So, last sunday i was supposed to leave Zagreb to meet my parents in sarajevo. But that morning i got a phone call from them to say they wouldn't be on the plane, as my mother was in hospital in singapore with a fever (but not swine flu). She was ok, but they wouldn't be flying just yet. So, with only an hour before i was supposed to pick it up, i cancelled the rental car and stayed in Zagreb.
They finally arrived this morning, having changed tiers flights to come directly to zagreb, which saves me a trip to sarajevo, and means i get to spend this week here! And it happens to be the week of the queer festival! Quelle chance!
So last night i went to the opening, and then woke up at crack of dawn to get to the airport, them we made good use of the car i had borrowed, and drove up the mountain to Sljeme, just because we could.
The plan now is one more day in zagreb, then on friday to budapest to start this cruise on the danube! But first- i get to in to two more queer festival parties!
After all, who needs sleep when there's coffee?

Kat On Tour

So this Sunday my summer starts. A little earlier than for most people, but hey, who ever said my life was normal.

So, because I keep finding myself explaining it, here is The Summer Plan:

On Sunday, May 3, I leave Zagreb. I pick up a hire car, drive to Sarajevo, pick up my parents from the airport.

The next few days I spend travelling in Bosnia with them, and then return to Zagreb for One Night Only on Thursday May 7.

May 8 we catch a train to Budapest to join this cruise-tour thing that leaves us in Istanbul 15 days later. My parents leave from there on May 24.

I'm thinking I will leave about the same time, and make my way back to Zagreb, probably detouring through Macedonia and Serbia on the way. I'll onlyl have a few day in Zagreb though (the beginning of June) because then I'm booked for a workshop in Zurich for the OFF_PRIDE festival (the alternative to Europride).

As soon as I can, though, I'll be back in Zagreb, and be here for at least a week - by no small coincidence, it will be the week of ZG Pride... but then, no doubt all too soon, I will have to leave again to get to another festival and another workshop, this time in Tabor in Czechy.

After that, I have 10 days or so to make my way towards the UK in time to start my regular summer job at the beginning of July. I'll be working until mid-august.

At the end of August, just a few days after I finish being professional me (ha) and revert to regular old anarchist-queer me, Oslo queer festival is on, and I'll be workshopping at that as well.

And then, well, I'll be in Scandinavia, a part of the world I haven't seen much of, so I hope to do a few weeks of travelling, maybe get to the arctic circle and iceland, see more of Sweden than Malmo airport, that sort of thing.

And *then*, I have to decide what I'm doing with the rest of the year. Current plans involve travelling overland to Australia, moving back to Montreal (visa willing) or coming back to live in Zagreb.

And right now, Zagreb is winning...

Sunday on Saturday at Medika

Lat night was a fun night, with lots of friends and acquaintances (everyone who's ANYone was there, dahling!) and many little entertaining moments. And a few crazy ones: I am used to meeting the occasional Aussiophile here, who gets unreasonably excited when they find out my country of origin, but I've never made anyone cry before...

Worst case of the affliction that I had seen, really. I'm glad she had a good time while she was in Aus, and I'm sorry her visa ran out and she had to leave, but I haven't really lived in Australia for long enough now that I almost feel weird saying I'm from there, and I always have to admit at some point that I'm quite happy not living there, even though it's their life-long dream to be able to do so.

When I made my escape (the interestingness of the aussiophile girl being finally outweighed by the annoyingness of the drunk guy hoping to to kiss us) I heard her say in a very disappointed whine "See, now you've frightened her away!". And I did indeed feel like some small furry animal scurrying off to safety (but still did not feel at all like the kangaroo that Drunk Guy kept wanting me to be "Are you a kangaroo?" "No, do I look like a kangaroo?")

Definitely an entertaining night!

The Fragility of my Zagreb Queer Bubble.

I've had such a wonderful life lately, abandoning myself complately to hedonistic persuits, such as perfecting the art of spending all day in cafes hanging out with one friend after another. The sun is shining, we've had 3 t-shirt-weather days in a row, everyone is beautiful and life is generally brilliant.

I have been feeling a little guilty about this high in the last few days, though, as the same spring-fever that is causing my high has also caused nearly everyone I know to break up with their partners. Which is sad. But it does mean there are even more people than usual looking for distraction, company, and a friendly ear, which increases my time spent sitting outside in cafes, which I am not complaining about.

Some are also looking for a friendly liver to destroy along with their own, of course, and it's possible I should work on drinking less. But we know that friends shouldn't let friends drink alone, so what can I do?

Tonight though, while drinking in an alternative sort of punk-ish bar here, I had my lovely little queerspace bubble invaded by a mild homophobe.

A friend of a friend joined us at our table, and, if we had stuck to discussing languages and music, I'm sure i would have thought he was alright. But somehow the subject of feminism came up, and suddenly he was saying "There is no point to feminism these days. Maybe it was useful in the 50s and 60s, but it's not needed now". My argument to this somehow got cut off before I had finished it, but before I knew it he was saying "Gay people shouldn't march in the street, because it holds up the trams and makes people late for work". He apparently thought this meant that the pride parade each year only hurts the gay cause, rather than helping it.

