Categories
in portugal music video

frutologia

after spending a month in portugal, i had a song stuck in my head:

it’s an advertising for the 60 year anniversary of compal, a very well known portuguese juice brand. the ad is about the concept of fruitology, which they explain is the science, art and ideology of making fruit. it’s all to do with knowing your fruits inside-out, and experimenting with them. for some reason, i find the whole thing quite touching, and i get goosebumps every time i hear it!

after we saw this ad, we discovered a bunch of making of videos, which are delightful as well – particularly the second one, with the portuguese lady teaching the maori man how to sing her lines! :D


Categories
in germany

loxx miniature world

my dad had a miniature railway when we were kids. it was a very serious and special affair, which me and my brother weren’t allowed to touch by ourselves. it was kept on its box and reserved for occasional weekends spent at home, when he was feeling especially patient and had plenty of time on hands. we loved setting up the tracks in complicated routes with overhead bridges which quickly took over the rug of the living room…

so when i found out about loxx through uberlin, i was blown away by the idea. i mean, i knew for some people this is a serious hobby, but doing a whole city? was that possible?

it turns out, not only it is possible, it is also super awesome, and one of the coolest things we’ve seen in berlin so far!

there are moving trains of course, all kinds of them, from s-bahns to the ice – but also trucks and buses that move around the city and magically stop at the traffic lights. there are miniature versions of the brandenburg tor, the tv tower or the reichstag, where you can see and listen to jfk doing his famous “ich bin ein berliner” speech. there’s even an airport – yes, with planes lifting off and landing!


my favourite part was really all the small details. it seems like everywhere you look, there’s something to be discovered, little events and scenes being enacted. we went around it pulling on each others sleeves, excitedly pointing out every scene we’d discovered. i believe you could spend the whole day doing that and still leave with lots you didn’t notice…

and every once in a while, the lighting chances and you can see the city during twilight and night time.

i don’t have words to describe it. it’s just magic. go see for yourself! :)

Categories
just life

the boy who ran

last year, the boy decided he would pick up running again. he set a goal of 500km for the year, which he completed, and also ran the 30km path of remembrance (above) around ljubljana for his birthday. this year he decided to up the ante and run a total of 1000km plus real races, like he used to do in high school. he ran the 10km race on the brand new brandenburg airport (now late on its opening), and two weeks after that, he ran the half-marathon from the olympia stadium, finishing it in 42th place (out of 600 participants).

he’s still quite good at it, and i’m bursting at the seams with pride. :)

Categories
just life

ich will mehr von alles


last week i finished b1, the third level of my german course – this week we started b2, and i’m officially an intermediate student. almost suddenly, i’ve noticed that i can understand a lot of what people around me are saying – even if i’m not able to answer back as fluently as i’d like to. i’ve reached the point where german is no longer background noise, making it impossible to tune out.

i persevere because there’s a sort of magic in languages, like a key to the country’s culture and modus operandi. i’m also fascinated by the unexpected and delightful words – like glühbirne (glowing pear = light-bulb) or bauchredner (belly speaker = ventriloquist).

sometimes i wonder – will this be the last language i learn? i find it a sad prospect… but at the same time, language learning is so time consuming, and i don’t see the point of doing it if you’re going to do a half-assed job. what’s the purpose of speaking just a little bit of anything? either you do, or you don’t. still, at each new language, the previous ones get dimmed, put aside… not forgotten but just lulled into a silent corner, their words mingling with the new ones. which reminds me, i really should dust off my mandarin books someday…

Categories
in germany

my love for flea markets…



… is equally balanced by my hatred for haggling! i can’t do it, not after two years of daily practice in china… i always feel like i’m either cheating someone or being cheated… there’s no winning, and so i end up not buying anything most of the time. still, i like to browse around, and imagine where all these relics might have come from. berlin provides a lot of visual entertainment for the curious eye.