Lire la traduction en français
This is blog number 20!! Thank you so much for being loyal readers, it makes our every-day life filled with your smiles.
Life is such a powerful wave. When you think you will crash on the shore, the under tow brings you back in the rolling surf. Please do not infer that we were about to crash; I just liked the ocean imagery. At the precise moment where, exhausted, we were strolling in Melbourne with no place to go, we got invited to stay at Katie’s, Cecilia’s sister, and during our stay at Katie’s a lovely family invited us over for another couple of days. How amazing is that? And there is still people trying to discourage me to believe in the true goodness of human beings and of the power of synchronicities…
Cabeza
While we were trying to find jobs on Katie’s couch, overlooking Melbourne’s zoo from the 7th floor, Elijah and Raphael learned how to eat a whole banana by themselves and learned how to put both their hands on their heads when daddy sais “cabeza” (he’s from East Timor, which by the way has a very interesting story…look it up on Wiki). Seeing how 10-month- old twins learn how to be human beings is as fascinating as any museum!
Old dump
Twenty-five years ago, visionary hippies decided to transform a local rubbish tip where no trees grew into an urban permaculture complex. It may sound familiar to many of you, like a utopia we all dreamed of. But they succeeded and it is now immense and addresses social justice issues as well as environmental ones. So many amazing things happen there every day; it is beyond my wildest dreams. We discovered this inspiring sustainable village on the day of their Harvest Festival, where we listened to world music choirs signing in the giant gardens, lit by fairy lanterns. We joined 148 other believers in a happier future for the famous feast, prepared with home grown organic veggies by immigrant women part of an integration project. Wow! And to top all this wonder, we met Charlie first, who took us to his tree house made out of recycled bicycle wheels, then Lizzie, Colleen and Rob. We connected right away: brilliant, curious and intelligent people forming a lovely family. We felt so good with them that we now live at their place (until we find a job and a proper place to live of course)!
A little hope
Tibet might not have anything to do with Australia but I really want to share something. As I am always trying to learn more and do more about social justice, I ran downtown Melbourne when I heard about a conference being given about the effect of climate change on the nomads of Tibet. I was ready to be brought to tears as usual but the speeches ended on a positive note I felt the world should know about, so that we could stay motivated to support this brutalized people. There is a movement in Tibet, initialized by the uproar stirred around the Olympics, in which Tibetans are being Tibetans once a week. They don’t use Chinese words or eat at Chinese restaurants. This way they manifest their desire without being shot or imprisoned. This simple action got the Tibetan language back to life and now people can have their Facebook page in it, there is even video of Tibetan hip-hop on you tube. Just another example that we shouldn’t underestimate the effect of small actions!
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Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
No need to pay for a Qi-Gong lesson of relaxation …
Lire l’original en Français
It seems sad to take a week off from our blog. It’s as if we miss you. As if we felt a loss of your eyes on our words. I’m so glad to be back!
The great Qi-Gong Master Xhan-Fan Soa Ka Liay*softly told me I had the right to not always be cranked up MegaSuperAlways positive. So yesterday, I accepted the fact that being homeless and jobless in the heart of Babylon at the beginning of the Australian winter could be draining, even if it’s a chosen situation of being nomad. Once this conclusion well anchored in the calm of my being, everything immediately came back multicoloured and once again I saw all the magic of my life. The problem, once observed and accepted, covers itself with a positive learning fleece.
No need to pay to fulfill a big dream (moreover!)
Who read Memoirs of a Geisha? I believe every other people has read this excellent “ bestseller ”, because the night I took small steps in a beautiful violet kimono, everybody commented on my appearance based on what they had learned from that novel. So you never know when your reading will be useful to hold a sophisticated conversation! On the night of April 10, I was gloating. It was so emotional to see Mariko tie up the red obi on my kimono; I almost ruined my beautiful make-up! She was so absorbed in her task and was pushing me around from left to right to tug on the endless fabric. A swift pull on the collar to reveal the nape of the neck and she would shout ingenuously: “sexy!”! An elegant movement to teach me how to reveal the underside of my wrist and she would shout: “sexy!”! Her eyes filled with pride when I succeeded kneeling without having the slit of the kimono opening outrageously. Finally, after a flock of emotion filled “sexy!” she explained to me that the free lock of hair on the left side of my face meant my wild and exciting side and the slick right side meant my discipline and submission, attractive qualities in Japanese culture. I spent the first hour of the costume party in the most Nihon attitude, but I quickly realized I needed to move a little bit more, I needed more roundness. So I tried something never seen before, which resulted in an explosion of laughter from my Japanese friends and the multicultural group filling the living room; I danced in a sexy-afro-hip-hop style wearing an ultra restrictive kimono. It was an intense cultural conflict. Honestly, it was really something to merge such distant cultures, which weren’t even mine!
