#346 Ikkuna

Matkalla jossakin *** På resande fot någonstans *** Travelling somewhere *** Viajando en alguna parte*** Utazás valahol ***  Cestovanie niekde *** Podróżowanie gdzieś ***  Путешествиe куда-то

[Photo Diary] Spain Streetlife

Slightly exhausted after holidays and a chaotic first day of work. Below some snapshots from (mainly) Zaragoza. 

Good Books

What makes a good book? Yesterday I finished reading a wonderful book. It was disturbing, controversial, confusing, but very well written. That's what makes a good book: that need it creates to be introspective, to question oneself, to think. 

I must admit that despite having lived in Spain, my knowledge of Spanish literature is poor. So, I made a good choice when I bought this particular book in Slovakia (for 3€)(of all places). What attracted me? The cover and the title - la muchacha de las bragas de oro (the Girl With Golden Panties). Who would not want to read a book about golden panties? For this curiosity I was awarded a tremendous book and an introduction to one of Spain's most famous contemporary writers. Who would have thought.

Reading this book I realized that I am a prude. What a nice observation about oneself :)

The second book in this picture is also an interesting one, Its English title is Mindful Eating and it was written by Jan Chozen Bays. Again I was intrigued by the cover as I love chickpeas (and thus probably proving every publisher in the world right about the importance of a good cover). I think this book has a lot of useful things to say about food and about eating. 

álmomban világgá ment az ég, tűzbe borult a virágos rét, részeg angyal himnuszt énekelt, költőről mesélt. tavaszból ősz lett és télből a nyár, évgyűrűimben az idő megállt, lóvá tett Istenen elvágtatott egy madár. angyal lenn a pokolban szárnyakért áll a sorban s mind várják, hogy elrepüljenek. ébressz fel ébressz fel már ébressz fel már ébressz fel ébressz fel már ébressz fel már. minél lejjebről indulsz el, annál messzebb repülhetsz el, nincs út min ne jártak volna már, csak indulj el. angyal lenn a pokolban szárnyakért áll a sorban s mind várják, hogy elrepüljenek. ébressz fel ébressz fel már ébressz fel már ébressz fel ébressz fel már ébressz fel már*.

 

Copy pasting gone wrong. This post is about

18.06.2008

and what happened on that day. 2008 I was already blogging. So I decided to cheat. Back in the day I still wrote in Finnish. I was reading Doctor Zhivago and expressed my interest in the Russian civil war. I can’t remember the exact date, but right before the 18th June I had survived all my exams and moved to Valencia, Spain. It was summer, uni was over, I had dreams. The city was warm and beautiful.  And probably I was fighting the uncertainties of finding a job and the future.

On that very day I also ate peaches filled with raspberries. Interesting combination.

 

*here Intim Torna Illegál - Ébressz fel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr77Q-tfo64

“You’re Crazy”

…that’s what my friend J told me today when I was getting *slightly* too excited about Czech writers and their ability to write beautifully.

I believe it was said with affection.

So I took it as a compliment.

And in order not to let such a great compliment go to waste, let’s train our language skills.

 

Finnish: olet hullu.

Swedish: du är galen.

Spanish: estás loco/loca.

Slovak: si blázon.

Polish: jesteś szalony/szalona.

Hungarian: te őrült.

Russian: Ты сошел с ума/ Ты сошла с ума

French: tu es fou

EU Vocab

I was looking for a couple of concepts on the EU website when I bumped into their multilingual thesaurus. The best thing is that one can choose one or several languages and download the entire list. I’m so excited that I have a list consisting of 6800 (yes!!) terms in 7 different languages that I can study at night before going to sleep. Unfortunately Russian wasn’t among the available languages. The list is available in all EU-languages + Croatian and Serbian.

The thesaurus can be found here.

All You Need Is Love

Getting Ready…

…for Spain!

Can't Sleep.

The town is dark and everything is silent. It's well past midnight. Only the rain and the birch leaves can be seen flapping in the street light. I tried to sleep but my head keeps twisting and turning. There is so much to do. Work applications and gym planning. Tonight I drafted a workout program for our trip to Spain. Kicki and I might not be the fittest people in the gym but at least we love it so much that we can't go abroad without a plan. And let's not mention how much I love the planning itself: thinking about supersets and reps and which muscles should be trained on what day and how much cardio is enough.It's so much fun.
This isn't all that is on my mind, though. A friend of mine had some interesting comments today. I appreciate the honesty and the thought-provoking cleverness. You know who you are. 
I don't really like the taste of chamomille tea. It's too bitter. I'll try to drink it, though.

