Sheltering Sky

The thickness of the air

2009-08-17T17:15:00.002+02:00

Four o'clock in the morning and I can't sleep. First it was the live music from the bar opposite the guesthouse. Then it came the Israeli girls chatting in the corridor. Finally came the storm, roaring over Bangkok. It's not even midnight in Brussels yet, I thought, no wonder I can't sleep. Khao San Road still the same. It's been almost four years since I spent a couple of weeks here. Many

Georgien

2009-02-21T11:22:00.001+01:00

Es ist komisch zu denken, dass ich noch vor sechs Monaten fast nichts über Georgien wusste. Georgien? Ja klar, es gibt guten Wein, gutes Essen und ein paar Regionen, die unabhängig werden wollen. Das war alles. Dann kam der Krieg, der von der EU gemachte Waffenstillstand, die Beobachtermission, und plötzlich war Georgien im Zentrum meines Lebens. Einen Monat nach dem Krieg habe ich zum ersten Mal

PS3

2009-02-16T07:50:00.000+01:00

Zehn Jahre lang habe ich mich zurückgehalten und keine Playstation gekauft. Ich dachte, dass sie zu viel von meiner Zeit in Anspruch nehmen würde, und ich in dieser Zeit besser lesen oder Sprachen lernen könnte. Jetzt bin ich 33 und ich habe verstanden, dass man die Zeit genießen sollte, und ich nicht glücklicher werde weil ich mehr lese oder mehr Sprachen kenne. Meine Freunde kriegen kinder, ich

Leaving the party

2008-06-11T23:34:00.006+02:00

How do I really know that the other party is better? I could go there and have a look, but then it would be too late to return to this party. Sure, the music here is not great but it could be worse. The people here are OK. It’s just that I am not having that much fun. I’m missing something out there, but maybe there is nothing out there to miss. Maybe I’m just not in the mood after all, and

No longer a stray cat

2008-05-30T21:46:00.002+02:00

Come on Friday feeling, where are you? Where is that animal instinct that pushed me into the streets at night for so many years, weekend after weekend, como un gato sin dueño. Go out, explore, I tell myself. But I’m so tired that I close my eyes instead. Wait, this is clubbing music. I should be dancing, getting ready, not lying on the couch. But I can’t, my body feels heavy. The songs remind me

New job

2008-01-18T21:43:00.000+01:00

It's all very West Wing. At times I feel like Josh or Sam will come out of an office. Two weeks into my job and I am really enjoying it. I have this horizontal position within the ESDP conduct capability, meaning that I will be supporting the head of operations in overseeing all civilian missions. So one moment I’m in a meeting on a bombing in Afghanistan, next I am discussing the movements of

The longest summer of my life

2008-01-18T21:23:00.000+01:00

Б. Москворецкий Мост

2008-01-13T15:22:00.000+01:00

It's not you, it’s me -you haven’t changed that much after all. But I have, and I am sorry but honest when I tell you that I no longer feel the same. Of course you still beautiful and inspiring, and I am sure others enjoy you as much as I did. But you are nothing but my past.It’s cold on the bridge, but I am warmly dressed. I look through the river and I see on the north shore the towers of the

Under the violent rains of southern Africa

2007-12-15T12:02:00.000+01:00

It’s rainy season in Zambia and I can hear the streams of water battering the windows of the lodge. I lie in bed, the book I picked for this trip down next to me. The air-conditioned is rattling, not that it’s hot outside, I’m only trying to keep the moist out of the room. I look at the ceiling and suddenly start thinking about this long year that is coming to an end. Somehow it seems logical

Night in Addis

2007-12-15T11:56:00.000+01:00

“How do you find Ethiopian women?” asks Anna, observing my astonishment at the Ethiopian traditional show. We are sitting in big half circle at this restaurant in Addis Ababa, and four stunning dancers are shaking their necks at the beat of drums. “They are reputedly the most beautiful women in Africa,” I reply diplomatically, trying to conceal my sudden infatuation. Anna smiles, shakes her head

Come on thunder!

2007-07-28T21:03:00.000+02:00

There is something enormously beautiful about summer storms. Out of nowhere a thunder strikes directly into your heart: that's the beginning. Then it’s all wet and hot. The world comes to life. You are ten years back in time. Where did it come from? So much fresh water pouring down the desert. After the storm, all that remains is the fresh smell of rain. James put the soundtrack to the last storm

Run summer run

2007-07-28T20:40:00.000+02:00

It feels like years. Can’t believe it’s only three months since I left Berlin.Last week I got an email from Steffi. She asked whether I was going to Isa’s wedding. Scheiße! I had forgotten the wedding! All the hours that spent taking to Isa about her wedding and now Berlin’s event of the summer was no longer in my mind.

That other kind of love

2007-06-08T10:09:00.000+02:00

After a certain point in life there are two kinds of love: the one that strikes you by surprise and the one you cultivate patiently and knowingly because you know you should. The first one -thunder love- is based on instinct. The second one -conscious love- is based on reason. I couldn’t say which one is the best. A matter of taste, I presume.I felt in love with Moscow at once. I can even

Malawi Journals (VI): Mzungu!

