So, the Euro 2012 is over, and Italy did not win the final over Spain. No doubt that Spain was the better team, 4-0 speaks for itself. Of course I would have liked Italy to win, since I am here in the country as a guest, but honestly, since Sweden didn't even make it from the group I don't really, emotionally, care. Somehow, however, I started to think Italy would not make it when I saw how the people here started waving flags and driving around in cars with big flags hanging out and definetly not when I saw a flag-vendor having pasted a obituary over Spain, like the ones you see on walls everywhere here. Then I thought, this is taking it out too much in advance, it can never work out... And it didn't!
However it was an interesting game and Spain played very well!!
It was also quite interesting to see all the flags having been removed when we drove back home and the streets were surprisingly quiet... small things change a lot of things here.
Showing posts with label sport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sport. Show all posts
Monday, July 02, 2012
Monday, October 10, 2011
Swedish in Buenos Aires
Had a nice day strolling around in Buenos Aires, doing the tourist track strolling through Recoleta, San Telmo with the fair and then La Boca and Caminito. Nice.
Something I didn't expect though was the most common reaction people had on hearing that I come from Sweden. I mean you do get to hear some different things and some more often that others, but here was a very specific for Buenos Aires/Argentina. I don't even remember how many times I have been told the story of how the Boca Juniors got their colours. Apparently they had difficulties choosing colours for the new team and they made the agreement to pick the colours of the flag of the first ship to enter the harbour in the morning and apparently it was a Swedish ship, hence the Boca is since then playing in blue and yellow (gold). I might somehow have heard that story before, but not the way that I remember it, but now I have heard it more times than I can remember..
Something I didn't expect though was the most common reaction people had on hearing that I come from Sweden. I mean you do get to hear some different things and some more often that others, but here was a very specific for Buenos Aires/Argentina. I don't even remember how many times I have been told the story of how the Boca Juniors got their colours. Apparently they had difficulties choosing colours for the new team and they made the agreement to pick the colours of the flag of the first ship to enter the harbour in the morning and apparently it was a Swedish ship, hence the Boca is since then playing in blue and yellow (gold). I might somehow have heard that story before, but not the way that I remember it, but now I have heard it more times than I can remember..
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Black and Red or Black and White?
If you want to be a real carioca you need to have one favourite samba school and a favourite football team. Finding the samba school was easy. As we visited Unidos da Tijuca of course I am a Tijuca. Their colours are even blue and yellow!!
Finding a football team (in two weeks without even watching a game and having no clue about the teams of Rio) was not as easy. However, already some of the first days I noted some red and black striped flags with some emblem on, that I kind of liked. I saw it everywhere, flags on the beach, stickers on cars and even on the beer cans, but I did not know what it was. On the last day I learned that was the emblem of Clube de Regats do Flamengo, one of the bigger Rio teams, also the club of Ronaldinho. So, I decided Flamengo is my Rio football team. Just because I like their colours and symbol.
Later I learned more about the club and I felt happy with my choice. Not least because it actually started as a rowing team and sill have rowing too, which you can see from the name. But while reading about it I also read about other Rio teams and learned that one of the other big Rio teams is Botafogo de Futelbol e Regatas. Then it became a little bit difficult. Already from the start I just liked the word Botafogo. It just sounds so cool (in Portuguese) and it is so fun to say. Their symbol is a lone white star on a black escutcheon and their colours are consequently black and white. Also very stylish. And they also do rowing. So, now I don't know. Can one have two teams?! Or does that make me unfaithful?!
Finding a football team (in two weeks without even watching a game and having no clue about the teams of Rio) was not as easy. However, already some of the first days I noted some red and black striped flags with some emblem on, that I kind of liked. I saw it everywhere, flags on the beach, stickers on cars and even on the beer cans, but I did not know what it was. On the last day I learned that was the emblem of Clube de Regats do Flamengo, one of the bigger Rio teams, also the club of Ronaldinho. So, I decided Flamengo is my Rio football team. Just because I like their colours and symbol.
Later I learned more about the club and I felt happy with my choice. Not least because it actually started as a rowing team and sill have rowing too, which you can see from the name. But while reading about it I also read about other Rio teams and learned that one of the other big Rio teams is Botafogo de Futelbol e Regatas. Then it became a little bit difficult. Already from the start I just liked the word Botafogo. It just sounds so cool (in Portuguese) and it is so fun to say. Their symbol is a lone white star on a black escutcheon and their colours are consequently black and white. Also very stylish. And they also do rowing. So, now I don't know. Can one have two teams?! Or does that make me unfaithful?!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
"Fighting" the Bulls??
