Emigration etc.

Follow me into Peripheral Mythologies

2010-03-29T09:59:00.004+01:00

For more on the East being fast-forwarded into the Western embrace, on nostalgia and expectations, on the challenge to perform and the clashes between the past and the present follow the virtual rabbit to Peripheral Mythologies. Modest attempts to bridge dialogue.

When last things don’t work out

2008-08-26T10:48:00.002+01:00

Last week at work was supposed to be five days of upfront honesty. That man who comes for a bottle of Shmernoff every week stinks and has seriously bad breath. Your man (that most Irish of sayings!) who once was begging not to sell alcohol to a woman who was supposed to come shortly dressed in a beige coat should try to get some serious help for his wife (whom empathizing with her husband I actually didn’t serve that time) instead of asking the staff of a local off-licence to help him out. And all those of you with that uberconfident expression on your faces and the banal “I know what I’m looking for” as you grab any bottle of any Barolo or anything Grand Cru or Reserva sitting on the shelf are nothing but pitiful snobs trying to dazzle in the vanity of your husbands, wives, lovers and colleagues.

Last column for “Metro Eireann” was supposed to be equally straightforward, yet focusing on Lithuanians rather than the Irish – I’ve complained enough about them to be deported to the furthest East.

The finale turned out to be quite different though. My area manager decided to send me on very sudden holidays – with less than an hour’s notice. And as for a column – to cut the long story short – I became aware that I ended up focusing on myself rather than on Lithuanians in general and somewhere halfway through answering whether three and a half years I had spent here were not in vain I stopped writing because I didn’t know the answer. My last column was never finished and the reasons behind that vanished in the crossfire of emails exchanged between myself and the deputy editor of the newspaper.

On the other hand, I can hardly complain – I have plenty of time for books, movies and more movies and my sister’s kids, but the way my career in enology ended was a bit of a slap in the face. Two days before I was told the news my wine shop was held up by an armed masked guy. While he was stupid enough to rob a place on a Monday night when most of the Euros are safely chilling in the bank coffers, he was relatively courteous as he said “thank you ladies” when he got the cash from the tills. Gentleman, huh?

I happened to be off when this happened. The girl whom I replaced as an assistant manager worked in the shop for five years prior to leaving it and during that time the place was held up about five times – once thrice in a period of a year. Syringes and screwdrivers mainly. Never a gun - unlike this time (Gardai still don’t know if it was a real one and I doubt they’ll ever find out). Perhaps a coincidence, but that girl was never there when the incidents were happening. She said it was because the robbers knew she was crazy. “It won’t happen to you either, because they know you are crazier than me”. Whichever was the case, indeed nothing happened in more than three years I have spent in various Oddbins shops. They say that dogs attack the people who are scarred of them – does the same apply to robbers?

Either way, it was our new manageress who was behind the counter when she was greeted by a wild West-like “Hands up!” Ever since she started working in June I didn’t get along with her. At all... Well… why should I – she was spying on me on CCTV as if she didn’t have better jobs (besides, those cameras are there for security measures, not to play Big Brother). Have I mentioned that she’s always stressed? So voilà – the shop was robbed and obviously she’ll need some time to recover (as will another girl who was working with her on that night). My suspicion is that she asked the area manager (who doesn’t boast too much people management skills) to send me on holidays (even though I don’t have any left), because she doesn’t imagine her recovery with me working alongside her.

Whichever way it was, I’m on holidays and she’s recovering. I hope this time does her well. I’m enjoying mine. Sometimes the days get a bit too self-reflective and it is probably inevitable before leaving the country where I’ve spent three and a half years, especially when you consider the pensive Lithuanian nature. Perhaps I might write a book about my experiences in Dublin some day. I’ve made a bet with one Irish guy that I’ll have it written and translated to English (not many books in Lithuania are) before he releases a proper CD (not a homemade disc which could only be found in Road Records). The thing is the bet was made before I heard him playing in Whelans. I guess I should hurry up writing otherwise I’ll end up buying a bottle of vintage Krug which we bet on.

Irish and the Olympics: when money is not the issue what is then?

2008-08-07T23:50:00.006+01:00

Even though it is said that sports and politics should always be kept apart, the history line only serves as a proof that the Olympic games have always been more than a sports stage. The 1936 Games in Berlin the Fuehrer used as a means to display the efficiency of the Nazi system, while in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico African American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos accepted their medals shoeless, each wearing black gloves on their raised, clutched fists with silver medal winner Aussie Peter Norman wearing a human rights badge in support of the protest against racial injustice. About 50 countries boycotted Moscow games in 1980 in protest of the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and in 1992 in Barcelona Australian basketball team refused to play Americans when one of Dream Team’s stars Eaerwin Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive, this resulting in Aussie doctors’ statement that if played, Johnson would pose a threat of passing on the virus.

For giants like the USA, the USSR or Yugoslavia the Olympics and especially the team sports have always served as a way to prove their superiority. Two basketball matches between the Americans and the Soviets were as important as the Space Race, with the Soviet Union winning both of them. 1988 Olympics in Seul marked the second time in the Olympic history the American basketball team was beaten and it was the second time the USSR did it. When the Soviet Olympic basketball team was standing on the podium that summer clenching their gold medals, it was the last time the team of 12 were listening to the anthem saluting the victory of Communism's immortal ideas and an unbreakable union of freeborn republics. After four years four out of that team were standing on the podium in Barcelona, this time with bronze medals, but without the crossed hammer and the sickle on their T-shirts. The anthem of their unknown country wasn’t played in 1992, since the American Dream Team took the gold, but it was the first time in the Olympic basketball history the players of this Western giant were surrounded by the representatives of two dwarf countries, which for decades remained anonymous to the world. Croatia took the silver, while Lithuania took the gold. That moment epitomized the triumph against the system and the pride to finally represent the country you were born in, but were not allowed to mention its name, because it was part of the ‘unbreakable union’.

The subject of the freedom of Tibet is not first time the most powerful countries remain silent in the face of violence and human rights violations, while it is labelled as an internal issue. If the freedom of speech exists, this summer Olympics, which initially were supposed to be the celebration of vigour and beauty of the human body, will be interrupted with various protests, hopefully only verbal ones.

Yet putting the issue of Tibet aside, what fascinates me a resident of this country, is how little interest and ambition Ireland displays in the Olympics, even though it has one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world.

I got used to the fact that the winter Olympics are completely ignored by the local media (thus confirming its parochialism), but I can partly justify it with the absence of snow on this island. Yet one expects that a prosperous country should be investing into brining up and training athletes that could compete not only in the perpetual Munster-Leinster contest, but would represent Ireland on the world stage.

Although, in my opinion, hurling and Gaelic football are fascinating games, it is a shame that when young, the best athletes oftentimes are directed into these two almost exclusively Irish sports. This is what a friend of mine working with the most prospective young tennis players in Ireland says. Playing for your city is great, but for the majority of sportsmen and women representing their country in the Olympics is the most prestigious experience.

This year Ireland is sending a squad of 51 athletes to Beijing, representing 12 sports: athletics, badminton, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming and triathlon.

Ireland has 20 Olympic medals under the belt overall, with the peak-time being the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, where Ireland won 5 medals. The summer Olympics in Athens were not successful, as Cian O'Connor lost the show jumping gold after his horse failed a drugs test. The performance of Michelle Smith in 1992 in Barcelona, when this unheard of before swimmer swept 4 medals was marked with controversy, although doping allegations were never proved. Yet two years after the Atlanta Games, International Swimming Federation banned Smith for four year after she was found guilty of tampering with a urine sample. Her performance in Atlanta was never encored with a startling come back.

In a recent interview with the BBC the world number three in men’s tennis Serbia’s Novak Djokovic was trying to explain to the journalist, how come his poor and war torn country has so many first-class tennis players. “It's just a hunger for success, a mentality that we've been through a lot of difficult times in the past. We appreciate some things much more in life and we fight for every match”, he explained.

After the restoration of the independence in 1990 my country has won 11 Olympic medals. If you include the ones Lithuanians won representing the Soviet Union, we have 53. Luckily, in the past few years the government started to understand that basketball shouldn’t be the only sports supported by the state. Last year our country’s sports budget was 16 mln euro – as opposed to Ireland’s 316 mln.

This summer we are sending 69 athletes to Beijing - more than ever before. We have at least six medal hopefuls: a discus thrower, cyclists, wrestlers among them and, of course, basketball players. Recent survey shows that half of the population is hoping we could win up to three medals, while the quarter of the respondents believe we could win up to six. Even if we don’t win any, the country will be obsessed with the Olympic fever. For me it is an overwhelming feeling to see somebody on the TV with our little three-colour flag next to their name and to know that they are not representing some unbreakable political union.

Written for "Metro Eireann"

Taking my words back - love Apple. Got an iPod!

2008-07-24T23:58:00.004+01:00

As a student of media studies I have to admit that I am way too slow to clue in on some media. Due to the fact that I got my new shiny ipod (yippie!) and had to learn to make friends with it, I happened to discover podcasts. Discover as in EUREKA! Honestly, until now I knew that they work a bit like TV shows and you can subscribe to them and that's about it. Little did I know about the variety of the content available (that's from somebody who lives without a telly, works without the access to the world wide web and usually spends about 2 hours on line a day).

After a few hours of browsing on line, sorting out my iTunes, plugging in and unplugging (hate to brake things and prefer to read manuals first - just to be on the safe side, I know it makes me sound like a bore), I realised that I had been spending way too much time on oftentimes parochial (my hype word of the moment) Lithuanian news websites. Just for the crack of it I even checked out a Dutch one and thought that I quite like the sound of the language - that's all I can get for the moment - the melody of it.

Subscribed to a few.

Forum - A World of Ideas
New Yorker: Out Loud
Thinking Allowed.

Will listen to them on the way to work. Might even try that Dutch one as well. For the sake of melody... The DVD Player is still locked, but I'm discovering the joys of ipodism, which makes me Apple's slave as well, I guess.

Dublin mouse in my house

2008-07-23T22:33:00.001+01:00

I am at war. BIG TIME. Even though I got that plug that you stick in the socket and it makes the ultrasound that should discourage the mice from nesting and sticking their filthy nose into my private 150 or so square feet, the little fucker came back yesterday and, contrary to the first encounter, halted for a while, looked into the direction of the plug and me and rushed back into the gap between the stove and the sink.

So I got the traps today and bought a can of tuna - apparently the mice learned to nick the cheese without getting trapped (forget cartoons) as the cheese dries quickly, therefore something pasty works better. Bite the dust!

Cant' watch DVDs on my Mac anymore... :(

2008-07-19T01:25:00.004+01:00

F*** Mac. F*** Apple. F*** them all out there.

Can't watch DVDs from Laser... :( Apparently, I've changed the DVD regions more times than it was allowed - why the *** they don't create a system, where you can watch all regions?

It really makes me almost cry... What should I do? I love movies....

To make matters worse, since I was sitting in front of my locked Mac till 3 am, I think accidentally I saw a mouse in my house. For fucks sake as they say here... Could things get any worse?

PS The only movie from the ones I had at home that I was able to watch was L. von Trier's The Idiots. A very appropriate title (for me)... :)

PPS Did anybody try to unlock it in Apple support and would anybody know how much that pleasure would cost?

Guggenheim museum to be erected in Vilnius

2008-07-09T14:57:00.006+01:00

After months of negotiations and public relations campaigns' pros and
cons Lithuanian government gave green light for the establishment of
Guggenheim museum in the capital Vilnius. This will be a joint project
between Lithuania, the Guggenheim and the State Hermitage Museum in
Russia. The most prominent supporter and the locomotive of the project
the former mayor of the capital Arturas Zuokas hopes that the project
will put Lithuania on the cultural map of Europe and draw a different
kind of tourist crowd (which at the moment mainly consists of
stag-partying Brits and Irish, along with hordes of Poles paying
pilgrimage to Adam Mickiewicz).

While the project adds up to a total of 80 million euro, it is
believed that over 400,000 people would visit the museum and in the
next 7 years state and private coffers would start experiencing the
benefits of this gargantuan once-in-a-lifetime project.

Even before the government's blessing some steps have already been
done, although until last week it wasn't clear whether the government
would back up the project and chip in – at least partially. The main
threat for Guggenheim came from the institution that was previously
run by the projects keenest flagman and fomer mayor Zuokas. During his
term he introduced many initiatives in the Lithuanian capital and was
awarded The Outstanding Young Person of the World 2002 title by the
Junior Chamber International.

Yet despite the facelift the capital experienced during his term, he
couldn't avoid harsh critique for some of his ideas, an example of one
being the free public bike system borrowed from Copenhagen. Naïve
folly! The bikes disappeared from the cobbled streets of the Old Town
in less than a week.

The opponents of Guggenheim blame former mayor that the museum will
turn out to be another way of laundering money – an accusation Zuokas
has been facing from his first day in the office. Moreover, current
vice mayor of Vilnius has publicly accused Guggenheim with financial
intrigues and blamed it for colonizing third world countries. Along
came critique from a group of Lithuanian artists and architects
complaining that the government should give priority to the national
art and artists.

Guggenheim as an institution faces various critiques. A prominent
French art critic has dubbed it "a Coca Cola factory with branches
everywhere around the world", other museums point out that it has
metamorphosed into a franchise, while some of the exhibitions were
criticized for the subject matter, i.e. Georgio Armani dresses and BMW
motorcycles. Yet nothing of such a scale has ever happened in
Lithuania yet. It was the first time a number of renowned architects
were competing for the right to erect Guggenheim structure in Vilnius
– among them Daniel Libeskind and Massimiliano Fuksas. Eventually it
was awarded to Zaha Hadid's futuristic design.

It might have earned the name of a franchise for a reason, yet to
stubbornly oppose Guggenheim with wooden crosses, post communist
paraphernalia and local art celebrities would mean to deny the idea of
art as a way of bringing cultures together. Moreover, it would condemn
the country for decades or possibly centuries of terra incognita
status in the eyes of the world. In a recent survey in the UK
Lithuania was voted as the least known European destination.

When in the late 1990s Guggenheim was built in a poverty stricken
Bilbao in the Basque region of Northern Spain, some were suggesting to
use the money to build factories. Today many of the opponents have
become museum's keen supporters with more than a million visitors a
year. Moreover, the museum has contributed more than 1.75 billion euro
to Spain's GDP and helped to maintain 4,500 jobs a year.

Guggenheim might not be the only way to draw more people to Lithuania.
Pubs with smoked sausages, cheap beer and girls will obviously draw
more crowds than avant garde art or Litvak centre that should be
included in the new Guggenheim. I say should. Because after dozens of
disappointing decisions my country has made, I finally have hope in it
again. I don't think we'll be as prosperous as Ireland as soon as our
politicians hope to become, but if Dublin draws tourists for Guinness,
Vilnius could find its own way. And I keep my fingers crossed.

Written for "Metro Eireann"

Jubilee post #100 and an exhibition in NCAD

2008-06-27T11:46:00.004+01:00

I suppose I should toast this post #100, but I've toasted enough things yesterday in the wrap up session of the exhibition in NCAD Design Building where all the students of NCAD evening courses where exhibiting their magnum opuses. If you skip the fact that Photography and Digital Imaging course students where not in the brochure (we're either too good or that was our curator's final cock up) there's some interesting stuff there. Our's is the funkiest in my opinion. :) And there was Montana Sauvignon Blanc on the reception!

Emma Brereton's project on Ambassador, which will be turned into a city library.

My holgarama lightbox "A minute of positive time", my video "60 seconds and a minute. Almost. As time went by" and somebody's empty glasses. (the laptop won't be there as the college couldn't provide a projector)

A close up (ish) of my lightbox.

The exhibition is on until this Sunday. Please drop in!

Dear Dirty Dublin and an Estonian take on rubbish

2008-06-23T12:26:00.003+01:00

Almost a hundred years ago James Joyce described Dublin as dear and dirty. Despite a pioneering levy on plastic bags introduced six years ago (of which some of the customers in my shop still seem to be unaware) Irish capital is suffering from chronic littering problem.

The government reports that the 22 cent we pay for each plastic bag help to finance local environmental projects such as recycling facilities. Recycling is great and many Irish are more aware of it than the people of Lithuania. After a recent chat about sustainable energy with my 14-year-old niece who had been living in Ireland for the past 8 years, I had to admit that when I was of her age, I knew much less about those issues.

In addition to a gradually increasing plastic bag levy, as of July Ireland is introducing a new emission-based vehicle taxation system and soon we will have to replace traditional bulbs with low-energy ones in the country's pursuit to be as green as possible.

The initiatives leave many countries behind. Yet despite them there is one thing I've learned as a kid and after visiting other European cities it seems that many Europeans have learnt the lesson as well, while Dubliners still seem to be struggling with it. That is even if you pay for plastic bags and drive an emission-free car, you should put the litter in the bins provided.

Last autumn it was revealed that Dublin had the most litter on its streets when compared with nine other major European cities, including Riga, Vienna, Strasbourg, Cologne, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Zurich, Stockholm and Amsterdam. I have visited four of them and I must say the survey proves what I have seen. After cigarette butts, food-related litter, packaging litter and paper litter are the largest categories of environmental littering in Ireland. Last year the Department of Environment announced that almost a million Euro will be given to local authorities for anti-litter public education and awareness initiatives.

When I leave my house in D8 I have to walk for about three minutes before I find a bin. I've done the calculation. There is no bin in my bus stop and neither there is any on the one where I catch my bus after work. There are plenty of cigarette butts around both, though. So what do you do if you are not super green and don't want to carry a sticky wrapping paper from your "Cornetto" in a bag? You let it slip out of your hand as if by accident and quietly continue to move on along the street...

Don't get me wrong - Irish seem to quite happily participate in various anti-litter campaigns, even though two years ago they were the biggest waste producers in the EU, with the average Irish person producing about 869 kg of rubbish per year - twice more than the Finns do (I seem to have lost the link to this fact, will try to find it). Last year over 398,000 volunteers participated in the National Spring Clean campaign, aiming to involve as many Irish as possible in various cleanup events in a period of one month. It is reported that 3880 tonnes of litter was collected, which is about 10kg per head. Impressive, isn't it? That is until you consider a recent campaign in Estonia.

This spring two Estonian internet entrepreneurs organised a nationwide clean-up day called "Let's do it!" Using cutting-edge IT technology, illegal garbage dumps and their photographs were mapped out on Google Earth. On the 3rd of May about 50,000 Estonians - about 3 percent of the population - hit the roadsides, forests and public areas. Over 6000 tons of illegal waste was collected or 120kg per head - twelve times more than the Irish did. Yet, as the spokesperson for the cleanup campaign said, the aim was not just to clean the fields and forests. "We also wish to kind of clean the brains of those people who have left that garbage", she said.

Maybe it was the fact that the cleanup happened in a day, or maybe it was the innovative software that allowed to see the pictures of the garbage and the real-time progress of the campaign. So how about if a million Euro given to the local Irish authorities for anti-litter public education and awareness initiatives is used to supply more bins in Dublin and hire a few Estonian internet gurus?

Actually, after Estonians announced about the campaign in February, ever ambitious Lithuanians rushed to organise a similar one on the same day. Yet they only had four weeks to prepare and only 3,500 out of 5,000 registered participants showed up on the day. If Ireland plans better, the Emerald Isle and its capital could indeed be greener. And a bit dearer.

PS Sorry for a month of silence :)

Sheepish ****head looking for company for S. Tunick's installation

2008-05-21T00:09:00.004+01:00

Hi, I'm looking for a like-minded lady to accompany me in taking part in Spencer Tunick's Dublin installation at the IFSC on June 21st www.spencertunickireland.ie. I'm a little wary about doing it on my own. Please help! Alan (36 tall, dark and handsome)

Would you like me to hold you by the hand and warm your pink buttocks up as I whisper some encouraging thoughts on the way to IFSC? Sorry, mate, I think you have registered for a wrong photocall.

Struggling to improve language skills in Ireland

2008-05-20T10:37:00.002+01:00

Thank you! Free dictionary began to provide pronunciation in American English and British English. Previously only American English was available and I was stuck trying to work out what should it sound like if I tried to make it sound as similar to the transcription provided by the dictionary in my laptop. No wonder the Irish guys I work with can't seem to understand me sometimes (hopefully not most of the time).

Actually, it has become a bit of a challenge to improve one's English if one works in customer service in Ireland. On one hand, the industry is dominated by foreigners. On the other - I could easily get away with 100 words and 5 catchphrases. After all, you enter the shop in order to buy, rather than to communicate (apart from a few customers we have).

It's a grand day.
Would you like a plastic bag?
I do like it here.
Irish are friendly.
This wine is fantastic.

When I was a student, going to the USA for the summer with the J-1 visa was popular. Oftentimes whoever stayed on the East Coast, somewhere around Atlantic City, returned to Lithuania with far worse knowledge of English than they had before boarding the plane. They were speaking Russian in the USA. Or Lithuanian - as there were so many of them in that area.

