Yemen Blues concert

Hello random reader,

I am no longer sure anyone reads this, but if you do, here are some great news:
I started writing a new chapter of my life, and this time I am filling it up with my beloved one, with love I never thought I would experience...
It starts in the land of Israel, and it starts with music. Local music. Soon to be internationally popular (fingers crossed!). A wonderful local band I've been listening and following for a while now: Yemen Blues. The singer has an incredible voice, the voice that knocks you off your feet. Yes, that good. They were playing in Haifa, a few days ago and I was happy to come and listen to them (again) with friends.
I made a clip out of one of the songs they played that night that I like very much, with people I love :) a winning combination!

See for yourself:

All the rights to the song go to Yemen Blues. I am only a humble admirer that wants to share my inspirations with the world.
Cheers and have a wonderful week!
Anica

P.S. dear Yeme Blues band, if you ever get to read this post, hope you liked my clip, and if you ever need a backing vocalist, I would be happy to sing with you :) (I do have some musical experience)

People I love #1 Irena

Hello lovely people, 

I decided to start the week off on the right foot (hmm… I should avoid these jokes) and publish my first ‘people I love’ essay on Sunday.

And yes, I have also decided that my weeks will start on Sundays. Its nice to have a first day of week a day off, right? :D

 So, about the people I love. There are plenty actually. Those special and wonderful people I have met in my life...

But a very special one is Irena.

Of course.

We were in the same class in medical high school together, about 15 years ago. But we didn’t become friends right away. We became inseparable on our last year of high school. Before that, she was too eccentric, crazy and weird for me to be considered as a friend. She still is. The only difference is that now I understand that this 'labeling' was because she was/is ahead of her time (especially for Serbian mentality) and a brain ahead of her generation. She has been self-aware ever since I know her, while I am still struggling to establish myself and defend my values. 

I still remember when she designed her own dress in the form of a pear and came like that in the class, all orange. I fell in love with her audacity. 

Or when she sewed a hat with ear flaps that reach the knees. Or when her red leggings tear apart so she painted her leg with a red nail-polish to cover it… Brilliant. 

She would always have an idea about what to sew next, or what to put on a canvas, but not always the time to do all that... So I assume that by now she has a pile of fabric now in her closet, waiting to be transformed into something wonderful :)

I love her nonchalance and guts to say and wear what the hell she wants.

I love her ability to see art and beauty wherever she looks. I mean piškote-stairs :D <3

I learned to appreciate and love (weird, yes) when she interrupts me to say something out of context just in fear she would forget it later.

She is funny.

She is raised to think all bad stuff happen due to lack of sex (my experience proved that quite correct).

She is hopelessly addicted to mayonnaise.

She laughs about her front bunny-looking teeth.

She wears leggings in two different colors. At the same time.

She paints with an old nail-polish.

She finds working with mentally disabled children amusing and intellectually challenging!

She is my emotion/mood charger. 

She is my life changer. 

So, every time I visit Serbia, I would go to see her. That is not nearly as much as I would like to see her, but that doesn't change the fact that she is still my very best friend. And each time we meet, our conversation continues fluently, where we left it. The words flow, over time and any other obstacles, fresh and clear, like a spring. Our conversations are never-ending, about 5 different subjects discussed at the same time…

I miss you Irena, a lot. And I can’t wait to see you again.

Last time when I visited Serbia, which was about a year ago, I wanted to have a memory of her, so I took my camera out to take a photo. In the last moment I decided a video would be nicer. And it turs out funnier too. 

Do you have a friend of your life? How often do you show him/her how special they are for you?
I must say I haven't been a good example, but I'm doing my best to make it better.

I love you Irena! You are and will be my wonderful friend forever :***

Have a nice evening y'all.

Hugs, 

Anica

A Break

It has been a while right?

Yeah, I know.

I was putting myself back together… literally.

Please, let me explain.

Soon after my enthusiasm over a new place, new job, new people, I had a car accident.

And no I still don’t have a car. It was the car that hit me while I was riding a bicycle…

Yes. I never thought it could happen to me. But it did.

As a bike rider I got a broken bone and sprained ankle, and the ‘monsieur french-driver’ got a car scratched. And, just for the record, if anyone asks, not only that this idiot man didn’t give me the priority given by the traffic law, he also didn’t help me lift myself, didn’t call the ambulance (or the police god forbid), didn’t introduce himself, but he did have the audacity later on to complain about a scratched car and say it was my fault…

Yep.

Crazy, right?

It takes time to digest all that in one go, I know, so I will give you a moment…

.

.

.

