Some people give others what they want for themselves, right? I admit sometimes I've bought presents for others I liked, it's a bit like Homer Simpson in that episode where he gave his wife a bowling set. Well, my father is the highest exponent of this type of present-giver. He has alredy bought for my mother a tv set, a DVD, and, not long ago,a Thermomix. Needless to say, He is the one who watches more tv and records programs on the dvd. He just loves to explore new appliances, and the more buttons, the better. Now he's exploring the Thermomix, and has alredy made 100 variations of the same cake, playing chef and driving my mom crazy...
On another note, I'll be alone with the girls for 5 days. My husband left for this race in Morocco (he doesn't take part in it, he'll be just reporting from there). I wish I could go too!

Child well-being in rich countries

According to this report by Unicef "Child poverty in perspective: an overview of child well-being in rich countries", the Netherlands is the best country in the west to raise your children, while the United States and Great Britain are the bottom end (out of 21 countries). I thought it was quite surprising. Spain is 5th (not bad), and ranks high in subjective well-being, which means they feel happy but maybe lack things. The authors of this report evaluated 6 dimensions:
1-material well-being
2-health and safety
3-educational well-being
4-family and peer relationships
5-behaviours and risks
6-subjective well-being

Sant Jordi (Saint George) supposedly killed a fierce dragon and rescued a princess a long time ago in some little Catalan village... so that's what we celebrate, this legend...
It's a nice day, nearly every woman you see on the street is carrying a rose! We got 4 at home, you see them on the picture above (2 for me, 1 for each daughter).

A little bit of anything

1-I never thought I'd sign books, but I did! I'm the co-author (along with 7 other people) of a book about my hometown. So yesterday we all went to the book presentation. I didn't expect people to actually ask me for an autograph! LOL... Later my daugther watched me on this platform where my boss was giving a short speech and she said to my husband: "When will they give mom her prize?"
2-Today is Sant Jordi (Saint George), the most celebrated festivity in Catalonia. Men are supposed to get books from their girlfriend/wife and women get roses. If you're lucky, you get both. So far, I have a single rose... more about it on a next post! We're going for a walk and I'll take some pictures.
3-I read in El Pais that Ratzinger (the pope) stated that "hell exists and it is eternal". His predecesor said hell was not a physical place, but he seems to need to restore our image of fire and a red devil with horns and such... I've always been afraid of the devil, and I blame it on my catholic upbringing. To this day, whenever I'm especially stressed and worried, I dream of if!!! Can you believe it? I should bring charges against the Vatican for that!