december can get interesting

paula i karol w obiekcie. woooooonderfulll!!!


call for Polish dev cooperation grants. intereesting, though meant a looot of work....

Robione Rękami (Hand Made) - making christmas presents out of everything... (mostely trash :)). Film tape is my new favourite!
(not tape, but still Robione Rękami: http://efte.org/efte-prezenty-filc/)

then the insane Gogol Bordello (have you seen "Everything is illuminated" movie?)


then Gogol Bordello went to Copenhagen, just like the Yes Men did...

more here: http://theyesmen.org/canada

and to end with: a new beginning - Clean Clothes Polska!!!!!!!

movies

last night!!!

gooooooood time

last two weeks was experiencing:

this, but in Koln:

then this in Paris:

then a little bit of work, but quite fun:

around that time some time in Prague and the unexpected French film festival (what is "La vie est un roman" really about????) and Polish film poster exhibition:

classy!!!

then three days in warsaw to remind myself how I love it:

a new ecological, japanese-capsule-style hostel in our neighborhood! cool!!!

and our city district office with recycling bins. did I mention that I absolutely love and admire my city district (żoliborz!)?

then some more work near schwarzwald in a house with the most stunning and dreadful christmas/easter decorations:

and finally some wonderful (but toooooo short) time in freiburg with ania and still quite serene time in berlin (work-wise and people-wise), which made this stencil sound almost true ;)

(on the wall of kauf dich glucklich... prenzlauerberg, ich liebe dich, no matter how middle-class you are and how cheesy are the stencils on your walls;))

oh, and I got my first Kiva repayment (laundry business in Kenya is working well)!!!

My eyes won't shut!

last month in picts

found in warsaw. dear author, I love you!!!

Ireland on Oct 3rd. YES it was! btw, how ugly can the posters get??

my bike has never been running so smoothly. at first, when I rode it from the service point I thought I had hearing problems, cause all the creaking and rattling was gone...

not last month, but developed last month. diving at zanzi... but 18m was too deep for a stupid little underwated camera... shame

also a bit older that last month... tucholska (where our flat is) in 1930 and my great-grandmother(?)! (now there is a lush garden....)

again, not last month. but I like it soooo much. looking down at the ngorongoro crater!

development education rules!!! (EDDs stockholm!)

oh, how sustainable... (EDDs stockholm)

Yunus live!!!! (EDDs stockholm)

a song for Andrew and Erin! oh, how I miss Philly (Philly being a group of people first of all)!

a clothes swap party at tucholska! even I felt overwhelmed...

noah and the whale in koln very very soon!!!

The First Days Of Spring Teaser from charlie fink on Vimeo.

and now the question is where to go for christmas&new year: ethiopia, india or israel?

how I feel today

news from EDDs coming up!

simply west philly

watch this video!!!!

(sorry, can't embed it...)

that's how west philly really is and that's also why i love it and miss it so much!!!

thank you pamela for the link!!! loooove!

a sign

i missed my flight today. a very silly thing to do, especially when it's basically your fault. well, it taught me that even though time is flexible and expandable, there are limits to it;) so from now on-no more rushing (that's what i say today at least... ;))

the last two months have been crazy busy. only in october, i've been so far to ireland, brussels, berlin, łódź and now i'm in stockholm. fortunately i managed to avoid going to gdansk for another 4 days next week... i enjoy it all, but it's hard to deny that it's a bit too much. i still have my studies after all, and more importantly - i'm starting to really miss quite a few people (some of them living in warsaw...). but it's ok. november will be crazy, but then everything will slow down.

so... what's been going on? a lot of work and small jobs and a bit of studies. a lot of good house-life at tucholska. mmmm.... some good frisbee (although the weather is not very encouraging recently). i had my bike fixed and it's never been so wonderful to ride it. a big clothes-swap party is coming up at our place. some good movies in the cinema... life is good!

still haven't managed to organize the pictures from zambia&co. but one day it will happen

good news

go obama :)

obama got a nobel prize

tucholska (our flat) is hosting a canadian thanksgiving tonight

the hedgehog from our garden is gone (or asleep)

i washed some banana peals AFTER eating the banana today (so that the pesticides that were sprinkled on the bananas don't kill the worms that might be leading happy lives in our compost)

efte had a very serene meeting in pupki and we have decided to talk more than ever. i love efte :)

so many friends of mine are out of warsaw now... and life here is just so good

still no time to work on the pictures from africa

later later

too much work&other pleasant stuff going on to write more about the rest of the trip, but a short report is coming (slowly). and for now:

Pee During Shower (english subtitles) from Fernando Sanches on Vimeo.

more later

dear reader. this is just to let you know that we're alive (me&my father) and enjoying our super-quick trip (dar-mwanga-moshi). we've visited dar, polish mission and development project in mwanga, fairtrade coffee farmers and the view of kilimanjaro in moshi and now heading to arusha to check out on some wild beasts ;)

look

getting nearer and nearer to dar es salaam

the champion of card games (sorry, can't spell

his name correctly or rotate the picture)

somewhere in tanzania already

Joyce, my cabin-mate :)

getting on TAZARA in kapiri

blue zambulances...

lusaka's skyline

informative graffitti in lusaka (tazara is the train line between zambia

and tanzania. it was built by the chinese)

the vic falls

here's where we plunged...

always there



falling down... can you really tell it's over 50m?

TAnzaniaZambiaRailway and 56h of happiness

I can't believe I haven't written anything from Lusaka!!! I will make up for it soon. Now just quickly: I've survived (and absolutely loved) 56h on the TAZARA train from Kapiri Mposhi all the way to Dar es Salaam. I've met some wonderful people there and played around 100 parties of shithead/estupido. Now I'm safe in Dar and looking forward to my dad's arrival tomorrow night!!!!!

abseiling it was

livingstone has been a break to the type of the traveling that i usually practice and i've tried some of the adventure backpacking style;)

+abseiling (sliding down the cliff on a rope: head up, head down... interesting, but moderately scary)
+flying fox (you're attached to the line that goes across the valley with your back, face down. you run, jump and slide like peter pan almost across the whole valley... really nice feeling :))
+gorge swinging (insane. you step of a cliff, fall freely for 50 m and only then you get in contact with the rope that you're attached to and you start swinging in the gorge. very scary. very fun!!!)

this is not me, but it's the same place:)


there is plenty of other things that you can do. but so little time. i'm going back for rafting, once sime decides to keep his promise ;)

i also went to the movies, said goodbye to all of the great people in livingstone and now i'm in lusaka for a couple of days.

vic falls

after a Very Long Ride I'm in Liviongstone, near the Victoria Falls.

just before i start about the falls, i'll share another 3 things i love about chipata which i can see i missed out in the last post:
- the affordable (less than 50usd) solar panels at the marketplace
- the damaged chitenge (textile) sellout. wonderful stuff, very cheap, not very damaged
- the names of places ('take it easy liquor store', 'let people talk' - textile store, 'wonderful corner' -restaurant, 'god is able' - a used-to-be restaurant, 'west side' barber and many many more...)

and now the falls. livingstone itself is a funny little town full of young backpackers wanting to visit the falls and enjoy some of many 'activities' offered here (from helicopter flights over the falls to bungee jumping from the bridge). i've met some really nice guys here (germany, UK, australia and belgium) and two Glennies ;) the world is petit!

we've been to the falls today and it was AMAZING. they are simply so beautiful that there's no way to desribe it. we've also walked up to a little rock pool, just above the falls (the water coming out of the pool makes a part of the waterfalls :)). it was wonderful. can i go again????? :)

and for tomorrow, i'd really like to try something exciting (abseiling, white water rafting, bungee...???) we will see :) i can't decide...

chipata&bikes

special warm thoughts for daria and jason on this occasion!!! :)

i wanted to post some more photos, but it takes so long, that i just give up... enjoy these...

road from malawian border to chipata, zambia. bikes everywhere

luangwe bike plant in chipata. unfortunatelly, now the bikes are out of stock and the plant is closed. but they say they should have some bikes again in june 2010. they are only an assembling plant, the parts are produced in india. still, if we do the bike courriers project again next year in lusaka, we can have bikes from chipata!! :)

chipata is great. lively, but not too busy. lots of bikes and bike taxis. lots of good people. beautiful market and crowds of people going out of the mosque after friday prayer, passing on their way groups of old ladies in church outfits that are going to some church meeting. tomorrow to lusaka.

just a couple more words about malawi, cause it seems to me like i haven't written anything at all. it's been only a week, but feels much longer (naturally). so, malawi highlights:

- permaculture garden in nyika plateau. wonderful wonderful wonderful!! i then met it's owner on the bus and we've chatted quite a lot. he and his wife run some amazing projects to promote permaculture in malawi. they even have curriculums for schools on establishing school garderns and learninig from it.

