Day 45!

I'm halfway through my allowed 3 months in the Schengen countries. The plan is to stop the clock soon by ducking off to the UK and to then use up the rest in Scandinavia.

Time flies when you've got 6 months off work you're having fun! Quick summary of places so far: Sarlat ~ Toulouse ~ Figueres ~ Barcelona ~ Valencia ~ Madrid ~ Salamanca ~ Granada ~ Malaga (Alhaurin de la Torre) ~ Sevilla ~ Geneva ~ Zurich ~ Munich ~ Prague.

I have come from this:

... to this:

Regular blogging was never going to happen. I will have to improvise.

On a fairly long train ride recently, I managed to summarise some highlights and will post these separately in the interest of brevity and blogging etiquette (if there is such a thing). These will include a summary of my European food highlights, a blog dedicated to flamenco, some insights about getting around aka transport, some musings on planning vs spontaneity (including a philosophical rambling about fate) and my unfinished thoughts on intuition as well as being a tourist. By that stage there will most likely be many more unfinished thoughts brewing..

For now, I'll leave you with an interesting bit of culture from Toulouse. It's called "Quart d'heure Toulousain", which translates as the Toulousian 15 minutes. Whether you're meeting friends for dinner or a real-estate agent for an inspection, it is commonly accepted to be anywhere between 0-15 minutes late!

España

Growing with the flow

So after an excellent time (and intensive days of yoga) in Toulouse with Zoe and Natalia, I got the train to Barcelona via a stop in Figueres and a visit to Dali’s museum.

I arrived in Barcelona to discover that I was just in time for the city’s annual La Merce festival. Thanks, universe! The photo is of Sagrada Familia at night, lit up by a special light show put on for the Festival. I'll upload a video to FB soon. But I’m not going to tell you what I did and saw, I’d rather talk about a couchsurfer I met.

Simon from Germany arrived in Barcelona very late and missed the last train to his host’s place. He posted on CS asking for urgent help and I responded with directions to our hostel. In the morning, I woke up to find him in our dorm and after a brief conversation we had a hilarious moment of realisation (although I already knew it was him of course). We proceeded to hang out the next two days together with a few other CSers.

Simon is 21 and reminds me of Alexander Supertramp from Into the Wild. I gave him my copy of the book because this was a perfect reason for why I brought it with me. He embodies a very purist concept of couchsurfing – spending as little as possible and just doing things without much planning. What struck me was that he ended up in this situation (with only 200 euros) intentionally. He had even told his mum in advance not to lend him money if he asks for it. I think this is the essence of growing as a human being – putting yourself into vulnerable situations where you will be challenged. It’s calculated risk-taking, of course but much more of your personality and spirit will emerge for you to see and question.

I’m going to call it ‘growing with the flow’. Instead of planning everything, going from A to B and being comfortable.. walking along a river and not getting wet.. you jump in and see if you can swim. And what if you can’t swim, you ask? Well, you will find out exactly how much you’re prepared to struggle to survive. Maybe you’ll discover you’re great at doggy-paddling, maybe a log might appear next to you, maybe you’ll get rescued by a passer-by and form a life-long friendship. If you don’t jump in, you’ll never know what could have been.

Like a good academic student, I’m going to give an example. I just realised that I have been in Simon’s situation. When I was 18, I came to Byron Bay a day early for schoolies and all the hostels were booked out. I managed to store my bags at one and just had a BMX bike I had taken up with me on the train for a friend. So I spent the night riding around, exploring Byron, even going up to the lighthouse and then I slept on the beach. I didn’t die. I didn’t get robbed. Anything could’ve happened but I learned that a bed is not essential for survival. I’m not going to start sleeping rough, that’s not the point.

It’s best to finish this with one of my favourite quotes from Into The Wild:

“You really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been to hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.” p 58

France ~ Tatty & Julien's wedding in Sarlat ~ Toulouse

Welcome! I've thought long about this 'blog' idea and have decided that I'm not really interested in recording some sort of journal of where I've been and what I've seen. You can google all that. Instead, I've decided to only share little bits and pieces that have stood out for me. Stuff that you can't google.

