function in children and dementia in older people (covered here). The cons: one study finds that the earnings bonus for an American who learns a foreign language is just 2%. If you make $30,000 a year, sniffs Mr Dubner, that’s just $600.
But for the sake of provocation, Mr Dubner seems to have low-balled this. He should know the power of lifetime earnings and compound interest. First, instead of $30,000, assume a university graduate, who in America is likelier to use a foreign language than someone without university. The average starting salary is almost $45,000. Imagine that our graduate saves her “language bonus”. Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe (a statement dubiously attributed to Einstein, but nonetheless worth committing to memory). Assuming just a 1% real salary increase per year and a 2% average real return over 40 years, a 2% language bonus turns into an extra $67,000 (at 2014 value) in your retirement account. Not bad for a few years of “où est la plume de ma tante?”
Second, Albert Saiz, the MIT economist who calculated the 2% premium, found quite different premiums for different languages: just 1.5% for Spanish, 2.3% for French and 3.8% for German. This translates into big differences in the language account: your Spanish is worth $51,000, but French, $77,000, and German, $128,000. Humans are famously bad at weighting the future against the present, but if you dangled even a post-dated $128,000 cheque in front of the average 14-year-old, Goethe and Schiller would be hotter than Facebook.

Why do the languages offer such different returns? It has nothing to do with the inherent qualities of Spanish, of course. The obvious answer is the interplay of supply and demand. This chart reckons that Spanish-speakers account for a bit more of world GDP than German-speakers do. But an important factor is economic openness. Germany is a trade powerhouse, so its language will be more economically valuable for an outsider than the language of a relatively more closed economy.
But in American context (the one Mr Saiz studied), the more important factor is probably supply, not demand, of speakers of a given language. Non-Latino Americans might study Spanish because they hear and see so much of it spoken in their country. But that might be the best reason not to study the language, from a purely economic point of view. A non-native learner of Spanish will have a hard time competing with a fluent native bilingual for a job requiring both languages. Indeed, Mr Saiz found worse returns for Spanish study in states with a larger share of Hispanics. Better to learn a language in high demand, but short supply—one reason, no doubt, ambitious American parents are steering their children towards Mandarin. The drop-off in recent years in the American study of German might be another reason for young people to hit the Bücher.
And studies like Mr Saiz’s can only work with the economy the researchers have at hand to study. But of course changes in educational structures can have dynamic effects on entire economies. A list of the richest countries in the world is dominated by open, trade-driven economies. Oil economies aside, the top 10 includes countries where trilingualism is typical, like Luxembourg, Switzerland and Singapore, and small countries like the Scandinavian ones, where English knowledge is excellent.
There are of course many reasons that such countries are rich. But a willingness to learn about export markets, and their languages, is a plausible candidate. One study, led by James Foreman-Peck of Cardiff Business School, has estimated that lack of foreign-language proficiency in Britain costs the economy £48 billion ($80 billion), or 3.5% of GDP, each year. Even if that number is high, the cost of assuming that foreign customers will learn your language, and never bothering to learn theirs, is certainly a lot greater than zero. So if Mr Saiz had run his language-premium study against a parallel-universe America, in which the last half-century had been a golden age of language-learning, he might have found a bigger foreign-language bonus (and a bigger GDP pie to divide) in that more open and export-oriented fantasy America. And of course greater investment in foreign-language teaching would have other dynamic effects: more and better teachers and materials, plus a cultural premium on multilingualism, means more people will actually master a language, rather than wasting several years never getting past la plume de ma tante, as happens in Britain and America.
To be sure, everything has an opportunity cost. An hour spent learning French is an hour spent not learning something else. But it isn’t hard to think of school subjects that provide less return—economically, anyway—than a foreign language. What is the return on investment for history, literature or art? Of course schools are intended to do more than create little GDP-producing machines. (And there are also great non-economic benefits to learning a foreign language.) But if it is GDP you’re after, the world isn’t learning English as fast as some people think. One optimistic estimate is that half the world’s people might speak English by 2050. That leaves billions who will not, and billions of others who remain happier (and more willing to spend money) in their own language.

Source: The Economist