- meeting two alexes (one malawian - a helpful immigration officer, one polish - a friend's friend :))

- walking up to livingstonia, one of the first missions here + some waterfalls with tiwongo and josiah, two local boys. great guys, great time together (sharing frisbee and chocolate :))

- scuba diving in nyasa lake with johnny and seeing all the beautiful fish, like from 'darwin's lake' (though i think the book is about tanganyika)

- watching all the beautiful sceneries of malawi

- hanging out in liliongwe with some friendly canadians, sharing malawian food, polish/canadian music and card tricks :)

- exploring lilongwe which is quite a strange city, i must say...

- getting a zambian visa, even though i have no more pages left in my passport. fortunatelly, it's only a stamp, not the whole page like in some other countries...

well, that's for now! hugs for the reader :)

quickly

never enough time....
malawi is amazing. beautiful in every aspect. people are more relaxed and friendly than in any other country that i've visited... i can understand why europans like settling in here so much. i've met a couple of them already. most interesting ones: a belge (born in lumumbashi though) who has a beautiful permaculture garden on the slopes of nyika plateau, with a view on waterfalls... amazing story. will tell you later. then johnny, a young brit who moved to nkatha bay to mange a dive center. showed me some beautiful fish down in the nyasa lake.
now i'm in lilongwe, the capital. i'll see if i get to zambia, cause i have no more free pages in my passport left... i only realised on the malawian border. all depends on the size of the zambian visa :)

malawi already

after three intense days of travel, i'm already in malawi. not without any obstacles, but safe and sound.

my trip so far: warsaw-zurich-nairobi-dar es salaam-mbeya-tukuyu-songwe(border)-karonga-chitimba...

first night at sweet couchsurfers' place (amazing house in dar and a small birthday hang out), then the whole day on the road, second night hosted for free by the owner of a small guesthouse where there was no space for me, then the whole day on the road, first cleverly avoiding a scam (always check if the bus is there, before you pay the ticket), then spending hours waiting, taking a bike-cab and talking the immigrations officers to let me through even though i have only one more empty page in my passport left (it was a serious problem for them, but one hour of begging and a couple of tears worked).

now i'm in the most beautiful place on earth with the most amazing stars over my head and two new young cool friends. tomorrow up to the mountains to visit livingstonia and permaculture camps!!!

lot's of new thoughts about tanzania (lots of time to talk and think on the way...). my BA makes sense ;) coming up soon!

(or rather warsaw..)

off I go!

Just a couple more hours and I will be on the plane to Dar es Salaam (plus a night in Zurich)!!! Hurra!!!

The plan is:
- to REST!
- not to plan
- cross southern tanzania, malawi and zambia and come back by TAZARA to pick up my dad from the airport on Sept. 1st. and hang out wherever he wants to. whatever works will be fine :)


- visit ola (zanzibar), ola (moshi) and gerald (musoma), if possible. and meet up a bunch of other people living or travelling in tz and zambia.
- couchsurf as much as possible (for the first night in DSM the couch is already booked:)))
- get excited about all of the fairtrade socks that I pass on my way (for staszewa with love)
- yyy... that's pretty much all...

it's a shame to leave warsaw behind. summer nights in warsaw are just so wonderful (and summer days too, of course). but my room and bike are left in good hands and a month is not a long time at all, so it's fine... september days and nights in warsaw are not bad either ;) especially, when the new noah and the whale album will be out!

weather report from tanzania coming soon!

can't wait

coming august 31st.

The First Days of Spring Official Trailer from charlie fink on Vimeo.

see. how can I focus on my writing???

beautiful

10 more days

After a good GLEN meeting in Berlin, I'm back in Warsaw and trying to get all the writing done before heading to Dar es Salaam in less than 10 days!!!

