Far From Home

A song for my black expats and globetrotters....get up, stay up.

So Far From Home feat. Phonte - Jazzanova

A Salute

photo credit
Aww, the sugarless tea...I had a similar view for a few days

Without getting into specifics, I just wanna give a salute to the fine doctors, nurses, and staff at the University Hospital Center in Ljubljana who took care of me. I am fine...thanks!

My 100 Things.

taken from Madame K in her My So-Called Life in France
I don't like to do memes, but I find people usually like to read them.
The idea is to highlight the stuff you've done.

Here's mine:

1. Started your own blog. (Too many to count)

2. Slept under the stars. (I think this was during Girl Scouts or something)

3. Played in a band (I managed and booked a ton of bands, but I myself have very little musical talents. Nonetheless, I sang in choirs in elementary school and I can play basic accordion....don't ask.)

4. Visited Hawaii.

5. Watched a meteor shower.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity.

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain ( I'm sure The Captain will force me to do this soon)

9. Held a praying mantis.

10. Sang a solo. (Despite my lack of musical talent!)

11. Bungee jumped.

12. Visited Paris.(I need to go again)

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.

15. Adopted a child. (This seems an odd thing to have on a list of once in a lifetime things)

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. (No one who lives in New York wastes their time with this unless they are forced to go on a school trip)

18. Grown your own vegetables.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.

20. Slept on an overnight train.

21. Had a pillow fight.

22. Hitch hiked. (I crashed a car and after getting out of the podunk emergency room I had no other way to get to civilization)

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.(Why is this here? Who hasn't done this?)

24. Built a snow fort. (I think I helped with one...)

25. Held a lamb. (They have them next door, I should just run over...)

26. Gone skinny dipping.

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (Seems like a tourist trap to me)

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.

31. Hit a home run.

32. Been on a cruise. (Brief one to Mexico, it rained the whole time.)

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. (Not sure exactly what this means, but considering I stood in a house in Ghana where my great grandfather was buried beneath the floor boards and some of my cousins were still living, I think I got this covered.)

35. Seen an Amish community.

36. Taught yourself a new language. (I'm mostly self-taught in Slovenian but I am reaching the limits.)

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. (Between high school and college I had a couple thousand in savings, no bills, and nothing I really wanted except to get to college. It was nice).

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (this is not on my list of important things....)

39. Gone rock climbing (I think my fear of heights is not on the top of my list of things to get over)

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karoke. (I had a crush on Pablo Schreiber, brother of Liev, who I'd worked with on a film. A few weeks after the film wrapped, a bunch of us went to Winnie's in Chinatown. I sang Stuck In The Middle With You from Reservoir Dogs. All I remember afterwards is Pablo coming up to me saying "Camille, you shouldn't have done that." Every time I see him on TV, it all comes flooding back. )

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt. (The Captain and I were conned into this. My mother pushed us into it.)

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.

44. Visited Africa.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance (Aforementioned car accident)

47. Had your portrait painted


One of my portraits was featured in this show. That's my eye.

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Still working on swimming)

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie (Here's my tiny IMDB entry)

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen (I actually helped start one!)

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies ( Those cookies are a scam!)

62. Gone whale dolphin watching.

63. Got flowers for no reason (In an attempt to be Liberated NYC Girl (TM) I tried to make this a weekly ritual several times, but I was always either too lazy or too broke)

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (Huge.)

71. Eaten Caviar (French class trip...I'm an escargot girl)

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job ( I was let go from a position I had in college for being too depressed about the job. I could have improved my mood and stayed but one can only get it up for selling postage stamps and renting graduation robes for so long before the thrill is officially gone)

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London. (Waste of time, imho)

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book (I was written about in a book...)

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper (A coupla times. )

This is me in the New York Times in 2004...don't ask

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (I've been party to this but not actually done it all. Freshly slaughtered goat is the worst smell in the world. The worst.)

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life (I've had my life saved many many times. I owe the universe!)

90. Sat on a jury (I doubt I ever will. I am too disestablishmentarian too get my fair shake)

91. Met someone famous (I lived in New York...so nearly ever day. I danced to The Smiths with Mike Meyers. I sat with Amy Winehouse while she got a tattoo. I nearly got the beat down from Foxy Brown)

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a lawsuit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day ( I read two books in two days last week)

Ok, your turn.

I Shouldn't Laugh....

....but this busted Backstreet Boy/Jeremy Jordan (if you don't know who this is, I encourage you to click and compare) wannabe cracked me up today! Part of the humor is in the words so if you don't understand Slovenian you miss part of the hilarity, but it is still pretty ridiculous without the lyrics.