Good night, world!

Language Assessment

How do you know that your language skills are sufficient? Assessing one’s language level is a subjective process. People tend to either under- or overestimate their skills.  One of the reasons I’m no big fan of people who claim to be fluent as soon as they manage to have a conversation about the weather is that these subjective assessments often appear on CVs and job applications. In such cases, the perceived level of knowledge can give an unfair advantage to the weather conversationalists.

There are exams one can take. Exams that are expensive and may even require travelling. I tell you, the nearest language centre offering the possibility to take an official exam in Polish isn’t exactly next door. These exams require dedication. They are often a last option, at least for me, for getting some kind of formal proof of knowing a language.  

The reason I’m writing about this is that I need to get some certificates. I have a plan, you see. And for that I need formal proof of my language skills. 

Of the languages I know I have sufficient proof (according to Finnish requirements) that I know three.

Swedish: I took my A-levels in Swedish, and my grade in Swedish was good enough to ensure that I officially know Swedish.

English: a degree from a British university is enough to prove a sufficient level of English.

Having a university degree in a language is also sufficient. 

Therefore I have proven knowledge of Russian and Hungarian.

I need to take a language exam in Spanish, Polish and Finnish. Finnish is my official mother tongue, but since I took my A-levels in Swedish (I had no chance, as far as I know, to choose Finnish) I have no proof of this. This is the ironic part of the story. Believe it or not, I think that a Finnish exam would be the most difficult one of these.  The level is different, even though I plan on taking both Spanish and Polish at C1/C2*.

Time to study :) 

*C1: Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices. 

C2: Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations. (source: Wikipedia)

Languages

While listening to some random Russians chatting in their native tongue at a table nearby, I was struck with a sudden feeling of…. love, maybe? Being in love with languages might sound like a very silly thing, but I cannot think of a better word to explain this feeling. Languages just make me emotional.
I quickly updated my facebook status with the following summary:

(Irish) English is sexy, (the Savonian version of) Finnish is hot. Spanish can make chocolate melt. Catalan and Dutch are the funny ones, French is the language of philosophy. Swedish is compulsory and German is kinda cool. Polish makes me happy and Hungarian feels like home. But the most beautiful of them all is Russian.

How do languages make you feel?
(I know, I know… I’ve written about this before!!)

Hasta la victoria siempre

A couple of days ago I was asked to write about the currents events in Spain. Here’s that post, a couple of days late because that’s how long it took me to figure out how to put my thoughts on paper.

In the past week or so, there have been several demonstrations all over Spain. People, being fed up with the current situation and corrupted politicians, are demanding “real democracy”. Among other things, the demonstrators ask for a fairer electoral system, something that the two main parties seem to be opposed to. Regional elections are held on Sunday, and apparently any demonstration planned for Saturday has been banned by the state’s Central Electoral Board.

The main Spanish newspaper, El Pais, has  interesting articles on the subject, they can be found here.

This post was going to be about my impressions regarding these events, described by some as a “revolution”, so here we go:

• A friend once told me: “ it’s difficult to think that Spanish people might be going through a tough time right now. Spain is palm trees and beaches, good food and party. It’s got nothing to do with economic disasters, mass unemployment and low wages”. Spain is often viewed as some kind of huge hotel resort, but the truth is that, right now, life is very difficult for a lot of people in Spain.  
• It is impressive to see so many people gathering together for a common cause. It must be emphasized that the protestors have been acting intelligently: instead of just “fighting the system” and focusing solely on the problem, they have been able to provide plausible solutions as well.
• I have personally not noticed any political polarization among people. That is very good, because when that polarization starts taking place, society will start going downhill.
• As so often happens, there are people who have been quick to judge the protestors as anti-system communists. However, to me it seems that the ones protesting represent various ideologies (if any) and that the main point is to improve the system, not abolish it.
• Unfortunately there seems to be  a great divide between those who actively seek change and the ones who don’t even know what’s going on. Social media have proven to be a great tool for this movement, but it might benefit from other ways of reaching out to more people.

 

Tomorrow and Sunday will be interesting days in Spain, so if you’re into politics or a  fan of Spain, stay tuned!

Running On Good Friday

I was asked to share some pictures from Valencia with you readers, so today when I went for a run, I brought the camera me to snap some photos for the blog. Hope you like them The “run” itself took about 50 minutes, the distance being more or less 6 km (hence the brackets!). I wouldn’t recommend anyone to try to run in a city centre on a public holiday (or any other day for that matter) – I was lucky I survived!