I sometimes feel like this country is heading in a similar direction. That's why I blog and spend some time trying to improve the language - I know there is much more to say than it's a grand day. Unfortunately, my improvement has slowed down, as there are no native English speakers-boyfriends around.

Yet, as Clarence Darrow has said, even if I do learn to speak correct English, whom am I going to speak it to?

Dublin pinhole

2008-05-18T22:34:00.004+01:00

During one of those quiet days in the shop I made a camera out of a matchbox. Went for a walk. Developed the film. And then I asked myself: why on earth did I buy digital SLR? No digital manipulation. Pure photography. As it should be.

Dublin pinhole. Four Courts and the River. ©Lina Zigelyte
Equipment: matchbox pinhole

The best news in months - a new cinema house in Dublin opened

2008-05-13T11:10:00.005+01:00

I am blown away! It is not a parking lot, not yet another supermarket, Pennys or offices. It is a brand new four-screen Light House cinema on Market Square in Smithfield, built after the old Light House Cinema on Abbey St. was shut down in 1996. The brand new cinema is aiming to focus on independent and world cinema and I have to say that their current screenings prove that.

Moreover, the halls have wooden floor! Something very scarce in Ireland. And nobody was eating pop corn during the screening of XXY which we watched yesterday! There are four relatively small screens, with a total capacity of 614. And LOTS AND LOTS OF SPACE!

God, I soooooo would like to exhibit my large format photographs of shut down cinemas of Dublin, which I did for NCAD there. Do you think it would be easy to find sponsorship? I'd need about 300 Euro for paper, darkroom and framing. Should I contact them?

Filling the gaps: why so little is known about Lithuania in Ireland

2008-05-10T14:37:00.007+01:00

A sculpture of an angel from Vilnius besides Mansion House on Dawson St in Dublin. Vaidas Ramoška's sculpture is part of the events celebrating the fact that Vilnius will be the European Capital of Culture in 2009 and invites foreigners to visit the Lithuanian capital. Unfortunately, the angel, which has been watching the passers by for a couple of months, can hardly be seen through the hedges and tulips. Hopefully, Vilnius will attract more attention than the sculpture next year.

At first you get angry. Then you try to smile and quietly grumble: "Oh again..." Yet once you notice that those stories tend to repeat, you anxiously press the panic button. How come nobody knows we have electricity and we know how to flush the toilet and no, our language has nothing to do with Russian?

Explaining to foreigners what Lithuania is like, can be quite a challenge. After spending decades behind the Iron Curtain we are desperate to be acknowledged, heard, seen and identified. God forbid you don't know about our Baroque churches or the coastline. Or the fact that Vilnius is going to be the European Capital of Culture next year - along with Austria's third largest city Linz (yet we prefer not to mention that, although I love their website). Or that our beer is as good as Czech or Polish, which seem to be getting quite popular in Ireland - you can buy it in O'Briens and avoid miscommunication in Eastern European shops. Or if you haven't heard that Lithuanian language is one of the oldest and best preserved in Europe. Or...

But why should foreigners bother with these crumbles of information about a former Soviet republic nestling somewhere along the shores of the Baltic sea? For many we will always remain a mere former Soviet republic, no matter how hard we try to convince the world that we are not a black hole on the world map. Despite 17 years of independence it still seems that little is known about us.

As part of the campaign, promoting Lithuania and celebrating the fact that Vilnius will be European Capital of Culture in 2009, a contest was introduced recently. Lithuanians are invited to send various myths they have heard about their country. The best ones are regularly published on the most popular news website in Lithuania. Majority of them seem to arrive from the USA, where Lithuania oftentimes is considered as either one of the 50 states or some district in Russia. Scandinavians tend to think we live in the caves and have never seen TVs or microwaves. Some agree that our capital Riga is as beautiful as another Lithuanian city Tallinn.

The objective of the contest apparently is to challenge various myths about Lithuania and to encourage Lithuanians to send a message to the world about what their country is like.

Sounds like a good cause, yet as I was reading those bizarre stories with various misconceptions, it seemed that those myths mainly seek to emphasise foreigners' stupidity and ignorance. Besides, they are written in Lithuanian and are of little use as a message to the world.

Of course, it is funny to discover that some think Lithuanian women still don't have the right to vote or that Lithuanians live in igloos, but as we gargle with laughter at foreigners scoring a fat hollow zero in questions on Lithuania, we should ask ourselves why so little is known about us.

I must admit I used to support those who were considering people of the Western world as somewhat ignorant and being lightweight in general knowledge department, the Irish being no exception. Yet after living here for a couple of years and seeing what has been done in order to introduce Irish to Lithuania, I am beginning to reconsider my position.

Recently I was asked why the vast majority of the events organised by our embassy and various Lithuanian groups seem to be concerned only with attracting Lithuanians and rarely target the Irish audience. While I am trying to come up with some sort of an explanation, the Irish continue to weave another myth about us. Ignorance? Whose, I wonder...

Written for "Metro Eireann"

Let's get naked in Dublin (or Cork)!

2008-04-30T23:42:00.002+01:00

Get naked in Dublin and become a piece of art!

I've never done anything like that, but hey, we only live once, so if you feel like revealing your private bits in front of the camera with a couple of hundred and possibly thousand of other exhibitionists or aficionados of all things naked, go to this website and register to pose for Spencer Tunick's installation in Dublin or Cork! Long live art!

Spencer Tunick's photograph of Mexico City

A singer of Indian origin assaulted in Vilnius

2008-04-18T00:38:00.007+01:00

A woman, serving in Lithuania's National Defence Volunteer Forces was arrested today for assaulting a singer from South Africa in the very heart of the Lithuanian capital. Berneen, who became popular in Lithuania after participating in various TV shows, was attacked in Vilnius by a group of thugs more than a week ago. The 22-year-old singer was attacked with fists, called "nigger" and recalls being beaten with a belt buckle by the female attacker.

Lithuanian media quotes unofficial sources claiming that 22-year-old Violeta Iljinych admitted to attacking Berneen, but denies racism as the reason for the assault.

Berneen. Photo©Delfi.lt

Berneen said this was the first time she ever experienced a racist attack and she would suspend her musical career in Lithuania but would not leave the country. "You cannot escape such people because they exist everywhere. I do not plan to run from somebody calling me a "nigger", said Berneen, who had been living in this Baltic state for nine months.

Although the music Berneen is performing wouldn't be my cup of tea, I agree with our president Valdas Adamkus, who has called the assault "great shame to Lithuania". I know it is just an individual case, yet still... shame.

Lithuanians should get used to the fact that while they were behind the Iron curtain there were many people of all colours behind it.

While I think the fact that Berneen is black helped her gain a petit celebrity status in Lithuania (and we have more examples of the so called "exotic" celebrities in Lithuania), beating up a girl besides one of the most visited tourists attractions because of her skin is degrading. Even more humiliating is the fact that although the assault happened at around 8 pm in such a popular place, no witnesses seem to be mentioned apart the girl who was walking with Berneen. Shameful silence.

Good bye Ireland!

2008-04-17T14:54:00.005+01:00

That's it. Finito. Adieu. Tschüss. Slán agat (please correct me if my Irish is wrong).

Good bye Ireland! Hello Nederland!

Dear Lina, in response to your application for admission to Utrecht University we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Research MA programme Media Studies.

Found out last week. Thus the reason for failing to update this blog more frequently.

Few seem to understand the subject of my studies, when I say that I'm going to Utrecht to study media. Majority think I'm continuing my journalism studies, yet nothing to do with that (and that is the main reason I chose Utrecht)- the programme is very comprehensive and interdisciplinary, focusing on the cultural and historical construction of old and new media and their impact on citizenship and cultural identity (ancient theatre to cinema, interactive television to YouTube, multi-media dance performances to computer games).

After a few months of sorting out the application, preparing for TOEFL and translating my Bachelor's thesis I'm ÜBEREXCITED! Just a few of the courses I'll be taking:

State Of The Art In Media Studies
Technobodies In Cyberspace
Spatiality/Themporality In The (New) Media

Ranked as the 7th best university in Europe in Academic Ranking of World Universities (sandwiched betwen the universities of Paris and Copenhagen and as the 42nd best university in the world, Utrecht looks like a great place to study (yet THES - QS World University Rankings position it slightly lower - # 89 - still pretty good).

So I just need to sort out my finances for the next two years (they've promised assistance). Otherwise I'll start selling the remains of my wine rack, my cameras, my Mac and then myself.

I guess, the rest of my musings will be either hommages to Dublin and the Emerald Isle or oversaturated bitchings about the Orish, which I had in the cold storage up till now and was delaying to post because of the uncertainty about my future.

Utrecht - beautiful, isn't it?

My first movie. "60 seconds"

2008-04-09T01:18:00.003+01:00

As I've said in "You Tube", this is part of my project for NCAD course.

At first made with soundtrack (Sigur Ros "Sé Lest"), but then I thought the song is too good itself. So just play anything you like, if you feel it.

60 seconds and almost a minute. Time spotting.

"If I talk about time, it's because it doesn't exist. If I talk about a place, it's because it has disappeared. " (from Jean Luc Goddard's "Dans le noir du temps"). I guess it shouldn't be on You Tube.

Life before death and heavy traffic. Contemplating on time

2008-04-04T00:14:00.002+01:00

About four years ago my photography teacher Jurgita Remeikyte - a renowned visual media artists was showing to a bunch of us - passionate amateurs - portraits of sleeping children. Serene black and white close-ups. Actually, they were not sleeping. Those were dead children and I can't seem to find the artist who took the portraits. One woman who was with me in the course couldn't look at the photographs when she was told that those were dead children.

At the moment I am researching the concept of time for my final NCAD project and one of my main inspirations is the remarkably thought-provoking collection of shorts Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet and The Cello. I loved the short by Volker Schlöndorff "The Enlightenment" in particular, which is a reflection on Augustine's contemplation about time. For instance, this one:

"In our soul we feel three different times: there is the present of the past, which is remembrance, there is the present of the present, which is contemplation , and there is the present of the future, which is expectation."

After publishing photographs of people before and and just after their death by a German photographer Walter Schels guardian.co.uk traffic-wise experienced its busiest day ever. Death frightens and mesmerises, especially when juxtaposed with life.

"The moments of the past do not remain still; they retain in our memory the motion which drew them towards the future, towards a future which has itself become the past, and draw us on in their train." (Marcel Proust)

Eastern European Food - Still Behind the Curtain

2008-04-03T16:09:00.006+01:00

Eastern European shops welcome the Irish, yet only a few dare to venture them. And when they do, quite often they face staff who struggle with English.

It is a drizzly Friday afternoon and Polonia, a shop around the corner from my house, is empty. Inside it is a bit gloomy and quite cold. I pass the shelves with dozens of jars of "Żurek" and approach the girl standing behind the counter. I introduce myself and ask her if she could answer a few questions. The girl looks at me with an apologetic smile and says: "Speak little English". I ask her if there is anybody who does. She says "My boss", but apparently he is not in. As I leave the shop I look at the sign above the entrance. "Welcome. The best food from Eastern Europe." It could be. It's a shame there isn't anybody who could show you around.

Next stop is Rathmines. Two women working in Polonez, located on a busy junction, just across the road from Dunnes Stores and Tesco, are preparing for another busy weekend. 27-year-old Aleksandra Voronko arrived to Dublin last autumn and this is the first job she got. Recently the Lithuanian woman told the manager she would be leaving in two weeks. She would like a better paid job and doesn't want to work evenings anymore, since she hopes to enrol to an English course soon. Although Aleksandra spend nearly half a year in Ireland, her English didn't improve much, since majority of the customers are from Eastern Europe. She speaks Lithuanian, Russian and she managed to learn a little bit of Polish, while some Romanian customers insist on her speaking Romanian - Aleksandra has darker skin than many blue eyed Lithuanian women and some customers accuse her of pretending to be Lithuanian. On the other hand, her exotic looks won her some admirers. A customer gave her 15 red roses on March 8 - the International Women's Day. I ask where was he from. Like majority of the customers, he wasn't Irish - he was Moldavian.

There are no Irish goods in Polonez, which is part of a chain of six shops, yet although all products have descriptions in English, oftentimes Irish customers poke at them asking "what is this". Majority of the Irish who shop here have Eastern European partners, I am told. Sweets, chocolate and biscuits are most popular among them, while smoked mackerel and birch sap still have to find their way to Irish tables. When I ask if more Irish could be drawn to the shop, a woman who works with Aleksandra and prefers to remain anonymous, points at the sign on the window "Eastern European Food". She maintains that Irish will stick to their food.

Things look a bit different across the river. When I first came to Dublin eight years ago, there was only one shop selling Eastern European food. It was Slavyanskaya Lavka (Slavic Counter) on Moore Street. I stroll through Talbot Street which over the past couple of years transformed itself into an Eastern European quarter. I count three Polish shops, a few Polish barbers, a Lithuanian food shop, a Georgian restaurant, a Lithuanian hairdresser, a Russian DVD rental, a Ukrainian real estate agency and it is possible I have missed a few more businesses in the kaleidoscope of tacky signs. There are almost as many Polish rushing past me on this busy street as there Irish and I ask Katarzyna Wolf, a Polish girl who has been working in Polski Sklep for half a year, if any of them pop into her shop. She briefly replies "yes", but when I start a conversation, she asks to wait for her friend, because her English is not sufficient to answer my questions.

When Marta Wypych - a bubbly Polish girl arrives, it appears that she works in Polski Sklep as well. Marta started working here a year ago and she says she stays only for the customers. "I know their stories. Some Polish people buy bread, stay in the shop and talk for 40 minutes," observes Marta. According to her, up to a quarter of the customers are Irish and they mainly buy Polish bread, because "Irish bread is like chewing gum". The bread is baked in a Polish bakery in Dublin. "They love Polish bread, you should try it," Marta tries to twists my arm and I'm almost tempted to see if Polish bread is as good as Lithuanian.

Despite the fact that there are dozens of Eastern European shops in Ireland, last October Marta Fekulova decided that the market had a niche for another nationality and opened a Slovak food shop on North Circular Road. According to census figures, Marta is one of 8 thousand Slovaks living in Ireland. A dwarfish share, compared with the Poles, yet the empty shelves prove the owner of the shop might be quite right. Martha was begging not to photograph the shop, since she was waiting for the delivery on the day I was talking to her and didn't want others to think that the shop was not busy. When asked if Irish were buying anything, she said they liked the salads, yet there was only one or two of them.

Although Polish consist the largest ethnic group in Ireland, with official census figures showing that there are 63 thousand of them, Lithuanian grocery shops started to spring up earlier, with "Lituanica" opening on Amiens Street seven years ago. The shop is still there - looking greener than the fields Emerald Island and with the business soaring higher than the aircraft after which the shop was named. In 1933 "Lituanica", piloted by two Lithuanians, crossed the Atlantic ocean after taking off from New York. While the the aircraft crashed, Dublin's "Lituanica" is successfully moving on. Over a period of 7 years it evolved into a chain of retail stores, and today the company has become a wholesale supplier of Eastern European food to over 500 shops in Ireland and the UK. The success is obviously driven by the massive influx of Eastern European immigrants to Ireland.

Laima Adomaitiene has been working in "Lituanica" for a year and a half. The shop is popular among Polish, Latvians, Romanians and sometimes they even get Spanish or German customers. Laima observes that Poles tend to buy Polish food, while Lithuanians prefer Lithuanian specialities. "Even if it is the same chicken drumstick, people prefer when it comes from the same country as they do," says Laima and mentions the fact that when she arrived to Ireland, her diet included a lot of Irish food and she put on some weight. Yet after returning to Lithuanian products, she forgot weight problems.

Laima admits that the shop is not very popular with the Irish: "They are patriotic. They are loyal to Irish food," observes she. Even though "Lituanica" sells eggs and milk, they are not Irish.

Yet her colleague Almina Binkauskiene offers a possible solution: "Lithuanians must interact with the Irish more and introduce them to Lithuanian food. We must integrate more."

Integration springs to my mind when I enter "Perestroika" - a Moldavian food shop on North Circular Road, named after Mikhail Gorbachev's attempted economic and social reforms in the Soviet Union. The shop has an excellent selection of Lithuanian smoked meats, Polish cakes and Moldavian wines - the nostalgic mostly sweet tipple of Iron Curtain times.

After struggling to start a conversation with the woman behind the counter in English, I employ the bits of Russian I learned while watching Soviet TV in my childhood and the curtain of misunderstanding between us splits. Moldavian Otilia Vizdoaga explains that "Perestroika" is one of four Moldavian shops in Ireland and she says it is mostly popular with Romanians, Moldavians, Polish and Lithuanians. There are no Irish in "Perestroika" as I speak with Otilia and I doubt there will be many at any time soon.

I look at the brightly lit fridges, which offer a zillion times better range than my local Spar, and quietly thank God for Soviet TV.

photos©Lina Zigelyte
Written for "Metro Eireann"

End of the road to Mr. Ahern?

2008-04-02T21:33:00.007+01:00

Roughly at around 4 pm today I was told that I possibly was the only person who didn't know about the news. I asked what news.

I was hoping he would resign, but I thought the road might be longer and more winding for Mr Ahern. It was quite long anyway. Three terms. Fair play. I've been asking people recently, whether he was a good politician. Some said yes, others - no. Almost everybody agreed he was a good liar. I guess Lord Acton was right, when saying that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

Yet I continue to be amazed by the Irish. If Mr Ahern hadn't announced about his resignation, would the people have gone into the streets? Or would they continue to quietly grumble about him like they do about Dublin busses running late? And if the people hit the streets, whom would you see there?

This reminds me of the impeachment of Lithuania's previous president Rolandas Paksas, dubbed by half of Lithuanian public "tampaxas" (a connotation with you know what). The other half of the population, mainly old, nostalgic and fooled people hit the streets and expressed their support to R. Paksas with songs and flags (while the guys in the video are rejoicing about the successful impeachment, saying "we won", the women call them "addicts", I guess you'll figure out R. Paksas' supporters...). Despite the songs and the rest of the circus, the R. Paksas became the first European head of state to be successfully impeached.

R. Paksas supporters©Lina Zigelyte

If it wasn't for today's announcement, I wonder what would have been the outcome of Mr. Ahern's long and winding road. Yet some say he might become the president of the EU. Like the Gorgon Medusa Mr. Ahern might still be alive and kicking.

In the meantime...

2008-04-02T01:02:00.004+01:00

What's new? Toefl failed to send exam results to the university where I'm applying for studies, even though I'd paid for it, will have to send the copy I got. I'm quite stressed, so I picked up a few new activities. Started to make videos and upload them on You Tube. They're in Lithuanian so far, but I promise to make something in English. My Lithuanian blog was nominated in the Lithuanian Blog Awards as the best blog in Society category. In the meantime I'm continuing my project for NCAD. This is part of a minute on O'Connell Bridge. Holgarama.

Canada, here we come!

2008-03-27T00:05:00.004Z

Canadian immigration authorities announced that as of the 1st of March citizens of Lithuania no longer need a temporary resident visa to visit Canada. I discovered the news on the website of the largest daily in Lithuania. It was published in the section "Emigrants", as if to suggest that Canada might become the next target country for possible Lithuanian emigrants. On the other hand, Lithuania boasts the highest rate of emigration per capita in the European Union, so the suggestion could be farsighted. Although we are allowed roam the vast expanses of Canada for up to 180 days, if we intend to work or study there, visa restrictions still apply. Yet, as one jolly commentator observed, it shouldn't be too complicated to find a job in six months...

Myself and a few friends of mine have been looking forward for the decision. One of them, a keen traveller, suggested to worm our way discreetly to the States across the Canadian border. If Barack Obama becomes the next president of the USA, we might as well. Yet our anticipation was not caused by intentions to move the country again.

"All animals are equal but some are more equal than others", wrote George Orwell half a century ago. In a similar way I am tempted to say that all Europeans are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Until 2004 Canada and the European Union had a reciprocal visa-free status for visitors, yet before Lithuania along with other nine countries joined the EU, we had to drop down visa requirements for Canadians. In return Canada was expected to do likewise, yet it was hesitant, since their politicians were afraid of a possible influx of illegal workers or refugee claimants. The only two remaining EU countries, which citizens will still have to queue in front of Canadian embassies, are Romania and Bulgaria.

I have to confess, it feels good to be acknowledged as a member of the club rather than a potential threat. Let them keep the restrictions for entering the a labour market, but at least it will be easier to see the Niagara Falls or Montreal. Of course, a few of us, while sightseeing, could and will look for work opportunities. After all, Vancouver and Montreal are constantly voted in various polls as some of the best places to live in the world. Even if just for 180 days. I guess, in a way the Canadian government could have been right in procrastinating the decision. Yet when the EU labour market is within two or three hours of flight for 50 Euros, a massive influx of illegal Lithuanian immigrants could hardly become a reality. Therefore it would be great if more countries stopped demonising us as cheap illegal migrants. Consequently, maybe more of us could realise that flying to other destinations than Lithuania costs almost the same, yet instead those trips offer new experiences rather than nostalgia, in which we seem to be stuck too often.

