Sunday, February 28, 2010
The snow catastrophe
Last Friday, we had snow again, this time though it was a really big snow. I know I have said that before, but this one was Really big. See the pictures how beautiful was the house, the forest, and the street.
The newspapers said 24 inches of snow (60 cm) in Westchester area, where we live, and 16 inches in New York city. You can see the accumulated snow on top of our tiny solar lamp, and in the table.
But the really bad news is that half Westchester area collapsed, with power outages here and there. And of course we were among the victims. On Thursday night the power was gone, and with the power, the heating and the water because it comes from a well and it needs to be pumped up. On top of that the blowers didn't cache up and roads were not in a good shape, not mentioning our driveway so we were isolated with no electricity, no water, no heating and the worse, without internet!
We didn't know what was going on so we went out and we met the neighbors. And look what we found at the end of our driveway, a tree fell down on the power line, cutting the road.
The neighbors were very kind and took us out to the supermarket so that we could buy some water and candles and we went out for dinner. It was pretty cold in the house but with the fire place we could keep warm. On Sunday everything came back to normal, even Internet. It was an interesting experience, thanks god we expect the baby in the summer.
Divendres passat va tornar a nevar, pero aquest cop va ser una gran nevada, si, ja se que ja ho he dit abans pero aquest cop va ser Gran de veritat. Mira que bonica la casa, el bosc i el carrer.
Els diaris deien 60 cm de neu a Westchester, que és on vivim, i 40 cm a la ciutat de Nova York. Davant de casa, mira la neu acumulada a sobre la nostre petita llum solar, i a sobre la taula.
Però la mala noticia és que Westchester va quedar paralitzat, amb talls de corrent per tot arreu i, com no, vam formar part dels afectats. Dijous a la nit va marxar la corrent, i amb la corrent ens vem quedar sense calefacció i sense aigua, perquè l'aigua ve d'un pou i necessita ser bombejada. A sobre les màquines lleva-neu no donaven l'avast i les carreteres no estaven en gaire bones condicions, pero les carreteres rai es van recuperar ràpid però el nostre driveway va quedar totalment cobert de neu amb la qual cosa vam quedar aïllats, sense electricitat, ni calefacció ni aigua i el pitjor, sense Internet!
No sabiem si n'hi havia per molt o que així que vam anar a fer una visita als veins. I mira la sorpresa que ens vem trobar al final del driveway, un arbre caigut sobre el cable elèctric i tallant la carretera.
Els veins, molt amables, ens van portar fins al super i vem poder comprar aigua i veles, i vem anar a sopar plegats. Feia una mica de fred a casa però amb el foc a terra no s'estava tan malament. El diumenge tot va tornar a la normalitat, fins hi tot tenim internet.
Una experiència interessant, sort que el nen ha de neixer al estiu!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Week 26: Fat
When I was already dreaming about birds singing, trees flourishing and the nice weather arriving with the spring, we had still a couple of big snows, then I woke up and realize I was in Katonah. Anyway, the snow looks nice so I took some pictures of our cozy basement and its surroundings in winter mode:
This is the entrance of the basement, we have the trail marked by tiny solar lamps, the drawback is that if it is not sunny during the day we don't have light.
And other than that, my tummy continues growing at a good pace. With winter cloths it is still not recognizable, but I look very fat with the swimming suite.
Two weeks ago we visit the hospital where the delivery will take place, they organize tours, amazing this Health Care system. The hospital looks posh and quiet, with all private rooms, there is delivery room and the post-delivery room, the last one has TV and a convertible sofa, and there is a hot tube to use during labor! they claimed it is not very popular so I may give it a try.
The hospital procedures are also very reasonable, if everything goes well they will give me the baby immediately so that we can greet each other and they will teach me how to breastfeed him, which I will appreciate very much.
The only thing that bothered me was the ratio of C sections, they told it was about 40%, that means that more than 1 over three deliveries is a C section! I thought it was a lot but after some research we found out that it is quite standard in America because if the doctors face any complication they want to be on the safe side to avoid being sued. We also notice that they feel uneasy talking about this. So my fingers are crossed!
Quan ja estava somiang amb ocellets cantant, arbres florits i el bon temps arrivant amb la primavera, encara hem tingut un parell de nevades fortes, que em van despertar del meu somni primaveral per adonar-me que estic vivint a Katonah. En qualsevol cas la neu és bonica així que he tirat unes fotos del nostre sotan acollidor i els seus voltants.
