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M-am trezit tulburată de un vis. Am ridicat căpăţina somnoroasă din perna caldă, am făcut un "replay" la vis, am mîrnîit în glas "день не удался..." şi m-am scufundat înapoi în faşa pernii. Mă aştepta o zi lungă, aveam un speech important planificat în acea zi în faţa la 30+ oameni...şi starea asta de convalescenţă, cînd ai nevoie de o macara pentru a te ridica din pat şi de un aspirator pentru a-ţi smulge o tîmpenie de vis din minte...era puţin promiţătoare.

Tirrr-lu-lu...răsună telefonul, mesaj pe facebook. O, pe ecran chipul lui D. E frumos cînd se gîndeşte cineva la tine dis-de-dimineaţă, şi D., de obicei, mă trezeşte cu urări calde pentru o întreagă zi. Astăzi, în schimb, el care din vecii vecilor m-a învăţat să nu cred în horoscoape, îmi trimite un fragment din lectura lui matinala: Irina, ia vezi ce scrie aici despre peşti. Ia zi-mi, aşa e? No bine, hai şi-oi citi. Că peştii sunt materialişti, că aleargă numai după bani şi carieră şi alte braşoave din astea. Mă încreţesc în adîncul meu şi mă gîndesc în sine mea...mda, iaca taman azi şi-a găsit el să se gîndească la probleme existenţiale şi să le găsească răspunsul în zodii. Dar nu răspund. Mai bine tac decît să îi trimit un lătrat. Mai trece un minut şi decid să îi răspund: "buna dimineaţa...cum s-ar spune". D. e unul dintre oamenii care mă cunoaşte cel mai bine pe acest pămînt,  uneori îmi vine să-l rog să-mi spună el ce simt şi gîndesc eu, cînd eu nu mă înţeleg. "Mi se pare mie sau tu nu esti in dispozitie?" mă întreabă el. [...] El ştie cum să mă descînte de vise...şi am uitat că ziua a început slăbuţ.

Iar seara...după toate cîte s-au întîmplat peste zi, venind acasă, pe aleea me preferată...seara, în fine seara...a fost una dintre acele seri...cînd mergi pe drum...şi îi spui Domnului: "Mulţumesc pentru că m-ai trezit în dimineaţa asta, mulţumesc pentru că ai avut grijă să mănînc, mulţumesc pentru că ai avut grijă de mine şi de familia mea, mulţumesc pentru că mi-ai dăruit o zi atît de frumoasă." O spui în glas, sperînd că liniştea nopţii va duce mulţumirea ta acolo sus undeva...de unde va porni o altă zi mîine.

p.s. atît de frumos sună în suedeză "I love you, boy"...jag älskar dig boy.

a piano class...

Speech #5, Competent Communication - ToastMasters.

Sol si sol si sol si sol si la si fa si sol si do si so si do si sol si...

-      Stop, what is this? What are you playing?

My piano teacher asked me during a class a couple of months ago.

I used to play piano when I was in school. I had studied piano for 7 years. I completed the entire elementary schooling in Arts and then decided to do Finance. Since then, my life style changed, I started living abroad, traveling a lot so I barely touched the instrument. Two years ago somebody convinced me to buy a keyboard since I travel a piano would be impractical to carry around. I bought a keyboard, printed some piano sheets and realized that my skills got really rusty. I never thought about training again until I came to Prague where I was introduced to a conservatory teacher. We started the classes late September this year.

I loved this new and at the same time old experience of piano classes. It was like in school in terms of discipline, homework and seriousness which I devoted to this training. But unlike school, I could choose the tunes myself. And I chose this piece.

Has anyone watched Pride and Prejudice 2005 release starring Keira Knightley? This is my favorite movie of all times. There is a scene with an absolutely heavenly piece of music called Liz on the top of the world. So as  soon as I started piano classes, this was the tune to be learnt. My piano teacher did not know about this version of the movie, nor did he listen to Marianelli’s masterpiece. But he conceded and I was the happiest.

A couple of classes down the line I was able to read the notes correctly, play both hands at the same time, respect the rhythm and the main vocal lines. It was around the forth week when this particular class took place:

Sol si sol si sol si sol si la si fa si sol si do si...I continued...

-      No, no, no. What are you playing?

I looked at the notes again as they were rather simple. A first grader could play this passage. One hand is playing a repetition of sounds. This is not rocket science. However, I took a closer look at the notes, just in case I was missing a note....

-      What do you see? He asked me again.