2007-05-28T18:26:00.000+02:00

It's been a long ride through sandy roads. The jeep parks in the middle of a tiny village. Two blocks of naked brick stand out. It's the local school. I get out of the car. More than a hundred kids surround me screming "Mzungu, Mzungu!!!". I ask my colleague from ActionAid in the region: "Does it mean "welcome"?. No, he laughs, it means "white man". Playing football with local children (and a

Safari in Zambia

2007-05-14T09:44:00.000+02:00

The sun has long gone down, and the most colourful insects are landing on my laptop. African music comes from behind the bar. Chairs are scattered under a roof, there are no walls, but the air is warm. I’m the only one at the bar. It’s only three of us staying at the camp, and the two girls have gone to bed. The cook and the barman are sitting on the floor, chatting lively in Chichewa. One of

Malawi Journals (V): Saving Grace

2007-05-10T12:45:00.000+02:00

It’s early in the morning at ActionAid’s office in Lilongwe. It's bright and sunny outside, but the windows are closed, so we could be anywhere. We are working on statistics that Grace got from the Ministry of Education of Malawi. The task is to select schools for our project and to calculate the total number of girls that will be targeted per district. Only one out of four girls in Malawi

Malawi Journals (IV): Chicken curry and rice

2007-05-04T10:51:00.000+02:00

‘Please write you address down here sir,’ the young girl says pointing at the form.‘I don’t really have an address at the moment,’ I reply.‘But where do you come from, sir?’‘Originally or right now?’ I ask.She raises her head from the counter and looks at me confused.‘I come from Spain, although right now I just arrived from the UK,’ I explain, hoping that’s good enough a reason to avoid filling

Malawi Journals (part III): Field visit

2007-05-02T09:13:00.000+02:00

Today I had the best class of economics of my life. Talking to small farmers in Malawi I learned more about the roots of poverty than in all my years of university. Raw economics at its most basic, and yet so complicated.I visited a small development project that provides water pumps and training to smallholder farmers so that they can increase their food production and income. Action Aid Malawi

Malawi Journals (part II): Hotel Lilongwe

2007-05-01T09:28:00.000+02:00

Hotel Lilongwe is full of peculiar characters. The main clientele seems to be made of missionaries, journalists and aid workers. During breakfast I tried to guess who is who. The old American ladies were obviously from some protestant Church. The guy reading on its own comes from a big NGO, probably the Red Cross. Then there was the big group of noisy Italians, who didn’t look like aid workers or

Malawi Journals (part I): first day in Africa

2007-04-30T15:41:00.000+02:00

Lilongwe, 29 April 2007For many years of my life, when I thought of Africa, I would inevitably think of Robert Redford and Meryl Streep having a picnic in the savannah, shooting a lion, flying over the buffalos. It was a colourful dreamy world of fantasy and fiction. Today, Africa became a reality.The plane landed at noon. As I walked down the stairs I was hit by a dense wall of hot air. Despite

Changes

2007-04-17T19:34:00.001+02:00

European Personnel Selection OfficeCompetitions / Selection procedures Chairperson of the Selection BoardOpen Competition :EPSO/AD/25/05 – Administrators (AD5)Official Journal :C 178 A of 20/07/2005"(...) I am pleased to inform you that the Selection Board for the above-mentioned competition has now completed its work and, on the basis of your results in the written and oral tests, your name has

Brussels

2006-11-21T23:42:00.000+01:00

Brussels was cold and wet, as I used to picture it when I was younger. Just before midnight the airport bus dropped me at Schuman, quite far from the city centre. Holding an umbrella, with the bag hanging from my the shoulder, I started to walk down Rue de la Loi. The streets were empty. Thursday. Cold. Rue de la Loi -such an important address and what an ugly street. I walked by the main EU

Long week ahead

2006-11-12T12:20:00.000+01:00

Odds are nothing: in the end, success is all about what you actually get. I know that. I know that life is a winding path full of mousetraps. And still, odds, chances, maybes, what ifs… they all make the ride more amusing. On Friday I got invited to a second job interview with Human Rights Watch. This time I have to flight to New York. The position is human rights Russia researcher. I had a

Pink bullets

2006-11-08T11:39:00.000+01:00

The flat gets too dark too soon in winter. I have to go to IKEA. Tomorrow. There are no cheap lamps in Mitte. Yesterday evening, birthday dinner. Hadas’ friends. Mostly Israelis. Musicians. Good humus. Talked to an Israeli-Belarusian girl who spoke Spanish. Talked to a Turkish girl who thinks Turkey is not ready for the EU. We brought Spanish wine and chocolate. There were Hebrew songs. This week

