Last Sunday I woke up at 6am with a sore head and almost still dizzy from the not-so-few glasses of wine I had the night before. As I left the house and headed to work I pictured my neighbours sleeping peacefully and negative thoughts started to seep in: seriously, who has to work on a Sunday at 7am if not a proper loser? The sentence haunted me until the sun popped out reflecting in a mirror building on the motorway. It was beautiful. Orange and pink waves danced in the giant mirror as I drove. For some reason, that image brought me back in time, to a time when I was still a dreamer. The difference was that instead of the sunrise, I used to watch the sunset on the motorway on every Sunday as my family and I drove back from our beach house to Porto Alegre, where I was born and grew up. How I loved to daydream, looking at the multi-coloured view, and wonder what was happening on the other side of the World where the sun was just about to rise. I wanted to see every corner of the planet, discover new cultures, learn other languages and simply to never stop travelling. When I finally got back to the reality of the “here and now” I realize how much I have done. I have learned Spanish, lived in Madrid and Barcelona, where I studied, put on weight, worked illegally, loved, broken up, lost all my weight and moved to the UK. I thought that I was fluent in English before I went to London, but once there, I realised I was mistaken and learning English became an ongoing process ever since. I made good friends and had some good experiences in that crazy city but in summary I mainly partied until I got bored and went back to Brazil. I have to say that Brazil, during the summer, is by far the best place on earth I have ever been. The problem is that when spring arrives everyone goes back to their routines pretending to be serious people. So that was when I got bored again and returned to Europe. This time I tried my luck with Dublin, where I planned a five months temporary adventure. Those five months turned into five years of fun, love, family tragedy, work progress, loads of travelling, a gorgeous nephew, wedding and a new house! So there I was, sitting in my car with a smile on my face celebrating a decade full of achievements. Happy to have a job in a country where I am a foreigner and where those “born and bred” are still struggling to find a job; happy to have recently celebrated a one year anniversary with a “full-package” husband; happy to have A House, with a capital A and a capital H as it is much better than I ever dreamed of – ok, not a beach-front house but only 5min walk off it. Oh and I almost forget, I have a new puppy, Charlie! Then I was ready to start work! With a happy face!
