Hostašík explores the world

Bella Garbatella

2012-01-14T23:19:00.004+01:00

i happened to be in Rome in the last days of 2011 and first of 2012.

1.1.2012 noonish, empty streets with news from past year

Damn i love Rome! It's been my second time, so i was partially ready. And also i could watch places from other perspective, see things i would miss on the first sight. Still, i got caught by the magic of the city, got lost many times just to find myself behind a place i was thinking about half an hour ago to go to.

Er Grottino der Traslocatore, place to go for a local lunch (big portions of good stuff!)

But this one is not about Rome. Well, it is, but not about whole Rome, just about the quarter where we stayed at Alessio's place. About Garbatella.

From what i know, Garbatella was built in the 1920s, and is a wonderful place to live. Even though you're in walking distance from the very centre of Rome, you feel....well, at least i felt...like in some small town. The kind of town, where all the neighbours know each other, maybe even where one would go ask neighbour next door for emergency eggs when making a cake on Sunday with all the shops closed. People don't do that much these days. And the people of Garbatella live the place, love it, and as a phrase says, "keep it real" - they literally do.

At least the "old" Garbatella is a quarter with a lot of green, parks, gardens, trees.

And then the mysterious apartment buildings, with their functionalist purity, now a bit faded. Somehow i felt that if someone offered me to live there, i wouldn't hesitate. This is a place to spend one's life. Or lives. To make movies.

Grazie, Ale!

i'm afraid i've caught poetry

2012-01-06T18:10:00.001+01:00

as is in the Monty Python sketch...well, sometimes i happen to feel the urge to put some words on paper and play around with them. like yesterday. here's one thing from the afternoon train...

Let there be precious metals!

2011-11-29T23:25:00.000+01:00

Worked with precision and sense! Just recently i checked out the work of my dear distant cousin Ondřej Kotyza, who started by making armour and swords, when i was...this small...

and by now got to Damascus steel and some Japanese techniques i have never heard about before and gold/silver/titanium jewelry. But hey, wow! Okotoko rules!

More pictures up!

2011-11-28T22:31:00.000+01:00

Hahaa, finally i managed to put together and upload pictures from Pavel Fajt's concerts in October at Zach's Pub and at Prusiny! Especially the second one was really nice. Pity it's only images now...
But perhaps when i buy a new camera...

2011-11-24T23:45:00.000+01:00

from time to time i feel like writing some piece of what i dare call poetry…but when i feel confident about it i remind myself to read some of Blake's poems…or to listen to some song. For example by Bob Dylan. Actualy i'm not a big fan of Dylan, but hell, he is a poet. For example the Dirge ...

And it's these guys who bring me back down on earth. and that is good.

Oh, and i've been to a conference in Singapore, met some interesting people there and took some pictures. And, dammit, i really like the place!

And again it's been a while, so drop and give me 20!

2011-09-17T15:10:00.001+02:00

Yup, it's been a while since i wrote anything here again. Been kinda busy, travelled, seen places, met people, eaten various things including well-spiced insects. But that would be a long story. Today i just wanted to point out a web of one circus-master, bald guy with balls, David Eriksson from the Swedish Cirkus Cirkör. Zuzi has been to their show with Robert (see here) and just recently she sent me a link to David's last post, which refers to training. And it's a nice idea and actually quite a bit of fun!
I started on Thursday - in the office, ok, in the lab, ok...it felt a bit funny at the train station, though. David also sent me the link for d&gm20 twitter account. I'm not twitting, but i promised him to spread the idea, so if you read this, think about dropping for 20. Unless you did already ;)

Let the music play!

2011-07-03T21:58:00.001+02:00

i keep listening to music. i don't remember clearly when the obsession started...perhaps when i was playing Bill Hailey or Peggy Lee on our gramophone (or LP-player...do they really say gramophone in English?...anyway, the old LPs we have at home)...perhaps it has always been there, because my dad would always play his guitar and sing. Anyway, i keep nursing this habit ever since.

i love live music, but can't really go to a concert every night. And so i just keep pumpin' the stuff into my head, whenever and wherever i can, be it from my ipod or from the computer. Maybe one day i'd find myself all alone on some deserted place...and i could sing myself all the good music i sang to! Dvořák or Rachmaninov would be really tough, though.

And just today i thought what can be the songs and interprets i listen to most lately.
The ipod has longer time to report, with the macbook it's short, but still...just to know. Hell, of course the most listened-to song on both of them was In the Pockets :D The best way to make someone listen to a song round and round is either asking for the transcription of lyrics or for making a video. What a nasty trick!

Well, i just wanted to note somewhere the people i listen to most, so that i could also reflect some other day. And here it goes, songs i most listen to are from these people:

Macbook top 5 artists:

Beirut, The Clash, The Tallest Man on Earth, The Yardbirds, -123 min.

ipod top 11 artists:

Beck, Beirut, The Cardigans, The Fatal Shore, The Gentle Guest, Joy Division, Miroslav Kefurt, Morcheeba, The National, Sophie Hunger, The Tallest Man on Earth

And whatever it means, that's what keeps my skull resonating. And hey, most of them still play!

Some work done...

2011-06-28T10:19:00.002+02:00

I've already written something about The Tallest Man on Earth - a great guy from Sweden. I really enjoy his music, and the more i listen to it, the more i also enjoy the lyrics.

Then all of sudden he comes to Ravenna...hell, how could i miss that! Tallest Man on the beach, awesome!

Well, and about two weeks ago the guys from his fansite put his not-released-before song for fans to make a video. It was just shortly after i talked with Zuzi about the shooting of movie in 60 seconds - contest by Jameson, and our encounter with Robert Carrithers, who can talk about filming in a way that it sounds so easy (yea, it's mostly like this with proffesionals) so i felt that it certainly is possible to do that. I just felt i don't have enough time, since i was preparing both a poster and a presentation for ECerS the conference in Stockholm, and thus forwarded the message to the muse with a great eye, Chiara. Well, and when she said we'll do it together, i eventually fell for that. I guess i'd always do :) And so i shot the italian countryside from a train window using my macbook cam, shot with my phone when walking in the morning rain, stood with a tripod taking few hundreds of pictures in the streets of Ravenna and asked Francesco to come over and play guitar when listening to the song, and i shot him too. With a camera. And then i just threw all these pieces on poor Chiara, jumped on a saturday morning train and headed for Milan, Zurich, Basel, and further north up to Stockholm, while she took her vids in the desert heat, looking from all the moving things in Dubai, looking at the people, at the sky... and she put it all together and gave it the finest ending ever, and voilà!

Here are then all four contesting vids at impossibletrees with a voting possibility - though we don't seem to go for the win, i've really enjoyed it all. And wanna keep it up :)

Thinkin it all over, i'd say that The Tallest Man rocks my Earth.

Well it's been a long time, long time now...

2011-05-13T19:17:00.019+02:00

since i typed my mind in here... almost half a year since the last post...dammit.

Lost plenty of thoughts i wanted to write down, got many new, lost some of those too and, voila!
Ideal for some short résumé life's fine and surprises come more in details...usually kicking the ass of my decisions. But it could be my bad for deciding kinda wildly - in czech we'd say "from the hip" - without thinking hard. I decided to take part in swimming race (to finally give use to those years of swimming in a swimming club at high school). It's gonna be probably in July and it's a one nautical mile in semi-deep water (or how it's called). Simply along the coast, i suppose. One mile, i mean, cool! But that needs some practice on the spot.

And so from March i decided to go morning swimming to the sea. Well, so far i might have been there like...ten times? maybe less. a) it's hard to wake up in the morning around five. but i have to be back latest around 8 to catch the train to Faenza b) it's really hard to get up. oh the reluctancy...

oh yes...and the water is cold in march/april. the morning take 1 brought me close to a heart-attack state. and next time i'll remember that even when you survive the water, you also gotta think of the sand.

then one gets more used to it, but still...if the water is at 12 degrees, you're quite cold just after five minutes...and there's always the almost half an hour to go home on bike. And when May arrived...well, i caught cold without touching the sea and there was no bike-ridey, no sea-swimmy. So that's how my planning goes :)
but i wanna add some morning sea stuff on the blog at least And this conference in Zurich at the end of August...rushing to prepare a reasonable abstract before the due deadline...just to be told "but that was last year, 2010"...oh, well.