News and coffee

2006-11-01T10:45:00.000+01:00

Stormy night in Berlin. I finally wake up to the sound of raindrops. Off bed. Long pee. I turn the house heating all the way up. I make coffee and sit in front of Euronews. Watching TV only in German is the rule, so I only get about 40 percent of what they are saying. Normally I make up the rest, which sometimes results in weird news that only happen in my mind. Who is that old guy? Has he been

Memories

2006-10-30T12:25:00.000+01:00

Memories are a powerful -and yet dangerous- weapon against dark and cold days. You can close your eyes and travel to a happier time -half real, half imaginary.There was a time when I was young, a time -real or imaginary- when having fun was the aim.Memories are like some people, they just look nicer from the distance. Rob made this video a year ago. It captures four years of fun. But I never had

Two emails

2006-10-25T11:06:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was cloudy. I stayed home the whole day: playing with my new iPod, reading news on the internet, cooking. Then I got two important emails.The first one came from Brussels: “Following our previous letter announcing that you were amongst the candidates who would be invited to the oral examination, I am pleased to inform you that the oral test will take place on 31/01/2007 at 15:30. This

Life gets simple

2006-10-18T11:34:00.000+02:00

Is it age or just a phase? I don’t know, but lately I find myself more and more into the mood for softer music and oldies. Recently I’ve been listening to a couple of Cat Stevens CDs that Rob gave me for my birthday. I’m really enjoying them. Is it worrying?Last week I quit my German classes so that I have time to prepare for the EU oral exam. It feels good to have passed all the written tests.

A few hours in England

2006-10-12T00:06:00.000+02:00

I cannot say that I grew up in England, but I wouldn’t be lying if I say that, in England, I did grow up. Very much indeed. It was exactly ten years ago that I arrived in Leeds. It was a cold and grey morning, and as I walked out of the train, my insides started to feel the thrill of being reborn. I had a heavy bag and no idea that I was about to have the greatest time of my life. The

Moscow comes to Berlin

2006-10-08T20:46:00.000+02:00

Rob came to Berlin this weekend. I had not seen him since my last day in Moscow, over a year ago, so we had a lot of catching up. He brought his new girlfriend Ira with him. For three days we went out for dinner and brunch. On Friday we made it to Kreuzberg for a local taste of classical German cuisine, together with Jurica and Anja. I really enjoyed my deer with berry sauce and locally brewed

Zurückkehren

2006-10-05T13:37:00.000+02:00

Es ist ein unheimliches Gefühl, wenn man nicht weiß, was als nächstes im Leben kommt.Am Freitag, habe ich einen Anruf bekommen. Es war Amnesty International aus London, sie haben mich zu einem Vorstellungsgespräch nach London eingeladen. Das Interview wird nächste Woche stattfinden, am Dienstag. Jetzt weiß ich nicht, was ich wirklich will. Soll ich nach Moskau zurückkehren? Einerseits finde ich,

La historia de las sillas

2006-10-03T12:21:00.000+02:00

Job interview

2006-09-26T13:24:00.000+02:00

I just had a job interview for Amnesty International. They are looking for someone to become their human rights researcher in Moscow. I was on the phone for an hour with Amnesty’s headquarters in London. It went OK, not spectacular, but fine. With these things you never know. Yesterday they called me to check my Russian, and they also sent me an email assignment that I had to send back in 75

One of these weekends

2006-09-24T23:38:00.000+02:00

I return home from my morning German class and the phone is ringing. It’s Hadas’ mum calling from Israel to wish her happy birthday. Hadas is not home, I say, she is babysitting. I tell her about Hadas’ new job, then she wishes me happy New Year and hangs up. Hadas arrives a few minutes later. We have lunch and go to sleep siesta. Then my parents call but talk only to Hadas and wish her happy New

The smell of snow

2006-09-19T16:33:00.000+02:00

Today I thought of snow. I tried to feel what it was like to breathe cold dry air around a frozen Patriarshi Prudi. I thought of being woken up by the sound of a man shoveling snow in the courtyard. I thought of the silence of a white dawn. On Friday it was exactly one year since I left Russia. On Friday I got a phone call inviting me for an interview for a job in Moscow. Since Friday I've been

The fucking big deal

2006-09-05T18:45:00.000+02:00

Rob used to say that stress is when you face two irreconcilable alternatives and you must choose among them. You want to pick both, but you can’t: you have to give one up. A simple example would be when you are invited to two simultaneous parties and you don’t want to miss any of them. For those of us who think that life is too short -and wouldn’t mind having an extra life to finish the “to do”

A hard rain's a-gonna fall

2006-08-26T16:46:00.001+02:00

Massive drops of rain woke me up this morning. They were tapping loudly on the window just above my bed. It was early and -as my dreams slowly turned into thoughts- I recognised a perfect Saturday morning to stay at home. Nothing better than a grey day, I thought, to immerse myself in a book, listen to old records and get my hands dirty in the kitchen. I got up slowly and opened the windows to

