πάντα ῥεῖ, tutto scorre

There was no official goodbye, no last post from Cambodia. I am of the opinion that "all farewells should be sudden" (but not forever). I prefer not to linger on the last things, not to romanticize the last supper, the last Angkor bier, the last time I thank by saying 'okun chran'. As a person prepares to go, s/he's actually already moving forward. It's a state of mind, where nothing really ends. Coming and going is a natural condition of being, for me it is so since birth. We ourselves are the centre of gravity of this continuous life stream. Two weeks ago I physically left Cambodia, but here I am now, with my krama proudly on my head. As a wise saying goes, you can take a person out of Cambodia, but you cannot take Cambodia out of that person. 

☺☺☺ ☻ ☺☺☺

Non c'è stato nessun addio, nessun ultimo post dalla Cambogia. Sono del parere che "ogni addio dovrebbe essere improvviso" (ma non definitivo). Preferisco non perdermi nelle ultime cose, non romanticizzare l'ultima cena, l'ultima birra Angkor, l'ultima volta che ringrazio dicendo 'okun chran'. Nel momento stesso in cui (ce ne) andiamo, in realtà stiamo già andando avanti. E' uno stato mentale, che statico non è. L'andare e venire è una condizione naturale dell'essere. Per me, è sempre stato così. Il punto fermo, il baricentro di tanto andare e venire siamo noi stessi. Due settimane fa ho lasciato la Cambogia fisicamente, ma eccomi qui adesso, fiera della mia krama sulla testa. Parafrasando un detto saggio, una persona può andar via dalla Cambogia, ma la Cambogia resta dentro.  

La nuit porte conseil

A hundreds things have happened since we're back. The weather has been switching from winter to spring and then back to autumn, leaving us confused and disappointed. In the while, Poland lost its President, Britain got a hung parliament and Iceland, which under the surface is a boiling island, sent us an ash cloud that still keeps impeding air traffic. The Greek folk, who is not really the worst in the EU, erupted in violence and frustration seeming to shout 'who needs banks when we've got democracy?!' and still turning the craddle of democracy in the coffin of decency. The coast of Lousiana is being covered in black-petrol-colour and no one seems to move a finger, while earthquakes keep shaking from Chile to China.

So far, holding the American spirit in old Europe hasn't been really easy. We've been to beautiful Keukenhof, to Maastricht, to Westfalia, to birthdays and concerts and yet I've the feeling of not being really home. It seems that my backpack is still waiting to be unpacked and my mind still needs to see which is the next direction. Soon I'll go check on Brussels and tonight, being totally in a French mood, I'll be going to bed knowing that 'la nuit porte conseil'.

Spirit of America

There must be something true about this American spirit being all about hope and will of self-realisation, or maybe it is just the travelling and discovering connected to the history of this continent and of its restless explorers...

Whatever way, fact is that we are now at the end of our amazing journey across the southern part of the Americas and we feel...rejuvenated. The new world seems to have given us new energy to spend and invest in the old world!

We know how hard can be these days for starters like us to settle with a nice job-house combination in our Europe, nonetheless we did realise how much we love it and think of as our home. In few days we'll be joking over some British of French thingy again, and we'll be still fantasising of working in the Angloland and going on holiday to the Francoland. So small and diverse, so beautiful and fun. That's home. So...let's see for how long will this American spirit last! ;)

The Iguassu Waterfalls, what a spectacle!

In the indigenous language tupi-guaraní, Iguassu means big water. A simple name for such an amazing natural wonder! It left me so speechless that here I can`t think of any nice adjective from the many available to really describe the impact of the waterfalls...So, I guess that instead, I´ll show what was gifted to my sight!

Enjoy it!

Pizza and Sushi

Migration flows to Brazil at Museo da Lingua Portuguesa

I have come to the conclusion that it is food to reveal what Brazil really is. Yesterday a Japanese-Portuguese woman prepared an italian dish for us, using a recipe Italians don't use. It was still a delicious plate! Few days ago, Roberta brought us to a pizzeria, insisting that the best pizza in the world is made in Sao Paulo. Despite skeptical, as soon as the first bite of pizza paulistana met my mouth I had to frankly admit that it was indeed delicious! The sushi in Sao Paulo can be a delicatess and the 'food of the slaves', the feijoada, is today a typical Brazilian dish...What does it all tell? 

Of course food and recipes travel along with the people and folks that use them...when Italians started to move to Brazil from the 1870s didn´t bring with them only hope for a new life in the new world, but they also brought along their culinary habits, gnocchi and pizza! According to the numbers, Italians are the biggest immigrant group in Brazil with some 1,5 million Italians of which 70% seems to be concentrated in Sao Paulo...No wonder a pizza can be so good here! Then there are also Portuguese, Spanish, Germans, Russians, a big colony of Japanese people, and even Chinese, Korean, Lebanese, Jews and...Africans (theirs is another story).

This diversity in faces, languages and food is the richness of this big country. At the Museu da Lingua Portuguesa you learn that since the Portuguese came to Brazil in the 1500, the portuguese language evolved and enriched itself by meeting other cultures. A lot of names and names of places derive from tupinambá, the indigenous language the portuguese met first. Words like moleque, bunda, tanga come from African banto. Açougue, açucar, àlcool come from Arabic. The portuguese language is extremely rich, and so is this culture and this place! Personally, I adore its diversity!

Ready for Sampa!

No update has been possible in the past weeks. First I wasn't much in the mood and then I was back home in Cefalù, which means internetting is the last of my thoughts. Among the reasons, a winter between 14 and 24 degrees was just too good to waste my time on the web. The days back home were just lovely.

Now, as my life as a MA student has officially and successfully ended, my next and only focus is our backpacking trip through South America! Many have said 'how cool!', 'great', 'amazing', but some have also asked 'to do what?'...We are going to South America to enjoy life. For we are young, bright, globetrotters and in our twenties. This is our time.

Tomorrow we will have a long day ahead. In the car at 3 am to make it to Schiphol airport and fly to São Paulo (or Sampa as they say)! Can't wait to spend the next days on a tropical island!