But in general life goes well, i keep discovering new stuff...and that's good!
Looking back, i'm being taken by the american culture...and hell, do i enjoy that! All these new findings were straight heart-shots! From the world of tones, melodies and lyrics it's the bands National and Beirut (and i got my ticket for their concert in Ferrara, man :)
And i could really listen to these guys over and over. And i do! How could one not...
One a rock band with interesting beat and melancholic lyrics

the other more brass- and chanson-focused

...and just a few days ago i found through my favourite Fredo&Pidjin the world of comics of Mr. Tatsuya Ishida and his Sinfest. And even though i had a fuckin' flu and a lot of writing to keep me up till half past four in the morning, i already went through about 1500 his comic strips this week... And he just keeps hitting it, man! From the dog and cat personalities

through guys&girls topics

to that guy above,

he's just...oh, and did i mention puns?

well, you gotta check that.
And then, there's my culinary hero Dave Chang and his Momofuku. THE place i gotta visit when i get to the NYC. The founder of the best "pancetta al forno" ever and of the highly addictive pork buns.

But about that another day.

honba za prdopečem 4

2010-11-24T09:30:00.000+01:00

Tak jsem tuhle sháněl syrovátku. U nás ji koupíte v každé lékárně, takže na každým druhým rohu, půl kila za dvě piva. Abych obhlíd situaci, mrknul jsem na net - slovník sice nabízel víc výrazů, po chvíli jsem ale zjistil, že pátrám po siero di latte nebo siero del latte. Nicméně bylo vidět, že jí Italové zřejmě neholdujou...
Ovšem na netu jsem našel hlavně proteinový drinky pro sportovce s proteinama ze syrovátky, což je poněkud jiná kategorie jak cenově, tak co se týče složení. Jedinou sušenou syrovátku jsem objevil na webu jedné bioprodejny, ale za cenu srovnatelnou s těma proteiňákama, čili něco přes třicet euro za kilo. Děkuju nechci, za polovic seženu parmezán. No ale přece tu syrovátku všechnu nezkrměj, ne?

A tak po části rešeršní následovala část druhá: terénní průzkum. Sámošky nic. První lekárna taky nic. Dámy si nebyly jistý, co vlastně chci po chvíli mi nabídly syřidlo – těsně vedle. Až posléze jsem dostal tip na jistou firmu Sicla ve Faenze, kde bzch se snad moh syrovátky dopídit. Po googlemappingu jsem zjistil, že to mam skoro cestou do ústavu, paráda!

Takže Sicla. Takže Sicla, dámy a pánové, to je malá místní mlékárna. Syrovátku mají, ovšem čerstvou, a jen po ránu, když si přijdete s flaškou – je lehce slaná, což bylo překvapení, ale osvěží. A je zadarmo. Jenže co z ní dělaj, tyhle Italové! Hrome, opravdu až do nedávna jsem netušil, že ricotta je sejra dělanej ze syrovátky! A v Sicle ty lumpové dělaj ale i ricottu z mlíka. Říkaj jí Fior di Romagna a je zpropadeně dobrá. Takže pěkně aspoň jednou tejdně balení téhle ricotty a flašku syrovátky :)

My head is full of beatles

2010-11-22T09:23:00.004+01:00

After the Norwegian wood story...i admit i still didn't start reading the book, but once the Pendulum is over... anyway, i kept listening to the Beatles, "kluci jedni zasrany", as my grandma is said to have called them. last week we were about to watch some movie, and Zuzi suggested i watch Across the Universe. Across the Universe it was. The movie is brilliant! Not only that it makes you think about the lyrics of some Beatles' songs. I like that the songs are presented in a different way, often at lower tempo, which is quite tough to deal with. And they dealt with it well. Especially this Sturgess guy. Just listen to the beginning:

I'm not into musicals. Music in movies presented in the theatrical musical way mostly disturbs me, but this time i was simply enchanted. Perhaps also because i know the songs, but, whatever. I like this movie.

And also until this movie i really didn't know that Helter Skelter was from the Beatles.

Meeting other cultures

2010-11-18T09:37:00.000+01:00

Wow, just a while ago i learned that Chinese count to ten with only one hand! i mean the way you show one, two, three fingers, etc...(i know there are some differences, like in the Inglorious Basterds, but the principle is the same). And they have only five fingers on each hand, no cheating!

Choc-au-lait! Shock-lid!

2010-11-16T09:40:00.000+01:00

The world can be all different depending on your viewpoint. Let’s focus on food. When you go to Switzerland, for example…potatoes, yes, since war times, but something else…cheese, better, and…of course! Swiss chocolate! Then take Belgium. Beer, then, lemme think, what do we know about Belgian cuisine? There’s gotta be some mussels, then they certainly have some beef specialties, fried stuff, waffles..and pralines! When you move to Italy, you’d say pizza, pasta, seafood, then sweets, like cannolli from Sicily or sfogliatelle from Naples or the renouned tiramisu. You wouldn’t say chocolate. Or at least I wouldn’t. But behold!

This weekend we had a festa del cioccolato in Ravenna! Yes, indeed… the main square was full of stalls with various mostly chocolate-based delicacies.

I’m not a chocolate person…I mean I like it but don’t need it in large quantities or every other day…but this was something. And not just chocolate, simply sweet :)

honba za prdopečem 3

2010-11-16T08:46:00.000+01:00

Představte si, že vaříte brambory. Nebo třeba květákovou polívku. A nebo jen házíte rybu na pánvičku. No tak jestli to máte představený, tak je dost možný, že v té představě máte i kmín. Jó kmín, to je klasika, jenže ouha. Za dva měsíce v Itálii jsem na něj nenarazil. Naivního gastroturistu by mohl zmást lákavej název cumino, ten je ostatně i v nejednom slovníku jako překlad českýho slova kmín. No, jenže to byste si naběhli, páč se jedná o římskej kmín. Ten se sice hodí, třeba když chcete dělat falafel a tak...ale je to zkrátka jiný koření. K mýmu překvapení a lehkýmu zklamání neznala náš kmín ani paní ve stánku s kořením a nemají ho ani v obchůdku s bylinkama, kořením a spol., kde mají všemožný leccosy... Takže honba za naším kmínem pokračuje.

A tuhle jsem si koupil kus hovězího srdce (italsky cuore di bovino). To já moc rád, jen tak uvařit a pak ho baštit samotný třeba jen s jablíčkovým křenem nebo nějakou zeleninou. No, srdce bylo výborný – musím říct, že když jsem ho posledně vařil doma, tak nebylo tak šťavnatý a bylo tužší – asi mladší lepší italská kráva. Jenže ten křen, to jsem zas narazil.
Koukal jsem ve čtyřech sámoškách a nic. Mezi čerstvou zeleninou nebyl, ale tam jsem ho ani tak nečekal – nemívaj moc často ani zázvor, nebo hlízy petržele – zjevně maj Italové radši ty nadzemní části rostlin. Tak jsem šel k regálům s majonézama, tatarkama, omáčkama a podobně. Ani hořčice nemaj na výběr moc druhů, ale křen prostě neexistuje. A tak začalo pátrání. Slovník nabízí víc pojmů:

barbaforte (to je ale i ředkev)
rafano (kdo by si nevzpomněl na Kačeří příběhy; nicméně je to taky ředkev)
radice forte (přímej překlad: silnej kořen)
ramolaccio (překvapivě taky ředkev, případně ohnice)
cren, crenno (no, k tomu netřeba nic dodávat)

Po krátké konzultaci s Laurou jsem dospěl k závěru, že když budu shánět rafano, měl bych uspět. Když chcete dobrou čerstvou a většinou místní ovozel, vyrazíte na trh. Tak jsem vyrazil. A skončil bez křenu. Deset druhů rajčat, vosum druhů cibule, nespočet různýho lupení, ale po křenu ani vidu, ani slechu. Díkybohu, že česnek vedou :) Každoprdně jsme opustili trh a já už se smiřoval s tím, že budu baštit srdce bez křenu. Ale štěstí se na nás usmálo v ovozelinářství vedle bylinnokořeněnýho obchůdku, když jsme vyrazili pro jabka na kompot, citron na kůru a pro fenykl. O fenyklu zas jindy. Zkrátka, vejdu dovnitř, kouknu k zemi, a koho nevidím v košíku u dveří mezi kusama zázvoru. Nebyla to rozmarýna, byl to křen! Sice pod tou igelitovou fólií krapet zezelenal a oplesnivěl, ale je to von a píše. Hurá!

Norwegian Wood Effect

2010-11-08T09:33:00.000+01:00

There’s always a sequence of events that leads to some points in the present which make us realize these subtle chains of more or less recent history.

I’m not talking about the way i got to Italy, which could for example begin by the fact that at one university in Netherlands they had bachelor courses only in Dutch some years ago..