Now, after all this business with cast, crutches, injections, splint and physiotherapy, I can say I am almost normal… And I can say I survived this long period of pain/boredom/frustration thinking of wonderful moments I had with wonderful people I know and how lucky I am to know all of them and how proud I am to have them as friends.

That was my time of (self)reflection and thinking about my actions and things I do and things I don’t.

I heard a comment from a friend saying that I became cheesy with my public declarations of love…

Well, you know what (Doron), I realized how important it is to say (yell if I have to!) my appreciations and love for someone right now, because I might not have a chance later…

So my further writings would be about the people I love and I miss soooo much!

Come back tomorrow (please).

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon,

Anica

After One Year of Silence

Hello,
anyone reading this?
At least I will, just in case to spellcheck myself haha.

After one year, I'm back to updating the blog. This time I plan to do it with less words and more images. And more often (fingers crossed).

So, what happened meanwhile?
Whoa... So many things! I will try to post retroactively and briefly, with the things that marked this year and my life the most.

I switched to English becauseee 1. my french got rusted, 2. not everyone of my (hope to be) audience speaks french.

So lets start.

First news - I left Israel (with as little drama and tears as possible)

for France, Strasbourg where I am now.



Even though my visa was forcing me to leave the holy land, going (back) to France was a choice. Right now I'm doubting it seriously, but deep inside, hoping it is for the better.

I must say I am very sad I wont see for a while all those lovely, beautiful people I left in Israel, grouped roughly into:
people from the Technion
people from the Haifa Rowing Club and
people from Haifa downtown.

Wow...
These kind people made my stay in Israel unforgettable, made me feel loved and accepted.
I will never, ever forget that. Thank you guys!

On the other side, in France, I will be able to meet friends from my 'student' days, scattered all over the country, that I haven't seen in ages! Priceless! Looking forward! I will be able to eat ham, french cheese and foie gras (I know...), and get my french (with the German accent) back in shape.

Landing in Lyon, and meeting Alex, my colleague, lab neighbor, and great friend, was very emotional! Seeing him so enthusiastic, and with big plans for his life, made me happy and hoping I will get there sometime, soon.

Just 4 days in Strasbourg, and I am already diving (read drowning) deep in the french administration, looking for an apartment, but also for sport activities. That's so far very stressful, but I already have my favorite apartment visited, favorite rowing club, running path and promising quire.
The images below are the first sneak peak of the city.



















I did a small video (raw) of the touristic boat passing under the bridge. I wonder if they would do that for a rowing boat too? Probably not, but we can always dream right?! :D

I did a short jogging along the canal. Aside frozen fingers, nose and nipples (no photos, sorry), the sight was lovely and I hope to do it again (better prepared this time).

Tomorrow I am visiting one rowing club. Lets hope the people will be nice. Nevertheless, Haifa rowing club will remain my favorite ;)

Have a lovely weekend.
Shabat shalom.
Bon weekend.

Hugs,
Anica

L'aviron / Veslanje

Coucou !!!

Je voulais vous parler de quelque chose qui me tien à coeur - l'aviron - ce sport si magnifique que j'adore :)
... c'est un sport d'endurance (apparemment c'est mon truc), les mouvements sont calmes, élégants mais aussi intenses;
... être sur l'eau à 7 h samedi matin c'est génial - écouter la bruie de l'eau quand les pelles font avancer le bateau, regarder les différents oiseaux qui y habitent et admirer des gigantesques bateaux rentrer et sortir de port !
J'ai aussi eu l'occasion de prendre partie de compétition en huit (femmes) où on a gagné 3ème place. Bon d'accord, Israël est une petite pays où l'aviron n'est pas très développé, et il n'y a pas beaucoup de participants, mais cette copétition, c'était notre propre succès, notre propre bataille contre nous mêmes - réussir de diminuer le temps sur 1000 m. Et oui, on a réussi. On était quand même troisième mais on a donné notre mieux ! Et c'est ça qui compte (pour moi au moins).
Ah, oui, on a eu aussi l'occasion de se prendre en photo avec le champion olympique d'Israël - Dani Fridman (et son succès en Italie  et maintenant en France).
Je n'ai pas des photos à moi, mais je vous livre un lien pour voir des photos de Dudi Kedem (qui a aussi fait partie dans la compétition pour notre club)
l'entrainement (c'était pas terrible hein !)
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/110894324414620530003/albums/6146563092000135473

et une petite vidéo de la compétition (il n'y a pas des photos, désolé) :
https://www.facebook.com/dudi.kedem.3/videos/o.126221827489295/10205285432427946/?type=2&theater

Mais, tout ça pour dire à la fin, que je vais mettre l'aviron de côté, pour plusieurs raisons. Si l'envie de faire l'aviron persiste des contraintes quels j'ai pour le moment, je continuerai, sinon, bah non.