On tetris and monks

2006-08-15T15:27:00.000+02:00

Life is like a game of Tetris. Problems come in different shapes and colours and you just try to sort them out, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. In a good run, you can make all pieces almost disappear, and you think you’re clean. That is a temporary illusion, for the figures keep on falling. In fact, they never stop.One of the things that most impresses me in the extreme practice of

Back to school

2006-08-14T23:06:00.000+02:00

When the alarm clock woke me up this morning it felt like back to school day. It was the first time I was using the wake up call function on my mobile phone, so I tried it a couple of times last night to make sure it worked. Pulled my self out of bed, made a cup of strong coffee, had a quick bath (I cannot take showers- my bathtub has no curtains) and rode my bike in the chilly morning all the

Smells like end of summer

2006-08-01T17:05:00.000+02:00

I haven’t been writing much lately, and yet things and thoughts still happened. It's been too hot in Berlin. They say this is the sunniest and hottest summer in the city since recorded history. But today smells like the end of it. Hadas came for a week. Since it has her second time, we didn’t have to do all the touristy stuff. During the day we just hang around the streets, lingering in cafes

Time

2006-07-28T17:24:00.000+02:00

When time is no longer an issue, to go from one place to another you can choose the most beautiful way, instead of the shortest.

Blog statistics

2006-07-26T14:53:00.000+02:00

Date of first entry: 28 August 2005.Number of postings: 70Number of visits since first entry: 5245Visits last week: 88Average visits per day during last week: 11Average unique visits per day during last week: 8Last 100 visits came from:2626.00%United States2020.00%Germany1717.00%Russian Federation1010.00%Netherlands99.00%Luxembourg77.00%United Kingdom55.00%Spain22.00%Unknown-22.00%Belgium11.00%

The end of an era

2006-07-09T15:41:00.000+02:00

It happens often in life that out of nowhere comes a thought that hits you with the strength of lightning, marking you deep inside and forever. You don’t know where it came from but you can immediately recognise it as something new and permanent. It was in the late hours of the night and the city smelled like rain. A summer storm had caught me on the street earlier in the afternoon, and I had

Honecker's castle

2006-07-06T22:15:00.000+02:00

We swam towards the centre of the lake, slowly breaking the calmness of the surface and letting the last sunrays of the day split into tiny glittering waves. From the water I could only see the dense forest surrounding the lake; not a man, and no sign of the castle. “Maybe we are in the wrong lake,” I thought. It had been a very hot summer day in Berlin. I was supposed to meet Claudia for a

Chocolate cake

2006-07-05T00:39:00.000+02:00

The secret of a nice chocolate cake is to use first-class chocolate and keep the flour to a minimum. I was in the lake last week with Katharina and Sibyl and we started to talk about chocolate desserts. We were sitting under a tree; I was reading El País, they were trying to solve a sudoku. I had just come out of the water and was rather hungry. “Let’s make a chocolate cake tonight”, I suggested.

Pelmeni

2006-07-02T12:34:00.000+02:00

I first tried pelmenis when I was living in Amsterdam. Anna and I had been living together for a few weeks, and I was slowly discovering the secrets of her mysterious Russian world. I observed with bewilderment how used teabags were gathering in big numbers at the door of our fridge, until one night I caught Anna using them as an eye mask of sorts. Anyway, one morning a friend of hers working at

Four more years

2006-06-29T12:44:00.000+02:00

The national anthem has just been played and I feel tense, probably more than the players on the field. It’s been a long wait, but the moment of truth has arrived. The TV has already shown the faces of all Spanish players and now is giving pictures of supporters in the stadium. At the red corner, there is a huge Spanish banner that says “Gracias Dios por ser español”–thank God I’m Spanish. I

Being European

2006-06-26T22:24:00.000+02:00

I come home and find a letter in my mailbox. I’m intrigued as it is neither publicity nor from my bank. I climb the four floors to my flat, open the door, take my shoes off, and sit down to read it. It looks very official; it seems to come from Berlin’s Town Hall. I scan it looking for some amount that I owe or something that I could easily understand, but there is nothing else than hardcore

The post office

2006-06-21T13:42:00.000+02:00

What is it with language books and post offices? It’s like a strange marriage defying the passing of time. The world is changing ever faster and still language books teach things like: Wo gibt es hier ein Postamt? Wo gibt es hier einen Briefkasten? Who cares! One of my German books was published in 2004 and includes prices in euros. But somehow it still contains a whole section about buying

Greek gods and humans

2006-06-18T12:33:00.000+02:00

Life is a computer game and you are both the player behind the screen and the character in the game. As the player you feel like a Greek god, directing humans from Mount Olympus, untouched by their earthly passions and wishes. Sipping coffee at home, you move your character up and down the screen trying to win the game, or at least attempting to get as far as possible. You are rational, you

While the chickpeas cook

2006-06-14T12:14:00.000+02:00

“Excuse me, how much is the fan over there?” “You mean the “ventilator”?” –answered the shopkeeper, a middle-aged Turkish woman wearing a headscarf. “That was close”, I thought. “Yes please, the white, small ven-ti-la-tor.” “18 Euro”. “Can you please show it to me?” I asked mimicking lesson 23 of my teach-your-self German handbook. “Sure”. She plugged the “ventilator” and made it work

