He perdut el meu cor a Barcelona

Hola guapa, que tal? 

..Is a nice way to be greeted at every little shop, grocery store or Restaurant.  The sun must definitely spending positive and motivating energy – at least in Catalunya’s wonderful capital. I was feeling a modern and fresh mentality all over Barcelona’s trendy and yet traditional alleys. A young spirit of warmth and hospitality fills the air of this beautiful city. Cultural richness influences daily life of the Catalans, wherever you go there is a wonderful cathedral, a modern sculpture or some meaningful and impressive graffiti. These vivifying artworks for the eye must inspire every creative being living in Barcelona or just passing it. Stories are told by the sounds of creative Musicians, while everyone is caught in the summery rhythm of “la vita tranquilla”. 

Metropolitan modernity and sustainable development complete Barca’s daily life in a pleasing way.  No other European major city outshines with such a stunningly beautiful beach-side. The clear blue sea must indeed balance stressful city life: everyone - regardless of age, nationality, skin color or bank balance – is listening to the wavy melodies of the sea, hears them on a daily basis and most importantly, enjoys them. Sitting at Barcelona's beach means feeling the touch of a warm and pleasant summer breeze until a salty but yet refreshing scent, reaches your nostrils; and when you open your eyes widely focusing on the line where blue water touches the horizon, you can somehow feel the limits of the human eyesight more consciously. 

Indeed, all senses are satisfied in the magical heart of Catalunya: Picasso’s and Gaudi’s artworks for the vision;  a musical experience of talented street musicians for the organ of hearing;  delicious, fresh and sun-ripened exotic food pleasing every gourmet’s gustatory nerves; the olfactory scent is enchanted by a mixture flowery odor and  fresh Mediterranean sea air; various materials, textures and surfaces surprise the Haptic perception: from fine-grained, hot sand to futuristic sculptures, from fresh sea water to fairy tale-like places made out of little mosaic flows. Satisfaction on every possible level, for soul body and mind – Oh Barcelona, you left my soul full of joy, my mind full of memories and my heart full of sunshine.  

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Lost in time.

Remember. You gotta remember things in particular moments. You remember moments in moments. Why those moments. Because they meant something. Maybe because they still mean something. Why is it all about feelings, about emotions. Why do we have ask all those questions and why is there no answer in our brain already. There should be a button in our mind with solutions and answers for desperate times. When you feel bad you shouldn’t put up with thinking how things could get easier. There sould be some gen in our body which helps in these times. There is none of such a thing. None. There is just the heart and the mind. Former doesn’t work well when the first is sick, in pain – when your heart is lost the mind has obviously no answer. Why? I want an answer. Now. Without overthinking every detail. Without overfeeling every detail. Over and over again. Memories. Memories are those feelings which come up when you see, smell or hear something – something that must have been sophisticated in your past; hence worth remembering. Do we always wanna remember things? Even good things can turn in bad emotions. Why? It’simple. Because you hold on to people, to friends, to beloved ones- just because of the good memories. The good times you were having with somebody is most of the times more important than the bad. Is it logic that way? Too much memories. Nostalgia. When you don’t live in here and now you most possibly live in the past. No you don’t need a time machine, you just need your memories. Erase them! Cut them out. Well, that ain’t easy. Overthinking, overfeeling and then just forgetting about everything that is seeding pain in your heart? If it was that easy there would nothing to be worried about. Worried? Yes, worried about now and here about the future. Cause your past is still coming up in those memories you couldn’t forget. Maybe you unconsciously didn’t want to forget. Do you wanna forget them if you always remember them. Yea you do. A victim of a crime remembers painful images all the time but it sure as hell doesn’t want to. So dear scientist, could you please invent an eraser for memories and notions which bother you while you need to concentrate? If it doesn’t make sense to erase memories because form an other angle they might be helpful and somehow logic ( doubting this one at the moment ) then please at least invent a button to snooze them away. Every time you remember you can just click the snooze button. We love those who don’t deserve it we hurt those who love us and we want things we can’t have and don’t appreciate those we do. Lost in time. Lost in space. Lost in memories. Regrets and mistakes- flying around; sitting down on your shoulder talking into your ears. You hear voices you don’t wanna hear you don’t hear words you need to hear. It goes on. Everything goes on. Pain is inevitable but suffering is an option. Even without the button you can be strong, move on look forward and keep up what you need to do. Everything happens for a reason, even pain, even desperate times. Stick to that, hold on to that.

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My first love.

You showed me how to smile. How to cheer up after a rough time.You taught me that tomorrow is a new day and the sun is shining every next morning. You made me feel comfortable everywhere I go. You told me that everything might taste good and I just gotta try. You filled my heart with love and every time I've left you it felt like I left my heart with you. Life seemed empty without you. You were the one who made me feeling home. you made me feel like I am somebody.Not a number in the crowd but somebody noticeable. Thank you love, for making me who I am.
My first love: MAHDIA, Tunisia. I miss you - big time !