This story is connected to a package i received on Friday. It was unexpected, since in the info e-mail i was told it will arrive by the end of November. A pleasant surprise. I always like these white envelopes or packages with the stamp of Royal Mail. Because there’s always books in them :)

This time, it contained some more unfortunate events accompanied by Mr. Dürenmatt and the Norwegian Wood. The latter is the result of the aforementioned series of events which began on my Birthday when we went with Davide and Georgia home from a Nouvelle Vague concert in Bologna around two-three in the morning. Apart from talking we also started to sing the Norwegian Wood from the Beatles. Dunno why, actually...i just remember we couldn’t get all the words. I still don’t remember it all, although i’ve heard the song for many times since then. It’s certainly one of my favourites. Well, and Georgia also mentioned this book from a Japanese author Haruki Murakami called Norwegian Wood... Then, some weeks later i happened to run across the song on youtube, when i was mounting our bed from IKEA (almost Norwegian wood) so i posted it on Georgia’s wall and got a response containing info on a movie based on the book. The movie looks really good and i checked the first run in Italy shall be at the beginning of December – i should make it before going home, then :) Well, and at point i looked for the book...and you know the rest. Hope to read it by the end of November.

Fsechnospatnyjepronecodobry

2010-11-05T14:30:00.000+01:00

as the saying says...actually i dunno how that one is in English, but the meaning is that you can find good things even in events and things that don't seem good to you...or are not.
The motto of the optimists and a very true one indeed. it's all just by the way you look at it. After coming back from Georgia i suffered from a tough...digestive distortion, let's say. And i really didn't enjoy that. But when the bathroom is your second home, you can get bored...which led me to finally start reading the Foucault's pendulum from Emberto Eco i got from my cousin Ivan. And, damn this guy, it's a piece of reading! I supopose that Mr. Da Vinci Code Brown has read this one as well :) But what i really enjoy is the language. Okay, i'm not reading it in original, i remain with the English version, so i certainly get a partially false impression, but the variety of the language used is so wide, so many for me unusual words (also for the first time after watching the Beavis and Butthead movie some years ago i encountered the word "bunghole"), phrases...a bit like in rushdie's books. Opening the beautiful possibilities of treating and playing with the language.
Well and all this thanks to probably some not-cooked-enough bit of Georgian food. ain't it beautiful?
And since last week i also know how to say "finger" or "stitch" in Italian. Good i already know how to say "head", for example :)

Looking back and forth, speaking too much and saying nothing

2010-11-05T14:11:00.000+01:00

Well well, and here comes the good old November again. Next week it will have been two weeks since i came to Italy. Hehe, first time in my life i really used future perfect outside a classroom. Let's hope i used it well. So, two months, time for some recap, for evaluation...last time i've been here for three months and it felt like a long time, i've done a lot of stuff, done some work...the fruits of which i am to harvest now.

But this time it feels like a really short time so far...or not so short, but with not much happening, not much work done. I suppose i've got too much unfinished work and quite a slow finishing tempo. And the classic contradicting thoughts like:

well, i'm not doing enough, perhaps i might focus more on languages, prepare for exams, let's say the DELF, finally - come on, i hardly used French in the past five years and now i should work on your Italian! don't even know the basic grammar! So now Italian! Be a good boy, speak the language of the country that feeds you! - Well, thanks to the anti-mafia policy, or whatever it is going on, it don't feed me yet - oh, don't be a ridiculous nitpicker and focus on the language! - Bene, da oggi studio un po di piu... - di piu? devi comminciare! - vaffanculo!

And so on. Perhaps i should write a list. A wishlist. Like on X-mas. Dear Honza, i would like to improve my italian,get focused, finally finish the articles i'm writing... Well, at least for something there are deadlines. And thank god for those. But still, it could be good to really write down some stuff, and that's my intention today. So:

- and here i wrote nine of those. and then i erased them, since i didin't intend to publish those, but i think it was good to write them down.

Va bene, aspettiamo, speriamo, vediamo. And today i'll finally put the drumkit together! Basta

Classic

2010-10-28T07:23:00.000+02:00

Oh maan, this is just so classic it can't be true.
Day 1: i was quite unhappy about the knives we have at home - you just couldn't cook properly with them and they didn't even fell well in the hand. Decision made, i need a new kitchen knife.

Day 2: i found myself a nice kitchen knife. Really a knife that makes you enjoy cookin, because you can cut stuff the way you want.

Day 3: in the morning i went to the hospital, because in some cases a plaster is just not enough.

But i really like the knife :)

Postcards

2010-10-25T22:27:00.000+02:00

I wanted to send postcards to some of those dear to me...whose address i happened to have with me in Georgia. It was surprisingly difficult to find postcards, since both my hotel and the university were in a newer part of the city, where you could find Benetton, Puma and plenty of other shops...but not so many tourist stuff. Finally i got some...took me a while to write them all - i missed some of the presentations...and then, finally...
I couldn't get any stamps. Those you only get at a post office...and to the post office i was told to take a taxi, since it is in the center - far from where we were. Man, taxi to the post office!
Actually when i asked one of the organizers at first, she told me: "forget postcards, send them e-mails". That left me speechless. I didn't have the need to tell hot news to my friends, to ask them for something. I wanted to make them happy, to cheer them up, as i get cheered up when i find a postcard in the box.
Well...and then I heard a sentence, which made me feel much better. It made me feel very nice. I was asked, why and to whom am i sending so many postcards. Oh, to my friends and family, i replied. And then the nice and truthful statement came:
You are rich, having so many friends.
And i am indeed.

Well, and then the last night came and i still didn't manage to get to the post office and was feeling a little desperate - you don't wanna bring a pack of postcards home to send them afterwords, it doesn't work that way.
And finally i was saved by a German-speaking girl who worked in one shop - she let us in shortly after the closing time "nur für fünf minuten" and at the end i bought there a present for Alenka and asked the girl, if she could send the postcards for me. She made a few phone calls to check the prices and then i gave her the postcards and money, thanked her and left. I should send her a postcard from here. Because the first postcards just arrived.
Didi matloba. Danke schön.

how i met Georgia - part I.

2010-10-25T17:26:00.003+02:00

When i went to Georgia i thought the whole trip would be a piece of cake - there is a new train going from the airport to the centre, then i take the subway and get almost to my hotel, i'll have plenty of time to wander around and finish the presentation i should be giving in three days... I also expected a city in the mountains - old noble buildings, fresh air. Since i haven't had any major communication problems within the last few years, i didn't even think of the language, etc. As always, the reality caught me by surprise

Actually i was more scared about changing planes in Munich then about the rest, since I only had about 40 minutes...but those were needless worries - i could have even had a beer at the airport...but i didn't want to drink too much - the chardonnay on board was quite good (i almost forgot while using the low-costs lately).
And so after a few hours i arrived to Tbilisi and was told that the train goes every three hours and i have just missed it. I dunno if that was true, but i was all surprised by the facts that
1. the Georgian language is like no other language i have heard and
2. the same can be said about the alphabet,
thus...i was a bit lost. Anyway, i took a taxi and tried to explain where i stay. I took us quite some time, since the driver spoke only a bit Russian and i didn't practice that language for a few years. But at the end of the 20-30 km journey we found the place..i mean he did. I went around the block afterwards before finding the hotel was just few meters from where i left the car. Pekin street 5 is actually not one house, but a whole block of houses, which made it a bit more difficult :)

At one point i was naive - i went to buy food. Not that the food weren't good. It was just unnecessary. Beginning from the first evening i was not hungry until i got back home. I met the Georgian hospitality impersonated by the organizer - the professor. When i was told at the hotel that in the evening professor will come, i though he might want to discuss some organization stuff. When a mercedes parked on the pavement in front of the hotel and professor's assistant picked me up, i knew i guessed wrong.

Not only that dinner, but generally most of the lunches and dinners consisted of more courses from salads

over soupy/saucy dishes, and various mixtures usually with meat,

fried stuff, mostly with mushrooms or aubergins to mostly-meat ones such as "shashlik" or kebab-like dishes.

And the bread. That specific rhomb-shaped home-made bread which they bake in outside wood-fire-heated ovens. A really good one. Oh and of course the fruits. For some reason i thought in Georgia they have about the same fruits we do...but maan, i just forgot all the geography - they're far more south, part of Georgia is at the coast of the Black sea! So no surpire they grow not only wine (plenty of that), but also kiwi, kaki and so on. Speaking of the wine...the white was good, the red was full and then there was some other kind of white wine...having darker colour, slightly darker than the ususal apple juice has - and that wine was dry, for the first taste unusual and not so charming, but with every other glas more and more drinkable!
And then there was the "chacha"...i have no clue how that would be written, but they said it almost the same way as is the name of the dance. Chacha is a usually home-made distillate. They don't mess around: in one of the pubs where we went they had a very simple alembic and drank directly what went out. Well, so did we - and there's another story linked with that...