The last straw, however, was: "Gay people in Croatia should have some rights, but not others". Stupidly, of course, I asked which ones we shouldn't have. Adoption was first on his list.

At this point, I flipped out slightly. I realised that this was not a conversation I could have at 1 in the morning in a mildly inebriated state, and I just wanted to get far away from this person who was happily insulting me as part of a friendly discussion. I stood up and apologised way too much while saying I couldn't continue this, and that I had to leave. He (at least) said that he would leave instead, so I was able to stay with my friends. But I was left somewhat shaky, and rather disturbed. I'm also a little disappointed that I failed to argue effectively and make him think about what he was actually saying, but I doubt it would have done any good, and I would have just ended up angry. 

Before he left he said "I'm sorry. I thought we were just having a conversation". I replied "Yes, it was great until you started insulting me".

I know that I live in a very special world here in Zagreb. Having met nearly everyone I know here through queer/friendly events and people, and as I am not working, I almost never have to interact with anyone that isn't queer-friendly. I have the luxury of living in queer space in a country where I would have thought it impossible. This encounter made me realise how lucky I am to be able to do that. And how close the non-friendly world can get.

When I got home a couple of hours later (half an hour ago), I found he had sent me a friend request on facebook. I considered friending him long enough for him to see my status, which referred to him as a homophobe, and the activist in me wanted to continue the argument until he saw the error of his ways, but in the end I decided it just wasn't worth the pain, and clicked 'ignore'.

But maybe the reaction I had was enough. Perhaps seeing someone being visibly affected like that by something he had said will make him start thinking about his own views about gay people and slowly, eventually, change them.

Well, we can hope, can't we?

Recovering from my week in Oslo

I've just had a fantastic week in Oslo. I had a lot of fun, caught a glimpse of some of the interesting stuff that's going on there, and discovered that it would be very easy to learn Norwegian, which is such a cute and entertaining sing-song language. I was even vaguely offered a rather excellent-sounding job.

So naturally, my thoughts turn to whether or not it would be feasible to actually live there for a while. This seems to happen just about every time I spend an interesting week in a city lately - particularly if I meet up with the queer and activist-y people, and find things I could get involved in enthusiastically. That's pretty much how I ended up in both Sarajevo and Zagreb. And even though I'm still enjoying getting to know Zagreb, my nomadic attention span (similar to that of a goldfish, it seems) has been distracted by the idea of a new country, a new language, and a sweet little capital city with the beginnings of a decent queer & alternative community and quite a few amazing people.

Of course, the 8 months of winter and one of the highest living costs in the world are slight drawbacks, but whatever... The winter is not unlike Montreal (though warmer) and the cost of living is matched by the salaries, so as long as I was working I would be fine.

And also, of course, I don't know when I would fit in living in Norway. I already have several different possible plans for after the summer. I guess now I have a Plan D, as well!

12/03/2009

12/03/2009
Originally uploaded by Ptraci

I'm in Oslo to give a workshop on making harnesses and things from bike inner tubes, which is really a quite radical concept here, it seems. I was even on the radio today to explain the concept!
This pic of the national parliament screwed up and got overexposed, and I have no idea why, but it's quite an interesting effect, in the end. It was snowing at the time (it has been snowing steadily all day, just to make up for the beautiful sunny day we had yesterday) but it wasn't actually a blizzard!
Off to some burlesque show now! If I can stay awake! I think I should probably work on getting some sleep tomorrow - two festivals in a row with only one day of travelling in between has been rather exhausting, and the workshop itself is tomorrow evening, followed by a party and performance evening!

Festival Tour

So, i was in Belgrade, at the Q*ueer festival, and I heard about this festival in Sarajevo, so I came here for that. After all, I was thinking of coming anyway. And then I heard about this festival next week in Zagreb, which wasn't in my plan (I was going to head south from here) but whatever. It sounds like fun!
Of course, festivals in this part of the world mean police protection, and living with the possibility of fascist or fundamentalist violence. I am mostly pretty safe, as I am female, and once you're out of the immediate area, and look relatively 'normal' then there isn't much danger. Still, I haven't taken so many taxis in a long time!
There was a minor attack in Belgrade - three people were slightly injured, but the police response was swift (there was a busload of them outside the festival the entire time).
In Sarajevo the attacks from the fundametalists, (who were particularly mad that it was held during Ramadan) were more serious. It is the first queer festival they have had, and they expected trouble, but they weren't prepared for what happened. Here's a BBC article about it. I was mostly safely still inside the Gallery when it was all happening, and then we had a short walk behind the police lines to the place where police were getting taxis for us, and thankfully, unlike others, our taxi wasn't followed or stopped by a guy with a gun...
Anyway, the festival is now more or less cancelled. I will write more when I can. Until then, I will upload my phone photos as I take them (and when i find wifi...).

dark danube

The very dark picture i just uploaded is of the danube. I'm on a boat. A boat that's fixed to the shore, but still a boat. The saturday night party and concert of the queer beograd festival is being held here. After an attack last night, we were escorted here from the daytime venue by the police. It was like a parade, except at night, and with only about 50 people, and on banners or noise... Very odd, really!
But it'r been a good night, nonetheless, although i'm currently by a window seeking refuge from the serious passive smoking habit the balkans have forced me to develop...
The band are now playing Roxanne, so i may have to go dance.