When I arrived at Mallorca some of my friends who were already there had arranged tickets to the Corrida for that evening’s bull fighting. I had never thought I would go to see one as I always have felt it is a cruel and senseless “sport”, but as I now was given the opportunity and also am of the opinion you should try things if you get a chance, to be able to really know what to think of it; I joined. It was some excitement in the air around the arena and there was also some demonstrations outside it. When we walked pas the demonstrators I almost felt guilty and thought that I would have actually held it more likely that I should have been demonstrating outside than go in to watch the fight.
However, we went in and there was a quite exciting atmosphere and the arena was very beautiful and we were all rather excited and almost a bit nervous, at least those of us who had not seen bull fighting before. Then it all started!
I think the first game got us all a bit chocked. Well maybe I can not say that I was really chocked. I mean I grew up on a farm and saw animals being slaughtered already as a small child, so I have seen animals die and have seen lots of blood etc. But then it was always a matter of trying to make it as quick and painless as possible for the animal. It was quite a different thing to watch people trying to extend it and make it into some kind of game and torture of the poor animal and then finally kill it in a very disrespectful way. I found that very hard to digest.
Of course I can not see all the fine details of the moves and gestures the toreador is performing in the arena, but I must anyway say that I can not see that it should be such a manly thing full of bravery. I mean; when the toreador finally gets on his own with the bull, scores of assistants, picadors and banderilleros have already done their best to tire the animal as well as empty it on blood so it is by then almost half-dead.
No I must say this is no “sport” for me. After the first bull, five more met their fate in the ring that night and I must say, in the end it got only boring and tedious. There is no real excitement or surprise in the game as you know the outcome of the game; the bull will die in the end.
I agree with my gay friend who I was sitting next to, the greatest attraction of the evening was watching the toreadors butts in their tight pants…
The toreadors and their cuadrillas enter the stage with a lot of tamtam. But my gay friend said the outfits and the toreador's pink stockings reminded him more of a Gay pride parade.
I cheered for the bull!!
The picador at work. I felt sorry not only for the bull, but also for the horse.
Then finally, when the bull ist almost alredy half dead the toreador is starting his show. Chicken!!
This one he did not manage to kill by the first cut, nor the second...
Well; apart from watching the asses of the toreadors it was quite interesting to learn to waths and learn the circumstances around the game. That the audience waves their white handkerichiefs if they are happy wiht the performance of the toreador and then the mayor gets to decide if he was good enough to get one or maybe even two ears of the bull. Fabulous trophy!!
However, we went in and there was a quite exciting atmosphere and the arena was very beautiful and we were all rather excited and almost a bit nervous, at least those of us who had not seen bull fighting before. Then it all started!
I think the first game got us all a bit chocked. Well maybe I can not say that I was really chocked. I mean I grew up on a farm and saw animals being slaughtered already as a small child, so I have seen animals die and have seen lots of blood etc. But then it was always a matter of trying to make it as quick and painless as possible for the animal. It was quite a different thing to watch people trying to extend it and make it into some kind of game and torture of the poor animal and then finally kill it in a very disrespectful way. I found that very hard to digest.
Of course I can not see all the fine details of the moves and gestures the toreador is performing in the arena, but I must anyway say that I can not see that it should be such a manly thing full of bravery. I mean; when the toreador finally gets on his own with the bull, scores of assistants, picadors and banderilleros have already done their best to tire the animal as well as empty it on blood so it is by then almost half-dead.
No I must say this is no “sport” for me. After the first bull, five more met their fate in the ring that night and I must say, in the end it got only boring and tedious. There is no real excitement or surprise in the game as you know the outcome of the game; the bull will die in the end.
I agree with my gay friend who I was sitting next to, the greatest attraction of the evening was watching the toreadors butts in their tight pants…
The toreadors and their cuadrillas enter the stage with a lot of tamtam. But my gay friend said the outfits and the toreador's pink stockings reminded him more of a Gay pride parade.
I cheered for the bull!!
The picador at work. I felt sorry not only for the bull, but also for the horse.
Then finally, when the bull ist almost alredy half dead the toreador is starting his show. Chicken!!
This one he did not manage to kill by the first cut, nor the second...
Well; apart from watching the asses of the toreadors it was quite interesting to learn to waths and learn the circumstances around the game. That the audience waves their white handkerichiefs if they are happy wiht the performance of the toreador and then the mayor gets to decide if he was good enough to get one or maybe even two ears of the bull. Fabulous trophy!!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Report from Dubai
I haven’t been blogging so much from Dubai because I did not have internet access in my hotel room, so here are some concluding reflections on Dubai etc.
