say what?

Rain on the 22nd

2009-11-25T09:20:00.003+01:00

And here are some pictures to show you why we actually need to improvise Indian-like atmosphere in our apartments. Because outside it looks like this...
We are taking a walk in Malmö, the city closest to Lund.

My Indian Party

2009-11-25T08:42:00.008+01:00

This past weekend I celebrated in Indian style my 34th birthday. In the grey and dark Swedish weather just to imagine India being close is a relief! Here are some pictures to illustrate the warmth we generated from our happy feelings :-)

The absolute star of the party, Adriana, who was working in India for a year ago...

And Indian Hans, as always the cocktail master: this time a light mint julep
Tobe and Jonas
Mi, who looks unusually tiny besides Devin
Two European tourists in our Indian world
The Indian world hinted at above
The loveliest embroidery
Just out of Mumbai
Serving drinks
Safa, Anna, Martin and Anamaria - all very Indian
Both Anna and Adriana have been in India, lots to talk about
Conversations and debates
Around the table
Mattias fits well in this Indian camis
Oh, the moustache!
Nataranja Shiva
All so Indian, again
Bollywood here they come!
Bollywood for real
Do note the socks, please
Very relaxed
Hello!
Double hello
Midnight happy birthday singers in 3D

Waaay after midnight

The many faces of Polish mustaches

2009-09-11T10:16:00.000+02:00

Sunday Sailing

2009-08-24T09:54:00.005+02:00

This Sunday Jonas invited us for a short sailing tour outside Höllviken. It turned out to be my first real sailing competition (which we did not win, by the way), and the first time the wind was so soft we could use the spinnaker, the largest, most colorful sail in the arsenal of sailors. Some pictures showing us on board and our companions in the sailing competition.

And some pics from copenhagen

2009-08-07T11:09:00.007+02:00

These weekends appear to be full of action or at least full of pictures. This posting of mine comes in bursts... Anyway, here are some typical views from Copenhagen: a park alley, the Tivoli amusement park, the Carlsberg (beer producer) elephant, several doors and, finally, some views from our evening promenade on the canals in Christianshavn, together with Mike.

A favorite teaplace in Copenhagen

2009-08-07T11:00:00.004+02:00

This little bistro is slowly becoming my favorite place for tea in Copenhagen. It is called Thé à la menthe and its theme (both foodwise and decoration) is Moroccan, as its owner originally comes from there. I always get a kick out of the strong colors and always enjoy their selection of teas. What is better in the summer than a cup of mint tea?

Visit to the Museum of Modern Art Louisiana

2009-08-04T11:40:00.006+02:00

This past weekend we took a little trip across the Öresund and visited the Modern Art Museum in Humblebäk, north of Copenhagen. They have a pretty good collection of European and North American modern pieces and a lovely sculpture park populated with works by Jean Arp and Henry Moore among others. The park also displays the beauty of the surrounding nature very well, as the following pictures will hopefully show.
We were there with Hans and Adriana, and spent a whole afternoon walking about. The main exhibition was about Green Architecture, but it did not lend itself well to photography (and it was very technical) so no documentation of that section is included. It was a very interesting topic though, so more information is available here.

Sun in the city and outside it

2009-03-16T11:28:00.006+01:00

Yesterday was the first real day of spring in Gothenburg. So much sun that my eyes, used to the grey and cloudy days of Lund, were in shock. After the party, we took a boat to one of the many islands outside the city and simply enjoyed a walk by the seaside. Amazing what a little sun can do for one's morale! Now, back in the colorless Lund, the contrast with the beautiful yesterday is even more striking.

Downtown Gothenburg, with its typical church spire and blue tram

Draken, or the Dragon, another landmark

The boats are part of the local public transport network, so to travel 45 minutes into the archipelago costs as much as any bus or tram ride in the city.

Sunny day on the beach (well, it was not all that warm, but still...)

Cute local kid, transported in the local fashion (how many uses for a beer case?)

So much sun, I was completely blinded

Party in Gotheburg

2009-03-16T11:10:00.007+01:00

Martin's younger sister, Karin, and her husband, Henrik, have bought a new apartment in Gothenburg and this past weekend we were invited to attend their home-warming party. Here are some pictures illustrating the event.

Chevre cheese balls with chives

Marinated chicken

Dips and veggies

Gratin aux legumes, variant with rosemary (not for me)

Legumes gratinees, variant without rosemary (much better, if you should ask me)

Martin, actively in a conversation

Lots of guests (only some of them on picture)

Egon, the sweetest little dog

The living room of the new apartment

Dublin - bars and landscapes

2009-03-02T10:40:00.007+01:00

One of my photo themes was the name plates of bars and pubs. They are full of imagination and color, as you can observe! The second series of pictures covers a trip taken by car towards a beach area on the margins of the city (forgot the name). Very exciting!

Dublin - people

2009-03-02T10:33:00.005+01:00

Some pictures from Dublin. We stayed with Irina, Dan and their young daughter Sara. We took walks in and around the city, talked a lot and ate good food - including scones, my favorite English-inspired dish if you can call it so.

Food

2009-02-27T09:28:00.007+01:00

As always when in Paris, food is an important part of the everyday. Besides loving the window displays of stores, this time we have also visited the Agriculture Exhibition, where different countries and producers displayed their products.

Trip to Paris

2009-02-27T08:50:00.008+01:00

After I have submitted my first draft to the PhD Committee, it was time to relax. We took a short trip first to Dublin (pictures coming shortly) and then to Paris, in order to meet friends we have not seen in years.
Here are some impressions from the Paris trip.

Christmas at Emma, Frank, Ida and Tea

2008-12-30T19:29:00.004+01:00

Tartu, Estonia

2008-12-08T14:33:00.006+01:00

This last week I spent two days in the city of Tartu, a town similar to Lund both in size (about 100 000 inhabitants) and in orientation (both are centered around their respective universities). Another common feature of the two is that their universities have been founded both by Swedish kings, and almost at the same time: Tartu in 1632, Lund in 1666. Unfortunately I did not have time to explore the town at ease, this being a working visit, but some small instants of Tartu have been captured on camera:

The Main University Building
The University Cafeteria, where we had dinner Main Square, decorated for Christmas The View from my hotel window The City Hall

Advent

2008-12-01T10:14:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was the first of advent and in the traditional Swedish way we celebrated it by having friends over and eating at least 7 types of cookie s. Here are some pictures to prove there was truly such an explosion of sugar confections!

And here it is the happy hostess, wishing you all a happy Advent

House-warming party

2008-09-07T17:22:00.005+02:00

I just noticed that the previous post dates from the 1st of April! What a long time of silence! But hre comes a new post, loaded with pictures from our fun inflytningsfest as it called in Swedish. We move every year so by now having this type of party is a real tradition!
Thank you all who could come, it was lovely to have you here! And to those of you too far away to come to this party, I hope there will be some opportunity to celebrate together at some point in the future!