All in all, i have to say that people in Georgia are harsh or hard from the outside - especially men, i would say. They all wear those serious faces, sometimes looking quite dnagerous - during the first two days i kept feeling like "they're gonna do me in just for looking different". Maybe one third looked like gangsters, another third like potential gangsters. Well, once you were friends with them, they started to smile and they are really nice and warm people - although i think i met some gangsters, anyway. But mostly it's just the appearance - wearing dark clothes, having a suspicious look for you and looking suspicious at the same time. But, hell, when i go to a bar later at night here in Italy and see all the guys in black leather jackets...yes, it's the clothes, and clothes go with the fashion...but i might have similar feelings of uncertainty - although last time i was a bit drunk already, so hard to judge.

But i can say i met some of the people of Georgia. I met people who are really proud of their country, who do their best to show it to you in the best colours...and you have to respect their endeavour, even though you see through some of the Potemkin villages, because you can see they try hard. But about that i'll write next time.

P.S. i have to say i used some pictures of food which were not mine, but i hope Urban would understand...

Bien - Venezia & la Biennale

2010-10-23T23:23:00.002+02:00

It was a must-see! I mean, from time to time you just should have a look to Venice when you're in Italy. To find new streets and places you haven't seen before, to discover the city - before it drowns. For these guys seem to have serious problems with rising water...

But this time it's the Biennale of architecture with Martin Rajniš giving the spirit to the Czech (Czechoslovak, actually) pavilion - in Italian it's padiglione. And so we took the morning train with Alenka and went to Czech it out!
I don't think it would be possible to explain or describe all the stuff, especially after being there just for an afternoon, so I suppose the pictures would talk for themselves :)

And i gotta say i really liked it - interesting stuff, inspiring...were it not a bit far, i'd go again.

off for a refreshment

2010-10-19T21:25:00.001+02:00

i like travelling. especially travelling to places i haven‘t been before...it blows you fresh air in your head. a psychic refreshment, just what i needed. when you live so much in yourself, you can’t go on without that.

And if you travel far enough (doesn’t have to be a real distance, as long as the environment, the atmosphere changes), you learn things. You grow. It’s the kind of growth where your experience is enriched but your responsibility remains the same – or maybe less, when u travel alone. That’s the way you grow when you’re a kid. i like that.

Last week i spent some five days “overseas” where i knew no one, didn’t know a single word of local language (luckily most of the people speak Russian or English, sometimes German) and – that i’m not used to – couldn’t read a word either. i felt unsafe when i arrived and safe when i was leaving and now i suppose none of the feelings was appropriate. i met many nice, friendly and helpful people who were at first hiding behind serious faces. i met a proud and specific culture whose behaviour i think i could understand in the way you understand things you read about. i couldn’t live there. And it’s good to be back. But it’s been damn good to be there before being back here.

similarities

2010-10-06T17:57:00.000+02:00

Maybe i'm looking for things that aren't really there...but lately i'm just all into connections of all kinds. And guess what. I was about to watch the Scarface movie with Al Pacino...and i looked at the cover. Well, don't tell me that the poster of the Confessions of a Dangerous Mind does not look similar...
Scarface vs. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

at least a bit

Ravenna again!

2010-10-05T21:23:00.002+02:00

very well...a year and something passed, and here we are again! The same country, same city, same street, same house. Only one floor higher and at the moment just Alenka and me, since we’re flatmate hunting yet... It feels kinda funny, to walk through the streets you’ve walked many times before, familiar places...which at the same time are places you can’t really say you know. A dreamy experience.

There are many things i like about the current situation...one of them might not seem so cool, but i like it...at least in the moment. It is the regularity, the order of my life. I just have to wake up early in the morning to catch the train and in the afternoon i take another train home. And i like that. I like going by train. And i enjoy going to work by train and bike. It’s the freedom, space and relaxation. Buses are small...in the way you can’t stretch your legs, can’t walk, can’t let the wind blow in your face. And car...well, car is fast, comfortable, but you gotta watch out, can’t dream. Those are the advantages of bike and train. And that’s why i wanna catch the morning train. That was a small diversion. Anyway, it fells good to be here again, although i guess i’ll enjoy it more at the end of next week... And when Francesco says Ravenna is dead as a student city? I doubt that, but anyways, i wouldn’t mind, i’m settling down, you know. At the moment i prefer living in a dead city to dying in a living one. It allows you to start slowly...let's say, by looking out of the kitchen door

Just a thought

2010-10-04T10:20:00.004+02:00

When i went to Bologna for my B-day, we chatted with Davide and Georgia about life and stuff...and at some point also broken hearts were mentioned. And the other day when i walked alone back through Bologna in the morning and went through some of the places, this thought came to me. i probably won't make it this time, but just imagine...wouldn't it be a lovely profession, to work as a heart mender? a heart repairman.

Honba za prdopečem 2

2010-10-04T10:10:00.009+02:00

Sice už nebudu psát o prášku do pečiva (všim jsem si, že v Lidlu jsou ty pytlíky popsaný ještě nějakým jiným jazykem, asi německy to bylo, už si nevzpomínám, ale to je fuk – no a pak je to jednoduchý), ale s tím názvem jsem spokojenej, tak ho zachovám.

Tuhle jsem si třeba chtěl koupit ovesný vločky.
Nejsem náročnej, stačí mi obyčejný. Příchutě, cukr, ovoce, zeleninu si tam dám sám. No, tak sehnat právě ty obyčejný byla fuška - zjevně to bude luxusní zboží. V pár sámoškách měli krabice s müsli za nepěkný ceny (přece nebudu v přepočtu na kilo platit stejne za zrní s čokoládou jako za prosciutto), ale vločky ne. Pak v jedné velké sámošce jsem vločky objevil...ale ouha. Nebyly jako u nás vedle mouky, ale byly ve zdravé výživě. To je takovej hezkej marketingovej tah. Čtvrtkilovej pytlíček biovloček je pak za přibližně stejnou cenu, jako jsem platil za půl kila lipovýho medu s certifikátem původu z Itálie. Tudy cesta nevede. Nakonec jsem uspěl v Lidlu, kde maj kilovku jednoduché müsli směsi za rozumnej peníz. Ale dávání vloček do polívky nebo obalování ve vločkách zatím nebude na pořadu dne.

I'm reloaded!

2010-09-29T11:29:00.002+02:00

I was just listening to Matilda from Parov Stelar and there is this part (after about one third of the song) with a man's voice shouting "I'm reloaded! Okay? Come on in here, motherfuckers!"
and i knew i heard that before... and i got it! It's from Brian de Palma's movie Carlito's way and Al Pacino is shouting that from bathroom in a bar! Cool :) i just like finding out this kind of things

Honba za prdopečem

2010-09-28T08:54:00.002+02:00

Itálie je úplně napěchovaná výbornejma surovinama na vaření. Ale když se eště úplně nevyznáte, jako třeba já, má to svý úskalí.
Samozřejmě nečekám, že bych tu našel všechno, co u nás. Nejsem úplně naivní a vím, že ani na knedlíky, ani na moravskej muškát, ba ani na náš tmavej chleba tu zkrátka nenarazím. Něco se dá celkem úspěšně nahradit. Třeba místo tvarohu použijete ricottu (leckdy může bejt i lepší, jen musíte počítat s tím, že jí chybí ta kyselost) nebo místo sladkovodních ryb ryby mořský. Aspoň jsem tu zatím sladkovodní ryby nezaregistroval. Škoda, kapra mám rád. Ale ty mořský obludky to kompenzujou :)
Jsou ale věci, který mě tu a tam zaskočí...tak jsem se rozhod, že si tu povedu takovej seriál svejch kulinářskejch bitev.