Planet Fussball

2006-06-10T20:36:00.000+02:00

So, the World Cup is on and Berlin has gone crazy. Of course I decided to play alone and got immersed into the whole thing right away. Yesterday Jurica came home for the first match of the championship. We were supposed to watch Germany’s game, then cook something for dinner and then watch Poland-Ecuador. A “quiet start” was the plan. But it was so warm and sunny outside that we decided to go

Thoughts from the kitchen

2006-06-08T10:18:00.000+02:00

I’ve always cooked. Ever since I was child, I’ve enjoyed the feeling of getting into the kitchen with the purpose of creating something meaningful out of meaningless ingredients. In my first cooking memories, I am very small and grandma’s kitchen is huge. Grandma sits me at a tiny table, gives me some raw ingredients and let me play with them while she cooks the real thing. Then she forces

Long weekend in Berlin

2006-05-23T12:18:00.000+02:00

Last Thursday I met Lisa for drinks. She was in Berlin attending a congress for graphic designers, together with two other girlfriends from Frankfurt. We met at the Altes Europa pub -a two minutes walk from my place- and ordered beers. They told me about the congress and about graphic designers. I had met Lisa a year ago, diving in Egypt, and had not seen her since. She had been my diving buddy

The bag

2006-05-22T10:47:00.000+02:00

In Berlin bags are not meant to carry stuff. As many other seemingly blunt things, bags in Berlin are meant to convey a social, political and sexual statement. Already convinced of the need to adapt my style and clothing to the local customs, I had no choice but starting by the bag. I already had a good small backpack, a navy blue adidas -classy, simple, comfy- that I had bought in Moscow, where

Running up that hill

2006-05-18T13:30:00.000+02:00

My problem with cleaning is the impermanent nature of the task. If I hang a picture on the wall, assemble a piece of IKEA furniture, or reorganise my music collection, I know that the fruits of my labour will stay long enough for me to enjoy. But cleaning the house is a bit like the Myth of Sisyphus, not sooner have I finish the cleaning that the accumulation of dirt starts again. So it wasn’t

Parklife

2006-05-12T19:06:00.000+02:00

I had been walking all morning and decided to take a rest in the park. There is this piece of grass not far from home, with a small pond, an open café and the proud members of the very cool crowd of Prenzlauer Berg. I walked into the grass, found a more or less clean spot and lied down. I took my shoes off, closed my eyes and let the sun bake my cheeks. Then I thought of parklife. I thought of

Here comes the sun

2006-05-06T16:06:00.000+02:00

Spring came to Berlin on Wednesday, late but firm. The sun started to bake the city all day round without a break. In a matter of hours all Berliners took over the streets. Outdoors cafes popped up out of every corner. By Thursday afternoon all trees were green. At home, I couldn't help but playing a few times my beginning-of-spring ritual song: Here comes the sun, only this year I decided to

The ghost leaves

2006-04-27T11:44:00.000+02:00

The hausmeister came yesterday to open the wall where the ghost lived. With the help of a big hammer, he uncovered a pipe from the central heating, along the lower part of the wall, close to the floor. He said that the noise should stop now, but left it open for me to hear for a few days. I have to call him back on Monday. For the first time since I moved in into the new flat there was no

Routines and happiness

2006-04-25T19:28:00.000+02:00

There is something in human nature about repetition: we do like doing the same things again and again. Life, for most of us, is in the end little more than a collection of daily routines, with slight modifications. Not only we enjoy watching TV at the same time of the day, on the same days of the week, we also like to watch the same series, with the same characters and same stories. My generation

Beyond the wall

2006-04-19T11:26:00.000+02:00

So, I told my landlord about the ghost. Of course, I didn't say that I have a ghost at home, but just that there is a strange tapping noise coming from the wall. On Saturday, Ania, Sibyl and Mete came to help me with the IKEA stuff. We opened some beers, put music and got off to work. In five hours I had a sofa, a bed, a table, two chairs, and some bookshelves. When it got dark we heard the noise

Ghosts in Berlin

2006-04-14T19:40:00.000+02:00

After the first night in his new apartment, he woke up in a dark and confused state of mind. Of course, there were all the things he had to do –a long “to buy” list, half written, half in his mind; a few emails to write; the whole hassle from having lost his wallet the day before- but what

IKEA time (or how we all love Dancing Queen)

2006-04-11T13:15:00.000+02:00

Should I go for the Klippan or the Poäng? I think I’m getting the Klippan, it’s sort of more stylish and comfy. But then, I'll have to buy the white Tullsta instead of the blue Sölsta. The Magiker, the Grankullä and the Norden are already on the list... Yes, after months of wandering around, the moment has arrived: it’s IKEA Time!