Trip to England

2008-04-01T11:10:00.007+02:00

The travelogue continues. Have been to England over the Easter break and here are some of the things encountered.The first Elizabeth, in a traditional representation
And the second Elizabeth, in a much less traditional view
Another strong queen, now reduced to bar decoration
But in London there is room for all cultures, not just the English - here some Russian inspiration
More signs, I like them in this senseless collage form
The Cardiff market sold lots and lots of vinyls, so beautiful
Typical Cardiff brewery brand, with the Welsh dragonThe dungeon in the Cardiff Castle
Mihai and me could have been inhabitans in the Castle, me Felicity, him Algernon :-)Notting Hill colorful houses

Panoramic view over Bath
The famous Bath Circus, designed by the architext John Wood
Martin in Bristol
One of the very first suspension bridges in Europe, the Clifton, in Bristol

Bristol by the quay
Sunny day in Bristol
This door is made especially for me :-)
The English and their love for circular streets...

Lovely weekend

2008-02-18T12:13:00.003+01:00

This past weekend was so lovely, I can harldy accept that it's over and we're back to the every day... Thorvaldur and Elsa were here, we went to a masquerade party with many interesting people, and then enjoyed the cozy cafés of Malmö... Friends, what a blessing!

Prose not Prozac: Book therapy

2008-01-11T15:44:00.000+01:00

I was reading recently about the new trend of forming book clubs or reading clubs among those suffering from a variety of mental problems ( see The reading cure, Blake Morrison). The author cites examples of great progress: "the neurological patient who sat in a group saying nothing for months, then after a reading of George Herbert's poem "The Flower" ("Who would have thought my shrivelled heart/Could have recovered greenness?") launched into a 10-minute monologue at the end of which he announced "I feel great"; the brain-damaged young man whose vocabulary significantly increased after he joined a book group; the husband caring for his disabled wife whose exposure to poetry has proved not just a respite but a liberation."
The power of literature resides not only in bringing people together, making them have a meaningful communication, but also in showing them the big picture, the fact that their suffering is only a small part of the larger story. If we read the best books, we have the chance of being on the way to our best selves, the argument goes.
To some extent I am bothered by this utilitarian approach to reading: in my view, one should not read because in this way one will get over a depression, a disease or a lost lover, but because books and the stories thy told have an intrinsic value. Books are not only for the sick; I'd rather say they are mostly for the healthy, full-bodied and full-minded citizen!
Reading (or writing) is no guarantee for staying (or getting) sane (so many examples go to prove this) but without books the entire world would become a place of madness, of chaos, of void. Sometimes they literally bring rationality to the univers, and sometimes, on the contrary, books mess up our picture of the world (on purpose, like Lucian Blaga said: "Eu nu strivesc corola de minuni a lumii/si nu ucid/ cu mintea tainele, ce le'ntâlnesc,/în calea mea/în flori, în ochi, pe buze ori morminte. ... eu cu lumina mea sporesc a lumii tainã). But I love them either way. Sometimes I am afraid, like Hrabal's hero in Too Loud a Solitude, that I will be buried under a mass of paper, so many books I dream of having, and of having read.

Christmas and New year's 2007-2008

2008-01-07T12:31:00.001+01:00

I also wonder where the focus is in this picture. My dad's creative foto-taking activities stand proof in any case that wearing a beret is genetically transmitted.

New year's eve - so glad to have them here with me!

The three in Lund. And if it looks as if we are cold - it is true! It's freezing out there!Santa came and was very generous. Is that supposed to mean that we've been good children?

The lovely streets of Göteborg, with their wondrous slope.

A small shop, which reminded me of Karin. The Little Sister.

Weird graffitti, not sure what it means. The dangers or pleasures of drinking?Another trio, in Göteborg.

More pictures

2007-12-12T15:28:00.000+01:00

You said you wanted to see me in the pictures? Well, here comes the least likely version of myself, wavy hair and all. Don't cry out in indignation - it was for a wedding, and a big wedding at that (about 300 guests) so I felt I had to do something out of the ordinary for an exceptional moment.

Two roses ;-) Itir is just so very pretty!!!!

In his memoires of the city, Pamuk talks often about his recollections of the early 1950s, and among the recurring images there are the Bosphorus yalis. Most of them were supposed to be gone, destroyed by fire as they were constructed out of wood. These days some of the old houses are still in some precarious condition, as you see both below and above, but some othres have been either renovated or reconstructed to illustrate the financial stability of their owners. In some extreme cases, you can see the old and the new side by side, but even without immediate proximity, you can feel the constrast.

Leaving the luxury real estates from the banks of the Bosphorus, one can observe an increase in the number of national flags displayed from the windows of private apartments. I would say that this particular building is an extreme example.

Finally, a postcard view of Istanbul, with its skyline dominated by the beautiful and old Galata Tower. The buildings, like the city itself, are such a mixture of everything!

Istanbul

2007-12-03T13:30:00.001+01:00

In order to describe my impressions of Istanbul I would have to write pages, a most worthy occupation but one that cannot be completed at this time. This time, meaning this week, is already full of of meetings, conferences, lectures and other activities that keep one employed but that do not allow for much writing on the side. Therefore, as always, instead of words - pictures.

The blue bead is the Turkish cure against the evil eye. Everyone has it, in the buses, in their homes, and even on themselves. I also have one now, just in case :-) !

This gun store is situated just outside a metro stop. Turkey does have gun control and one needs a permit to purchase weapons of all kinds. Still, to see them sold in the same location as pastry and paper products was a bit of a shock.

Just a taste of the delicious and very diverse selection of Turkish sweets.

Some historical views. This is the water reserve, or cystern, of the old city, now used as a museum, concert and exhibition space. The water comes from outside the city and used to be stored in this underground reservoir to supply the city with a constant flow of water.

Interior of the Topkapi palace, the traditional residence of the Ottoman sultans for about 500 years. In fact it is not a single palace but a complex of numerous buildings all located within the same inner perimeter protected by strong walls.

Topkapi palace, the Eunucs courtyard in the harem, or the private apartments area. As everywhere in the palace, there are lots of decorated tiles, some with Arabic inscriptions some with floral and vegetal motifs.

Topkapi, the Turban room (yes, the sultan had a specific place for his imperial turbans!) Again lots of tiles and inlaid mother-of-pearl, another decoration typical of the Ottoman style

Traditional houses in old Istanbul were all made of wood, which explains why so few of them are still standing and why even fewer are in a decent shape. The municipality forbids their removal but does not have enough money to restore them... Apparently as late as the 1950s old wooden houses were seen burning (if you read Orhan Pamuk's memoires there are quite a bit of references to this).

Inside the Orthodox patriarchate. Constantiople used to be as important for Eastern Christians as Rome was for the Western ones, but it obviously lost its power during the Ottoman period. The original seat of the Patriarchate was Hagia Sophia, the present location is in the traditional Greek neighborhood of Fener and is much reduced in size.

Interior courtyard of Hagia Sophia, the church turned mosque and now museum. Everywhere one can see how Christian and Muslim symbols are side by side (but only today, during its time as a mosque, the Christian references were hidden, though not destroyed). Hagia Sophia served as model for all the other mosques in the Ottoman empire, which differ quite a lot from their counterparts in India or the Middle East.

Sunset on the Bosphorus, with the Süleymaniye mosque in the background.

Sarcophagus from the Archeological Museum, smth like 500 B.C. And so serene.

The Library in Ephesus, the capital of Asia Minor province of the Roman Empire and one of the largest cities of its time, with a population peaking at about 200 000 inhabitants. The library is one of the few larger constructions that survive.

