A delightful lunch!

Yesterday the sun decided to shine making me the happiest woman ever alive. Oh God, I did miss the feeling of sunshine on my shoulders making me happy! Thanks John Denver!

I spent a lot of time outside, trying to get every single ray of light to light my day up. I was in deep need of it. Bright blue sky brings hope to my heart, brings warmness to my life and it makes me feel alive. I may not be a vegetable, but I do need sunlight to feel vigorous and vibrant. As someone once said, the sun always shines and I'm so happy for that.

I'm feeling like a child opening a Christmas's gift, as excited I'm feeling with the blue sky that just appeared on my window yesterday and today. It was/is so blue, so beautiful to look at.

To enjoy my day to the fullest as it were a holiday, I decided to go to a local fish market to have lunch. By the way, Taiwan is a island, and island is any piece of land that is surrounded by water, right? In Taiwan's case it is surrounded by the China Sea - Pacific Ocean!

Even though Taiwan is surrounded by water, it has no beach culture. If I drive for like 10 minutes I'll get to the sea, but not to the beach. Well, there is beach... if you think on a portion of sand where we can see some waves dancing...yes there is beach. But then you look around and you see just industrial port that releases all its trash directly to the sea. It really breaks my heart.

When I moved to here I was so excited about going to the beach like daily. I do love everything about beaches. I lived in a island before, in Brasil and it was amazing. I lived in Florianópolis for 2 years. I just love that city so so much.
When I was moving to here I just had a good "déjà vu" in my life. Living in a island again, what a paradise! Beautiful and clean beaches of Florianópolis were on my mind and I couldn't stop thinking about how great it would be to live in a island-country because living in a island-city, having 42 astonish beaches to choose was absolutely wonderful.

It was a great frustration to see that people don't go to the beaches here. I don't know if they don't go because the beaches are very pollution or if the beaches are very polluted because people don't go to it. I guess if Taiwan had a beach culture the government would care about it.

Well, this post is not about the pollution in Taiwan, it's about having fun under sunlight!

As I was saying, I drove to the fish market to have lunch and it was adorable.

The fresh sea-food was so delicious, the huge shrimps made me extremely satisfied, the fish barbecue was delightful. Oh God, it was melting in my mouth! It was deliciously well grilled to my total pleasure. And the small lobsters was divine. What a meal!
The fried rice is something. I do love fried rice and the way Taiwanese cook the vegetables is very delicious and I'm not exaggerating here right Bluefish!?

After lunch I walked a little near to get to know the place better. The fish market is well built and has a nice square facing the China sea where you can sit and get lost on your own thoughts. The day was very windy and I was very thankful I chose trousers instead of a summer dress. It could be a disaster!

I love when a nothing day becomes a especial day without apparent reason.

Going to the Fish Market, Taipei International airport road

A picturesque welcome to the market!

I love the blue color of the fish boats!

Kids having fun!

I have no idea what the guy was talking,
but everybody was laughing good!

Sea Food! All kinds, shapes, sizes!

Very fresh fishes!

I love how they display the fishes!

The giant shrimps! So delicious!

The small lobsters! Amazing!

Fish barbecue! I want to eat this daily!

Very windy day!

China Sea, and no beaches!

Paella para mí! Paella for me!

My dinner today! Sooo delicious!

Oh God, have mercy!!

Sunday evening, cold weather...
It calls for a good red wine and comfort food!

Comfort food for me is something that I really feel embracing my soul already at the first bite. There are many dishes that I call comfort food and one of them is this delicious and beautiful Spanish dish called paella.
It's so simple to make and the aroma it spreads on the air is really fantastic.

The wine? A 2003 Tapeña, Garnacha!

Whey Protein

As I have talked here few times, I have a rare thyroid disease. Thyroid is a gland, butterfly shape, localized in the bottom part of the neck, but it can move around, a little, as well. It controls our metabolism and many other functions of our bodies and it may cause many little problems that are usually not cared, especially by/in women. Those "little problems" get huge if not treated on time and they can really mess a life up and I mean it, unfortunately by my own experience.

When this little gland decides on its own to be decompensate, even taking levothyroxine regularly, basic activities become a nightmare. The symptoms list is huge, but actually I'm having the worst 2 symptoms that are the "extreme exhaustion" and the "intellectual ability worsens".
For me those 2 are the worsts one because they interfere greatly in my physical, intellectual and emotional capabilities, letting me in a terrible shape.

I'm feeling so tired that it seems I have loaded a truck of rice bag all by myself without any rest as exhaust as I'm feeling and I feel this way just few seconds after I open my eyes in the morning. Then as the day goes by, I can tell that I'm dead!

