What a month!

This July has been awful. There was almost no sun at all. Well like that Paris is not as beautiful as it should be. However, there are plenty of tourists visiting the French capital. And I haven't seen that many Americans for a long time. They are coming back even though their currency, the Dollar, is very low. I have seen a lot of Brazilians as well.
So what is happening in our planet those days? Mandela celebrated his 90th birthday this July 18th. He really is one of the greatest man of this century, the 20th and even the 21st. I have met with him briefly when I was living in Washington. He was invited to speak at the National Press Club. I went there with Sayuri who as a member took me with her. He was president at the time. But the main room, with tables and food services, was full so we had to go to the gallery. It was good because we were above him and the guests so we had a clear view of the table where he was seated. Then when the lunch-press conference finished, we left the gallery to go out of the NPC and we took stairs that were going to the main entrance. Suddenly, as we were almost down the stairs, some secret service men arrived and asked us to wait because for safety reasons we had to let Mandela leave the club first. Then he arrived smiling and looked at us on the stairs. We were the two of us plus another person who said "Vive Mandela". Mandela looked at us and came to us to shake our hands and said thank you. Then he left followed and preceded by the secret service officers. I was full of emotion afterward. That moment will stay forever in my head. To have approached one of the greatest men of the 20th century and shook his hand: I felt lucky.