Recently I came across the fact that Estonians are the only ones from the Baltic countries who can apply for working holiday visas in Australia and New Zealand. I am amazed how they manage to avoid the segregation that continues to haunt Lithuanians. Although they are further from the geographical European centre, which Lithuania was boasting to possess before Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU, all the Estonians I have met seem to be a zillion times more European than Lithuanians. No wonder they are welcome even to such remote corners of the world. Or perhaps, as I have always suspected, their politicians exceed Lithuanian - ours are too busy with unsuccessfully trying keep the people in the country or win them back from the construction sites in the UK, mushroom factories in Ireland and orange plantations in Spain. The more they try to cage us in between Lithuanian borders, the more we seem tempted to leave.

In the meantime, the antiemigration campaign in Lithuania continues. A few weeks ago elite troops of Lithuanian businessmen, joined by a group of barristers and journalists, met with a handful of Lithuanians studying in the United Kingdom and were encouraging them to consider returning to Lithuania. Although everybody agreed that Lithuanian companies can't offer as competitive salaries as London City firms, among other supposedly attractive factors one barrister mentioned the possibility to meet Lithuanian prime minister and celebrities in person, while this might not be as easy to achieve in the UK. I'd rather watch the Niagara Falls. Or wander the streets of Vancouver. Even if just for 180 days.

Written for "Metro Eireann"

Dolce Easter

2008-03-23T15:10:00.004Z

Vatican©Lina Zigelyte

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year, says Wikipedia. Forgive me, Father, for I've sinned. And since it is none of the cardinal sins, perhaps I might be forgiven? It's the sin of doubt I have to confess. I find it puzzling to believe surfing my way through the supermarket shelves stuffed with "Cadbury" eggs. Firstly, I'm disappointed it is almost exclusively "Cadbury" (have a look at the chocolate counter next time you go to your local newsagent's). Well, there's "Nestle" also, but you have to consider that 80 percent of the world chocolate market is accounted for by six transnational companies anyway and they do not produce the best of chocolate. Two years ago an average of €1.6 million worth of confectionery sales were passing through Irish retailers’ tills every single day. The other day I spotted an Easter basket in the local Spar for 60 Euro. I can bet it will be gone by tomorrow. I've mentioned before the fact that Irish spend more during Christmas season than anybody else.

Farther, it is hard for me to believe when I see that as the seasons change the only thing that sets them apart is our shopping trends - turkey and port for Christmas, chocolate and lamb for Easter. I thought you were saying we should contemplate on some higher matters. Farther, have you got your Easter egg? Is it "Cadbury"? Or perhaps, Father, I'm taking life too seriously? Again...

Toefl results - discovered accidentally

2008-03-21T02:21:00.004Z

Toefl are a bunch of loosers. I hadn't received the posted scores so far (although they are supposed to arrive in 15 days after taking the exam, which I did on the 1st of March) and was beginning to seriously worry about my performance. Besides, I had terrible chest coughs, which sometimes lasted for a few hours at the time I was taking the exam - this would have been of little help during the speaking part. Thankfully, my coughing stopped, although after reading biology texts in the reading part, I started to feel like a completely illiterate idiot. I never liked or understood biology much - even in my language.

Yet my spontaneous decision to log on to my Toefl profile tonight and to see if the scores are available, was one of the best things to have happened recently.

114 points out of 120. I'm quite proud of myself. My nan said she was praying for my application for MA during the mass. The tutor from NCAD, who at first said I did not express enough critical thinking that is necessary for MA studies, wished me luck a few days ago in an email. Now, whether that will be enough for the university to consider me, remains a conundrum. Time flew by in February, when I was preparing my application papers and getting ready for the exam. It seems to have stopped. Till April...

20 seconds on O'Connell Bridge

2008-03-19T00:16:00.001Z

Fuji Astia. Cross Processed

Another magic with my Holga. Still learning to get the exposure right and debating on the way I should be using the slide... Working on the final project for NCAD.

In search of time lost: a tribute to film, Holga, 120 and real photography

2008-03-18T11:00:00.009Z

I think I have a fetish for vintage gadgets. The other day, as I was passing "Oxfam" in Dundrum on the way to the bank, I couldn't believe when I saw it on the window display. On the very bottom shelf, besides jewellery. Looking so classy and almost new. All azure, with black keyboard. Not quite as vintage as the one in "Naked Lunch", but still - a typewriter. You don't come across them often nowadays. I needed one as a prop for a photoshoot. Well, the photoshoot became an excuse later on, at first I was just admiring the fact of it in the window and for only 20 Euro, even though I'm trying not to surround myself with too many things. And it was before Tom Hanks confessed his passion for them to Jonathan Ross.

Every time I was walking to the bank I was admiring the view of it on that Oxfam window. And then it was gone. That's when I realised I could use it as a prop, but farewell... it was no more. I went to a few other charity shops afterwards feeling like an dinosaur or an alien. Do you ever get typewriters? I was searching for time lost or remembering time lost. Like the other time, when I was doing a social documentary project for NCAD Course and photographing closed cinemas of Dublin. I think, I've calculated about 9, there are probably more.

Carlton on O'Connell Street. Rephotographed black and white handprint.

Stella in Rathmines. Rephotographed black and white handprint

Classic on Harold's Cross. Rephotographed black and white handprint

Last week I embarked on another mission, looking for 120 color slide film for my new Holga. The fact that I bought it for 35 Euro on ebay (shipping included), while the last time I saw them in "Urban Outfitters" they cost about 90 Euro is another story. The fact that apart from this funky shop nobody else seems to be selling them in Dublin, is another, yet even sadder story. Anyway. As some of you might know, a few years ago Agfa discontinued production of all their 120 films, thus the only way some manage to make shots like these is if they were stockpiling them in the attic previously. Therefore if you are looking for colour slide in Dublin, you are left with either Fuji or Kodak. After going to John Gunn, Camera Exchange and a few more decent camera shops in Dublin which seem to be resisting the evolution of photography into point-and-shoot-everybody-is-a-photographer-can-I-see-the-picture digitalisation, I had to sadly face the fact that getting such hazy bluish colours might not be possible while I am in Dublin. In John Gunn (by far the best film photography shop in Dublin with the most-knowledgeable staff) I was told Kodak slides are a bit OTT, while when I popped into a camera shop on Grafton street stupidly hoping that perhaps they might have a few slides secretly concealed on some God-forgotten shelf, I couldn't see anything film there - just memory sticks, basic point and shoot digital cameras and batteries. The fridge with slides was hidden in the staff room. Well, good things mostly are not sold on the high streets, aren't they? Film cameras are not in fashion anymore any way. Or are they?

You don't have to look too far. Go to flickr and enter 'film' or 'plastic camera' or go to my recent discovery Film is not dead, it just smells funny, or the largest pinhole gallery or Lomography... You get the idea. Many of the best film photography works are not even scanable, like these ones by my first (and best so far) photography teacher Jurgita Remeikyte. Some of photography works are not even recordable, like this one on BBC's Genius of Photography - watch minutes 4-6.

Of course, digital photography is cheaper, more accessible, easier and more 'sharable'. You just have to upload it to flickr and voila! Everybody is a photographer. You manipulate the pictures till they become sickly plastic and you hear 'wow'.

12 years ago Julian Stallabrass in his remarkable book "Gargantua. Manufactured Mass Culture" said that around 60 billion photographs are taken every year and with the arrival of domestic computer manipulation 'every sunset will be perfect'. There was much truth in his words, wasn't there? And that was before digital cameras cost a few hundred euros and almost all mobile phones had one integrated. Digital made photography a kind of a quickie. Point. Shoot. Upload. Print. In fact how many photographs are not even uploaded, just looked at on the back screen of our better or worse digital cameras.

At present, between three and five million photographs are uploaded to flickr.com every day. And then there is stock photography, blogs, etc... Recent cover story in "Monocle" convinced me that I'm not some nostalgic freak. Did you know that in Japan - the pioneer of digital photography - mainstream media oftentimes still uses film? And that one of the best photographers ever and one of my favourite ones - Hiroshi Sugimoto - it is being said, stockpiles rolls of film in a freezer. After some research and doubt I discovered that it is possible.

Of course, film per se doesn't attribute a photograph as a work of art. Just like digital does not make it less. It's just sad to see film disappearing so quickly. The first digital cameras for mass consumer were introduced less than 15 years ago and now almost everybody has one. We all have become photographers. When I took a picture of my 6-year-old nephew with my N65, he instantly said 'let me see the picture'. Now he knows his auntie is a bit of a freak, fiddling with plastic cameras and searching for what is no more in Dublin camera shops. Well, I got a slide film finally. Fujifilm Astia, Velvia and Provia are still quite widely available. Yet when cross-processed they can be a bit too indigo or too ruby. At least so far. Yet this is what I love about film, slide and cross-processing. No matter, what is the level of your control, it always comes a bit as a surprise. Although I still have digital (for quickies....) it is this bit of organic magic that makes me stick to film. And pay tributes to time lost. In the meantime - say cheese.

My first slide roll of Holga. Raheny. Dublin

All photos©Lina Zigelyte

Experiencing facelift

2008-03-16T23:26:00.003Z

I have a feeling that the reason for the backache I've been suffering for over the past few weeks is my laptop. My table is too high, the bed is too soft, while the floor is uneven and the night stand is too low. So most of the time I'm curving and bending in front of my window on the world. Anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to my new template, for which I've been surfing today for about 10 hours. After falling in love with the way Bloggeruniversity is using the space I decided I want more columns and different colours, which Blogger should update on their templates more often. So the result, after looking through one of the long lists is this one, which I've found on Jackbook. In the middle of copying the template I forgot to save my blogroll, so I'm scraping together the bookmarks I've saved and what others have posted, and apart from a few minor/major misunderstandings with html I seem to be enjoying this facelift, buttox enhancement and the rest of the procedures. I just need to continue posting a bit more often, I guess.

Puppets and flood in the Docklands

2008-03-14T22:57:00.004Z

As promised, Plasticiens Volants performance today in St. Patrick’s Festival was indeed spectacular.

Photo©Lina Zigelyte

In fact, not only awe-inspiring, but fire alarm-setting, since the fireworks set off the fire alarm in the shopping centre nearby and after watching Plasticiens Volants another performance took place, as the water was pouring down the glass walls of the centre and flooding the pavement. Miscalculation, I suppose?..

Photo©Lina Zigelyte

Different Nation Different Station

2008-03-14T15:46:00.002Z

Newstalk 106 to108. Kitokia tauta - kitoks radijas.

The immigrants, including myself, are taking over the radio! Reacting to the fact that Ireland is becoming more intercultural than ever, Newstalk embarked on a mission to record their slogan "Different Nation - Different Station" in the languages of the largest immigrant groups of Ireland. Which makes Lithuanian one of them with (officially) over 25 000 of us here. So if you hear a sexy voice on one of those incomprehensible jingles, that could possibly be me talking to you. Thanks to my executive editor Chinedu Onyejelem I got a chance to represent Lithuanian version. Although it was tempting to babble some random stuff and to see how long it would take to discover that for Newstalk, I behaved and enjoyed my 5 seconds of fame. A look through the newsrooms made me wonder once again what on earth am I doing in a wine shop. Yet hey - I've got my window on the world here. And I got my 5 seconds of fame.

Google's been messing about

2008-03-07T11:30:00.002Z

Is it just me of something's been going wrong with Google for the past two days? It took an hour to open blogger and the email hasn't been working properly. It looks like I'm quite dependant on them...

Long live us - bloggers!

2008-03-06T00:04:00.002Z

This post is ridiculously behind time, but I wanted to say thank you to the organisers of the Irish Blog Awards. The post is late due to the fact that I've been ill recently, nonetheless I managed to hobble my way through to Alexander hotel and in case you heard somebody coughing in the very back of the hall for about two hours, that was me and I wasn't protesting.

Of course, I didn't win anything, not when some real journalists from The Irish Times are rivalling me. Congratulations to all who won, congratulations to all who participated and to all who make the blogosphere alive and thriving in Ireland. I have to admit I didn't know half of the blogs that were talked about and it's a shame - that's what happens when there's no internet access at work. Information void.

On the other hand, it was odd to get out of cyberia into reality. If Lithuanian blog awards tend to focus on the analysis and improvement of the blogosphere, Irish Blog Awards seemed like a good party and a celebration of blogging. So Irish, when you think... I wasn't in my Sunday best because I felt like shit on that evening - struggling with the cold and awful backache - but the blokes were drop-dead-gorgeous, they looked nothing like stereotypical IT geeks (or maybe my fever should be blamed) and the girls were just as dazzling. Whoever is combing Dublin pubs and bars for hotties should go blogging.

Unfortunately it wasn't my night and I didn't even get drunk. So here I am on my own in cyberia again, desperately waiting for the second chance. Do you guys ever do some kind of meets?

A few remarks on fatal stabbings of Pawel Kalite and Mariusz Szwajkos

2008-03-05T02:51:00.005Z

"We should not be shy in talking honestly to the media about its responsibility to create a more reflective view of our presence in Ireland, i.e. more attention must be given to fighting against stereotypes and prejudices which if left unchallenged result in ignorance."

This is a quote from a statement inviting to a roundtable discussion spurred after a recent fatal stabbing of two Polish nationals Pawel Kalite and Mariusz Szwajkos in Drimnagh on February 23rd. The discussion is organised by Polish Information and Culture Centre in Dublin and aims to identify the underlying causes of increasing tension between Irish nationals and foreign nationals in Ireland (another quote from the same website).

The media coverage of the stabbings has been extensive. President Mary McAlees attended the remembrance service in memory of the two young men along with Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan and Minister of State Conor Lenihan. After talking tonight with a Polish friend of mine on the tragedy and on public reaction to it, we were wondering if the same reaction would have surged if two Irish nationals had been killed. Or French. Or... To suggest that the underlying reason behind these horrible crimes is racism or xenophobia would mean to find an easy explanation. Moreover, escalation of this tragedy as a basis for the previously mentioned discussion will not reduce any tensions. The bottom line is that such examples of random brutal violence become more and more frequent on the streets of Dublin.

Racism in this case would be an easy explanation, and an easy one. Yet the main point is that you and me can be attacked by kids armed with screwdrivers for reasons as simple as refusal to buy alcohol for them.

Some people in cases like these tend to say "oh, it's north Dublin" or "oh, it's dysfunctional families". A while ago one Irishman told me that in his opinion Dublin is not divided into North or South. It is East and West, he said. Either way the point is that this expanding city is becoming more and more fractured. I couldn't define a Dubliner after almost three years of living here. I observe numerous Dublins on a daily basis and one of them is where kids walk in grey, pink or white bottom tracksuits sporting spiky hair, short fringes, frightening attitudes and hands in their pants as if to check if they haven't lost their bits somewhere along the way. My friend bumped into a few of them some time ago and was asked if she 'wanted some of this'. Another friend of mine was mugged by a bunch of teenagers as he was walking somewhere besides Parnell Street. A regular customer of ours returned from shopping in town after not being there, in her words, for about 10 years and observed that she was upset by the number of security guards in the city centre.

It seems that as the economy was thriving, some problems where overlooked in Ireland and tragedies like the one in Drimnagh on the 23rd of February serve as an alert. Although some suspect racist reasons, I think the main concern should be the fact, that the education of children in this country oftentimes is neglected and instead is substituted with immense freedom, which results in yob culture (Martina Devlin made a very strong statement on this a while ago).

We should ask ourselves if we would be as disturbed by a tragedy like this if somebody else had been killed. Or shall we start regarding violence it as part of Dublin culture? This would be yet another tragedy. I think discussions about such issues would be more beneficial.

Long live emigration-etc!

2008-02-12T21:47:00.000Z

Many thanks to everyone who was voting! :D

Thanks to you guys, I seem to have been nominated in the Irish Blog Awards, Best Blog by a Journalist Category, as was kindly informed by Primal.

So who is playing God now and making the pivotal vote? :)

Anyway, thanks again, I'll try to keep up the good work.

Here's a photo from Vilnius yesterday - I'm trying to sort a few things back home. I haven't seen it snowing for more than two years - this was the best birthday present I could get (after the nomination).

Movie festival features American avant-garde cinema with a Lithuanian touch

2008-02-09T12:34:00.001Z

This February Jameson Dublin International Film Festival gives a rare opportunityto watch a retrospective of avant-garde filmmmaker's Jonas Mekas' work. Although in his homeland Lithuania 85-year-old Mekas is better known as a poet and many still are unfamiliar with his experimental films, for some Lithuanians Mekas is what James Joyce or U2 are to the Irish - a reason to be proud and celebrate their identity.

Mekas is widely regarded as one of the leading figures of American avant-garde filmmaking or the “New American Cinema,” with the likes of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali appearing in the innumerable hours of his film diaries reflecting on his life in New York, where he has been working for the past 60 years. As one of the filmmakers' fans has observed, before there was internet, "Reality TV" or YouTube, there were the films of Jonas Mekas. Quite a life for somebody who nearly became a baker in Chicago.

Mekas was born in a small village in Lithuania and in 1944 with his brother Adolfas he was taken by the Nazis and imprisoned in a forced labor camp in Nazi Germany. After the War, he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz and in 1949 with his brother he emigrated to the U.S. Initially they were heading to Chicago, where Mekas was supposed to become a baker, but two weeks after the arrival he borrowed the money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to film his life. Moreover, Mekas became a keen supporter of experimental cinema and also one of the founders of Anthology Film Archives in New York - one of the world's largest and most important repositories of avant-garde films. His efforts in promoting underground cinema have been recognized worldwide.

The filmmaker calls his films a celebration of life. Faces of celebrities merge with memories of Lithuania, episodes from trips to Europe are followed by conversations with his friends on philosophy in his New York loft. His handheld camera produces frames which are not knit together by a script, but by the act of filming. His frames flick, pause, suddenly are interrupted by Lithuanian folk singing, continue and flick again. Hours of film diaries turn into a spectacle of cinematic vision.
Dublin International Film Festival, in association with Solus - an independent film collective promoting Irish and international short and avant-garde films, will present five of Mekas' movies: As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, The Brig, Notes on a Circus, Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania and A Letter from Greenpoint. The filmmaker himself will arrive to Dublin as well, so if you happen to stumble across the man with his signature hat and a video camera, you might be included in one of his films.

While The New York Times suggests that the length of some of his movies may call for coffee and blankets - one of them is nearly five hours long - Mekas claims that in fact all of his film work is one long film which is still continuing. “I don't really make films: I only keep filming. I am a filmer", he remarks.

Written for "Metro Eireann"

Question: on visions

2008-02-06T01:21:00.000Z

If you apply for Master's degree studies, do you know which subject you want to focus on during those two years before you commence the studies? I suppose you should have a rough idea which subjects interest you most, but how about that meticulous vision? On the other hand, can a vision be meticulous? Visions usually are vague, unless you're John the Apostle.

PS Two main reasons folks apply for Master's studies in Lithuania are: conscription (applies to guys) and the possession of paper with MA of x scribbled on it. How about Ireland?

Pitfalls of TOEFL

2008-02-02T13:22:00.000Z

Here I am jumping from one step of the ladder of competence to the other. Preparations for TOEFL could be running smoother.

Firstly, I started to suspect myself of being dyslexic. I guess I'm joining the rest of the band - Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Picasso. Then I realized that I'm not concentrating - the bloody era of internet, when you surf between five windows, iTunes, gmail and manage to google at the same time. Moreover, because of spell checkers, kindly supplied with our PCs and laptops, I got used to making spelling mistakes. And finally - I DON'T LIKE AMERICAN PRONUNCIATION, which is one of the features of TOEFL!

Which stage I am at? I guess conscious incompetence, which makes me one step above the starting level and two behind the target. Another month to go. Just found a website saying "Learn English in 10 Days". Which reminds me a conversation between two students.

Do you speak Japanese?
No, when is the exam?

Sticks and stones, and Lusitania

2008-01-30T01:12:00.000Z

I've told you that Lithuania had been struggling with its image. It is official now. And as one of the means to improve that image a proposition to change its Lithuanian name was mentioned. I promise a more in-depth post about that, but in the meantime I would like to ask my English speaking readers what are their thoughts on that and what would be the best name for Lietuva in English. My Irish colleague calls it Lusitania.

Possible options:

Lituania
Litua
Lit
... or simply L? :)

On the other hand ... even though many tend to mishear our English name and think it is Ukraine or Romania, sticks and stones may break my [Lithuanian] bones, but names will never hurt me.

Un cafe s'il vous plait

2008-01-29T14:00:00.001Z

It is a gusty, damp evening in Dublin and I drop into one of the cafes belonging to a gargantuan chain owning thousands of cafes all over the world. They seem to be springing up in Dublin at the speed of light. Although everything mainstream and branded seems to be unwelcome nowadays, the place is packed and I find my spot besides an grey-haired man browsing through a holiday catalogue.

