Both Sides Now

I saw Serena Williams looking mighty sad and disappointed about her French Open loss yesterday but I didn't notice who she'd lost to. I picked up the newspaper this morning to find that she actually got walloped by Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik.



Quote in the Telegraph...

"The wonderfully named Srebotnik sounds like something that should be in orbit, not a professional tennis player. It was her lucky day yesterday."

*eye roll*

So anyway, congrats to Ms. Srebotnik. Thanks for getting the country on the map a little. Yes, you got it right, when it comes to winning, sometimes I gotta play both teams.

Related articles

• French Open: Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik shocks dire Serena Williams at Roland Garros [via Zemanta]

Africa + Balkans =

I am stealing this post from my new blog, but only cause its appropriate here.

Just grabbed this great mix off of the fabulous Masalacism blog. West Africa (where my mother is from) and the Balkans (where I live) come together to make a sweet track.

Grandpamini- Les Princes du Tiers-Monde (direct dowload)

BTW, I am DYING to dance. I think I am going to have to find somewhere to DJ once a week.

Where I Am Sometimes

My brother and I are sort of music snobs and the other day while exchanging links and music files we decided to start a blog rambling about music and other stuff. If you're into that kind of stuff, you can check it out here:



Don't worry, I am still working to keep this blog (and my many other blogs)updated.
See you around the nets!

Three Wine? WHUH?

Cheese? Aisle two.

In New York, people kinda live to give directions. We hover over the shoulders of lost tourists, who are confusedly gawking at their tour guides, just waiting for them to ask, because we know and WE KNOW THAT WE KNOW and that know-ledge MUST BE SHARED. And the help doesn't stop at directions, New Yorkers weigh in with all manner of opinions. Like if someone on the subway says Obama is up by 50 points, someone else might very wel lean over and correct them. If you are on the train at 11 in the morning with your resume and a suit on someone might very well come over and give you the name of a good t emp agency. So actually I guess it kinda goes beyong helpful to being a bit meddlesome, but the years I spent there just made me that kinda meddlesome gal.

So it can be so annoying (humbling?) to be here and have no idea where anything is and almost always be the person who needs help. However, yesterday at the supermarket I got my moment to get back to my roots. The summer holiday season has begun and the tourists are flooding in, clogging up the roads with their overstuffed campers, yelling at the waitstaff in a mix of their various mother tongues and English, and then resorting to the ur- language of gestures and facial expressions. Yesterday in SPAR's fine beverage aisle I spied a tourist couple asking some people for help with wine. I sauntered slowly over and then the resident Store English Speaker (we'll call her SES for short) then came over to help them. The tourist woman said "I want a dry white" and SES said (in Slovene) to another worker "Oh yeah they want three wines." and I rolled my eyes and cackled in my mind, but waited to listen a bit more and make sure I was on the money. The tourist woman again said "A wint with a dry taste." and I sprung into action. In Slovene, I told SES that the woman wanted a dry wine not three. I picked up a bottle and showed her "Suho suho, to pomeni dry. Ona hoče suho vino" (OK, no points for grammar).

SES seemed to think they were Germans because drei means three in German. What she failed to do was ask her self what in the world a Three Wine was. The SES thanked me profusely and the tourist man said "Merci" (I don't know where he thought he was") and I walked away self-satisfied. Good thing I was there. Saved the day, I did.

Related article: You got a problem with that?: Why do New Yorkers seem rude? A noted critic and essayist has a few ideas (Smithsonian Magazine, May 2008)

naš zemo, moj izbor

As I am a resident of this fine land mass known as Europe, it is only appropriate that I "do as Romans do" and weigh in on the Eurovision Song Contest while at the same time claiming that I have nothing but disdain for the whole affair.

While I am a resident of Slovenia, I have no loyalty to this country with regard to music and frankly even if I did, the Slovene candidate has already been (rightly) eliminated. So, this year I have thrown my full support behind the very awesome Laka (Elvir Laković) from Bosna in Hergovinia. He is like this very special Balkan Manu Chao-type character, and I really like his song.


Check him out:

From Wheelville With Love

The garden is in bloom! This is what CapMama brought up today.


translation: (clockwise from left) PINK BOWL: arugula, garlic (though i think it is spring onion), RED PLATE: herbs or fragrants, parsley, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and majarom, CLEAR BOWL: spring lettuce (btw, nice spring lettuce and asparagus recipe here)

Slovene for "vitriol"

Dear Makers of As Ti Tud Not Padu,

I hate your dumb show and wish The Captain wouldn't watch it every week. Those two idiots and their skits are never funny and the weekly crossdressing and "impersonating" gay people is beyond stale.

This week's "yellowface", in which the large-sized idiot played some sort of Chinese/Japanese hybrid was just another example of how truly stupid and insulting that show is not only to women, the gay communities, and the various tiny immigrant groups of this country but also to the intelligence of your own Slovenian people. I really hope that the next time you hit the Chinese restaurant for a bite to eat that someone busts out the kitchen and pops a cap in all of you. ..or at least that you get a heaping dose of laxative in your fried rice. It'd do you well to get rid of some of the s*** you are so full of.

Go straight to hell.

Lep pozdrav,
Camille

*

BTW, I've got my racist bingo card all ready, so gimme your best defenses. I feel lucky today!

The Unseen

Image via WikipediaOn Friday, we went to the Pankrti (legendary Yugoslavian punk band) show in Kranj, but we ended up doing everything but actually seeing Pankrti.

This weekend was the end of Youth Week in which all the students were celebrating the end of the school year and the graduating high school students were going wild in the streets celebrating their graduation (matura). I did not enjoy being a teenager and for that reason I don't really like being around teenagers. Needless to say I was on edge all evening.

On top of that, I am just feeling like New York has ruined me for fun quite honestly. I have just given up on seeking out most of the sorts of things I enjoyed in New York City (going out to see live music, going for dinner and drinks with friends, going to gallery shows). It just isn't anywhere as good. I'm trying to stay positive though, so guess I'll just focus on sunny days, sitting in the garden, and the taste of good cheap ice cream -- hippy junk like that... but oh thank God we finally got our plane tickets to New York. I can't wait!

Anyway, here are some pics from our jaunt around Kranj.

A Little Slap

This weekend, our neighbor/friend called and invited us to head down to the Soča Valley near Slap where he and his gang were going kayaking.

We had a nice trek down there. We stopped along the river in several spots, we also drove the car onto a train that carried the car through this completely dark tunnel that was carved through a mountain.

While our friend road the waves we took a hike up to see the Kozjak waterfall. Total good times.



















these are bee hives. beekeeping is big in this country, in fact the town where i live is the home of modern beekeeping.




there were a lot of passes through the rocks since this is where many soldiers were stationed during the first world war. the bunkers and small caves were totally in tact (some even had the wooden bunks in them) and in fact we found some people hanging/camping out in one of them.

Munich - Part II (final)

Viktualienmarket, Moderne Pinakotheke, street scenes, Englischgarten, Olympic Park























See you next year Munich!!