Ephesus is also a primary tourist destination for all those who visit the Aegean coast, so there is the very old and the very new, side by side...

On a hill on top of the old Efes, lies the first church dedicated to Saint Mary, who came to these parts when she together with St John the Evangelist had to flee Jerusalem. Apparently she died and went to heaven from this particular hilltop, and this is a pilgrim site for all Christians. Pope Benedict the XVI (is he really the 16th Benedict!?) visited here last year.

Books: Athena, by John Banville

2007-11-02T11:35:00.000+01:00

Banville is just the most amazing magician of the English language. Even when everything else seems to be less interesting, as is the case with the plot in Athena, the very words that pour out of his pen have the power to entrance. I was disappointed by the book as a whole, but all the reading was worth it if for nothing else for the first paragraph. It reminds me of a John Lee Hooker song, all the blues's passion, längtan, knife in the wound, hope beyond hope...
"My love. If words can reach whatever world you may be suffering in, then listen. I have things to tell you. At this muffled end of another year I prowl the sumbre streets of our quarter holding you in my head. I would not have thought it possible to fix a single object so steadily for so long in the mind's violent gaze. You. You."
Or on page 3 "This is what it must be like having a wasting illness, this restlessness, this wearied excitatation, this perpetual shiver in the blood. There are moments -well, I do not wish to melodramatise, but there are moments, at the twin poles of dusk and dawn especially, when I think I might die of the loss of you, might simply forget myself in my anguish and agitation and step blindly off the edge of the earth and be gone for good. ... The rain falls through me silently, like a shower of neutrinos".

Nobel Peace Prize

2007-10-12T13:17:00.000+02:00

Al Gore shares the Peace Nobel Prize with UN's pannel on climate change. How strange a choice! I am not sure that I agree with the judgement of the Norwegian academy. Gore is already so famous so he does not need more publicity, and on top of everything he only made a movie, and a movie that can be criticized from many points of view! But I guess it's a way to bring to world's attention the importance of climate change and its relevance for peace. It may though thin out the meaningfullness of the Peace prize.
Nevertheless, this decision is in agreement with some recent studies on the impact of environmental damage and resource scarcity on conflict levels. Clearly when a region decays environmentally both migration to other, livable, places and strong competition for remaining resources occur. Migration may lead to conflicts between the local and the refugee populations, and the resource competition may grow into war.
Therefore I see the argument in favor of ICCC and Gore, but at the same time cannot help but deplore that it is just the Peace prize that must draw attention to climate. Maybe there were some other, better, choices this year, including a 97 year old Polish woman who saved the lives of Jewish children during WWII. Or maybe I am too traditionalist in my definition of peace.

Political leaders

2007-10-04T14:54:00.000+02:00

In her third volume of memoirs[1], Simone de Beauvoir writes about the war in Algeria and about the referendum held to allow General de Gaulle to return temporarily to power in order to restore French domination in Maghreb. When she discusses the results of the popular consultation (around 80% in favor of the general), she says: The heart of the matter is that they [the people] don’t want to be governed by their equals; they have too low an opinion of them, because they have too low an opinion of themselves and of their next-door neighbors. It’s ‘human’ to like money and watch out for one’s own interests. But if one is human like everybody else, then one is not capable of governing everyone else. So people demand the non human, the superhuman, the Great Man who will be ‘honest’ because he’s ‘above that sort of thing’. (p. 171)

This speaks millions about the attraction of populism and of the amazing opportunities that providential leaders can exploit to take themselves in the vicinity of absolute power, carried on the shoulders of a cheering crowd. Just watch what is going on right now in Venezuela – Chavez is to be admired for his audacity and for his brazen use of people’s feelings (incl. government by television, a new expression!) to justify his take-over of the country’s government.

[1] Simone de Beauvoir ([1963] 1992). Hard Times. Force of Circumstance, II 1952 – 1962. With a new introduction by Toril Moi. New York: Paragon House

Splashes of color

2007-09-05T15:59:00.000+02:00

I am not sure why, but I blame the grey and sad summer we had this year for my strong thirst for color. As the days remained darker, I dreamed only of sun, of happy colorful places, of blues with tropical intensity. The only refuge from the fog and rain came to me in the shape of flowers - I have managed to gather more than a 100 pictures of various species, mostly taken from that typical Swedish landscape marker, the kolonilott: a place for gardenless apartment inhabitants to grow their own (anything from flowers to apple trees to grape vines).
Here are some splashes of color that made summer standable.

Short trip to Paris

2007-09-02T17:16:00.000+02:00

It seems this blog turns more and more into a travel documentary rather than into a day-to-day account of life local. This may have something to do with the lack of dedication and complete laziness of the blog owner, I suspect (insert shameful mine here...).
No matter how lazy though, it is impossible to not write some quick lines about our short trip to Paris this past long weekend. We have the privilege of knowing good friends in the city, and we were lucky to meet all of them this time - there is nothing like catching up with the latest news and preoccupations over wine and cheese, in the good French tradition!
Besides enjoying wonderful culinary experiences (undocumented picturally here, to avoid making the potential reader extremely hungry and perhaps envious of the Parisian gastronomical diversity we enjoyed), we also took the chance to walk leisurely around town and, on Sunday, to drive out and discover the palace of Versailles, or more precisely its French gardens. It was the first time and a good time, because of the perfect weather and then because of the very styled art pieces that were the bosquets. Not to mention the fountains! It was easy to imagine the royality and aristocracy taking an evening walk, or having a romantic or diplomatic meeting along these alleys!
Here are some pictures, to give a taste of how it was; it has been a very tough job to decide which pics to show here, there are so many good views! I may even add some more images later on...)

The Sacre Coeur on a foggy morning, before the turist invasion (and when you think that Magali and Cyril can observe the Sacre Coeur in ALL its variations without leaving their apartment!)

A little boulangerie, closed during the month of August, like many other establishments in Paris

And the greatest most delicious mouthwatering macarons in the whole of Paris, from Ladurée (and we got the chance to eat some of them, not only to admire the window display - thank you Jean-Luc and Fiona!)

An accent of color, in front of one of our favorite cafés at the foot of Montmartre

A waterfountain built in 1872, near Rue Linné

There are numerous variations on this type of table display, I think it is quite pretty

And another green face, this time a grafitti on a small street close to Magali's place

The Versailles - Poseidon and behind him the main building of the palace, with the ballroom of mirrors at the center

At 15:30 the Versailles fountains (here Neptune) came alive with water splashing to the sound of baroque music

And a final view of the palace with a statue gifted by the founders guild to king Louis XIV

Rainy days

2007-07-23T13:42:00.001+02:00

This summer has been not much in terms of warmth or sunny skies. I am getting impatient with the weather and dream of tropical heatwaves (I know that a lot of friends complain about being exposed to too much heat, so I would suggest swapping places, what do you say Viki?). To be fair, there were a couple of days when the sun shone, and those moments were truly cherished. Which makes me think about these yummy fruits, which Martin picked (oh ye tall ones, you have lots of advantages in the picking of fruits, that's for sure) and I ate!