I must say I have mixed emotions for Dubai. In a way I like it, as I like big modern cities, and I do like the hot climate and the beaches and the shopping etc. But it is so artificial. And it is still one huge construction site, I wonder what it will be like when it is “ready”. I fear it will be a little too perfect. It is all so clean, tidy, neat and well-organised. Of cause it is nice, but it is a little boring and annoying. It would get me on my nerves after some time. I would miss the “chilli in the sauce”; the unexpected and uncontrolled. Ok, I really haven’t seen much of the place, as my supposed guide stood me up or at least suddenly got busy elsewhere (men!!), but all I have seen goes in that direction, that is perfection. What really would annoy me if I stayed here longer is that there is no place where you can walk. Ok, when it is over 40 degrees outside you might not want to walk much, but the city is really only made for transportation in cars. The place is very wide-stretched and there are not much of sidewalks and the junctions are all but pedestrian-friendly and there is nowhere to go, no nice areas to stroll in, lest for the beach and the shopping malls. I guess there must be some parts where you can still see and feel some of the history, but all I read in the tourist brochures seem to be about “new” constructions in “old” or “traditional” Arabian style, nothing seems to be genuine.
As I did not get the private guided tour I was promised, I booked myself on one of the arranged tours. First of all I realise how unused I am to go on those things; I almost lost the group all the time and was nearly left behind at the end of it!! Anyway I got to see some of the “older” parts of the city and some souqs and the historical museum. There they had some quite fascinating exhibits in see how people lived in straw huts just 50-60 years ago! Then there was almost nothing there!
Of cause I visited some of the malls too, the one said to be the biggest outside US (I doubt it though as I think some that I saw in China felt bigger) Mall of the Emirates, where they have the famous indoor ski-slope, which I of cause had to try.
It was quite fun and it was surprisingly good skiing, but it was only fun for about 30-40 minutes and than that’s it.
The slope from the outside.
Maybe that what happens with all the artificial stuff, you get tired of it quite soon. I wonder how that affects people who live here. Maybe they too get artificial and superficial (and obviously unreliable, yes I am a little annoyed!).
Anyway everyone I met was very friendly, but on the other hand I mostly met foreigners working in the tourist service industry, mostly Indians. 80% of the inhabitants in Dubai are foreigners and from those 80% I believe 40% are Indian. The service level is very high, to me sometimes annoyingly high. You can not just look around on your own for a while, before there is someone asking if you need help, and what ever you do there is someone to tell you how to do it right, or what way to go or asking if you need help etc.. To me that is very American (although I never been in America) and I recognise it from Manila and it gets me on my nerves after a while.
I must say I have mixed emotions for Dubai. In a way I like it, as I like big modern cities, and I do like the hot climate and the beaches and the shopping etc. But it is so artificial. And it is still one huge construction site, I wonder what it will be like when it is “ready”. I fear it will be a little too perfect. It is all so clean, tidy, neat and well-organised. Of cause it is nice, but it is a little boring and annoying. It would get me on my nerves after some time. I would miss the “chilli in the sauce”; the unexpected and uncontrolled. Ok, I really haven’t seen much of the place, as my supposed guide stood me up or at least suddenly got busy elsewhere (men!!), but all I have seen goes in that direction, that is perfection. What really would annoy me if I stayed here longer is that there is no place where you can walk. Ok, when it is over 40 degrees outside you might not want to walk much, but the city is really only made for transportation in cars. The place is very wide-stretched and there are not much of sidewalks and the junctions are all but pedestrian-friendly and there is nowhere to go, no nice areas to stroll in, lest for the beach and the shopping malls. I guess there must be some parts where you can still see and feel some of the history, but all I read in the tourist brochures seem to be about “new” constructions in “old” or “traditional” Arabian style, nothing seems to be genuine.
As I did not get the private guided tour I was promised, I booked myself on one of the arranged tours. First of all I realise how unused I am to go on those things; I almost lost the group all the time and was nearly left behind at the end of it!! Anyway I got to see some of the “older” parts of the city and some souqs and the historical museum. There they had some quite fascinating exhibits in see how people lived in straw huts just 50-60 years ago! Then there was almost nothing there!
Of cause I visited some of the malls too, the one said to be the biggest outside US (I doubt it though as I think some that I saw in China felt bigger) Mall of the Emirates, where they have the famous indoor ski-slope, which I of cause had to try.
It was quite fun and it was surprisingly good skiing, but it was only fun for about 30-40 minutes and than that’s it.
The slope from the outside.
Maybe that what happens with all the artificial stuff, you get tired of it quite soon. I wonder how that affects people who live here. Maybe they too get artificial and superficial (and obviously unreliable, yes I am a little annoyed!).
Anyway everyone I met was very friendly, but on the other hand I mostly met foreigners working in the tourist service industry, mostly Indians. 80% of the inhabitants in Dubai are foreigners and from those 80% I believe 40% are Indian. The service level is very high, to me sometimes annoyingly high. You can not just look around on your own for a while, before there is someone asking if you need help, and what ever you do there is someone to tell you how to do it right, or what way to go or asking if you need help etc.. To me that is very American (although I never been in America) and I recognise it from Manila and it gets me on my nerves after a while.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Kabuli Recreation
Our driver took us to a lake just outside Kabul (on the way to Kandahar, where we’d rather not go!) that is a very popular picnic and recreation spot for the Kabulis. It was quite a surreal experience.