The photo above is of a little ancient town in South France called Rocamadour. There are many places in France that are quite ancient.. going back to the 11th Century, for example. It's a surreal experience to be somewhere physically that existed so long ago and was a part of a completely different world. I was hoping there was some kind of 3D glasses tour experience that could let you see the ancient streets as they were back in the medieval times, with horses, carriages, knights, lords, peasants and wenches. The photo is a good impression of my current disposition - looking up in awe at the travel experience before me..

I went to a yoga class in a local park in Toulouse a few days ago. Zoe - the girl I’m staying with - is the teacher and there were two other girls and a guy there. We set up under a tree next to a fence and some bushes. The weather was very pleasant, with crisp, blue skies and a refreshing breeze. People jogged past, mothers pushed their prams and some of the randoms stopped to have a look. When we had just started, a black man in a trench-coat with a backpack and a dog came over. After we told him we didn’t have a cigarette and explained that we were going to do yoga, not sport, he asked to stay and watch. Sure. Why not?

Fast forward about 20 minutes. Zoe is great, she makes us focus on details and constantly reminds us to breathe and to smile. I adopt the ‘down dog’ pose, head dropped down and looking behind me through my legs. There, on the fence, sits the black man, his trench-coat parts slightly and I’m looking upside down at him playing with his floppy cock. Focus on your breathing. Relax. Don’t forget to smile. Try not to pay attention to the clichéd, possibly homeless, pervert in a trench-coat jerking off metres from your yoga class.

So what would you do in this situation? Firstly, I don’t know how to say “Get the fuck outta here you pervert!” in French. Secondly, I don’t know if this is common in Toulouse or how exactly people deal with something like this here. I wouldn’t know how to threaten him with the cops or follow through with the threat. “Bonjour, gendarmerie. Je suis en parc et un pervert est masturbateur sur le yoga class. Come quick before he does?” Zoe chose not to make a scene or risk a confrontation. She stoically continued with the class, not letting up to the anathema of positive yoga vibes currently unfolding. I decided that since the guy posed no threat, this would just be an extra concentration challenge. The class went on and finally the guy left. He even politely said goodbye and wished us a nice day. The last 10 minutes of the class were quite a relief. Next time you’re doing yoga and feel like it’s a bit challenging, be thankful that some pervert is not masturbating nearby. I know I now have a new appreciation for ‘regular’ classes.

Til next time.. Peace out
Shly

Adios Brisvegas!

Hello folks,

This is where I'll try to maintain some sort of travel blog. I couldn't be bothered starting a new one so this one will have to do. Please disregard all the previous nonsense I posted on here. I was young and impressionable :)

Peace out

Alex "Shly"

#11 My meaning of Sauna

So in a complete 180 from my previous conclusion, I'm now writing about something that makes me happy. Yet, I may also be alluding to something that makes me unhappy - constant mental struggle. The buddhists call it chatter and suggest minimising it. Well, here's one way.

My meaning of Sauna.

Why it’s ‘my’ meaning is because it may mean something (or nothing) different to you.

It’s roughly 80 degrees Celsius. Splash some water on the hot stones and hear its evaporating hiss. Feel the wave of hot air spread over your face and body. Time evaporates. Instead, there’s the slowing ticking of expanding and contracting metal. Breathe in the heat. Sit with your back against the bare, comforting wooden planks and breathe out all your worries.

Without the water, it’s not so hot. Sitting in comfort is nice but that’s not my meaning of Sauna. Splash a few ladles more. Feel the heat oppress you. It’s so hot you have to breathe slowly through your mouth, otherwise your nostrils will burn. Blinking helps against your eyes popping. Now you get uncomfortable. Now you’re covered in liquid. It’s not all your sweat actually. A lot of it is just the moisture from the air. Now you start getting edgy and restless. You wipe sweat off your arms and chest. You run your hands over your face and hair. You rub your eyes with your knuckles. You can feel your heart beating faster, your circulatory getting a workout.