I'm sipping one of their special coffees, but it is neither special, nor great. Rather an adapted coffee flavored drink, mixed with vanilla syrup and topped with over steamed milk. I improve the cocktail with a pinch of nutmeg and a smidgen of chocolate. It is not cheap - I gave the girl a fiver without her even bothering to tell how much it was and got some change. I could get a meal for the price of this coffee in Lithuania. Yet probably not for long - prices have been soaring lately. As I was strolling the cobbled streets of Vilnius last September I remember dropping into a flawlessly spotless cafe owned by a Latvian coffee chain. I had an equivalent of over a euro in my purse, thinking I should be able to afford a coffee for that price in Lithuania. How innocently naive I was! The cheapest one was a Turkish coffee for about 2 Euro. In fact, I couldn't find a simple un cafe on the menu at all. Until then I had never paid for a coffee by credit card. Not to mention, I was waiting for the coffee and the bill for over ten minutes each.

But let's go back to Dublin. The service here is much quicker, yet just like in that cafe I find it hard to get my hands on a cup of good coffee. Not an Americano, not a double espresso and not a crème brûlée flavored pseudo coffee topped with whipped cream. If you ever had coffee in France or Italy you should understand me.

Why did I head to a cafe instead of a pub on this miserable evening? And who drinks coffee at this time of the day anyway, when the vast majority are sipping at their pints? True. Have you ever tried to find a cafe that is open till late in Dublin? No wonder the consumption of alcohol in this country is disturbingly high. It looks like socializing without booze has become mission impossible, apart from few exceptions. There is a tea house in Temple Bar, which to my knowledge was founded by a Croatian guy, and is the only spot in the city offering more than a teapot with a selection of tea bags - an extensive range of mixed herbal teas is available instead. And there is one cozy cafe that stays open till late, but the waitresses seem to be constantly struggling with their English.

Oh... and there is this mainstream chain I'm hiding in, buzzing with heart-to-heart talks, good music and the quality of coffee fading out into the background.

Opening a cafe might not sound like the most lucrative business, but I've never seen this place empty. Even though they charge nearly a fiver for a mug of coffee. On the other hand... it is quite a generous mug. Yet whenever I pass this place I tend to remember Krakow with numerous bohemian cafes, not acquired by global mega brands and with decent coffee. I admit having a few pints of Żywiec also. But sometimes one just needs a cup of good coffee.

Written for "Metro Eireann"

Time is not on my side...

2008-01-28T23:01:00.000Z

I went fishing today to Portobello canal. I caught a goldfish and when asked what three wishes I have, I told her the fulfillment of one would be enough - to add extra 3 hours to each day. "You idiot," she said, flapped her tail and off she went.

I know I am an idiot and it is possible I've taken up too much at the moment, but, hey, you only get to live once.

Writing for "Metro Eireann" is going well and I am really enjoying it, because finally I feel being in my shoes and the more I think about it the more I realize I should have tried to break into Irish media a bit earlier. If you don't risk you don't get to drink champagne - we have a saying in Lithuania. Now... not that I realize to have been wasting my time, but I'm just that kind of person - a perfectionist inclined to constantly ponder that things could have been done better. "Are you a journalist?" asked one of my tutors tonight when a guy I'm with in a course said he had seen my journalistic attempts. Possibly maybe. And then one Lithuanian newspaper in Ireland asked me to write for them now and again. It looks like my time invested in blogging seems to start paying off.

What else has been going on my block? Do you remember the coup of the palace we started planning in NCAD? Well.. we're getting there. It appears that I wasn't the only one unsatisfied with the quality of some classes and the dissatisfaction had occurred in the course last year also.

Oh, and I'm taking TOEFL on the 1st of March, because I need it in order to be able to apply for master's studies in the Netherlands. What if it doesn't work? Then I'll go fishing again. In Amsterdam canals this time.

Lithuanians head to church for God, music, friends - and tea

2008-01-15T00:16:00.001Z

Here's my story published in "Metro Eireann" last Thursday

It is Christmas day and it feels like Dublin has turned into a deserted ghost town, yet St Andrew's Church, adjoining Pearse Station, is nearly full. Some of the people, quietly sitting in the pews, had to walk for over an hour in order to get here - there is no DART, Luas or bus service today. Everybody is well-dressed and they quietly whisper greetings to their neighbors. A congregation of about 250 Lithuanians are waiting for Father Egidijus Arnasius to start a Christmas mass in their native language.

Majority of them are in their thirties, many sit in couples, while now and again children climb the steps trying to approach two brightly lit Christmas trees standing behind the altar.

There is a choir of 10 people, among other songs performing "Silent Night". The pipe organ doesn't work and they are accompanied by acoustic guitar and percussion. Some of them had never sung before, others used to perform in a folklore ensemble "Lietuviskas Dobilas" ("Lithuanian Shamrock") which had participated in many Lithuanian events in Ireland, but recently many of the singers returned to Lithuania and the ensemble started to crumble.

Socializing and keeping the tradition

Jurgita Karazija is one of the members of the choir. She arrived to Ireland this summer and for her going to this mass is the best way of meeting her friends, since they live all over Dublin.

"The whole day is dedicated for socializing with Lithuanians. We stay in touch this way and it has become part of the weekly routine," says Mrs Karazija.

A woman, sitting next to me, is visiting her son who has been living in Ireland for 6 years. It is the first time she came to Ireland and it is the first time her son crossed the threshold of St Andrew's Church. His mother mentions that going to the mass during Christmas has always been a tradition in the family.

The crowd today is large - on an ordinary Sunday about a hundred people would gather. Despite the fact that Lithuanians boast to be quite religious, with about 80% of the 3.4 mln population claiming to be Catholic, majority tend to visit the church only on special occasions - Christmas, Easter or All Saints' Day.

"We are that kind of Catholics. The culture of faith has been destroyed by bulldozer-like atheism," remarks father Egidijus.

Lithuania was the only majority-Catholic Soviet republic and during the Soviet occupation the Church remained a stronghold of resistance against the regime. Some of the churches were turned into storehouses, Roman Catholic publications were prohibited and property confiscated, but the Church was safeguarding Lithuanian traditions and the language - the most archaic among the living Indo-European languages.

The only priest on the island

Father Egidijus had been in Ireland for almost three years and recently his mission was extended for another three. He is the only Lithuanian priest in Ireland which, according to census figures, has become home to over 20 000 Lithuanians, although some estimate the real figure to be about 100 000. Father Egidijus had been busy throughout December, conducting masses in Ashbourne, Galway, Longford, Carrickmacross, Moy and Armagh, where over 500 people showed up on Christmas Eve.

"During those three years I saw many faces. Some had disappeared, because people returned to Lithuania, but new ones turned up instead," observes the evolution of the local community Father Egidijus and acknowledges that many appear in St Andrew's Church on Sundays in order to have a chat with their fellow countrymen.

As a matter of fact, the easiest way to meet them is to stay after the mass for a cup of tea - there are always biscuits and a kettle in a room nestled beside the church. Sometimes people bring along homemade goods and some claim that this is the best part of the day.

As they chat, a hand-carved wooden Rupintojelis (The Pensive Christ) is quietly sitting on Father Egidijus' work desk in his apartment - a characteristic Lithuanian art form, depicting a worrying Christ with a crown of thorns sitting on a stump. It shares our worries and reminds that hard times of life would become better. In the meantime Father Egidijus rushes to put the kettle on.

All photos © Lina Zigelyte

Blogging as a delusion of journalism

2008-01-14T01:47:00.001Z

When I saw Primal's suggestion to nominate my modest reflections on living in Ireland in the best "Blog by a Journalist" category for Irish Blog awards 2008 I was obviously flattered. Hell, yeah.

Of course, as Primal admits, you can have doubts on whether I could qualify. I have some doubts as well - I believe out there, in the Irish cyberspace, there must be more journalists with more articulate English and plenty of time to ponder about zillions of issues. Yet it is up to you to decide and come to a conclusion in a debate what criteria define you as a journalist in this era of blogging, Current TV, You Tube, etc. Do you have to belong to the mainstream or can you be a voice in the wilderness while remaining independent? If everything goes well and I have a bit of luck, as of September I might plunge myself into a more academic research on this subject. Or continue a life of a mongrel with occasional posts on this blog...

On the other hand, Primal mentions the fact that there are not many non Irish journalists working in Irish media.

Amelie Mouton in her story "Why no news isn't good news for Ireland's ethnic journalists" published in 2006 in the annual magazine of Metro Eireann - Ireland's multicaltural newspaper - points out that the National Action Plan Against Racism asks for "positive actions" towards the recruitment of journalists from cultural and ethnic minorities. Yet a well-known Irish journalists, who's name is not disclosed, observes in the story that "Irish journalism does seem to be drawn from the white middle classes nearly exclusively - unless you count Protestans and Scots, there are not ethnic minorities represented in my staff".

In a way it is understandable - a little more than 20 years ago Ireland was almost exclusively Irish. I remember and Irish woman once told me that when she went to London about 25 years ago she was startled by the variety of people over there - never before she had seen so many shades of skin and heard people speaking English in so many different ways.

For the past five years Irish society has been experiencing vast changes. About 10 percent of the population today are foreigners. It is widely seen in cafes, "Penny's", construction sites and supermarkets. But not as much in the media.

Of course, immigration issues are being covered. The usual ones: possible layoffs, abuse of immigrants as cheap labor force, accidents, caused by drunk Eastern European drivers, other criminal offenses, etc. Yet apart from these clichéd news there is so much more worth feature stories, photographs, broadcasts and documentaries.

Seamus Dooley of the National Union of Journalists in a story mentioned above said that the main barriers preventing the mainstream press from taking on ethnic journalists are language barriers and a possible lack of knowledge about Ireland's socio-political background on the migrants' behalf. I'll tick for the language, yet many migrants have experienced that socio-political background themselves, therefore the last argument could be disputed. On the other hand, why not give a chance for foreigners trained as journalists and with previous work experience to gain more knowledge of that kind while they carry in-depth research? Many of them speak more than one language and know plenty of personal stories. Besides, we all know that journalists are jacks of all trades, yet masters of none and they all learn as they go.

I'm no expert in immigration and I am not a typical immigrant myself. A virtual friend of mine in Lithuania expressed a wish for a blog that would describe emigration process from day zero in a foreign country. As she said, the first slap in the face and the first applause.

A blog of this kind would be immensely popular. There are still many myths associated with emigrants in my country: hearsay about pay, living conditions, Irish, etc. If blogged honestly (therefore probably anonymously), it would offer the best chance to satisfy virtual voyeurism. If blogged in proper English, it would be phenomenally popular in the British Isles. Either way stories we - virtual voyeurs - would like to hear would probably never reach that blog. If blogged honestly and in the native language, most likely it wouldn't come from some mushroom factory. Even if internet access was available, blogging still requires some sort of ability to write. As another virtual friend of mine has observed, ability to write quite often does not coincide with the capability to tell something and vice versa. In terms of blogging in English, although I am convinced there are more people capable of doing that than we encounter today (non-native speakers), again those things we would like to read - everyday immigrant stories - would probably never make it to such a blog, just because they wouldn't happen to somebody who emigrates with more than basic knowledge of English. It would become a boring blog - with no bad news.

At first my blog was an attempt to highlight some of the issues Eastern Europeans have to face in Ireland. I should probably write more about the likes of my friend who came over to Ireland in November. For the past three months she had been working in an Eastern European grocery shop for less than the minimum wage, doing about 60 hours a week and without a single pay slip. I could also mention that they sell spirits from behind the counter and whoever speaks Russian can ask for a pack of 200 cigarettes for half the regular retail price. But I'm sure these stories will get to be covered someday by those who thoroughly know Ireland's socio-political background.

On the other hand, as I say in my profile, getting stuck in the topic of migration is easy, therefore I try to cover other issues as well, resisting the temptation to become too serious, too issue-focused. I'm learning to respect the readers - the second keyword bringing readership to my Lithuanian blog is "boobies" (because of a story about a character played by a Lithuanian actress doing it in "The Tudors" , shall I say, in a very open way - my suspicion was no English actress would have signed up for it). Therefore you might encounter more juicy material in the near future on this blog as well.

Whichever was the reason, a few weeks before Christmas I received and email from the deputy editor of Metro Eireann deputy editor offering to write about Lithuanians in Ireland. She said she had found my blog and thought it was very interesting. It wasn't all in vain, I guess... :)

If you think this blog deserves the spot in the nominations for the Irish Blog Awards 2008, mention me in any of the categories you think I qualify for. Or otherwise, please come back. Thanks for stopping by.

And the nominees are... Irish Blog awards 2008

2008-01-09T11:20:00.000Z

Thanks to Primal Sneeze I happened to come across the fact that the nominations for the Irish Blog awards 2008 are now open.

Nominations close on January 18. Good luck to everybody, especially new faces on the block.

I need to do more research before I make my choice, but hopefully by the end of this week I will make up my mind.

On freestyle tutors and rocking the boat

2008-01-04T00:51:00.000Z

Before posting this rant I sought advice from my sister, who is a fourth year full-time student in Trinity College, and picked my workmates' brains who previously were engaged in studies over here.

I asked my sister if she had encountered many freestyle lecturers over the years that she spent in college. Although her object of studies requires a more specific and systematic approach than mine (for those looking for some background information, currently I am studying photography and digital imaging in the National College of Art and Design), recently myself and a few other guys I am studying with got worried. We've paid about 1300 Euro each for a six-month course which takes place twice a week for about 3 hours each time. We're split into two groups and have three lecturers in total - one of them we are sharing and then each group has the main tutor whom the other group only gets to see rarely.

So. The lecturer that both groups are sharing is kick-ass. Tons of material, dozens of pictures, intensive and brain-teasing lectures, lots of feedback on the projects we are currently involved in, etc.

The guy who is the main tutor of the other group (despite my bewilderment about the fact that although he had been photographing for over 15 years, he never aimed to exhibit his work abroad) knows his stuff, is very expressive and was very helpful when we were working in the darkroom. But my group only gets to see him rarely.

Now my group's main tutor, as one of the girls I'm studying with said, is a hippy, which is great, yet when I was paying the money I wasn't expecting to spend half of those 3 hours listening about her trip to New York. Neither was I paying the money for her to constant cross-examinations of how we are doing with our projects. Not that I don't like them or don't accomplish them, but spending over an hour of those 3 hours (which in her case mostly turn into 2) on asking what's your project? how are you getting on? how's your research? ON EVERY SINGLE LECTURE OF HERS is ridiculous, because as we are just talking the same stuff all over again and again, she is just nodding her head or mentioning a few random names (which in my case were totally absurd and out of context - on which even the kick-ass lecturer had agreed). She comes unprepared every single time and I am not the only one who is starting to feel fed up with her impromptu lectures.

An artist, one might wonder? I don't even consider her as an artist at all.

My sister admitted of having a few lecturers like that, while one of my workmates said that two of his lecturers could hardly speak English and one of hem was lecturing about mechanical solids (the colleague I am talking about graduated in engineering).

As we were sipping our Christmas drinks with the guys I study with, quite a few of us mentioned dissatisfaction with the tutor I am talking about. And before I could say anything one of the girls said "We, Irish, tend not to rock the boat". If it wasn't for her, I would have continued thinking perhaps I am just nitpicking. After all, good tutors are rare. Yet my guess is that she has probably been lecturing like this always - without students' complaints or any notions of improving the quality of her classes.

Since I am not Irish and one of the better students should I rock the boat? And how?

Shoulda woulda coulda...

Rolling on...

2008-01-03T11:56:00.001Z

Currently roaming in the "Scotch Mist", rewinding 2007 and trying to avoid mystification of the past. Happy New Year everybody.

SHOPPING culture and ENTERTAINMENT throughout the happy season

2007-12-16T21:58:00.000Z

Ho Ho Ho.

It feels a bit odd when people wish you Merry Christmas in the middle of December, but the marathon has kicked off even earlier. I think the first person to wish me Merry Christmas said this on the 3rd of December. And although this is supposed to be the season of joy and happiness, in a somewhat magic way as of the 1st of December Dubliners lost their usual easy come easy go attitude and turned into an army of angry shopaholics.

Shopping became part of Dublin life a long time before I had noticed a poster on Dublin Bus SHOPPING culture ENTERTAINMENT. The add was supposed to promote all three of the above, but the design of the poster was suggesting that Dublin equals to Shopping culture and Entertainment. Skip culture. Unfortunately quite often it is exactly like that. Unless you come to Dublin for some fiddle tunes.

A few weeks ago my sister was asking me to suggest a museum where she could bring her 12-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son (they've been living in Ireland for over 7 years). Natural History Museum had been closed until further notice and I couldn‘t come up with any other ideas. You might accuse me of ungrounded bellyaching again, but this reminds me of a visit to Van Gogh’s Museum in Amsterdam, where they have special guide books for children. Kids are being asked to find particular details or colours or shapes in the paintings, observe differences and similarities with comprehensive and unfussy explanations. Last weekend I was in London and while strolling through Tate Modern and National Portrait Gallery I encountered quite a few parents and teachers with children. Looking at a dinosaur replica is one thing, but teaching to read paintings is another.

Anyway. Although constant state of shopping (despite the reason of need) - another attribute of the West - can be encountered in Dublin throughout the whole year (think Henry Street for instance), it reaches its pinnacle in December with Merry Christmas as a driving force behind it.

According to Deloitte’s annual consumer survey Irish households will spend on average §1,431 on Christmas this year. Compare this with §411 in the Netherlands; §420 in Germany and §556 in France. Of the Irish figure, a total of §720 will be spent on gifts, §431 on food with §279 on socialising.

My friend’s colleague who keeps constantly complaining about the lack of money and lives with her mother took a loan from the bank - 3500 euros - which she will spend on Christmas gifts. Next year she’ll be working for the sake of Christmas.

As I was looking for a coat last week I realized that the virus of “thingism” (a desire for things) is highly contagious. Indeed there are so many pretty things out there that cry to be bought. The handbags and the glad rags. Things which you desire, but you will never need. And have you noticed - although this is the season of happiness - everybody seems to be angry! Spend three hours in a shopping mall and you will feel as exhausted as a mountain climber who has just made it to the peak of Everest. That virus of thingism sucks out your spirits and leaves you a replica of consumerism fighting for those gifts. Although it is supposed to be a season of joy and happiness. Ho ho ho you’re in the army now.

A few more remarks on begging in Ireland

2007-12-13T23:17:00.000Z

In search for response to Christophe's comments on begging, over the past few days I came across two stories in the morning newspapers.

But in the meantime I just want to mention that of course, Christophe, when speaking of freedom I meant to say that our independence and the EU expansion opened the gate and we flooded through them driven by economic necessity and selfishness, yet we chose to work rather than to beg, even when a few years ago we were working illegally, without work permits, often for less than the minimum wage, but we worked, we were not begging (!). And I think I've written enough in my blog about Irish in order for you not to get the impression that I call all Irish street people. God forbid!

According to the recent stories, child begging is up by 30 percent in Ireland and according to some officials, the hike was due to both a change in legislation making it no longer illegal for adults to beg and the growing numbers of Roma in Ireland. This story only heralds my previous post in some way, yet I don't have the answer with a possible solution for this dilema.

Also I discovered that accordng to Dublin Simon Community, about a quarter of Dublin's homeless population suffer from serious mental illness and this is the question of the chicken and the egg: was it mental illness that drove them to the streets or are the streets to be blamed for their mental condition? Either way this should be tackled, but a penny or even a shiny euro jingleing into the empty "Starbucks" cup won't solve the problem.

Come ye who thirsty or starve or are simply lazy and the Celtic Tiger will embrace you all.

Begging as an attribute of the West

2007-12-05T13:35:00.000Z

I suppose I was 20. Not that I am past my prime now, with grandchildren racing in the shadow of an apple tree thriving underneath my window, begonias on the windowsill and a duck roasting quietly in the oven. Anyway, I was 20. Third year in college, great expectations, naiveness, etc. I was in America. How incredible that even after the recent dark ages across the Atlantic (paranoic war on terrorism, Iraq, economic crisis, shootings in schools) those tree words still carry an aura of magic. The first glimpse at New York's Manhattan, skyscrapers, astounding feeling that nobody cares about you, therefore there is no need to feel uberimportant, black people, enormous traffic, over air-conditioned "Greyhound" busses, "Amtrak" trains, industrial suburbs of New Jersey, a guy with a python across his shoulders on the bus stop in Camden, a kid selling something colorful in a dinger, a street preacher moralizing about Jesus and Apocalypse and a vagabond shoving a tattered "Starbucks" cup into my face. No change, no change!

If you arrive to a Western country from Central/Eastern Europe, panhandling mostly leaves you outraged, the main difference being the fact that in Central/Eastern Europe you could rarely see fit young men and women, physically capable of working, begging on the streets. If you boarded a plane to Lithuania, you would mainly encounter old weary women on their knees asking for change besides Baroque churches. Throughout my explorations to the USA, the UK, France, Ireland, Italy and Spain I've never seen elderly women begging. Honestly - don't remember such an occurrence. Beggars in the West are fit and well capable of working. Men panhandling besides ATMs, restaurants, on Ha'penny Bridge, besides cars stuck in traffic... Have you noticed that the vast majority of them have hands and feet? Therefore I'm convinced they are in the streets not because they can't get a job or are incapable of working, but because they have chosen panhandling as a style of life.

