Mallorca?

Been there, done that. Seen the overcrowded beaches, naked breasts and psychotic clubs. Done the pubhoppin' at the rhythm of cheap tequila. Who cared about the sequence of lime, salt and shooting it down...or was it the other way around?

But no, this was really different. This was showing the opposite side of things. And believe me, things always have an opposite side. Sometimes you should just look for it. Sometimes you should be lucky to just bump into it. And sometimes you should listen to people saying that it's worth while a visit. And the latter was definitely the case.

Mallorca is partially the typical party-island, maybe not completely the same way as Ibiza, but let's say we're not far away. The nice thing about this island, is that it has a completely different part in the North. A part not yet affected by the tourists need to bring money so we will easily get rich and who cares about our identity-disease. Still pure sights, still breathable Mediterranean air and still authenticity. And in my opinion, it's all about this. Traveling is experiencing the authentic, unaffected by the color of money, by the wishes of the guests and by the burning desire of getting away from the boredom of daily life. Traveling is about expecting the unexpectable and accepting what you get. Paella and infinite hospitality included.

So let me thank the people who should be tanked. They just showed once again life can be a really nice thing. And even more than that, it showed that this world is still poluted by beautiful people. And that is not only from the outside.

(To Caty, her parents and brother)

Per questa volta: in Italiano

Nato in Belgio, cresciuto da italiano con influenze belghe, imparando l'olandese, l'italiano, il francese, l'inglese e lo spagnolo e conoscendo gente proveniente da un pò tutte le parti. Adesso eccomi qui. Che faccio? In che lingua parlo? Ho amici che non parlano e capiscono l'italiano. Ne ho altri che non sanno l'inglese. Ancora altri preferiscono lo spagnolo. Il mondo però è sempre quello. Proprio piccolo nella sua grandezza, figuriamoci questo blog: deve essere proprio minuscolo. Una nano-etentità. A questo punto non mi resta che scegliere. Scrivo in inglese? Scrivo in italiano? Imparo l'esperanto? Mah, buona domanda. Mi sa comunque di dover scegliere. Una volta così, l'altra colà. Una volta accontento i nordici, l'altra quelli del sud. E con l'inglese cercherò di trovare la magica via di mezzo. Quella che alla fine c'è sempre...basta cercarla, anche se ti rende la vita un pò più difficile. Allo stesso tempo mi do la possibilità di cambiare aria, in base ai sentimenti che mi accompagnano nel momento del scrivere. Come andare e stare in vacanza. Come sentirsi in posti diversi, senza il dovere di spostarsi per un benedetto millimetro. Basta fare click!

Oggi deve essere un giorno italiano. O magari solo adesso. Chi lo sa. Potrebbe essere che tra due istanti, dopo aver spento il pc, mi sentirò le corna da vichingo in testa, tornando ad essere completamente nordico. Ma sono pensieri per dopo. Per ora sono italiano. Parlo italiano e sento italiano. Magari il mio modo di esprimermi non sarà completamente al livello dell'italiano medio e magari alla fine riesco ad esprimermi meglio solo nella lingua che mi circonda tutto il giorno. Ma non importa. Importa solo l'adesso. Quello che viene fuori in queste parole scritte al vento. Quello del sud. Quello sempre caldo e fantasioso. Anche se spesso si perde per vie oscure e pericolose.

Per una volta,
Per rispetto e amore,
Infinito,
Per la gioia vissuta ed i momenti di assoluta magia,
Inconfondibili,
Per la gente,
Per gioco e divertimento,
Per simpatia,
Per i ricordi,
Puri e veri,
Di ieri ed oggi,
Per quelli che verranno,
Per tutto e per sempre.

Signs of pleasure: 59 things I like

Trendy bars.
Havana Club. Red wine. Orange juice.
Bubbles.
Slow food in fast times.
Cooking.Being the naked chef.
Hot showers.Long ones.
Swimming pools.
Music.The good vibes.
Silence.The best music around.
Freedom.Peace.Justice.
Sharing.
Friends.Family.
My fantasy.My imagination.My inspiration.
People.Everywhere.Always.
New York.
Stockholm.Rome.Berlin.Barcelona.
Cold.Winter.Mountains.
Hot.Summer.Beaches.
Sand between my toes.
Blue skies.The big, even more blue sea.
Laughter.Smiles.Happy faces.
Being a bit crazy.Sometimes a lot.
Sunshine.Sunglasses.T-shirts.
Yellow.Green.Red.A little bit of black.
Rain.Only if it brings a rainbow.
The unknown.To try to know.
Adventures.
Love.Making love.Loving.Endlessly.
Forever and ever.
Amen.

She.Life.

And you? What do you like?

The beginning is the end, the end is the beginning

Some time ago, I started a blogging initiative on the much more simplistic platform of world's largest software company. I considered it to be no more than a simple experiment, to see what it would be like to be part of that strange blogging community. Yes, 'cause let's be honest, blogging indeed is a peculiar thing. It tends to the sharing of our lives with others, our thoughts, our feelings, our likes and dislikes. It opens up our private being to that open, unknown and mysterious world, whereas in that same world we live in, we try to more and more fight for our privacy, for the life we'd rather call oùr life.

To me this seems a contradiction, in the most pure sense of that word. But even a world where logics rule needs contradictions. And you could say even more: this contradiction could simply be the outcome of a logical process: where the world searches to open up our lives, we choose ourselves to what extent we give an opening in that privacy by blogging it openly, out loud and with the limitations we choose ourselves. We keep the private parts we want, while the world gets a slice of some of our precious secrets.

To come back where I started this post, on this grey and cloudy day of beginning Belgian autumn, I once again start a new experience. A new box of 80 percent cacao chocolotas next to my laptop. Some refreshend thoughts. A new form of expressing myself to the world, choosing my own boundaries, stating my own desires. For whom is interested: be my guest. For whom is not: have a nice life, I'm sure anything I have to say about my own life could make yours better. So why read? Who knows, life is a mystery, remember?