-      What do you mean what do I see? I see sol si sol si....

-      No...tell me what do you see when you play this passage?

-   Mhm...what do I see? Mhm...this was a difficult question. I wasn't sure if I saw anything at all.

And then he exclaimed:

-      I see waves. Sol si sol si.....do you see them?

-      Hmm...I think so, I said. I might be seeing a morning...the dawn of a beautiful morning.

-      Alright. Let me hear your morning.

And I restarted playing.

As I was approaching the climax, the melody was a torrential flowing towards the head of the piano, where the very high notes are, the music was in a constant crescendo...getting louder and louder...majestic.

Yet, he stopped me again.

-      What did you play this time?

I was silent. I did not really have a story to tell..at least I did not think about it whilst playing.

-      I had my eyes closed all this time trying to see a movie, he said. And this music should be so romantic, breathtaking...and do you know what I saw when you were playing this crescendo passage...I saw a shooting!!! You were killing someone with a shotgun.

Then he stood up, he was singing the music the way he was feeling it and climbing an imaginary mountain...

-      Here, he was pointing at the notes, you climb the mountain. The music flows and so you get higher and higher in your climb and here....in this point, of maximum sound, in this Do, you are at the top of the mountain. You are overlooking the entire world...you can see the entire world beneath you and you are the horizon...you are above everything.....

I was astounded. I looked at him amazed. I knew that he did not see the movie, nor did he listen to this tune prior to meeting me. Yet, it seemed that he understood perfectly Marianelli, the composer of this melody.

I couldn't utter a word. I went to my desk, brought my computer to him. Played the movie, at the scene where this music is interpreted and let him watch how Liz was on a cliff, overlooking the entire world...being the horizon itself.

We started laughing. He did not expect to see the real movie through a sheet of paper. I did not expect music to convey a message so explicitly. 

I have learnt that notes are like mere words. Played carelessly they produce sound which is meaningless. Played rightly, music can transfer our thoughts and imagination just like a novel to the listener. Next time, you go to a concert or listen to a tune on YouTube, close your eyes and enjoy the movie.Hopefully, it is going to be a beautiful story behind.

Night Watch (Rembrandt)

I normally avoid art galleries. I feel very uncomfortable walking in an art gallery, staring at a painting and not being able to connect with it – it makes me feel shallow and void. Now if you multiply this by the number of paintings in a gallery…you can imagine the miserable state of mind when I exit.

People say one does not need knowledge or technical skills to appreciate art. Just unleash your imagination and the magic will happen!

No, this is not enough. 

Our mere eyes cannot distinguish between the difficulty to depict the sun and the muscles of a horse; our mere imagination is not able to discern symbols and history without a context that makes Mona Lisa so mysterious...

One does not have to be a painter, but one has be prepared (read on wiki, online, talk to a knowledgeable friend  etc.) before consuming art.

On Saturday I went to Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam – it is a Dutch national museum dedicated to art and history in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. They have more than 8000 objects, yet I visited it for only one single painting: this painting.

This is The Night Watch by Rembrandt painted in 1642.

Why is it so important? What is so special about it? Do you find it special? Luckily for me, I went with a connoisseur, but had I gone alone…I would have skipped this obscure and apparently gloomy picture.

What you cannot see here is its size…it is a massive painting, as big as a wall. It is big, but not the biggest in the world. 

Could it be painting technique chiaroscuro that was very usual for baroque painting? Possibly…but this bold contrast between light and dark is to be found in most of Rembrandt works. 

What truly intrigued me was the story behind these colors.

This painting was commissioned by a voluntary militia club (hereafter called Rifle club). Rembrandt was very courageous to accept as it was very hard to paint a group of people in one single painting and ensure that everyone is happy with their position, their stance and expression of their face. And the people were quite picky as they have paid 100 guilders per head (which is approx. 1200 in euros – making use of my finance degree J). If somebody was displeased with the work it meant repainting the picture over and over again. The standard format for this kind of painting was aligning everyone in a row so that they could be equally exposed.  But that would have looked very boring and blant. Rembrandt made a very bold decision to depict these policemen in action. Action or motion is what made this picture famous. One has to understand the context of this painting to fully appreciate and understand it.

These were peaceful times for the Netherlands. No wars, no belligerent attacks - so no situations where these brave men could have showcased their courage and bravery. They wanted to be considered heroes. They were craving for some glory so that their families and friends could be proud of them, so that people on the street would respectfully salute them echoing their names…but all they did was gather at night, have a drink, crack a joke and go home towards the morning…with no glory behind.

