Today post may sound a bit serious and very personal, but it is part of who I am and could and would affect the way I see and do things that may be different from others.
I truly believe that everything happens for a reason… that is simply because of John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life…” said Jesus Christ.
Before I became a Christian, I always needed proof or some sort of evidence to verify each life events that happen to the point that… I always asked myself, “why on earth would this have to happen to me?”
No matter how many “because dot dot dot” for the answer of “why dot dot dot happened?” the question can NEVER be answered in full or totally acceptable to me.
But that has changed
After having put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ… my heart and my mind is at peace because I have stop asking myself “why dot dot dot?” because “everything happen for a reason” or reasons that has already been set by Jesus Christ, after all he is “the way” and “the truth” and “the life”
How could I say that I trust you, Jesus… but to always doubt in him when anything bad happen or when things doesn’t happen the way I – expected – it to be.
By having faith and trusting him, I simply believe that anything that happened is for the greater good and that it was from his best interest in my well being.
I mean… to think about it how heavy it would be if I were to have the burden of carrying all of the problems (or I thought that it was the problems) and try to solve them (maybe it doesn’t even need to be solve in the first place)
The way we do anything is the way we do everything – another phrase that I do live my life by.
I give the same trust and faith that I have in Jesus to all those around me. When I said I trust in Jesus, I meant it and that I would not doubt his method of how my life would turn out because… I simply trust in him.
…
..
.
But we all know that everyone is different and I guess I was wrong to assume that everyone would have the same mentality as I am, hence I create an expectation when someone said “I trust you.” I know that everyone is different because no matter how many reasons explained… it sound like excuses to them.
Elbert Hubbard once said “never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.”
I think he got the point.
But the point is really, why would you ever doubt the person you said, “I trust you” to?
It has been months since my last really good pastry. It’s an hour passed midnight and I just suddenly had the craving for French pastries which reminded me of the shop that Simon and I visited at a city fair in Orgiva. I remember he bought a loft of bread a size of a football! You can see that piece of bread next to his water bottle. Huge! Another amazing thing was that the piece of bread is gone after half an hour and that was him, him alone!
How I wish I could grab a piece of these pastries now, along with jamón (dry-cured Spanish ham) and olive oil. Wouldn’t that be nice!!!
From the outside of the El Escorial, all we see is the stone, cold, and harsh walls; but it has a totally different feel once we made it thru the wall. A very warm welcoming is waiting patiently for the residents to come home.
*architecture 101: A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air. (wiki)
There are many times in life that… I just can’t seem to find words, pictures, nor paintings to describe what I want to say. Today is one of those days, a day that is best expressed by Debussy – Clair de Lune (moonlight).
In this world you tried,
Not leaving me alone behind.
There’s no other way,
I pray to the gods let him stay.
The memories ease the pain inside,
And now I know why.
All of my memories keep you near.
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near,
In silent whispers, silent tears
Made me promise I’d try,
To find my way back in this life.
Hope there is a way,
To give me a sign you’re okay.
Reminds me again it’s worth it all,
So I can go home.
All of my memories keep you near.
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near.
In silent whispers, silent tears.
Together in all these memories,
I see your smile.
All of the memories I hold dear.
Darling you know I’ll love you,
Til the end of time.
All of my memories keep you near
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near,
In silent whispers, silent tears.
After looking for pictures for hours in my thousands of images archived that I have taken over the past 2 years, ever since I got the camera, I found this picture that I took at a friend house in Orgiva, Spain to be very inspiring for me….
… I must have wrote pages for this post but chose to erase it because I couldn’t really explain why I choose this photo for today, November 11, 2009 – my 26th birthday.
Why?
Just because.
A day, a night, a year… with hope that achieves the impossible.
The sky was so blue, the clouds were scattered by the wind, the trees were waving along with the breeze of fresh air and I was just laying there, on the stepping stones. Letting the day drift away slowly and just simply staring at the clear blue sky wondering why… why do I think about “why” so much! And then I just kept on why”ing”.
