Love is in the Air

In the Asian culture, right from the moment that we are born and even before little black hair follicles start sprouting out of our heads, we are given the message "Work hard" "Have a plan for your life" "Strategize". I take many of these cultural values to heart especially when it comes to trying to ensure the success of cross cultural relationships.  I would LOVE to tell you that for ensuring cross cultural relationships, love is in the air and all you need is love. But if I told you that, I would be breaking one of the 10 commandments, the sin of lying.

Old Now........New Now.......

With the rise of Groupon, within the last few yrs we've seen almost an epidemic of similar sites where once you find a deal, the idea is to name it and claim it within the time frame allotted to you. I personally have never grabbed anything off some of these daily deals sites but it was while listening to an podcast by pastor Paul Scanlon of Abundant Life Ministries, that I realized the greatest daily deal  is waiting to be claimed every second of my life.

Normally I don't talk about the sermons or messages I listen to but this particular message caught my attention and I realized that there was something in it for everyone.   The pastor was talking about what "Now" exactly means in the context of the length of time.  Would "now" considered be weeks, days, and minutes? In the message he brought to light that scientist discovered that "now" as defined as 5 secs. So every 5 secs. you get a new moment and that is an opportunity for a new reality.

There are two activities in the world that I believe help people understand more than anything the idea of moving from moment to moment. One is Argentine tango to which many of you know that I do participate in when I can. The other activity is surfing which I have my heart set on trying at least once

Déjà vu

There are times in life where a little moment happens that catches you completely off guard and makes you see how much you have changed and grown as a person. For me, that moment came when I walked into a grocery store for the first time after having just landed. As I was browsing through all the products available, I realized that I had something that I didn't have on my last trip.........awareness.

Stranger than Fiction

"Cómo estás?" she said to me, the usual Argentine greeting.  But as the words came out of her mouth, her countenance did a 360 degree turn.  Her tone of voice, her expression, her eyes looked like she was in some kind of dreamlike state.  All around us, a rainbow of vibrations permeated the air space.

Body language experts say that when it comes to eye contact between friends,  it is normal to look intermittently back and forth between them and other things in the room.  But when one stares at another individual with an unbroken gaze, it means something else entirely.  The only time that you have that kind of interaction between yourself and then other person is when you are in love.

The ambience was that of a magnetic field, electrically charged.  When I responded "Te extraño" (I miss you),  I could barely look at her for more than a few seconds before diverting my eyes away.  Her presence felt larger than life and seemed to be calling my name, beckoning to me and slowly drawing me in.

The service began and our attention turned from that powerful moment to the church service that was happening.  15 mins later when I turned to look at her to ask her something , she was completely back to normal like nothing had happened.

This may seem like a scene right out of a movie but in reality it's a scene right out of a book..........MY book "Argentine Eyes". And my book happens to me an autobiography meaning that this scene between Marisa and I is actually a clip straight from our personal lives.  It may seem strange but it definitely is not fiction. But rather it is stranger than fiction.