Ćao društvo,

htela bih da dodam nekoliko redova o sportu koji sam prvi put probala u Francuskoj (i praktikovala tokom dve godine) a zavolela do besvesti u Izraelu.
Nisam ni znala da će mi se toliko svideti veslanje, i voda uopšteno - šuštanje vode kako brod napreduje, mir reke, ujednačenost i mirnoća s jedne strane a srčanost i jačina pokreta i izrdžljivosti (što je izgleda nešto što ja volim) sa druge strane. Neprocenjivo :) I na sve to, prilika da vidim razne ptice koje stanuju pored reke (različite vrste čaplji uglavnom), nezamislivo velike brodove koji ulaze i izlaze iz luke, u pratnji manjih a vrlo moćnih brodova (e, pa izvin'te ali ne znam im ime na srpskom), onih koji mogu da se kreću u svim pravcima.
Imala sam tu čast da učestvujem na nacionalnom takmičenju u veslanju sa osmercem. Izgleda da od postanka kluba (od 1936) još nikad nije bio oformljen ženski osmerac. Još kad smo osvojili medalju (treće mesto)(medalji se u zube ne gleda :P) to je bio događaj! Imali smo priliku da se slikamo sa Izraelskim šampionom u veslanju, Dani Fridmanom, internacionalno poznatim!

Slike sa treninga možete pogledati ovde:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/110894324414620530003/albums/6146563092000135473
A mali video sa takmičenja na ovom linku:
https://www.facebook.com/dudi.kedem.3/videos/o.126221827489295/10205285432427946/?type=2&theater

I na kraju, reći da ću da napravim pauzu sa veslanjem dođe čudno, ali to je nešto što smatram neophodnim da uradim. Bar za sada. Možda će vremenom želja za veslanjem prevladati ostale prepreke, a do tada, ću zajedno sa vama, uživati u slikama i lepom sećanju :)


Uprkos svemu, držim osmeh :)
Malgré tout, je garde le sourire :)

Bises à tous, ljubim vas sve,

Anica

Cooking philosophy

(FR)
Coucou,
ce soir, avant de vous coucher - une petite réflexion - comment est-ce qu'on arrive à faire des choses compliqués facilement, d'un seul coup, quand les choses dites simples et inratables (je haie ce mot, dès que je le vois/entends, j'ai l'estomac qui se retourne) on n'arrive pas à les faire, même en essayant plusieurs fois?
Voyez-vous ce que je veux dire ?
Non ?
Bon, je vous explique.

J'ai essayé de faire des macarons. Ah, les fameux trucs, super/hyper/ultra compliqués. Mais délicieux. Donc, le challenge est là. Je m'y mets. D'autant plus qu'à ce moment là, je n'avais pas de balance (ha!), ni de fouet électrique, ni de thermomètre, ni de papier spécial pour les déposer, ni de la poche à douille, ni de ce truc à macaronner. Rien de rien. Juste la simple volonté, et pis une idée à peu près de la consistance de la pâte (bénis soit youtube !!!) et c'est tout. Et ça allait. Ce n'était pas parfait parce qu'en attendant que la croûte se forme, j'ai fait la vaisselle, mais j'étais contente de mon résultat final.

MAIS, la pâte à tarte inratable dans un tupperware - au grand jamais, je n'arriverai, je pense. J'ai essayé de mélanger les ingrédients dans le tupperware en utilisant tous les mouvements de bras qu'on puisse faire et - rien. RIEN. La pâte est juste simplement dégueulasse. Dégueulasse pour la travailler. Dégueulasse pour la manger. Beurk !

Alors, je me demande : comment est-ce que c'est possible de réussir de faire quelque chose de complexe et de rater une chose si simple ? Peut être que la question c'est plutôt - c'est quoi qui est simple et c'est quoi qui est complexe ? Ou, c'est quoi le plus important - de manger une tarte ou de manger un macaron ? Ou bien : devrait-on manger une tarte dégueulasse et contempler le macaron, ou bien manger d'abord le macaron et pas la tarte ?!!
Et ce n'est pas qu'une question de macarons et de pâtes à tarte. C'est au delà de ça. C'est une question existentielle ! Parce que la nourriture c'est bien lié à l'existence !

Vous voyez avec quel dilemme je vais me coucher là ?!
Et vous - avez-vous des idées comme ça qui vous font tourner la tête ?

Bon, aller, bonne nuit, et pis à bientôt ;)

P.S. il y a que des macarons qui valent le coup :P