One of my favourite places in the world is a place where I go for vacation since I was 10 years old. We have a summer house there and I just love going there. It's in the region with many lakes called Mazury. I have so many good memories connected with this place and I must go there at least for couple of days each year, otherwise I feel like something's missing in my life. There's lake nearby and the forest. A family of swans and storks come there for vacation too;)
I am being lazy with writing new posts lately, this time as well, so I'll just show a photo of my attempt to being creative:) Some time ago my mum brought me from one of her short trips through our beautiful country a card with typical Polish folk pattern. I absolutely loved the card and wanted to share it with my penpals. Unfortunatelly, there was only one, so I decided to make some myself. The original card was much more professional with perfect details, but these two have a piece of my heart;)
RAE (Real Academia de la lengua Española) is organizing a project El Quijote en YouTube. It's about people reading the fragments of Don Quijote. Each person got a concrete fragment of the book which had to record in the period of one day and post it in YouTube. All fragmens form a whole novel. People from all over the world could take part in it, as long as they can speak (or at least read:P) Spanish. And in the end, 2149 people participated. The idea of this project is marvellous, in my opinion.
Although I hadn't read Don Quijote before (I am reading it now and already love the story, I even dropped some tears of laughter yesterday while reading it), I myself have taken part in it. I did it long time ago but was too embarassed (I still am!) to share this news with anybody. First of all, I HATE my voice recorded. Second of all, my Spanish still needs a lot of work. I am quite embarassed about my accent (especially when I pronounce the word 'blasfemo' O.o). And finally, I can't say I look my best in there:P However (maybe I will regret it later:P) I decided to show to my dear blog readers my fragment (Libro 1, capítulo XXX, fragmento numero 556).
—¿Cómo que no la has visto, traidor blasfemo? --dijo don Quijote--. Pues ¿no acabas de traerme ahora un recado de su parte?
—Digo que no la he visto tan despacio --dijo Sancho--, que pueda haber notado particularmente su hermosura y sus buenas partes punto por punto; pero así a bulto me parece bien.
—Ahora te disculpo --dijo don Quijote--, y perdóname el enojo que te he dado, que los primeros movimientos no son en manos de los hombres.
—Ya yo lo veo --respondió Sancho--, y, así, en mí la gana de hablar siempre es primero movimiento, y no puedo dejar de decir, por una vez siquiera, lo que me viene a la lengua.
—Con todo eso --dijo don Quijote--, mira, Sancho, lo que hablas, porque tantas veces va el cantarillo a la fuente..., y no te digo más.
—Ahora bien --respondió Sancho--, Dios está en el cielo, que ve las trampas y será juez de quien hace más mal: yo en no hablar bien o vuestra merced en no obrallo.
I probably still would sit quiet about this but to my biggest embarrasment, I appear in a video of RAE introducing this project! Out of so many people, they took my fragment there. I just can't believe it.
Anyway, I agreed to upload my video there, so I must swallow my embarrasment now I guess:P Yes, I am aware of the number of times I used the word 'embarrased' in this post. It just emphasizes how I feel about my 'show'.
The project is over already and now we can enjoy it's results :)
The Bastard of Istanbul is a story of two families whose fates mix together. The main characters are two 19 years old girls – Asya Kazanci whose family, due to the curse, consists mainly of women (men die in the young age), living in Istambul with four excentric aunts, grandmother and greatgrandmother. All women differ in characters and belifs, yet live piecefully and in love together. The second girl is Armanoush Tchakhmakhchian, an American of Armenian decent. Her father is Armenian and her mother a simple but warm woman from Arizona, who after divorce marries a Turkish man. In search of her cultural roots and family past, Armanoush goes for a journey to Istanbul where she stayes with her step-father’s family – the Kazanci women.
This is a nice, lightly written novel, although it touches the problem of Armenian-Turkish conflict (for which Elif Şafak was brought to trial) and presents a painful family secret. It acquaints the reader with Turkish culture and the life of Istanbul. You know these books that take you to the places they describe and it feels like you can touch and smell them like you really were there? This is the case with The Bastard of Istanbul. It smells with spices from Istanbulian market and sounds with the buzz of the streets. While reading I was sure I’d hear a scream of raisins seller through a window for a moment. In the novel there’s also place for magic and mystery. You discover how everything is connected with each other step by step and how it all leads to an ending in which the significant role plays one Turkish dessert, which ingredients compose the titles of the chapters.