Například když jsem se rozhod péct. To jsem tu popisoval englicky, ale zkrátka mi to nedá. Klasickej problém č. 1 je mouka. Mouky tu seženete dost druhů. Od hladké 0 a 00 přes mouky na konkrétní produkty – těstoviny, piadinu (specialita tohohle kraje Emilia Romagna), polentu, myslím, že i na pizzu měla nějaká mouka označení, ale to moh bejt jen reklamní trik – až po celozrnnou a bůhvíjakou další. Ale o polohrubé a hrubé mouce tu zjevně neslyšeli. Takže peču z hladké a upravuju recepty – nakonec jsem do Itošky přece přijel provádět výzkum.
Nepřítomnost Hery v regálech s tukem je sice smutná, přece jen Hera je pečení, ale náhrady tu jsou. Ovšem prdopeč, ten mi dal zabrat. Díky předchozím kulinářskejm konzultacím jsem věděl, že se droždí řekne lievito (aby vám to těsto l(i)evitovalo). No, ale nebudu si přece furt všechno hledat ve slovníku, tak jsem vyrazil do sámošky nepřipraven. Přece vím, kde bude prdopeč – někde u vanilkovýho cukru, pudinků (italsky budino), dortů v prášku a tak. Inu, opravdu tam byl, ale hledal jsem ho dobře pět minut. Ty lumpové mu totiž taky říkaj lievito! Když peču hraběnčiny řezy, tak je nechci kynout, takže jsem všechno s nápisem lievito přeskakoval v domění, že to je instantní droždí. Až když jsem oběh regály několikrát dokola a přesvědčil se, že nikde jinde bejt nemůže, přečet jsem si složení na krabičce s názvem Lievito Pane degli angeli (zjevně na andělskej chleba, blejsknul jsem ho tady) a poznal svou chybu. Takže pro příště bacha!

Nice moments

2010-09-27T16:57:00.000+02:00

went through the streets of Bologna some time ago and suddenly there was an accordion playing polka to be heard from one of the old houses with arcades. nice, beautiful, unexpected.
and when we went to the Nouvelle Vague concert i didn't take my camera. and i really enjoyed it so much! there were some moments when i just felt like shooting a picture, but i'm really happy i didn't. nice. well and then there are all these great nice people i met in the last weeks, so happy that we could spent some time together! hoping for more. as always :) and also i just keep being picked up by friends in cars when i go through Via Granarolo and it's always a nice short chit-chat occasion. and last weekend i watched Hal Ashby's movie Harold and Maude and it's full of such nice and decent humour. and just this Saturday i realized that the small bushes in one of the streets i pass through from time to time, those bushes, that ain't just some ordinary shrubbery, that's lavender and rosemary bushes! and when i went to the bar, i was sitting there, observing...and i watched the bartenders. from every bottle of wine they opened the always smelled the cork if the wine is ok, and with some of the corks they even went to one another to share the aroma of that particular wine. that was really nice. well and in general i have to admit that everyone here is being really nice to me. that is also nice

wall encounters

2010-09-27T13:13:00.004+02:00

been walkin' around a bit...and found treasure on the wall

the subtle moment

2010-09-27T11:37:00.000+02:00

On Saturday i went to Clan Destino here in Faenza, really a place worth visiting, nice people behind the bar... well and there was this cultural paper, don't remember the name. it was in Italian with parts in English, so i had a look through (well, what would you do, not knowing anyone around) and i saw these few pictures from Kathrin Sonntag, an artist from Berlin. it was from her short video called tango from 2006. unfortunately i couldn't find much on the internet, not even the picture that really impressed me. i suppose you'd get the point after seeing at least this one.
Just the picture i liked was from a moment later - all things still, except for the tablecloth. How simple, how impressive. I really wanna see the whole video one day.

A scent of resemblance in guitar music

2010-09-27T09:51:00.001+02:00

I don't listen to purely guitar/voice music that much lately, but some time ago Křépa brought The Tallest Man on Earth to my life and i found that really good :)
Well, and listening to some of the music i realized that one song has a similar motive as an older Czech one by Mišík! Well, it's just a scent, but i sort of hear it there. Wonder if they ever played Mišík in Sweden. What'd you say...

The Tallest Man on Earth - The Gardener
Vladimír Mišík - Jednohubky

Sono famoso!

2010-09-24T15:06:00.001+02:00

Jak se pořád snažim prosvišťovat tu italštinu, občas natrefim na nečekaný spojení.
No ale řekněte sami: fame - famoso. Ty slova přece musej souviset! Nějak možná, každopádně ho fame znamená mám hlad, zatímco sono famoso znamená jsem slavnej. Já jsem ted zjevně přešel z prvního stadia do druhýho. O roli virózy způsobující zažívací potíže, která momentálně zjevně atakuje Čechy (překvapivě lidi, ne zemi), se nebudu příliš šířit.
Inu, ale po tom, co se dělo tenhle tejden, mě moc nepřekvapuje, ze fotka s mou maličkostí byla otištěna v místním plátku. Ty noviny se totiž jmenujou Sette Sere. Jak výstižné...

Forno fighting

2010-09-24T14:12:00.000+02:00

For the third time, finally...well let's say i didn't lose this time.From my arrival to Italy i wanted to bake a cake. Not an Italian one...not yet. A Czech cake. I chose the "countess' cake" since i like this one and it ain't particularly difficult. At leat at home it wasn't.
It took me a while to get the ingredients. Well, sugar was easy, jam, apples and eggs as well. With the fat it took me a while to find the right one, but Gradina seemes ok - it says it has "sapore gustoso e legero", i.e. delicious and light taste. I'd say it's a bit exaggerated because it's just a vegetable fat. Whatever. Well, and then there's the flour. In Italy you can buy quite a lot different types of flour: the clasic 0 and 00, for pasta, for piadina, then the wholegrain flour, flour for polenta... But they are all fine. I mean fine-grained. No way could i get our Czech half-coarse-grained or coarse-grained flour here. The 0 and 00 had to do. And the last part was the baikng powder. That one took me like five minutes to find, because i knew that i was not looking for yeast (lievito) but for baking powder (didn't look for the name in my dictionary). Well, surprise surprise...it's also called lievito. Bought lievito pane degli angeli (yeast for angels' bread) and it works :)

And then, to make a long story a little shorter...i was just desperate using the oven (forno in Italian), feeling like i forgot how to cook overnight. I have to admit i haven't been using gas oven for some time, but this one seems to have some problems with thermoregulation (always blame electronics, no one knows how that works, anyway). You just have to keep increasing the temperature, since it runs for some time and then switches off and lets the temperature drop way below the required value. At the end you either manage to not bake the cake enough and then burn it when trying to bake it a bit more (first time) or you keep increasing the temperature until at the end the part of the cake is still not done, but the bottom is burned (second try).

Well, finally i remembered an old tip i heard years ago and put a cup with water on the bottom of the oven. Almost worked this time. Voila!

I think next time i'll try some italian sweets like pandoro or crostata, because for that i am sure to find the right ingredients straight away...

And yet another good weekend!

2010-09-20T09:35:00.006+02:00

Even though on Friday afternoon i was still not sure whether i’m really going to the Nouvelle Vague concert in Bologna with the wonderful couple, in the evening after a bit more than a half hour on train with Florence & the Machine and Dub FX in my headphones i just happened to be with them on an aperitivo in a quite small bar ran by a guy who really knows how to please the eyes and taste buds of his customers. Gotta come back there asap.

And the concert was definitely worth going. I mean it was really awesome, full of energy pumped into us especially by the two singing ladies. One - an ethereal soul with a beautiful soft and colourful voice in a long dress, and the other, Nadeah - a tall Australian valkyrie with immense energy, adorable legs and short green dress (making her look both like a “gateau” and a praying mantis) who just knows how to enchant the audience. And then i shouldn’t forget about the reggae singer playing guitar (especially for his version of Sweet Dreams)...and the rest of the band! Simply great. After the concert i managed to get a new CD of Nadeah and could happily walk into the dark streets of Bologna kissed by a Muse.

On Saturday it rained. And that was just so beautiful. Even when i went through Bologna to the train station it was drizzling a bit, but then just when i got home, a true rain came. And it rained for the whole afternoon, and i really didn’t mind spending it in bed, looking out of the wide opened window, listening how the water falls down on the roofs, how the thunder is getting further and closer again, watching movies and translating. And i was just fine.

And Sunday...big cooking plans at first, but all the shops were closed when i went out (and i mean ALL including the big shopping centre behind the highway), so i ended up spending Sunday with Joy Division. Not bad.

No backpackers, man!

2010-09-17T15:58:00.000+02:00

On Saturday morning i went to the market to buy some fresh veggies.
Potatoes, zucchini, french beans, garlic and parlsey and basil plants gave me enough satisfaction and i went a bit around, just to enjoy the Italian life. When i got back home, i realized what it was that made me not really fit in. Except for the speech, since although i try to use my Italian day and night, I suppose everyone sees me through once i open my mouth (not even the moustache that i grew for the occasio of being in Italy helps - it's probably the 80's version). What i had in mind was the appearance.
During my morning walk i didn't see a single person wearing a backpack! and i've seen plenty of people shopping at the market, riding bikes (even met the lady who works at the printing/copy shop) ... no backpackers? there ain't no bloody backpackers in Italy! Unless they travel, saw some people on the train to Bologna - at last.
I'll never be a true Italian. I feel half naked without a backpack, i just don't go out wihout it. That's an unwritten rule. Actually, from now it's written... whatever.