And while trying to write, I keep discovering some wonderful things to do instead of writing. This one is one of the more educational ;)

http://academicearth.org >>> Psychology of happiness

Well, I always knew that happiness was in my genes :)

Vive cultural determinants of economic growth in Tanzania!!!

july july

july in warsaw is sweet as always. what more is there to say?

yoga at tucholska. incredibly regular!

my new room. I think it's good for writing, but I haven't proven it yet ;)

lots of wonderful couchsurfers...

frisbee. better than ever!

fairly traded ethiopian flip flops

and general love for warsaw
(here warsaw's new initiative on climat)

KDT

Bitwa o KDT - gaz w centrum Warszawy - wideo

30 people ended up in the hospital after the riot that took place today in the very city center of Warsaw. The parties of the riot were small business owners (who are getting evicted from a shopping center that will be demolished soon), security, police and a bunch of other people who apparently just wanted to put up a fight. The business owners had received a number of fair offers from the city about where to move, but none of them was accepted. On the grounds of the shopping center the city will build a new building for the museum of modern art. But still, does it justify the use of tear gas and violence. And what about those who went there just to fight? As always, none of the parties is right, none is wrong, it's just a shame it ends up like this.

yet another great video this week!

dumpster diving. recommended!

Skipping Waste from mirco on Vimeo.

hugging and not letting go WORKS! :)

Printer Vs Bin from RecycleNow on Vimeo.

ethical consumer delight

I could write a lot about what I have just read in the last issue of the Ethical Consumer, but it doesn't make much sense. Just subscribe it!!

But to encourage you a little bit, just let me tell you about how they treated the topic of refrigerators...
- a ranking of brands (how ethical are they)
- a ranking of energy saving fridges
- explanation of different eco labels
- tips about how to save even more energy (e.g. by not putting the fridge next to the dishwasher)
- tips about buying even greener (e.g. buy the smallest model that suites your needs)
- disussing the questions whether it's better in terms of sustainability to replace the old fridge with the new one
- info about disposing an old fridge
- info about the Furniture Re-Use Network, leasing, fridge sharing, producing an evaporative cooler and doing without a fridge
- company profiles with a special part about the cooperative one.

That's what I call a complete apporoach!! And that's why I love it!

maximum wage. makes sense

There are values of the free market that I find worth holding to, like freedom and belief in human mind and creativity. Still, to me it is clear that the free market is not working the way we would like it to both on the national and global scale. Inequalities in the world are getting deeper and deeper. Being lucky enough to live in the privileged part of the world and belonging to the privileged part of society we might often not notice it, but the truth is that the existing from of capitalism and free market has been proven to be more harmful than beneficial to vast masses of people all around the world. I would like the free market to regulate itself towards a more equal distribution of wealth and resources, but since it is based on an unequal society in the first place, there must be measures implemented in order to protect the underprivileged groups until everyone in the world is born with the same opportunities.

This is why the idea of implementing the maximum wage makes a lot of sense to me. Not only it will encourage a more fair distribution of wealth in the society, but also it will counteract the irrational drive towards extreme wealth that has become a part of this society. Even the lowest of the proposed levels of the salary ca seem high enough to me not only to provide for a good life of one’s family, but also to motivate her to make a full use of her potential. I also strongly believe that human beings are motivated by much more than just money and creating the system where money is not the ultimate goal will only let the people reclaim the other values.

The big question would be, of course, how to implement the maximum wage law in order to protect it from being misused and avoided by e.g. moving the company’s headquarters to other countries or outsourcing management services. But this is a topic for a whole different discussion. For now I will focus on the question “should”, not “can” the maximum wage be introduced.

Read the essay "Should maximum wage be introduced worldwide"

(I hope you won't mind essay's weird structure - it was an university assignment ;))

morninig at tucholska

ania's macedonian style coffee

paula's italian espresso

kasia's watery americano

pyzia's smelly cafe touba

all different all fairly traded!

(well, except for the smelly one...)

why not tazara

13.08-12.09 waw-dar-waw

why not to take the tazara train and visit some glennies?

to long to update

dear anyone who's actually reading this blog from time to time.
sorry for a long silence. april and may were extremely busy...
mostly with:
... glen work (seminars and hours one-on-one with my laptop and lousy internet connection)


... visits in paris on occasions :)


... even one visit in pupki!!!


... lovely life in warsaw


... dekonsumpcja (efte's most wonderful yearly event) - no comment. pure love:)


... doc review - kept me busy for some time, but how could it be different
... studies... there's a reason why they come last on the list. but i'm feeling quite motivated now, so there is a chance that it will all end well:)