I encountered panhandlers for the first time when I was walking towards underground station in Philly, USA. At first I couldn't even get - what's the problem? Why so much anger?

Over the past two and a half years that I'd spent in Dublin, I came to conclusion that panhandlers in this country are mainly junkies. Not as angry as in the States, but typically all young. Ironically, quite often they find shelter underneath or besides signs "Staff wanted".

I went to the ATM to withdraw some cash a few weeks ago, but some guy was in my way blocking the access. He apologized and placed himself underneath the money machine.
"Nice day", he said.
"I wonder if for long", added.
"Indeed", I answered.
"Good for you, I'm sure you can enjoy it", he muttered in a voice rehearsed for zillions of times.
"Have you got any spare change?" he asked.
"Sorry", I replied.

Panhandling besides ATMs in Ireland is a tremendously common sight. As a matter of fact, panhandling in general is acutely popular over here. Some say because of the widening gap between the poor and the rich - while some get more and more prosperous others become even more poverty-stricken. Sometimes it is the case, although knowing for a fact that dozens of able-bodied Lithuanians bulldozed their way to various benefits from the Celtic Tiger (on top of working 40, 50 or 60 hour weeks), I tend to think that panhandling nowadays for many has become a kind of occupation - despite vast opportunities on the job market. Although Irish still can't compare to the impeccability of the skills needed to, let's say, Italians. During my two-week-long stay in Italy this spring I learned of such numerous ways of mooching money that I could kick start a new career. I.e. distribute a flyer with a picture of a small girl on the train. She has one month to live. This is my daughter. Please help. I gave a euro - damn it, I couldn't look at that picture without apathy.

As of the 1st of January 2007 the number of those, who day in and day out live with a hand reaching out for small change, has even increased over here. New citizens of the expanded EU flooded the streets. But instead of IT professionals and laborers of mushroom factories, it was an army of gaudy skirts with a marching band of accordions. Until now if you ever met an Irish child on the streets of Dublin, it was a busker with a bucket in front. If you hit the streets of Dublin today, you encounter dozens of children, 10-year-olds and younger, with a hand reaching out for change (what a connotation of the word!). "Spare some change, madam" become the first English words they learn.

Once a Dutch woman whom I got to know while working in the shop, stressed to me that begging in the street with children is illegal in the Netherlands. In fact, during a couple of weekends spent over there, I had never encountered beggars. Just a quick glance of a tourist, which, obviously, could as well be quite wrong. During a few days spent in Denmark I was approached by a beggar only once. A friend of mine gave him a cigarette.

A couple of months ago a young beggar won his High Court claim that a law outlawing begging in a public place is unconstitutional because it excessively interferes with his right of freedom of expression. I guess, the expression of freedom can be interpreted in many ways nowadays.

Emigrants from Romania and Bulgaria risk being stopped from entering Ireland until the end of next year because of entry restrictions on low-skilled workers. In order to work in Ireland, they need work permits. Just 106 work permits were granted to Romanians this year and only 33 workers from Bulgaria were given access.

If I went for a stroll in certain areas of Dublin, I can bet a bottle of good wine, that in a few hours I could calculate more than a hundred of gaudy skirts or their mustached cavaliers. No, not those with accordions in their hands. And not those photographing the architecture of Dublin. But those exhibiting their freedom of expression. Because there can be no embargos for it. On the other hand, I could probably still calculate more pahnandling Irish, staying on the streets because they have chosen to. Despite the fact that there are numerous signs in town saying "staff needed".

Freedom lulled thousands of Lithuanians to Ireland like honey does the bees, while the Irish, allured by it, hit the streets. Isn't it ironic?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T17:35:00.000Z

Time is too short for those who rejoice, (my social documentary project was quite a success) therefore I didn't notice that I'm one day late to post this.

Happy Thanksgiving Mr Bush and the rest of the mankurts. Greetings to Mr William S. Burroughs who's ass is probably being sizzled in hell.

Bear with me for a week please!

2007-11-20T12:43:00.000Z

Photo©Liuda

I promise to start updating this blog in about a week or so. In the meantime I am busy negotiating with the devil for inspiration. You will know soon!

"Into the wild" - a must see

2007-11-11T23:48:00.000Z

For those who by now have realized they have gone weary of people and themselves.

For those who get tired of 8 to 5 office jobs.

For those who don't see anything new on 7 o'clock evening news anymore.

For those who think they haven't found happiness yet.

Please watch Sean Penn's new movie "Into the wild" in order to understand that happiness is only real when shared. Listen to Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder's soundtrack in the meantime. Immense beauty.

Appropriating gods - the weakness of small nations

2007-11-09T00:23:00.000Z

Sometimes we tend to underrate our people, we are inclined to hand them over to others. You live in New York and they say that you have become a New Yorker, in France - then you have become French. This is a susceptibility of small nations. Big ones never hand over or underrate their people.

The quote belongs to Jonas Mekas, a Lithuanian filmmaker and the co-founder of Anthology Film Archives in New York, one of the world's largest and most important repositories of avant-garde films. Mr Mekas has just returned to Lithuania for a while to open Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in the capital Vilnius.

As usual, political matters were not avoided (politicians are always there where big names are present). The ex mayor of the capital Arturas Zuokas, demonstrating ambitions to rally for the presidency of Lithuania, yet facing constant criticism about his financial supporters, has been immensely involved in the opening of the center and also was one of the initiators of a request submitted to our president to grant Mr Mekas the citizenship of Lithuania (dual citizenship is very hard to get in my country). The citizenship was granted indeed. The journalists in the meantime kept quizzing Mr Mekas what were his feelings about the citizenship and Mr Zuokas. The film-maker managed to avoid any political statements and keeps shooting. One movie a day. Highly recommend watching. Avant-garde cinema par excellence.

I would like to mention here that the issue of belonging to Lithuania and the passport as a sign of acknowledgment is a bizarre one. As far as I understand, because of Soviet Union Mr Mekas lost Lithuanian citizenship (since this country ceased to exist until 1990), but the possession of it would not change anything. Figures like him are citizens of the world with their roots geographically undistinguishable. He left the country at the age of 22. And although he claims that he has never renounced Lithuanian citizenship, it is a pity the matter has become of great political importance. And it seems that everybody apart Mr Mekas himself are greatly involved in the subject. In 2050 Lithuanians will probably boast him as one of the greatest Lithuanians ever, although the future of his Visual Arts Centre is still under question and many people in rural areas haven't got a clue who he is. To expand on Mr Mekas' remark, small nations need their heroes otherwise they don't feel like they exist. They must claim their gods back.

I can see some parallels with Ireland here, but I'm frightened to despise its gods.

Escape

2007-11-07T22:27:00.000Z

The pigeon must be Chinese or from some other country which has mastered martial arts. It has escaped. Was about to open the box, but I found it open already: with the brick tossed away, shit in the box and one feather. No sign of blood. I presume it must have had enough rest. The brick weighted about half a pound!

PS

Sorry - don't have any photos...

Pigeon business

2007-11-07T00:14:00.000Z

I get all kinds of customers coming into the shop. But never before have I seen a pigeon. A white one, with fluffy feathers and an imposing tail. He strolled into the shop just like that. At around 4 pm. Not flew in, but strolled in. Before that he hit the window of the hairdresser's next door. Twice. Like in a A. Hitchcock movie. Walked into the "Spar" nearby. And then decided to wander aimlessly in the pharmacy for a while.

I got a roll for him. Or her. It is hard for me to decide on the gender of pigeons. What are the indications, by the way?

Phoned the ISPCA.

Hello? I'm phoning from a wine shop in Churchtown. We've got a pigeon wandering around the neighborhood. A really nice pigeon. With a huge tail and a ring on its leg. What should I do?

They suggested to catch the pigeon, close it in a box, give some food and water and by tomorrow morning he or she should be all fit to fly again. After all it is a racing pigeon, they informed me. It must be tired. Off I went.

It is in a Valpolicella box at the moment. After a couple of minutes of stumbling around the neighboring shops I managed to catch it. It has some bread and water and a stone on the box to keep it from panicking. In the back of the shop. Would this be considered as animal torture? Was trying to negotiate with my boss to let it stay in the cellar overnight, but with no success. He called all pigeons flying rats. Be they racing or not. Hopefully, by tomorrow morning it will be fit to fly. I promise to update on that.

A few remarks about Ireland after spending here 4 days

2007-11-05T12:37:00.000Z

It is not easy to get used to the fact that I don't live on my own anymore. I'm a bad housemate and even worse as a roommate. I have to have my space, where others can't set their foot in. I have to have my cell of meditation where I can mumble to myself, scribble to you, perform in front of mirrors and indulge in reflective solitude.

A selfish kick-off for a monday morning.

For the past four days I have been sharing a room of my own with my best friend who after a few years of hesitations, persuasions and dubieties finally boarded "Ryanair" flight to Dublin. And for the past four days my 80 sq feet or so have been flooded with expectations and visions with spells of regret. Although visions prevail. Despite the troubles that emerge because of severe intimacy. On the other hand, my friends observations shed light on some things which I started to forget or got so used to that I barely even notice them. These are as follows:

***
A trip from Dublin Airport on Bus No. 16A. Somewhere around Phibsborough she exclaimed with childish disbelief:

Look! Walking in slippers!

***
Somewhere in town she suddenly scowled with disgust:

The stench of pee!

I hardly even noticed any...

***
After a job interview she was surprised that by the end of it the interviewer called her by name. She remarked it felt very personal.

***
Despite the fact that Eastern Europeans keep slagging off Irish about being fat, my friend was wondering, where are those fat people?

***
TO LET. At first she was thinking these are signs for public TOILETS with the letter I pealed off. I wish...

***
Everybody is nuts about anything organic.

***
In terms of salaries food is inexpensive.

***
She admired the fact that there are zillions of small shops.

***
Wine lists in the restaurants describe wines rather than just stating "Torres Esmeralda" or "Concha Y Torro Cabernet Sauvignon".

***
Pennies is great!

***
"Guinness" is tasty!

I think she'll be just fine in Ireland, won't she?

Cinema Paradiso. In search of time lost

2007-11-03T01:48:00.000Z

"Lithuania" was not the first one. "Homeland" was shut before that and afterwards "Vilnius" was sold. The names of cinemas in my native Vilnius always used to be symbolic. Although I much prefer the way they sounded in the beginning of the 20th century: "Eden", "Fantasy", "Family". Nowadays only "Forums" and "Plazas" survive.

Dublin is much the same.

We're supposed to produce a social documentary project for the photography course. After deciding to leave out the issue of immigrants for now, I came with an idea to shoot closed down cinemas of Dublin. To search for the time lost.

In 2004 it was estimated that cinema audiences in Ireland are among the highest in Europe. The annual frequency of cinema going per capita here (at 4.5 visits per year in 2002) was only surpassed by Iceland’s (5.7 visits).

Although the number of screens in Ireland has increased by 72%, to 328 screens during the period 1991–2001, the number of cinemas in Ireland has reduced by 15% over the same period, but many cinemas were already shut by that time.

When I was in Krakow in January, we went for a stroll alongside a square similar in size to St. Steven's Green Park. There were at least five cinemas neighboring it. Shabby, decaying, run-down. With paint flaking off the walls. They were showing Polish and Central European cinema. In some of them you could still puff on your cigarette or sip at a pint of "Żywiec".

I managed to tally eleven cinemas in Dublin. Out of them IFI is the only one that screens movies that will never make it to the lists of top-grossing blockbusters. What's left are multiplexes with dozens of screens, dreadful sound isolation and carpets mantled with pop corn. These days Tarkovsky* we watch on DVD while the big screen is dedicated to "Spider-Man". The first. The second. The third.

*By the way, Kris Kelvin in "Solaris" is played by an accomplished Lithuanian actor Donatas Banionis.

Classic Cinema. Demolished in June 2007.

Shopping for twaróg

2007-10-27T12:15:00.000+01:00

Just like the Irish claim that Guinness doesn't taste the same anywhere outside Ireland (and I've been assured more than once, because, apparently it doesn't travel), Japanese get parcels with miso soup and noodles posted by their mothers (Yamamori or Wagamama do not serve Japanese food), there are a few Lithuanian specialties that I have a longing for. Although as time goes by, I discover that Polish, Belorussians or Latvians claim that those specialties are in fact theirs. After all, in the 14th century Lithuania ruled Belarus (the orange is Lithuania stretching from the Baltic to the Black sea!) and then Polish ruled us and what was ours became theirs and v.v. Eastern Europe became a concoction of local cultures. No wonder Irish or English can't tell the difference between Polish and Lithuanians. Neither can I sometimes - apart from the language.

The other day I was dashing to a local Polish shop called "Samo Dobro" (Only The Best) for some twaróg which in Lithuania we call VARŠKĖ [think varshkay]. It bears some resemblance to cottage cheese (although I haven't seen Irish ever buying it), but is less salty and usually comes in one lump rather than small bits similar to, excuse me, hamster feces. Back to food :)

I entered the shop.

Dzień Dobry, said quite a pleasant guy behind the counter and I stuttered Hello. I do understand some Polish, can utter a few words, but I don't speak Polish.

I headed for twaróg section, took one and went back to the counter.

Jeden pięćdziesiąt pięć or something along those lines came out of his mouth and I could figure out it is less than two Euro. I gave him the money. He gave me the change, said dziekuje. Thanks very much, I replied to that. Do widzenia he said. Good bye, I responded.

It was a all a bit like in Jim Jarmusch's movie Down by Law where Roberto Benigni's character, an Italian tourist with zero English, is is yelling I scream you scream we all scream for ice-cream to a bunch of Americans sharing a prison cell with him in Orleans Parish Prison.

It is possible the guy could have taken me for a Polish refusing to speak Polish. But I only came for some twaróg . A Lithuanian specialty in a Polish shop.

D for Dirty

2007-10-25T00:04:00.000+01:00

As I was striding to my local shop to buy some beans, a lovely six-year-old girl was strolling towards me. Pressed uniform, shiny shoes, curly red hair. She had just bought a chocolate bar and was unwrapping it eagerly. After removing paper she dumped it without a blink on the ground and walked away. Teeny-weeny bitch!

On the other hand, behavior of such kind doesn't come as a surprise, since this week we all got a chance to discover (again) that Dublin had the most litter on its streets when compared with nine other major European cities: Riga, Vienna, Strasbourg, Cologne, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Zurich, Stockholm and Amsterdam.
The lack of litter-fine enforcement is blamed for the high level of litter in Dublin.

Lithuania's neighbor's Latvia's capital Riga was the cleanest city surveyed. In Vienna, which came second in the survey and was also declared "Clean", 30 new Litter Sheriffs have been appointed to enforce litter fines.

Although recently the on-the-spot litter fine in Ireland was increased from €125 to €150, figures indicate that less than half (12,521) of the litter fines issued in the latter half of 2006 were paid, which equates to only 1.5 litter fines issued per local authority per day.

Apparently, official explanation is that many of those caught discarding food wrappers and cigarette butts simply give false names and addresses to litter wardens.

Hire Lithuanians! You should see how our bus conductors bully students and unemployed likewise until they pay the fine.
On the other hand, Dublin desperately needs more bins: in the bus stops, in residential areas and, of course, in the city centre.

Fare play to Riga! I wonder what would have been the outcome if Lithuania's capital Vilnius had been surveyed.

The most terrifying threat the US faces

2007-10-24T12:14:00.000+01:00

George Bush says that the largest threat to the USA is the ghost of terrorism. But in fact it is water and fire that terrorize the USA. Hurricane Caterina and wildfires in California. A country with a military that has a budget of 532.8 billion US dollars is impotent in the face of the nature.

Twin Peaks kaput. Reflections on Polish election

2007-10-22T23:49:00.000+01:00

As I was watching "Jasminum" in the IFI yesterday, millions of Poles in Poland and thousands here, in Ireland, were casting their votes in a life-and-death parliamentary election. A number of them were queuing besides the embassy of Poland in Ballsbridge for more than three hours. Rumor has it that some even borrowed children from the couples who had already cast their vote in order to avoid the queue. Some say the voting in the embassy didn't finish until after midnight.

Yet despite the fact that the voting procedure was not organized thoroughly and although only 21,000 Poles out of 63,000 living in Ireland (that is officially, although few doubt there are at least a couple of hundred thousand) registered to vote (14,000 in Dublin, with over 3,000 in Cork and Limerick each), Poland's liberal opposition defeated the Kaczynski twin tandem. WE WON!!!! :-D 44-31!!!! may go back to my country!!! - texted a Polish friend of mine yesterday, at around 11pm.

It looks like Poles had enough of former child film stars. During two years in power (Lech Kaczynski, the president, does not face an election until 2010), the conservative Kaczynskis have constantly tumbled into quarrels with the EU partners. Gay people started to flee Poland in fear of possible prosecution.

With 99% of votes counted, Donald Tusk's pro-EU party received more than 41% of the votes, while Mr Kaczynski's Law and Justice (PiS) got about 32%. Turnout was the highest recorded in Poland since communism fell in 1989 - 53,79%.

After the first results were announced, Mr Tusk expressed his gratitude to emigrants, because about 70 percent of them voted in favor of pro-western opposition. It looks like the campaigning before the election has paid off. More than 175,000 Poles registered to vote abroad in Sunday's election, well over three times as many as for the last ballot in 2005, official figures showed. In Britain and Ireland alone over 68,000 registered to vote. Some 31,000 registered in the United States.

Tusk's Civic Platform has promised lower taxes and a more business-friendly administration with closer ties to Europe. Poland certainly needs that.

Let's hope that this is the the end of Twin Peaks (as my Polish friend calls it) in Rzeczpospolita Polska. And hopefully Civil Platform will not take over the baton from other promising Eastern/Central European parties who after managing to come out on top in the elections failed to find dialogue within their team and with their political allies. Think Ukraine. Think Lithuania.

✌

Polish might become Ireland's third official language

2007-10-18T00:25:00.001+01:00

Alright, I stop any pretenses in regards to Polish tonight. I've applauded them (the ones who came to Ireland) on many things: their movie festivals in the IFI (by the way, Seksmisja was absolutely hilarious and I'm expecting Jasminum to be good), their ability to fight for their rights, find niches in the job market, etc. But the news about a group of Polish campaigning for the recognition of Polish as a third official language of Ireland, alongside English and Gaelic, was too much for me. I have never heard about a Polish community magazine "Sowa" mentioned in the story before and I don't know how many supporters its publisher Marcin Wrona has.

Signs "Tutaj pracujemy po polsku" (Eng. "We work in Polish here") in the grocery shops, hairdressers, opticians and in many other places have become a common sight in Ireland over the past few years. In fact, perhaps these signs and attempts to make customer service for Polish residents of Ireland understandable are to blame for the fact that multitudes of them still don't speak any or can at most offer you poor English. If they had to make a leap of faith and started communicating in English in the banks, cafes, supermarkets and beauty salons, there probably wouldn't be much need for a third official language in Ireland (and even those signs).

Perhaps immigrants from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia should consider the idea in France, Mexicans - in the USA, Turks - in Germany and... Irish in the UK? Yet Ireland is quite smaller than any of these countries (by the way, Poland's population exceeds Ireland's by 10 times). And although Ireland was voted recently as the world's friendliest country in "Lonely Planet" Blue List I beg not to abuse this country's hospitality.

By the way, does anybody know if the magazine "Sowa" is of any significance? Somehow I have a feeling it's not even noteworthy and in that case I sincerely hope that the rant above is not necessary.

Bonus points for Dublin

2007-10-17T00:01:00.000+01:00

What's the most annoying thing about immigrants coming to Dublin? Their unhappiness with the city. Especially Eastern Europeans. Would you agree? I catch myself doing that sometimes, or perhaps even often. But whenever I encounter such bellyachings I try to say (and to myself): come on, but you are not chained to the Spire and the flights are cheap!

On the other hand, I suppose the easiest way to stop complaining is to start looking for bonus points. Among other ones (Irish hospitality, sense of humor, ability to always have a story to tell, sublime nature (if it doesn't rain...), the sea, variety of wine and beer (that's in comparison to Lithuania), "Laser" DVD rental, etc.) I would like to add one more thing, which I discovered today. Dublin Docklands, in particular the right bank (if you stand facing the sea).

© me

To be honest, I've never been on the right bank before, mostly I stayed on the left one. Of course, the area can't compare to Copenhagen yet, where modern architecture is flourishing, but since today the light was extraordinary, glass constructions looked so refreshingly different to traditional Dublin: pubs, shabby pubs and more pubs. In fact architecture is one of those things I miss most when in Ireland and although Docklands are still expanding, the area seems to be promising. Just more terraced cafes needed, some trees, a few exhibition centres, bookshops and ... Imagination has no limits. I just hope construction companies and local government will realize that it would be great not to get stuck with apartments and office buildings only.