House hunting

2006-04-04T13:27:00.000+02:00

It seems that my friends were too cool to tell me that the coolest place to live in Berlin is actually Prenzlauer Berg. It's cool to live here but it isn't cool to say that this is a cool place to live in. Anyway, I met this girl the other day while looking for flats and she confirmed what I already felt: Prenzlauer Berg is the coolest Bezirk of Berlin. Artists,

Ich bin ein Berliner

2006-03-20T19:16:00.000+01:00

There are times in life when you wish you had less choice. Freedom, in its peculiar way, makes things more complicated, more uncertain, and yet so much more interesting. A few years ago, when I lived in Amsterdam, I asked Anna how she felt about shopping in plentiful supermarkets compared to what she was used to in Minsk. “I don’t really enjoy it that much,” she

Like a rolling stone

2006-02-14T16:51:00.000+01:00

Give life enough room to surprise you, and you won't be disappointed.In the last six months people have often asked me: "When are you going back?" or "When are you going home?". Normal questions which I had nonetheless trouble answering. Back to... where? Hmm... what do you mean by "home"?Today -six months after purchasing my ticket to Kathmandu- I bought a ticket to Malaga. I met Hadas at midday

The desert

2006-02-05T21:31:00.000+01:00

TEL AVIV, 5 FEBRUARY 2006It was raining on Friday morning when I woke up, later than usual. I was alone at home, Hadas had gone to work and Yoav was out of town. I made eggs for breakfast and sat to study with a cup of coffee. I went through a couple of chapters of Ever Closer Union, a book about the European Union that I had used a few years ago when studying in Amsterdam. The updated edition

Like dolphins can swim

2006-02-01T19:05:00.000+01:00

In the summer of 1976, David Bowie was in a low point of his life. In the middle of a creative crisis, and developing an addiction to cocaine, he was very close to a nervous breakdown. He decided to move to Berlin and start from scrap. In a few months he had produced his best albums, and some of his most endurable songs, "Heroes" among them.Is Berlin my final destination? I wish I could swim.

Next set

2006-01-28T20:08:00.000+01:00

"There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't... and you lose". (from Woody Allen's Match Point)How close was I to getting the jobs in Kiev or London last year? I don't know. We never know these things, do we? It is easy to feel that the ball

Woody Allen meets Dostoevsky

2006-01-20T18:06:00.000+01:00

Meet the new Rashkolnikov. The film is called Match Point. Do not expect a classic Woody Allen story, this is something new: very little comedy, more of a philosophical thriller. The story is set in contemporary English high society, and involves the social climbing of outcasts, arranged marriages, erotic seduction and power games. But this ain't Jane Austen. Woody Allen's hyperrealism results in

Following the last crusade

2006-01-16T13:40:00.000+01:00

It didn't take me that long to find the minibus leaving for Wadi Musa, the city next to Petra. It was early in the morning, pretty cold, and the Amman South Station was full of vans and taxis, drivers shouting destinations in Arabic. I was lucky to arrive when one bus was almost full and about to depart to the south. On the minibus there were only men and -other than me- all Arabs. Loud prayers

Three days in Jordan

2006-01-14T13:04:00.000+01:00

AMMAN, JORDAN, 14 JANUARYArrivalSure enough, there is something romantic about arriving on your own into an unknown city late at night, when you have no hotel reservations, it's freezing cold and pouring down. But on Wednesday, when I got to Amman, I just couldn't get the feeling. I was tired and very cold, so I ended up taking the first room I saw, in a cheap hotel at the end of a dark alley in

Baggage

2006-01-11T13:26:00.000+01:00

Since I left Moscow, I have not met a single traveller with a smaller backpack than mine. A 35L Lowe Alpine, compact, no pockets, perfect back fit: unbeatable. Weighting a mere 8 kg when full, my rucksack has been the envy of many fellow travellers, when roaming looking for rooms late at night, climbing into local buses or trekking on steep mountains. How do you do it?, they ask. Just don't carry

A thousand paths in the Holy Land

2006-01-10T09:41:00.000+01:00

"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." ISAIAH 2:3JERUSALEM, 9 JANUARYThe streets of Old Jerusalem are impregnated with the eternal smell of history. Among the temples

Welcome, Mr. Darwin

2006-01-06T15:12:00.000+01:00

The thing is, I might be an alpha male. Yesterday I read a survey in The Economist about the evolution of man and its repercussions on human actions. It seems that evolution could explain much of some men's behaviour as regards to other members of the herd, especially their conduct towards members of the opposite sex. It could also justify approaches to career and life. And if the alpha factor is

Shalom, Israel

2005-12-31T16:01:00.000+01:00

TEL AVIV, 31 DECEMBERInstead of a green neon cross, it is a Star of David that points to the location of a pharmacy. Sure enough, all signs are in Hebrew, and there is serious security in shopping centres and public places. But other than that, Tel Aviv is pretty much like any modern Mediterranean city. At times it reminds me of the new Malaga: trendy cafes, crowded shopping malls and wide

