This time the main part of the entry will be in Spanish, as I want to rescue a little poem I wrote a couple of years ago (or so), and dedicate it now particularly to Blanca, who is currently (or in the very few next days) flying to India, and generally to all the people that, like her and me, have been possesed with this Wanderlust (or Fernweh, as Germans call it), and now can't stop travelling:
Esp: Esta entrada va a ir mayormente en español, ya que quiero rescatar un poemilla que escribí hace un par de años, para dedicarselo ahora en particular a Blanca (que debe encontrarse ahora mismo volando camino de India, y sino será en los próximos días), y en general a toda la gente, que como a ella y como a mí, nos ha poseido lo que los alemanes llaman Wanderlust (o Fernweh) y en español yo diría... ansia viajera:
Vuela alto, sin frontera
Sube hasta las nubes
Surca la tierra entera
Conoce y descubre,
Toma el mundo por montera
Cierra los ojos abre la mente
Disfruta el viaje a tu manera
Muévete tan rápidamente,
Como puedas o como quieras
Y cuando llegues a tu destino
Y solo entonces, detente,
Respira placidamente
Disfruta el lugar, conoce gente
Observa el mundo bajo otra lente
Percibe lo que es igual, y lo diferente.
Y vuelve pronto a alzar el vuelo
No te quedes jamás parado
Despega tus pies del suelo
Ve allá a donde has deseado
Sube alto, toca el cielo
Y si alguna vez no logras algo
Que no sea, por lo menos, por que no lo has intentado.
(The picture was taken somewhere between Paris and Kuala Lumpur)
Espero que os guste /I hope you like it!
lunes, 28 de junio de 2010
Fly High
viernes, 25 de junio de 2010
Feeling a V.I.P.
If you want to feel important, try being unique.
In my case, it works quite good. Well, it is not that I am trying to be unique, but rather that I am unique here. Not only my appearance is totally atypical here (noone has beard, and most don't even know what dreadlocks are), I am the only international student in my faculty, and one of the few in the whole university. Of course, this leads to some funny, ridiculous, touching, interesting situations.
The most typical thing happening is being stared at by most of the people in the street, and greeted with a "hello!" by many of them. If the situation involves personal proximity, then asking about and touching my dreadlocks is also quite normal. And sometimes even asking for pictures with me!
However, sometimes situations go far beyond that. Two weeks ago, for example, a delegation from the Wakefield College in the UK came to our faculty here to deal with some issues about a double programm that they are preparing. So, being the only international student of the faculty, they asked me to join in their activities. First, wellcome meeting in the conference room: big part of the faculty's board around a table with Vietnamese and English flags. English guys in the English side, and me, surrounded by Vietnamese in the Vientamese side, asking myself wtf I was doing there. However, they were quite nice and I soon felt at ease with them. After that, some excursions and visits (photos here), lunchs and dinners with the delegation and the faculty's heads, including the dean. And to close the week, a dance and music event of the minority ethnies that can be found all over the country (photos here). Not only were we seated in the first row, we even had to go to the stage to salute, in front of around 200 people. But it also has good things, hehe. After the event there was a dance around a firebone outside, and in the wihrl of the dance one of the dancers belonging to some of the minority ethnies gave me a very nice scarf, typical of his region (see picture!).
A week later another concert, this time of the Cuban group "los Tradicionales", at the academy of arts (photos here) . Again, first row, next to the academy's president and boss, and talk after the concert with the artists.
And this week, where I though I was safe, going to the faculty's canteen to grab some lunch, a group of vietnamese sitting around a table told me (by gestures of course) to come closer. When I got there, filled up two shots of rice liquor, and invited me to drink with them. I tried to reject (it was midday and anyway I don't drink), but it would have been too unpolite, so there I sat and drunk cheap rice liquor shots with some unknown people at 11:00 AM (yes, here lunch is very early).
Sometimes I think that I don't deserve so much, but then I think... of course not, but let's enjoy it anyway, these things don't happen that often!
lunes, 21 de junio de 2010
Bloodsucking Little Bastards!!
This is a mosquito I found the other day in my room, ironically hanging from the mosquito net that covers my bed. Luckily enough, I was able to see him (or it was her??) before he/she was able to see me, so I grabbed the RAID tube and sprayed the mosquito before it had even time to think about biting me.
Until now, this is the only mosquito of this size that I have seen here, usually they are only a few milimeters big and do not produce noticeable bites at all. I really hope it stays like this.
