Ten: Own a horse

 I had a dream. It was so big, that I was a bit scared of posting it here. Because owning a horse is a huge thing. It takes time, patience and money. Horses are surprisingly fragile and sensitive animals, but feeling the wind in your hair, when you are galopping trough open fields is priceless. Your blood is pure, sparkling, pink endorphines. For me it's a definition of freedom. 

 I was dreaming about having a horse since I was eight. I just wanted to have it, ride it whenever I want, have a very special understanding betwen me and the animal, care for it, not need to ask anybody for permission to galop trough open fields. Surprisingly, my dream came true in a very unexpected way, even before I managed to write about it here. It turns out that I don't need to own a horse to get what I wanted. This story is going to be continued...;-)

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I saw it yesterday with my friends, because I wanted to see this movie since I found out about it. Well, it's India combined Dev Patel and oh my God, an awesome British cast: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith... This just can't be a bad thing, right? 

You must know that it's a typical feel-good movie, a guilty pleasure. It's guilty, because it's lacking a sensibilty for the post-colonials matters, the main character, a hotel manager Sonny is quoting Kipling... (Yeah, the very same Kipling who wrote "The White's Man Burden"). If you look at this movie from this point of view, it turns out that in general Indians are simply-minded, and naive, so there is nothing wrong in patronising them. Thanks God they have British retirees, who won't let them fail miserably. Also, it's full of the West-meets-East clichees, banalities and slightly too obvious filmmaking tricks.

However, I'm writing about this movie here, because it's also a pleasure. If we leave alone all the post-colonial discourse, we'll get a cheering-up story about some late-bloomers, about the fact that it's never too late. It's never too late for love, for buisness, for quitting a harmful relationship, for struggling for happiness. And it's your duty towards yourself to escape from a bitterness. I know, it sounds trivially, but it's true, and can be confirmed by my grandma, who got married for the second time at the age of 78. 

So... just watch it. Have my remarks in the back of your head, go to the cinema and watch it, you are going to have fun. Enjoy incredible India, enjoy the witty dialogues (congrats, mr. Parker) and I wouldn't be myself if I didn't write it: Dev Patel ♥

Here you can read Nikita's Lalawani comment on the movie. Slightly too strong I'd say, but she made her point.

Nine: See the Northern Lights

Northern Lights must be a pure magic. I can't even say why I want to see it so much, I may simply be like a moth atracted to light. It looks awesome in the picture, it looks even better in a time-lapse video. Just have a look: (btw, good job, Finnland)

Eight: Do something crazy about my hair

...or moderately crazy. You know, something that won't prevent me from having a job that pays taxes. You must know, that the only piercing I have is my ear lobes, I've never had a tattoo, and the craziest colour I ever dyed my hair was copper (badass, right?).

Seven: Make a moss graffiti

I can admit that this dream is a little bit on the edge, but I've been amazed by this technique since I saw it for the first time. I get the point of graffiti artists. Some of them. I mean ARTISTS, not blokes who are tagging everything because they have nothing better to do. I also understands the owners of the buildings. Renovating a wall after it's been covered with a graffiti costs fortune, and it really really hurts to see a shitty painting on a new or freshly renovated building. When I saw a (very low quality) Lithuanian graffiti on a wall of a house in Warsaws old town, I felt like I wanted to kill those guys with bare hands (They were nice enough to put their website address as a signature. Douchebags).

On the other hand, seing a nice, colorful, surprising piece of art in a grey, sad and dodgy part of the city is super nice. It means that there are passionate people, who spend their free time improving their skills and making the world a prettier place.

I don't remember when and where I have heard about a moss graffiti for the first time, but I would love to make one. I need to think about it more, I want the technique to reinforce the message, it also has to be made in a right place.

Six: Walk El Camino de Santiago

I was 14 when I heard about El Camino for the first time. A higly spiritual friend of a friend decided to run away from home and walk to Santiago de Compostella. The kid has been caught in Germany and delivered back home, but the idea of El Camino de Santiago got stuck in my head forever.

Basically, it's an ancient pilgrim trail, known since the 9th century. The Way of Saint James has many starting points. The most important ones are in France, but one can start from many places, such as Tallin, Istambul, Hamar, Arhus or Lagos. An important part of the trail is Via Regia, a medieval trade road going from Russian Novogrod to Paris. The end and the aim of the pilgrimage is a town of Santiago de Compostela, which is believed to be a place where Saint James the Greater is buried. (It's also believed that he has been miraculously transported there from Jerusalem, in a boat without a crew). In the town there is a huge medieval cathedral, with a chapel containing the Holy Grail... Well, at least one of them.

Why do I want to do it? Because I believe in walking. I've been a scout for 13 years, I was hiking a lot and I can tell you, that walking solves many problems, brings more oxygen to your brain, letting it think clearer and makes your body produce endorphines. Walking this particular trail is also breathing history. We are walking on the footpaths of Charlemagne, Saint Francis of Assisi and Isabella of Castile. It's like touching those legendary times, when people were talking, not tweeting, when they owned as much as they could carry and believed in unicorns because they couldn't google them.

Summer is here!

Summer! Homemade all-kind-of-berries-and-yoghurt ice-cream (with a ridiculously low calories level!)! Sun! Walking barefoot in the grass! (And all those in one picture!)

No, seriously, this kind of weather makes me genuinely happy, so I had to share it.