Around the small lake there were some holiday cottages, a fun park, food stalls and you could even hire swan-shaped paddle-boats!! It looked like some kind of tourist resort!
On the way there we also passed the Kabul golf course! That was also quite an experience.
It looked more like some cross country course, with a lot of small stones everywhere and not much green. We actually only saw the greens (that are anything but green) and no tees so I could not really figure out how to play it.
He also took us up to the hill with the swimming pool, where I went also last time in Kabul.
To my big surprise there was water in it! It was far from full though, but enough for the little boys (no girls!!) to jump, splash and swim in. He also told us he too used to go swimming there when he was a kid.
From that hill it was also very obvious how much greener the city is now than it was in March.
I have read a lot about how famous Kabul used to be for it’s gardens, roses and orchards and I believe that if there only will be peace for some time, they will be able to get there again, there is definitely a gardening tradition to build on.
Tomorrow we will leave Afghanistan, but the way this trip have worked out we might be back soon again… But now I most of all look forward to a couple of relaxing days in Dubai.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Golf Aid?
After having been to a load of meetings with different UN-organisations, NGO:s and other stakeholders in the development and international aid community, you realise that there are a lot of different kinds of devolopment projects going on and some of them rather strange or odd. I just heard on a local tv-channel that there is a German project or cooperation aiming to popularise golf in Afghanistan! They said that golf had a 50-years history in Afghanistan, but fell in despair during the three decades of war but now there is rehabilitation going on. Amazing! That might be someting for me in case our projects would not work...
The fabolous Kabul Golf Course, Afghanistan's best; and only! I can really recommend a visit to the wed site: www.kabulgolfcourse.com
The greens are browns. Talking about extreme sport!
But actually that is not so weird as it might sound. Of course it wont help the poor people who are on the brink of starvation because of the draught, nor will it empower women or improve the childrens education, but I hope the money for this comes from other sources than development aid and will not crowd out projects on those issues too. In a way i think it is important to work on things that makes life a little more bearable for the ones who are not really starving. I belive that might give them a little hope for the development of the country. On the other hand I have absolutely no idea who is playing golf here, maybe it is only the international community...
Anyway, I heard that there are people, Afghans too, who do rock-climbing in the mountains, at the Salang pass. It makes me feel good to hear that, that there are some "normal" and enjoyable things to do and that people do it. I can not really explain why, but it gives a feeling of some normality to a situation that often seem very hopeless.
The fabolous Kabul Golf Course, Afghanistan's best; and only! I can really recommend a visit to the wed site: www.kabulgolfcourse.com
The greens are browns. Talking about extreme sport!
But actually that is not so weird as it might sound. Of course it wont help the poor people who are on the brink of starvation because of the draught, nor will it empower women or improve the childrens education, but I hope the money for this comes from other sources than development aid and will not crowd out projects on those issues too. In a way i think it is important to work on things that makes life a little more bearable for the ones who are not really starving. I belive that might give them a little hope for the development of the country. On the other hand I have absolutely no idea who is playing golf here, maybe it is only the international community...
Anyway, I heard that there are people, Afghans too, who do rock-climbing in the mountains, at the Salang pass. It makes me feel good to hear that, that there are some "normal" and enjoyable things to do and that people do it. I can not really explain why, but it gives a feeling of some normality to a situation that often seem very hopeless.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Kabul Sightseeing
Oh, today was a great day!!
We only had two meetings booked as it is a semi holyday (tomorrow it is Nawroz and the birthday of the prophet), first a lunch meeting with a NGO, then at five, another meeting. Between that I was trying to get a meeting with someone I met in Mazar, but as he did not pick up, I had a gap in the schedule the whole afternoon. My colleague had caught a cold and felt he could not attend the first meeting and asked if it was ok that I went on my own, which it of course was. As the meeting was with a NGO they had far less security restrictions and that felt really refreshing. And as the persons I was meeting was one Afghan man and a Tadjik woman it felt very natural and relaxed. After the meeting in their office they invited me for lunch in the Serena Hotel. That was also very nice. After the shootings there in January, internationals seem to avoid the place, but it was nice to see it and it is a very nice hotel, a world apart from the life outside the walls. Since the shootings they have rebuilt the entrance and now it is basically a fortress!