There is another reason I am so hyper about Dublin today. A journalist writing for the website I was working for before came to Dublin recently and yesterday she posted some photos from Dublin and captions for them in the editorial blog. I feel an obligation to mention and translate a few, since they are unexpectedly positive! And truth be told, they reminded me some good things about the city I've been living in for the past two years and a half. Here is Dublin as seen by a Lithuanian journalist Egle Digryte:

* Some fountains remind artworks rather than just mere architectural solutions. (she mentioned this one in particular)

* Footprints or handprints on the pavement look very playful.

* Dublin is incredibly colorful. (Here I would like to comment that it is Georgian doors that make that impression, in my opinion Dublin is quite monotonous, just plenty of red brick)

* Houses with climbing ivies on them.

* There are more plants and flowers in Dublin than in any other major city she has been to.

Despite the fact that the journalist came to conclusion she wouldn't like to live in Dublin, these are definitely some of the facts I will try to remember next time before starting another rant about the Irish capitol Dublin.

Two good things you need in life

2007-10-16T12:01:00.000+01:00

Some of you might remember that I was bitching about my old bed. The good news is that the landlord managed to replace it! It's almost new, firm and really high. I call it sexodrome :-)

After replacing the bed my landlord told me there two good things you need in life.

"One is a good bed. What's the other?" he asked me.

"Somebody to sleep with in that bed?" was my pragmatic answer and he started laughing.

"Good shoes", he replied. "Because you if are not in one, you're in the other".

Irish wit, isn't it?

Blog Action Day: Environment and Al Gore

2007-10-15T13:04:00.000+01:00

Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Desmond Tutu, Andrei Sakharov, Martin Luther King, Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa, Al Gore.

It is hard not to start feeling god-like when you make it to the list above. Love him or hate him, as Times Online remarks, you have to give credit to Mr Al Gore, the man who introduces himself "I used to be the next president of the United States". Although, as "Guardian" notes, 2007 is his annus miraculous with Oscar for his film "An Inconvenient Truth", Emmy for his Current TV channel and now the most prestigious prize on Earth in his pocket, everybody remembers his over the top moments, as for instance, when he told to CNN that "during service in the United States Congress [he] took the initiative in creating the Internet."

As today is Blog Action Day with about 15 000 blogs pondering about the environment and over 12 mln readers consuming that information, Al Gore's subject seems to be rather relevant.

It takes a while of googling in order to find out speculations about how much he charges for giving a speech (with somebody in the Letters to the editor section in the "Toronto Star" mentioning 125,000) or the origin of his wealth. There isn't much about the latter in Wikipedia, is there?

Al Gore became a senior adviser to Google back in February 2001, and is a close friend of CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt. Google shares went public in 2004, and the stock has soared from $85 a share to more than $400. Co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are worth an estimated $11 billion each.
Al Gore "owns a ton of Google and he's made enough money that he could wait until a month before and just drop $50 million in to launch a [2008 Presidential] race," a well-placed Democrat told Deborah Orin of the New York Post.
And then there are the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, who like a bunch of other famous artists and musicians during "Live Earth" kept mentioning Al Gore's name over and over again. In fact so often, that I had to fast forward the clips quite a few times.
Al Gore's supporters keep stressing that he started speaking about global warming and it's reasons long long before anybody else did. As if he wasn't doing this just in order to publicize himself.
In "Vanity Fair" green issue this May one of the most important voices among skeptics of global-warming Myron Ebell, the think tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute (C.E.I.), mentioned that amount of money floating in anti global-warming campaigns is enormous.
"The major environmental groups in [the USA] have budgets of collectively over $1 billion a year," he said. "[C.E.I.] budget is $3.7 million a year, of which only about a quarter goes to global warming. Add up the other [global-warming denier] groups and maybe you can get to $10 million."

Somehow, despite these monstrous figures, I tend to doubt that Al Gore is after money. When you own Google's shares you hardly need them. In that case he's either driven by share vanity (**** you Mr. George W. Bush, I'm not the president of the USA, but the whole world is listening to me, falling for my statements and drowning me in the sea of awards) or good will.

Of course, there are ongoing speculations of him running for the post of the President of the USA. In that case this whole apparatus - the movie, the TV channel (which I thing is groundbreaking), "Live Earth" and speeches could possibly be the best PR campaign ever. Yet even if it is, it's not that hard to listen to his words and start changing the world around yourself. By turning of your PC, the lights, recycling, ditching your car for a bike (at least once a week), buying organic produce, putting waste in the bins provided, etc. As one gargantuan supermarket chain claims, every little helps. It does. Indeed. Even if you dislike populists.

The praise of Dublin busses

2007-10-13T11:45:00.000+01:00

Everybody admits Irish weather is unpredictable. Number 2 on the list of unpredictable Irish issues would be Dublin busses. I haven't encountered another country yet where the timetable would state the time when the bus leaves the first stop rather than the estimated arrival to the bus stop where you are waiting. Even if you calculate the approximate time of the journey, your calculations will not necessarily take you home, to work or to your date. You could be stuck killing time on the pathway once again.

I've been always curious why can't Dublin Bus calculate those minutes for me. The heaviness of the traffic at certain times, the distances, the time spent collecting the passengers, etc. Obviously there are certain unpredictable situations. For instance, a year ago, while I was rushing to work (late as usual), the bus driver decided to pull into the garage in order to change ad posters on the bus. Perhaps next time he will decide to go for a cuppa or maybe even a pint. It's only a few minutes anyway, isn't it?

Most of the time Dublin busses s u c k. Yet somehow this week was different. As I was sprinting to the bus stop waving with one hand to the driver asking him to stop and clasping my bag with another the bus:

a. stopped (if you are not on the bus stop mostly they don't)
b. the driver was kind enough to let me know that behind him was the bus that takes me to work much quicker (apparently the driver had recognized me!)

And then in the evening as I was dashing to the bus stop trying to pull ahead of the bus, the driver stopped about 20 feet away before the stop and opened the door. Doesn't happen often...

PS
For those who don't know - in Ireland, unless you stop the bus, it will carry on with the journey. My dad learned the lesson upon his arrival to Ireland a few years ago. He kept wondering why over the last hour, despite being quite empty, none of the busses stopped...

Observations from behind the counter. Part II

2007-10-08T00:06:00.000+01:00

This week I've met another Estonian. The third one I came across during my stay in Ireland (I guess this supports my idea that the scale of emigration does reflect the economical (and not just that) situation of a country). Impeccable English and flawless looks. No wonder she has a befitting boyfriend - tall, handsome, rich and sociable. Good choice, my friend. Although my boss has mentioned that the boyfriend works long hours. They never come in perfect packages, do they?..

***

The other night "Super Bock" guy entered the shop with a drop-dead gorgeous companion. Yet all of my colleagues are convinced that's his sister...

***

How many cans of "Red Bull" one can consume during an 8-hour shift? My boss usually has 3. And a few cans of "Coke" or "Irn Brew". He doesn't drink coffee or tea. No wonder! I used to know somebody who thought two joints a night and sometimes one in the morning before (or during) an AM shift is OK. I'm starting to suspect my boss of substance abuse. Shouldn't I?

Speaking of which, I asked a friend of mine who works in an advertising agency (in Lithuania), if she knows people around who do drugs. After double-checking if that includes wheat (yes, I said), she admitted that it is very common for somebody to have a joint during a morning get-together in the agency. A generation of freaking junkies! Or should I be classified as an endangered species homo non addictus?

***

As I was about to move a box of wine from the entrance in order to clear the path for an elderly man leaving the shop, he said "good man" to me.

After I gave him a LOOK, he blushed, apologized and muttered "you're a very nice lady"... What a twat! Short haircut does not indicate gender anymore! Although... my nan also remarked that I have a boyish haircut. What's wrong with old people?!..

***

Have you got presentation boxes?
Yes, but only cardboard ones.
Oh... I want the wooden one.
Sorry... don't have any left.
I'll look in another shop then.

She comes back in two minutes. Obviously, they don't have any decent wines in the "Spar" (the other shop she was talking about - ha!), so I gift warp the bottles in cellophane.

Why are people so mad about wine in a wooden box? It's what's in the box that matters after all... I'd rather get a good bottle wrapped in tissue paper than "Wolf Blass" in a wooden box. Attention before Christmas: BEWARE OF PREPACKED WOODEN BOXES WITH WINE IN THEM. That's how we've sold all past-it's-best wine last Xmas!.. If they want wood, they get wood. If they want wine, they get wine. All that glitters is not gold - remember that in December.

Possibly kick ass

2007-10-03T21:21:00.000+01:00

It looks like it could be kick ass.

Perhaps you have noticed already yet if not I will tell one thing, which in my opinion is one of the most quintessential features in a post Communist society. We think we are uber alles. Consequently you have over 220 shops that sell Lithuanian food in Ireland (although apart from bread, herring and a larger variety of cereal crop, i.e. buckwheat produce, which you can find in those shops, I think it is possible to live in Ireland quite happily). Consequently Eastern European women are getting their hair done while they are back home on holidays (they say Irish hairdressers are rubbish, although I think two main reasons would be either inability to communicate your expectations or higher costs in Eire). Consequently my Polish friend keeps complaining about Irish healthcare (and this might be one of those issues where I support her critique). Consequently Eastern European men, especially during the first days of arrival to Ireland, keep complaining how flabby and vain Irish girls are (I'd rather ask Polish and Lithuanian boyz to ponder about their ex-cons haircuts). With so much dissatisfaction one can only wonder how can they last in Ireland... And how can Irish put up with us.

I have a confession to make. Before applying for the Photography and Digital Imaging course at the NCAD I had my doubts. My main concern was that the course won't be good enough. I don't mean not as good as in Lithuania, because I have only been enrolled in one and that was more like having a cup of tea with good friends to be (yet it was freaking brilliant). I just thought that I'd seen so much crap in exhibitions, galleries and the media, it is hard to believe I might find something in depth in Ireland.

After tonight I have to say I might have hit the bull's eye. Susan Sontag's On Photography is on the must-read list and I am calm... One of the tutors assured me they won't be teaching us to make pretty pictures. And I am calm. The group is a fusion of graphic designers/architects/wedding photographers/media people. And I am calm. It feels f***ing great to be a student again.

One more

2007-10-01T21:47:00.000+01:00

Previously on various occasions I have mentioned a view quite a vast number of my fellow citizens have expressed in cyber-discussions. I am a Judas. And so are those who have left Lithuania. Although I have to admit that after my and a few other bloggers' outrage against such opinions those voices have hushed. A Polish friend of mine says similar judgments sometimes are manifested in her homeland.

However. I have converted my best friend to my religion of savor-the-world-and-live-life-before-settling-in-anywhere-especially-when-young-and-without-kids.

I know, living in Ireland is not a per se savoring of the world. Majority of young Lithuanians, Polish, Latvians, Italians and Portuguese flow here because of the wages. And the temptation is high to see nothing beyond a weekly pay cheque.

When I popped in to say hello to my previous boss in Lithuania a couple of weeks ago, she nailed me with a straightforward question What keeps you in Ireland? My sister, I answered hasty. Although I should have added AIB. Hopefully by the end of February I will pay off whatever I have to and then... I guess I'll start savoring more of the world. A very good friend of mine whom I've discovered in Ireland and who recently nearly climbed this (bad weather conditions to be blamed) has seduced me with an idea to go hiking to Himalaya next Autumn. I might as well shut myself in a tiny monastery somewhere on the roof of the world. I suppose it is easy to stay away from carnal pleasures with a view through your window like this.

Back to my friend. My emigration propaganda has finally shattered her shell of doubts and she's heading for Ireland in the end of October. This time it was easy - I didn't even have to persuade her to come along. Although I have done that previously, yet without much success. She is working in a sort of Lithuanian FAS as a graphic designer. Her salary is a joke and the women she works with are useless. She doesn't expect to get a graphic designer job here - her English is not good enough. In fact she says she would be perfectly happy making sandwiches. Although I'm sure she'll go further than that after a while. And then she'll come back. Like many other Judases (strange plural...). And we'll all live happily ever after.

Fridge metamorphoses and possibly yours

2007-09-30T01:25:00.000+01:00

Sometimes my fridge faces metamorphoses like this one.

The photos are not staged and I would never dear to publish them if my mom had access to internet. I don't know if this is popular among Irish students, but during my study years those of us who were not from the capital used to fetch bags full of goods from parents' - mostly smoked meats and strawberry preserves. In the meantime capital kids (including myself) were savoring the pleasures of living in parent's gaff. Now worries about dinner or breakfast. More or less, depending on the welfare of the family.

Nowadays I am savoring selfish pleasures of living all by myself. No parents, no boyfriends, no roommates. Nobody to criticize me for eating raw cauliflower and drinking black tea with a wedge of lemon. Unfortunately, no mom to make sure the fridge is full, therefore sometimes I have to face the fridge as it appears in the photo.

A while ago a colleague of mine who is Polish and myself engaged in a conversation about the peculiarities of Irish food. Not to mention that my Polish colleague is quite unhappy about Ireland in general...

Anyhow. Despite the mainstream tendency for those who live in the Western world to get fatter, I keep loosing weight. Over the six months that I'd spend in the USA I lost about 10 kilos (about 1.5 st). Then again, I never had a burger and I didn't indulge in Philly pretzels too much. Since I was waitressing in quite a decent Italian restaurant (owned by a real bitch though) and the summer turned out to be extremely hot, my diet mainly consisted of mixed salad.

I try to make sure I eat plenty of veg in Ireland also - tomatos, broccoli, lettuce, courgette, carrots, etc. Ironically, perhaps to some extend tomatoes and broccoli are to blame for my anemia. After being diagnosed with one I started to eat more meat (apologies all vegetarians - I greatly admire the idea), but still I love vegetable stews, I cook stuffed chicken in an oven and whenever we go out to Yamamori or Wagamama I indulge in seafood of some kind.

Although there over 220 shops (!) in Ireland selling Lithuanian food, on average I visit them only once every two months and when I do I buy there either herring or diary products. I don't really miss Lithuanian food here and after my last visit home I came to realize that potato meals and me don't always go together (NB - potato is our national vegetable (isn't it the case in Ireland?), we make everything from pancakes to desserts with them). Sweets and cookies don't seem to tempt me as much as they did when I was younger. And despite the fact I adore red wine (on average there are about 85 calories in a 125 ml glass), I never seem to put on weight here.

My colleague notes that whenever she goes back to Poland she starts loosing weight. But when in Dublin, extra pounds become inevitable. Since her nitpickings about Ireland every so often can drive to depression (there are enough shortcomings anyway), I keep discharging the accusations. Yes, you can find tasty berries. Yes, organic and affordable chicken does exist (4 euro each in my local butchers). Yes, you can find good tomatoes.

It is true though that healthy eating costs more than gobbling down chicken Kievs or "Goodfella's" pizzas, although I have noticed if my financial situation drives me to go for these, my stomach doesn't tolerate them well. In those cases only a dram of "Highland Park 12yo" or "Ardberg 10yo" helps.

Nevertheless yourselves and myself are about to face winter, which means less fresh vegetables. I hope after the cold season I will not be able to boast about a few spare tires. Mens sana in corpore sano.

Silence in the presence of marching monks. Not anymore?

2007-09-29T21:03:00.000+01:00

How blind and deaf one must be to stay numb when facing this:

Buddhist monks marching in Yangon on Monday (Photo courtesy of Mizzima News/AP)

It took a week of protests for the UN to send an envoy to Burma (not to mention the previous years of silence when the only form of protest the world was expressing were TV ads appealing for the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi ). How sweet of them. I thought it would take another Thich Quang Duc.

I thought these are the days of infinite possibilities. Alas... Not for some.

Issues: heating and bed

2007-09-28T00:03:00.001+01:00

Putting the kettle on is not enough anymore. Even "Highland Park 12yo" doesn't help. It is getting cold and I have to turn the radiator on. Just like Dublin Bus drivers, although they tend to overheat the busses. On top of that, I am anemic and that doesn't help, since a 10 minute journey to work turns into a bloody sauna.

Haven't seen the landlord for about a month and a half and I can't wait since:

a) we do need to turn the heating on

b) I need a new bed. Not because of too much exercise performed on it. It is old - like majority of the things my landlord stuffs into his houses (cupboards, tables, pots, arm-chairs, hoovers) and way too soft - I can nearly feel the springs cutting into my back. If he is not happy with buying a new one, I am chucking out the old one and will continue sleeping on my sister's mattress. That's what I have been doing for the past few weeks. My brother-in-law describes this as self-punishment (turning into Mother Theresa?). Actually it is not - it is great for the back. And I dream every night. What about? My bed in Lithuania. Although as a matter of fact it's Danish. :-)

noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com

2007-09-27T17:25:00.000+01:00

............;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::...............←This is a man standing::::::.. ..........::::::::..... .............::::::::..... ......
.. .......::::::::..... .......;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..........;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..........;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......,,,....,,,,,,←This is a man laying...::::::::..... .......;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;:::::::::::::::::::::::::.......;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;.......;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;
:::::::::::::,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,:::::::::::::::,,,,,,,,:::::::::::::::,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,:::::::..... .......;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;::::::::::::..... .......;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;::::
::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:::←This is a man standing next to another one...........................,,,,,,,,,,,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

This is me... and this is you... and this everyone we know.

I thought I might recollect or remind to myself. A mesmerizing movie.

The reason for mentioning Miranda July is her new book "No one belongs here more than you" and a fabulous website to accompany it. Hang around there for a while - a delightful feast of imagination.

Tomorrow is payday and finally I will be able to afford to purchase something.

Back from Lusitania. Things Lithuanians could learn from the Irish. Part II

2007-09-23T23:59:00.000+01:00

Apologies for delay in updating the blog. Few amazing things happened in the meantime:

- I am starting a Photography and Digital Imaging Course at the Centre for Continuing Education in Art and Design in the National College of Art and Design. They've got my money and the birth certificate (which came as a big surprise for me - the passport is not not good! I was even tempted not to translate the certificate (which is in Lithuanian and Russian). A look at the certificate has reminded me that I was born in Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. But if they need it...)

- "Guardian Abroad" has listed my blog in "Global diatribes and politics" category. It took about a month of waiting after applying, meanwhile I was trying to update my rantings regularly. I can take some time off now:) Joking. The pressure is high to remain in the category.

By the way, exactly 6 days ago my Lithuanian blog celebrated it's first birthday. A virtual friend of mine Aunty Sigita has compared blogger's mission to that of actor's described by Stanislavsky as public loneliness. As time goes by and more people discover my musings in cyberspace I have to admit I start to feel more public than lonely. Here's to my ego :) And here's to you who read and comment and keep the ego thriving!

Now back to to-do-list which was scribbled before I left for holidays in Lithuania or Lusitania as a young charming Irish fella working with me calls my home country. I can tick all segments and if I could choose two best they would be:

- Three days here:

Sand dunes in the Curronian Spit

and here

The Hill of Witches in Juodkrante, Curronian Spit

and here

More sand dunes in the Curronian Spit

- The Opening Concert of Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra's Season. Violinist Liana Isakadze performed D. Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No1. while piano virtuoso Konstantin Scherbakov (he's much hotter live than in his website) was my favorite of the night and played P. Tchaikovky’s Piano Concerto No1. Lots of fireworks (perhaps not as many as in Lang Lang's perfomance), as one should expect from Tchaikovky, but the dialogue between the pianist and the orchestra was magnificent. Whenever I hear a symphony orchestra playing, it always sends shivers down my spine. Although I would have preferred something different to Tchaikovky... My sister calls him a storm in a cup of tea. By the way, speaking of Lang Lang, he's coming to Dublin, yet alas for no particular reason I am unable to book tickets (5 months beforehand!) on National Concert Hall's website. Have emailed them about the problem. I know Lang Lang is quite "fireworky" and different to the likes of Andrius Zlabys whom by luck I managed to meet and hear while living in Philly (listen to the recordings he has on the website or watch him here if you want). No fireworks, I should say. Yet Andrius (who also comes from Lithuania) is not coming to Dublin, but Lang Lang is and after hearing him in the "Painted Veil" I loved the Chinese melodies he was performing.

Sorry for being carried away with the last passage...

Anyhow. I'm back from Lusitania and without two pennies to rub together (payday is in a week). After all Lithuania nowadays is not that different to Ireland - everybody talks about property and building sites are mushrooming everywhere. Although there are things my fellow citizens could learn from the Irish:

* Manners. When you shop in "Dunnes Stores" you say sorry if you bump into somebody. If you shop in Lithuanian supermarkets you say nothing, you bump again. And again. Until the person you're bumping into realizes he or she has to move. After he or she does you say nothing and carry on shopping. Similar manners in public transport (although it arrives on time unlike in Ireland and the timetables announce the time of the arrival to a particular stop rather than the time when the bus leaves the first stop).

