Monday, March 31, 2008
From the worst to the great!
See more funny videos at CollegeHumor
Now that you've seen what comes up if you google "the worst music video ever", I'd like to share with you an absolutely amazing musical experience I had last Thursday, once again, at La Bilbaina. This time, I saw an Italian group: "Alphabeats Nu Jazz". Super awesome! They did relatively tame, only slightly experimental set as far as the instrumentalists went... but they coupled it with a rapper! And the outcome was fantastic!
I had a chat with the rapper during the break and I highly recommend you visit his myspace site
Apart from that, I've had a marvellous weekend with Mikko here - we went to Aranda de Duero to visit Narot (my Finnish student) on Friday, and his parents took us on a tour of the town, including the 5 kms of middle-age wine cellars to be found underneath the town! That was incredible! And they were even nice enough to take us out for lunch and invite us back another time to their house! The whole day was sunny, once we got out of Bilbao - but on the way back, we saw dark clouds on the horizon. "Follow those and surely we'll be getting into Basque country!" Surely enough, 5 kilometres after the "Ongi Etorri" sign, fat raindrops started falling on the car...
Another highlight of this week: Africa (Fernando's dog) opened her mouth and let out a bleat... yes: "BAAAAAAA" out of the blue. We haven't been able to get her to repeat the sound again, despite multiple attempts at convincing her that she really IS a sheep. She doesn't buy it. I don't think she realises the chaos her moment of mistaken identity has caused in Bilbao.
Or perhaps we were just high, since we'd been gluing the frame onto our present to Jimena... who knows?
fon @ 6:45 PM link to post * *
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Irish Leprechaun
Tonight a leprechaun searched my soul with four simple questions, which I answered honestly. I wish I'd never met the leprechaun.
It all started Sunday night with two films. The first one was 'Juno'. I enjoyed it. A lot. The second one was 'A Tough of Spice'. It told me about life through the eyes of a chef. I guess it was the second one that really touched me. It was honest. And it made me see that life is like a stick of cinnamon - it can be bitter, and it can be sweet.
But so I went to sleep deeply uncertain about many things in my life. Most of all, not sure about why I've been so sure recently. Then I woke up to a somewhat grumpy Sneha (I'm in Dublin, visiting what has to be one of the loveliest women I've ever met in my life) on St. Patrick's day.
Well, no matter how much we like to believe that we are an island, the moods of other people do have the power to affect us, and today, considering how important Sneha is to me, I felt off all day. It's not her fault, and already I know that it had nothing to do with me... we all have our bad days.
The day started for me with a jerk, and so instead of going down to join the others for breakfast, I decided to stay up in Sneha's room (after running down to get a cup of coffee) and paint my face for the St. Patrick's day parade. I love dressing up for an occasion, and so I painted a big green star around my left eye, and a smaller on on my right. Then I proceeded to pass through a relatively fun, if somewhat grumpy day.
It was at the last bar that we arrived at many hours after the parade, and perhaps several guinness behind us that I met him. I was dancing with Marta and Etxazo when he approached us with a tube of those little candies with hearts on them that say things like "Be Mine" and "Bye bye" and "Whatever" and "I love you" and offered them to us... At first he was very interested in what Marta's and Etxazo's said, and ignored me until he nonchalantly offered me one and was uninterested to hear what mine said and left.
But after a bit he came back, and noticing the stars on my eyes, asked me how I'd done them. "I painted them", I said. "Have you got your paints here?"... "Yes! Would you like me to paint you some stars?". "Yes".
I had some trouble finding my jacket, though, and that's where the paints were. And honestly, I was a bit too lazy to look for it well. So I told my leprechaun that I couldn't find it. He called me a liar. So I, hating being called a liar, since I am a terrible liar, told him the truth. That I wasn't sure where it was, because I hadn't put away the jacket myself - and also that I was lazy. But in the end I found it. And as I painted his face, he told me a little story... well, more like asked me some questions. It goes like this:
You are walking in a desert. Walking, walking, walking, through endless dunes, and you see a cube. Yes a cube. Describe it. Is it big or small? What colour is it?
Done?
Then, you see a horse. Where is it? Describe it if you wish.
Got your answer?
You see a ladder. Where is that? And other details you want to add?
Finally, you see a flower. In relation to you and the horse and the ladder, where is it?
The answer revealed this to me: I have quite a small ego, apparently. But that's not important - it's just part of the meaning of my answers. What struck me was the rest of it. My friends are crazy and I keep them close. I also keep my family close. But as for my love life? I keep it distant, but I still know exactly where it is and what's happening with it.
Scary insight.
And Mr. Leprechaun disappeared when the stars were drawn. The end.
p.s. Tell me if you've got answers to the questions and I'll tell you the analysis!
fon @ 10:10 AM link to post * *
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The cutest hippo EVER!!!
fon @ 11:51 PM link to post * *
Monday, March 10, 2008
Ode to Bilbao!
Based on the tune of the opening song in Beauty and the Beast (Little town, full of little people, waking up to say "Bonjour!")
Intro:
Little town
It's a quiet village
Ev'ry day
Like the one before
Little town
Full of little people
Waking up to say: ¡joder!