Christmas in Vietnam

2005-12-24T16:28:00.000+01:00

HANOI, 24 DECEMBER 2005Woke up early, the street market under my window was in full motion around seven. Had a shower and went down for breakfast at the mini-hotel kitchen. They didn't have eggs so I had to have Pho, the noodle soup with beef that Vietnamese eat all day round. After breakfast I dropped my laundry in front of the hotel and went to visit Uncle Ho.Ho Chi Min's mausoleum in Hanoi is

Last days in Asia

2005-12-22T04:27:00.000+01:00

HOI AN, CENTRAL VIETNAM, 21 DECEMBERSoft rain begins to fall, you walk out of the narrow alleys and reach the river front, then follow eastwards along the pier, avoiding the bicycles, pass the old Chinese merchant houses and assembly halls -witnesses of the ancient times when Hoi An was one of the busiest trading ports of Asia- and get to the noisy market, full vegetables, fruits, many kinds of

Back in the USSR!

2005-12-17T15:38:00.000+01:00

Three months ago, on my last day in Moscow , Rob showed me three short videos that he had prepared, together with Jorge, as a farewell present. We had had a few vodka shots when I first saw them. The videos contained pictures spanning my four years in Russia, plus short videos from friends wishing me good luck and photos I didn't even know were there. Many photos Rob and Jorge had just kept from

I'll shit here, thanks

2005-12-17T04:43:00.000+01:00

SAIGON, SOUTH VIETNAM, 15 DECEMBERThe bus ride from Phnom Penh to Saigon takes about seven hours -including an hour to cross the border- and in every stop I found myself rushing to the toilet with, well, ‘not very solid results’. Shit

A hundred years too late

2005-12-11T16:04:00.000+01:00

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA, 11 DECEMBERWoke up this morning in Vientiane, capital of Laos, just before five. Showered and packed in fifteen minutes, got a quick taxi to the airport, and by six thirty the plane was taking off. Sitting by the window, after I got my coffee, I started reading the history of Cambodia. (In Vientiane I did something I should have done long ago: toss the LP and buy a guide with

Tubing and Friends

2005-12-08T10:39:00.000+01:00

VIANG VIENG, LAOS, 8 DECEMBERA few years ago, a truck felt over a cliff into the river, 3 kilometers north of Viang Vieng, in Central Laos. The driver was badly injured and could not walk. Calling for help was out of the question in such a remote place, and he soon realised that his life was in danger. So he decided to take the inner tube of the truck's spare wheel, inflated it, sat on it and let

Loving Laos

2005-12-05T15:00:00.000+01:00

LUANG PRABANG, NOTHERN LAOS, 5 DECEMBERArrived in Luang Prabang last Friday, after a two-day trip down the Mekong river from Huay Xai, on the Thai border. To spend the night we stopped in Pakbeng, a riverside village with no electricity after dark, but quite a few opium traders.By the time we arrived to Luang Prabang we had formed quite a compact group, of mainly Europeans. Luang Prabang is a

Recipe for a happy moment

2005-12-03T05:02:00.000+01:00

Ingredients:- 1 long river- 1 slow boat - 30 young travellers (preferably well seasoned in advance)- 2 days of sun- 150 litres of cold local beer (picture 1)- 1 guitarCooking method:Put the travellers on the boat and the boat on the river (picture 2). Add sun and half the beer. Make sure the boat advances very slowly, passing jungle and villages. When the travellers have absorbed half the beer,

A day in Chiang Mai

2005-11-28T13:34:00.000+01:00

CHIANG MAI, 28 NOVEMBERI woke up after a good night sleep, the first one since Ko Tao. After breakfast I decided to go visit the old Buddhist temples for which this city is famous. The morning was sunny, and fresh air came from the surrounding mountains.The temples were empty -I guess all tourists must have been taking cooking and massage courses- so I strolled around freely, sitting in front of

Moving north

2005-11-27T19:36:00.000+01:00

CHIANG MAI, NORTHERN THAILAND, 27 NOVEMBERArrived in Chiang Mai this morning, deeply sedated by a long night of bus. The backpackers' doubledecker left Khao San yesterday at 18:00. I was lucky to get a seat on the first row on top, with a front view of the road and enough space to stretch my legs. I got a few hours of sleep, more than I expected, but arrived knackered nevertheless.Much too early

La caseta

2005-11-22T22:44:00.000+01:00

Many years ago, when I was a little boy that could not swim, my grandfather made me a promise that I have never forgotten. "If you manage to keep yourself afloat on the water for more than 30 seconds, with no help from a grownup, I will buy you anything you want," he said.That same afternoon we walked into a toyshop to celebrate my achievement. I immediately pointed at an inflatable little boat

November rain

2005-11-19T15:25:00.001+01:00

Standing on the verandah of the bungalow, as I observed the perseverance of the tropical storm beating the palm trees on the beach, my thoughts drifted to the times I spent in Macondo. It has been showering for two full days now and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.It was long after I had bought the plane tickets to Ko Tao that I read about November being the peak of its rainy season.