Kabul Serena Hotel
After lunch the lunch they offered to take me back to the guest house, but I already had other plans in mind than going back to sit there the rest of the day so I called my own driver. First I asked him to take me to the Safi Landmark as I knew there it would be a cash machine and I needed to withdraw some more money. He let me off outside the entrance and said he would park around the corner. I thought the Safi Landmark was just a hotel that had a cash machine in the lobby, but it turned out to also be a quite modern shopping mall! Very surprising! I had to walk quite a bit into the mall and then I started questioning whether this was a smart thing; walking all alone in a shopping mall to get money, quite a lot of money, that I would have to carry with me all alone again. But it felt safe and I was very aware of whom and what was moving around me. Unfortunately this made me not look into the shops very much. Had I known this was a shopping mall, I would have planned for staying on a while. When I came out I did not see the car and the driver, which made me a little nervous; I mean there are people being robbed after having withdrawn money in Sweden too! But then I saw him just a bit further down the street and walked there. Well walked and walked, more zig zaging between cars and jumping over puddles and deep ditches. Anyhow this started get me going and once in the car again I asked the driver if we could go for a trip somewhere nice and still safe.
He seemed to think this was a good idea and suggested the TV-hill. That is a hill in the middle of the city from where you have a fantastic view over the whole city. That was fantastic!
On the way up to TV hill.
The old city wall climbing up the hills over the Kabul river.
View from the tv-hill.
As the hill is basically in the centre of ths city you have views in all direcions.
From there we went to the Old Town, through very narrow “streets” lined with market stalls and people preparing for the holiday parties tomorrow.
I realised I was probably violating a million security regulations and recommendations, I was out on my own, in an un-armoured car, with a driver I do not know very well (but trusted!) driving in areas I don’t know, getting caught in crowds and traffic jams and also carrying quite a lot of money on me (of which the driver was aware!). But I felt safe!! I felt much safer going through the crowded market with people everywhere than driving past the heavily fortified ISAF-HQ.
On the streets of Old Kabul
The people that we met and that we had some interaction with, seemed very nice and did not mind a lonely foreign woman coming around. In the old town we left the car and entered into some narrow alley. It was rather dirty and smelly; you could see the open sewers running across the path. My guide showed me a tomb of two people, he could not really explain who they were, but I understood it as it being a man and a woman that were in love but somehow were killed and now people went there to pray and my driver, who is a trained designer told me that he and his teacher had made the decorations in the ceiling. There was also another tomb next to this one but that one was only for women so I had to go in alone.
It was all a rather moving experience. At the same time as we were there an old woman was also there. When I first saw her, she was sitting in the stair and shivering, I thought she was sick or “mad” but when she managed to get up I saw she was so badly bent she made a 90 degree angle. This is a very poor part of Kabul, very far from the Serena hotel! A young boy was handing out dried chick peas and sultanas. At first he did not give any to me, but then someone said something to him and very shy and blushing he gave me some. I said “tashakhor” and he blushed even more. My driver explained those are alms that they give out because they pray for something special. Again I was in one of those culturally and socially sensitive moments. An extremely poor person gives something edible to me, who am just so much more affluent than him, and in this case as an alms. There was no way I could refuse to accept that and also it would be very rude to not eat it and throw it away. At the same time I was thinking about the open sewers just outside. I ate one pea and one sultana as the boy saw and then on the way out of the tomb and on the way into the other I asked the driver to hold them for me under the pretence I needed both hand to remove my shoes before entering the tomb. Good eh!?
After that we went up a couple of other hills and saw a few cemeteries and I learned that those are popular pick nick sites for the Nawroz celebrations, especially the one close to the lake; Shohada-ye Salehin. This could have been an absolutely stunningly beautiful place with the high mountains in the background over the lake, were it not for the amount of dirt and rubbish in the water. We saw the old citadel and the grave of the old king and the Gazni stadium and the buzkashi ground. When I was told about the buzkashi ground I told my driver I like horses and used to ride a lot. Then he said “come, let’s have a look at the horses” and turned the car into a winding dirt track behind some buildings, I think it was stables. On the ground behind the stables there were some people practising buzkashi!!
I got completely excited! I never thought I would get the chance to see that and here I was on the training ground of the Kabul team!!
It was so fascinating! I could have stayed there a long time and watch.
Had it not been for the fact that we had another meeting and that I would not have time to go back and change clothes before the meeting I most probably would have accepted the offer made by some of the managers sitting on the side watching the game.
When they heard I could ride a horse they offered me to borrow one and one of the men was already on his way into the stable to get one for me before I could say that I will have to come back and try that. Just imagine how cool wouldn’t that be! To ride a buzkashi horse in Kabul!! I am not sure I would be able to manage one and I would most definitely not join the game, but it would have been cool just to have a try to ride one!! This was a great after noon!! I think the driver also liked it as he offered me to go somewhere tomorrow too, before he takes us to the airport. We’ll see what we can manage. It could get a bit messy tomorrow as it is a big holiday.
This evening we had dinner in a restaurant on town, which was also nice. The food at the guest house is very nice, but it is just nice to get out some too and see some other sides of the town.
