Wishing everyone a great year ahead!

I am sharing the following TED talks to start 2015 with a bit more wisdom. Click here to start watching them!

Also, if you haven't done it yet, I invite you to reflect on your 2014 and start a list of all the learning experience and knowledge you acquired. It is rather satisfying and proof that your are improving every single day (or year for that matter!). I will probably come back with part of my own experiences to share some obvious but very interesting facts and learning points.

Happy New Year!

When we talk about spicy food, it is really a personal view on the matter.  We indeed have different references to what is considered hot or mild.  So, how do you answer the question "Is it spicy"?
I found it very tricky as plenty of factors make the answer accurate or not for the person who asks:

• Who is the person asking this question? and what is the person used to eat?
• Who is the person asked to? and what is the person asked used to eat?

For example, while I was leaving in Peru, I got used to eat the aji sauce, which is a kind of chili sauce. I remember that when my parents came to visit, we ate a famous "pollo a la brasa" - the Peruvian famous roasted chicken, and so the sauce was on the table. My dad asked if it was spicy to what my husband answered negatively. Knowing my dad, I jumped in the conversation and said that aji sauce is indeed spicy even if for my husband's palate it is not. At least he had a warning! He obviously tried it and immediately said "ooooooh, that's spicy". It is because I know the kind of food my parents are used to that I can easily determine what will be spicy for them.
However, when you don't know the person, it is quite hard. Yesterday night, I ended up eating in a Chinese restaurant here in Singapore. It was my first experience with the double boiling soup and it felt refreshing to be completely ignorant of what to order. Of the 2 soups we ordered to boil all of our food one was spicy but a neighboring Chinese customer told us it would not be so spicy. Sure enough, it was very spicy, even for my husband who is more used to spicy food than I am! (the dinner was delicious though - so no complain!).

So, how is our tolerance to spice determined?
I am not sure what it is, but I'm guessing is part of the food education we receive as kids. I have seen kids from Peru eating dishes or sauce I couldn't. Another example of how our palates are educated is my 2 year and a half niece eating blue cheese or any kind of "stinky" cheese while some of my friends can only tolerate spreadable cheeses. Nevertheless, our body also plays its part to our spice tolerance, and so it's not only acquire, it is also innate. That's a good news! It's not because you were not used to eat spicy as a kid that you will not enjoy it later and vice versa.

You can read more on spice tolerance factors on Popular Science, learn why a chili burns and what you can do to soothe the pain on I Fucking Love Science and train yourself to eat spicier with Serious Eats.

Bon appétit!

Seriously, it’s all about content. Of course, a new and only cat café attracts a lot of people, but how can you make people engage with your brand/content even before you open up? or like your page without knowing the place yet?

In their case, they want to share their love and passion for cat in everything they do and write. When they share something on Facebook, they make sure the copy is “cat appropriate” and that it will actually deliver a great message. The website is built the same way: goofy, funny and cute.

It opens up on August 6, and so far, lots of people have checked in the place, plenty of reviews (and good ones!), 5,612 people liked the page, and I am also aware of a get together organized there, I’ll call that quite a success!

We should always keep in mind these simple factors when marketing a brand/product/service: Great content coupled with adequate delivery channel. Then of course, the place and service must be on the same standard

Meow!

