One-man-state

Driver: Are there still borders? More than ever! Every street has its borderline. Between each plot, there’s a strip of no-man’s-land disguised as a hedge or a ditch. Whoever dares, will fall into booby traps or be hit by laser rays. The trout are really torpedoes. Every home owner, or even every tenant nails his name plate on the door, like a coat of arms and studies the morning paper as if he were a world leader. Germany has crumbled into as many small states as there are individuals. And these small states are mobile. Everyone carries his own state with him, and demands a toll when another wants to enter. A fly caught in amber, or a leather bottle. So much for the border. But one can only enter each state with a password. The German soul of today can only be conquered and governed by one who arrives at each small state with the password. Fortunately, no one is currently in a position to do this. So… everyone migrates, and waves his one-man-state flag in all earthly directions. Their children already shake their rattles and drag their filth around them in circles.

Der Himmel über Berlin, a film by Wim Wenders.

Borderlines, limits, big walls, whatever they are called. Some are thicker, others are so thin that can be tore down with a simple blow. And they are there, to protect something. To protect themselves from the others, or to protect the others from themselves?

And what about passwords? What is the code to get to know someone, to just trespass the barriers of each person? Is it a smile, some dumb action, or you have to read the whole “War and Peace” from Tolstoy? Sometimes I feel that there are more than one or two passwords, there’s a whole spaghetti with puzzles and passwords that you have to resolve just to get closer someone. And sometimes, even when you try really hard, you are still in the surface.

P.S.: I’m not talking about Germany. I just thought it would fit with the all modern society situation we live. I live in a one-man-state, and I think that there are more people who also do.

“Life should have a soundtrack”

“Life should have a soundtrack” was the name of a community in some social network that I participate. And to a music addicted like me, it isn’t different. Many moments of my  life, since I was a kid, are associated to some songs. I can remember clearly when I was a five-years-old girl and discovered In Between Days from The Cure when looking at my aunt’s old records. The lyrics didn’t make any sense to me, but I loved how the rhythm was fun and made me want to dance. The same happened to lots of songs of Legião Urbana, a really famous Brazilian band. Most of my childhood musical experience was because of my older sister.

And it was not different when I was a teenager. This phase is already known as a phase that people tend to exaggerate a lot, so you can imagine how it was for me, an admitted drama queen. Lots of Bon Jovi and Roxette played at my CD-player, as well as Green Day, The Offspring and Blink-182, when I was in a more rebel without a case phase.

"It must have been love" and "Listen to your heart" where my favorites to the platonic and dramatic loves that I had!

The thing is: for me, a song must have good lyrics. They must transmit some emotion when you listen to it. I don’t actually care if the musical arrangement is poor or something like this (or the song is really sticky), as long as it brings me good or bad feelings. And there are lots of reaaaaaally beautiful songs that I would love to have some memory associated with. But they don’t. Those are my orphan songs. The orphan songs have the most beautiful lyrics, which would be perfectly fit for that sunny Sunday with someone special. Or just a funny Saturday evening with your friends.

They are there, waiting to be adopted.

P.S.: I just wrote this whole thing because I was listening to this beautiful song of Bright Eyes, called “First Day of My Life” and discussing with a friend how beautiful the video clip was. No “thinly veiled subtleness” intended.

15 again

The palm of your hands are sweating, your heart is beating so hard and quickly that you’re afraid that someone besides you can hear it. You breath in deeply and try to think about something nice and clever to say, but you totally forget that your brain took the first ticket to Tanzania and all you get is a blank thought.

You _are_ shaking. You wonder if he will ever notice you if you pass in front of him. You wonder about lot of things. You wonder if you have something that can actually attract his attention. You just lose all your self-confidence that you thought that you had when you see him. “There, it’s not that difficult to change a few words.” You can’t even speak three simple words in that weird language of him. Not without gagging.

You feel like 15 again.