Earphone in the picture is shown to allow for size reference.
martes, 15 de junio de 2010
First Impressions
I know that I said that next entry to come will be about Hanoi, but this weekend I will probably go there again (as incredibly as it sounds, visit!), so I will leave the Hanoi entry for after the return, when (for sure) I will have even more things to say about that incredible city than now.
And now to this entry itself:
Last week, while participating in a cultural exchange workshop (why and how will be explained at the given time), I was asked to point out what had been my first impressions about Vietnam. Realizing that they would make for a very interesting entry, I wrote them down. More or less, the order of appearance is cronological, as I noticed them after my arrival:
- Heat: Absolutely, heat is the first thing you notice when you arrive at Vietnam in Summer. Well it's not only heat. It's heat and humidity together, that come on you like a slap on the face and make you sweat by every pore of your skin whenever you are not near a fan or an air cooler system. And the worst thing is that, unlike in Spain, it cools almost nothing after the sun is gone, or even after storms. So, if you are planning to visit Vietnam on Summer, I really recommend that you live your jackets at home and fill the space with short trousers and t-shirts.
- Traffic: I realized how crazy traffic is in Vietnam already in the taxi from Noibai airport to Hanoi City. And I mean it, it's fucking crazy. Usually, the width of a 2-lane road without margins will be occupied with a line of motorbikes/bicycles/donkey-pulled-carts on each side and two bigger vehicles (say cars or trucks) struggling their way through in the middle. As nobody ever looks the rearback mirrors, all this chaos is controlled by horning: If you are behind somebody and you want to pass, horn. If you want them to notice you are there, horn. If you suddenly want to stop in the middle of the road, it's ok, but horn. That is why in most vietnamese cities (at least the ones I have visited so far) the most common sound you'll hear on the street is, of course, horning.
- People: Yeah, after traffic; the airport was too full of travellers, so I didn't really noticed the difference until I was in Hanoi. Some stereotypes are true. Yes, they are little. In fact, after having lived for three years in Germany, I had quite a "feeling little" sindrome, but as I arrived here, it totally dissapeared. Still, there are bigger people than me here, but not many. And yes, they smile a lot. I don't know what to say about this, but it is great anyway.
- Architecture: Although most of the country is under construction, the style in which houses are built, even the new ones, is rather interesting. Probably due to some issue with the prices or the availability of the ground, most houses are very tall and thin. I will go over this topic again when I find out a little more about the reasons, so I won't extend myself anymore on it now.
- Food: Com, Com, Com, or what is the same, Rice, Rice, Rice. Well, I guess that it is similar to the bread for us, but rice is really in each meal here. However, rice never comes alone, and his companions are usually very tasty: Fish, pork, vegetables, tofu, egg, lamb... everything goes. But of course, cut into small pieces to make it possible to eat it with chopsticks. Tip: Unless you pretend to expend a fortune in "western" restaurants, you'll better practice with the chopsticks at home if you pretend to visit Vietnam, because a fork is a rare item here.
Of course, there are many other things which grabbed my attention (schedules, music, social issues, etc), but the entry is quite too long already, so I will leave them for future posts. Of course, the above opinions are first impressions, and therefore still subject to change.
Let's see with what I am surprised next.
lunes, 7 de junio de 2010
Restructuring
As my time as an inhabitant of Dresden is over, and after a year hiatus, it is clear that the old purpose of this blog does not make sense anymore. However, I want to use it to write down about my future travels and experiences, so it needed some restructuring.
Title has been changed (although I am not very convinced with it... any suggestions??), and, as most of you would have already probably noticed, the new entries will hereafter be written in English. It is a compromise solution: I wanted it to be accesible for the greater number of my friends, and even though most are German or Spanish, either of those languages would leave most of the other group out, and I don't want to have to write everything two times. Thus, assuming that most of you can speak (or at least read) English pretty well, this has been the chosen language.
Next entry coming soon... Hanoi!
Stay tuned!
Turn the page...
This is an entry I should have written as I was still in Spain, or even in Dresden, but you know, packing everything, social compromises, preparation for my trip to Vietnam... all this made it impossible to gather enough time and willing to restart de blog.
Anyway, here I am, and I will like to start the new stage by saying goodbye to Dresden. Do not really know what to say... these have been three wonderful years, probably, the best ones of my life. I am leaving behind thousands of memories, hundreds of places and uncountable friends. However, as the title prays, it is time to turn the page, but the book will still be open. New places, new people, new experiences await, but the past ones will remain.
I don't want to get sentimental, and anyway, the feelings I have about my departure are still too unclear to be written down. I just hope to keep in touch with all the people who had made these years so great, as I do with most of the ones who already left Dresden before me.
Farewell Dresden, hope to see you soon again!!