It is amazing how we, human beings, can adapt to almost everything.
When I arrived in Singapore, I was sweating a lot, not able to resist the heat and humidity, I even had a heat rash. 5 weeks later, I am okay with the climate, I can actually wear skinny jeans, thing I thought was completely impossible and nonsensical to do here. It may seem insignificant, but is shows how we are, how we adapt to new environment, situations, people. We have this amazing ability and sometimes, we don't even realize it.
Think about it, we are able to go somewhere new and make it home. What seemed strange, hard, different yesterday can be now part of our daily routine. And it seems as if we have no limitations.
I did find one limit to my adaptation. It might be very strange or illogical, or maybe it's a primitive reaction?! Let me explain. I have lived 3 years in Lima, Peru. I really loved those years. Peru has almost become my second nation, I have people there I can call friends and family. I learnt so much over there. Yet, I am not sure I will be able to go back and actually start a life again over there. 
My reason is simple: Peru is situated along the boundary of two tectonic plates, the Nazca Plate and the South American one causing tremors and earthquakes. While all Peruvians I met living there had absolutely no issue with this fact, I could not get used to it. They have grown up and accepted this reality, they know it can happen, they didn't choose it, it's part of their environment. Moreover, earthquake would never be the number one reason why people would live the city if they had an opportunity. I found it extraordinary, because I can't. This is my limitation - and I don't know if it sounds very rational. Indeed I have a fear of something that might or might not happen, so I could potentially spend my whole life there and nothing would happen. But if an earthquake happens, that the one I experienced back in 2007, I know it can actually destroy and kill hundreds around me in less than 3 minutes. 
When I was living there, of course I didn't let this "fear" control my life, it would have been totally insane. I mean, you cannot live thinking something bad/wrong/dangerous might happen to you or you won't be going out of your home. I simply adapted to the situation and context and go on with my life. I come from a very "quiet" nature area and that might be the reason why I might no longer be able to go back in Lima and deal with it. Or maybe it is just a primitive sense that tells me not to add natural disasters to the current many risks of life...
Yet, who knows? Maybe I will go back.
A lot of people live in dangerous areas (dangerous for many different reasons), by choice or not, yet we are like that, able and capable of building and carrying on with our lives wherever we are, wherever we go.

Do you always realize your comment is not prejudicial?

Not to long ago, a friend of mine was telling me about his work hours and how everyone at his office was staying late. In fact, he started talking about one particular colleague, a woman, and how business oriented or even workaholic she was. Nothing was wrong with that to him until he went on saying that, he and other colleagues, finally told her to relax, and because she had children, she should go home, take time and enjoy her children.

It seems to me they were very thoughtful and kind, and so I asked - Did you make the same comment to the guys in the office who have children?  His answer was no.

I wanted to start explaining to him that this kind of comments - and behind it a way of thinking - was quite wrong. Indeed, why would you say it only to a woman who is a mother and not to the men who are fathers? Is it because of the stereotypes of gender roles you have? However my friend realized it the moment he answered my question and he was already deep in thoughts about his conception of men and women at work and at home and the role we, as a society, give them. 

Sometimes, you mean right, but when you actually analyze it, what you say is gender bias or might even be sexist. I know I may sound alarmist, I just want us to think about our conception of men and women and the roles we give them.

It's always nice to receive advice from others but do you feel sometimes is important to learn by yourself? Or that you learn better by experiencing things on your own?

In spring 2011, I was walking down the streets in Chicago with a girl I knew. I was commenting that whatever I was doing, I tried to dress more business-like because you never know who you are going to meet or run into in the city.
She laughed at me and told me that I wasn't that famous.
I wanted to explain to her that it wasn't about me, but about maybe meeting your future boss in a cafe or simply running into one of your company partners in the streets and you still want to give a good impression of yourself and your company (Am I thinking too far?).

I am not talking wearing everyday a women suit, specially not at the beach ;) but still being a bit considerate with what you choose to wear. It can be very trendy or fashionable, I don't care, as long as it feels "right" for me.

Funny enough, 2 years later at a get together with other friends, she was telling that in order to appear more professional, and feel empowered, she was wearing more shirts and less "bohemian" clothes.



I was glad she got it. Deep down I know that 2 years before that I could have explained my reasoning and she could have used it earlier but sometimes we need our own experiences to learn.

I know, as a fact, I still have so much to learn!

