Vicky Christina Barcelona

I just saw this movie with Hania and I loved it. It basically reflects what I have been thinking about lately which is such: although I dislike melodrama, it is better to live life fully, expressing all emotions and being honest to the point it hurts about them even if it means there's going to be some melodrama involved in life eventually, than live life half-heartedly, always sticking to the "plan" of what we imagine our life should be or sticking to the norm or to the society's rules, never risking anything and being afraid of trying anything out of the ordinary. And maybe that is the reason why I feel better in places where people are hot blooded, live emotions on the spot, never look back and never regret anything. And that is why I feel so bored in societies in which everything is according to the plan of a "perfect" life, perfect family, perfect job, perfect house, etc. and not taking any risks so that that perfect life remains "perfect". I feel very connected to Juan Antonio and Maria Elena and to their living out of the moment. Hania said an interesting thing: the triangle Maria Elena, Juan Antonio and Christina is honest and out in the open. Dough will be in "perfect" marriage with Vicky, until he gets bored out of his mind one day and gets a mistress on the side and will go to great lengths to hide it. In the first triangle everybody deals with their emotions as they come and everything is discussed as it happens. In the second triangle, in the "perfect world", when the wife (or the husband) finds out about the spouse being unfaithfull, then the melodrama starts and there's so much of it that it can kill everything. In any case, and in my case in particular, I come to the conclusion that there's nothing worse than a boring life and it is better to ask for what you want and to get it if you can than lie flat and hide in the never changing status quo. It's interesting how at one point Christina, the American tourist, suggests to Juan Antonio that Maria Elena should see some shrink about her suicidal attempt and mood changes in general. I don't think Maria Elena would think there's anything wrong with her, anything that would require any doctor's help: this is how she is and how she deals with life, in a compulsive way but that is what make her feel ALIVE. Would she want a doctor to proscribe some pills so that she would not be able to feel all the emotions, the pain, the tragedy? Hell no! She may want to kill herself at one point but to be half dead while being alive by numbing herself by prescribtion drugs - I don't thinks she would want that. I liked so many things about this movie. I also loved the scenery of Oviedo. We decided with Hania that we will some time in the future undertake a road trip to see all this beauty.

My story about Morocco will come. I have talked to Gosia who is coming with Rashid to Poland in June and we will go to Morocco to visit Rashid's family and the friends whom I made there recently. So I think I will get to the details of my trip before we set out to Morocco again but if not, then I will write with new impressions.

Now I am almost done with the house renovation. I will start looking for school of acupuncture, hopefully to start in the fall. In the summer I will still be here in Poland, making short trips here and there, visiting friends whom I haven't seen for a long time, visiting Katarina in Slovakia for a few days, visiting Marcin and Dorotka and their son Tomek (the next baby will be born in a few weeks) in Warsaw, visiting Gosia and Rashid in Lodz, and enjoying the good time.

Easter greetings

I have been thinking about you dear friends during Easter. Easter is a big holiday in Poland and probably the most spiritual one. It lasts two days so there's lots of time to celebrate life, to sit at tables full of traditional dishes, share the food and conversations with friends, family and neighbors, and to think about spiritual and earthly things, and about people we love who are far away. And in my case I always think of people who are far away since due to my nomadic nature my friends and loved ones are spread out throughout the planet (and beyond).

Starting with spiritual stuff, on Sunday morning, after I woke up and patted Maksio who came for his morning back rub, I thought how the Easter morning is the celebration of resurrecting from the dead, from non-existence, and how for me every day is the Ester morning and every day I live as if I lived the whole full life in it. I was resting in bed, in the quiet home (my mom went to the South of Poland to visit her sisters and extended family so I was home alone with Max), feeling incredibly well and peaceful. Then, after contemplating resurrection, other dimensions, and the wonderful unexpectability of things, I got out of bed and started the day. I went for the Easter breakfast to the house of my neighbors and friends whom I will call "the Dezor Kids" since, although they are grown up now, to me they will always be kids because I remember how they were all born (I was a teenager then) and how they all were in diapers, how they were changing teeth and growing. Out of 8 kids (they were 9 kids but the second oldest boy Adam died) 7 still live in their family house: Ania, Michal, Julia, Marcel, Liliana, Laura and Luiza (the twins). The 8th child Helena lives in Belgium with her family (her partner Emmanuel and two little babies Julian and Celina). We were also accompanied by Ania's boyfriend Max (who is from Argentina) and Julia's boyfriend Pawel. Girls bake delicious cakes and cook good food so the table was full of all kinds of home made delicacies. We had lots of fun eating and talking and afterwards we went for a long walk with Ania's dogs Taco and Lilo and with my Maksio. Everything is blooming in the forest and it is getting warm so the walk was great. We really are lucky that we have this beautiful forest and lakes so close to our homes. We were chilling out the whole day, talking, watching short films made by Filip (Liliana's boyfriend) and sharing lots of laughs. The next day, still a holiday in Poland and what is called Smingus dyngus - the tradition of pouring water on each other - I met with Patrycja and Hania for coffee and cake and then later we went altoghter with the Dezor Kids and their cousins for a long walk again and got somehow wet. The Smingus dyngus tradition is still very much alive (it comes from the very old times as I heard): people run around with little plastic bottles or bags full of water but also with buckets and water guns so one can get quite wet if one can't run fast... I had the camera so I was spared. After the walk I visited Hania and her family and once again we set down at an Easter table eating and drinking and enjoying the time together. In the evening we all met together again in my freshly renovated house for a party that ended at 2 am. I ate a LOT of cake this holiday... a few types of cheescake, two types of poppyseed cake, a few types of babka, a yeast cake, chocolates... Today I started the day with drinking liver-detox tea... But it was all worth it because everything was delicious and what are the holidays for?! Today my friend Przemek came for leftovers because he couldn't join us yesterday but I still have cakes until the rest of the week. More friends will come and all will be eaten in due time. I enjoyed the holiday a lot - it left a very warm feeling in my heart.

Well, and about Morocco - I will write about it soon. I just have to finish that freaken tax return which I pushed aside until now and now is the last day so got to do it before the deadline. How I dislike this paperwork stuff... absolute torture... but what has to be done has to be done and then I can move on to enjoyable things. Hugs to everyone.