Oh, and where was I again...

... two nights ago? I guess now we are between the 24th of August and the 2nd of September. So you may guess where this was taken.
It is quite fun that each time there is a truck in the köz.

And yesterday night I went to West Balkan, the new one. Alas! Not only is it now a posh place, but I had a real bad adventure with my bottle of Löwenbräu. I hadn't bought it at the bar, obviously. But since I had put it (unopened) on the table, next to the cirskes krumpli stuff and the bottles of Márka and Traubi that I had bought at the bar, a waiter came, took it on his trail and without a word was about to leave and take it away. I had to catch him and ask him what he was doing to have him tell me that there was no way the bottle could go back in my backpack, but if I wanted, he could bring it the to the bouncer at the entrance instead of putting it to the rubbish bin, so that I could take it back when leaving.

West-Balkán is neither where nor what it used to be. Really. I mean, look at that.

Endsummer night's magic on a pond

Dear all, dear you unfortunate who were not in Budapest during the last two days. You couldn't be invited by i to go at night in Botanikus kert and watch magic embodied in a flower.
That was on its second night, when the flower was pink, that used to be white. When she was a female, that you had met a male the night before. (Somewhat reminiscent of the RHPS, isn't it?)

Thank you, i, oh so much.
Other photos on request! Sorry I haven't had time to read all your posts, I am working at CEU's library (once again!). I will read and reply next week, I promise.

Changes

I used to think I love changes, that I am the incarnation of flexibility. Well, I am not - that is something I have only realized recently and I am very proud of this discovery. Let me tell you why.

Whereas I like new things, changes and surprises (sometimes even bad ones, because they can also mean excitement) I am just unable to accept them. Just about as much as a six-month-old baby: give her the food 5 minutes later and she will cry her lungs out. Is this some sort of masochism? I am almost sure. The bigger the challenge, the higher the reward, when I finally make it (e.g. stop fighting back). But in the meantime the sh*t is scared out of me, so to say. I go as far as to initiate these changes (change countries, for example...) but be happy with my choice once the horror of adaptation is over.

What is interesting in it is that when I started to understand all this, I have found a book (or it has found me?) about the acceptance of the inevitability of change. Strange, ha? It is Chinese (of course :-) ) but let me say in my defense that taoism is my favourite religion since a long-long time.

So, it is called I Ching - translated "Book of Changes". And before you call me crazy to enter into strange practices of divination: it is not giving you outcomes or precise answers, it is merely somebody to talk to when you don't have anybody. You throw with coins to get a sign that will be the answer to your question - it is random, like everything else, so it could even be "true" whatever that concept means. You read what it says and then think about it. Easy, isn't it? What is difficult is to ask a good question and to look at your problem in an objective way - I guess it is this what makes it so good. And that's how I realized my difficulties with adaptation. Now I know that:

Alive, a man is supple, soft;

In death, unbending, rigorous.
All creatures, grass and trees, alive
Are plastic but are pliant too,
And dead, are friable and dry.
Unbending rigor is the mate of death,
And yielding softness, company of life;
Unbending soldiers get no victories;
The stiffest tree is readiest for the ax.
The strong and mighty topple from their place;
The soft and yielding rise above them all.

midnight picknick

Some people love it, some think it's really boring...how you find it?
As for me, I wish I could sing like that...

Time warp

It's been a long time since I wanted to watch Rocky Horror Picture Show - being almost sure to find something very twisted and overly sexual. Well, twisted all right (and funny) but far from being "too sexual" and with a surprisingly good music score! Here is a sample for you of the most famous songs: Let's do the time warp again!

If you like that one (and the innocent look of a veryvery young Susan Sarandon) don't miss "Sweet trasvestite" and "Hot Patootie" and the opening (Scene 1) - all listed on youtube if you type "Rocky Horror" (or watch my link).

Now all I miss is to participate in a live act in a cinema - where you actually HAVE to throw things at specific moments (rice, toasts, confetti, toilet paper etc.) and sing and dance along...For that I should go to Paris where they still schedule it every Saturday night in one of my favourite studios. I was guessing that English-speaking countries have more opportunities to do so, but it might not be the case. Anyway, don't miss it .

Synopsis brought to you by courtesy of tarelle
(he bought the dvd :-) )

Can you spot any difference?

Good news if you are likely to be photographed by me one day soon. I cleaned my sensor. Can you spot any difference?