There goes the junkie with his needle, like always
Along the river, still and green
There are clouds up in the sky
And the people are equally high
Stumbling home in the morning from the bar
Remember to pay your drinks when leaving
Eskerikasko and aguur¡
The Guggenheim's the trump
Right next to it a dump
There's no denying the quaintness of Bilbao
Look there she goes, she's wearing high heels
Look there, tight pants, and a Basque haircut!
Off goes a bomb, another dead councillor!
But by night fall the town forgets it all!
Look there they go the Erasmus students
They fill a club and make a scene
With a dazed and wasted look
The Irish say "Oh Fook!"
And in Dubliner they have another beer!
Bridge:
Ooooh, isn't this the centre
Of the whole wide world and the blue sea?
You'll never need another
But you'll never know it's true until you leave!
Now there's no doubt that Bilbao has beauty
The ambient has no parallel!
But I'm not sure we all accede
That Euskal Herria should secede?
But Bilbao's different from the rest of Spain
Oh so very different from the rest of Spain
So different from the rest of Spain are the Basques!
fon @ 1:13 AM link to post * *
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Go veg!
fon @ 12:37 PM link to post * *
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
International Recognition (for recipe-cards)
In my frenzy of practicing the writing down of recipes, I sent off a few cards, too, which have
ended up on lovebites (Australia) and Mimi's facebook albums (England) :) :) :) Yippee!
On lovebites:
On Mimi's facebook:
fon @ 5:02 PM link to post * *
Monday, March 03, 2008
Total inefficiency!
Ever since December, I’ve been meant to appear before the “juzgado de instrucción” – regarding the case of the robbery that occurred in November. The first time I was in Tanzania when a notice to collect a letter from the post office arrived. By the time I got back and went to collect it, there were three messages from the court people who had tried to reach me, and whatever had arrived at the post office had already been sent back. Apparently, I was meant to have appeared in court at some stage. Then I got another little notice in my mailbox. This time, I collected the little envelope that that court sent me, presenting my passport and signing for it.
The letter was threatening me with a fine of 200 – 1,500 Euros for not appearing in court, and gave me another date, which, unfortunately, was a date for when I already had a ticket bought to be in Finland. Screw that!
So now, I got another one. I again went to the post office, signed for a letter asking me to appear today… and well, this time, being in the country, I decided to go. And for what? To receive a piece of paper that notified me that the trial is, indeed, over. And to sign for it. That’s all. They didn’t even bother looking at the passport which they said I had to bring. In the end, at least the post office made sure it was me signing for the letter. Why didn’t the bloody judge just send it to the post office instead of threatening me with massive fines for not showing up to receive a piece of paper I really couldn’t care less about??
What a way to fall out the wrong side of the bed! Aaaargh!!!!
fon @ 4:46 PM link to post * *
Sunday, March 02, 2008
A special prize for the weekend!
It's been a while since I 'reported' my weekend activities on my blog... but this one, I feel, deserves special mention... Well, the 'weekend' started on Thursday, somehow...
So, the fact that my internet at home as been forcing me to be a little more social, starting from Thursday night. The connection died on Wednesday night, in fact, but late enough that it didn't really bother me.... and Thursday was a bit nuts, anyhow... Thursday = Class -> Teach -> Teach more -> Moroccan immigrant event -> Jazz concert -> Party -> Home.
The Moroccan immigrant was especially fruitful, as I seem to be getting an idea of what is going to happening for my thesis. Namely, I started thinking about social responsibility, following on from a conversation with Mikko on Wednesday night. And slowly a question has begun to emerge... What does it mean to be the 'original' population? Why does this population have 'rights' over the 'newcomers'... and why should they, if they do? Assuming that everyone, as a person, has equal rights to human dignity and other basic necessities, shouldn't 'integration' be more of a cultural exchange, rather than forced assimilation into majority?
Well, that's the seed of it, anyhow... I'm going to pay their office a visit on Tuesday and see if there is any volunteering I can do for them, like on a Saturday or Sunday morning, for example, like I did for SAIL in Australia.
But now... my favourite part of last week/this weekend: The Heckler and La Bilbaina. The basement of La Bilbaina, where there is live jazz every Thursday, has one of the best sound systems I've ever heard! And the quality of the act... Incredible! It was quite the fusion of different styles, getting together to form what was, simply, great jazz! The man in the neighbouring seat told me that they were all from bands of different styles, except for the Columbian bass cellist, who was, indeed a jazz musician. The saxophone, electric guitar and drum were from different acts. Incredible, I'm going again next Thursday, even if it was 12 Euros... They have a different act every week, so I'm really looking forward to the next one!
The Erasmus party after the concert went by without anything incredible to note....
Friday, however, was quite the night. Ironically I was meant to stay in. Or, well, stay until midnight or so at Marta, Tessa and Stijn's house, and use the internet... but well, a few glasses of wine turned to a few more people over, which in turn led to Tessa, Francois and me not getting home until 8.15 in the morning... (oops.) If it's the thought that count we did TRY to head in the direction of Deusto at around 5 a.m. for an 'early' night....
But it was super nice chilling with the girls the next day, eating pasta, looking at photo, downloading academic texts for my thesis proposal. And ending the day by seeing "The Gift" (a portuguese rock group). Highly recommended!
fon @ 8:51 PM link to post * *