Soulgreg feat 6pack Čukur - Nisi Ženske Zame (You're Not The Woman For Me)

Unfortunately this is one of the best songs I've heard here, so I shouldn't laugh too much.

They Got The Memo

When you type "Radovljica blog" or even just "Radovljica" in Google, my blog pops up pretty fast. So I think the powers-that-be here in Wheelville have finally realized the clout I have when it comes to the international opinion of Radovljica (which I am calling as the next Ljubljana, btw).

So when I complain about the lack of Christmas cheeriness, people get on top of it.

No sooner do I tap out that blog post then I get off the train in Radovljica station, start on my way home, and find this.











It's getting to be one of those "When I Say Jump" kind of arrangements, I think....

I Miss Christmas: Bring Back The Warmth.

I never thought I'd say this but I miss American Christmas. I have been in Slovenia for over a year now and I haven't seen any one bat more than one eye at any holiday. I mean it doesn't have to be the big consumerist exaggeration or the proliferation of bad holiday special, but where's the excitement? The lights? The music? The ostentatious window and lawn displays?

I mean, I'll give it to Ljubljana for having lights up, but they are the same lights from last year and they are mostly blue and yellow(??) instead of the traditional red and green we have going on America. I'll also give it to Radovljica for having a Christmas concert, but is that it?

I recently heard that the traditional pagan festival of lights occurred because were so cold and so missed the light and warmth of the sun that they tried to lure the sun back with their own tiny lights and fires. I'm getting no holiday spirit off people here. Someone please back in a truck of Christmas lights and tinsel at every house, people need the warmth (weather-wise and love-wise) here BIG TIME.

Second Chances

Hurray for second chances. After one bad experience (no one talked to me!!) at Friday Night Drinks, the expats monthly drinking party, I purposely stayed away. But my awesome new friend Maja suggested we go and so I swallowed my hurt feelings and went, and boy am I glad I did! We had an internationally super fun time. I drank, I laughed, I cracked dumb jokes, and I talked politics, culture, food, and more with beautiful people from a dizzying array of countries. It is how my life was before I came here and how it should be every day*! I will definitely be back. Hurray!















*Well, maybe subtract the copious amounts of white wine.

Just Thanks

photo source

Another year and no turkey. One of these days I'll do it again, when we can gather up a critical mass of people and food and chairs and time. While the food may be absent the thanksgiving is ongoing. This day is really about giving thanks for the harvest and the abundance that has been cultivated, and so I give thanks for all that I have harvested and all I have been given and the abundance that overflows in my life. Thanks so much to all my family and friends and even strangers who have shown me kindness. Thanks to all the people who never forget me and even to those people who came in my life only for a fleeting moment. Thanks to the people who've known me since I was just a little thing, and thanks to those gracious people who only just received me with open arms and warm hearts for the first time today.......

Thank You
Thank You
Thank You

May all your days be overflowing with love and may the love we have for each other spill out and over into all that we do.

Black Meets The Balkans - Part 106987

Gorgeous pictures of (queen of my world) Grace Jones by Serbian photographer Andrea Klarin





More here

Rum Punch

Sometimes when I am lonely, missing black folks, I head to the liquor aisle since there are always smiling black faces there.....









It is seriously strange that all these products are made in Slovenia or Croatia or nearabouts, yet they haven't replaced the black faces with smiling old Slavic ladies or some such thing.

Yellow!

I got a bit lost in the Litostroj part of Ljubljana the other day. My lost is your gain...













Who knew there was a hairdresser high school?

Oh Dear!

I got up early because I couldn't sleep and this video came upon the screen. Everyone involved in this video needs to get slapped....hard. I'd be more than happy to do it. I've slapped people for lesser offenses.

Sandra Auer - Vroče Kakor Afrika (Hot Like Africa)





File under: White People What We Gon' Do With You?, What Were They Thinking?, Black people who are out they minds.

WOW WOW WOW

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW









WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW

Fingers Crossed!

Today on this day of the American election, I sit here with my fingers crossed tightly for Obama to pull through.

This song is dedicated to today.

Dar Fur: War for Water

Slovenian writer and activist Tomo Križnar, who I've briefly mentioned before, recently premiered his documentary Dar Fur: War For Water here in Slovenia. The film has been getting a lot of press and even showed at Cannes Film Festival. The Captain and I are planning to go see it this week. Here is an older version of the preview.



Also, if you are in Slovenia, there will be a benefit concert at Festivalna Dvorana this Wednesday (5th November)featuring such great talents as Vlado Kreslin and(my favorite) Maša Kagao Knez.