It was then, when I captured the view while I was visiting the Retiro Park, as I laid down by the pool and waited for my friends to finishing rowing the boat.
One of the questions I had was… Who is this man?
After zooming at the picture, then googled the name… I found out that he was the King Alfonso XII of Spain reigning, from 1875 to 1885. The amazing thing is that he was born in1857 which mean that he became the king while he was only 18 years old.
For having faith, hope and belief that everything will turn out fine and alright… has turned me into a dreamer.
How ironic…
Call me whatever you want, as I am still going to be me… walking forward, because I believe that any hardship, any obstacle, or problem… can be overcome.
So what if something doesn’t turn out as I dreamed??? Then it is just “another” NIGHTMARE.
Woooppps… I must have left this post up for hours before I actually bloged it! That was because… I was creating a LinkedIn profile! Finally catching up with everyone else out there.
Okie… back to our topic… Architecture vs Nature. The thought of writing this topic really come down to a question… which is
Could there be architecture without nature and vice versa.
In my opinion, we need both architecture and nature for us to be able to enjoy the beauties of the 2 elements!
We just can’t have one without the other.
Today or perhaps tomorrow (not so sure now, lol)… at Les Roches Marbella, they are holding an Alumni reunion. Because of that… it reminded me that just few months ago I was working my ___ off at the school, reading tons of books, tring to finish loads of assignments, tring to stay awake in kitchen and having to make MUFFINS in the morning! Not to mention that… I started Two Steps Behind while I was studying there. So I had to learn how to blog, how to upload pictures, set up this and that… Life sure was busy then!
There were some rough times along that path but in the end… looking back, that wasn’t so hard compared to the working environment in reality. LRM was just getting you ready for that harsh reality! Opse… Did I scare you? It’s part of growing up, to live and learn!
Going to LRM was the best path I have ever taken, as of yet. It opened the opportunities around the world aside from meeting many great teachers and friends whom later become more like family to me! And to have met “her”… was just UN-BEE-LIVE-ABLE!
So… Dear LRM: Have a great ReeeeUNION!!! And have fun at SMALLWORLD! Sorry I can’t be there to get wasted with you guys
here are some photos that I took with many fond of memories of Marbella (http://www.twostepsbehind.com/tag/marbella/) and of Les Roches (http://www.twostepsbehind.com/tag/les-roches/)
This is Cristobal’s backyard with an amazing view to the Orgiva valley. Cristobal is Simon’s uncle who moved from Paris, France to Orgiva, Spain for the great simple lifestyle and to start his lovely family there. I was curious of why would he move from Paris, a place of many dreams, to Orgiva and small town in Spain. Understanding his reason was easy, it is true that Paris is a place of many dreams but it take everything of a man to follow ONE DREAM and MAKE it happen!
After moving to Orgiva with his wife, Isabelle and attempting to make a living… an idea came when Isabelle suggest that they could do a getaway weekend vacation package for visitors. That was how www.cuestadelalmendral.com got started.
Together, Cristobal and Isabelle have turned a dream into reality, a great simple life.
Um…. this is weird… I had so much to write when I was processing this just an hour ago. But now… I just blank out! Ahh! I can write about one thing… I didn’t take this picture, it was Matt! Yup… it was her … behind the camera and just pew pew pew!
I have never get on a chariot before but I sure will the next time I get a chance to do so. The reason that I haven’t get on one yet is because (this may sound silly to you but to me that is the reason)…. because I am the Walt Disney generation that the idea of chariot is always related to the Prince and Princess… so, getting on a chariot with my guy friends just doesn’t fit very well in my imagination! Awkward!
So until then… with my princess, Matilde ^_^
My concern is… do they have chariot in Portugal? Oh wait, how about Tuk Tuk instead!
It does look so much like the Cat’s Eye Nebula isn’t it?
