Thanks

This one is for nanaimo, because by sending me a "quick-test" she just managed to proove that I am far from being a genius and more generally, my life sucks. Nice to have friends who are there for you, eh?

I've been looking for this for you for a looong time.

I met brother on weekend. He always has jokes.
- Granny, haven't you seen my little coloured ecstasy pills?
- Leave me alone with your stupid pills, have you seen the dragon in the kitchen?
Who guesses who is it I send the link where skiing photos are.

Hey-ho!
Do you like audio-books? It makes me remember the times when we were listening bedtime stories on LP's...
I signed up for membership, 1 year download, more than 26.000 books.
Are you interested?
It is for languages too,,,(lynx)
I am learning japanise now :)

3,2,1...NOW you can start being envious: you guessed right, I will take the train in 15 minutes :-)
Have a nice weekend, you too!!

Note 1: as a background music for this post please refer to the song « Cold » from Annie Lennox. Unfortunately not available from our usual source of online music.

Note 2 : I promise this will be the last soppy-nostalgic post for a while.

It's been exactly ten years ago tonite that I have met the person who is largely responsible for whatever I have become since. That was the night I have got to know by name all the stops of Ligne 4 from Porte de Clignancourt to Place St Michel; what the song of blackbirds can mean in a chilly February dawn and how is it like to be escorted home when you can't help but smile.

Note 3: some things are better left unsaid.

Nevertheless, God bless Paris.

Buda Castle in the twentieth century

Today we have the gloomiest, wettest and stickiest weather that can be found in Europe. Maybe some obscure "breton" seashore in mid-January would win (because it is windier) but from the oceanic-continental type of non-Scandinavian weather this is definitely the ugliest. 100% humidity from the thick fog, large drops of water hanging from the branches of the trees, waiting to fall.

What is funny about this is that yesterday Belgium (and me within) enjoyed a perfectly beautiful early-spring-day: one of those that used to make me and Isti grab a pack of cigarettes, a bag of Ropi (salty sticks) and the most artificial-tasting soft drink of all times (Mirinda Red Grape – we drank it only on these occasions like some rare cognac) and walk up to Buda Castle to enjoy the first mild day. It usually coincided with skipping some courses. So there were we sitting on the ramparts, experiencing the warmth of the sun without the coats at last, listening to the silence (no tourists in early February, especially not back then) and no natives (all at work or at school except us) and life was good. Almost like yesterday.

Exotic

have you ever tried dried mushroom? My man bought some last week in the chinese store out of curiousity (he keeps bringing home some funny-looking, never-heard-of-it stuff from the stores, we will poison ourselves one fine day).

Just soak it in warm water for an hour: better than new, and it never gets spoiled. Do you have chinese food there? What is the fastfood there, the belgian relevant of chinese buffee?
Like japanese here: sushi and maki and teriyaki wherever you look, there is sushi plate even in the hospital's cafeteria!

BTW, what about exotic food? What do you think, are we supposed to eat what our ancestors had? Do we put extra stress on the body enjoying a good thai dinner? Or is it just preconditioning, like sauna, that makes you stronger? I vote for that!

And what is exotic, anyways? My student asked me what is the most exotic food I ate. I don't know. Some chinese dish would be exotic in Hungary. But she has chinese origin, so I can't say that. Some is exotic here (blood sausage, heyho), but common back at home. Other europian? I'm not sure. So I named the most stinky cheeses I had (Mont d'Or, if you have the opportunity), and some locally brewed beer...

What is the most exotic food you ate?

Expat lencsefőzelék

Put the lentil in water for overnight (a lot, because it's good. One portion is never enough.) The next day boil it slowly with onion, laurel leaf and salt. Fry some smoked bacon and mix it to the pot. You can add some flour to make it thicker. Cook until it starts tasting good. Put into plates, think about tejföl really hard and enjoy, if you can. Because

“Nem lehet megunni! Soha-soha, nem lehet megunni!”

A lot more here thanks to gergoke.

Night at the movies

Yesterday evening I set out for the cinema to watch a film I'd like to watch since it has come out in theaters near me (about 3 months now). I planned to catch a bus that takes me there in 10 minutes and I made it on time to the bus-stop and then...it hasn't arrived. As it was too late then to get there by any other means of transport on time (and because I hate to miss even the first 3 seconds) I abandoned the project, taking this sign as the finger of God pointing in the direction of not watching that film yesterday evening. I took a walk around the block instead and even ventured into an Irish pub for a glass of wine. And later I watched a perfectly enjoyable thriller-sort of movie called "White Sands" showing Willem Dafoe and Samuel L. Jackson when they were still in kindergarten.