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Zuggeflüster ( train whispers )

One of the most interesting places to observe people; somehow you are forced to watch them. In a certain timeframe the people sitting next each other have the same goal: reaching a particular destination. During this time some read books, most of them listen to music but a lot of people just stare around. I love meeting people in the train, people I don’t know just to chat a bit. Not every time I take the train of course - but sometimes would be nice. It’s my social side which thinks that it’s a human feature shared by all cultures in the world which says: when two or more people are stuck together in a wagon it would be the most natural thing just to start talking. Surely you don’t talk to everybody, but sometimes to some people – seems natural, doesn’t it? I travel a lot by train and I can’t help myself but observing the atmosphere, the people’s moods and behavior. Having a nice chat while travelling isn’t a frequent experience I can write about, it’s rather seldom. My eyes wander around I see stressed, unsatisfied moody faces. Noisy headphones or young people who are having loud conversations are breaking the awkward silence. While the wheels are juddering and the landscape is behind us faster than the eye can realize, the people around me don’t show any social attitude. “ Excuse me “ and “ Thank you “ may be the most frequent words said in a train depending in which country you are travelling,  but that doesn’t even sound nearly like small talk, does it ? I began hating trains they let me realize the failure of mankind’s social competence nowadays. Living in a developed country where basically everybody has shelter and nobody starves to death nor do we have a war going on here – I can say that there are no immense local problems at the moment which could cause this sorriness and sadness of my fellow train passengers. This observation didn’t take place lately; it has been ages ago since I was a little life loving pupil asking people in the tube on my way to school why nobody was smiling and whether there is any strict law saying that you are not allowed to have fun in a train or a tube.  On the other hand many people are nice when you talk to them and when you take the first step in “social competence” but that doesn’t keep them from being same sad stressed and unsatisfied the next day. My dreamy little heart is as usual too sensitive towards the atmosphere in a train but after having experienced quite the opposite of what I was describing when I was in Rome, life gave me another angle to observe things. The elderly ladies smiled at me and were very kind – my heart was flattering and I began thinking that maybe it’s not the whole mankind which has no social competence maybe it is just the place I live in maybe just the mentality I grew up in. Being a little bit too much myself in the Italian train (applying make-up using perfume ) didn’t discourage  my follow passengers to talk to me (in Italian which I barely speak) and they kept up the conversation even though they might not have understood all of what I was trying to say. You remember such “unimportant “little things after you are back in your daily life watching the stressed and sorrowed people around you. You remember that on some places on earth people are not afraid of chatting and laughing a bit. You might not remember what those people exactly told you but you won’t forget that you laughed with them in a particular timeframe when both of you had the same goal and the same destination – sounds really normal and natural and above all it sounds very human.

Being self-critical as always, I must assume that maybe I’ve adjusted myself to the introverted cold mentality of my environment and my outer appearance might not say: “hey let’s chat you seem nice”. Humm but I am also person who smiles before she does anything else …which shouldn’t make me frightening for others, right?

Everybody has a bad day sometimes a bad month and some might even have a bad year – but it can’t be all of you guys out there at the same time. I don’t think people should end up talking all the time they enter a train but a fresh smile , a little chat or a nice conversation once in a while would make these unimportant 10 minutes of your life more pleasant  and who doesn’t want to have a pleasant time when s/he has nothing else to day anyway ?

Passenger Train Painting - Passenger Train Fine Art Print - Bob Dornberg

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Impatience

Summer. The sun is supposed to shine and I am supposed to feel full of joy de vivre again. Unfortunately the sun is not shining and I feel listless. Germany is not really a nice holiday resort and I really can't wait to be in Tunisia soon, counting the days and crossing them in the wall almanac makes me being so excited. My opened suitcase on the floor makes me even more fond of traveling; my mind is already wandering through the diverse and sunny piece of earth in North Africa. It is said that the sun makes you feel more comfortable and I honestly approve that people in the south are smiling a lot more. This is what I am being impatient about : ambling through the narrow alleys, smelling a mix of the salty sea and the oriental fragrances, while watching children enjoying their childhood in front of their homes..but what I really can't wait to see are those people who make you happy just because they respond your smile."الضحك يضوي القلب" my mothers uses to say, which means " laughter heals the heart" and she is right - that's why I need to go back to the place where I learned that how ever life treats you be patient and smile. Maybe this sensitive little heart of mine needs to be healed by the Tunisian hospitality and warmth. Those little things not many people pay attention to, are the ones which make feel relaxed and happy inside; I can't wait going into the corner shops and being friendly greeted, being helped and welcomed by everyone even those I don't know. The feeling of being at the place where I belong is fading and I can't stop thinking about feeling at home again.

The sea is waiting for me it must be as impatient as I am.. we share a long history together, we fell in love the first time we met. I am impatient to see the blue-green clear water rushing at the beach...I can't wait to see the small and big waves competing to be the first to arrive at the beach, reaching me.
The days are passing by and I can't do anything but being impatient. All those little things popping up in mind make me more than excited.

Dear beloved Tunisia, I know you have suffered from a lot of political and economical issues lately but I believe in you, in you and in your people. I know that you won't give up smiling and being patient and that things will get better. I promised you to come back as soon as I can and here I am doing nothing but dreaming about how the summer with you is going to be.
I am impatient about seeing my patient country again.

I dedicate this ancient Tunisian song to all the people out there who miss their country , who can't wait to enjoy their home again.. those who are as impatient as I am.

ريحة البلاد / Ri:ħet Lebled / The country's scent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfYKv2OjuM

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