Since this is kinda doubled post, the pictures from the market are in the Czech version

Sobota

2010-09-17T15:25:00.000+02:00

V sobotu jsou ve Faenze na dvou náměstích trhy, a tak jsem jako řádný Faentinec v sobotu ráno vyrazil na trh, že bych jako natrh nějakou zeleninku či ovoce.

Počasí se vydařilo, lehce jsem pokoupil (půl kila fazolovejch lusků, kilo brambor a půl kila cukínek byly akorát na tři porce pokaždé jinak, česnek ještě zbyl, bazalka a petržel se zelenaj na parapetu), řádně pokoukal, trochu se popoflakoval a za nějakou hodinku už jsem byl zas doma. Mimochodem, textilní trhovci mají mocnou vychytávku. Přijedou s dodávkou, co má na střeše takovou boudičku. A pak pomačkaj čudlíky na dálkovým ovladači, boudička roztáhne krovky a ani ne během minuty maj vedle dodávky možná čtyř-pětimetrovej kšilt a stánek je na světě. Na tý fotce z náměstí je to možná trochu vidět.

Každopádně, když jsem dorazil domů, něco jsem si uvědomil. Došlo mi, že mě jako cudzáka dost možná neprozradilo jen to, že nevím, jak se řekne petržel (prezzemolo, našel jsem si to už asi desetkrát, ale furt si ji nemůžu zapamatovat) a vyjadřuju se jak hotentot. Ještě se budu muset podívat, co přesně hotentot znamená. Ale za celou tu hodinu, co jsem chodil po městě a potkal hromadu lidí...nevím o tom, že bych potkal jedinýho člověka s batohem. Voni radši pojedou na kole se třema igelitkama (takže nebudou ani moct kouřit), ale ruksak neuvidíš. Tak ze mě asi Ital nebude.
No přece nepůjdu ven bez báglu!

I was told

2010-09-16T16:16:00.001+02:00

i speak quite good Italian.
I mean good for being here just for three months more than a year ago and not studying or using it in the meantime. The trick is quite simple. You just have to stop thinking in your language...Most of the day i think in Italian, helping myself with English. That's all. It works. You just have to hope it won't make you go nuts, that you won't lose yourself in the words...and that you won't lose the point.
Vediamo about that

This is a short one.

2010-09-16T10:59:00.001+02:00

I’d like to dedicate it to Daasha and her Lucky waste.
I don’t wear jewelry, don’t have a watch, ain’t got no rings, earrings, necklaces, chains or whatever. I’m not too fond of things that bind us. I wore a small stone on a leather twine earlier, maybe ten, fifteen years ago, don’t remember. A stone with a hole, because those bring luck. But after some time i didn’t feel the need to have anything of this kind anymore.
Well, i guess times have changed, or maybe better, Daasha has changed them, since now I have two memories of bottles, solid like stones, with a hole in each of them and I wear them proudly.

Let's say this morning things just didn't go according to the plan.

2010-09-16T10:34:00.000+02:00

Whatever the plan was.
The start was good. After a soul-refreshing afternoon and a good dinner followed by a ten-hours sleep I just enjoyed my breakfast, thought about the massive bike ride I planned for Sunday, now when the bike was repaired, and chose at least a bit representative shirt, since you don't want to look like a junkie when you're going to open a bank account in Italy.
A that moment I was just about ten minutes late, no problem.

On the way to the institute the chain of my bike fell down with a great cunning, so it took me a few minutes to put it back and ride with big relief up and down the long bridge over the railway. Just at the end of the bridge the back wheel kinda moved and got stuck. Brilliant. Time for a silent vaffanculo. Since i couldn't repair that just by myself, I had to carry the bike up and down the bridge again to the mechanic close to the train station. Not so sure about the Sunday bike trip anymore. There are is a bus going from the station to the institute every half an hour. I missed it by a few minutes. Vaffanculo.
At that moment I was just late.

So I walked. And the sun was shining, birds singing, sky was beautiful. Next time i'll take my camera...

Řek bych,

2010-09-14T23:23:00.014+02:00

že je na čase ten blog zase trochu počeštit.

Už jsem ve Faenze víc než tejden a docela jsem se zabydlel. Tím nemyslím jen to, že jsem si koupil ubrus na stůl, bazalku a petržel za okno, vytisk čupr plakát nad postel a zaplnil spíž všemožnejma pochutinama, ale už taky vím, kde mi přidělaj klíč a nabrousí nůž, kde je automat na čerstvý mlíko (to jsem zatím nečepoval, eště mám krabicák) a kde má výzkumák svýho bicykomechanika (tam už jsem byl dvakrát).
No, a musím říct, že jsem toho za ten tejden vlastně stihnul docela dost. Ve středu jsem měl pohovor, dopadlo to dobře, a ode dneška už mám i kartu do píchaček. K tomu samozřejmě služební bicykl. Jeho stáří si netroufnu odhadnout, ale Enrico (bicyklomechanik) mi ho po akutní opravě okomentoval slovy „tutto rotto“, tedy celý rozbitý. Na delší ocyklený vejlety to zatím holt nebude. Akorát je pech, že nemám doma net, ale zas mi to umožňuje v klidu večer vařit, překládat a psát na blog....
A abych nevyšel ze cviku, vymejšlím blbosti česky, italsky i anglicky.
Ale zpátky ke stíhání. Ve čtvrtek jsem pekl hraběnčiny řezy (neúspěšně, o tom zas jindy), v pátek vařil slávky (úspěšně) a v sobotu na večer jsem vyrazil do Bologni za Robbim a Davidem. Jó, Bologna

K velkému překvapení jsem tam potkal další lidi, který znám z Kodaně! Teda, Georgiu jsem vlastně trochu čekal, ta chodí s Davidem a už je v Bologni průběžně asi dva roky, ale u Neptunovy fontány (to je ta, co když se díváte ze správnýho místa na rohu náměstí, tak je Neptun nadmíru vybaven) se objevil Davide se dvěma děvčaty z Berlína, která si vyrazila na jih...
Svět je zkrátka mrňavej a našťouchanej fajn lidma. Tak jsme se sešli.

Aperitivo dobrý, večer vydařenej, ráno taky dobrý.

Zmrzka v Bologni snad nepotřebuje komentář, oběd kolem třetí byl znamenitej (Davidův spolubydla Umberto uvařil těstoviny s luxusním ragú Bolognese), cesta domů v pohodě, no a víkend fuč. A kam se vlastně podělo pondělí? V pondělí ráno jsem fotil výhled z terasy na střeše našeho domu...

Let the music play!

2010-09-13T10:05:00.001+02:00

Oh my, I can hardly believe this! I have to admit I was quite sad last autumn when I came to Prague and found out there had been a concert of Nouvelle Vague about a week before I moved in.
Well, but here I am, not even a week in Italy and Georgia told me they will be playing in Bologna on Friday! And you bet i don’t intend to miss the French show this time, especially when it’s pretty much on my birthday :) Just for the taste i had to play at least two songs this morning. let's play...La la la ...or... Sweet dreams?

A short one

2010-09-10T15:15:00.000+02:00

dedicated to two great men.

Tom Waits is a special person. I wonder how it is to be oneself as much as he is. And the pictures of him on his web, especially those from Anton Corbijn...they are something. Something worth seeing. For example this one. I suppose Anton Corbijn is a special person too.

Tornato

2010-09-09T14:24:00.000+02:00

that' one of the words i've heard quite frequently in the past three days. Yep, sono tornato a Italia :) I just have to find out if the correct answer to "Ben tornato" is Grazie or Si...we'll see.

Back i am, and shall be for quite some time...though the story was getting quite, let's say, adventurous in the past weeks. At first i thought i might just translate the stuff i write here in Czech to English and make it look like i am a fertile writer with a shitloads of things on his mind. Well, of course i am, but i won't be repeating the same stuff all over again. Just a bit.
Physically getting to Italy was not such a tough job to do (expect for the bus i missed in Prague, which led to a thrilling situation involving me getting one of the last tickets for a bus line going half an hour later, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, a panino with salmon and dill, and a sympathetic girl at the counter, who was brave enough to call to Brno to stop the other bus i was supposed to catch) and the cappuccino and brioche - more of a croissant with filling - at 3am in Bologna and latte caldo at 7am in a café at the main square in Faenza made me feel i really arrived.
The stuff before the journey was a bit more enervating, since there was more paperwork to be done compared to my last stay here - for the Erasmus I just needed to write some emails to Faenza, get no response, come in person in order to leave a handwritten note on the director's desk, write some more emails and get about two forms signed at school. Since this time i was applying for a position at the institute, the administrative journey went through the Italian embassy in Prague, two Czech ministries (twice, since i misunderstood the guy at the embassy at the first time), a legal Czech-Italian translator, back to the embassy, and then...when I expected the end of the administrative stuff...i found out that the resulting papers are to be sent to Rome...where they are probably until now. Oh yes, the end of August is a good time for holidays, but not for paperwork, since there ain't nobody in the offices. Well, anyway, after these and other now funny stories i just happen to be here, accepted to the institute and living quite in the centre of Faenza (see the map above). And that feels good. Maaan, that feels good, especially with the sunny weather and all the italy around me!
And here is my recent lair from within :)

Všechny cesty vedou přinejmenším do Itálie

2010-09-07T22:23:00.005+02:00

Do Říma pro změnu cestujou všechny žádosti.

