Global trap!

About 6 or 7 years ago I got myself into reading a book about the dangers of globalization. It's the kind of books everyone with green conscious, and a big heart must read. There is no fiction story in the book, only a lot of points about why it is bad to be living in a global economy, and how things really work now. It turns out that we don't own much of the choices in our own lives anymore. Also if wealthy men in suits "FART" let's say somewhere in China, their wind will globally cross its way to Alaska, and somehow affecting things there ( this is not in the book). I could not finish reading, nevertheless I was depressed all the same, and ever since I became very confused whether I fully hated globalization, or just a bit. Today I must admit to like it with the same confusion, or even worst I feel trapped. Think of the fresh daily flowers delivered from Amsterdam to London in few hours. Think of traveling inside of schengen european states without borders. Think of something you like from back home and if it wasn't for globalization you won't have it somewhere else in the world ( I am not defending globalization, but why denying some of the good commodities, even for a pessimistic guy like me), long ago trade consisted of basic stuff, now you can buy the same brand all over the world. So what's the point of all of this? The story is that a few months ago I found myself staring at a container of Lebanese made "Tahini"( a very heavy sesame oily paste) on the shelf of Bomi ( A supermarket here in Warsaw). I was impressed to see that a seemingly insignificant product in the daily life of the Lebanese people back home, a Tahini container still manages to sit here "overpriced", and looking awkwardly funny among the coconut milk cans,teriyaki sauce, and other products in the exotic food section. . Now, 3 months ago, I did not buy it. However, as the home sickness increased, and the taste of a good plate of "hummus" lingered on the back of my tongue, I decided to get one today. So now I am thinking that this absolutely necessary ingredient in the making of hummus is available here in Poland, I am off to the next level. I am making my own Hummus. Wow, I wonder what else globalization can permit me to have. Now, I am still confused about the bad things globalization is causing like wars, poverty, starvation and etc, but damn it I got " THE HUMMUS" the most controversial plate on the menu lately between Israel and Lebanon, also I think Hizbullah's weapons is on that same menu, but they seem to have been placed in the desert section. ( The original creators of hummus are yet to be finalized between the two countries, there was even a competition to win the guinness book of world records for the biggest Hummus plate. Honestly, I am not sure how such a stupid controversy can even exist). So I finally understood that trade nowadays is not only with goods, but with cultures. I found the solution for the confusion. If will eat my hummus, and I will not feel guilty.

The power of laptop

There are many places in warsaw where you can sit outside on a sunny day. The place where I am sitting now is called "Plan B" ( yes! just like this new film out there). Plan B is a place that reminds me of torino express in Beirut. Why? Well it is a place with a kind of service that may seem unpleasant for those who are not regulars, but also because it really seems like the staff and some of the regulars are one big family. I am not a regular here, but I have been frequenting this bar since my first early visits to Poland. What makes today special is that I am sitting on a table outside. Outside means you are on a 1 square meter(roughly), and around you will be a round about. The round about is home to many trams that connect the city from south to north, east to west. We live south of here, and it is a nice walking distance on a warm day. what's more special is that its Friday, which means the day of week when you are almost certain that the week is over. Only since I am not working I have to pretend that Fridays are really special for me. It's only 5 p.m. but I am here anyway. The beer is cold, the sun is shinning and the traffic is irregular. Earlier I was watching the trams go by. It's funny when I am usually going home in one of the trams I get a few seconds to look over to where I am sitting now, but now I have much more time from where I am sitting to carefully inspect the trams. They are indeed a great invention. Just think of having to drive, or be in a car all the time to connect from A to B. Later I was looking at the sky. There were occasionally a few white clouds that hid the intensity of the sun every once in a while, but my skin stayed constantly warm which was and still is great. I am here then, but what is really special besides all the above, is that I have a lap top. So I am playing my own playlist from itunes. I am getting a kick of the music because I am the one man Dj in this square. ( off course only for myself) but hell man that is freedom. That alone can defeat the Idea of communism in a place that may have been only 20 years ago just a normal boring square with no Plan B, cafe Karma, or the many Warsaw youth on their bicycles locking them anywhere they can to gather and talk around this favorite square of mine. But I only mention communism because ironically there is a big white church to which the square " Zbawiciela" takes its name, and just down the street is "plac konstytucji"( constitution square) which was built as I understood by the russians. If you look carefully to one of the statues engraved in one of the buildings, you will see a typical socialist looking worker(Iron forger) with early decades' primitive industrial tools. In a way it will look now like a vintage revolutionary socialist poster. So the connection with torino express is a remote one since I don't know anyone here, but playing my music does make me feel like the many days and nights I stood behind the red glowing sign of torino and played for hours from bags of exhausted CDs.

PS: The picture was taken from wikipedia. The file is licensed under wikicommons.

Babie lato.

Babie lato(pronounced Babyeh-Lato) in Polish are the white puffs that come flying in the air in before the arrival of Summer. They are one of the signs that warmth has arrived, along with birds, and eventually the sunny days which so far have not been many here. However,what I wanted to talk about is in my mind clearly not an environmental subject, I rather call it a first time experience. This may sound ridiculous to people who live around here, and are used walking into clouds of Babie lato. Believe me, not all places have these beautiful things that come flying into rooms without invitation, and brushing our faces like a flirt with a complete stranger(On the fast sidewalk of distant modern life emotion, people tend to connect with the natural elements, animals, and coincidence more than with other people). In the picture you may be unable to guess right away what they are, but I will explain how it felt for me being inside of them.

For once these things from the kitchen window yesterday seemed like snow. The air blew them in all direction,and in corners they gathered forming white patches like clouds, and when the wind was favorable for a twister(small one off course) these white puffs twirled around in a funny little tornado. When I was a kid we went to our occupied village in south of Lebanon,whenever we could go there off course. Around the summer one of my favorite activities was finding these plants with the white cottony heads and blowing them with my breath, and seeing the puffs fly in all directions. Today as I walked through hundreds of them on a Warsaw side walk, I had a piece of childhood. The sentimentality in this story is worth telling for an obvious reason. I am enjoying in Warsaw whatever it is that has become exotic to me, certainly opposed to Beirut where the nearest so-called forests are far,and scarce enough not to carry any white puffs in the polluted city air. I leave you with a recommendation of a film by Federico Fellini called "Amarcord", and it starts with these white funny things, and in the film the kids declare that the winter is over.