Without Else like a spaghetti.

A couple of hours ago, Else and I were near our heater (that deep inside us we like to predent that is a fireplace) enjoying the laziness caused by a Sunday of Valentinovo (Saint Valentine’s day). She was away one week, and it was time to reconnect to the energy of our little communistic blue-walls-painted home.

Pet minuta (five minutes)… where was Else this last week?

Well, she went to finish what she started: she went in Spain to presente her final project… and did it pretty good, with a grade of 8.5/10!

Who is the champion of final projects?!? Eeeeeelse Collins!

So, back to the Valentinovo subject… that is all!

This week I was alone in our group tasks, and my conclusion is that it is far less funny without Else!

Super Duge Team is super Duge… but only when we are together – no doubts about that.

Apart from her absence in our daily tasks, the week went calm and balanced: I met Samobor during the day and full of babies in cute, cute costumes; I found a very nice new bar near our house, I went to a meditation group (very big group, by the way) class – and I was very happy to see that a lot of people (specially young people) is interested in learning about the subject, and visit the Archeology Museum.

Now that I put it all together, I had an interesting week. How my bosnian friend would say: “Bravo, you!”.

Tomorrow is the day where we will meet our new office... Iva told us that it is a warm one! Whuuoo! 
Else will tell you, on the next post, from 1 to 10 how warm it is.

For now I just have to tell you: Isuse Bože!* (Jesus Christ).





*in Zagreb people use this expression when they get surprised/suddenly scared.

New Caledonia “The Golden Jail” and “How to Survive in Dalmatia”.

This last week, a friend of Tania came, his name was (still being but he’s not here, so I guess we will never know if he changes his name in future, who am I to judge people? Else, nice to meet you. No, I’m kidding!) Paul, he was french but he lived most of his live in an amazing place call “New Caledonia”, maybe you are wondering….and old Caledonia? We don’t know, I didn’t ask, the idea just came up to my head in this moment. New Caledonia, it’s so pretty that with this name it seems that maybe “Caledonia” was SUPER PRETTY but God gave them a second oportunity for making it even better, so they took their time to build a New Place, and because they were so busy making this efford of building they run out of creativity so they called it “New Caledonia”; and know for sure you are thinking, as we say in Spain “segundas partes nunca fueron buenas”, what means “Second parts were never good” but in this case, as we say in spanish “nada mas lejos de la verdad” which is “anything further than reality”, this New “Caledonia” was even better, at least 4 times better, it’s one of the most pretty places in the world, exactly definition of stereotypical “Paradise”: transparent waters full of color fishes, rich people on pretty boats, the fruit grow everywhere, they have their own natural drug that turns you into GODzilla, but who doesn’t want to be a huge dinosaur… The only problem is….THAT IS A TRAP!!

In New Caledonia there is only one fly company so, this means that they don’t have any concurrence, soooooo……prices are higher and higher everyday, having to pay a normal ticket for 2.500€, more than 18.759Kn…O-PROS-TI ?? This means that only those who have enough money or they safe a lot can get out of the country… this made me think about life in general a lot, like, would really like to live in the most pretty place you’ve eve seen if you could not get out of there? Sound like a bad joke, a weird punishment, having everything in life and being force to live with it, not being able of getting ride of it.

Don’t know, I think it’s interesting to think in this… suddently Zagreb’s sky looks much much better (and open).

Then, we woke up and we said: “Hey girls! Why don’t we travel around the whole country of Croatia just to do a lot of thing in so Little time?” Who would said “no” to this “Planazo”? So we went: Tania, Anto, Paul, Else and our new Little friend that like, in “Dora The Explorer” comes with us to all our adventures: Morango The Majmun (he shakes his arms like idiots).

We travelled from Zagreb to Zadar to experience the magnificent “Sea Organ”. This “organ” Word attached to the “sea” was for us like a “free choosing concept” so all of us were expecting something different: Tania wanted a huge heart pumping, Morango a big stomach so he could eat all the bananas, and Else was thinking in some “rectum” part that was actually a metaphor for the pollution tropped to the sea, but at the end was actually “music played by the sea”, so peacefully and pretty that made our hearts pump, our stomach jiggle and our rectums free (somehow).

Next stop was Sibenik. With my Duper friend Vice, we saw the fortress for rich people even that they served “Bespladna Hrana” and the fortress for those who next day could not afford going to the first one, which was bigger and prettier (cannot stop being grunge…). Here we had the chance to get depper in croatians and dalmatian culture: went to a gipsy concert, heard the tales of war while we were listening to the “waves” making the soundtrack and we little understood better how hard was to live that way, even that those were the favourite years for Vice, guess is weird guy like us and that’s why like him a lot!

