My Zagreb life of leisure.

So my life has been pretty busy in a crazy sort of way these last few weeks. There was the festival in Ljubljana, followed immediately by my trip to Oslo, and then since then, it seems that Zagreb is waking up for spring, and there has been so much to do.

I've started yoga classes again - Zen yoga, this time, randomly (it was the cheapest most convenient class I could find) and I have the sore muscles to prove it.

To counter the healthiness of that, there has also been a tent in one of the squares in town selling wine and a few different rakijas (like schnapps) at extremely reasonable prices. Especially when you get a couple of friends together and buy by the bottle! I seem to have partaken in quite a few bottles, mostly of Orahovac (walnut liqueur).

Last Thursday was Queer Zagreb's monthly film screening night, and I saw the french film "Juste une Question d'amour", which was good, but, at nearly 10 years old, felt a little dated in terms of attitudes to homosexuality. About right for this part of the world, though!

We followed this (after a decent interim spent in the wine tent) by heading to the women's night at Funk that happens twice a month here. It was crowded, but, as always, a lot of fun, and I'm glad it exists!

I've also had couchsurfers staying - Napoleon (my colleague from Sarajevo) came for a night last weekend, as the Madman (my erstwhile boss) has finally fired him as well (continuing his record of never having a native speaker finish a contract) so it was N's last chance to see the fair city of ZG before leaving the Balkans.

I also just hosted two lovely germans for a few days, showing them my side of Zagreb, which they seemed to appreciate, even if we did end up in the wine tent a little more than seemed sensible. They probably got the impression I'm a complete alcoholic!

Friday night there was a circus performance at Medika, the squat where I stayed my first nights in Zagreb back in October. I hadn't been back since, strangely enough, although now they have an agreement with the city for at least part of the building, making them all legal and secure, although no longer able to host overnight guests.

The performance was sold out, so some friends and I spent some time drinking yet more Orahavac (I was avoiding the wine-tent, but it came to me, instead!) outside, and then somehow ended up getting in to see the end of the show anyway. And then stayed the rest of the night at the after party, dancing to a very eclectic music selection, which was great.

And then last night (Saturday) I went to an 'unplugged' outdoor concert in celebration of Earth-Hour. Now, they seemed to have some idea of what Earth Hour is about, and the bands were mostly doing acoustic sets (apart from the electric bass and pianos) and the gig was all lit by garden torches, which was quite effective, but the amplification was so loud you could hear the music a block or two away, which seemed to me to negate the energy savings of the lack of lighting!

But it was good anyway. I finally saw Lollobrigida perform, and Lidia who directs my choir here was performing with one of her bands, Afion, as well. 

The other remarkable thing about the last week or so, is that I seem to be running into people I know every time I leave the house. And not just at the events, but randomly on the street as well. Friday, in particular, I saw pretty much everyone I know in Zagreb, most of them at Medika, but earlier in the day as well. Maybe it's just spring, and there are more people out and about, but it's kinda nice to live somewhere where I can run into people I know (and like!) on a regular basis. I can imagine it wearing thin, if I were to stay here any length of time, but for someone who is still new in town, like me, it's rather nice, and gives me a good feeling of community!

Hot Torture

So I just did my first ever Bikram Yoga class. You know the one - it's where they heat up the room to the average temperature of India on a summer's day and then expect you to spend 90 minutes tying yourself in knots in it. And you're not allowed to leave. Or speak. Or do anything other than what the teacher says (in 2, sometimes 3 different languages, so there's no excuse for not understanding.) You are allowed to die sometimes and just lie there in a puddle of your own sweat.
I survived. I even did about 90% of the postures, at least in some form or other. I also decided I'm not going to move to India anytime soon.
I have a week's introductory pass, so I feel I have to go at least 2, maybe 3, more times to get my money's worth. Maybe by then I will be a convert, but for now, I think I prefer my yoga without all the strict rules and at somewhat more sensible temperatures...

Why I'm not blogging much

I'm working. Every day. 5 days a week. At least I have 2 different jobs, so there's variety, and in theory it isn't full time, although it sure feels like it at the moment. But it's nice to know I`m doing some good in the world, helping out people like this.
In the last week I have also attended no less than 4 musical things, by which I mean rehearsals and jam sessions, as well as a free yoga class, and about a million social events. Ok, well, a couple. Oh, and I moved into my new flat. This means I have a new address. AND this flat is ALL MINE for 3 months (and 4 days). Why, it's practically permanent! You can send things by Seamail (if you're quick). Email me if you want said address, or the phone number that accompanies it.
I will blog about my flat soon - once I've unpacked, or rather, put things away rather than just upending all my bags to find things...
In the meantime, the pictures of last weekend's fantabulous Red Party and Cultural Insurrection Convention are on flickr, and if you haven`t seen them yet, you should! And yes, I know they need editing, and I will delete the ones that aren't worth looking at sometime. Soonish. Probably.
One of my favourites from each event:

The mysterious life of Kat.

So my life isn't really that mysterious. I haven't been writing about it because it seems so ridiculously busy and complicated that writing anything seemed too difficult. So I'll just write a list that explains how almost every minute of my life is timetabled.
Most of my life is taken up with work, and study. More the work than the study, I have to admit. I now work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I have uni classes on wednesday and Thursday evenings. On Monday nights I go to belly dancing (although I think I'm going to drop that in favour of a second yoga class after Easter), on Tuesday evenings it's choir rehearsal, Wednesday mornings I have a yoga class, Thursday afternoons a training class organised for QUT staff (I like being employed by an enormous organisation that does free things for its staff!). Friday afternoons sees me (and Sean) at a French lesson in town, after which we usually hang out at Rowan and Klaus's for the evening. Saturday and Sunday aren't usually overly scheduled, but I do have to do readings for uni, housework and shopping etc somtimes. I also have wednesday afternoons and friday mornings "free" for these things, but it never seems like enough time!