I follow the Global Volcanism Blog (and also follow them on Twitter!). And these photos are infinitely more exciting than whatever I experienced at this tango workshop in NYC this weekend. To tell you the truth the workshop left me a little cold, even though I took a great video of the performance at the Friday night milonga. But the video looks like every other tango performance everywhere, and sometimes what is truly sublime occurs where we least expect it, on a lonely night in Iceland, on top of a volcano called "Eyafallajökul."
And although all of Europe has been shut down, and everyone's facebook updates say "stupid volcano, I'm stuck in Milano," (heaven forbid!), I saw these photos and nearly cried over their beauty. They come from Stromboli Online, a Swiss channel. "I want your love, and I want your revenge..."
j.a.
How do you like it? It's not as cozy as the old layout, but I kinda like its chic-ness. I've been playing around with this "Blogger-in-Draft" thing as a means for procrastination, and making up for the fact that my photos from Cairo keep getting rejected by my dying computer and won't upload. I tried to upload photos from the Swiss Club Practica this morning, and was so depressed by the fact that my computer completely destroyed my new external hard drive (why??) that, what did I do? I went to get my haircut. Again. Even though it's been 5 weeks, I'm in the clear, but I even had to check my blog posts to make sure that I didn't get my haircut an insanely short time ago.
I had so much to tell you... So much to show you! The amazing chocolate I bought in Switzerland, the very Swiss-like interior of the Swiss Club in Cairo (no, I'm not from Switzerland, I'm just developing a small obsession with this country that I have been in for a total of 3 hours)... Have to wait until Tuesday, when I get a new computer (ISA).
Until then, here is a photo I took in Parma, Italy last July. Life is sweet in Italy (for obvious reasons, Federico!). Sometimes when I am sad I think about eating asparagus risotto outdoors with a great glass of wine, watching all the lovely people pass by, my only thought on what flavour(s) of gelato I am going to have at around midnight. Things are better that way.
I'm alive! I'm in Cairo! I'm going to a practica on Tuesday! I will take pictures (insha'allah)! I am sunburnt!
Right now I am in Arabica, one of my favourite cafes, and I just ate a wrap with bresaola and rocket (very Egyptian, yea). Tomorrow I'm finally going to the Coptic Museum to see the Nag Hammadi texts, which I'm currently reading for a course.
Spent a day at ain sokhna, lounging with friends on the beach and having an adventure in a raft that drifted too far out to sea ("we're all going to be eaten by stingrays!!!") - let me tell you, Egypt is a crazy place, and Cairo is its old crazy self. Because of my adventures at the beach I missed my favourite Saturday night milonga, but I was relaxing on a terrace, eating great food with great company, and devouring chocolate cake, wine, and mint tea. I've been craving this type of evening forever, that exhausted feeling you have after spending the day in the sun, swimming, putting your clothes back on and having a meal, watching the sunset, the sea quiet in the background. What could be nicer? It's a damn good life.
Not so much other news, apart from finding strangely that my Arabic is better than it was in December. I guess I've spent the last three months in a bored/meditative state, everyone says I seem more relaxed, less worried, but I think it's because in the states you don't have to worry about getting hit by a car every time you walk on the street, or jump over thousands of obstacles from broken sidewalks to weirdly-placed palm trees to cats.
Here is something someone said to me the other day: "America is like a gourmet meal without any flavour. In Egypt, the meal is not so fancy, but it sets your tongue on fire." There are good and bad things about this statement (for instance, you could get terrible food poisoning - literally AND metaphorically) - but in general I agree with it. On the other hand, one of the only benefits I've gotten in the states these last few months is super-clean laundry.
So is the choice between "exciting life with food poisoning" and "boring life with clean clothes"?? Hm. Maybe a little of both is necessary to keep one's feet on the ground.
j.a.