* Customer service. I was surprised when after complaining that the wine I got served in a glass was corked the waitress replaced it. On the other hand, the owner was present in the cafe at that time. When my friend accidentally broke an empty pint glass the waitress asked her to pay for it. When an elderly woman walked into a boutique shoe shop after saving for a decent pair of shoes for a good while, the security guard asked her to leave pointing to her that she would not afford a pair of shoes there. Besides being bitchy shop assistants tend to be very pretentious. And waiters in most cases are way too slow. I'd love to see them working in Dublin restaurants the way they do in Lithuania. They wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace.

* Music in public places. Supermarkets are blasting Tina Turner... Come on! Although I have criticized Irish radio, at least there's no Tina in the supermarkets...

* Too many old cars on the roads. I know they are cheaper, but thinking of he future the government could do something in order to make the society more aware of sustainability and environment. I.e. in Sweden the government is offering a 1000 Euro refund when purchasing an environmental friendly car. Although some producers have increased the cost of such cars by exactly 1000 Euro. Bugger...

* Lunch breaks! Especially if you do a 12 hour shift. A receptionist of a fancy hairdresser has no lunch break (this is as witnessed to me in person). Outrageous!

*Go organic and go small! Although Lithuanian vegetables, berries, fruits and mushrooms smell of what they are and are not polished in order to look more presentable, I miss small organic produce shops. The country is devoured by supermarkets possessing imposing names: AKROPOLIS (after the Greek Acropolis), BIG, MEGA, etc. And although we are an agronomical country, because of these supermarkets we might face a similar future like Ireland when you won't be able to get local tomatoes or potatoes.

*More varieties of beer and wine, please! If you're a fan of Aussie Shiraz, you're screwed. Likewise if you admire Belgian beer. And although Ireland has the highest excise duty in the EU (2.10 Euro for each bottle of wine), I can't understand why wine in Lithuania costs the same as in Ireland. And it is boring in most cases!

*Engaging in reading while using public transport. Although busses in Lithuania (especially in the mornings) are more packed than in Dublin (because they take as many people as fit and by fitting I mean fitting - like cornichons in a jar), even those who manage to get a seat still rarely engage in reading morning paper or a book. Whereas in Dublin, even in a packed Luas or Dart majority of the passengers seem to read. Reading is good for brain exercise! And for learing new things.

* Security staff is for security purposes, not for scaring people off. They are scary in Lithuania, believe me. Like freaking Gestapo.

For those who changed their mind and don't want to visit Lithuania ever, please look up at the photos posted above :)

Gone fishing...

2007-09-06T00:00:00.001+01:00

Things to do and things to miss - there and here

2007-09-02T16:27:00.001+01:00

On Thursday evening I am taking off to Lithuania for 12 days. Really looking forward. I'm scribbling a list of to-do things. The list in no particular order looks as follows:

* Dentist
* Hairdresser
* Blood test (anaemia to blame)
* Grandma
* A night out with mom (and dad if he is willing)
* Meeting my friends with whom I took a photography course. That's us by the way:

Pinhole photo © Mad

* Exhibition "Among us" in the Contemporary Arts Centre. Give it up for my photography teacher Jurgita Remeikyte who is taking part.

* Classical music concert. This is one of those things I miss most in Ireland. Dublin is great for a pint, but good classical music concerts are scarce. I am not talking just about exploiting National Concert Hall. There are so many churches, why not use them as venues? I remember when I was working next to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadephia (PA) the students were giving free recitals every week. Bear in mind - this is one of the most prestigious conservatories in the world. If these students can do it why those enrolled in studies in Royal Irish Academy of Music can't? Unless they're secret. But if they are at least half decent they shouldn't be!

On the other hand, if there is a good concert coming up, especially with a foreign orchestra, the tickets are expensive beyond belief or they are quite often given away to participants of corporate support before I even manage to hear about the show. By the way, some time ago I was flipping through the pages of "Guardian" and what struck me was the ad of a concert in, I believe, Albert Hall or some other great stage in London where tickets started at 5 or 10 pound sterling. Moreover, a friend of mine went to a premiere in Vienna State Opera House in April for ... a mere 5 Euro. That's Vienna, ladies and gentlemen!

Although... there's an exceptionally good band from some Central European country playing on Grafton St now and again. That's how I try to satisfy my longing for classical music sometimes.

* Three days in the Curonian Spit - a long and narrow sand peninsula spreading between the Baltic Sea and the Curonian lagoon with unique sand waves in the rolling dunes, pine-tree groves and rare flora of the amber coast. As of 2000, the Curonian Spit is on the Unesco World Heritage List.

* Meeting friends in Vilnius' cafes, wine bars and pubs. I have a feeling there won't be that many of them left - distance does affect the intimacy of relationships, I noticed that when I was in Lithuania last time - over a year and a half ago. But then again I can simply enjoy Vilnius' Old Town, read books by new Lithuanian authors and sip masala in my favorite tea shop. Whenever I return to Vilnius I feel a bit like Duris in L'Auberge espagnole when he comes back home.

Last week I received an email from my previous boss in Lithuania saying perhaps I might be convinced to return. If I do I started scribbling the list of things-I'd-miss-if-I-leave-Dublin. To be continued in the next post... Although... in terms of returning - not yet, there are things I would like to do before coming back.

Vilnius | Cathedral Square| photo©Lina Zigelyte

I spend therefore I live. A few thoughts on consumerism

2007-08-31T00:57:00.000+01:00

Whenever I encounter a foreigner who has visited Lithuania more or less recently I ask them how was it. Don't want to sound full of myself, but majority seem to like it there. Even my Polish friend's friends who had visited Wilno (that's how Polish call the capital Vilnius - it belonged to Poland for a while anyway) said that they liked it. When they have Krakow it is hard for us to compete... Anyhow.

A lovely elderly couple walked into the shop today and they mentioned that they had been in Vilnius in 2000. After saying that I will be going there shortly, they remarked that the place must be quite different now.

"There must be more prosperity now, possibly like in Ireland," they commented and chuckled.

"I hope not too much of prosperity," was my reply and they smiled.

That is my honest hope and prayer.

I've been living in Ireland for over two years now and I have seen so many people who were born into money (is that the way the saying goes?) that it nearly gets scary. My sister came back from Paris last spring and she said that just by judging the amount of new cars in the streets Paris looks like a shabby place compared to Dublin. Yet she came back from Lithuania a month ago and said that she was amazed by the quantity of luxury cars on the roads there...

Now I have nothing against new cars or new houses. I am just dumbfounded at the speed at which Ireland is turning to a classic consumerist society. Somehow I get even more conscious about it when I return from countries who have been rich for a long time, i.e. Denmark. As we were walking the streets of Copenhagen in July with a friend of mine, both of us remarked that it looks like in Dublin people live just for the sake of SHOPPING and DRINKING.

Of course, they do shop and drink in Copenhagen or Strasbourg, yet in Dublin quite often you get the feeling that people stay alive just by talking about prices, selling or buying. The amount of places selling coffee 2 go is booming - what about funky little cafes where you can sit and relax inside or outside and just have a good coffee without the need of purchasing a sandwich? Not those chain cafes - Insomnias or Starbucks... Alas - everybody is rushing to sell or buy, thus there's no time for un café...

When in the shop, now and again we chat with customers about the future of Ireland. Just like the newspapers we keep wondering how long this economic boom will last. Quite a few people (mostly those who are older and who have travelled a bit) mention that the growth of economy was so rapid you can hardly believe it would last for long. It's like a genetically modified chicken - so young yet so big, but somehow missing the real flavor.

I find Ireland getting more and more similar to the clichéd image of the USA - McDonald's, drive-ins, drive-throughs, to-goes, buy-2-get-1-frees. I spend therefore I live - the infectious slogan of new economies. That's what I mean by saying I hope Lithuania doesn't get too prosperous.

I know I am not making too much sense, therefore I suggest to read the last two issues of my favorite magazine "Monocle" - the previous one is about the cities that offer the best quality of life and the current issue is about building a country.

I hope somebody in charge of Lithuania's future reads them too...

A maybe on a wrap-up party

2007-08-30T00:03:00.000+01:00

Over two hours of chatting about everything and nothing - Ireland, Lithuania, girls, blokes, jobs, drinks, etc. - and he asked me if I would like to go to see a movie with him someday.

"Maybe", I said and he pointed out he doesn't like maybes.

Before that he asked me if I was engaged. I said I am married happily with two kids. And despite the fact I keep bugging my best friend in Ireland about her inability to lie, after a few seconds I admitted it was a joke - no kids and no marriage. No boyfriend either. Honesty is my merit and my shortcoming.

I took his phone number (he said he'd prefer me to have his). I deleted it after I got on the Dart.

It was Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures wrap-up party. It looks like participants of all parties aim for the same... or perhaps I am getting old... Next time I'll try to be more pretentious. I'm happily married with two kids. A boy and girl. My husband is named Brian. He's 30. And we're deeply in love. It all looks very easy when on the screen...

Things Lithuanians could learn from Irish: volunteering

2007-08-28T00:33:00.000+01:00

My two favorite posts in Jussi's blog Everything is Mossible are here and here. Outsider stories I call them.

Outsiders are apt to compare new homes to their previous ones. Comparison is inevitable. They look for drawbacks and assets. They scrutinize people, quality of life, prices, food, cultural scene, weather, etc.

When I started writing the blog I thought I would do more of it, yet I came to realize that constant comparison can start look like whining. I have to admit that complaining is possibly one of the side-effects of Post-Soviet Eastern European behavior. Yet I pledge I am trying my best to fight this bug (quite often without any success whatsoever). However this time I would like to mention something I would miss if I was to leave Dublin tomorrow.

As I have revealed before, this weekend I volunteered in the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire. We were sitting in Kingston Hotel on Sunday night with Grace and I found out that she came from Galway to volunteer. Aside from giving up her time to whatever might be in need of doing during the festival she was staying in a hotel and paying 85 Euro for every night. Bless her! Grace explained she's doing a course in hospitality and she thought this experience might be useful.

I don't think I've heard about anybody else like Grace, but there were about 300 volunteers of all ages and nationalities in total. Naturally the organizers did save quite a bit of cash. It is easy to make a basic calculation. Let's say every volunteer is working for about 4 hours on average (altough some worked for 10, i.e. I worked for about 8). If they were paid (let's say the minimum wage), it would turn out to be

300 x 4 x 8.65 = 10 380 Euro

Although we did get T-shirts, goodie bags, drink tokens and very generous free lunch (of which actually quite a few volunteers were not aware), organizers obviously have saved quite a bit. But despite this fact I was stunned by the amount of people who offer their spare time for carrying chairs, disassembling tables, hoovering carpets, etc. People of my and my granny's age. Girls and guys too. We're having a wrap up party on Wednesday and more free treats. What could be better?!

Volunteering is still uncommon in my country and this is one of the things we could learn from Irish. I promise to mention more! The sky is the limit.

I'm back! It was BRILLIANT!

2007-08-24T00:29:00.001+01:00

I know, you're probably thinking that Lina got wasted somewhere underneath a chestnut tree. Sorry for staying off line for a while - came back from V on Monday, was scrubbing the dirt of the tent on Tuesday and was working in between. Heading to Dun Laoghaire for the Festival of World Cultures over the weekend (both to volunteer and to watch), therefore I've been working more.

Anyway. It was BRILLIANT! Although BBC thinks that the festival doesn't have as much charm as Glastonbury... I've always been dreaming of going to a big music festival. It was one of those "Things to do before you die". Like skydiving, riding a horse, climbing a mountain, kissing in the rain, making love on a forest floor, etc. Other possible suggestions you can find here. Or come up with yours. I'm just not sure about the forest floor... Doesn't sound too comfortable. Although as Laura Esquivel put it in "Like Water for Chocolate", necessity is the mother of all invention and of every position...

Back to V. Coming from a country were TV shows fight for the audience showing this (the girls are a band called "Yva", revealing their cleavages more than any musical talent and the guy is one of the best theater actors in the country who unfortunately has to do some TV work for the living) I felt like Alice in Wonderland. The mud, the crowd (75 000 in Staffs alone), the amount of tents, the booze, the weed (it was everywhere, yet only 70 arrests!), the scale of the main stage, the quality of sound and video projections and everybody performing LIVE! Everybody could find their own wonders - for some it was pot, for me - maybe once in a lifetime chance to see such acts as "Foo Fighters" (I am no music connoisseur, therefore I saw them first and then found out who they were...), "Casabian", "The Killers" (my favorite), "The Editors" (the runners-up), "Snow Patrol" (slightly too blue) and the Hoosiers (the best discovery, just watch the website! I want their CD).

Of course the Wonderland didn't avoid the usual trouble - blokes were pissing in the drinking water point or right in the middle of the audience (barely 2 feet away from me), somebody tripped over our tent at around 1 am (the same tent for 40 euro - it's fabulous!) and blah blah blah. Well since the picture tells a thousand words - here are some shots taken by my friend Liuda who took off to this wonderful trip with me all equipped with wellies, a raincoat and plenty of socks.

My 40 Euro tent - probably the best investment

All around is full of wellies as the song goes...

Sometimes focus is irrelevent

Sleepless in Birmingham International

PS came back loaded with condoms - anybody needs a spare one? :)

All photos © Liuda&Lina

Bloggers unite: Sept 27th blog against abuse

2007-08-17T14:54:00.000+01:00

Observations from behind the counter. Part I

2007-08-15T00:40:00.001+01:00

Working in a wine shop sometimes turns out to become a rather intimate experience. Simply by observing the amount or the kind of booze Mr X or Mrs Y are purchasing I can tell if they are having rough time. Or if they wear sunglasses on a muggy afternoon. Or if they are in a terrible rush and tuck a naggin of "Smirnoff" in a pocket asap.

For instance.

Ann Marie is not doing great. As a matter of fact, she is perpetually grumpy, even on a sunny day. On Thursday she is going to a hospital to have an eye surgery. I keep trying to cheer her up, yet she is already superstitious and wary of doctors.

Naggin of "Powers" man is better now. On most days he is our first customer. "Keeps the old heart going", says he and gives a smile. Almost on a daily basis. The heart is old indeed - about 70.

There is also a woman living next door to a shop. Her boyfriend pays her regular visits (although I haven't seen him for a good while) and whenever around he pops in to our shop. Anyway, the woman always seemed to be smarter than the guy (I know I sound like a bitch). A few weeks ago she was cooking something in a sherry sauce. For him, I suppose. She came looking for a bottle of sherry - that's how I found it out. It was peculiar when he entered the shop asking if I could suggest a nice bottle for him. "You'll have something in a sherry sauce", I muttered and added "damn you Lina" inaudibly to myself since I realized it is not an appropriate thing to say.

Oh, and obviously there is a Hot guy. Whom I don't consider hot anymore... Although after he dropped by all sweaty after playing tennis I started thinking of changing my mind.

And then the curly "Super Bock" fella who had shifted to "Tyskie" for a while. He is one of those customers I really like. Needless to say, mainly because he likes the music I play. Unlike that ancient self-loving fossil who sarcastically exclaimed "Is this radio? Do you like THIS? Who's this?" to Joanna Newsom.

It's Joanna Newsom.

Where are you from?

Lithuania.

Is she also from Lithuania?!

She's American, you moron.

I obviously omitted the last words. Next time I will play U2, sorry. Hope this makes you happier. Customer friendly music, you know.

Observations from behind a counter are doomed to be continued since they are innumerable and they make the time go by quicker.

Cheap thrills before going to V

2007-08-14T22:16:00.000+01:00

I feel like singing this to the tune "Ain't got no/I got life".

I got my tickets (as provided by "Bacardi" - look the previous post)
I got my wellies (20 Euro - "Dunnes Stores")
I got my raincoat (20 Euro - "Great Outdoors", I have a feeling I got kiddies' size, but that must be a really huge kid, because it fits me perfect)
I got my tent (39.99 Euro only - 12 month guarantee provided and it better be waterproof, because I AM returning it if it's not)
I got my socks ("Penny's", you know they're cheap, but their socks, pyjamas & bras are the best)

Baby wipes and sunscreen left and we're ready to rock at V!

Twink gets Lithuanian beer on air!

2007-08-11T00:06:00.001+01:00

Since it looks like Sean Moncrieff (I still find his voice very unradio) is on holidays, the air belongs to Adele King aka Twink aka a woman behind this. Well, you Irish should know this story well enough, I only learned about the "you fat, bald middle aged dickhead" phonecall yesterday.

Despite all the feelings we might have for the woman, on a Friday afternoon, as I was buying a baguette, a tomato and "Magnum" ice cream in the "Spar" next door, I happened to overhear that they are talking about Lithuanian beer in "MOVIES AND BOOZE SLOT". As a matter of fact, even two of them - "Švyturys" [pronounce a la Shveatoorease] and "Utenos" [pronounced rather like Ootenos than Youtenos].

I have no idea how they pick the booze to be reviewed. Needless to say, I was delighted... For those who are not familiar - the beers above are similar to a good German lager. Proper beer as I say :) Let's say Pilsner vs Miller or Heineken vs Coors. You get the idea...

As far as I know, "O'Briens" stocks some of these, otherwise you can find it in "Whealans' Off Licence" and obviously in Lithuanian or Polish shops in town. The only drawback in the latter shops - the sales people there don't seem to be very friendly... On the other hand, when you have so many nationalities coming to a shop like this it is puzzling to pick a greeting or a farewell in a right language...

PS
It is time for Twink to look up at the map of Europe - "Staropramen" is not a Czechoslovakian beer. This country does not exist as of 1st January 1993. "Staropramen" is Czech.

Cyberspace junkies

2007-08-10T00:29:00.000+01:00

I promised myself to stay away from my laptop after 11pm. Or 12.

The bottom line is to try to spend less time in cyberspace, otherwise I sink into it without any awareness of time and I turn into chronic insomniac. True, sometimes it helps to keep my mind occupied while the neighbors next door huff and puff their way through another rainy "summer" evening. Some say bad weather invigorates baby making business. If we encounter a baby boom as of next March in Ireland, these speculations might turn out to be true after all.

Anyway. I failed tonight. Once again. But thanks to Primal Sneeze I have discovered Annie's blonk. A wonderful blog - dynamic, vibrant, funny and personal without getting boring. How come I don't meet those fascinating blogging people in real life? Are we stuck in cyberspace?

Going to V!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-09T00:19:00.001+01:00

Wawaweeva! A sincere confession of deepest affection to my bosses and "Bacardi". Apparently my shop has won an incentive and myself with a good friend of mine Liuda are taking off to V Festival!

We are going to see this and this. And this. Oh and this! Did I mention this? I just hope after a two-day-long beer and music session nobody tries to send me to a rehab. :)

Off I go to hunt for wellies and a raincoat. Our Father which art in heaven, please, let it rain less than in Glastonbury...

Amidst exotic fusion

2007-08-08T11:51:00.001+01:00

Congolese
Japanese
Malaysian
Argentinean
Filipino
Ghanian
Indian
Peruvian
Lebanese
Venezuelan
Lithuanian

Take a guess what's common among these? And how come Lithuania made it to the list of such exotic countries? The answer - during Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures cooking workshops will take place in Cooks Academy. 15 Euro each.

Give it up for those who perform! Boo to those who should be promoting our culture but scratch their crotches instead.

A few trustworthy Lithuanian historians whom I admire keep emphasizing that our cuisine is a concoction of all cultures who happened to cross our soil (Slavic, German), hence none of the dishes could be called Lithuanian. Nonetheless some, like saltibarsciai, pictured bellow, strike tourists dumb (Americans only dare to photograph them). Something in between gazpacho and borsch. Very refreshing during summertime. Well, it wouldn't be popular in Ireland, would it? :)

Bon Appétit!

Please meet Giorgita

2007-08-07T12:26:00.000+01:00

Usually we would read Decanter or Wine & Spirits. One can only guess how a glossy magazine with hot girls wearing nothing but tight-fitting hosiery, lace bras, an extensive amount of makeup and sporting hard nipples found its way to a wine shop. Ah well... Must be a customer...

I wouldn't be able to reveal you the origin of the magazine, yet it seems it has something to do with Playboy. A supplement perhaps.

However, as I was flipping through it, my sixth sense was whispering to me I should encounter a Lithuanian girl in these pages. And voilà. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce Giorgita.

So what, you might say? Nada. For further details please look at my previous posts here and here.

Somehow I am always taken by surprise when I encounter Lithuanians in the Economist, Newsweek or The New York Times. Actually it doesn't happen often... Unlike in the publications mentioned above... On the other hand, they are the greatest PR campaign for our tourism industry.

A few ponderings about Dublin, future and contentment

2007-08-03T13:56:00.000+01:00

It's a tranquil afternoon in Dun Laoghaire. The sea is about two hundred yards away and the tide never seems to be present here. Delightful. In front of me - a slightly too watery latte (made by a Polish guy who seems to be new in the cafe, ah well, I'll just give him time). It looks like something went terribly wrong with the air conditioning - judging by the reaction at the table next to me I am not the only one thinking the smell is somewhat reminiscent of pooh.