The Heart of the Matter

2005-11-17T22:28:00.000+01:00

The bungalow is on the north side of the beach, where the sand stops and the rocky jungle begins. From the water you have to walk some 30 meters uphill. In the afternoon, you sit reading on the balcony and -through the palm trees- you watch the bay, with its fishing boats, its few swimmers and many stray dogs. Before sunset you spray yourself with mosquito repellent, but you don’t really mind the

Paradise around the corner

2005-11-15T23:38:00.000+01:00

KO TAO, THAILAND, 15 NOVEMBER In Ko Tao the moon is so bright that walking by night along the shore you can see your shadow clearly projected on the sand. Arrived on this morning's boat and saw paradise as it should be: palm trees, sandy beaches, wooden bungalows, red sunsets. The water is warm and while you swim you can see fishermen throwing their nets, and long boats bringing fresh fish for

Moscow memory # 7

2005-11-13T22:11:00.001+01:00

After breakfast we went back to bed. An early sun was breaking through the curtains, bringing a brand new day over the mess of my flat. Mugs of old coffee, empty bottles of beer, vinyl records and magazines -all fighting for their own space on the table- seemed somehow more out of place under the advancing traces of light. I had just slipped The Best of James into the player and was really

The art of doing nothing

2005-11-10T23:15:00.000+01:00

BANGKOK, 10 NOVEMBER“Have a nice trip, see you in Tel Aviv,” I said tonight for the second time in two weeks. The idea is already snowballing in my head, so I might as well end up visiting Israel after Asia, if just to recover mute Sweet Jane and other useless stuff I just packed in Timor's luggage.Timor had arrived on Monday from the islands, and we have spent the last days improving the art of

Just a couple of pictures

2005-11-08T13:17:00.000+01:00

Annika, me and Timor in Or 2 K, Kathmandu Idan, me, Timor, and Shani

Rebel, Rebel

2005-11-04T14:48:00.000+01:00

"Hailay?""What?""Hailay?""Yeah, yeah", I said smiling. I had not clue what was she talking about."I show you", she said noticing my confusion. Then she left and came back with a couple of photo albums. "You choose picture," she said pointing at them. I flipped through the pages. There were paper cuts with pictures of many men, all Asian, all with dyed hair.... "Highlights?!", I asked. "Yes,

24 hours in Khao San Road

2005-11-02T21:17:00.000+01:00

BANGKOK, THAILAND, 2 NOVEMBERKhao San Road, in central Bangkok, is the bottleneck of all backpacker traffic in Asia, the place where every independent traveller in the region stops at least once. LP describes it as a 'decompression chamber' for all those coming in and out of Thailand, and even in and out of Asia. I had read a lot about this mythical street (where the first chapter of Alex

Next stop: Bangkok

2005-11-01T04:39:00.000+01:00

"Ostorochno, dveri zakrivaiutsya, sledushaia stantsia: Raiskaya". Then I woke up and thought that today I’ll be in paradise.No, I’m not reaching enlightenment under a tree, or plan to move to my next incarnation yet; it’s just that, after several days on the waiting list, Thai Airways confirmed yesterday my ticket to Bangkok. The plane leaves in a few hours.This morning I said good-bye to Hadas,

Sweet Jane's silence: on existentialism

2005-10-30T16:55:00.000+01:00

"Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance." Jean-Paul SartreThere are times in life when you realise that, beyond our illusions of grandeur, we, humans, are pretty much powerless beings. We might see ourselves as masters of our destiny, but some events make us understand that, if we really think of it, we are thrown into the sea of existence

Seven days in Tibet

2005-10-24T11:53:00.000+02:00

LHASA, TIBET, 24 OctoberOn the day I turned thirty I saw mount Everest.The road had turned south and the landscape was changing dramatically: valleys turned into plains, no more waterfalls, no more trees; our land cruiser was finally leaving the Himalayas and entering the Tibetan Plateau. One more turn and Dawa, the Tibetan driver, stopped on the side of the track. "Everest," he said simply as he

Last days in Kathmandu

2005-10-13T19:44:00.001+02:00

KATHMANDU, 13 OCTOBERSomeone told me once that in love we only fall once, the first time, and the rest of our sentimental life is nothing more than an attempt to experience the same feeling, only replacing the loved subject. I don't have enough evidence to contradict this.I first saw Yosi on Tuesday morning, while I was shopping for Buddhas, and it was love at first sight. Face, body, pure

The curse of Gosainkund lakes

2005-10-11T11:21:00.000+02:00

You’re sitting on a rock, staring at the calm waters at your feet, more than 4,300m above sea level: infinite silence. Shadows are rising from the valleys below, reaching the golden peaks - you must return to the lodge. Wrapped by sheer nothingness, on your own, you think of Lord Shiva piercing the mountains with his trident to form the lakes and quench his thirst. It is all very peaceful and