London trip

2007-07-13T14:12:00.000+02:00

After half a year or more of blogging absence, here I come with a wee bit of information about our latest excursion, to the UK, or more precisely to London and Cambridge. We stayed with friends, and that was great, and then we traveled around the city with the (in)famous tube. One of my best moments, besides the obvious ones, was to find a very nice South Indian restaurant and to eat a huge Masala Dosa, something I have longed for since I left India three (!!!) years ago. It was the real thing, with coconut chutney and dhal, delicious! Also in terms of food, right in the middle of the city, in the Covent Garden area, we stumbled upon a Romanian sweets shop, loaded with some of my favorites. The decision was hard to make, but eventually I picked one, a chocolate-filled amandine!
Cambridge also blew me away, despite the massive amount of tourists. Charming old town, and ideal colleges. Some cozy and nice, some imperial in proportions - King's College by far at the top of the scale. Nowhere was the English obsession with the perfect grass carpet more evident than at King's, as I hope you will notice in the pictures below. King's College, built by Henry VIII at the height of his power, also displays a magnificent cathedral where we had the chance to listen to an organ concert which filled me literally with good vibrations. Final point on Cambridge, punting on the river Cam. When you see the pros, you think they are as graceful as the gondoliers of Venice, but when you see the novices, you cannot help but laugh until you drop at their acrobatics. We also observed some very interesting traffic jams and small accidents which cruelly amused us :-) !

Punting Chaos on the River Cam

More Punting, with spectators watching from the Magdalene Bridge

Greenwich time ball, on the zero meridian

A typical London view, rows of identical houses (here, Highgate)

Now Cambridge, where lots of colleges are closed on weekends to avoid tourist invasion

King's College was open though - here is the marvel called English grass carpet

King's College majestic cathedral

The delicious Amandina mentioned above

The angel (or Eros?) of Picadilly Square

In some cases, old unused churches are desacralized and used as apartment buildings

Besides its collections, I really likes the hall of the British Museum

The Rose and Crown, one of the many Elisabethan pubs spread around town (this one in Greenwich)

A surprising appearance

2007-01-09T15:19:00.000+01:00

Yes, I thought I should begin the new year with a little surprise: take a look at this picture!

Indeed, this is Martin! I can hardly believe it myself... Sometimes I pass by and I think: who is this man in my kitchen? New year, new look :) !

Happy New Year!

2007-01-09T14:57:00.000+01:00

I can hardly believe it, but 2006 is over and a new year already installed itself in our calenders (I still write the wrong date...). I hope this year will be a good and happy one for all of us!

Over the holidays we took off to spend some time with the family and to relax somewhere closer to nature. Christmas was spent, as usual, at Martin's older sister's, and it was a traditional one, in the sense that it was joyous, abundant and totally merry. Here are some pics capturing the atmosphere...

New Year's and the surrounding days were spend in the vacation cottage of the family, located in Värmland close to the southernmost ski resort of Sweden (this means only about 800 km from Lund). It was quiet, dark and unfortunately mostly snowless (which is a total shock in a place where normally at this time of the year there is at least half a meter of snow and -29 degrees). We slept a lot, and had a relaxing time, necessary before the hustle and bustle of real life resumes... Here are some Värmland pictures:

Even in the absence of real snow, we had some artificial snow around (in those days when the abnornal heat did not just melt it all away) and so I had the chance to try for the first time cross-country skiing - I really liked it!!!!! I wish that there will be more snow in general and more snow here in Skåne in particular (this part of Sweden where I live is not known for its skiing facilities of any kind).

Views from Pristina

2006-10-27T14:14:00.000+02:00

As some of you may know, I have been traveling for 6 days to Pristina, Kosovo's capital, in order to gather more data for my thesis (yes, the thesis is still in the making...).

I really liked the atmosphere of the place, and I was impressed with the huge amount of optimism the locals display, in spite of the relative poverty and uncertainty that surrounds them. There are lots of young people on the streets (more than half of Kosovo's population is under 25) and one of their most favorite activities is to sit at the table of one of the numerous cafés and drink coffee (everything goes by the name macchiato).

Here come some snapshots of Pristina, not sure if they can convey the real feel of the place...

This is the symbolic center of the city, a cummulation of markers: most obvious is the statue of Gjergj Kastrioti aka Skanderbeg, a 15th century prince who fought and was victorious against the Turks. He is the most famous of the Albanian rulers and the national hero par excellence. The original of this statues is the center of Tirana, the capital of Albania. Besides the statue is a small plaque marking the kilometer 0, the beginning of all roads in Kosovo. And behind Skanderbeg the new government building of the soon- to- be indepenendent Kosovo.

This is a more recent hero, the founder of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the guerilla group that opposed the Serbian forces on their way to remove the Albanian population from Kosovo in the late 1990s.

And another local contemporary hero, Adem Jashari (about whom my friend Zhiva told me so very much), whose larger-than-life poster dominates the Sports Complex. Adem was also a fighter against the Serbs, who ended up dead together with his entire extended family in a legendary battle in March 1998.

But Pristina is not just about men with guns. Those are the signs of the brutal recent past of this place. This is on the contrary a place of peace and spiritual meetings, one of the oldest mosques in town. Notice the three men wearing the typical Kosovo Albanian white (and egg-shaped, I should say) hat, called plis.

This is another example of an older architecture style, characteristic of the region, but rare to find in Pristina whose defining features (at least in the downtown area) date mostly from the communist period.

But there are some modern buildings, for example this high-rise which hosts the headquarters of the OSCE mission in Kosovo. In the distance you can see the residential neighborhoods located on the soft hills surrounding the city, where there are mostly smaller houses and villas.

Yes, what IS this building, you may ask? This strange construction hosts the university library and is build by a Croatian architect some time in the 1980s (if I get my years right). The coupoles are said to be an abstract representation inspired either by the human brain (!) or by the typical white Albanian hat (see mosque picture above).

Does this giant peace sign really mean the end of violence here? I would certainly say so.

Busy summer

2006-08-08T11:14:00.000+02:00

If you are wondering why I don't seem to manage to write any personal messages, any accounts of adventures past and present, any impressions about the world of politics and literature, it is because I have a very busy summer.
I was course coordinator for this course targeted at students from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which kept me busy during the last two weeks of July.
Now I am organizing and also teaching this other course, more directly reflecting the current interests of my research: the impact on the European Union of the new members and the new neighbors coming from what was known as Eastern Europe.
I hope this is enough justification for a silent month...

From music to the silence of the sea

2006-07-21T14:47:00.000+02:00

Roskilde Festival

2006-07-21T14:06:00.000+02:00

The festival had its own radio station and our job post was quite in the vicinity. They played the music of the bands invited to the festival and, of course, the classics of each genre.

Rock Romance - a bit tired though

There was no need for pushing people to consume beer, in each and every possible form: it came naturally!

Tuborg was festival's sponsor - quite obvious, wouldn't you say?

How many people can one festival fit? Quite a lot: 115 000 this year at Roskilde.

The Roger Waters concert was really the best one out of the 22 (!) I managed to see. The cherry on top of the cake!

And the stage on fire for the Guns'n Roses concert, somewhat of a disappointment, but not too bad after all.