Sunday afternoon, I suddenly remembered the Polar Coordinates filter in Photoshop that can turn a 360 degree panorama into a miniature earth. So I tried it with the 360 degrees of photos I have of the Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
Honestly, I wouldn’t imagine myself being in such a futuristic (section of the) city, Valencia, Spain. It was so surreal!!! I wonder if this, a very green like environment + a dorm like architecture for shelter, would be the direction that our civilization is heading towards? Or is it already too late for Earth? Okay then, let’s take this and make it happen on Mar, Venus and Moon! Or somewhere closer… DUBAI! It seems that everything impossible is made possible in Dubai with its seemingly unlimited supply of resources and investors!
Valencia… an amazing city!!! (I just can’t find any more adjectives to describe the city!) Simply, amazing!
It is very unhealthy for me to be blogging this right now, late at night, because I want to have all of those sweets right now! It was so good! We had a full box of them for our breakfast, lunch and dinner! This is the Dunkin Coffee by the Sol metro station in Madrid, Spain. How lucky were we to have found this shop right when we were starving!
That was the best box of donuts ever! So sweet, so good… very very good!
Okie…. that’s it, I am going to get a box of Dunkin Donuts tomorrow!
Amazing, amazing, amazing… !! That’s nearly all I can say about the moment I experienced while shooting this photo. There was so much energy in the surrounding area that I got so hyped up along with it. This was the the 72 hour trips from Marbella to Malaga to Murcia to Granada then Valencia and back… in 72 hours! That was the most amazing sight seeing marathon ever that was organized and planned every minutes of the way by Aude Filsack! There were Aude, Maxine, Maria and I! Well that was 3 girls and me! It said a lot about how much they must have trusted me along the trip, lol! Not that I am not trust worthy! But anyway, we got to share so many thoughts and ideas amongt each other during the trip. It is amazing how little time it takes for people to really get to know each other if we choose to open up.
Oh yes! This was the trip where a very very cheesy phrase was translate into Portuguese by Maria… during our very very cheesy dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was saying “you are the cheese to my macaroni.” That was so sweet! And the message was sent to… of course “Mattie”!
How cheesy was that! Ahh… great time! I miss you all! Aude, Maxine… Maria! Let’s do it again!!! But next time I promise to be your organizer but it is going to be in Portugal!
Hum… if we gotta dream… why not just dream big! Dream of it and make it happen!
Umm… I really don’t have much to write about today… because I am still dreaming about that big house and garden.
But what I would really prefer is… not a big house or garden but a happy family living in a house together regardless of the size or status, just a happy family understanding each other. Simple, yet not that simple!
About the picture, I took it during my trip to Madrid. Unfortunately it was about to rain as you can see, a storm was coming in! It was so cold that my fingers were freezing and it wasn’t easy at all to take these pictures with my exposed bare hands, yet I did it anyway. Then… it off to find a cafe for a really sweet hot chocolate! Yum!!!!
Okay… this is a section of Plaza Mayor Panorama that I took, of course at Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Spain. I know that I wouldn’t be able to remember everything there and all the activities at the plaza! So I just snap snap snap snap snap… and just keep shooting til I turned 360 degree (horizontally!)
The really fun part is in the “original” panorama file on flickr that I am having a hard time uploading because it has a 100mb file size! So the fun part is when, I can zoom in to see so much detail and all the shops and activities in the plaza! It’s really that FUN! You should try; well try it when the file is actually uploaded *update: the problem is that Flickr only allows 20mb file size… ahh I see!!
Tthe best part is… I feel as if I am right there with, you know who. ^_^ Which is the main inspiration for me to complete these 3 hours of processing the panorama required.
It was a night in Madrid, where I was going solo for the night all alone after letting my friends go to eat tapas and drink some beer. I was more interested in the city and because I wouldn’t have much of a chance to visit the city, hence I just keep walking and snapping at everything! phew phew phew! Here and there, mostly I was taking pictures of architecture but I felt that it wasn’t enough to remember the moment.
Not until I found this shot, the Vespa!
