Arepas!
Heaps of Venezuelan food and happy people in my livingroom!
Month: April 2011
Naked guests
My awesome housemate is having fun with the magnetic poetry, the crazy girl. Is this a message to my friends that are coming to visit tomorrow? Haha
Okay, I’m a partner in crime on this one.. Magnetic Poetry is so much fun!
Undefined
So, I’m back in Barcelona with its hundreds of errands and things I need to do.. Somehow, however, without a proper Monday to-do list this week has felt kind of.. undefined.
Yesterday was the day when my curriculum, cover letters and various applications were in focus. It must be most time consuming task of all times when ambition tells you that perfection is the only option. But I did what I needed to do, while following the Barca – Real Madrid football game by listening to the shouting and singing of the neighbours and taking a look into what people all over the world were twittering. I’m really happy to have rediscovered twitter, it’s a very powerful tool for getting instant updates on whatever you are interested in and if you want to follow me, just ask! http://twitter.com/#!/carolinebach
Today is another undefined day, I have some errands to run and tomorrow I get another visit from Sweden. They stay until monday and then other people come, then I go for a trip again, then there are music festivals and summer and then who knows.. With all these visits, projects and moving around I never really feel like I manage to get into routines here, I’m not sure if it’s good or bad, but knowing me it’s probably the easiest way to save me from the darkness of boredom. haha
The picture above was taken on my street, it’s the Pakistani shopowner’s kids playing Barca football and that’s clearly a penalty kick. Barca scored that day.
Oh, and I might not have a nice to-do list this week but I do have a post it on my desktop with 10 projects and applications I need to start working on and that should be good enough for now. So.. see you around!
Time and magnets
My fridge is our new playground since I brought my set of magnetic poetry from Sweden. Next mission is to find a Spanish version to add more words.
Settle Down
Kimbra – Settle Down
Vows (2011)
During my four days in Sweden I’ve managed to meet with 15 friends, buy the things I needed, spend some time with family and spend a lot of money on gasoline. Tomorrow I’m having breakfast with a friend and then I have my flight back to Barcelona. Back home?
Kimbra is an amazing 20 year old with a distinctive voice and I’m looking forward to listen to her new album and follow her in her career. The video above was directed by Guy Franklin and is the first single that was released from her upcoming album Vows. Hope you like it!
Goodnight :)
Whoah.
Today Malmö swallowed me into its meaningless darkness for about two hours. Unable to identify the feeling I felt lost and confused in this place before I managed to drag myself up. Out of negativity and emptiness, back to beautiful rationality, sunsets and beloved reality.
Limbo
Still in Malmö but not really. Today I’m detached, floating in my own reality that suddenly feels very empty. This place feels like it’s in between worlds, lost between realities, quiet.
The weather is amazing and people are enjoying at barbecues and in the parks. I’m happy for them while packing my bags.
Malmö
You know you’re in Malmö when you drink non alcoholic Dubai beer with your Kurdish-Polish and Indian-Iranian girls.
Today I went with my family to our traditional Easter church visit where we met a big part of the Polish community of the city, later on I met these two lovely girls and then I did some shopping with an Albanian friend and took a short drive around town with a Croatian-Bosnian friend. It’s only now that I realize how incredibly international this city is and how much I am enjoying the mix of backgrounds that my friends have. You learn so much about culture from it and it just comes as a natural part of the friendship!
It’s nice to be back for some days, the weather is incredible and people are happy and out on the streets so I’ve been bumping into random friends all day which has been a lot of fun.
Tonight we go out dancing and I’m looking forward to meet more darlings!
Happy Easter everybody! :)
Music for Airports
Blocking out the world with in ear headphones and looking at airport people. The time between check-in and boarding has always been where I observe the world and think about my current location. It’s like a vacuum where neither time or place exists.
I have been thinking about the past when I wanted spring to last forever and dreamt about never ending Sundays in my Barcelona bed.
As my last days have been filled with thinking I have found myself in a new conclusion. The summer sun and the colours of autumn are just as needed as my Mondays with the overambitious to-do lists and the Saturdays I dance away. Spring and Sundays might bring a lot of beauty, but why choose only that?
As always, my iPod shuffles. The soundtrack of this moment is Brian Eno’s 1/1 from the album Ambient 1:Music for airports. So yes, even if you don’t believe in the magic of coincidences, they can still be enjoyed. ;)
Boarding time. Get ready for me Malmö – there will be a lot of hugging, fika, dancing and talking!
India and its Women
The amount of dignity that the Indian women were expressing when I saw them in India was both inspiring, impressive and touching. No matter how dirty and dusty the surroundings would be, they always managed to keep their faces and colourful clothes impeccably clean. No matter how much misery there would be around, they would always express calmness. Carrying their children on their backs while working as hard as the men, marked by tattoos, jewellery and colours binding them to their husbands, villages and status.
For me, being a foreigner invading their natural setting, I was thrilled by how these shy and quiet women wouldn’t treat me as an intruder and close me out with common prejudice. On the contrary, when approached with a smile, their eyes sparkled of curiosity and kindness and their willingness to communicate and exchange experiences with a woman from another world was touching. I sat down on the ground with women in many different cities, talking about their daily life and their dreams, sharing laughs and random memories. The importance of them giving their time to me and the gratefulness for having access to their worlds was immense. My male travel friends looked at me with envy as they were completely closed out from the colourful and giggly reality of Indian women. For me it was a lot easier – I was granted access just by being a woman and giving them a sincere smile.