The campsite looks like a disaster area: little could we, volunteers, do in terms of restoring a sense of order: we just help prepare the way for the bulldozers who picked up all the remains and trashed them away

One-day stop in Budapest

2006-07-21T13:59:00.000+02:00

As cheap airlines have not made their way yet to Romania, the easiest way to travel (or easiest for the purse) is to fly to Budapest and then take the bus or train down to Bucharest. On our way back to Sweden we had a day to wander about in the Hungarian capital - these are just some of the glorious aspects of the town, so to speak...

The Dutceacs and their hometown

2006-07-21T13:04:00.000+02:00

Well, usually I hesitate in putting up pictures of people, I think it is a sensitive issue (according to some traditions, taking one's picture is like stealing one's soul), but these are "my" people so I guess they should have a place on my page. And of course, there is Bucharest, the backdrop of my growing up - hard to leave aside, with all is concrete and lost splendour...

Landscapes

2006-07-21T12:48:00.000+02:00

As the train was rushing us by the Transylvanian plain and over the Carpathian mountains, I could not resist taking some pics of the surrounding landscape. Just a sample below:

Travel to Romania - Cluj

2006-07-20T13:32:00.000+02:00

Between the German and the Romanian episodes there is nothing really particularly exciting or worthy of note that I can write about. A lot of preparation work for two summer courses and some writing, plus, of course, the everyday...
At the beginning of June however, excitement came in the shape of our trip to Romania (these days I travel there quite often, it feels like, at least once a year for 2-3 weeks!), motivated in particular by the special occasion of Irina and Dan's wedding.
But before we reached Bucharest, the location of the fete, we stopped a day in Cluj, the cultural capital of Transylvania, to visit both the city and our friends Cornel and Anca.
Here are some images from this culturally-mixed place, where half of the city is Hungarian and half Romanian, and where Habsburg influences are clear.

An old building with a face-lift

A panorama of the city with the Catholic cathedral at the center

Men at work - it almost looks like a set-up, but it isn't - they just are perfectly aligned!

The interiour courtyard of a monastery converted now into a music highschool - what an atmosphere these teenagers have!

Berlin Graffiti

2006-07-20T13:22:00.000+02:00

A special note must be made to the Berlin graffiti - they are as much of a city landmark as the Brandenburg gate! Either political, along the remains of the Berlin wall, or just artistic, along ANY wall, or even on cars, trains and pretty much any surface that qualifies, the graffiti are a show in and of themselves.

Berlin stories

2006-07-20T12:39:00.000+02:00

While I was in Germany, I took advantage not only of the great library of the Eckiert Institute, but also of the opportunity to visit some popular spots. I could not possibly skip Berlin, especially since Roman , our good friend there, was kind enough to extend his hospitality for a couple of days.
Berlin is a fascinating place, full of history but also full of life, not stuck in the past but growing into the future. And this shows not only in people's attitudes, but also in urban planning.
advantage not only of the great library of the Eckiert Institute, but also of the opportunity to visit some popular spots. I could not possibly skip Berlin, especially since Roman , our good friend there, was kind enough to extend his hospitality for a couple of days.
Berlin is a fascinating place, full of history but also full of life, not stuck in the past but growing into the future. And this shows not only in people's attitudes, but also in urban planning.

The emblems of Berlin: the East Berlin TV tower and a construction crane

Just outside the Berlin Dome there is a "Lustgarden" which sounds pretty funny for an English speaker :) Lust and the Germans...

Roman is so very tall that this is the only way both me and him can be in the same picture without cutting either our heads or our legs off.

The memorial for the victims of torture (if I remember correctly), stark and impressive. The whole in the ceiling lets in the elements to rain or shine on the statue.

Another typical Berlin melange between the old and the new, the History museum which hosted at the time a great photo exhibition.

A real Berliner, at least according to me (it would have been funny to ask him where he's from and his answer to be Poland or smth like that)

Inside the glass coupole that crowns the Bunderstag - a modern gracious construction on top of the classic power-architecture type of building

The Holocaust Memorial

The Prussian Berlin is illustrated well by the Charlottenburg Palace, built at the end of the 17th century for the wife of Frederick III

And in contrast with the above, see here a very striking happy-colors kind of building

Martin and Roman in the square where the book autodafe took place in 1933

The weather was cold in March-April, so we even got the chance to see the city under a layer of snow

Hannover views

2006-05-25T18:29:00.000+02:00

Braunschweig Mix

2006-05-25T17:54:00.000+02:00

Contrasts

2006-05-25T17:44:00.000+02:00

Braunschweig architecture

2006-05-25T17:40:00.000+02:00

Finally pictures from Braunschweig!

2006-05-25T15:56:00.000+02:00

Since Braunschweig is known as the City of Lions, the main theme of the current post is, as you guessed, lions... The old buildings in the town are either reconstructed or brought in from the neighboring villages, as 95% of what used to be here before WWII was destroyed by bombs.

Femeia Romana

2006-04-27T19:29:00.000+02:00

Well, it has been a long time since I wrote something in this blog, but I have been traveling and then ... the minutes just slipped through my fingers, and so did the days, the weeks...
Now I am back!
Some of you have been asking me what I have been reading these days. For the most part it has been a pretty poli-sci, history, political mythology kind of business. There is some fiction on my nightstand, but I will get back to that in a later post. Now I wanted to mention that even though these days I'm into history textbooks a lot, the reading is not always that boring! There are some surprises, for example this description of a Transylvanian Romanian woman, circa 1785: "Româncele sunt supuse, prietenoase, îndatoritoare, si foarte harnice. Femeia munceste la câmp, vede de copii si de casa, toarce si tese pentru nevoile casei si pentru vînzare, îsi întocmeste si-si curata ea însasi îmbracamintea, creste pasari, duce sau mâna pasarile la tirg la vânzare, toarce din furca in timp ce merge cu caruta sau merge pe jos". (Christophor Scipp)
A translation with some degree of accuracy would say that the typical Romanian woman is obedient, friendly, dutiful, and very dilligent. The woman works in the field, takes care of children and the home, spins and weaves for the household and for sale, she makes and cleans her own garments, raises fowl, carries them to the market for sale, and while she walks she spins her yarn". Talk about multi-tasking!

2006-02-06T11:20:00.000+01:00

The black zig-zagged rocks typical of this landscape

Geysir, the father of all geisers

Hot springs area, the earth steams with heat

Yes, it is this blue! And very very hot, too!

The mighty waterfall, Gullfoss

More of Iceland

2006-02-06T11:13:00.000+01:00

One view from Thorvaldur's apartment

Reykjavik from on top: colorful like a Lego game!

Imposing mountains

And the über-postcard-like view of the Icelandic capital

Iceland Pictures

2006-02-06T10:36:00.000+01:00

One of the old and typical Scandinavian buildings in the center of Reykjavik

The Icelandic Opera house, with an interesting architectural solution ;-)

Hjallgrímkirkja, a recent but very imposing construction (ended in 1984 if I remember correctly), which dominates the skyline with its 75 meter tower

And a nice interior view of the above church

Nice Blues

2006-02-03T15:40:00.000+01:00

The four of us, Matt, Ross, I, and Analia at the above-mentioned Busboys and Poets

2006-02-03T15:33:00.000+01:00

One of the nicest additions to the U Street area, Busboys and Poets, bookstore-cum-café

2006-02-03T15:25:00.000+01:00

What's left of Chinatown in DC

(just behind this arch there is a Starbucks Cafe...)

