a potom si spomeniem

Last night – in a crowded and smoky bar – I remember how much I love Slavic languages and the countries in this part of the world. My fascination with Central Eastern Europe and Slavic languages started when I saw a picture of a sunflower field in then Yugoslavia. I was not old then, I’m older now. The fascination persists. The thought of leaving made me sad. Fortunately Sweden is near and there plenty of flights from there to down here.

 

Eurovision 2013

Last weekend it was time for Eurovision 2013. One of the things I like most is the opportunity to hear unknown artists from other European countries. It’s a huge plus if they sing in their own language. My favourites this year came from Hungary and Iceland.

Speaking of Iceland, listen to that language. Isn’t it beautiful or what?

Bittersweet.

Water dripping down my back. Passport. Notebook. Camera. Some cash. Good company.

Ready to head south.

Danish Music.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m starting to get hooked on Danish. So just imagine my happiness when I found a playlist with 122 Danish songs. Oh yeah!

February It Is

Time flies. I have been in Slovakia for over four months, the winter has almost passed. The snow is gone, the rain is delighting us with its presence.

Existentialist doubts have invaded me, driven by some sort of melancholy. I don’t know where that melancholy stems from – maybe from the knowledge that this too shall pass? There are so many things making me happy; the people around me, the things I’m reading, the nights out, the walks around Bratislava, the songs and the laughter. And deep down inside, I know this too will change. People will come, and people will go. All of this will turn into memories. Maybe that is one of the hardest lessons to learn in life, now is now, what’s now might be gone tomorrow.  It’s something that must be accepted, and appreciated.

Lately I have spent a lot of time thinking about Spain. How wonderful it was to wake up at seven, go to the gym and have breakfast with Åsa. The palm trees, the orange trees. The general atmosphere. But then again, on the other hand, I have all these memories from a lot of places. Sometimes they are overwhelming, but at the end of the day I should be thankful for actually having all these great memories.

On Saturday mornings I love drinking coffee and finding random Hungarian music videos on youtube. In a while I need to turn my focus to the European Union and tonight it’s party time again.

The other day in the pub (the perfect place for learning Slovak), I heard this on the radio and could not help myself. This is so funny (and Czech, in case someone is wondering)!

Już tu siedzę jakiś czas, lubię dużo wiedzieć

There was something I wanted to write about here. Now my head is empty and my thoughts have returned to wherever they came from. Last night I went out with some people, to a nice place here in Bratislava. And suddenly it hit me, I do like this place, this city. And it’s not just because we were dancing like mad to some cheesy Slovak pop music, and not because we were surrounded by tall, handsome men. Recently I’ve been reading some melancholic stories, bittersweet accounts of life. And something inside me is madly in love with life itself.

First Whole Week of 2013

It’s Sunday. Bratislava is drowning in fog and clouds. I woke up wishing that I could hug someone, sometimes being single sucks. This is something I was thinking about the other day, how being loved is not a human right. It’s something you’d wish to everyone, but maybe one needs to face that there is a chance of eternal singlehood. It’s not a happy thought, but coming to grips with that thought might make life a little easier.

On a happier note, I might be surrounded by the best people ever. We laugh, we joke, we drink too much diet coke, we plan trips to Prague and other places and we try to heal the world. I keep repeating this, but I do believe that it’s important to be thankful for the people around you. So many people have come and left in my life, I really want to hold on to the good ones.

Life is intensive, slightly too intensive. This weekend I have slept about 24 hours and now I feel back to normal. This weekend I’ve been trying to dive into Slovak culture. On Friday a Slovak boy was telling me about Ľudovít Štúr and how important he is considered in contemporary Slovakia. This is what I want, to know this country, its culture, the language.

One of my colleagues is Danish and for some reason my eyes have recently opened to German and Danish. There is no time, I know. But I really like the sound of both languages. So, right now I’m listening to this.

Thanks For The Reminder.

 

Sometimes almost unnoticeable things and undistinguishable details remind us of what really matters.

First things first.

Idź własną drogą
Bo w tym cały sens istnienia
Żeby umieć żyć
Bez znieczulenia
Bez niepotrzebnych niespełnienia
Myśli złych

 

Those words are from a song. A song almost like any other. But this one is in Polish. Listening to it reminded me of how much I love Slavic languages and how much I enjoy learning them.