Question: why didn't I do that earlier? Well, good question. But I have a good answer: I hadn't heard of mamkho, yet. Great guy, you know.

When Babylon's codename was "Camp alpha"

Dear nanaimo,

I loved your story about Quebec (your photos are downright wonderful) and want to help you get back to French. Here is another story, about another great, great city called Babylon (in French : Babylone).

You might have heard that US and then Polish troops had been establishing their camp right next to the archeological site. It seemed that building helipads and troop tents, digging a dozen trenches (up to 170m long) "made into previously undisturbed archaeological", were not the best idea for the old stones close at hand. Here is an article published in Le Monde about it (to train our French), referring to a report made in 2005 by the keeper of the Middle East collections at the British Museum, John Curtis, about the "crisis in Iraqi cultural heritage".

Believe it or not, the Polish radio celebrates Polish troops for protecting the site from looters. Quote:

'Any report on Babylon should start by saying that the Americans and the Poles saved Babylon for our civilisation, because that is the truth. If it wasn't for the Americans, Babylon would have been looted like all other museums in Iraq ... and we would now be buying back Babylon artifacts on bazaars and markets' End of quote, end of partial truths trying to hide devastating incompetence.

You can find a lot more documentation on the issue on that blog dedicated to "The Iraq War & Archaeology", on the website of Wien University. Facts and scientists seem not be so enthusiastic as the Polish radio.

Put one more item....

...on your must-see list:

Quebec city!

I don't know, how it is possible to have an extraordinary beautiful, European city in the middle of north-America, but it exist! It is called Quebec City, the capital of the french-speaking Quebec province in Canada.
The whole province is somewhat surreal. As soon as you cross the border, the bread starts to have crunchy crust, the cheese has flavor, the shop windows look actually inviting..and nobody speaks English and they drive like crazy. After seeing all this, I am crying, why, why on Earth couldn't at least the neighboring provinces learn or import some of this taste? Just a tiny bit? Please? You know, I thought, style and taste must have been left behind when first settlers came and people just didn't have time to reinvent them since. But this isn't the case! It is here, nearby, available, adjusted to this climate. I don't get it. And I want to go back. I really should go on with my French studies. (The only french sentence I know would not work here-it is still north-America:)))
Anyways, you really have to see this city.

Summer journeys 2.

So while you are out there getting busy with strange little invisible creatures, I just keep living the life full of irresponsibility :-)

This is - of course - from China, not exactly the detailed version of how great it was, but just a glimpse to what it was like. (I absolutely wanted to post this before going home to good old Budapest ...)

Some other details that might transmit the message of how much I liked it:
- I practically only cook Chinese food since,
- I took home a complete set of calligraphy tools
- I only read news that are related to China
- I drink more green tea than coffee
- I keep learning the language while in the train...
...and poor tarelle has to assist to all this!

new blogger number 2

For those who might not know it yet: following i with a good three months, I became a double-decker too...

Appendix for SJ1 - What we missed and still regret.

We didn't fly with her - had a coffee in stead.

We haven't hopped with him - walked instead.

We didn't swim with them - talked and rested beside.

Wanted to take it for nana - took a photo
instead.

Summer pictures - part 2

Here are my special contributions for our summer pictures series. First is a funny little glimpse of where you guys are.



And here is a little glimpse of how much you came to Castro Bisztro during the summer. No wonder we did not celebrate koxkitty's arrival properly!



Now, are you scared? Big brother's everywhere!

Summer-journeys 1.

This is going to be a series of picture-filled posts, not necessarrily in chronological order...but before I go into details about fascinating China, here is the one I have not yet posted: our weekend-trip to Paris, with i. (the very beginning of June...seems like it was in the last century...or just yesterday...)

As we were "planning", it was a just a series of walking, sitting around on terrasses drinking coffee and chatting...and we actually went to a party as well! ...and to i's fetish-shop on the edge of the 5th district (selling Tunisian sweets) and I managed to take her to the Louvre... and next to the church what I had put in the post before leaving. But it was NOT raining. Here is the proof:

And we also went to a Japanese restaurant, different one as with nanaimo - do you remember, nana? (This time it was on rue Saint-Anne, our secret "good-address" for Japanese food with tarelle. And to the English bookshop. And OF COURSE we were drinking wine in the hotel room, till very late , but it is needless to say :-)

See you back there soon, i (and L)!