And when is it?
I am not talking about inappropriate/borderline jokes that you wouldn't want your entourage to tell either at a family gathering or at work.
I am asking about plain and silly jokes.
I am often tempted to make a funny comment regarding a situation, conversation or words I consider humorous.
Some people see jokes as inappropriate in a professional environments, while others see it as an ice breaker and bonding element.

No later than yesterday night, I was in a situation where I had to bite my tongue to avoid a joke. I was at a social event and met a translator and interpreter Japanese/Singlish. After she introduced herself, I asked her in she was working for a certain industry or is she had any areas of predilection. She explained to me as a translator she works for any kind of company and products or services. As an interpreter, she usually works for conferences or official visits. Then she added that she is working at lot a the zoo. Here, a 1000 thought came to my mind - come on, an interpreter at the zoo! I didn't dare saying anything though and she explained the reason of her work over there. Grown up conversation.
However, two minutes later, she told me that she drank to much the previous day and at this event, it was a third glass and she was starting to feel tipsy. I guess my comments would not have been weird.
So I wasn't able to read the situation correctly enough to feel at ease with a funny comment.
On the other hand, when you do make a funny comment and nobody answers to it, it feel really uncomfortable. So we learn to be serious and take things seriously. 
Is it the way to connect? work? or don't we need to relax and enjoy a good laugh, sometimes?

Believe in it.

Create it.

"If you look for perfection, you'll never be content." -  Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.
Nobody is perfect | No relationship is perfect | There is no perfect job | There is no perfect time.
Yet, you are entitled to see yourself as perfect while recognizing your flaws, to think your relationship is the perfect one for you and that you could not dream of a more perfect job to suit you or a perfect time to do what you are about to do.

Nevertheless, I see and I hear people around me looking for perfection - in their life, job, partners. You can't actually look for perfection, you have to create it. There is no perfect moment unless you decide to define it as being one. You have to create your perfect relationship, it won't appear alone. You are the one believing that this partner is perfect and if you don't believe it, then yes, of course he/she is not perfect for you.

There is this funny thing in Spanish, 2 different verbs become the same when you conjugate them to the first person singular: Crear (To create) and Creer (To believe) - Yo creo. And I think for perfection, you have to believe and create it at the same time. Everything, every moment, everyone will be perfect only and always according to you. Perfection, as well as beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

And maybe a bit less, it's the timeframe during which everything changed for my husband and I. 

We are now in Singapore, a new place with new challenges, and who loves more challenges than myself?

It amazes me how such a little place can be so powerful and successful. So I started watching a documentary on its history to comprehend Singapore and Singaporean better.

From what I have been told, advertising is different here, and from what I understand, it is more integrated or interactive than what we can be used too in France or the US. Will see, but for now, I should probably read the articles of History of Singapore Advertising from the AdAsia website.  It's always good to learn!

So now, should I switch learning Portuguese for Mandarin?

Have you ever noticed that when you speak another language, not only your body language and hand movements are different but also your voice tone?
This is an amazing fact. Learning a language is also learning cultural and social factors and when you finally master a language, you can blend with native speakers, mimicking them at first and slowly integrating all of their physical and oral expressions.
While my voice in French is quite "normal", neither deep nor high-pitched, my voice in Spanish seems like one of a giggling teenage girl! Ok, I might be exaggerating but I sound much more higher and younger in Spanish. I think my voice tone is also higher in American English. I am not talking about intonations, because, of course intonations change depending of the language you are speaking, I am really speaking about deep or high-pitched voice sound.
I found a person on Linguaphiles asking the question of voice changes while speaking foreign languages, you can read the answers here.
One time in France, while I was having a drink with my sister and her friends, my sister told me to lower my voice, as, according to her, I was speaking very loud. I then realized that, because I just arrived from Spain, I was still speaking as a Spanish person, which is louder than a French person (at least from a French perspective). I had then to readapt myself to the French correct voice volume!  Funny how language really molds and formats us!
Being able to correct and adapt oneself culturally to any kind of situations is a real gift, but it is also a learning experience that never ends.