General confusion. New place. New job. Long days. Crazy hormones. Starting everything anew. Deadline after deadline. Crappy time management skills. The constant feeling of being an alien when the only form of communication with the locals is in a language foreign to all. That’s pretty much what my life looks like at the moment.

So that song also reminded about the things I really enjoy doing. And why I’m doing them. We can’t always avoid doing things we dislike, but it would be stupid to do more of them than necessary, right?

The conclusion? Well. It’d be about time to start learning time management, because the things I do are the things I like doing and they are the activities I need in order to be happy. And there is even more I’d like to do

One thing I really want to do is learn Slovak. There are three reasons. Yes, it’s easier to live in a country if you can communicate with people. And the second reason? Well, Slovak is a beautiful language. Difficult? Too early to tell, but it shouldn’t be difficult.* Thirdly, well. It’d be nice to be able to follow local politics etc. What way better to do it than in Slovak? We can unofficially call this “Project: Za tri mesiace budem hovoriť po slovensky.”

 

*Random side note: I find spoken Slovak easier to understand than spoken Czech, but written Czech is a lot easier than written Slovak.

12/10/2012 ... unfortunately the sun was shining in my eyes...

The European Union is going to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year. This has been noticed by many a commentator - some argue it's a great, others consider it an error. In a sense this prize shows that the project of guaranteeing peace in Europe has succeeded. But the EU of today looks very different from the EEC that was created through the Treaty of Rome in 1957 - the challenges Europe is currently facing are not related to the maintenance of peace among European countries. I'd rather argue that the democratic deficit and lack of transparency are some of the key issues that must be solved if the EU is going to be successful in the future. The relation between EU institutions, national governments (the nation-state) and people is diffuse at best. As one Finnish writer noted, the European Union has achieved much, but in one essential aspect the EU has failed: to create a common voice and a shared identity. Without a shared identity there is a risk that the Union will lose whatever legitimacy it is enjoying among its citizens.

At a personal level I was once again reminded of how wonderful the Hungarian language is. One would think that in a country where almost 10% of the population consist of ethnic Hungarians, there would be a chance to learn the language.

“Jag gör en stege av mina drömmar ikväll Å tänder alla lyktor på stan”*

* “Tonight I make a ladder of all my dreams and light all the lanterns in town”.  

This Saturday is seemingly black and white and it moves in slow motion, but in a good way. There is a certain sweetness to it, a feeling I cannot describe.

Så det verkar som om det i varje tid,
Och i alla sorters folk,
Finns några som vill bygga pyramider.
Där de själva sitter överst,
Och har makten i sin hand,
Medans dem som lever nedanför de lider.

So it seems that in every age,
And among all kinds of people,
There are some who want to build pyramids.
Where they sit on the top,
And hold the power in their hands.
While the ones who live below, they suffer.

 [Original lyrics: Mikaeal Wiehe. Translation: mine]

Summer 2012 In Swedish

Every summer brings a few songs that will forever take you back to memories of sweaty dance floors, lying on the beach and mango ice-cream. Swedes are especially good at making this stuff.

The Swedish word for this is “sommarplåga” (=summer plague").

Song 2 is a bit funny, because a) it’s in Finnish Swedish (finlandssvenska – the dialect spoken in Finland) and b) it’s about Åland (of all places on the planet).

Saturday 15/9/2012

Black coffee and soft music. The sun is shining outside, and there are lots of nice people around.  
And I'm as excited as a little bunny. Soon, soon it's time for another country and another adventure. 

 

Slow Motion

I wanted to write about slow motion, what it feels like to live in slow motion, but at the end it was too difficult to know what to say on the topic – except that there is no time for slow motion right now. Note to self, time to start getting things done now. Instead, three things have been occupying my mind and time lately.

1. The Reason To Get Rid Of Stuff

Who on earth needs that much clothes? And mind you, that’s after I got rid of one third of the things in my wardrobe. Half of this is going to be thrown/given away (I think I’ll keep the laptop, though. For some odd reason it ends up in all my photos). There’s no place for sentimentality now (= that typical thought that “maybe one day…” or “but, it is so pretty…”).

2. The Reason There Is No Need For Any Boyfriends To Keep Me Warm At Night

Somehow I had completely missed the first book in the Harry Hole-series (it seems it was published after the following parts, in English at least) – I believe it’s called The Bat in English. Anyway, while reading this , there was no time for anything or anyone else, that’s what a good book should be like.