On a different subject… does anyone know what is the cause of eye twitching! My left eye has been twitching for weeks now! In Thai culture, we believe that the left eye twitching is a sign of GOOD LUCK! Or perhaps bad luck? Or perhaps… you know how when people sneeze, they said that someone is missing you… or is gossiping about you. Let’s hope that it is something “GOOD” that is happening when the eye twitches. Or actually… maybe it was just my eye twitching?
That was very superstitious of me, how silly!
Better stop thinking and rest some more, these storms and rain in Bangkok are starting to get to me!
No, this is not the Santa Cruz church in Bangkok. Instead this is the Valencia Cathedral in Valencia, Spain.
The plan for this weekend is to find the aforementioned Santa Cruz church, the very first Portuguese church in Bangkok. Hopefully they will allow photographing inside the church so that I get to share the moment with you. It’s a way for me to get to know the history and culture of Portugal as much as I can before actually moving there!
I am learning to speak Portuguese! Not very good yet… still on chapter 3 out of 24 chapters! Well, but it is a start! Why Portuguese? Because I am going to need it in 10,967,287 seconds or a mere 3,046 hours away before I’ll be settling in Portugal! (POR-tu-guese) Until then, I am filling every minutes of the day with as many activities as possible to keep the time going!
TIME FLYS!
Hello Neighbor. Good morning! is the translation of the title today. Actually the picture was taken in Madrid, Spain… NOT “POR” tugal!
Why do I emphasis “POR” tugal? Because I was lectured for saying “POL” tugal! and sometime “PO” tugal which is wrong. So, everyday… while driving to work… one of my lessons is to say the word “Portugal” correctly!
As much as we would like for him to turn around, he can’t as he is a statue, a part of the El Prado Museum Fine Art. We didn’t actually visit inside of the museum. We were taking a short cut to get to Retiro Park and found a place to rest after hours long of walking!
As for the picture, it was taken by Matilde when she got a hold of the camera for just a few minutes but she captured so many great pictures in those few minutes compared to me spending hours and hours, trying way too hard to get a few good pictures… I don’t even know if mine were any good!
I guess, trying too hard doesn’t always take us to what we were trying to achieve! Instead… just relax, do our best, don’t force it, just let it be… and then everything will work itself out!
It has been a while since the last time that I went to church. Another Sunday passed by and I am yet to find a church to attend regularly. In place of going to church, I spent most of my Sunday in, what I would like to call “pastry lab”. A pastry lab indeed, because no matter how many times I repeat the recipe… I can never produce the same pastry!
That is why… Practice makes perfect. Let the facade be the example of hard work and years full of practice to make the perfect facade for the Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral.
As for the photo at Santa María la Real de La Almudena, a Catholic cathedral in Madrid, SPAIN, I took this just weeks before I left Spain. Walking in the sun for hours, I was lucky enough to get a shot at this because Matt was exhausted from all the walk and wanted rest ASAP! So there I went, snapping photos as much as I could before we went to have our brunch near the Palace.
A mother holding her child… an unconditional love… a purest gift… the greatest joy. (This is Me… trying to write a poem)
I don’t think I can ever put words into defining what I would tell my mother on mother’s day. 2 Days ago, it was Mother’s Day in Thailand.. 12 August 2009. I couldn’t find a picture or word to tell her how much I care for her and love her.
Today, I found the one photo… with an inspiration by a mother that wouldn’t want to miss a minute spent with her child, a great mother indeed.
Dear Mother and mothers, I would like to dedicate to you, A True Angel by George W. Zellars.
A mother is special, she’s more than a friend.
Whenever you need her, she’ll give you a hand.
She’ll lead you and guide you in all that you do.
Try all that she can just to see you get through.
Good times and bad times, she’s there for it all.
Say head up, be proud, and always stand tall.
She’ll love you through quarrels and even big fights, or heart to heart chats on cold lonely nights.
My mother’s the greatest that I’ve ever known, I think God made my mother like He’d make his own.
A praiser, a helper, an encourager too, nothing in this world that she wouldn’t do.
To help us succeed she does all that she can, raised a young boy now into a man.
*update: the problem is that Flickr only allows 20mb file size… ahh I see!!