Last Station was Split. Split is great but little not “otvoreno” at all during the summer, it’s weird how some cities are most of the time working only during the summer, if they were made for turists, somehow I felt that I have to say to the “Splitters” (people from Split?): “Hey Splitters! You have the right and the opportunity to enjoy your own city, go ahead and go crazy on the terraces, on the beaches, parks, pubs and clubs, take a walk on the coast and see how pretty it is to live in such a nice place”. But I guess, as Tania says, you cannot put a message in someone’s head so easy, so Little by Little…

On Sunday was time to go home…and I cannot tell more story because I only remember waking up with my own snores…

How it’s can be pretty, ba?!

In the meanwhile I learned that the bosnians use ba in the end of every phrase.

Yes, I met my first bosnian friend in Croatia, he is called Anto. He is a very special Anto…

I also learned that here in Croatia the name Anto is transformed in Ante. 

Else and I we also met a Ante, and a Mateja, a bosnian Boris, a Lorenzo, a Claudio…!

I met Marija, a super nice girl from Istria with who I can speak for hours and hours and don’t be bored one single time! I met her in yoga classes. 

It is true, I started yoga classes in the Shakti center: pretty and joyfull Katarina is our instructor. 

I was so lucky to find this place in Lubljanica. When I think, my days in Zagreb changed since my first yoga class…

How it’s can be pretty how things quietly flow…

This last days were very rich in meeting nice, warm, and lovely people.
We have been blessed!

And because of all of this love we receive all the time, we –  Super Duge team – went in Venice, in Italy.

My super friends Verna and Elvis, from Istria, offered me a pack for 2 persons with 2 nights in an hostel/hotel in Italy.

I invited Else, my faithfull compagnion, and we decided – in a last minute decision (off course!) – to go in Venice.

How it’s can be pretty this city...

We stayed in Villa Albertina Hostel, in Lido Island. In this Island we met our new friend Claudio. We met him by chance when we were looking in the vitrine of his art galery. He invited us to enter: he as very nice taste for art… I could not choose a piece that I didn’t like.

It happens that he also had a restaurant, and in the night we went there to dinner. He offered us pola of what we ate there!

Lucky us: the same happened the day before, in a restaurant not so far from Saint Marcos square.

In fact, we were very happy this last days… maybe the universe wanted us to expand our happinness, and gave us – through, first Lorenzo and after Claudio – free tiramisu!

How was Venice? - We felt like quietly walking on a colorfull painting.

Once a very wise person told me: “in reality it is not the money that gives you the chance to do the things you need and want to do, but the love of people you meet in your life”.

This last weeks are the proof of that wise thought.

P.S.: Else finished her final university project! Whooouuuo! 

BUDAPEST-A

This time, the Duge Team will have to face one of the most difficult chapter: Christmas Moment. They will have to divide the strenghts so they can reach more territory in Europe, that’s why Duge Tania will protect  Home Base in Zagreb while Duge Else will travel around South Europe spreading the Super Word!

Is this times, several adventures happened to both but i can just tell the Super Duge Else’s part:

First, they travel all the way to Budapest, super pretty (trap) city in Hungary and after doing the “Free Tour”, guided by the most hot-handsome hungarian guy in town, they try a typical hungarian juice: PALINKA.

They liked so much the city that even Tania seemed that she wanted to stay there forever… but this is something that she will need to tell herself!

In the other hand, Else took the plane early in the morning, and she arrived at 13.00 to a 21 super hot degres Madrid, imagine how stupid she looked with everything on: the hat, the scarf, the boots, the super coat, etc… She arrived just in time for meeting her friends: Rafa and Andrea; and t olive one of the most important moments of the year: ELECTIONS!! CHAN CHAN CHAAAAAAN! The “Good ones” didn’t win yet but no body did so, they still waiting for the good times to come!

Then, she traveled in a Blablacar expert in zodiac matters that adviced her not to love a cancer if this is in the other part of the planet, they are never loyal, anyway Else was cancer also and she was, for sure, in “the other part of the planet” of some other cancer so….i guess, who cares? She arrived there where she could kiss her mother, father and family in general; family which grew up un 5 new fluffy hairy members: Blanquito, Negra, Gordo, Grisito y Búha, her favourite!! For she would like to kiss them a little more again, but, this how life goes!

Then, because this tiny Super Duge Else has a lot of friends around, she went to other city to continue with the “kissing time”, to Oviedo! She did a looooot of stuffs: ran a marathon, got drunk like and irish, dance on several tables and even sleeping in the most beautiful park of all with one of her most beloved friends that follows a lot her adventures in the blog, SERGIO QUERO (because "González" we don't care!), but, even that saying goodbye ain’t easy, she had to and she went back to Galicia where another Little tand, spicy, soft and full of love surprise was waiting for her. YIIIIIIIHAAAAAA

Saying goodbye was hard and sad, so she decided to go to the super pretty city of Lisbon to do so and make it a little more dramatic.

And following the rhytm of "Fare the well, my honey, fare the well"...

She cried.

And she cried,

And she cried again.