We only had two meetings booked as it is a semi holyday (tomorrow it is Nawroz and the birthday of the prophet), first a lunch meeting with a NGO, then at five, another meeting. Between that I was trying to get a meeting with someone I met in Mazar, but as he did not pick up, I had a gap in the schedule the whole afternoon. My colleague had caught a cold and felt he could not attend the first meeting and asked if it was ok that I went on my own, which it of course was. As the meeting was with a NGO they had far less security restrictions and that felt really refreshing. And as the persons I was meeting was one Afghan man and a Tadjik woman it felt very natural and relaxed. After the meeting in their office they invited me for lunch in the Serena Hotel. That was also very nice. After the shootings there in January, internationals seem to avoid the place, but it was nice to see it and it is a very nice hotel, a world apart from the life outside the walls. Since the shootings they have rebuilt the entrance and now it is basically a fortress!
Kabul Serena Hotel
After lunch the lunch they offered to take me back to the guest house, but I already had other plans in mind than going back to sit there the rest of the day so I called my own driver. First I asked him to take me to the Safi Landmark as I knew there it would be a cash machine and I needed to withdraw some more money. He let me off outside the entrance and said he would park around the corner. I thought the Safi Landmark was just a hotel that had a cash machine in the lobby, but it turned out to also be a quite modern shopping mall! Very surprising! I had to walk quite a bit into the mall and then I started questioning whether this was a smart thing; walking all alone in a shopping mall to get money, quite a lot of money, that I would have to carry with me all alone again. But it felt safe and I was very aware of whom and what was moving around me. Unfortunately this made me not look into the shops very much. Had I known this was a shopping mall, I would have planned for staying on a while. When I came out I did not see the car and the driver, which made me a little nervous; I mean there are people being robbed after having withdrawn money in Sweden too! But then I saw him just a bit further down the street and walked there. Well walked and walked, more zig zaging between cars and jumping over puddles and deep ditches. Anyhow this started get me going and once in the car again I asked the driver if we could go for a trip somewhere nice and still safe.
He seemed to think this was a good idea and suggested the TV-hill. That is a hill in the middle of the city from where you have a fantastic view over the whole city. That was fantastic!
On the way up to TV hill.
The old city wall climbing up the hills over the Kabul river.
View from the tv-hill.
As the hill is basically in the centre of ths city you have views in all direcions.
From there we went to the Old Town, through very narrow “streets” lined with market stalls and people preparing for the holiday parties tomorrow.
I realised I was probably violating a million security regulations and recommendations, I was out on my own, in an un-armoured car, with a driver I do not know very well (but trusted!) driving in areas I don’t know, getting caught in crowds and traffic jams and also carrying quite a lot of money on me (of which the driver was aware!). But I felt safe!! I felt much safer going through the crowded market with people everywhere than driving past the heavily fortified ISAF-HQ.
On the streets of Old Kabul
The people that we met and that we had some interaction with, seemed very nice and did not mind a lonely foreign woman coming around. In the old town we left the car and entered into some narrow alley. It was rather dirty and smelly; you could see the open sewers running across the path. My guide showed me a tomb of two people, he could not really explain who they were, but I understood it as it being a man and a woman that were in love but somehow were killed and now people went there to pray and my driver, who is a trained designer told me that he and his teacher had made the decorations in the ceiling. There was also another tomb next to this one but that one was only for women so I had to go in alone.
It was all a rather moving experience. At the same time as we were there an old woman was also there. When I first saw her, she was sitting in the stair and shivering, I thought she was sick or “mad” but when she managed to get up I saw she was so badly bent she made a 90 degree angle. This is a very poor part of Kabul, very far from the Serena hotel! A young boy was handing out dried chick peas and sultanas. At first he did not give any to me, but then someone said something to him and very shy and blushing he gave me some. I said “tashakhor” and he blushed even more. My driver explained those are alms that they give out because they pray for something special. Again I was in one of those culturally and socially sensitive moments. An extremely poor person gives something edible to me, who am just so much more affluent than him, and in this case as an alms. There was no way I could refuse to accept that and also it would be very rude to not eat it and throw it away. At the same time I was thinking about the open sewers just outside. I ate one pea and one sultana as the boy saw and then on the way out of the tomb and on the way into the other I asked the driver to hold them for me under the pretence I needed both hand to remove my shoes before entering the tomb. Good eh!?
After that we went up a couple of other hills and saw a few cemeteries and I learned that those are popular pick nick sites for the Nawroz celebrations, especially the one close to the lake; Shohada-ye Salehin. This could have been an absolutely stunningly beautiful place with the high mountains in the background over the lake, were it not for the amount of dirt and rubbish in the water. We saw the old citadel and the grave of the old king and the Gazni stadium and the buzkashi ground. When I was told about the buzkashi ground I told my driver I like horses and used to ride a lot. Then he said “come, let’s have a look at the horses” and turned the car into a winding dirt track behind some buildings, I think it was stables. On the ground behind the stables there were some people practising buzkashi!!