Some comments about elections at Germany

On 27th September the people of Germany will be choosing who will compose the federal parliament. It’s the 17th election since 1871, as Wikipedia says.  There are lots of posters all around the city with some acronyms that would sound pretty funny in Portuguese as, for example, FDP, which means “Freie Demokratische Partei” (Free Democratic Party), but in Portuguese is an acronym to “Filho da Puta” (Son of a Bitch). You can also find people making campaign for small parties like the Pirate Party (Piraten Partei) at the middle of downtown in the evening.

As a foreigner who used to live in a country that political campaign means garbage everywhere, the impression I have is: people here are so organized. On Saturdays, when I go to downtown, I can see tiny tents lined up side by side, each with a party symbol, people with T-Shirts, discussing about proposals and ideals. It’s not intrusive like in Brazil. In Brazil you can find lots and lots of tiny papers with the candidate photos dancing in the streets, which will of course end in some manhole and take the place where the water from the rain should go. Or maybe that noisy truck with some little devil pictures painted on that plays some soccer team hymn and makes campaign for some tires store owner.

Even the protests, they are organized. You can see lots of material at Internet too. They even have an Internet test or so that you can decide on which party to vote after saying if you agree or not with some topics.

I’m not much into politics, I’ve never been. All I can affirm is that communism in China isn’t something beautiful as some lunatics say. But I would like to understand more about how the government here in Germany works. I have a feeling that things can actually work here. Just a feeling.

New ideas for this blog: maybe a new direction?

Ok, I know I should be posting more from my life here in Germany. I actually LOST the timing when the things were actually new and I was fascinated about how living abroad can be cool. I must confess that I still am fascinated for many aspects of living here, but it would take a little longer to write about it.

I was thinking about three main points. The first point is, as I’m pretending to speak speaking more German than English, my written and spoken English is worsening. I should write more, so I can exercise this sleeping part of my brain. The second point is that I spend most of my day in front of a computer and in consequence listening to music. I try to be up to date with what’s happening on the music scenario, but as I am busy with other activities, I got a little bit lost on what’s going on. I used to read blogs that bring new stuff everyday, but they’re now just accumulating unread feeds at my Google Reader. And I love music. Really.

The third point is that I miss writing. I’m not a good writer, not at all, but writing always kept the good ideas in my head and let me evolve them.  So I was thinking about joining those three points and try to write about new things that I hear or discover. Of course, I will try to come back with the original subject of this blog, which is life in Germany and my travels around Europe, but I thought about starting to write about one of my biggest passions: music. And maybe some other little things too. Not personal stuff. My dear diary bla bla bla will be in the same place as always: here and here.

So, what do you think? Does anybody read this blog at all????

Shows da minha vida

Coff, coff. Pó! Muito pó!

Aliás, gostaria de deixar registrado como tem pó aqui na Alemanha. A vassoura tem que agir pelo menos uma vez por semana, e mesmo assim é pouco. Por isso comprei um aspirador de pó.

Há dois dias de ir no show de uma das bandas que marcou minha aborrescência de drama queen, resolvi postar algo sobre os shows que já fui nesta estadia de 9 meses na terra das batatas.

Vienna Teng

Ainda em Mannheim, eu acidentalmente descobri o show de uma artista que eu mal conhecia. Havia baixado ouvido um álbum chamado Dreaming Through the Noise, de uma tal de Vienna Teng. Lembro que quando ouvi, a voz e a melodia das canções me chamaram bastante a atenção, mas como eu ando sendo uma ouvinte de música desatenciosa (shame on me), aquilo não me marcou. Eis então, que esse nome, Vienna Teng, surge no calendário de eventos do last.fm. O show iria acontecer em Mannheim, no Alter Feuerwache, que é o antigo prédio dos bombeiros de Mannheim, agora transformado em uma casa de shows. O ingresso custava 16 euros e era o que eu podia pagar na época, pois estava ainda em curso de alemão e não estava recebendo a bolsa integral. E lá foi a moça, no primeiro show dela na Alemanha. E não se arrependeu. O show ficou para a história na memória da mocinha. A banda (Alex Wong, particularmente) arrasa no palco. A cantora é extremamente carismática e tem uma voz linda. Algumas das músicas que ela tocou no show ficarão sempre na minha memória.