2006-02-03T15:20:00.000+01:00

The nicest street in Philadelphia

2006-02-03T15:17:00.000+01:00

Anca and Cornel in the hallway of their beautiful townhouse in Philly

2006-02-03T15:14:00.000+01:00

And my favorite flowers, in the permanent collection at the Met

2006-02-03T15:10:00.000+01:00

The sculpture gallery at the Met

2006-02-03T15:08:00.000+01:00

Times Square as seen from the 20th floor of the Google building

2006-02-03T14:56:00.000+01:00

On the promenade along the East River

2006-02-03T14:54:00.000+01:00

A clear morning (well, almost morning), with the Chrysler building in the background

2006-02-03T14:51:00.000+01:00

A little bit of New York

2006-02-03T14:49:00.000+01:00

Ross, very concentrated

2006-02-03T14:46:00.000+01:00

And this is the final (and delicious) result

Photos: The US trip

2006-02-03T14:40:00.000+01:00

Here are some pictures from my latest travels: first would come Paris, but at that time I was not in the possession of a camera, so I must skip to the second stop, the US. I stayed with Rossnyev and Matt in Virginia and took a long weekend to visit New York City and Philadelphia. It was fantastic to see again good friends and old places...

Matt preparing his famous pumpkin ravioli.

Harold Pinter's Nobel Lecture

2005-12-15T11:32:00.000+01:00

I so much admire people who defy death through their courage and energy. One such person is certainly Harold Pinter, too ill to travel to Sweden to receive the Nobel prize for literature, but not too ill to speak eloquently on issues of direct concern to us all.

In case you have missed the lecture, here is the link to the text: http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture-e.html

The part I like best is when he volunteers to be a speech-writer for Bush. What an irony and what a delivery (he used to be an actor as well, and it shows!).

"I know that President Bush has many extremely competent speech writers but I would like to volunteer for the job myself. I propose the following short address which he can make on television to the nation. I see him grave, hair carefully combed, serious, winning, sincere, often beguiling, sometimes employing a wry smile, curiously attractive, a man's man.
'God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it."

Feminism

2005-12-14T10:21:00.002+01:00

One cannot live in Sweden without being drawn into serious discussions about feminist issues. As a dilligent student that I am, I started to document myself about these theories and found them relevant not only for women but for all the marginalized groups (and yes, I do agree with the post-modernist assumption that everything expresses a power relationship).

Listen to this: "if a group is kept out of something for long enough, it is overwhelmingly likely that activities of that sort will develop in a way unsuited to the excluded group." (Janet Radcliffe-Richards). Nothing can be truer than this, I think, and it does not refer only to the incompatibility between the current design of the work market with child-rearing; it is a great strategy to make the marginal group not only excluded, but un-necessary in the kind of positions that the dominant group reserved for itself.

And even a more radical position, I am not sure that I completely agree with it but it must be largely true: "virtually every quality that distinguishes men from women is affirmatively compensated in this society. Men's physiology defines most sports, their needs define auto and health insurance coverage, their socially-designed biographies define work place expectations and successful career patterns, their perspectives and concerns define quality in scholarship, their experiences and obsessions define merit, their objectification of life defines art, their military service defines citizenship, their presence defines family, their inability to get along with each other - their wars and rulerships - define history, their image defines god, and their genitals define sex." (Catherine MacKinnon).

Books: Cat's Eye

2005-12-13T10:07:00.000+01:00

I am not sure how I feel about this bit from Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye: "Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened" (p. 240)

Would this mean that you are compelled, by understanding one's behavior, to be less critical about it, to accept it even if y0u don't agree with it? I thought that knowing something more about other people actually evens out the balance of power between you and them...

I also like this phrase: "The body is pure energy, solidified light".

Thank you for the music!

2005-11-28T16:51:00.000+01:00

It is well worth turning older if this implies getting such wonderful gifts! I had the loveliest time listening to all the great songs my dear friends sent me - it made the whole day much nicer!!!

I stayed with a friend in Stockholm (which is a very interesting city, by the way, I discovered I really liked its atmosphere even in November, arguably the worst month in the Swedish calendar) and he, with Martin's help, put together a friendly little party, with good food, good drinks and my soundtrack as the musical entertainment. I even got a surprise cake, which made everything festive without being excessive. We stayed up late and chatted and enjoyed our time together - I fell asleep on the last song on the playlist (Clair de Lune, merci Magali) and woke up older but not much wiser the next day, ready for my visa interview at the US embassy.

All went well, so I am preparing to come for a brief visit to the East Coast sometime early next year (not sure yet of the dates). Am greatly looking forward to catch up with those still in Washington or New York (sorry, don't think I can make it to Boston as finances are thin). Till then there is the whole of Christmas holidays to go through - but more on that later.

Walt Whitman and Bob Dylan

2005-11-07T17:20:00.000+01:00

It hasn't occured to me before that there should be a common tradition that links Walt Whitmand and Bob Dylan, but I just recently re-read a collection of verses by the first author, only to be reminded of the revolutionary ethos of young Dylan.

Read this fragment from Walt Whitman:
"Beat! beat! drums! -- blow! bugles! blow!
Over the traffic of cities -- over the rumble of wheels in the streets;
Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those beds,
No bargainers bargains by day -- no brokers or speculators -- would they continue?
Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums -- you bugles wilder blow."

Doesn't it remind you of "The Times They Are A-Changin'"?

"Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."

Politics: Riots in the French Suburbs

2005-11-01T11:55:00.000+01:00

After a week of serious rioting, street fights and more moderate confrontations, it has become clear to me that the people living in the suburbs have had enough of what they perceive as french exclusion. I find it unsurprising, especially after having seen the movie "La Haine" directed by Matthieu Kassowitz - even though it was done in 1995, it managed to capture both the inherent violence in the everyday life at the banlieue and the hope against hope for a normalized relationship with the rest of the French population.
As one of the interviewees in a BBC News story said, "I do not know a single youth in my estate who does not want to leave," to integrate, to not be primarily Arab, or Muslim, or Maghrebin, but just French. It is usually the rejection, the prejudice, that lead young French of foreign origins to revolt against the state institutions, especially the police (not exactly the friendly type). This is why the reaction of Mr Sarkozy to send more troops and reinforce the strong stance of the government is likely, in the long run, to leave the center of the matter untouched and only to provide temporary relief.
The long-term perspectiev would require the French society to become literally more open, more mixed, and to give up the idea of one monolithic people in favor of cultural diversity. (The same BBC article said that the French government refuses to make statistics which distinguish along ethnic and religion lines, closing its eyes in front of reality).

Book Notes: Da Vinci's Code

2005-10-24T10:35:00.000+02:00

After a long hesitation, I decided to take advantage of the public library collection and get my hands on this world-wide bestseller. After having read it, I find no surprise in the fact that it managed to stay on top of list for the most purchased books - it has a nice, lively writing style (even though very much along the expected path suggested by the suspense and mystery literature), and a plausible story. A bit on the obvious side perhaps, but it is hard to pretend you don't know what the book is about after a year of exposure to non-stop comments about its plot.

