The micro impressions of the world

Dreaming in Paris, France. How many people have passed through this city in its whole history? How many movies were recorded here? How many stories have been written about it?

There was a girl who told me that when she got her first flying roster at the airline where she worked; the first destination was — Paris. When she arrived, she felt like she was in a fairy tale. She dreamed of it since she was born, and she never had imagined that she would have the opportunity to see it.

For me, as a European close to Paris, I always felt that Paris is a bit over-appreciated. Hearing her story through her passionate words— I could feel the fairy tale once again, I could feel the magic of the city. One day, when I got back to Paris, I remembered the girl’s story and I decided to go for a walk…

It was a beautiful fresh morning.
I started wondering, the beam of thoughts ran through my head.

About life and stories

Thinking about the world, people, history and influence we leave on each other with such, at first, insignificant comment.

Thinking about the irony of life and how everything can be unpredictable. The process of learning how to appreciate small, both old and new encounters and the day itself. People are always connecting with each other and sharing stories. We like stories, we like inventing them, we like to influence other people by them. Stories are interesting, appealing and worth investing into.

At this specific stage, at this specific hour, standing here, I’m wondering that whatever happened before and whatever is about to happen, it needs to happen naturally and spontaneously. Spontaneous is good, it is always unexpected, without prejudices and it feels nice. Like the morning unexpected sky glow.

Once blue, the sky somehow is turned into orange, pink, red…

The sun went away… And I’m thinking now about all the encounters and goodbyes in my life, and that sometimes even after a goodbye you still have a feeling that this someone is there, next to you. That bond… Priceless…

The sun will come up again. Somewhere.

Thinking about falling in love, with a person, with a city, with the Apartment, with the world and how sometimes even after a break-up you maintain this beautiful feeling of closeness…

You must absorb so many smells and tastes and sounds and hints and intimations if you wish to tell a story properly, because words can only catch some of the story, and you must also write the spaces between the words.

V: “So, what are we thinking about?”
S: “The Big Apple!”
V: “No! C’mon, be serious!”
S: “We can think about leaves and changing seasons and that in the light of the falling leaves, we must sometimes grow stronger, and maybe accept the change and maybe hope that this time the change is good.”

Falling in Love

The bird who is approaching has gained my respect. They say that it can be dangerous, even though it looks beautiful, tamed and tempted to come closer. Step by step, slowly, with patience… That’s how the Earth moves, that’s how the Universe spins, that’s how life goes, that’s how everything should go. Slowly… Peacefully… Refreshingly…

Respect is not fear or awe; it denotes, in accordance with the root of the word (respicere = to look at) the ability to see a person as he/she is, to be aware of his unique individuality. Respect means the concern that the other person should grow and unfold as he/she is.

Erich Fromm

We are sensible beings with consciousness, thoughts and with the gift to observe… The world is made from chaos, the world is a chaos, but on the other hand it is an open canvas. We can see. We can create. Everything is there, everything is available: colors, patterns, ideas, materials, feelings, emotions, coincidences, random encounters… We must look and connect them, make an order in the chaos and make a creation, make a story. And then the things turn out beautiful. The chaos is beautiful.

If only I could see the world outside of me, outside of my limits of perception…

Isn’t it peculiar, where you end up through what seem like such minor decisions? Really, if you just let yourself float, you always need to end up somewhere! Sometimes you have a feeling in which direction to go and you need to decide. Things become harder. It requires time, not too much, not too less. Just enough… And then… When you finally let go, the floating is usually appealing, unexpected and more natural. Feelings may come and they may go, but decision is a promise, a statement and your own sacrifice and it feels nice, and no matter how it ends, it is finally — yours!

Now, where do we go from here?

And we build up castles
In the sky and in the sand
Design our own world
Ain’t nobody understand
I found myself alive
In the palm of your hand
As long as we are flyin’
This world ain’t got no end

🎧 (Sky & Sand, Paul K.)

Coming back to myself

Sometimes you just need to find a bike and go for a random trip in the furthest parts of China. And then you feel cold air, tears in your eyes, feeling of refreshment, thrills and adventurous spirit… Unexpectedness… Does that word even exist?