Aquesta és l'entrada, marcada per unes petites llums solars, l'únic inconvenient és que si no hi ha sol, no hi ha llum.I apart d'això, le panxolina creix a bon ritme, no es nota tant amb la roba d'hivern però amb el banyador estic molt gordi.
Fa dos setmanes vem visitar el hospital aprofitant que organitzen turs, coses del sistema america. L'hospital és pijo i tranquil, amb totes les habitacions privades, una pel part i una altre per després del part amb tele i un sofa reclinable. El millor és que tenen un jacussi per fer servir durant les contraccions i sembla que no es molt popular aixi que igual aprofito.
També van explicar que si tot va bé m'enxufaran la criatura de seguida per poder-nos saludar i m'ensenyaran a donar-li el pit, cosa que agrairé moltíssim.
L'únic que no em va agradar tant va ser el percentatge de cessàreas que és més del 40%, em va semblar que era molt, però sembla ser que és molt comú aqui, ja que si els metges veuen alguna petita complicació es curen amb salut i fan una cessàrea per por a ser denunciats. També vem notar que no estan còmodes parlant del tema. Així que creuo els dits esperant que tot vagi bé!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Starting a new life: Week 21
I am in the 21st week of my pregnancy, many things happened so far, so I thought it was about time to start the blog.
Here comes a brief summary of how I have lived my pregnancy so far: landing into the US, an ovule was passing by and it was attacked by millions of sperms and as a result... surprise!! here is your baby. Next, the annoying symptoms came: queasiness, fatigue, nausea, still more queasiness, stomach ache... I said good bye to climbing, biking and almost everything involving movement because it was either too tiring or too dangerous! And my body started to change like crazy, I put on 7 kilos on the first 3 months! the reassuring doctor told: "Don't worry you were too slim ...". And that was more o less the first trimester. Around mid December I started to feel a bit better, so I started to do some exercise again, and I started to enjoy pregnancy a bit more.
Well, I did not do that alone, here is a picture of my other half: Gabor.
And this is me in my 17th week, we had a photo session chez Paussus.
And this is Eric, our boy! In the last week he has started kicking so hard that it can be seen from outside like an alien in my tummy. When I am laying down, an activity I do a lot recently because I am permanently tired, he takes the opportunity to do some body combat in my belly. By now he can also hear from the womb so I took my old violin to the US an I am planning to torture the poor little baby with my plays.
So far, everything is all right and I am having a marvelous experience!
Estic a la setmana 21 del embaràs, han passat mil coses i he pensat que ja va sent hora de començar el blog.
Un petit resum de com he viscut els primers mesos d'embaràs: Doncs just aterrava als EEUU, va passar un òvul i va ser atacat per milions d'espermatozous i en conseqüència ... sorpresa!! Aqui tens al teu bebito. El següent van ser els sintomes: mareig, cansansi, nauseas i molt mareig, mal de panxa ... vaig despedir-me de l'escalada, la bici i tot allò que requeris un minim de moviment perquè o bé era massa cansat o massa perillós. I el meu cos va començar a canviar, vaig guanyar 7 kilos en els 3 primers mesos! El metge va intentar tranquilitzar-me dient: "Es que estaves molt prima ...". I mes o menys així és com va anar el primer trimestre. A mitjans de decembre em vaig començar a trobar millor, vaig començar a fer algu d'esport un altre cop i vaig començar a disfrutar del embaràs.
Evidentment, no ho vaig fer sola tot això, aquesta és una foto de la meva altre meitat: el Gabor.
I aqui unes fotos de la mama a la setmana 17, vem fer una sessió a casa del Paussus.
I aquest és l'Eric, el nostre peque! Durant la setmana passada ha començat a tirar patades tremendes que es poden veure i tot com si hi tingués un alien a la panxa. Quan resposo, cosa que faig molt últimament perque estic quasi permanentment cansada, ell aprofita i es posa a fer Body Combat. Ara a més ja hi pot sentir, i és per això que vaig agafar el meu violí vell i em disposo a turturar la pobre criatura amb la meva musica.
