Multi-faceted words

I don't now if I can make you see numbers in a new way, but I do pay more attention to words and the way we use them.
It strikes me that words have more than the dictionary meanings, more subtle nuances that one has to have an intimate connection with the language to really understand. Still, sometimes we can get a glimpse of that if we pay attention.
Here are 4 examples that have the same meaning and in 3 of the cases even the same form, but different nuances.

First (I have already mentioned that another time) "illusion". In Romanian as well as in English, it means something unrealistic, that can never become reality, a mirage. In Spanish, I think, it does not have this nuance, right?
Second: "didactic". We wrote a conference article in our Comenius project last week and it was the English partner who "polished" it, of course. He told us he took out the word "didactic" and replaced it wit "pedagogical" because in English it has a strong pejorative connotation. It can have that in Romanian too, but very seldom and a bit forced.
Third: "compromise". This word has a strong negative meaning in Romanian and maybe in English too, as well as I can tell, but in Spanish it has a totally different meaning- commitment, right? Please correct me if I am wrong!
Last, a word you use often: "stubborn". In fact, it triggered all this silly post. For us here, being stubborn is certainly not a quality, and it's a feature we always nag our children to drop. Tell me about how it's seen in your place, if you want- I'm curious.

One can find out a lot from just a word, and this is amazing for me.
Sorry if this is childish, I'm lazy today and just letting my mind wonder.

Reckoning

I was looking for something else and found this poem.

The Reckoning by Marin Sorescu (1936-1996)

There comes a time
When we have to draw a line under us
A black line
To do the summing up.

The few moments when you are about to be happy,
The few moments when we were nearly beautiful,
The few moments we were almost a genius,
Occasionally we've met
Mountains, trees, water
(What happened to them? Do they still exist?)
Each adds up to a brilliant future--which we've lived.

A woman we've loved,
Plus the same woman who didn't love us
Equals zero.

A quarter of year of studies
Makes several million fodder words
Whose wisdom we have gradually eliminated.

And finally, a fate
Plus another fate (Now where does that come from?)
Equals two (Write one, carry one,
Perhaps, who knows, there is a life hereafter)

Kilipirim

It's the name of a fair that takes place twice a year, a discount book, film and music fair. The name comes from "Chilipir", a word with Turkish origin meaning bargain, but also some unexpected gain. As you see, there was a bit of everything, from English books to old books, posters and old drawings.
The prices were more than affordable, some with 50% discount, some stands offered a free book for each one you bought- crisis effects. Of course books are one of the luxury items people tend to give up, so publishing houses have to make big efforts. There was also a place for donating and exchanging books and a Tibet and Himalaya photos exhibition. This is almost all I got- except for two posters and a CD!

Stitched stories

There is a proverb that says:"The one who stitches and then undoes will keep busy all winter long".
One can meet this kind of fragile memories at the Old Lace and Embroidery exhibition at the Peasant's Museum these days. You might feel like exploring grandmother's hope chest. Think of how complicated a stitch can be to be called "chicken skin with a crossed stitch"!

There are more kinds of objects besides lace and embroidered things: chests, small hardware, table cloths, old cupboards and small furniture, old books on handiwork, old embroidery patterns collections, clothes, thread boxes, small things that someone gave a sentimental value and time added his own, because most are from the 19th century.

The exhibits are shown as if trying to recreate the atmosphere and a certain aspect of the life of people all over the country, even from Bessarabia or the disappeared island of Ada Kaleh. Old stories written on delicate things by hands that are long gone.

Photo source
Despite what the poster says, it's still open. Maybe I'll see it. Sounds nice, does it not? A calm moment before the new schoolyear and the news it's supposed to bring, as we are promissed for now: fewer jobs, smaller salaries and possibly two weeks without pay, in order to save the money. Let's learn how to sew, it might come handy!

Despite wild spirits, culture in town

It's been an interesting summer from the cultural point of view. Differetn activities, different prices, different sceneries. In July big concerts for all ages, music gallore. Like the performances by the Walls, just opposite Puerta del Álcazar hotel. They belonged to the activity "Nights and Battlements". From spanish folk to ballet. Even that old rock group, The Animals, gave us a wonderful concert. It was funny, touching because of the songs and alive.

Now, we are having "Àvila in Moon Key", more music in the same scenery. Blues, funk, rumba, flamenco. At the same time "Arteávila", a different fair for all kind of crafts: pottery, leather, crystal, silver, cloth.


An the last week we'll have our "Ávila in the Candle light", pure jazz. I'm looking forward to it. It will be held in the cloisters at Santo Tomás Monastery. These two performances are always, despite the cool night temperatures, warm and cozy.