The urge to get out appears. This is the best part. Everything from the outside world evaporates. All your stress, thoughts and anxieties melt and vanish. It’s practically alchemy. Fire. The struggle becomes your primal priority. The challenge is to calm yourself. You’re not boiling alive yet so this is just one of those illusory barriers. It’s similar to when a freediver holding breath gets the urge to breathe in. The ones that can, push through that and can swim much further. I’ve done this. It is all mental and the trick, again, is to calm yourself. When you stop struggling, you become more aware of your body and the real state it’s in. You will know if you’re too hot and need to leave. You will also realise how much worse struggling makes things. Breathe slowly and deeply and feel the therapeutic warmth fill you. Thoughts from the outside world may start creeping in but it’s easier now to throw them on the hot stones. Once you’ve been able to stay calm, relaxed and in the zone for a while, it’s time to get out. You still have to respect your body.

That’s only half the fun.

You open the door, step out and feel the instant relief of cool air. Walk slowly towards the pool. It’s good etiquette to shower at this stage but then you don’t get the proper effect… for which you just have to dive in. Don’t even think about walking in gradually or dipping in your legs. Dive. Feel the sudden blast of cool water. It’s so sudden it’s not unpleasant. Swoop up to the surface and lie on your back. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Hold it. That’ll help you float better. The dive will have made lots of bubbles. As you’re now floating above them they rise and spread over your back. They tickle past, on the way to the surface, over your shoulders, neck, arms and legs. Most rush past. Some stragglers follow. It’s like you’re being caressed by some tiny creatures. And all that is in the first few seconds after diving in.

Now focus on the floating. With eyes closed, this is the closest to weightlessness. The water is warm enough to not be intrusive. It’s pure comfort and relaxation. Breathe out slowly and keep floating. There is absolutely no tension in your body. No pain. No strain. If your ears are underwater, it’s even better. All sounds are muffled and you can just hear the underwater silence. Perhaps some distant drone of machinery or spa jets. You might hear your heart beating, slowing down. Stretch your arms above your head and arch your back. That makes floating easier. You can even arch your head back underwater. Make sure to breathe out while you do this. That feels good. The stark contrast between the struggle you’ve just endured and the rewarding relief is visceral. That feels very good.

This is also alchemy. Water. Water cleanses, you know? Washes away. Open your eyes now and look up at the night sky. Stars, perhaps the moon. You can float here and feel as though you’re up in space. Think about how miniscule you are while all that unfathomable everything is floating out there above you. For all you know, you’re floating above it, weightless in space above an infinite ocean of the universe.

You can now hold your breath and dive. You will now be able to stay underwater for much longer. This is because you are totally relaxed, your heart is not racing and you’re not wasting oxygen. It almost feels like you don’t need to breathe. You’re not distracted. You’re not struggling pointlessly. If you haven’t yet, you ought to try it for yourself.

#10 On Reflection

So I've realised that my last post was about 1.5 years ago... and I decided to reflect on that.

Has my lifestyle really become that busy? No. I have plenty of time to play Xbox for hours. So, really, it's a choice. I have been choosing not to take time out, reflect and blog my thoughts coherently. I may have been thinking that my thoughts aren't worth blogging but I'm sure I've had lightbulb moments that I failed to note.

How many people these days in our society take regular time out to gather and organise their thoughts and to ponder about things other than the mundane necessities of life, exciting gossip, work debriefing or the myriad of other distractions that fail a simple test: DO THEY CHANGE YOU AS A PERSON? A nice thing about life is that if you are unhappy about something and you reflect on it, you can actually work towards changing something in yourself or your situation that will then remove your unhappiness. Not changing anything relies on the much less likely possibility of your situation changing itself. The worst that can happen is that nothing at all changes and you continue being unhappy.

So is reflection crucial for change? Indubitably.

Following on from the above, it may make it easier for me to blog more regularly by reflecting on those things that make me unhappy. Perhaps that's one of the problems these days - because of the constant barrage of distractions, people forget that they are unhappy about things.. and so they don't reflect.. and so nothing changes.

And now to see how the tennis is going on TV...