battle of vodka

Hello.
Dramatic weekend behind now and looking forward to a soap opera - free hectic and stressful job soon. Can't wait to kick off the dust of this place and this group and become a hermit somewhere in the Indian Himalayas. Look at the water flowing and count the birds flying by and perhaps read a poem or two. Become totally insane and have chats by myself. Perfect.



There is quite the important discussion going on right now in European Union Parliament, we need the help of our Russian brothers for this one. Its that dramatic. The damn British, Hungarians and Spaniards do not seem to know the difference between good vodka and some cheap mutation of vodka in a bottle. Every Finn, Russian, Swede and Pole knows that vodka is made out of solely potatoes, grain or molasses. Other 'wannabe' vodka, which are combinations of many different ingredients and even fruits do not deserve to be called 'vodka' or at the very least should be labelled as 'blended vodka'. This is the battle that will be brought to a vote soon in the EU Parliament with Germany currently holding the EU presidency trying to find a compromise. The word round the EU campfire is that Finland, Sweden and Poland will not settle for a compromise. I agree with the view that if its not the real thing, then it does not deserve the label, because I have been duped into drinking something that I THOUGHT was vodka, but turned out to be some cheap imitation. The hangover was final proof of the imperfections in the drink. Would you sell some Tesco fizzy wine as Champagne?

karma

A day after we booked our tickets to fly to Kenya, 'Deadly fever spreads panic in Kenya' appeared as one of the headlines on BBC. The 'Rift Valley Fever' has so far claimed 148 souls this time round, as the fever is being spread to humans from livestock by mosquitoes and from eating infected meat.

We are mainting a positive attitude that the fever, which is mostly seen in the villages rather than in Nairobi will blow over in 4 months. If not, then we are on a strict vegetarian diet and will have to avoid the places where the fever is raging.

At the moment, I see this whole deal as someone / something having a great sense of humour. What are the chances of talking about getting tickets for weeks and months and then when we finally do buy the damn things, the very next day there is an epidemic stirring in our destination? Wouldn't someone call this bad karma?

2007 - sensibility above all

It has been quite a while since I last wrote a piece here. I have started a few times, but somehow always ran out of steam and deleted the whole thing.

It's 2007 now, getting older, so I was especially pleased when I was asked for my ID when I went to an Irish bar with Pearl in early January. Now I do not take it as an insult, but make a point of thanking the person for his / her kindness. Apparently, according to Pearl's ex-flatmate, who suffers from all sorts of anger management issues and fits of French rudeness, I am younger than her, which makes me smile and Pearl frown!!! :)

I booked tickets today with my sister to fly to Nairobi in May to forget the sorrows / insanity / and drunken stupor of writing a dissertation. According to some travellers, Nairobi can quickly turn into 'Nairobery' so must remember to keep one hand on the vodka - coke and the other one on the prosti.... wallet. Sensibility above all. I am very hyped about this trip, going to check out the local transport in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, revisiting places of our childhood and catching a mind-blowing safari to top it off. So for all this, like every artist knows, one has to suffer for one's art.... well not really a similar case, as its more like 'one must suffer for one's travels' as there is a lovely butch local nurse name Margaret who is looking forward to stabbing me with all sorts of needles. I hear the vaccination for rabies is pure cement. I was too young and stupid to keep a correspondence going with any of my friends from back then, but my sister Reetta has been better at it and we are hopefully going to meet a few of these people from the past. Excellent!!!

A story that caught my eye, which did not, however make the nightly TV news in Britain was about the Spanish courts issue international arrest orders for 3 American soldiers accused and cleared by the US Military for shooting at the Palestine Hotel, in Baghdad, where most of the Western media were staying. The 3 soldiers used their tank on the hotel and killed a Spanish cameraman and a Ukrainian cameraman in the process. They claimed that they were being shot at from the direction of the hotel, which was proved not to be the case earlier on but the soldiers were cleared of any wrong doing nevertheless. It is very unlikely of course that the US government will agree to extradite these soldiers to stand trial for the murder of these cameramen, but I agree with letting the world know exactly what the US military got up to in Iraq, all in the name of democracy and freedom.

Having a party here on Saturday. This soap - opera group that I was made part of when I joined the Erasmus Mundus over a year ago in dreadful Aarhus, is meeting up for the last time at our house. So all the tension and back stabbing that you see in every episode of The Bold and the Beautiful will take place here. If there isn't at least one fight, one stupidly drunk and one attempt at stabbing the neighbour's cat, it will be so disappointing. I cannot wait. *evil evil grin*