I got completely excited! I never thought I would get the chance to see that and here I was on the training ground of the Kabul team!!
It was so fascinating! I could have stayed there a long time and watch.
Had it not been for the fact that we had another meeting and that I would not have time to go back and change clothes before the meeting I most probably would have accepted the offer made by some of the managers sitting on the side watching the game.
When they heard I could ride a horse they offered me to borrow one and one of the men was already on his way into the stable to get one for me before I could say that I will have to come back and try that. Just imagine how cool wouldn’t that be! To ride a buzkashi horse in Kabul!! I am not sure I would be able to manage one and I would most definitely not join the game, but it would have been cool just to have a try to ride one!! This was a great after noon!! I think the driver also liked it as he offered me to go somewhere tomorrow too, before he takes us to the airport. We’ll see what we can manage. It could get a bit messy tomorrow as it is a big holiday.
This evening we had dinner in a restaurant on town, which was also nice. The food at the guest house is very nice, but it is just nice to get out some too and see some other sides of the town.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Beautiful Slovenia
From what I saw of Slovenia this weekend it is very beautiful and I would love to go back for hiking, cykling, rafting or any other kind of rather activ holiday.
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Lake Bled
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Me and Saar at the pond at Brdo.
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Jezersko outside Kranj.
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Lake Bled.jpg)
Me and Saar at the pond at Brdo.
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Jezersko outside Kranj.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Riksgränsen
Back from a very nice trip to the north! I must admit this trip has somewhat changed my perception of the northern part of Sweden, I had to re-evaluate some of the prejudices I had about that part of the country and of the people living there, all for the better. I still have the same perception about winter though; I don’t mind snow and winter as long as I can go to it and it does not come to me! And this far north the snow is so very white and clean and the slopes have only natural snow. This part is really so exotic. For me it feels much more exotic to go here than to the Alps, although still in my native country. It is so far away, so open, so empty!
And still we had really bad luck with the weather. When we arrived it was raining. That night and next day it was snowing heavy and there was a very strong wind, which meant the whole mountain was closed off. Therefore I and Victoria went for some snow shoe walking, which was also very nice. In the afternoon we caught the train to Narvik mostly because the train ride is supposed to be very beautiful along one of the fjords, and it was! Of course the visibility could have been better, but it was still very nice.
All wrapped up for snow shoe walking in the hard wind.
The border between Sweden and Norway. We crossed the border several times that day.
It is really so far away from everything! Narvik.
We could actually only ski one day, because of the wind and the poor visibility, there was storm and even hurricane warning, so all slopes were closed. That day it was still rather cold and windy and the skiing was difficult because of all the snow that had fallen and the slopes were not well prepared, but it was still nice to ski again. The storm and snowing continued and for a while we were really snowed in as the road was closed and you could only leave in a convoy. As this is a small place with basically only one hotel, one restaurant and one bar being snowed in means you can not avoid getting to know some of the other guests and the staff; it makes a very friendly and familiar atmosphere. Very nice!
In the end it cleared up and they could open the road again (until 1984 train was the only way to get here at all, and if it hadn’t been for the transport of iron ore from the mines in Kiruna and Gällivare to the ice free port of Narvik, there would not have been a railroad either) and we could leave. By then the weather was sooo nice we did not really want to leave, but we had to. But who knows, maybe we will come back soon, they stay open till midsummer!
It is a paradise for off pist skiing!
Enjoying the sun when it finally showed. Someone called Riksgränsen "Heaven or Hell" and I can understand that, when the weather is nice up there it is unbelievable, but when not, it can get really nasty!
As we did not sleep too much during these days I was rather tired on my way back home. So tired fell asleep on the train from Stockholm! I slept so heavy I did not wake up when I should have got off. I did not wake up until my mother, waiting at the station, called me asking where I was. I was so gone! I hade to go with the train all the way to Göteborg, wait another hour for the last train back and did not get home until two o clock last night. Strange ending to a nice trip! Would be nice to calculate how many kilometres I travelled yesterday.
And still we had really bad luck with the weather. When we arrived it was raining. That night and next day it was snowing heavy and there was a very strong wind, which meant the whole mountain was closed off. Therefore I and Victoria went for some snow shoe walking, which was also very nice. In the afternoon we caught the train to Narvik mostly because the train ride is supposed to be very beautiful along one of the fjords, and it was! Of course the visibility could have been better, but it was still very nice.
All wrapped up for snow shoe walking in the hard wind.
The border between Sweden and Norway. We crossed the border several times that day.
It is really so far away from everything! Narvik.
We could actually only ski one day, because of the wind and the poor visibility, there was storm and even hurricane warning, so all slopes were closed. That day it was still rather cold and windy and the skiing was difficult because of all the snow that had fallen and the slopes were not well prepared, but it was still nice to ski again. The storm and snowing continued and for a while we were really snowed in as the road was closed and you could only leave in a convoy. As this is a small place with basically only one hotel, one restaurant and one bar being snowed in means you can not avoid getting to know some of the other guests and the staff; it makes a very friendly and familiar atmosphere. Very nice!