Chvíli mi to trvalo, dalo mi to zabrat, ale už jsem zase v Itálii. Poté, co jsem si včera napřed nechal v Praze s naprostým klidem ujet před očima autobus, koupil jednu z posledních jízdenek na následující bus do Brna, tam stihl přestup na správnej bus a ve tři ráno dorazil do Bologni, tam si dal capuccino s loupákem, vyčkal spolu s jedním klučinou - erasmákem ze Slovenska - vlaku směr Rimini ve 4:44, dorazil do Faenzy v půl šesté, opravil si příspěvek na konferenci, zašel na návštěvu, zjistil, kde bydlím a vyrazil na nákupy, jsem konečně celkem zkulturněn, potravinově a hygiencky vybaven a ubytován. Zejtra mě čeká přijímací pohovor na stáž do Vánoc, a kdyby se něco zvrtlo a nedostal jsem to místo, tak mám aspoň na září dovolenou v Itálii s ubytováním v centru Faenzy, oknem do dvora a přístupem na terasu s čupr výhledem. Dobrý.

Přihlašování do konkurzu bylo poněkud dramatičtější, než jsem původně předpokládal, a bylo by to na docela slušnou historku. Takže se to pokusím zkrátit:
Dobrý zpráva byla, že na italské ambasádě v Praze jsou ochotný, poraděj, když ví, a třeba Codice Fiscale (asi něco mezi rodným číslem a DIČ – je to asi především pro finančák, ale maj to všichni a potřebujete ho leckdy při podepisování smluv a tak), to vám vydají na počkání. Ovšem, pes výběrovýho řízení byl zakopán v povinnosti předložit byl doklad o tom, že můj VŠCHT-ing-titul je ekvivalentní k nějakýmu, kterej bych mohl obdržet v Itálii. Když jsem an ambasádě zvěděl, co mám zařídit, moc mě to nenadchlo (navíc jsem to napoprvé špatně pochopil a musel proto proceduru víceméně opakovat), ale pořídil jsem teda nakonec úředně ověřenou kopii (ještě, že to dělaj i na poště) diplomu i dodatku k diplomu (hlavně, že ten dodatek je česky a anglicky, aby byl mezinárodní), na každou si nechal dát štempl na ministerstvu školství, pak na ministerstvu zahraničí, tyhle elaboráty dal soudně přeložit a hurá s výslednejma fasciklama na ambasádu, než začne dovolená pánovi, kterej má tuhle agendu na starosti. Na ambasádě mi to dohromady za nějakejch sto piv potvrdili a já zjistil, že tohle kmitání převážně po Malé Straně je pouze první fáze – ta rychlejší. Pak se totiž tyhle potvrzený, soudně přeložený, ministersky superlegalizovaný (tak se tomu myslím říká), úředně ověřený kopie papírů dokazujících pět let poctivé, ehm, dřiny...no zkrátka se to musí spolu s přihláškou do toho výběrovýho řízení a spešl žádostí poslat do Říma na ministerstvo univerzit a výzkumu a totéž, jen bez těch drahejch potvrzenejch kopií potvrzení vzdělání, se pošle do jedné kanceláře spadající asi pod úřed Italské vlády, taky v Římě...no a na ministerstvu se k tomu vyjádří, pošlou to do toho kanclu, tam vydají dekret, ten vám pošlou a můžete se prokázat. Jak prosté, milý Watsone...škoda jen, že v srpnu si Italové často berou volno, takže třeba na tom ministerstvu od půlky do konce srpna zkrátka nikdo nebyl. Ale to už bych zabíhal do detailů :)

Tak jsem v pár větách shrnul trampoty a doufám, že nadále už se budu moct rozvlekle rozepisovat o věcech s výrazně menším akčním potenciálem, ale zato příjemnějším obsahem. K tomu už bych pak moh přihodit i nějakej ten obrázek.

Samozřejmě už zjišťuju, co jsem pozapomínal doma, ale zatím to nejsou věci, bez kterejch bych se neobešel.

Hm... concerts

2010-02-22T10:59:00.001+01:00

i just thought it might be a neat idea to share some of my pictures from the last two concerts of the band Hm..., so here they are...

It all began when the Windows update messed up with my system and somehow removed the GRUB (the boot loader allowing me to choose whether i enter Linux or Windows). Because i am not that good with Linux and i was lazy to spend weekend searching for an elegant solution, i just decided it's time for a cleanup accompanied by systems re-installation. And at that point i found the few hundred photographs from the X-mas concert of the band Hm... and their befriended choir Doubravánek (named by its choirmaster Marek Doubrava, who plays piano and guitar and sings in Hm...) in La Fabrika club. Then this Thursday we went to see Hm... again, in the theatre Na Prádle. Well and again i took some pictures, so i decided to make some selection of publishable ones.

I have to admit i didn't fall for Hm... at the first time. I remembered they have some funny lyrics, some poetic lyrics, instrumentally the music is well made, but it did not impress me at first. As Alenka has their CD, i heard it a few times during the last year...and it wasn't bad, actually. Not bad at all.

And then we went to the concert in December, and that was just something! And certainly i remembered big part of the songs...and after that i found out they have many poems from Czech or foreign poets in their lyrics and that thanks to their music i found my way to some of these poets, who i have abandoned at high school for their boring style (actually i think we read other poems at school and they might have been boring at that time) - actually i think many of the teenager who we were at that time would rather read a bit depressive poem involving death than a slightly sentimental one about someone's mum - albeit in a metaphor.

Some of the pictures from the first concert are in fact on the Hm... web, which certainly pleases my ego :) And here there are some from the second concert.

As a bonus, the band asked for three ladies from the audience to make a choir. And i have to say, it was fun.

Almost all the pictures are taken with the old fully manual Nikkor lens i bought on amazon : F2, 85mm. It's a bit older than i am, scratched and battered, but guite small and fine for shooting in the dark. Unfortunately this lens does not work so well with my camera, which means it only allows me to shoot with the lowest aperture. At least it's not the other way around, and I have to say i enjoy it, although sometimes it is not so easy to focus well. As you may see...

And regarding Hm..., i definitely recommend you to go to their concert or at least buy their music ;)

Panoramic world

2010-01-25T22:57:00.005+01:00

You can’t study all the time during the exams period. I mean...you can’t devote most of the time when you could study (between breakfast and lunch or lunch and afternoon tea, etc.) to studying. Some people do, but they are either freakish or in big trouble. And as for me, during the time of exams i often find many interesting movies and exhibitions to see, new games to play, or, as in this case, new software or new ways to modify the pictures i have collected when there was enough time to go out with the camera and the light was inspiring...even though this time it made me go out and make some more :)

Checking some new pictures at stock photography sites i found quite an interesting type of picture: planet. Not that kind of planet you would see in the space, but more like a the-little-prince-planet, as these planets are made from 360° panoramic pictures turned round. Therefore you can see a planet with one house and one tree, etc. As these pictures look quite neat, i wanted to make some on my own. The results are not as great as some of those i have seen, but where am i supposed to get a place with green grass and blue sky! One trip to Baba hill in Prague yielded a snowy panorama with white ground and grey sky, but at least i got something :)

And now the magic tool! After using the Canon Photostitch software i got with my compact camera i am really amazed by the power of Hugin, which is the name of my new toy :) One can find it here, it's free and bloody smart! The only thing you have to count on when making e.g. a panorama from 15 6MPix pictures is that you'll need some free space (hundreds of MB if you want a higher quality result) and it may slow your machine down a bit (at least i had enough time to make myself a quick lunch).

The software is quite easy to work with, even when you're a beginner...and i suppose it can do many things i haven't even dreamt of. One of the tricks is changing perspective (or lens, as you wish). That allows you to create pictures with unusual perspective, to kind of switch lenses on your camera when the picture is already in your computer. And the results are quite interesting.