“Sail your sea, meet your storm. All I want is to be your harbour.”

Snow Patrol – O show no meio da “floresta”

Há quem torça o nariz para o Snow Patrol. Eu admito, eles estão fazendo um sonzinho bem malzomenos desde Eyes Open (2006), mas foi uma banda que marcou bastante minha transição faculdade/vida real. Era basicamente o que eu escutava enquanto eu trabalhava na iProcess.  E mais uma vez, o last.fm me contou que eles estariam fazendo um show em Karlsruhe. E de grátis! Nem pensei duas vezes quando me inscrevi no site do patrocinador. Claro, com minha usual falta de sorte, a chance de eu ganhar os ingressos era raríssima. Nem dei muita bola. Mas eis que eu recebo um SMS dizendo que havia ganhado dois ingressos! A felicidade foi tanta que eu nem pensei como que eu ia sair pra Karlsruhe e voltar no meio da semana. (Pra quem não sabe, Karlsruhe fica a uns 150km daqui. E eu não tenho carro). E aí a besta aqui saiu desembestada pra estação de trem no dia do show. Afinal, eu ia ver Snow Patrol ao vivo! Banda que marcou uma fase da minha vida! E não me arrependi de ter ficado das 2:40 da madrugada até às 6:00 na estação de Stuttgart. Foi um show que definitvamente marcou minha vida. Ouvir eles cantando Run, Chocolate and How to Be Dead ao vivo, foi imperdível. E eu era a única retardada que sabia quase todas as músicas de cor.  E além disso, Gary Lightbody é muito engraçado.

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E sim, eu fui só em todos esses shows e vou continuar indo nos seguintes também. A grande moral é não dar bola se as pessoas não têm o mesmo gosto musical que você. Pelo menos você não vai perder esse momento único que é ver o seu artista favorito tocando as músicas que marcaram a sua vida de alguma maneira.

E agora? O que vem?

• 02/09/2009 – The Hooters, Ulm
• 27/08/2009 – The Get Up Kids, München
• 30/10/2009 – Trespassers William, Offenbach am Main
• 03/11/2009 – Green Day, München

And more to come…

Notícias de Valfenda — A Saga da Sino-Brasileira em Terras Germânicas

Long time no see. No fim acabei vindo para cá só agora, e não em outubro como havia previsto. Percalços do monstrado. Bom, vamos ao que interessa.

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Parte I – Despedida-surpresa no Mulligan’s

Era quarta-feira (ou quinta? Não sei bem o dia da semana), e a Millu (ou Pri) me convidou para sair e conversar, afinal eu tinha coisas para retornar a ela e ela queria me ver antes de dar tchau no aeroporto. Era

Checklist

• Passaporte
• Assinar termos e enviar pro DAAD do Rio
• Fotos para o visto
• Entrar com o pedido de visto
• Decidir quando ir
• Reservar passagens
• Reservar hostel pros dias anteriores ao curso
• Comprar uma mala grande
• Fazer checklist do que levar
• Fazer uma lista do que vender e publicar na internet
• Marcar exame médico
• Fazer o exame médico
• Pesquisar sobre a cidade
• Planejar festa de despedida extra-oficial
• Planejar festa de despedida oficial
• Escrever a dissertação (parto de burra é pouco)

Countdown oficial: 57 dias, 1 hora, 10 minutos e 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, … segundos

As cartas chegaram!!!!

As cartas do DAAD de Bonn e da CAPES chegaram hoje. Agora posso dar entrada no meu pedido de visto, reservar as passagens e fazer os exames.

Cartas do DAAD e CAPES

Countdown: 71 days.

Destination and date are set!

Recebi a resposta do DAAD há pouco! Vou para Mannheim, fazer o curso intensivo de alemão no Goethe-Institut de lá. O curso começa dia 7 de outubro e vai até março do ano que vem.

E o frio na barriga acabou de aparecer e agora ele não vai embora tão cedo.

Countdown: 84 days.