De moment tot esta en ordre i esta sent una experiència estupenda!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Via Ferrata Les Baumes Corcades
Sembla que ens ha agafat fort per les ferrates, i fins a Centelles hem anat. És una ferrata molt pràctica ja que sempre ets a temps a abandonar i arribar al cim per un camí. Per altre banda, uns quants desploms ens posen a prova. També està plena de opcions, aquesta vegada ens vem conformar amb la opció més fàcil (sense pont i sense la variant nova). Una bona resenya: http://www.deandarporcasa.com/ferratas/via-ferrata-fbaumes_corcades
It looks like we will keep going with the iron roads (climbing steps). So we've visited Centelles. It is a very convenient iron road since you can give up every time and take the trecking path directly to the top of the mountain. On the other hand, there are some steps quite physically demanding. Fortunatelly there is plenty of options, we were happy with the easiest one (the shortest route, without the bridge). A good web for reference: http://www.deandarporcasa.com/ferratas/via-ferrata-fbaumes_corcades.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Via Ferrata Teresina
Doncs si, ara ens ha donat per tornar a la muntanya, :-) vem començar el retorn amb una via fàcil (oi Carles?) i apropet a Montserrat, i bueno... sort que vem conèixer al Francesc que ens hi va donar un cop de mà.
Més informació sobre la via:http://www.deandarporcasa.com/ferratas/via-ferrata-fteresina
Més informació sobre la via:http://www.deandarporcasa.com/ferratas/via-ferrata-fteresina
After about two years, we've finally decided to go back to our mountain activities :-) we started with an easy one (isn't it Carles?) and it was close to Montserrat, and well... we were lucky to meet Francesc who gives us a hand. More information can be found at http://www.deandarporcasa.com/ferratas/via-ferrata-fteresina
Friday, February 23, 2007
Carnestoltes Sallent 2007
El carnestoltes ha arribat i de follet ens hem disfressat, amb coratge i alegria a la rua hem anat i la festa ha continuat fins que els follets malalts han acabat!
Carnival has arrived and we've disguised ourselfs as forest gnomes, with courage and happiness we have been from party to party until we've fallen ill!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Steve Irwin (1962-2006)
Agències Sydney. -- El presentador de televisió Steve Irwin, conegut com el caçador de cocodrils, ha mort a conseqüència de la picada d'una rajada quan bussejava durant el rodatge d'un documental sobre aquest animal, segons ha informat la ràdio australiana ABC.
L'actor i naturalista australià estava bussejant a prop de Cairns, a Low Isles (Austràlia), quan hi ha hagut l'accident. El fibló de la rajada se li ha clavat al pit i, segons sembla, ha arribat fins al cor. Irwin ha mort gairebé a l'acte, tot i que el verí de les rajades no sol ser mortal per als humans.
Irwin, que tenia 44 anys, s'havia convertit en un famós personatge de televisió a tot el món gràcies a la sèrie televisiva Caçador de cocodrils.
L'australià havia heretat el seu amor pels rèptils del seu pare, Bob Irwin, propietari d'una granja de cocodrils a la Sunshine Coast de l'estat australià de Queensland. Irwin va crear controvèrsia en diverses ocasions per les seves atrevides accions, com donar-li menjar a un enorme cocodril quan portava el seu fill acabat de néixer a coll.
En una altra ocasió, en aigües de l'Antàrtida, el controvertit presentador es va acostar molt a les balenes quan els donava menjar, i es va col·locar molt a prop de pingüins i balenes durant la gravació d'un altre documental, que van portar el mateix primer ministre australià, John Howard, a defensar-lo públicament.
Steve Irwin, the khaki-clad wildlife stalker who won global fame with his televised death-defying crocodile stunts and whose booming voice made “Crikey!” in a ripe Australian accent an international catchword, was killed by a stingray yesterday while filming a documentary at the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s northeast coast. He was 44.
Witnesses said he apparently died of cardiac arrest after the stingray attack.
Mr. Irwin was on location in the area to film television segments, including material for “The Ocean’s Deadliest.” Witnesses on his boat, Croc One, and on a nearby diving vessel said that when he came close to a stingray, its barb pierced his chest and lodged in his heart.
In an interview with reporters in Australia, Prime Minister John Howard termed the death “a huge loss to Australia,” and called Mr. Irwin “a wonderful character.”