In the end it cleared up and they could open the road again (until 1984 train was the only way to get here at all, and if it hadn’t been for the transport of iron ore from the mines in Kiruna and Gällivare to the ice free port of Narvik, there would not have been a railroad either) and we could leave. By then the weather was sooo nice we did not really want to leave, but we had to. But who knows, maybe we will come back soon, they stay open till midsummer!
It is a paradise for off pist skiing!
Enjoying the sun when it finally showed. Someone called Riksgränsen "Heaven or Hell" and I can understand that, when the weather is nice up there it is unbelievable, but when not, it can get really nasty!
As we did not sleep too much during these days I was rather tired on my way back home. So tired fell asleep on the train from Stockholm! I slept so heavy I did not wake up when I should have got off. I did not wake up until my mother, waiting at the station, called me asking where I was. I was so gone! I hade to go with the train all the way to Göteborg, wait another hour for the last train back and did not get home until two o clock last night. Strange ending to a nice trip! Would be nice to calculate how many kilometres I travelled yesterday.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Sports and roads
I thought it was about time to start doing some sports again and as I had got the phone number of a tennis trainer I thought I could start taking some lessons again. My original plan was that we could play at the court at the office, but he suggested I should come down to the club where he is working. Just the name of the club made me immediately change my mind and yesterday I went to the club. It is called Old Hararians Sports Club. Isn’t it great?! I saw before my inner eye some old colonial style, very old fashioned and exclusive club. Maybe it had been and it still looked promising from the road, where I saw people all in white (of course) playing cricket on a field surrounded by trees in the setting sun. When I came closer I got a little more sceptic already when the guards at the gate did not even ask who I am or what I was doing there. Then it turned out that the whole place looked rather run down and derelict. I found my coach however. He turned out to be really nice and very good. He told me he is the coach of the Zimbabwe Davis Cup team, so guess if I am gonna get good!! (Magda, photos will come later!) He had even been to Novi Sad with the team in March 2005. It is indeed a small world and everywhere there is a Balkan-connection!
Somehow the description of the state of the club says a lot about the whole place, it was probably very nice once, but is now run down and derelict. There are some very nice houses and the city gives a rather neat and tidy impression, but there is a lot of mess on top of it. The roads were probably also rather good once, but are now full of potholes. On my way to the office I have from the first day been laughing about the signs promoting Pothole repair. Driving along the road bumping up and down and trying to zigzag between the holes without hitting any of the pedestrians or cyclists on the side of the road, it felt somehow rather ironic. Until a couple of days ago. Then I saw what was written above the text Pothole repair. It said “D Y I”. So it is actually a commercial for do it yourself pothole repair! Then it got hilarious! Who the hell will do that, and where??
On my way back from the sports club I took another way than I usually drive, I drowe through down town. They always tell you, you should not drive down town alone after dark, but it was not really dark yet so I took that way. I had also been warned not to drive past the State House (the president’s residence) as that road is blocked at certain times and as the guards outside are instructed to “fire without questioning” (according to Lonely Planet). But as I was on my way home I just looked at the map to find the shortest way there and didn’t really pay attention to what else I was passing. Not until I suddenly saw lot of really nasty looking and very heavily armed guards standing along the road. It was really scary. Afterwards I looked at the map and realised I had just been driving exactly where I shouldn’t!
Somehow the description of the state of the club says a lot about the whole place, it was probably very nice once, but is now run down and derelict. There are some very nice houses and the city gives a rather neat and tidy impression, but there is a lot of mess on top of it. The roads were probably also rather good once, but are now full of potholes. On my way to the office I have from the first day been laughing about the signs promoting Pothole repair. Driving along the road bumping up and down and trying to zigzag between the holes without hitting any of the pedestrians or cyclists on the side of the road, it felt somehow rather ironic. Until a couple of days ago. Then I saw what was written above the text Pothole repair. It said “D Y I”. So it is actually a commercial for do it yourself pothole repair! Then it got hilarious! Who the hell will do that, and where??
On my way back from the sports club I took another way than I usually drive, I drowe through down town. They always tell you, you should not drive down town alone after dark, but it was not really dark yet so I took that way. I had also been warned not to drive past the State House (the president’s residence) as that road is blocked at certain times and as the guards outside are instructed to “fire without questioning” (according to Lonely Planet). But as I was on my way home I just looked at the map to find the shortest way there and didn’t really pay attention to what else I was passing. Not until I suddenly saw lot of really nasty looking and very heavily armed guards standing along the road. It was really scary. Afterwards I looked at the map and realised I had just been driving exactly where I shouldn’t!
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