23rd - 29st October 2016
I came home today to find a sudden burst of noise on the floor where I live. I ran (literally) to investigate and found a party happening two doors down. I unintentionally pushed open the door to take a peek (the door was open) and found many people dancing. This was quite rare for the place where I live. This residential area is know to be quiet and peaceful (the only noise heard would be neighbours' dogs barking).
I didn't realise how eager I was to hear a break in the tranquility surrounding me at home. The people obviously noticed me peeking into their house and invited me in. I thought that it would be quite rude to join them since I wasn't invited to I told them I would come later (basically never). I went home and enjoyed the muffled music while I took some time to read. Sometime later, I heard my door bell ring and I found someone from the party at my doorstep. He said that it had been over an hour and that I should join them. I was happy to accept his invitation and made my way to the party. One of the students in that house had just graduated and this was a celebration party. I had never met some of the people here and I found that most of them were from Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian dance is varied and different from any of the dances that I know or have seen. There is a lot of use of the shoulders and the neck. Back in Ethiopia they would do in this dance in their traditional wear. It is a very free dance, it's like all of your emotions are let out and you are jumping and almost flying without a care in the world. It is filled with fun and it is something that cannot be done if you're feeling reserved. I first enjoyed this flurry of energy and before long I was invited to dance with them as well. There was a lot of jumping involved and they were nice enough to teach me some moves, The shoulder movement was really hard to imitate since it was so fast. The beat of the Ethiopian songs that were being played was faster than the average song and quite enjoyable. The neck bobbing was quite fun and I suddenly realised how similar a lot of the dance moves were with that of animal movements. It was enlightening and I felt like I was getting to know humans better. We all danced for about an hour or so and I learned their Zorba dance/song.
There were some people from Uganda and Nigeria there as well. I was surprised to learn that the music and the dance that they listen to and perform are very different. Uganda dances more to pop apparently.
When I was just about ready to leave, they demanded that I teach them some Bollywood moves. So I asked the DJ to play a song called "Nagada sang dhol" (Jab we Met movie). I tried my best to teach them what I could and they seemed to enjoy the new type of dance moves. Maybe they'll keep it in their arsenal for the next dance off! The Bollywood song reminded a few of the Nigerians that they like to watch Bollywood films in Nigeria. But since the films are in their original language (Hindi), I asked if they watch them dubbed or with subtitles. Their response was surprising, they said that there is usually someone in the town who knows Hindi (who knows why, maybe they learnt it by watching Hindi movies?) and there would be an ongoing translation of the dialogues while the movie is running. That sounds like fun to me! As long as they enjoy it, its not something to complain about I suppose.
The sounds they use in their language is a little different from those that are used around India. It was difficult for my Ugandan friend to say "Sri Lanka", she said that it was like a tongue twister to her.
My friends and I finally decided that we want to eat lasagna. The best place for that? Bologna. Why? Bolognese lasagna. Contrary to popular belief, Bolognese sauce is not served with spaghetti and meatballs, that is an Americanised Italian dish that doesn't exist in Italy.
"We will travel across the land, searching far and wide, each cuisine to understand the power that's inside!"
I wonder why we think that each city will be significantly different. When I walk through the streets of Bologna, I see streets that have been walked through by two types of people. People who paid attention to the street and those who didn't. In that perspective, every street can be a goldmine or just a path to a goldmine.
We inevitably find ourselves in sketchy parks so easily and today we found two! One was a beautiful park named after and built for the 9/11 victims of the WTC (it even had a beautiful carousel!). That was quite interesting, they even had a rather corroded piece of steel from the World Trade Center. The other park was crowded with people of all ages and it was here that we came face to face with the sketchiness that I described before.
One guy came up to us as we were walking and tried to offer us something. We passed him by (basically ignored him) and he started cursing at us in Italian! (not words I want to know really). I guess that he felt that we were in his territory and that we should take our business elsewhere if we weren't buying from him (I'm kidding! they were just being sketchy as sketchy goes...)
We finally ate lasagna in Italy. It was delicious! but I actually cannot compare it to any other city in Italy since this was my first lasagna in Italy. Would I come back for it? Yes, just for the lasagna.
On our way back I was finally checked for my ticket! I wonder how long I have been waiting to get my ticket checked. I knew that I would feel guilty if I didn't take a ticket but I was always annoyed that no one checked. Now I felt good, somehow, maybe.
Someone shushed us in the train. First I thought that it was quite rude since it was only 10 PM, but it got me thinking. If we had continued to speak at the same volume when the passenger had shushed us, would that mean that we didn't care what he thought? And if he didn't shush us then that would mean that he would have to compromise and adapt to our 'loud' noise.
Do we really care about other humans? Or do we pretend to care so that our society will work? Do we just cooperate so we an live in peace? Is that what peace is? compromise?
I came home today to find a sudden burst of noise on the floor where I live. I ran (literally) to investigate and found a party happening two doors down. I unintentionally pushed open the door to take a peek (the door was open) and found many people dancing. This was quite rare for the place where I live. This residential area is know to be quiet and peaceful (the only noise heard would be neighbours' dogs barking).