This summer activities have the especial touch of pain because of the fire devastation, but it is good to have people together in culture forgetting about wild environmental terrorists.

Street Delivery

"Closing the street to cars and opening it to people."

A Bagful of Poetry

One of the nicest places in town is "Carturesti" (an invented name made of "carturar", an old form for "learned" and "Bucuresti"). It's a combination of bookshop, music shop and tea shop, where you can spend a few wonderful and relaxing hours among books, CD's, DVD's, albums, drawings, tea and accessories, photos, candles and all kind of nice objects that some would call useless.
Their last initiative, We Collect Poetry, concerns bringing back poetry into our lives and its catch phrase is : Pozia mai seduce sau se duce? (Does poetry still seduce or is it gone?) As you see, it's a word game putting together "seduce" (seduces) and "se duce" (is going).
It invites people to bring their favourite poem, in any form they choose, but even better in a personalized one.
All the poems are to be collected in a truck and anyone can read them. In the end, they will be turned into an art book and kept in the bookstore. Maybe I will contribute, if I have the time to choose a poem these days.

photos from Metropotam

A violent death for a gentle man

A Romanian poet in Bessarabia died last nigh as a result of a car accident. His name was Grigore Vieru, he was a school-books author, a politician and a fighter for a pro-Romanian attitude in his country. One of those people whose real and only fatherland is the Romanian language. He was a member of honour of our Academy and its candidate for the Nobel Prize for Peace.
He was 7 when the bob-wire was set across his yard, artificially turning friends into enemies. As he said: "As other people dreamed of going into the Cosmic Space, I dreamed all my life to cross the river Prut."
Two more of his quotes:
"I have nothing, Death, against you
I don't even hate you.
No fear, no terror, I feel pity for you,
For you never had a mother, never had sons."
And his own epitaph he had engraved on his tomb: "I am grass. I cannot be simpler than that."

Homage to Eminescu

Eminescu was born exactly 159 years ago today and died on June15th, only 39 years later. He is our most important, romantic and loved poet, the very essence of the Romanian soul, our emblem. I think there is nobody in this country unable to recite at least a few of his verses. One of the reasons for which he is cherished is his perpetual validity. Even now, his words are an answer to our qustions, a mirror to our feelings. Here is the beginning of one of his poems, "Glossa":

Time will come and time will fly,
All is old, but new in kind;
What is right and what is wry
You should ponder in your mind;
Don't be Hope's or Terror's thrall;
Wave-like things like waves shall pass;
Should they urge or should they call,
Keep as cool as ice or glass.

Vreme trece, vreme vine,
Toate-s vechi si noua toate;
Ce e rau si ce e bine
Tu te-ntreaba si socoate;
Nu spera si nu ai teama,
Ce e val, ca valul trece;
De te-ndeamna, de te cheama,
Tu ramai la toate rece.

Sibiu- memories from a summer trip

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Snow-White at the National Theater

The National Theater in Bucharest hosted a story this weekend. It was "Snow-White", as seen by the French choreographer of Albanian origin Angelin Preljocaj, and it seduced the local public, during all its all three performances. The ballet impressed the Romanian audience by its scenery, costumes, lighting and by the director's ingenious ideas.

Although the National does not have the best stage for ballet, and the first performance was late due to technical problems, the show went on for nearly two hours without any incidents.
In addition to what the poster had promised - a beautiful story, somewhat ignored by the classical ballet, a name such as Preljocaj, costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier and music by Gustav Mahler - the performances also showed gorgeous sets, ingenious light effects and an original direction.

The tale is perfectly linear, Preljocaj does not deviate too much from the Grimm Brothers story, he does neither invent nor suggest, just relates it in the manner of the nineteenth century romantic ballet. It's the plea for classic simplicity of a choreographer that is not at all far from the contemporary dance.

If the show brings no surprises as far as choreography, it's totally different in terms of sets (bearing the signature of Thierry Leproust) and direction. Preljocaj has imagined the arriving of the Seven Dwarfs on ropes, down the mountain and dancing in the air - a memorable scene - and the sequence in which the step-mother looks in the mirror seems either previously recorded or elaborated by means of complicated light techniques. In fact, on the opposite side, the step mother is perfectly doubled by another dancer, and the effect was remarkable.

Some of the choices that Jean Paul Gaultier made concerning costumes are said to be questionable. The most successful appearance is the step-mother, with a dark look (a combination of black and red), borrowed from Walt Disney's version. Gaultier's fans forgive him all his "sins" in the end, when Snow-White appears in a gorgeous bridal dress, during the wedding scene.