That’s why they loved this picture. It depicted them in motion getting ready to protect their territory.

The contrast of light makes 3 figures stand out. The captain, the tall man in front wearing black, red and white sash (the symbols of Amsterdam), the lieutenant - wearing some impeccable golden garments and this blond little girl.  The little girl is not a real personage. She is more a mascot, a symbol of the club…you can see that she has got a dead chicken hanging from her belt. The claws are very visible and the claws also being the symbol of this Rifle club and the dead chicken is a symbol of the defeated enemy.

The captain had to be offered the best place and exposure, which you can see: he is in the centre of this motion, his hand as if raising a concern and a call to everyone else. He is like a conductor of an orchestra. He is taller than everybody else, due to this step forward and he is casting a shadow on the beautiful cloths of Lieutenant. Rembrandt also tried to make the Lieutenant shine somehow…so he dressed him up in this glimmering golden outfit. However, in order to confirm one more the power of the captain over everything else…you can see that between the thumb and pointer of the shadow finger there is a lion, the symbol of power and strength that the captain can grasp in his one hand.

Of course, not everybody is as visible and happy with his position. For example, there is a personage here whom you can barely see…and obviously he was unhappy that his friends might doubt his presence in the picture. That’s why Rembrandt painted a shield with all the present names so that there is no uncertainty.

This was a picture of their glory.

This painting is much more complex than my description but I will stop here. And come back to my beginning and stress the importance of being prepared for art. It makes is so much more valuable and enriching. And you don’t have to admire all paintings in an art gallery. Pick one or 2 but make the most out of it and make sure that next time when you here the name of a painting you visited…there is much more to it than a dry memory of its existence.

My prepared speech # 4 from Competent Communication - Toastmaster.

Literary Cafes in Prague

This is a prepared #3 speech delivered during TM meeting.

I had a beautiful weekend. Let me say it again. I had a beautiful weekend because I had to prepare a speech for today. It doesn't make sense, right? Normally it is the other way around. This time my speech invited me to some splendid literary Cafes in Prague and by the end of this speech I aim to give some suggestions where you could spend your next beautiful weekend. This information also could serve handy if a friend is visiting.

I visited two literary Cafes in this city: Café Slavia and Café Louvre. A literary café definition was not to be found in the dictionary. So, I created it. A literary Café is a Café where people engage in intellectual activities (such as reading, writing, “toasts mastering”) besides sipping their cup of tea. As such, Paul Patisserie could also qualify. However, the 2 Cafes I will talk about have something in common: they witnessed history in this country. And sometimes they created it.

Both of these cafes are more than 100 years old, they are located in the historical center on Narodni street.

Café Slavia is facing National theater with its large bay windows. For the price of a coffee you could enjoy this mind-blowing view of Prague.

 But let’s get inside…

There is an old style cloakroom. Beautiful atmosphere… The interior is spacious elegantly decorated. The staffs is wearing old-style tailcoats. And there is a grand piano in the middle. They play piano from 5 pm to 11 pm. They have a very rich menu. And I must say their roasted fish fillet with creamy mushroom risotto was delicious. This place welcomed the actors from the National Theatre, its audience during intermissions, politicians and writers. Unfortunately I cannot name many as the names do not tell much to me, but I know that this was the favorite café of Vaclav Havel, the first president of this country, also a playwright and essayist. Another name well-known name is Franz Kafka. So if you want to experience all this, head to Nardoni Street, opposite from the National Theatre.

The second Café that is located just 5 min away from Slavia, away from the bridge, is Café Louvre. To enter the Café one has to ascend a spacious staircase and then again, a cloakroom. I fell in love with pastel pink décor that apparently didn't change much since the times when Einstein as a visiting professor would pop in for a piece of strudel. This café used to have and still does a game room, especially was it famous for Billiards. All the tables were tailor made American products of the most exciting precision. Also, this café was supportive of women’s emancipation… In the 19^th century the cafes were meant for men where they would conduct business and talk arts, whilst the ladies would have a tea at home. This was radically in the 20^th century when high-society women started visiting the café and were welcome here.

So, if you are looking for inspiration, a relaxing cup of tea, a chat with a friend, or you are just bored and you don’t want be so…now you know where to go.

for more information visit the websites:

http://www.cafeslavia.cz/index.php?id_page=uvod&id_rest=slavia&id_lang=en

http://www.cafelouvre.cz/en/