Speaking of cultural merging, I also want to say I didn’t have to pay to witness a thrilling “first” … While preparing lunch for the film crew of a documentary on urban permaculture (under the watchful eye of the camera), I handed a carrot and grater to my dear Mariko, in order to add bright orange colour to the salad. She had never ever grated a carrot and she was soooo thrilled! Just to show you what’s mundane to us isn’t necessarily to Nihons!!!
*Jean-François Carrier
See HIS view
See His and Hers Photos
See His and Hers Videos
It seems sad to take a week off from our blog. It’s as if we miss you. As if we felt a loss of your eyes on our words. I’m so glad to be back!
The great Qi-Gong Master Xhan-Fan Soa Ka Liay*softly told me I had the right to not always be cranked up MegaSuperAlways positive. So yesterday, I accepted the fact that being homeless and jobless in the heart of Babylon at the beginning of the Australian winter could be draining, even if it’s a chosen situation of being nomad. Once this conclusion well anchored in the calm of my being, everything immediately came back multicoloured and once again I saw all the magic of my life. The problem, once observed and accepted, covers itself with a positive learning fleece.
No need to pay to fulfill a big dream (moreover!)
Who read Memoirs of a Geisha? I believe every other people has read this excellent “ bestseller ”, because the night I took small steps in a beautiful violet kimono, everybody commented on my appearance based on what they had learned from that novel. So you never know when your reading will be useful to hold a sophisticated conversation! On the night of April 10, I was gloating. It was so emotional to see Mariko tie up the red obi on my kimono; I almost ruined my beautiful make-up! She was so absorbed in her task and was pushing me around from left to right to tug on the endless fabric. A swift pull on the collar to reveal the nape of the neck and she would shout ingenuously: “sexy!”! An elegant movement to teach me how to reveal the underside of my wrist and she would shout: “sexy!”! Her eyes filled with pride when I succeeded kneeling without having the slit of the kimono opening outrageously. Finally, after a flock of emotion filled “sexy!” she explained to me that the free lock of hair on the left side of my face meant my wild and exciting side and the slick right side meant my discipline and submission, attractive qualities in Japanese culture. I spent the first hour of the costume party in the most Nihon attitude, but I quickly realized I needed to move a little bit more, I needed more roundness. So I tried something never seen before, which resulted in an explosion of laughter from my Japanese friends and the multicultural group filling the living room; I danced in a sexy-afro-hip-hop style wearing an ultra restrictive kimono. It was an intense cultural conflict. Honestly, it was really something to merge such distant cultures, which weren’t even mine!
Speaking of cultural merging, I also want to say I didn’t have to pay to witness a thrilling “first” … While preparing lunch for the film crew of a documentary on urban permaculture (under the watchful eye of the camera), I handed a carrot and grater to my dear Mariko, in order to add bright orange colour to the salad. She had never ever grated a carrot and she was soooo thrilled! Just to show you what’s mundane to us isn’t necessarily to Nihons!!!
*Jean-François Carrier
See HIS view
See His and Hers Photos
See His and Hers Videos
Monday, April 5, 2010
Shodo to ikebana, De Bono and of course Cecilia
Lire la traduction française
Life is truly magical. Imagine finding stardust instead of salt in your shaker one sunny afternoon: your soup would turn into a field clothed with millions of flowers and you, by flying, would be the wind making them dance. After various elegant swirls, you would probably float down slowly and land under a lacey umbrella in Cecilia’s garden, your feet delicately slid in flowery Japanese slippers.
Stardust started to tickle our eyes and hearts when Marc found the tiny little paragraph about Cecilia in the WWOOFing book. A simple grey page filled with small print then seemed to light up. Urban permaculture and Japanese culture lived together in the center of Melbourne, under a roof of old picturesque bricks ornamented with spirals of iron! Away we flew in Shocker, eager to feel part of an ecosystem that could bring city and greenery together.
On our way to our new life, we meandered in the oldest and grandest hedge maze in Australia, on Mornington Peninsula, some leagues south of Melbourne. Its fantasy-like surrounding gardens were just a perfect prelude to the velvety existence awaiting us, not to mention the relation between the maze and the Metropolis’ lanes and alleys.