Outside our house.

Someone smarter than me would probably have taken a bike instead of running!

Town hall + square

Too much people!

Almost there!

The food (puchero)  was waiting for me on the table!

The Efficient Rebellion

The Spanish air traffic controllers managed to do something unheard of: for the first time in over thirty years, the government declared a "state of alarm" after a walk-out which led to cancelled flights and chaos at airports. 

Apparently this is the culmination of a long struggle between the government and the workers. Without the inside information, it’s impossible to take a stand on who is right and who is wrong in this case, but in the aftermath of a rather odd general strike on September 29, it’s good to see someone is taking an initiative. 

The economic situation in Spain bad and the general feeling I get is that people are rather fed up with the government. However, not much action is seen. There are the usual complaints, maybe some protests and demonstrations, but that’s it.

Action is the key to change, but a lot of people seem to have forgotten about it. Not only in Spain, but in all of Europe people are just waiting for someone to make the right decisions for them, to save them. This is not going to happen. We need more action and more unity. And plenty of solidarity. So maybe this will serve as evidence of the fact that action leads to change. The air traffic controllers might not get everything they asked for in the first place, but at least they have proven that they are willing to fight for change. Just imagine what it would be like if every person would do this in order to show their dissatisfaction instead of just complaining?

Demonstrations or football?

Today there is supposedly a general strike going on in Spain: I say supposedly because apart from my boyfriend staying at home and making me lunch, I have not noticed anything different from the usual. Earlier when we went for a walk everything was open and people seemed to be going on about their business as if it was any other day. I’ve been told that quite a few people would like to participate in the strike but that they are too afraid of being fired. To me that sounds bad, but then again, who am I to comment and criticise since I’m not a citizen and I’m not even working here (well, technically I am, but that’s another story).

I’ve also heard that the demonstration is due to start at 7 p.m. Why? Wouldn’t it be more logical to organise it at noon when people are supposed to be striking? And then there’s the "unexpected" event: Valencia is playing against Manchester United in Valencia tonight, so I wonder how many people will actually choose a demonstration over football? I will ignore them all and have dinner with a good friend.

Out and About

Last night I went for an amazing run: great music and the chilly breeze turned an easy run into 45 minutes of "run until you drop": it’s experiences like these that get you hooked! Today I walked the same route to get some nice morning exercise... and photos for you! 

 

 

Hasta luego, España!

When this post is published, I will be sitting on a plane to Stockholm  (in reality it is written on a rainy Monday afternoon in Paterna, Valencia when suitcases should be packed and all papers that are not that important thrown away).
It is not the first time I will sadly try to catch a last glimpse of palm trees from up above, but it is indeed the first time that I have no idea when (or if) I will be coming back.

A very big part of me is sad and disappointed: because things didn't go the way they were supposed to, because no matter how determined we all are that this is a "see you" rather than a "good bye", you never know when you will see all those people who came to play such a significant role in your life, some of them even being like family.

At the same time the excitement is bubbling inside like a volcano: I cannot deny that new and unknown adventures have always fascinated me. They are like a light bulb to mosquitos. The feeling of not knowing where I'm going (although in all fairness I have a pretty good idea in this case) makes me thrive.
And there is guilt. And happiness. Guilt because it feels like I shouldn't be experiencing all these contradictional feelings at once, and happiness because there is a big bunch of people waiting for me.
Of course I have an idea of how I want things to pan out, but I'd rather save all that information for some other time. However, I'm already planning a visit to Valencia in the spring to visit friends and enjoy the sunshine.

Sagunt

Old fortresses, climbing, cacti, tourists smoking pot, horrible food and service that was even worse, walking on the beach, sitting in the car, jumping in the sea, leaving prints in the sand. That was today.

Time

Sunday. Sunny Sunday. Warm Sunday... Sitting on the balcony while enjoying the afternoon sunshine is very relaxing business, the birds are singing and children are playing. And even long-term interest rates seem to provide a certain dose of fascination... but only because of the sunshine!



During Fallas, Valencia sparkles with colours, noice and fire works.



La Sagrada Familia



View over Barcelona. If nothing disastrous happens, we will be returning in June/July. The main motive of the trip will be the U2-concert, but I'm hoping to be able to visit the chocolate museum and enjoy getting lost.
I did like Barcelona, and think that it might substitute Stockholm as destination number 1 for getting away for a while (Stockholm is indeed a bit far away these days). Barcelona is a nice place (although not as nice as Valencia) and it's only 3 hours away by train. Perfecto.