She cried so much that even a lot of pinky women though that she was nos “mentally stable neither psychological capable” to be where she was. Craaaaaaaaazy!

Then, there past 2 days of complete horribiliness where she play with the idea of killing herself but ot before killing all the hungarians in the world, but this hating and non happiness is not necessary, so better not to talk about it, because next day was sunny in Zagreb and smiles came to make her a lot of company, new smiles, old smiles but ALWAYS:

WELCOME SMILES!!

"If I had listened to what my mama said
I'd be at home in my mama's bed
Fare thee well, oh honey, fare thee well...

But still I'm here and Tania takes care of me!"

SUPER DUGE TEAM WISHES YOU A "CESTIT BOZIC"

How rich can be this language?

Last weekend I was asking myself: “how rich can be the croatian language?”, and, inside my head, I could hear a silence big as my ignorance about the declinations!

I was wondering if they can write rich poetry as in portuguese or in french (my two familiar languages and the ones I can compare too)?

Apparently the answer is yes, according to my friend Perica, the future croatian writer.

And, actually, I could peek throught the window of the complexety of the croatian language this weekend… I could say that the universe heard my question and wanted to show me the answer.

It took me to Varaždin, in Perica’s car. My future croatian writer friend is from this charming town and he invited me for a family lunch on sunday.

I felt very confortable seated with his family, it warmed my heart: being far from this cosy feeling of belonging in a family table can be hard sometimes… specially on sundays!

So, lucky me!

I met the mama, the baka (grandmother) – she even offered me some crochet angels that she made! – the uncles, aunts, little cousins… and everyone speaked only croatian… but a different one!

Kaj (what, in the north way of saying what)?...You are probably thinking to yourselfs.

They have a super big (like a bible) dicionary of their own dialect.

Rigth away I could suspect that the answer to my question was a obvious yes, but I waited a bit more to be sto posto.

And sto posto I was, when Perica started to explain me some words who where being  put on the table during the lunch.

For every word he tried to translate he had to tell me a story.

Every word is a big story itself.

Kaj?

Da!

So, I can imagine how rich can be a poem, I mean, the good croatian literature in general!

Unfortunatly, having my question answered didn’t make me more savante in croatian but it certainly catalysed my desire to learn the language.

I wish I could find one single word to tell you about my experience visiting Varaždin, but my idiolect is not yeat provided of such power.

So, I will leave you with a photo of a pretty corner of the cosy Varaždin:

In this corner, made by the Museum of Angels, there is nice lights, nice music and some resident pigeons sleeping on the angels heads!

Advent in Zagreb: Traveling In & Out

As many people were waiting, THE ADVENT IS HERE after thousands of "Winter is coming, Winter is coming"...it finally came, not so hard as we thought but let's give time to time. Anyway, "Super Duge Tania" with her Bosnian Boots, and "Super Duge Else" with her hat "Polish Hat" are ready for whatever it comes. And as you see, it's coming beautiful (Super Dobro)!

Feeling part of the Croatian culture, the Super Duge Team decided to travel In and Out of Croatia.

That's how "Super Duge Tania" went to the beautiful croatian village Varaždin where our Super friend Perica comes from to meet his roots and experience how people live out of Capitol City but that's a story thats she will tell next Chapter.

Anyway, the adventure of "Super Duge Else" started when her Super Friend, Médico arrived on Thursday, and after couple "Kuhanos Vinos" (Bijelos) they decided to contact a Blablacar for going to Liubliana for a "Volunteering Weekend" full of italians and spanish companies, como no podría ser de otra manera. They picked a blablacar from "Arena Zagreb", really cool guy from the coast, somewhere near Dubrovnic, everything was going perfect until the Team was going to cross the border, because actually they were going to another country even if Super Duge Else was not even thinking about this borders, guess this not so little girl has so open mind that see thought that there were no boundries anymore, not in this century of freedom and social expression, that was she was thinking.... So everybody looked at her directly when she said with a smile on her face "I don't have my ID but it's okaaaaaay, we are in the European Union! When I go with my parents to Portugal everything is open and okaaaaaay". But not everything was okaaaay as she was thinking, actually the Policeguy was not okaay at aaaaall. But after trying many ways for getting in the best way of the situation: hiding in the back, giving another carnet that could look like an ID... but at the end, They had to go back to Zagreb...but they make a good good friend from a small village near Dubrovnik that took them back to Liubliana not before offering him a couple bananas as payment for everything he did.

Exchanging information about theirs lifes, Else and the new-misterious-but-super-dobro-friend, while her Medico-friend was sleeping like a "spider", built a funtastic relation that will last until.....THEY ARRIVED TO LIUBLIANA.

So, with the warm of our friends and the good taste in our tongues for the ones we already had, everybody together, we had fun following the rhythm.

"Filomè, Filomè, voglio stare insieme a te
sul sofà, sul sofà
Con lo zigolo-zigolo-zá"