I guess what made it most attractive was 1. The combination of fact and fiction and the credibility of the story and 2. Touching a soft spot in today's consciousness, namely the questioning of mainstream religion from the point of view of feminism and other currents of critical thought. Of course, this second point is all in the interpretation and not present in the actual text, but I guess that is what made it worth to comment endlessly on. Perhaps it is more appealing to the imaginary of the contemporary person to see Jesus as a man, a visionary perhaps but a regular, un-divine, really just-like-you-and-me kind of guy. The desacralization of everything. And the need for a good story to mobilize the imagination - we are, after all, hungry for belief, as the success of this book, which tries to demolate the biblical narrative and to perhaps replace it with something more suitable for today's world, demonstrates.

Norwegian Workshop

2005-09-30T10:20:00.000+02:00

During last week I have been at a doctoral student workshop in Trondheim, Norway. Must say I really liked travelling there, as it combined the familiar (the architecture, the people, even the lifestyle) with the very original (the fjord and the surrounding mountains).
The workshop itself was very useful, and I am glad i received useful feedback on my paper (yes, someone HAD to read it). I was also glad because I realized I can read and understand Norwegian, an extremely useful thing as I was supposed to make comments on the papers of our Norwegian counterparts who wrote some of their contributions in their native tongue... So I guess my Swedish finally reached that advanced stage where I can make inferences and really understand words, even if they are pronounced somewhat differently. Yupii!
Back in Lund, it felt like the deep South - how everything is relative! From a Trodheimian point of view Skåne is just as warm and sunny as Southern France! But truth is that we have a most wonderful sunny autumn, so it does feel at leat "not so north".

Lund Culture Night

2005-09-20T15:38:00.000+02:00

Last weekend Lund was suffused with great artisitic energy as the Culture Night (they should call it Culture Day instead, as events unroll from 10 am) took over the city. Martin, I and our friend (and current roommate) Monika went first to the movies (a very artsy thing, "India Song", after a novel by Marguerite Duras - cannot say I loved it) then had practically to run between events. We saw a magic show, lots of live gigs (from calm jazz to soul to African rythms on 10 marimbas!), and dance demonstrations. I really enjoyed the Zimba Marimba Band, it gave the whole auditorium a great energy. The members of the group were very young but traveled to Africa (Zimbabwe, Botswana) and clearly got rythm. It was funny though to see and hear this super blond guys and girls and imagine them on the Black Continent :)
Another thing that stuck to mind was an exhibition about female underwear from the 18th century to today - how scary those corsets were!!!! Torture instruments, no less! Fortunately there were also few contemporary interpretations of the corset theme, and they managed to look both comfortable and very feminine (unfortunately I have no pictures as we still have no camera...)

New Pictures: Historical Sites, Romania

2005-09-12T13:29:00.000+02:00

As I was mentioning previously that we visiting sites of historic importance, including THE Dracula Castle (a complete fabrication, btw, I think Vlad Tepes spent one night in this place at most), here are some pics from that part of our Romanian excursion.

The Bran castle (aka Dracula's Castle)

Interior courtyard with fountain, Bran Castle

Risnov Fortress, the Eastern Tower

Risnov Fortress, Small streets

View of the Piatra Craiului Mountains from the top of Risnov Fortress

2005-09-07T12:22:00.000+02:00

One of the old closes or very narrow streets - heritage of the medieval style of urban (non) planning

2005-09-07T12:16:00.000+02:00

One of the beautiful houses of Brasov that I was talking about.

Brasov - nice building

2005-09-07T12:14:00.000+02:00

Sweet Sweden, again

2005-09-07T11:25:00.000+02:00

Oy, it has been a long time since I posted something here... But I had good reasons, mainly the lack of good internet connections while I was in Romania. Now that I returned to Lund, I hope to keep up with the weblog.
As I was mentioning previously, Martin and I engaged in what is known as social tourism, by fixing our health problems in Romania where it is much much cheaper than in Sweden (or elsewhere, I would guess). And despite their devilish reputation, Romanian doctors are quite good at their job (especially the ones we consulted). Therefore Martin got rid of his glasses/ contact lenses via a laser eye surgery and I have perfect teeth again! Yupii!
We also had some time for traveling around the country. Have been twice to the seaside, in a small place (I don't want to call it resort as it is very rustic and wants to remain that way) on the border between Romania and Bulgaria. Good weather, good company, good atmosphere - nothing wrong with dancing on the beach until 3 am !!!
I also went back to my favorite town in Romania, a town I used to visit very very often but have not seen in 5 years -Brasov, the gateway bewteen Walachia and Transylvania, an old medieval fortress developed into a commercial center, with loads of gorgeous houses and a lovely atmosphere. I was also extremely glad to meet some of my old friends who still live there or came to visit for the summer: it felt so good to catch up!
Around Brasov there are several castles and fortresses that we also visited, including the famous Dracula Castle - so Martin can say he's been in Dracula Country :) He also took a small excursion hiking in the Carpathian mountains together with a Swedish friend who joined us for a week. It was a nice "Discover Romania" tour for him (or at least I hope it was).
Now we are back in Lund, in a new apartment (huuuuge, now is the perfect time to pay a visit, we have so much extra space) which we tried to furnish the best we could but still has an echo... The weather here is perfect, sweet and sunny, a truly lovely time.

Romania

2005-07-23T11:51:00.000+02:00

A few words from Romania. We are still in Bucharest, struggling to put our health back on track (Martin with his eyes, me with a tooth – I will have my first artificial tooth and I am not even 30, such quick decay!). If things come out alright, we plan nevertheless to travel around a bit, see the countryside, the mountains and even the seaside.
The weather has been very fickle here, with lots of storms and floods. In some parts of the country whole villages have been destroyed by the waters. Now it seems that summer came back to stay, but you never know… Hopefully it will stay sunny and warm!

Leaving Lund for the summer

2005-06-06T14:56:00.000+02:00

In a couple of days we will be leaving Lund - via the sea!! The first test of our FLAMMAN in a four-day sail north, towards Martin's home place. We'll be hanging out in the West coast archipelago for at least a couple of weeks, and then we'll celebrate Martin's 30th (!) birthday with lots of singing and cake and cheerfulness.
Immediately aftewards we'll head off to the Stockholm area to attend a wedding and from there a cheap airliner will take us to Budapest (where maybe we'll be staying a couple of days if friends are around) and to Romania (where we also hope to meet friends along the way).
If everything goes OK, we'll be back in Lund at the end of August, just when the apartment hunt fever is at its hottest.
In the meantime we'll have (intermittent) access to email.

Hope everyone has a great summer!

Politics: No to the EU?

2005-06-02T14:17:00.000+02:00

I am disappointed in the results of the French and Dutch vote on the EU constitution. It feels on one hand that the right-wing was able to stir fears of national identity dilution within the population (nationalism is not dead, not even in the West!) and on the other hand the left mobilized economic fears, the coming of the Polish plumber as the Antichrist (where is the workers' solidarity so much praised by socialists and communists?). In many ways, voters had no clue what the constitution stood for, they just went and opposed their respective national governments - which again says a lot about importance of the nation for the everyday life of the people (they cannot imagine themselves outside this framework).