3. The Reason To Love Polish

Dżem is a Polish band and listening to their music always brings back a lot of crazy memories. And don’t you agree that Polish is a very beautiful language?

Something Is Happening

Something is happening, there is change in the air. Something must happen, otherwise I will go mad. If everything turns out the way I hope it will, then there will be some interesting things to read about in this blog in a month or so from now….

This summer I’ve been trying to keep my mind open, not spend too much time thinking about things, just letting them come to me. Maybe it’s working. There was a time I felt a little lost, I don’t anymore, now I know where I want to be and what I want to do, just need to figure out how to get there. I’m really grateful to all those, who have been lending me their ears and shoulders this summer.

Right now I’m listening to this Hungarian song a lot:

And. As you know, I love polka dots.

Fresh blueberries are also quite yummy

Monday Music

Ahhh. Tak lubie jezyk polski.

Loving Strangers

Saturday and Midsummer. This year I decided to go with the flow and see what happens. I ended up watching football Now I’m just lying on the bed, listening to music while the rain is dripping on the window above my head. It’s quite nice, I must say. The last couple of weeks have been sort of crazy, but isn’t that the way life should be?

Balkan Calling

ESC 2012

Saturday night and Europe gathers in front of their tellies. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the Eurovision Song Contest. Everyone has performed, we don’t yet know who will win.
This was my favourite.

I hear it and am reminded about my yearning to the Balkans. Speaking of the Balkans, it’s great that all the Balkan finalists sang in their own languages. Way to go! We like it!

Friday Music

This is quite old, but the lyrics are wonderful. Also, if you’re interested in the Swedish language and have always wondered about the Scanian dialect, you have a good example here. Lyrics + translation (my own) below.


Timbuktu – Flickan och Kråkan (Mikael Wiehe Cover)- the Girl and the Crow

Jag satt häromdagen och läste min tidning
en dag som så många förut.
O jag tänkte på alla dom drömmar man drömt som
en efter en har tatt slut
Då såg jag en bild av en flicka
med en skadskjuten kråka i famn
hon springer iväg genom skogen
så fort som hon någonsin kan
Och hon springer med fladdrande lockar
hon springer på taniga ben
o hon bönar och ber och hon hoppas och tror
att det inte ska vara för sent

The other day I was reading my paper
It was a day like so many others
And I thought of all the dreams one has dreamt about
that one by one  have disappeared
Then I saw a picture of a girl
with a shot crow in her arms
She’s running through the forest
as fast as she ever could
She’s running and her locks are flying
she’s running on thin little legs
And she’s begging and praying and hoping and believing
that it won’t be too late

Flickan är liten och hennes hår är så ljust
o hennes kind är så flämtande röd
kråkan är klumpig och kraxande svart
om en stund är den alldeles död
Men flickan, hon springer för livet
hos en skadskjuten fågel i famn
hon springer mot trygghet och värme
för det som är riktigt och sant
O hon springer med tindrande ögon
hon springer på taniga ben
för hon vet att det är sant, det som pappa har sagt
att finns det liv är det aldrig för sent

The girl is little and her hair is so light
her cheek is a flaming red
the crow is clumsy and black as night
in a while it will be completely dead
But the girl, she’s running for the life
of a shot bird in her arms
She’s running toward safety and warmth
for what is real and true
And she’s running with shining eyes
she’s running on thin little legs
for she knows that it’s true, what her dad has said,
as long as there’s life it’s never too late

O jag började darra i vånda och nöd
jag skakade av rädsla och skräck
för jag visste ju alldeles tydligt och klart
att det var bilden av mig som jag sett
För mitt hopp är en skadsjuten kråka
och jag är ett springande barn
som tror det finns någon som kan hjälpa mig än
som tror det finns nån som har svar
O jag springer med bultande hjärta
jag springer på taniga ben
O jag bönar och ber, fast jag egentligen vet
att det redan är alldeles för sent

And I started to shiver with anguish and need
I shivered with fear and terror
because it was obvious and clear
that I had seen a picture of myself
My hope is a shot crow
And I’m a running child
who thinks that someone still can help me
and thinks that someone will have answers
And I’m running with a beating heart
I’m running on thin little legs
And I’m begging and praying, even though I know
that it’s already way too late

Re-discoveries

Drinking coffee, re-discovering old favourites and watching the snow fall… This is what holidays are all about This girl is so talented, and just listening to her makes me want to go out there and discover the world.