Oh? Canada?

Wow. Well. So much has happened in the last week, I'm at a loss as to how to start, and I don't have time right now anyway, as it's 2.30 in the morning and I have to get up tomorrow to either climb a mountain (Grouse!) or buy a car - I haven't decided yet.
Leaving the UK was sudden and stressful, Queeruption 10 was a phenomenal 4 days (was it only 4 days? Others got 7 days, but I arrived late - it still felt like much longer!) of freedom, workshops, radical politics and vegan food out in the woods outside Vancouver, having a hot shower afterwards was quite amazing, and now I'm trying to buy a van to live and travel in for the next few months. I'm staying in a house called 'The Library' along with what seems like dozens of others, which is fun (queeruption continues!) but I'm really looking forward to having my own space and vehicle. Plans then include seattle, portland, maybe even San Fran while people I know are still floating around these places, then I have some crazy idea about driving up to the yukon, and then heading east to Montreal. I really should start looking for a job there. Ah well, Car first, Job later...
I have a dozen blog posts floating about in my head, so I hope I have time to write them soon, before I forget. No time now - I have to be up in about 6 hours, if I want to achieve things!

Queer Film Festival - Brisbane, Australia
This place was Average visited Apr 4, 2006
I very cleverly organised to go to Sydney during the Brisbane Queer Film Festival. It's a lesson in effective calendar use for me. However, all was not lost, as this year the BQFF is bigger and better than ever, and started on the Tuesday. My flight wasn't until Wednesday, so I was able to go to the opening night! Just as well. I have only missed one year since it started 6 years ago, and that was last year when I was living in Berlin. In fact, the year before that I came home (from Berlin, by coincidence) on the second last day of the festival, and still managed to see 3 films. The opening night film was called "50 ways of saying fabulous", which is a New Zealand film based on the book of the same name by NZ author Graeme Aitken. I had loved the book - we studied it in Quook, the queer book club at UQ, years ago, so was keen to see the film. It was lovely, and will hopefully get a wider release, and when it does I suggest you all go see it. Or catch the second screening at the Powerhouse sometime this weekend (www.brisbanepowerhouse.org for details). After the film there was the required drag show, accompanied by free drinks, nibblies and the most disturbing iceblocks I had ever seen. If anyone ever offers you a paddle pop "bender", say no. Just do. It was nice to be at a queer event in Brisbane again, but it was yet another reminder of how long I have been away (or possibly an indicator how the community has grown in the last few years). I only saw one person I knew! Apart from the people I was with, of course. Oh, and the guy handing out the free beer knew me, though I didn't remember him at all. Apparently he was my dancing partner in HMS Pinafore years ago. That was a rather Brisbane moment.

Mardi Gras Again - Sydney, Australia
This place was Amazing visited Mar 4, 2006
Having been in Brisbane a total of 6 days, it was obviously time to leave again, so I spent Mardi Gras weekend with Kate in her fancy new house in Sydney. It was, of course, great to spend time with Kate again (after a whole 9 days of separation!!) and Mardi Gras was a great excuse for us to dust off our tail coats and top hats. It was all a bit of a re-run of last year, as we were with the same float which had the same theme (repeal the same-sex marriage ban) and the same props, pretty much, and we were in the same outfits, but it was still fun as always. Other floats were all quite different, with a couple of decent political ones, and some inexplicable ones (the Ikea float? The Lincraft float? huh?) and some impressive ones (the Ikea float, the lincraft float... hmmm). On Sunday afternoon Kate had organised some of her friends to come over for a houswarming/welcome home/meet the girlfriend party, so I got a chance to meet a few more people I had been hearing about for most of a year, and catch up again with those I had met before. It was really nice to sit around and listen to a bunch of highly educated australians disecting current affairs - something I don't exactly get a lot of overseas. It was very nice. We also went for a walk around Kate's scarily perfect "village living" created suburb. Thankfully she lives right on the edge of it, as the rest all gets a little bit too "Truman Show" with perfect lawns and matched (though all slightly different and "individual") houses and apartment blocks in shades of beige. The perfect blue sky added considerably to the impression, I suppose! Anyway, now I'm back in hot and very sticky Brisbane, I had better get on with catching up on the two lectures I missed while I was away! I'll post photos soon, I promise.