Photo and information from "Evenimentul Zilei"

A Commonweath of Diverse Cultures. Poland's Heritage

The Copérnico House, which was founded by the Polish immigrants in Ávila, has organised a very important exhibition in our town. The title is, in itself, appealing: A Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures.
It is made up with materials from the treasures in the National Library. 11 films are shown in these screens where the visitor can find out the diversity of cultures in Poland through history.

Masterpieces of Italian, French, German, Lithuanian, Ruthenian, Armenian, Jewish and Islamic origin to show the multicultural heritage in literature, painting, architecture, customs. Ancient peoples, survivors of invasions, wars, extermination camps, talking to whoever wants to understand European history in a better way.

This "melting pot" of voices and languages in one of our cultural spaces: El Episcopio, a thick consturction by the Walls.

Bucharest, Strictly Secret

Each Thursday, during seven weeks,a newspaper calls its readers to discover the mysteries of Bucharest offering the documentary series Bucharest Strictly Secret: 7 DVD's (4 or 5 episodes, grouped by the subject). The series is made by a writer and a TV company.
Each DVD is accompanied by a booklet of 32 pages with related stories.
Far from the banality of our every-day life, you can get acquainted with the very substance of Bucharest, often forgotten and ignored, with secrets, scenarios, with fabulous characters - from poets and dangerous women, rulers and adventurers, brave merchants, kings and losers, nuts and geniuses, Boyars and shopkeepers, dictators and artists, with the ordeals they have been through - earthquakes, foreign invasion, epidemics and fires, but also with the moments of brilliance and celebration.
Readers can find in it a new profile of Bucharest, refugees and the city's places of respite, impressions taken through the eyes of foreigners, the most beautiful views , but also stories about prisoners of the traffic or the reasons for those who want to leave it.

Her Majesty, the Culture

This is the poster promoting a cultural pro-reading project called: "Writers on the Royal Route". It will take place between May 9th and May 15th, on the occasion of th 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Romanian Writers' Society.
The project's main activity is carried on by 45 of the best writers and poets in our country, winners of international literature prizes. They will travel by the Royal train, built in 1927, starting from Bucharest, to 5 other towns in the country: Iasi, Suceava, Alba Iulia, Sibiu, Medias, performing reading sessions and donating books, in order to establish a reading corner in those train stations. After that, a DVD, a book and other materials with their readings will be made and distributed to libraries.
The project team hopes to have the same kind of tour next year, in the capitals of the neighbouring countries.

White Night

Bucharest turned last Saturday night into a huge stage. The sleepless had the opportunity to take part in the first such event in our city, at the same time as the dwellers of Paris, Rome, Madrid, Bruxelles and Riga.
The day coincided with the 548th anniversary of Bucharest's first mention in an official document. After nightfall, the House of People became a huge screen for the lasers displays of the artists of "Urban Art". The ones who prefer concerts, theater shows, acrobats, extreme sports, huge dolls, parades or craftsmen could also chose according to their taste. There were contests and demonstrations, fireworks, grafitti, a multimedia show on Dambovita river and even an homage to Pavarotti. The museums were open all night long for their visitors. You could look at the town's panorama from he top of the Arch of Triumph.
Those who sacrificed a good night's sleep say it was worth it. Maybe I'll go too, next time, and tell you more about it.

A Beginnig: the Theatre

The Romanian theatre was born in 1816, in the residence of the Caragea family. The famous princess Ralu, the ruler’s daughter, had this initiative. At that time, she had already translated a book about he history of Greece, she was reading Schiller and Goethe and she was listening to Mozart’s and Beethoven’s music.

She improvised in her own quarters a stage where the pupils of the Greek school acted. They performed “Oreste”, “Daphnis and Chloe” and a few other plays.

It was a success, so she thought to found a real theatre. In 1818 the legendary “Cismeaua Rosie” (The Red Waterpump) appeared on the street then called Podul Mogosoaiei (Mogosoaia’s Bridge), now Victory Avenue, the oldest street in Bucharest. Its name came from a red brick well near the still existing White Church.

The theatre burned in1825, but we still have its description written by a great historian, V.A. Urechia: ”There was a stage and in front of it a big red velvet sofa. Benches, small and big, in rows, musicians in red clothes and the fireplace was lit by wax candles in enameled candlesticks. The entrance fee was one ducat for sitting on a big bench and one “leu” for a small one. The audience could have sweets, refreshments and brandy at each one’s will.”

On this first stage plays as Schiller’s "The Thieves, or Goethe’s "Faust"
were performed for the first time for the Romanian audience. It’s been a long time and Bucharest has now many theatres, famous actors and very dear memories.