All my body aches and being almost in the same position for sometimes over 15 hours doesn't help much. My body is getting the shape of my chair, my arms are stiffing and my legs are very swollen.
I swear to God that I'm not a complainer... Or at least I don't complain in vain... Well, complain to whom anyway?!

I'm taking a muscle relaxer and it is helping a little. Today I thought I couldn't walk due to the heaviness of my lower legs. I tried to have them in repose for some hours, but suddenly I looked around and I noticed that I didn't clean the apartment on Sunday and it was a mess for my organization standards.
I got up and I vacuumed, I mopped, I washed the dishes, I cleaned the oven and the fridge, I washed the towels, I wiped off the dust, I organized some papers on my desk, I cleaned the bathrooms, I made my bed, I cooked and washed, dried and placed the dishes again, I read, I wrote, I answered emails and returned some calls, I charged batteries, downloaded and organized some pictures, I took the trash out, I changed some plants from different vases and I guess that's all I've done today. I'm feeling over-tired now but with a reason at least!

All the pain, tiredness and uncomfortableness don't bother me, really. What really drives me insane is the intellectual/memory thing...what can be worse to a grad student who doesn't do anything else beside reading and writing days after days...
It's so frustrating when you finish a page and then you turn it and inquire yourself...what did i just read...and you don't remember...

Those 2 symptoms can be easily identified by people who have thyroid dysfunction. Adding to it, usually, the lethargy as well. It can take a while to realize that the women (more frequently than men) are not being lazy or inactive or always in a bad mood that are also precisely symptoms that something is not going ok with the gland. However there are symptoms/consequences that are so gradually installed in our bodies that even trained physicians will not relate them with thyroidism as first sign, or second sign or third sign... I'm talking about the lost of protein!

One of my physicians in Brasil, a very competent nutrologist, Lunamaris Moure, found out few years ago that my muscles couldn't hold protein into them anymore. This happens because thyroid "eats" it up very slowly. We both women and men lose muscles as we age, and protein is one of the main compound that gives sustenance to our muscles! Without it, our muscle cannot be capable to develop its functions properly! It can became a critical problem.

Woman and man who have a dysfunctional thyroid need a little extra help with the protein intake! You can find harmless protein shapes in sportswear and natural food stores very easily. Usually they come in huge pots and has flavor, what doesn't work out for me.

As I have a very natural diet and my body doesn't accept too much refined anything, it wasn't easy to adapt to those shakes and I didn't! I puked every time I need to take it. My stomach doesn't accept those "aliment" with so many ingredients in their labels written in codes.

So, will­ing of all disposition and hope I spent many long hours goggling about whey protein and I found Bio Pro in the USA. It was a blessing because Bio Pro has no flavor and mix with juice very easily as you can see below.

Immediately as I found it, I emailed it to my nutrologist and she approved it after carefully examined what it was made of!

It's unbelievable how it works good and fast. It goes directly to the muscles and almost 100% of it is absorbed, leaving very little to be expelled by the urine, what can provoke renal stones.

I take my whey protein regularly and I cannot be without it for long. Unfortunately the Whey Protein Institute doesn't ship it abroad and it's necessary to have someone in the USA to receive and send it to me.
Thank God good friends are everywhere!

Well, it isn't the most delicious shake ever, but it isn't bad at all. I take it with pleasure!
This is how I prepare my protein!
Enjoy it!

**I'll go to bed now! In few hours I'll go to the hospital to draw some blood out to test my levels of hormones. For sure something is not ok! I'll do Free T4 and Free T3 and TSH-Thyroid Stimulating Hormone!

Hot Pot and Mandarin

It's so strange! I feel as the Wednesday has being stolen from the week! Really, I did get scared when I was told that today was Friday and here in Taiwan is already Saturday!
I'm getting dizzy about how time is going fast, faster indeed!

Even though one day of my week was stolen...really I didn't see the Wednesday this time, I did a lot of things and one of them was going out with very nice people and I was able to enjoy great conversations! I have written about Taiwanese people but I always think that I miss some details or that I didn't say enough!
Going out with them really means having a great time! They are funny, cordial, and they really take time to explain and answer all questions and comments with a huge smile and an opened heart! They also try their best to make sure you are feeling comfortable and enjoying the place we are in!

We went to a Hot Pot restaurant and it was my first time there! When the food started being served I really was amazed and shocked by the amount of food! It could feed myself for one week or so and I'm not kidding!
The table has wholes where the pots are fixed. Each eater has her/his own pot and the control of its temperature as you can see in a photo below! The food you order comes raw to the table and you boil it in the hot pot and you season it with the selection of sauces available!

