Ode to My Tainted Dreams

One week ago, the foundations of a whole country crumbled. For scientists, it was just a mere matter of plate tectonics, the usual mischief of the earth crust which simply cannot stay in one place, but for Haitians, it was the base of their whole existence that shook, sending ripples towards the unknown future of the Haitian generations to come, which some have already lost their rights to witness. The death toll increasing as we speak, one can only pray and hope for a miracle.

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4-6 Servings                                                         Preparation time: 30 – 45 minutes

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First post of 2010. Well, Happy New Year… and 5 days. I still am allowed to say it because my christmas tree hasn’t been dismantled yet, but don’t worry, I won’t go as far as wishing everyone a merry christmas. I just hope you all enjoyed the festivities as much as I have. What I did? Most of the times, nothing. We went up to Wales for Christmas, had people over the house most of the times during December and yes, I cooked.

I have been cooking a lot these days, I even made dinner for the 31st of December, which included the roast chicken, baked potato croquettes, boiled carrots, stir-fried mushrooms and finally, salad. And, it wasn’t bad, even if I was stressed as hell because I was alone at home with the kids and I had to babysit them as well as take care of the whole house for the day and do all the stuffs and I’m stressing again. Continue reading →

There are times I love London and there are times, like any normal person, I hate it. Today was one of those days where I found myself in the very middle, which both extremes pulling me towards them. Well, first of all, I have to say that this day was actually promising. Today’s the last lecture for the term. Yeah, we geography students have it hard, getting holidays before everyone. If you managed to catch the sarcasm in here, it means I finally got it right.

First stop, the library. Yeah, I know, I’m a bore but what to say, I love libraries, especially Maughan. Well, not when I’m getting lost in the whole labyrinth of the building or when I’m trying to get the photocopies which are supposedly user-friendly to work, which I haven’t yet managed to, but overall I love it. Though I have been spending more time at LSE’s library than Maughan. Turning towards the enemy; it’s the call of knowledge attracting me there… and their photocopiers. Okay, maybe it’s more the archives than the photocopiers but today, the latter were actually the reason why I went there. Continue reading →

Tiny hands flicking the key to the box of music,
Wishful eyes dream of what possibly can’t be.
A light hearted melody, an enchanting power,
The little porcelain doll comes to life at last.

Perfect stance, fragile beauty, plastered smile,
She puts on her show with emotions set aside.
From passion to duty, from duty to slavery,
She performs, dancing to the tunes of music.

Slouch movements copying her graceful ones,
She watches as the little one yearns to be her.
Memories flooding, the scenario replaying,
She remembers holding that innocent gaze.

Child, she imagined being the queen of swans;
Even she had been mesmerized by Odette.
Now, frozen in time, the spell had worn off:
Odile’s deception was more apparent that ever.

The last notes playing, her tempo decreasing,
The curse forces her into painful submission.
Back to dreamless sleep she is compelled to go
Until another unlucky soul turns the key again.

Tiny hands flicking the key to the box of music,
Wishful eyes dream of what possibly can’t be.
A light hearted melody, an enchanting power,
The little porcelain doll is once more freed.

There are some moments in life that seem so far away, you doubt that they will ever arrive. As a young child in primary school, I can remember watching the older kids all going to various upper schools across town and thinking that I would never ever be that old, and would never ever leave my school behind. But life has a habit of creeping up on you; in what seems in retrospect to be a very short few years, I’ve completely finished school and am now looking into different universities. I mention this because the amazing meeting of last week, when I finally met the amazing Nussaïbah, was one of those events that initially seemed so far away that the notion of it actually happening became something of a fantastical concept.

Many, many moons ago, I was in the middle of tearing my hair out before a major geography exam. Despite desperately seeking to gain the best grade possible, I was spending way too much time online; on that night, anything could distract me away from conservation strategies in the Galapagos Islands, which despite being a fascinating subject, loses its appeal very quickly when you have to write about it under exam conditions. One of the messages posted on the Internet that night was a wish of good luck from a friend to a classmate and me ahead of the test the next day; a message that would lead to a new friendship being built with someone from across the globe.

After several hours of writing my heart out in a series of unending essays, I was feeling over the Moon, enjoying that feeling of raw happiness one gets after finishing a complex piece of work. Checking back over the Internet that evening, I was charmed to discover that someone else had also joined my friend on the topic of wishing us well, and upon investigating this person’s profile, was amazed to discover that they were from Mauritius, just over six thousand miles away. The sheer scale and size of the Internet is revealed through such moments, and I can remember taking a few minutes just to visualise that extent of that distance. Continue reading →

Climate Change: The theme for this year’s Blog Action Day, barely a surprise since this issue has been gracing the headlines for, god knows, how much time now, hooting warnings about the ‘mere’ two degrees that can change our lives forever and that most of us don’t even care about. To tell you the truth, it is hard to care, with the recession hitting and your money being more important that your planet. Humans have this tendency to care more about materialistic matters rather than devoting themselves to a cause they can barely understand.

Climate Change, the hot topic selling the newspapers, the main focus of scientists and one of the issues we manage to hide deep in the back of our mind. True enough, who can say that he thinks about climate change or any other environmental issue everyday, trying to find a solution to this global problem. Even I can’t say that, though sometimes I do feel like an environmental freak. Why, though? It’s because we feel that we, by ourselves, do not have the power to change the whole world. Of course, we don’t. What can one single person, among the 6.791 billion ones forming the world’s whole population, do. Continue reading →

‘Geography is a flavour’ says Starbucks and I cannot help but agree. There’s nothing better than tasting another part of the world, exploring a new city and meeting new people. These last two weeks sure have been hectic, with me going around everywhere, trying to understand most of the stuff and more importantly, trying not to get lost. But I have to say, London is a beautiful city, at the heart of which I discovered different cultures, blandly seen as one from afar.

Okay, I have to admit it though, I have met so many people whose faces or names are just a blur in my mind. And some who surely I do remember but just feel weird about going to talk to them. And of course there are others who I want to meet again and meeting we are. But it doesn’t that if I’m loving everything about ‘my new home’ that I’ve already forgotten about home. Because the truth is, I’m somehow missing it, its familiarity and warmth for swimming in unknown waters can be quite scary sometimes. Continue reading →

It’s finally time to say goodbye, I didn’t think it would be so soon. Yet, yesterday I wasn’t feeling anything. I was still as happy and as excited t be going, but it finally sank in as the first of my cousins, as close as a brother to me said goodbye. It was then that I realised he wouldn’t be texting me anymore to say he was coming over in 5 minutes, leaving me barely the time to wear something decent.

Or that I wouldn’t be tutoring my little cousin anymore, I wouldn’t be yelling at the older ones because they left everything for the last minute (as I usually did) and we’d have to stay up late to complete everything. I wouldn’t have my aunt check on me when I would be alone at home, or I wouldn’t have my mother call me on my cellphone because I couldn’t hear her from downstairs. Continue reading →

It’s hard to find something to write about when your life has been in limbo for months now, not that I‘ve been confined to four walls, without anything happening around me. On the contrary, the headlines are practically screaming at me to choose one of their many topics: health, education, politics, culture, but I’m simply out of the loop. As much as I try to write, there’s no feeling into that and it’s just not me.

I’m moving to London in less than three weeks and I can’t say I’m not thrilled. I really can’t wait for August to be over and for September to bring it full on. But somehow, there’s this part of me who wants to turn back the clock where there was this familiar but boring routine that kept me going. I wished I could turn back the clock so that I could spend some more time with my family and friends. (I really should go get that nuclear-powered DeLorean xD) Continue reading →