In the gym, at the end of each session of balance (the exercises I prefer) we relax lying on the floor. The monitor tells us what to do and to think, but I generally lose contact and start my own line of thought.
Today, I was thinking of Cambodia, some of the Khmer people I met there, the links that still remains. I was happy for having such memories that are a gift and a privilege.
Sheik Arruffat El Hachbedel had two daughters: the oldest was called Msida, and the other Gzira.
When he was visiting them, he couldn’t avoid going back to the time when they were living together.
On the contrary, the two women could barely wait for the moment he would leave. Not for lack of affection, as they loved him, but for fear that something could go awry, that he may get angry, a quarrel start abruptly and they may not see each other once again.
Indeed, the good sheik had a fierce temper, and was incapable of mending relationships; he was as a tree plenty of broken branches.
Whilst he was there, a strained atmosphere pervaded the house, made of few words, restrained gestures and some faint smiles.
One day, one of Gzira’s girls wanted to bring her grandpa a cup of coffee and, bumping into his kaftan, spilled the boiling beverage over his legs.
The Sheik’s yell led to a flood of shouting and fighting throughout the house in which everyone released their pent up feelings. Every lack of attention was reproached, every suspect, every concealed regret.
They almost came to blows; then, out of the silence, they waited for Arruffat’s reaction.
He came back to the room, in his underpants, and was received by a sweet, boisterous laughter, wafting through the walls as a salty wave.
Living in Spain nowadays is like a breath of fresh air. Yesterday there was the zapatazo, the order to immediately withdraw militaries from Iraq.
Of course, the Spanish government, as all sensible people, care and is worried about the sort of that country, but the military occupation is not a viable solution, and the UN option seems to be still distant.
Myself and the New York Times think that ZP anticipated the decision not to be absorbed during the first months of his government in an endless debate around the choice to withdraw or not, under international pressure and national confusion.
The reaction in Spain is very positive (a part from PP), and abroad, let’s wait some weeks more to see if followers will come forward.
I don’t appreciate the quasi-sacred respect for new possessions.
The fear of scratches on the door of your brand new car and the insistence on putting something below your cup of tea, in order to protect the shiny surface of the tropical timber table. Or the acrobatic way of eating a slice of pizza on the road, to preserve the whiteness of your new silk shirt.
That’s why I’m proposing a new range of products: ready-flawed objects to make your life easier and help you feel comfortable.
Trousers with a little hole near the right pocket, cups freshly spoilt (how to translate ‘sbeccata’, who knows?), myrtle juice stained sofas.
With a 1 year guarantee: if you don’t feel at ease yet, a company’s courier will come at your place ready to ruin your shopping additionally. Free of charge.
These two notes were published in March and accidentally erased, I am duplicating them ‘a futura memoria’.
Haiku
postato da mc7858 [mercoledi 31 marzo 2004 ore 16:21:43]
I prepared this haiku for a competition organised by the Japanese Embassy in Roma.
I did not win.
Perhaps, I did not respect carefully the strict rules about Haiku writing.
Please, read:
Swallow in a cage
cat is looking for
wild brawl
feathers for dinner
La mala educación
postato da mc7858 [mercoledi 31 marzo 2004 ore 18:14:44]
Barcelona, 31 March 2004
We went to see last Almodóvar’s movie, La mala educación.
I did not like it. I couldn’t find the gracia that was in the previous films, Todo sobre mi madre and Habla con ella. Those ones were also touching sensitive circumstances, but there was space for laugh and emotion.
I would not comment on the plot as I don’t like to know about a movie beforehand.
The main actors are good; one of them is the protagonist of Amores Perros, movie that I could not follow until the end, too violent, too much blood.
La mala educación will open the Cannes Festival, let’s wait for reviews.
As affirmed from the beginning, writing in English is the main point of this blog.
And Word`s® Thesaurus is one of the tools facilitating that objective.
I placed the option Thesaurus on the heading of the program, next to copy, past and cut, and I use it generously.
Of course, an exaggerated utilization of this facility may bring to incongruous results, but there is where I count on the reaction of the readers (not very frequent, so far).
I also use the interactive dictionary distributed by L’Espresso, and the GuruNet resource, very useful, but needing connection to the Internet (you may find the details below).
The use of the Thesaurus is anyway the option I prefer, as it permits surprise and creativity (and I could have written revelation and imagination, or shock and inspiration, or wonder and resourcefulness ?..)
Riferimenti: GuruNet
The purchase of two phalaenopsis in IKEA inaugurated our dealing with orchids.
Soon after that, I travelled to Madagascar and at the Flower’s market I did buy more than 20 little plastic bags with orchid’s seeds, from pleasant and amused sellers. I took note of the different names and colours, and only once back home we discovered from Internet that you do not sow orchids.
The reproduction process of these plants is an odd one, recently defined, that need a germ-free environment and particular conditions.
Not discouraged by the incident, we bought in Thailand some plants and two bottles, where, immersed in a “primordial soup” there were more than 40 little sprouts, Vanda variety, a real orchid champion as the lady-seller said.
We are very proud about our first plant (the IKEA one), which engendered a keiki (new plant coming out from the stem of the “mother” one) that you can admire below.
PS to import those plants from Thailand we went to the local office of CITES (international agreement for the protection of tropical species) to get the official authorization
During the Easter holidays we went to Manzanares, at the hearth of the Mancha region, to call on the family.
We visited the mills, bought the cheese, ate any kind of traditional Easter cakes.
The space is huge and boundless, well cultivated, everywhere fields, green or brown, olive trees, vineyards, plough tracks.
We went to Ciudad Real and Toledo, beautiful but wrapped up in pointless shops, and many little pueblos.
We followed the processions, observing the masked cofradias, the crucifix and the sacred images carried on people’s back.
Allusion to Mexico and America, amplitude and traditions, colours and loneliness.
Patricia de Lille, former leader of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania in Capetown, launched this slogan in 1994, during the campaign for the first democratic elections in South Africa (tomorrow they vote again, for the third time).
“Enough is enough”, very narrow agenda, anti-political, not the programme you would expect form a credible alternative for government. But a manifesto that I would subscribe for Italy. And that many voters did endorse in Spain, some days ago.
Some of these blog’s notes should be useful for the readers. Therefore, I start today sharing some useful information I have got in my long years of searching.
The first utility blog is the address of a French web site informing about vacancies in the international organizations.
There are many similar web sites, but I consider this one particularly functional, as it gives immediately the indication of the posts available in the different organizations. Afterwards, one can go to the specific web site to get the details.
You can find the address below.
PS regarding the title, I wanted to express the concept blog di servizio, as it is used for trasmissione di servizio, but I couldn’t find a better formula than utility blog. Any suggestion?
Riferimenti: France diplomatie
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