Non Travel Blog

Friday, March 6

Reasons i feel like i'm in berlin right now:

I spent yesterday evening hanging out in the squatted entertainment area metelkova, which would not be in the slightest bit out of place in berlin.
I just ate felafel, which is, of course, one of my favourite things about berlin. I even sat on a river bank to eat it, which is one of my berlin traditions.
It's warm and sunny, while still being jumper weather which is how i mostly remember berlin, as i've almost always been there in spring early summer.
While wandering around today i occasionally smelt coal burning, which i first learnt to identify in berlin.
The sharehouse flat i'm staying in reminds me of any number of places i have stayed in germany, both in architecture and atmosphere.
The currency is the euro.
There are interesting people wandering about interesting funky areas of town.
I can reasonable expect anyone i encounter to speak english- even those over 30.
Overall, Ljubljana is a cool and funky little town, and i have a feeling i will be back again before long!

Thursday, March 5

0.15 seconds of fame

I realise that when I posted the link to my choir's television appearance in my last post, I forgot to tell you where in the 50 minute program we are. So here's the link again, but this time I can tell you that the story starts at about 12:55, and goes for around 6 minutes. Stay tuned for the last few seconds for my closeup!

The story is that there was this girl who came out to her parents, who were so impressed that they locked her in a mental institution for a few years. She has recently been released, and the concert we performed at on Saturday night (which is also plugged in the tv appearance) was a benefit concert for her.

I gather the story focusses both on her and on the emergence of queer choirs in Zagreb - the guys they talk to are from the newly-formed queer male choir Qklapa.

Monday, March 2

Good Things

They just keep happening!

Going to Varazdin last week with Dora, and dressing up for carnivale
Discovering getting back to Canada might be easier than I thought
Hosting Eli the hitchhiking Couchsurfer on Wednesday night
Le Zbor (the choir) getting filmed for tv! It screened on Saturday night, and is now online!
Hosting Kristen the Couchsurfer from Montreal from Friday (until today!)
Choir practice on Friday night, in which we sang our way through the entire repertoire, including a whole lot of pieces I didn't know we sang.
Going out Friday night with friends.
Beginning to sort things out in my room here and Get Things Done from my huge long to-do list.
Hosting Stephanie, another solo traveller fom Canada, on Saturday night!
The amazing benefit concert on Saturday night, at which Le Zbor sang beautifully, and were definitely the highlight of the concert!
Getting to finally see my friends' band Z/buka play at the saturday night concert, even if the sound system wasn't so great.
Acquiring a great new t-shirt from the saturday performance (we wore them to perform), plus 5 new great badges to add to my collection (thanks Goga!)
Spending most of Sunday at a hot springs spa with a bunch of Couchsurfers.
Seeing my friend Anne from Sarajevo, who came to visit Sunday and Monday.
Finding a couch for this weekend's festival in Ljubljana - I sent one request, and found exactly the right people to stay with!
Settling into my wonderful flat here.
Beans. Beans are good things. Especially when made into chilli.
Possibly maybe perhaps getting invited to Oslo to give a workshop there.
Learning about silicone stuff from my wonderful flatmate, who just happens to be studying it as part of her masters in fine arts (sculpture).
Being given all my favourite sorts of chocolate by my house guests (dark chocolate! Lindor Chocolate! Pink Pepper chocolate, which I didn't even know I liked!) AND a jar of Thai Red Curry Paste!
I'm listening to TripleJ as I write this post!

Wednesday, February 25

Douglas Adams was really on to something

Apparently, I Have Eyes

24/02/2009
Originally uploaded by Ptraci

This was the beginnings of today's impromtu Carnivale costume. Many more hilarious photos on flickr :)

Saturday, February 21

the theremin is still the coolest instrument I know

Although it's pretty much a tie with the sousaphone, I think.

See! It can do lyrical melody AND weird 50s sci-fi sound effects!

In other musical news, I joined Le Zbor (which translates, using two languages as 'The Choir'). I've been to two rehearsals. I have a whole lot of croatian lyrics to learn. But it's nice to be singing again.

Friday, February 20

Hitchhiking tips

I having trouble embedding this video, for some strange reason, so here's the link instead.

And yes, it's in Dutch, but it's very closely related to english, so listen hard, and you'll understand enough to get the point.

Now I'm off to buy myself a Heidi outfit. Or maybe an aquarium...

(OK, so I thought it was Danish, but that's because the person who originally pointed it out to me was danish, I believe, and i just never listened hard enough to spot the difference...)