It was really good! I ordered fish and crustaceans and the side dishes were rice, lettuce, cabbage, mushroom and rice cake! I was told that everything, except the rice, should be boil and I just followed the crowd! What a dinner! I enjoyed everything, it tasted soooooo delicious!

Hot pot table!

Typical Taiwanese Hot Pot restaurant!
It's a lot of food and little Irene didn't stop eating...

It's really hot the hot pot!
The smoke is everywhere!

And my Mandarin class! The teacher is sooooooo cute, patient and her voice sounds so tuned to my out of tune ears! Thank God she laughs on my lack of tongue skills to reproduce exactly the so similar pronunciation of some group of "letters"!

I'm taking Mandarin at Chung Yuan Christian University, in Jungli and I'm really enjoying it! In fact I'm being able to even say some basic phrases and I'm very proud of it! Tonight I tried some of them on my friends and they even understood me right away! I almost exploded in joy!

I'm having a great time here in Taiwan and I'm so in huge need of having a great time that I'm enjoying it until the last drop!
Tomorrow I'll go to the National Museum in Taipei! As the weather didn't change a bit, I'll take the time to do indoors tourism and the National Museum sounds just perfecty!

Christine and me having fun...

I can understand what is written on the board!
Unbelievable!

The Power of Cheese

Yesterday I went to the Emmeltaler region here in Switzerland, where the famous emmental cheese is produced! It was beautiful as usual and I was wondering how such beautiful country could treat so badly the foreign people who lived here…it doesn’t match!!

So, I’m a cheese girl for sure! I love cheese, I was born in a state that the entire Brasil knows by its cheese, and I found out that I eat at least 25 kg of fresh mozzarella per year! I do have a very good calcium intake for sure!!

Is it heaven?? I really guess so!!

Sursee's lake

Anyway…living in Switzerland for 4 years and 7 month and have never visiting a cheese farmer is almost a sacrilege!! Yeah, I do treat cheese in this level of importance!!

The day was beautiful, sunny and bright, 22 degrees, and before it was gone I drove to the mountains and the smell of the grass amazed me. I have allergy with grass and its smell but in this region there is a native melisse and mint that makes the grass smells wonderfully!! I never had felt such an odor!
I know that what the cows eat have a direct impact in a flavor and taste of the milk and consequently in dairy products! So, it explains the wonderful flavor and aroma of the Emmental cheese!

Saturday was the first day of fall, but I felt it as the first day of summer because of the lack of sunny days this past season.

Goodbye Switzerland!

I'll never forget the smell of this grass...it sounds crazy I know!

Bucolic view

Well, I had an agreeable day!
In 4 weeks I'll be flying to Brasil and all my things already shipped! For the first time I'll have no answer when someone asks me where I'm living...

I started saying goodbye of Switzerland already!

Where is my Self?

Life is sometimes funny!!
Today I woke up, opened the window and I saw a very timid sunshine day, but at least it was a sunshine day. Here in Switzerland it’s a real big deal.

So, after drinking my strong “espresso-wannabe” café, I decided not to turn the computer on as I usually do!
Today I decided for another thing. I love to read. I use to read a lot since I was a little girl. In fact the library’s director of my town went to my house to talk to my parents when I was 13 years old, because she was very preoccupied with me. The reason? I was spending all my time there, at the library, reading. Anyway…

I was searching for something “light” to read. I was searching for an easy text, those that you don’t need to think about it after the reading is finished.
I knew exactly what kind of thing I was looking for.

Well, I have no idea why I think in English as soon I get up off the bed. Anyhow…
I was like: “Where is my Self?” “Where is my Self?” “Where is my Self?”
I was looking for my Self?! How stupid is that?
Yes, that’s right! I was looking for my Self!

And then I realize: what am I asking? Oh oh!!
Ops!! Calm down! Don’t panic! Think first! You can do it!
I freaked out! Do you have any idea what that “simple” question implies! Do you have any idea of the power of this sentence? It could be a real weapons of mass destruction?

Breath! You are just looking for your SELF magazine right now. That’s it!
You don’t need to start a philosophical thinking, again, about your most deep feelings at this time in the morning. You just woke up and even though it's 1 pm, it is still morning for you. (I’m a night person, so I go to bed at 4 or 5 am)

So, I drunk my coffee, I found “the” magazine and I tried to get over it all day long.
Tried to get over it all day long. Funny hum!?
I’m just trying, desperately, to do the opposite way!
I’m so crazy to get my life back on track again, that this stupid morning muddle, “where is my Self”, almost make a huge mess!

I drunk one more coffee and I laughed good!
I survived!