Sometimes you just need by coincidence to meet a friend in a bar in Hong Kong and decide to go for a hike up the hill. Then you take a shortcut and end up fearing for your life. But at least you learn that you could do it, you can push harder and go higher and higher and even though you didn’t reach the peak, you get the feeling of freedom.

Where do we come from? Why am I here? The DNA code is quite an exquisite occurrence. Some people believe that we are created by divine creature(s), others think that we are just a coincidence made by the sun rays in the water. Some say that accidentally we found suitable conditions to spread our genetic code.

Are we planted? Did we develop like a virus, possessing and changing everything we touch — spreading like a plague, multiplying? Or are we some kind of an experiment, a simulation even?

Standing here, and observing this creation of ours, I wonder — is it good or bad? What did we do so far? How did we influence our “home”? How did the home influence us?

Unfortunately, we cannot know everything, and part of what we know is always wrong. Perhaps even the most important part. A portion of wisdom lies in knowing that. A portion of courage lies in going further in the quest for more knowledge.

Reconnecting with the past

You are never fully aware of how big an effect something has in your life. A simple touch, a movie, an application for a random student exchange; traveling to another city, enjoying the vibe and seizing the opportunity…

The effect makes you fall in love with a city, allowing you to express yourself in certain aspects and be yourself, no matter who you are, but most importantly, it leaves the effect on you when you depart, being available to come back.

Finally, yes! My bag, it had come full circle! We have returned.

These assumptions, connections and predictions in our head, is that only our imagination or do we make them our truth? It doesn’t matter, really… Whatever we experience, it has an impact on our mind and the idea.

The idea is that sometimes a single building can provoke the feeling of blissfulness. For a passerby it looks just like what it is — a building. But for me it is an overwhelming thread of emotions, butterflies in the stomach and awe. They are going and running deep, bringing out memories and more feelings. No matter where you are in the city, you can somehow see it or feel it telling you: “Yes, you are here. You are in Berlin.”

Mama Africa

I found my comfort zone in a park overlooking the street. I hear distant French yelling with a note of some African language, probably Wolof.

I hear horns and I see a lot of people mushing around — the police are taking a guy away. Just seconds later the traffic continues with its chaotic flow like nothing happened; a mother continues to bath her naked child with a splash of water; many cars stop by, drop off or pick up someone and continue the other way.

Children are approaching cars and offering water packs. Three women are rushing across the street, dressed in colorful African dresses — feeling proud and enjoying the looks and whispers they get from random men. Sudden sound of drums and three ladies started hurrying up. The wedding is about to start.

Next to the alley of flowers, a small girl is posing, her father is taking a picture with his old-style mobile phone. The guy wearing a uniform with ‘sécurité’ written rushes the walking street-seller away. I look at my watch — minute has passed since I sat down. Welcome to Africa…

Welcome to Paradox – Une Peuple, Un But, Une Foi

Africa is the continent where humans originated and no any other continent has endured such a paradoxical and bizarre combination of events — having desert where the rain forest should’ve stayed, constant migration and return of humans, foreign thievery and foreign help, human viciousness and human moral. It still endures, the oldest, the poorest and yet the richest.

On this land of paradox, I was amazed by three almost invisible forces which influenced this continent and this world…

The first force is the strong persistence, endurance, will and energy for life.

The second force is the force of day and night — the force of change. I have never seen such a drastic change of water level than in Guinea and Senegal. The waves, smashing against the shore of Dakar, shaping the land.

Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the victor.
~ Chinua Achebe

And the third force is — money, the most fictional, paradoxical and most (in)visible force of them all.

My Cities

.Belgrade

It was not the first, but it was the start. It was not a choice, but it was a love. It was not an opportunity, but it was a good consequence. It was not perfect, but it was important. It was not amazing, yet it was great. It was not a matter of intention, but it was a matter of great influence. It was not imposed, but lived. I was just there — then.

.Dubai

It was not the first, and it is not the last. It was a choice, but not a love. It was an opportunity, with a yet unknown consequence. It is not perfect, but it is important. It is not great, but it is an experience. It is not bad, but it is not good either. It is imposed, and everything is amplified. I am just here — now.

Amsterdam

It is a love, and it will be a choice. It wasn’t an opportunity, but the consequences will be there, I feel it will be very important, either way. It is nearly perfect yet it looks imperfect. But is there more to it, is there more to see?

It was a beautiful fresh morning. And then I saw…