A propos of this I was wondering if I can still remember the circumstances of watching certain films and if it has anything to do with the aftertaste they leave in me? For example I remember that I watched my first Inarritu on dvd, on a hot Saturday afternoon, sitting on a couch in Sydney; I watched Magnolia in Művész ( in one of the smallest halls) as well as The Others (in the biggest one - sitting in the front all alone, as a consequence I didn't dare to sleep for two nights at least); I watched Bin-Jip in Paris in a basement art-cinema where the electricity was down every 20 minutes; About Schmidt next to a couple who were eating chips till about the half of the movie; an Antonioni in the filmclub of my high-school years ...and so on.

When I think about the films I've seen I instantly see the surroundings I was in when I watched them. I wonder if it would have been a different experience to see them elsewhere/another time/with somebody else/alone? Do I actually remember some of them just because of the circumstances or is it the other way around?

I go get hold on one of these...

Have a good weekend!

chirp

Hello ladies all over the place!

Let's get less lyric; spring is here!

The tulips poke out their little green noses everywhere and now I can feel in my bones that winter is over. A year less we have left with, but, spring is here!

How did you survive Valentine's day this year? Any cemetery visit? Poems? Sushi nights? Mourning over past with lots of whiskey? Analysis about the origin of the holiday? (Should I go to hell ASAP?)

Belief

Actually, I don't believe in love either. One believe in things one cannot experience. I believe in angels.

I know love.

What to believe in

Yesterday at the above mention place somebody did not believe in love.
Strange?
Can it be described what we do believe in?

One trial here, the other tomorrow if I don't forget it ...

WITHOUT KNOCKING

If I become attached to you
you can come in my room without knocking,
but, please, think it over,
I put you to my pailliasse, the rustling straw is sighing with dust.

I bring you fresh water in the carofe,
I wipe your shoes before you leave,
nobody will disturb us here,
stooping you can patch our clothes in peace.

Silence is deep, I speak to you.
If you are tired I give you my sole chair,
In the warm room you can take off your tie your collar.
If you are hungry you will get clean paper for a plate, if I happen to have something else;
But then, please, leave me some food because I am also always hungry.

If I become attached to you,
you can come in my room without knocking;
but, please, think it over,
It would hurt me if after that you didn't come for a long time.

József Attila: Kopogtatás nélkül, 1926 April.
Translated by L. Fórizs, July 18,1991

This is Nanaimo, how it looked like last August.

"The old dreams were good dreams, they didn't work out, but I'm glad I had them"

- RJ Waller: The Bridges of Madison County

"After all, one can’t complain. I have my friends. Somebody spoke to me only yesterday..."

"And I'm right on time
And the birds keep singing
And you're right on line
And the bells keep ringing
One day there'll be a place for us
And the battle is won
And the planes keep winging
And I'm right on time
And the girl keeps singing
One day there'll be a place for us"

Authority rules the world

Dear Co-Author-Girls,

I've just published the blog ONLINE - we can now become FAMOUS! Whoa!

But also, because I am no despot (and because I have finally found the right button) I have given you ALL the "admin" status as well! Please be so kind to mess up the design, or the lack of design...

...because "whilst a mob has the power to punish a criminal, such as through lynching, only the courts have the authority to order capital punishment."

Fanny och Alexander

I remember watching this film a long-long time ago: I was about the age of the children, pictured in it (around 10, it was on the television). I was wondering for a long time this weekend whether to go and see it or not but finally we decided to do something else. I hope that when I will get to see it once more, it'll be just as good as it seemed back then.

But that's not all. We have also missed Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson, along with a Iosseliani... Life is really difficult when there is such a good filmmuseum nearby !

But luckily, there is an invention called dvd for those who like to watch films way too late: Szerelmesfilm managed to make me cry once again for 123 minutes. Thank you Szabó István, thank you amazone.com!

joined

More importantly, in Castro Bisztro, there would be eye-contact and laughter at the right moments...never mind, we will use our imagination.
Let's see how it goes.

No excuse

Once upon a time I was down, very down years ago ...
and I met a blind lady, who I saw on the bus already. I offered her my company - she accepted it. She had only arm - of course I tried to get on her wrong side. Than she told me where she wants to turn her path, she new better where to go than me. We talked about her work and also, she turned out to be married. I felt worse and worse and worse, more and more ashamed. She might can't press ctrl+alt+del alone, and I feel miserable?
And I was jealous on a blind, one-armed woman's happiness.
She simply loves her life because she accepts, appreciates everything good she meets.
There is no excuse to be happy and satisfied.

Foreword

Well, I guess you can blame all this on the horoscope (I don't even believe in) saying things like "you are developing new ways of communicating" and "communication becomes easy this year".

Or I just simply got fed up by trying to tell about every little detail in ten minutes when we finally meet up after months and months?

I wonder if this little attempt of overseas communication will be of any interest to others than to those who write it - especially because most of us are not native speakers (and even less native writers) and because overhearing other's beer-soaken conversation in a pub is usually only interesting for about three minutes...and here, we do not even have beer...

Anyway, let's see how it goes: as long as we enjoy it, it should be fun!