If you want to make a “real planet”, you really need to get not only a 360° horizontal panorama, but also a 180° vertically, or else you will end up having a ring, just like i did (when there's snow around, it's easier, because you can just fill the middle part with white, as happened on the first picture). But even the rings are good. Unless you want to print a 360° panorama and stitch it to a cylinder, allowing you to see the panorama once you put your head inside, this is a nice way to present the 360° in a reasonable format.

This is my Sicilian circle:

However, Hugin is really good in making standard panoramas as well, it's not a deformation tool, although the deformation gives you many possibilities! Hope it brought you some inspiration ;)

And then i sold myself...

2010-01-16T02:18:00.001+01:00

a bit of myself, actually. After giving blood for a few years i wondered, how big is the difference between giving blood and giving plasma. Well, you never really know, unless you try it.

That's why i went to the roof of Chodov shopping mall (Prague) - where they buy blood plasma. Well, yes, and for the money, too...

First time you may go sell your precious plasma is one week after the registration and a short check-up, since they send your blood to be checked for contagious diseases like hepatitis checked somewhere abroad and that takes a while. So a week later you come there, drink a bit more, go to see a man about a horse (i guess that's how the phrase goes...it's the first time in my life i used it after learning it about 10 years ago) and hooray to the chair! The toilet part is quite important, since you are encouraged to drink before and during the "suction", but then you end up sitting in the bloody chair for more than an hour! I was glad i went twice..

Then it goes easy, you get a needle in your hand (surprisingly) and the machine that goes "beep" is repeatedly sucking and feeding you until they have a bag of yellow-orange clear liquid. I was trying to study there, but it kind of makes it harder to concentrate on reading, at least for the first time. As for the feeling, it's pretty much the same like when you donate blood, just this time the flow goes in turns out and in, which is not that comfortable...and it takes longer time, which might become boring. When you're done, you just get your 400 CZK and make an appointment for next time. That's all...

So, blood vs. blood plasma:

i knew that since plasma is much easier for human body to create than blood, you can give plasma more often. However, i was still surprised by how often it is. Blood is 4-5 times a year, if i'm not mistaken...but with plasma it's 4 times a month! Frankly, i am not sure my veins would make it for a longer time at this frequency.
While with the bloody stuff you sit there for about 10 minutes max, with plasma it can be about one hour, since they pump a bit, separate the plasma and give you back the red stuff.
i think the plasma-needle is a bit bigger then the blood-needle. But it doesn't make much of a difference.
The colour, obviously. i expected the plasma to be a bit lighter, though.
When you give blood, you donate. When you give plasma, you sell.

As i wasn't even too tired afterwards, i'd say it's easy occasional money if you don't mind looking like a junkie..

(i guess i've used the word "give" improperly in this text, but i couldn't find a better one)

The wasabi fiasco

2010-01-11T12:44:00.005+01:00

i suppose most of my blog readers know this green sharp delicacy – peanuts or pea in wasabi batter. At first horseradishy hot, then saltysweet and always addictive:) And as you eat them, it just has to cross your mind „these can’t be too difficult to prepare“ while you munch another bag and find out you forgot to buy the ingredients for dinner while buying these peanuts.

Well, and what a cuisine experimenter would i be if i wouldn’t try to make them on my own! Of course i thought, hey, that has to be easy, it’s just some roundish stuff (peanuts, pea, whatever you can eat in this size class) covered in a wasabi(or whatever else)-spiced dough. It can’t be that difficult, right? Well, apparently, it can.

Of course, as it was my first time in this food area, i decided to get some help on the web and found one recipe that was cited more times and seemed to make sense (here). Shortly for those who don’t speak Czech yet:

You whisk egg white with water (easy) and add the nuts (in the recipe there are almonds or peanuts) so that each of them gets covered by the foam. Then you let them drain away (i might underestimated the draining) and you cover the nuts by mixture of wasabi powder, starch, salt and a bit of sugar. Then you put the nuts in an oven on 150°C for about half an hour and afterwards switch to 100°C for another 20 min. That sounds bloody easy, if it wasn’t for the oven business, you could have made it in kindergarten!

And now the reality:

My first try was with peanuts – as i could only get not-salty peanuts in the not-peeled version (and you actually create quite some mess while you peel them, i never realized that before), i decided to start with less than a ½ kg, as was in the recipe and more-less accordingly i adjusted the amounts of the other ingredients. Probably the first fail was in the draining, as i thought there should be some foam left in order to create that crunchy crust. Maybe they were not drained enough... The powder-covering phase didn’t go that well either, as part of the dough remained on the plastic bag i used for spreading the powder over the peanuts, ergo, the peanuts were not covered as much as i would like them to be. But show must go on, i put them on a baking paper and fiddle-dedee, into the oven! After about 20 minutes i have took them out, as they were getting really brown...well and the results were:

as the peanuts cooled down, part of the crust fell apart
they didn’t taste like wasabi or horseradish, they tasted more like slightly burnt brocoli
most important of all, the were not a bit hot, not a slight taste of spiciness!

However, one fail is not going to discourage me! So then i moved on to pea, this time improvising on the motive of aforementioned recipe. As the wasabi reserves were getting low, i decided to use also normal horseradish. Well, to make a long story short, this time i added more starch, created a less liquid batter, covered the boiled pea ...well, quite a lot:

and threw it into the oven on a slightly lower temperature.

The result is edible, this time not burnt, but again...NOT HOT, you just don’t taste the wasabi, nor the horseradish! Oh, and as it was difficult to separate the peas without losing too much of the batter, i decided to do it after the preparation...so it looks a bit like an omelet:

The last try was my pure improvisation, and actually, that was quite good :) Recipe is easy:

Boil rice, as much as you wish, but boil it more than “al dente”. You don’t need to wash the rice before cooking, as you will find the starch useful. Once you have this pot of boiled rice, this rice-pudding, you add spices (i added curry powder, salt and a bit of sugar) and mix it well. You may experiment quite a lot in here: try various kinds of rice, spices, try to add whisked egg white, etc. If the mush is too liquid, you can add starch. And then you just spoon this mush on a baking paper and put it in the oven at approx. 150°C until it is done (sorry, i forgot to measure the time). And it’s crunchy, spicy, easy and original ;) Try it:

Yes, also i have been there, tried it, seen it and heard it: Avatar in IMAX.

2010-01-08T14:18:00.012+01:00

Although i try to follow what's going on in the medial world, i have to admit that until this morning i haven't visited a 3D movie projection.

Actually, we were thinking with Alenka to go to see the X-mas Carol with Jim Carrey, but as it was only available with Czech dubbing, one would probably not enjoy Carrey's performance that much and since we've actually seen that tale in the National Theatre lately, we decided to skip the movie.
And then these blue guys arrive on the screens of our picture palaces and everyone is heavily impressed, cinemas full...that makes you wanna know whether it is as in Mark Twain's book (i'm not sure whether it was in Tom Sawyer or in Huckleberry Finn, the story about those theatre-playing guys who tried to trick the respectable citizens :) or if it really is that good. And this morning we went into the snowy Prague to check it out. i was surprised about how full the cinema was, when the show started at 9:30 AM, last time i was in a cinema that early was at high school, when we went there in order to be cultured. Well...and finally i get to the movie.
If you want to read a review on Avatar, check the web, you're gonna find plenty, i suppose. Or you can go see it yourself. i think it is a good movie. You won't keep it in your heart as the one with the intelligent, witty plot; you're hardly gonna remember any parts by heart; also you won't suffer from that Lynchy "i am really not sure i understand what i saw, but maybe if i see it few more times, i might understand it more and also find another weird things i haven't noticed before"; you probably event won't feel that much lust, although the nice blue girl is running through the whole movie almost naked. But that's not why you go to see Avatar 3D projection. It's the tricks, man, the tricks they play with your eyes. And they play it well. It didn't make me giddy, so it was not so real, but it was pretty close.
Oh...and you're gonna love the sound. i mean, regarding the sound quality, this would be my favourite place to listen to music. just a small table with beer or a bottle of wine, some cheese or sandwiches...and i could for example edit pictures, or write this blog or whatever...and just listen to the music.

And so it came to pass

2010-01-08T08:35:00.000+01:00

that i blog again. After some time of not-writing about adventurous expeditions full of colours and taste, thus, my life, i suppose it would be just fair to let it out and share some stuff.
Although the Czech blog is still running here, i don't expect i'd keep on writing both and this English version looks like more fun in the moment. Also i have certain culinary experiences i would like to share as well as some pictures from various natural and cultural sights.
Enojy!