I do not think EU is perfect, but I like to believe in the possibility of greater solidarity and in the death of parochialism. Some scholars are optimistic about the future generation of Erasmus Europeans (those who have been exposed to traveling, studying, and living outside their home country), and I hope that indeed the youngsters of today will become the European of tomorrow. But one side of me remains skeptical and sees local loyalties too strong to be defeated even by the experience of no-borders Europe.

Sweden and Me

2005-05-27T18:30:00.000+02:00

Yesterday it just dawned on me that I will never ever adapt or integrate or belong (call it what you want) in the Swedish society. It is simply so very different not just from my culture (because this can change over time) but also from my personality, from the way I am... I will never fit in, never understand or more importantly never like "their" ways. A cold polite arrogance - that is what I get as the main feature of Swedish social behavior (except when alcohol is involved). A distant political correctness that covers up feelings of superiority and a super-exclusivist attitude. Blah!

I wonder if there is a place on this Earth where I can imagine myself as "fitting". Certainly not Romania, where I feel almost as much an outsider as here... The US... Maybe, not as a whole, but in its special parallel universes. That is what I liked about the US, the fact that you could create your own special society, your "bubble", and that you could live all your life surrounded by people and things that you more or less chose. The US is big enough for everybody - a platitude, yes, but nevertheless an accurate description. But then you don't actually live in the reality, you have some form of extended "ivory tower" - and perhaps this is lacking authenticity.

Or maybe there is some other spot on this planet that I have not yet visited and that would immediately feel like home. In fact, I believe that for the most part home is in one's head (except for situations of extremely adverse social conditions).

Boat Owners

2005-05-26T13:26:00.000+02:00

Martin's lifelong dream of owning a boat finally came true yesterday, when "Flamman" ("The Flame") became ours. It needs a lot of repairs, it is small and we don't know how to attach the mast to it (as of now), but it is ours and we love it. You are now presented with additional incentives to come and visit us on the West Coast of Sweden, famous for its archipelago! Let us hope for good weather!

Books: Latest Readings

2005-05-19T19:26:00.000+02:00

I have meant to write down something about my readings for quite a while, but everytime I remembered to do it, I realized that I have not brought the book with me and I could not include some of my favorite quotations. Now this problem is solved, as I have packed away ALL my books, so bringing them anywhere is out of the question.
So, I decided to write down a couple of impressions about the books, with the quotations postponed until better, more stable times.

Eric Orsenna - "Madame Ba". Indeed, a great piece of writing, and, to my shame, one of the very few about Africa on my list. Conceived as a request for a French visa (and following the form's itemized questions), the book is the biography of a strong Malinese woman who has an astounding energy and an acute sense of observation. Her life, from the childhood spent near a mystical mother and a rationalist father, to the old age (she is a grandmother, although she does not feel drained of power), is depicted as to explore both the personal and the general; both the individual and the political and cultural background. A very critical but also loving portrait of a person and of a country.

J. M. Coetzee - "Youth". Although I really like the surgical quality of Coetzee's writing, I felt that "Youth", describing the life of a young computer engineer and poet wanna-be, is simply too dry. It is a novel where nothing happens, where the main character does not evolve, except perhaps to get deeper and deeper into misery, a key word in the text. Trying to escape his family and the feeling of marginality, a young South African emmigrates to London at the beginning of the '60s, but fails to become a poet (his secret ambition) and, despite his feeble attempts at romantic love, ends up disabused and lonely, a small cog in a big machinery he cannot control. Very well done, I thought, the feeling of displacement and isolation of the colonial exile as well as the atmosphere of the work environment in a 1962 IBM programming office.

Khaled Hosseini - "The Kite Runner". Supposedly the first Afghani novel accessible in English, "The Kite Runner" has very high but also very low points. On the positive side, the portait of Kabul before the Russian invasion, as well as during the Taliban regime, feels very real and moving. One can smell the food, see the houses, hear the conversations, get excited about the children's games, feel the fear of locals in face of the acts of random violence. The main characters are also made of flesh and bones, and are far from being perfect incarnations of generalized human types.
However, the plot itself, about a young Afghani who recalls his childhood and his betrayal of his best friend from an exile position in the US, has many artificial twists and turns and seems forced in its quest for a moral ending. Although the adventures grab you and keep you interested, some of the symbolism is simply over the top. Making exception of these moralizing attempts, the book is very readable and opens up a universe as of yet less explored.

Politics: Uzbekistan killings

2005-05-17T14:25:00.000+02:00

Under the pretext of anti-extremism from Islamic groups, it seems that many a government takes action against its opponents. Most recently, the leaders of the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, turned democrats but only in name, decided to accuse 23 business people of unlawful activities related to pro-Islamic movements and, when protests ensued, to brutally execute the people taking part in the manifestation. The reaction of the authorities is hugely disproportionate in comparison to the size and importance of the protest, the brutality of the police looks almost maladive; according to the BBC, "troops were still shooting injured people dead three and a half hours after the gunfire began". More than 600 victims have been counted so far, and the number is increasing as the government slowly releases more and more bodies.
I wonder if the leaders in Tashkent really thought that they can get away with it, without anybody paying attention... Or if they calculated that these days everything can be explained away or blamed on some form of Islamic terrorists... Hopefully Islam (!) Karimov will be proven wrong and his uncontested dictatorial reign will come to an end.

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

2005-05-13T13:59:00.000+02:00

I must say I am quite disappointed by the new Holocaust Memorial inaugurated recently in Berlin. First, it is a bit sad that the only victims commemorated are the "murdered Jews" - there are so many left out, the political adversaries of the Nazis, the Gypsies, the homosexuals, so it feels incomplete and exclusivist.
Second, from an artistic point of view it is a disaster... I don't know what is the logic of memorial buildings, but I think an esthetic element should be at least partially considered (and they surely left that out for this monument!). I know that one is not supposed to feel elated at the sight of a monument erected in the memory of a barbarian event, but nevertheless one should not feel apalled by it - otherwise people would not want to look at it closely, they would be pushed away, rejected... Or maybe this is the point, that visitors should be disgusted by it?
Finally, the memorial is so ugly that it really spoils the central Berlin landscape. Could not have they made it something better? Something that would address the sad memories without being an eyesore?

2005-05-09T15:48:00.000+02:00

And the very modern waterfront apartments, Helsingborg

2005-05-09T15:44:00.000+02:00

The remains of the fortress of Helsingborg

2005-05-09T15:40:00.000+02:00

And the most famous historical objective of the place, Lunds Domkyrkan

2005-05-09T15:39:00.000+02:00

Typical view of Lund

2005-05-09T15:38:00.000+02:00

Small garden with reflecting ball, Lund

2005-05-09T15:02:00.000+02:00

Me, cold in Helsingborg

2005-05-09T15:01:00.000+02:00

Tiziana and Martin, in the courtyard of Kulturen Museum, Lund

2005-05-09T14:57:00.000+02:00

Tiziana in Helsingborg

2005-05-09T14:54:00.000+02:00

Small street, Lund

2005-05-09T14:53:00.000+02:00

Sunny day with a nice old house, Lund

2005-05-09T14:50:00.001+02:00

Magnolia in bloom, sign of spring in front of the main university building

2005-05-09T14:50:00.000+02:00

The master of ceremonies wearing that Swedish student hat I mentioned in a previous post.

2005-05-09T14:49:00.000+02:00

Jongleur in Stadtsparken