Friday, February 13

That trip I did in January, remember?

I just realised that I can make maps with google and embed them here. I mean, I knew I could embed maps, but hadn't thought of doing it here.
So I made this one of the trip I did in the first 2 weeks of January this year, which is a good excuse to blog something about it. The beginning was by bus, as I was travelling with my friend Anne, and she had a time limit, but from Herceg Novi up the coast, to Zagreb and back to Sarajevo was all done by hitchhiking.

View Larger Map

Trip highlights include:

The bus ride through the icy mountains to Podgorica. At one point I looked down from the bus window and saw nothing but the river a looooong way below... Also, the bus went 7 hours without a single toilet break (and no toilet on-board either). In fact the two girls who did attempt a toilet break at one of the places we stopped to load more passengers ended up being left behind (but were delivered back to us 15 minutes down the road)

The sheer amazingness of the Dalmatian coast and the walls of Dubrovnik:

Getting a new sweater & 3 pairs of socks from a guy who picked me up while hitching:

The weather, particularly in Split:

The Sea Organ of Zadar (and yes, I know this should be a video so you can hear it, but I haven't uploaded one yet!)

Unfortunately, by the time I got to Zadar, I was pretty sick of travelling alone and staying in hostels, as the couchsurfing thing really did not work - I didn't even manage to meet anyone. So I had way too much time on my own, and too much time to think, and ended up all melancholy.

But then I arrived in Zagreb, and spent 4 days hanging out with great friends who cheered me up and convinced me that I really should be living in Zagreb, and not Sarajevo.

So now I am!

Thursday, February 12

Faster than a speeding bus.

Today I think I set a new record. I hitched from Sarajevo to Zagreb in precisely 8 hours and 10 minutes door to door. AND I went the scenic route, through Banja Luka. The bus is, I believe, 8 hours, but then you need time to get from bus stations to homes etc. Tonight I got dropped almost at my door.
Also, in the last 3 days (I hitched from Zagreb to Banja Luka on Monday, BL to Sarajevo on Tuesday, and back to Zagreb today, Wednesday - a flying visit to collect the last of my stuff from SJ) I travelled with a total of 9 people - all male, all driving alone, all but two appeared to be working. And I didn't get harassed once. In fact, all the people I travelled with were nice comfortable people with whom I felt quite safe. "Talkative man" (one of the two non-workers, and the other was an off-duty policeman) was the only one who raised my stress levels, and that was only because he didn't seem to understand the concept of 'I only speak a LITTLE serbo-bosno-croat', even when I said it in s-b-c. And several times. He seemed to think that just meant he should talk louder (but not slower, which might have helped!) He attempted to discuss a wide range of topics with me, most of which I didn't get, although I'm sure one of the things he told me was that all croats were 'not-good people' and that I was ok hitching in Bosnia, but I should never do so in Croatia. He also attempted to ask my opinion on the world financial crisis (I think). I most intelligently managed to say 'nije dobra' (not-good) and then made much use of 'I'm sorry, I don't understand'.
Everyone else I travelled with, pretty much, was happy talking our own s-b-c/english pidgin (which usually became more and more english during the trip as they realised they could understand me and I could understand them and they gained confidence in their english abilities). And the Konzum truck driver threw in random Italian and a bit of German as well, just to keep things interesting. I do like those conversations. (And then that night in Sarajevo I got to talk German and French, bringing my total languages for the day to 5. This is why I live in Europe.)

Here's my rides list for the trip:

White Van to Toll booths
Truck to Gradiska border.
Off-Duty policeman to Topola
Car to Banja Luka

Medium-sized truck to Donji Vakuj
Konzum truck to almost-Sarajevo
Van to Tramway

Red Van to Banja Luka
Talkative man to Topola
New white people-mover to my door.

(And yes, I know I've had a bit of a winter hiatus. And I might write and fill you all in on what I've been doing in the last month or two, or I might not. You'll just have to deal with it. Suffice it to say that I live in Zagreb now, and my social life and mental health are much better because of it).

Saturday, February 7

You silly English Knnnnnnnniggit....

P6180137
Originally uploaded by Ptraci

Mad Melodeon Musicians of Montreal

P6090113
Originally uploaded by Ptraci

This was my going away party.

I miss Montreal.

Tulips on Mont-Royal

One of my favourite photos. I've probably posted it before, but it warrants a second viewing. It was also one of the first pics I even took on my N95, and convinced me that it was more or less as good as my Olympus, except for the lack of optical zoom.