To weave even a little more diamonds in our new travel garments, Cecilia the permaculture teacher, Japanese translator, amazing seamstress and great chef offered me a massage on our first night in her sumptuous thatched cottage. Wow!!!! At least an HOUR of pure delight in the dimmed old pink lights. Since then we have worked in great osmosis and achieved marvelous chef d’oeuvres, like a luxurious dinner party for the Great Lord of creative thinking, Edward de Bono (refer to Wiki Book of Great Spells for literature about this lovely millionaire).
Cecilia introduced me to the art of ikebana, in which she believes I have great talent. Being herself a very talented artist who creates green and sustainable worlds on canvas as well as on balconies, I feel tremendously grateful for her trust and encouragement. I have been responsible for creating many floral arrangements where meditatively I married fruits and leaves, flowers and branches to naturally bring together heaven, earth and man as suggested by the 500 years old tradition of the Land of the Rising Sun.
It seems that the faraway Nihon was waiting for me in this small alcove of a house. Smiling and courteous lovely young Japanese women have become my friends after sharing laughs over their digital Japanese-English dictionaries. Having always been attracted by the complex and passionate dance of the brush on the mulberry paper, I one night, decided to try shodo, or Japanese calligraphy. The “way of writing” stops and starts again, like the short or long breaths we take in our arrays of changing emotions. For some reason my first trial was a surprising success, if you forget the fact that I went left to right instead of right to left, which made my master Tamami giggle. I will make sure there is a sequel to my brush dance, as I will make sure to keep you informed of the new adventures of the fairy-like thatched cottage of North Melbourne.
See HIS view
See His and Hers Pictures
Life is truly magical. Imagine finding stardust instead of salt in your shaker one sunny afternoon: your soup would turn into a field clothed with millions of flowers and you, by flying, would be the wind making them dance. After various elegant swirls, you would probably float down slowly and land under a lacey umbrella in Cecilia’s garden, your feet delicately slid in flowery Japanese slippers.
Stardust started to tickle our eyes and hearts when Marc found the tiny little paragraph about Cecilia in the WWOOFing book. A simple grey page filled with small print then seemed to light up. Urban permaculture and Japanese culture lived together in the center of Melbourne, under a roof of old picturesque bricks ornamented with spirals of iron! Away we flew in Shocker, eager to feel part of an ecosystem that could bring city and greenery together.
On our way to our new life, we meandered in the oldest and grandest hedge maze in Australia, on Mornington Peninsula, some leagues south of Melbourne. Its fantasy-like surrounding gardens were just a perfect prelude to the velvety existence awaiting us, not to mention the relation between the maze and the Metropolis’ lanes and alleys.
To weave even a little more diamonds in our new travel garments, Cecilia the permaculture teacher, Japanese translator, amazing seamstress and great chef offered me a massage on our first night in her sumptuous thatched cottage. Wow!!!! At least an HOUR of pure delight in the dimmed old pink lights. Since then we have worked in great osmosis and achieved marvelous chef d’oeuvres, like a luxurious dinner party for the Great Lord of creative thinking, Edward de Bono (refer to Wiki Book of Great Spells for literature about this lovely millionaire).
Cecilia introduced me to the art of ikebana, in which she believes I have great talent. Being herself a very talented artist who creates green and sustainable worlds on canvas as well as on balconies, I feel tremendously grateful for her trust and encouragement. I have been responsible for creating many floral arrangements where meditatively I married fruits and leaves, flowers and branches to naturally bring together heaven, earth and man as suggested by the 500 years old tradition of the Land of the Rising Sun.
It seems that the faraway Nihon was waiting for me in this small alcove of a house. Smiling and courteous lovely young Japanese women have become my friends after sharing laughs over their digital Japanese-English dictionaries. Having always been attracted by the complex and passionate dance of the brush on the mulberry paper, I one night, decided to try shodo, or Japanese calligraphy. The “way of writing” stops and starts again, like the short or long breaths we take in our arrays of changing emotions. For some reason my first trial was a surprising success, if you forget the fact that I went left to right instead of right to left, which made my master Tamami giggle. I will make sure there is a sequel to my brush dance, as I will make sure to keep you informed of the new adventures of the fairy-like thatched cottage of North Melbourne.
See HIS view
See His and Hers Pictures
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