I didn't realise how eager I was to hear a break in the tranquility surrounding me at home. The people obviously noticed me peeking into their house and invited me in. I thought that it would be quite rude to join them since I wasn't invited to I told them I would come later (basically never). I went home and enjoyed the muffled music while I took some time to read. Sometime later, I heard my door bell ring and I found someone from the party at my doorstep. He said that it had been over an hour and that I should join them. I was happy to accept his invitation and made my way to the party. One of the students in that house had just graduated and this was a celebration party. I had never met some of the people here and I found that most of them were from Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian dance is varied and different from any of the dances that I know or have seen. There is a lot of use of the shoulders and the neck. Back in Ethiopia they would do in this dance in their traditional wear. It is a very free dance, it's like all of your emotions are let out and you are jumping and almost flying without a care in the world. It is filled with fun and it is something that cannot be done if you're feeling reserved. I first enjoyed this flurry of energy and before long I was invited to dance with them as well. There was a lot of jumping involved and they were nice enough to teach me some moves, The shoulder movement was really hard to imitate since it was so fast. The beat of the Ethiopian songs that were being played was faster than the average song and quite enjoyable. The neck bobbing was quite fun and I suddenly realised how similar a lot of the dance moves were with that of animal movements. It was enlightening and I felt like I was getting to know humans better. We all danced for about an hour or so and I learned their Zorba dance/song.
There were some people from Uganda and Nigeria there as well. I was surprised to learn that the music and the dance that they listen to and perform are very different. Uganda dances more to pop apparently.
When I was just about ready to leave, they demanded that I teach them some Bollywood moves. So I asked the DJ to play a song called "Nagada sang dhol" (Jab we Met movie). I tried my best to teach them what I could and they seemed to enjoy the new type of dance moves. Maybe they'll keep it in their arsenal for the next dance off! The Bollywood song reminded a few of the Nigerians that they like to watch Bollywood films in Nigeria. But since the films are in their original language (Hindi), I asked if they watch them dubbed or with subtitles. Their response was surprising, they said that there is usually someone in the town who knows Hindi (who knows why, maybe they learnt it by watching Hindi movies?) and there would be an ongoing translation of the dialogues while the movie is running. That sounds like fun to me! As long as they enjoy it, its not something to complain about I suppose.
The sounds they use in their language is a little different from those that are used around India. It was difficult for my Ugandan friend to say "Sri Lanka", she said that it was like a tongue twister to her.
(^__^)
I buried an onion today. No, I did not wish for it's death, I simply left it in water for too long before cutting it and it grew roots! It would have been fine if it grew just roots but it started spouting green shoots that looked so beautiful and so I couldn't cut it and eat it. As per the suggestions of my housemates we went to bury it. Since we had no shovels we just took a fat knife. It took a while to dig into the soil but we made it in the end! While going to our room I realised that we might have looked like murderers who just buried a body (a muddy knife to cover our tracks?). Who would bury an onion anyway?
Now we just hope that it will grow and give us more tears! (something I don't think I should really wish for :P)
(>__>)
I learned some interesting things about the countries of my friends today. Each country has its own unique history that cannot be compared with another. The past sometimes leaves a deep impression on the future generations of a country, and sometimes, they are forgotten.
Some German citizens are taught in school that they should not be proud of their country. Growing up in such an environment where you feel guilty about a past that you were not apart of seems quite detrimental to children I would say; but we all grow up eventually. An interestin fact, there is no train line from the east to the west of Germany because the train lines were built when the Berlin wall was in place. So, travelling to the west or the east from either side involves going to the south or the north first.
Most countries around Russia had been taken over by Russia at some point and therefore forced to learn the way of the Russian; Lithuania was one such country. The stark contrast between the facts taught in school to succeeding generations is astounding. My friend tells me that she and her parents discuss the same historical events with completely different facts (Russian way of thinking vs the Lithuanian way of thinking); talk about a generation gap!
(^__^)
"We will travel across the land, searching far and wide, each cuisine to understand the power that's inside!"
I wonder why we think that each city will be significantly different. When I walk through the streets of Bologna, I see streets that have been walked through by two types of people. People who paid attention to the street and those who didn't. In that perspective, every street can be a goldmine or just a path to a goldmine.
We inevitably find ourselves in sketchy parks so easily and today we found two! One was a beautiful park named after and built for the 9/11 victims of the WTC (it even had a beautiful carousel!). That was quite interesting, they even had a rather corroded piece of steel from the World Trade Center. The other park was crowded with people of all ages and it was here that we came face to face with the sketchiness that I described before.
One guy came up to us as we were walking and tried to offer us something. We passed him by (basically ignored him) and he started cursing at us in Italian! (not words I want to know really). I guess that he felt that we were in his territory and that we should take our business elsewhere if we weren't buying from him (I'm kidding! they were just being sketchy as sketchy goes...)
We finally ate lasagna in Italy. It was delicious! but I actually cannot compare it to any other city in Italy since this was my first lasagna in Italy. Would I come back for it? Yes, just for the lasagna.
On our way back I was finally checked for my ticket! I wonder how long I have been waiting to get my ticket checked. I knew that I would feel guilty if I didn't take a ticket but I was always annoyed that no one checked. Now I felt good, somehow, maybe.
Someone shushed us in the train. First I thought that it was quite rude since it was only 10 PM, but it got me thinking. If we had continued to speak at the same volume when the passenger had shushed us, would that mean that we didn't care what he thought? And if he didn't shush us then that would mean that he would have to compromise and adapt to our 'loud' noise.
Do we really care about other humans? Or do we pretend to care so that our society will work? Do we just cooperate so we an live in peace? Is that what peace is? compromise?
[So, why didn't I post last time? I was busy with college and I didn't have any time to edit...hence I had designed this to be a weekly blog, but that is after I catch up! Nonetheless, thank you for your support and views! I'll be adding pictures to this post later so make sure to check them out! Next post coming on 23rd :D Later!]
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