I have to admit Primal Sneeze is right. I am suffocating in frustration. Especially for the past couple of months. I guess the fact that I got a chance to travel this year more than ever (thus the balance in my credit card is zero) had influenced my feelings as well. I know, it is not Cambodia or Argentina (yet), just Krakow, Seville, Italy (Interrailing from Valle d'Aosta to Palermo and back up North) and Denmark (Odense & Copenhagen). Hope you have enjoyed the pictures.

In other words I have been busy exploring the continent and whenever I come back to Éire I have to face the bitter fact that Dublin is a part of an island. Not only just geographically. Despite the fact Dublin makes it to majority of various polls in Europe estimating the possibilities for job seekers and the quantity of happy people living here (and most of the time it's in the top 10 at least) there are still many things to be improved.

As I was reading the list of 20 most liveable cities in the world announced in the last issue of Monocle at work (during those lazy afternoon hours), many customers expectantly were asking if Dublin had made it to the list. I had to disappoint them. The criteria for selecting the cities(sustainability, medical care, public transport, local media, access to international media, environmental initiatives among others) were exactly the ones where Dublin needs a huge push forward.

Bellow are the cities in declining order that, according to Monocle, are the most liveable in the world:

Munich
Copenhagen
Zurich
Tokyo
Vienna
Helsinki
Sydney
Stockholm
Honolulu
Madrid
Melbourne
Montreal
Barcelona
Kyoto
Vancouver
Auckland
Singapore
Hamburg
Paris
Geneva

Despite the fact that almost all of them belong to countries that have high GDP per capita and wages far greater than the ones in Lithuania, it looks like economic factors were not the most essential ones for Monocle. And I take my hat off for that.

By the way, does anybody remember the 178-nation "Happy Planet Index" which reveals the the south Pacific island of Vanuatu with a population of 209 000 is the happiest nation on the planet, while the UK is ranked 108th? The index is based on consumption levels, life expectancy and happiness, rather than national economic wealth measurements such as GDP.

However let's come back to Dublin. I believe everybody could sketch a must-do list which could improve living here. On the other hand a temporary infatuation with a country were you've spent a mere week and living in it most of the time turn out to be two totally different stories. Conclusion - Dublin is great yet it has the potential to become greater and on a vast scale it all will depend on the generation to come. I hope this generation stops scratching the balls (a sight seen on the streets of Dublin more often than in any other city I have been to) and starts using the hands to build a better country. Their parents gave them the Celtic Tiger. What are they going to give to their own children apart passion for Guinness and GAA?

Now don't get me wrong. I deliberately posted this beforehand. Yet I have to assert that constant state of happiness for me is unfamiliar. Therefore (some might say driven by frustration) recently I did the following:

* A couple of weeks ago I applied for a Photography and Digital Imaging course in the National College of Art and Design. As always is the case in Dublin the 24-week-long course should cost what each year of full-time BA studies in photography costs in the Netherlands. One doesn't have to be Susan Sontag to distinguish the level of photography over there and here, in the Emerald Island. The course, after researching the works of the graduates of the college, seems to be one of the best in Dublin and without the promises to teach you to make pretty shots. Fingers crossed...

* Applied for volunteering in Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures. Last year I was over the moon as I watched buskers banging congos, a violinist Oleg Ponomarev in leather trousers, who brought the house down playing Russian//Gyspy music and Congolese guitar wizard Niwel Tsumbu. Many visitors of the festival said they did not expect such a cultural fiesta in an island. This year should be just as good, although what a shame, Lithuanians do not participate again on a larger scale and I don't know whom to blame anymore - our embassy or the lack of initiative in our Ministry of culture or artists themselves... As for me I am getting an M size T-shirt and a badge "Volunteer". Hopefully the boss will be happy enough to give me a weekend off...

There are a few more things but I will keep them undisclosed for a while.

So I guess frustration is THE driving force for me.

Blessed are those who are busy from 8 am till 5 pm and drunk afterwards, for they shall have no time to ask wrong questions.

Blessed are those who fall asleep without wondering what they might dream about for they shall fall asleep immediately.

Blessed are those who fall in love with those who are imperfect and don't attempt to change them for they shall have less grey hair to pluck.

Blessed are those who are not frustrated for they shall live in contentment.

PS
I promise - no more mentioning of frustration :)

Bits of appreciation

2007-08-01T00:36:00.000+01:00

"And thanks to Mac, I have begun reading Lina Žigelytė’s new blog, Emigration etc. Lina is a Lithuanian journalist living in Dublin. Her blog is the subjective rantings from a journalist stuck in a wine shop. The frustration of not working in her own profession shows clearly. For me, it’s a crying shame - this lady can write. She gets this week’s spot in Mo Rogha." - posted Primal Sneeze recently. Thanks for appreciation :)

I'll try to keep up the good job and express less frustration...

Phases of emigrant life. Why we don't become what we want to

2007-07-31T21:21:00.001+01:00

Emigration/Immigration is like the army. You start off as a private x and if you happen to get into the right circumstances, if you have balls to take advantage of them and if Ms Success becomes your best friend, you can even advance to becoming a general. Even the president of Lithuania Mr Valdas Adamkus started off in the USA as a blue collar worker in a Chicago factory of car parts.

Once you emigrate life starts evolving in certain phases:

* Workaholism
* Wanking
* Musing (in other words meditations on either to come back home or find a "real" job)
* Rebellion (when you knock on every door possible desperate to get that "real" job)
* Desperation (when you realize nobody is going to welcome you with hands wide open)
* Stubborness (when you persist and finally decide to go to study despite the fact you think you already know everything, but you realize this is to become your major trump card in a competitive labour market)
* etc,
* etc,
* etc,
until a possible "happy end".

Some of us get stuck in the phase of workaholism, others progress in wanking, only some of us reach the critical point of rebellion and only a handful make it through the phase of desperation. Obviously if nappies get in your way life takes a U turn. And the phase of musing is destined to repeat now and again.

There is a relatively new website in Lithuania that calls itself Lithuanian journalists' website (despite the fact it omits the largest online news magazine in the country in its links). A recent debate on the website was brought to my attention by a good virtual friend of mine who is also the author of one of the best Lithuanian blogs (and I am really looking forward to an English one - damn our ancient language).

Anyway. The point of the debate was whether journalists who have emigrated and possibly are picking strawberries in UK farms should still be called journalists or not.

You see, in my country journalists are playing gods since people stopped believing in the state, government or Parliament. The most recent Eurobarometer polls reflect that 79 percent of Lithuanians don't trust the Parliament (as opposed to the average of 43 percent in the EU), 67 percent don't trust the Government (as opposed to the average of 53 in the EU). On the other hand the level of trust in the mass media is way larger than that of the average EU citizen.

As a result a tag "journalist" is highly influential. Many get the taste of domination and manipulation with public opinion while still in their 20s. Some are not 30 yet but they've already tried pretty much every single kind of media in the country, they've worked in all major newspapers, TV stations and radio (the joys of young democracy - diversity, or perhaps as the saying goes we're jacks of all trades yet masters of none). And in a country where the main language is a language spoken by a mere 3 mln people this can become an issue if you aspire to be more than a jack of all trades. Thus some pack their suitcases and leave. Of course if we were an English speaking country (like UK, the USA or Ireland) hordes of us would be flooding the BBC, the Guardian, Sky News and the likes. But alas, it is not easy to become a journalist in a foreign country. What's left is strawberry fields, wine shops and white table cloths. And once you start in that stage it is up to you if you want to move up the ladder. But that is the advantage of Western countries - an opportunity to start everything all over again.

Perhaps I am young and dumb, but I admire the so called "American dream" stories. After all even the father of American press journalism Joseph Pulitzer came to the USA without much English and spend many hours in the library in front of the dictionary before revolutionising The New York World.

On Yer Bike

2007-07-29T22:32:00.000+01:00

My ramshackle bike. Goddam it.

Last night noticed that the back wheel is crooked and that meant no Dublin City Cycle for me. And it is not worth repairing... :(

Yes, I know it is not Tour de France and, yes, I realize Dublin streets are not the best for cycling (compared to Amsterdam or Copenhagen). Have you seen the poor eco-friendly bike-taxis stuck in the traffic? My dear friends, if you want to go eco-friendly, Dublin desperately needs less cars and more cycle paths.

In a rather recent discussion in "Metro" newspaper's Letters to the Editor section somebody had pointed out this issue. At the moment a cycle path in Dublin most of the time is a 2 feet wide lane painted in red on the bus lane. And those double-decker busses are freaking scary...

Anyway. I guess Dublin City Cycle (a joint initiative by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, Dublin City Council and the Dublin Transportation Office) aims to encourage more people to swap their cars for bikes.

If my observation is correct, there were about 300 participants in the DCC. Lots of families, a few foreigners, no obese people, plenty of smiling faces and (surprise!) - sunshine!

All photos of Dublin City Cycle © Lina Zigelyte

Roundabout Roma saga: the end (in the meantime)

2007-07-27T00:10:00.001+01:00

Good bye, arrivederci, adios amigos, ou revoir, auf wiedersehen, пока, uz redzesanos, slán leat, ha det bra...

The saga of nearly a hundred Roma who had been camping besides one of the busiest Irish motorways for over two months ended on Wednesday evening, as the plane took off from Dublin airport.

There were no riots, their farewell seemed to be quieter than a Saturday night in Temple Bar (the heart of Dublin's night life). Once Roma arrive in Romania, they will be transported by bus to their respective home villages.

"If you are going to work, welcome," wrote Anne Byrne in a letter to the Irish Independent. "If you are here to benefit from a better welfare system than you have in your own country, then go back and work on improving your own country, don't bleed ours dry."

One might start questioning Irish tolerance, but this story for me is an example of diplomacy - a mere fact of the problem solved peacefully should become an example for any country who is facing similar issues.

When this story broke many were saying that the problem of Roma integration should be solved on the EU level. I can't but agree with that and in a way I am happy I am not the one in the position to implement changes. I just have a funny feeling if this doesn't happen, Roundabout Roma saga might start all over again.

Why it might be hard for foreigners to work in Lithuania

2007-07-26T11:20:00.000+01:00

Poland has introduced cheaper visas to attract workers from neighbouring countries in an attempt to replace Poles emigrating to Western Europe. Nationals of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine will be able to work in Poland for up to three months, twice a year. According to BBC, Poland's economy is enjoying a boom, but is suffering labour shortages since more than a million Poles have left for EU states, notably the UK and Ireland.

The shortages are so acute, the authorities have even considered using soldiers and prisoners to help build the infrastructure.

Personally I don't believe a million has emigrated, the figure must be at least a few times bigger - have a look around Dublin. Polish ads in the newspapers, in the bus stops, zapraszamy (welcome in Polish) on the hairdressers, etc. Anyway. Anybody intrested in 233 euro minimum salary please apply.

By the way, my country has been considering a similar measure, yet apart from even smaller minimum salary - 202 euro (minus flat 27 percent income tax, which should be decreased to 24 as of 1st of Janurary 2008), foreigners might have to face xenophobia.

A comment on the largest news web site in Lithuania DELFI on a story about how difficult Lithuanian language might turn out to be for foreigners:

"Asians have started to flood our country yet, bombs in the market are about to start exploding".

The comments are not reviewed a priori and the website is greatly cooperative with institutions such as Attorney General and police in helping to disclose authors of such comments, yet anonymity is like a fig tree leaf that helps to spit out all kinds of intolerant thoughts and conceal your identity at the same time. And comments like the one above unfortunately are quite common on the stories about immigration. Freedom of speach unveils impotency of mind to adjust to the world evolving.

Gordian Knot on M50: Roundabout Roma vs Irish Tolerance

2007-07-22T17:01:00.000+01:00

Finally.

"Human crisis or welfare tourism". The front page of The Irish Times supplement Weekend Review on the 21st of July. Alison Healy's story about 32 Roma adults and 22 children encamped on M50 motorway roundabout near Dublin airport.

It is Ireland's busiest road and Roma have been living here since early May. It took nearly three months to break Irish patience and now the story is all over the place: The Irish Times, BBC, The Observer, etc.

Like a refugee camp

According to The Observer, conditions at the camp have deteriorated over the past few days. The scene resembles the slums of an Asian city rather than 21st-century Ireland.

The air around the two camps reeks of human excreta and rotting food; children as young as two play in mud and filth; grass verges to either side of the families' makeshift shelters are covered in rubbish and colonies of tiny flies attach themselves to anything that moves. The tents they sleep in have been flooded during the recent heavy rains. A number of parents have even put down discarded posters from the last general election; one child could be seen last Thursday having a nap on top of a picture of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Last Thursday two children from the camps were taken to Temple Street Hospital in central Dublin following an outbreak of severe vomiting and diarrhoea. Non-governmental organisations campaigning for the Roma to stay in the state have claimed that there is a danger of disease breaking out.

Photo by J P. Ireland Photoline

In A. Healy's words, the conditions resemble a refugee camp, but when the people are asked why they don't take up a Government offer to be flown home, the answer is always the same. "I no want to go back to Romania. I die from the hunger in Romania. Here I have somewhere where I can sleep", says one of these Roma people in English which far exceeds many Lithuanians' and Poles' who have been flooding Ireland since 2004 - after being accepted to the EU.

Finito to welfare tourism

Unlike Lithuanians or citizens of any of 10 countries who joined the EU in 2004 Romanians and Bulgarians are restricted from working in Ireland unless they have a work visa or are self-employed, although they do have freedom of movement within the EU. They are not entitled to social welfare payments, child benefits or emergency accommodation.

It seems that Irish government has learned from its previous mistakes when in the years before my country had joined the EU hundreds of my fellow-citizens surged towards the generous embrace of the Celtic Tiger. Some of them on the claims that they've been blackmailed by gypsies were seeking asylum here (and I happened to witness such an interview in the Department of Justice as a translator). If their wives gave birth to a child prior the decision thanks to the newborn baby they would become residents of Ireland and thus get the right to work. The days of "welfare tourism" are way behind now.

Romanians are not among the supporters

Pavee Point - a group supporting Irish Travellers' in Ireland - seems to be have become the main voice in the fight for Government's intervention in the "Roundabout Roma" situation. "They don't need Hilton Hotel, they just want one chance to work", The Irish Times quotes George Dancea, director of the Roma support Group, which was set up by Pavee Point Traveller's Centre. Pavee Point is also calling on the Government to provide emergency accommodation for the group.

This call is supported by 20 non-governmental organizations, yet strangely (?) enough the Romanian Community of Ireland is not among them. Quite the contrary. The groups' chairman Vasile Ross points out that if the Government gives in to Pavee Point's pressure, more Roma will come. And some figures say that there might be about 2 mln of them in Romania alone. "This is how Roma work. They will try to gain access. Give them a finger and they will take both hands", says Vasile Ross in The Irish Times.

If you aspire for a job, you'll get one

Tolerance and bloodsucking slothfulness are two totally different things. Let me remind you that before my country had joined the EU hundreds and quite possibly thousands of Lithuanians arrived to Ireland seeking to work illegally. For cash, yet half the amount of the minimum wage, without paying taxes, blue-collar workers sweating in unbearable conditions in mushroom processing factories in the Northern Ireland, students with Master's degrees working as kitchen porters in order to save money for Ph.D studies, husband's leaving their wives back home and doing nightshifts while meditating how they'll make love again in the newly refurbished house, etc.

I've always believed if somebody wants to work and is prepared to work hard, one will find the job. Let me ask you then why those gypsies who beg on Grafton Street in the heart of Dublin city don't? Why they make their 8-year-old children beg (and I've seen this)?

Flights, benefits and possibly free housing offered... in Romania

A spokesman for the group on the roundabout confirmed to the BBC they had been offered free flights back to Romania by the Irish Government, but none of them wanted to return. They were also promised by the Romanian government that they would have health and education benefits and would be considered for free housing.

Romanian embassy officials in Dublin say they are embarrassed by the activities of the gypsies, many of whom are begging on the streets of Dublin. The embassy, according to The Irish Times, even doubts "Roundabout Roma" claims that their living conditions in Romania were unbearable. According to the embassy sources, the families had sold their houses to fund their trip to Ireland.

15 days left

On the 21st of July, at around 5.30 am, Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNBI) officers served immigration papers on 86 Roma people camping in Ballymun. The group have 15 days to make representations to Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan as to why he should not make a removal order, in which case they would be transported back to Romania.

New Irish Government faces a very tough challenge now. Ireland previously has made decisions which earned this country the name of a Celtic Tiger. The Gordian Knot on M50 is a test that questions Tiger's courage and determination. And the situation is being observed by 2 mln. Roma in Romania and the whole EU, who previously had doubts about accepting Romania to the club and I am convinced Roma people were one of the main reasons for these reservations. But let me remind just once again - tolerance and bloodsucking slothfulness are two totally different things.

Great expectations meet real situations. Idealism, reality and flexibility

2007-07-20T13:34:00.000+01:00

If they don't like it here why don't they go back?

It was a very good point. The conversation took place in the USA, I think it was 2002. We were talking about America with Americans. Everybody had agreed on the imperfections and flaws of the country, i.e. dumb politicians, citizens' naivety, horrifying criminal situation. Yet despite constant grumbles the USA for many still is THE promised land - the country of unlimited opportunities and acknowledgment. In other words - you've had expectations, you've made it to get the visa (which for the citizens of my country, daring to cross the threshold of the embassy of the USA, is something in between Darwin's fight for survival and a sacrifice of one's privacy*), therefore please have respect for a country that has welcomed you, do the best you can and perhaps then it will indeed turn out to become your Eldorado.

I guess the same attitude could be applied in any country, be it New Zealand, Tanzania or Ireland. We all cross the borders with expectations - greater or smaller. And when the reality doesn't meet them we start to bitch. The cost of living, the amount junk food sold (and consumed), nasty weather, unpredictable public transport, filthy streets, knackers, junkies, beggars, narrow-minded press, boring music on the radio, tracksuits, spoiled kids, obese girls, binge drinking blokes... I could go on and on...

Some of us get trapped in this fussy list and forget the question posed in the beginning. If you nearly hate this place why don't you go back to Poland, Latvia, Slovak Republic or Lithuania? Oh... I see... The pay is ten times less and despite being the citizens of the EU many locals still behave as if they were cavemen?

Fair enough. Then ask yourself if your country would be as welcoming as Ireland (or UK, or Sweden or any other EU country that has its borders wide open for accession countries' labour force). Would it embrace and open its borders to thousands of foreigners: black, Chinese, Asian, gypsies, homosexuals, transsexuals, former criminals escaping their past, inexperienced students, unemployed elders, abrupt countrymen, losers trying to break through once again and illiterate cheep labour force unable to utter a single word in your language. The list could go on and on.

I can assure you my country is not ready for a tsunami like this. I remind myself about it now and again and that makes me stop my moans. After all perfect countries don't exist. As the saying goes, far away hills are always blue. Yet once you approach them you start to notice that even tigers have flaws. Therefore although it might be hard we should accept imperfections, try to live with them and learn to become more flexible. Then it is easier to notice that there are still plenty of good things around. And you might live happier ever after...

* the latter meaning that you have to submit heaps of documents stating your income and financial obligations, moreover you must participate in an interview that might strip you of any privacy and all of the above - for the cause of eliminating any possibilities you might chance to stay in the USA after the expiry of your visa

Drunken anonymous outrage as a response to Dane's critique

2007-07-17T17:57:00.000+01:00

"Why do Irish people drink? Because sober people write whiny letters while they're on holidays. And skinny people never get their round in. And Hans Christian Andersen wrote rubbish stories. And Carlsberg tastes like donkey wee. And mind the saloon doors don't smack you on your skinny little bottom as you leave."

Al C O'Holic

Despite the fact that Dublin's daily "Metro" (distributed for free) encourages readers to include their full name in the emails sent to the editor, the author of the above email is anonymous.

The outrage is an answer to a Danish guy Christian who after arriving to Ireland after 10 years came to conclusion that the only difference he notices is the fact that there are more men with beer bellies and women with spare tires. This slapping of a Celtic tiger did not stay unnoticed.

"One must be blind not to notice the level of binge drinking in this
country: girls crawling from pubs on their knees and men taking a leak
wherever possible. Have you ever tried to walk in Temple Bar on a
Sunday morning? The place stinks of every excrement possible."

This was part of my response to Al C O'Holic which I had emailed to "Metro". In case he/she doesn't know that every fifth person in this country is obese (and these are the figures of 2000). Or in case he/she is not aware of the fact that Ireland has the highest level in EU in terms of binge drinking. It is not shamrocks or leprechauns in Ireland anymore. It is broken pint glasses on Grafton street and the smell of puke and piss in the city centre 24/7. Celtic tiger is getting wasted. Slainte.

By the way, for the likes of Al C O'Holic I highly suggest visiting Denmark. For pure educational purpose.

Random ideas about how to get a job: painful details you should exclude in your CV and facts you must stress

2007-07-17T01:55:00.000+01:00

Ok. You have your suitcase packed. You've just had an appointment with a dentist (this will keep you going for half a year until you come back). You're sporting a new pair of shiny glasses and a new haircut. Passport and ticket in your pocket.

"Now what?", they ask you before you get on the plane. "What will you do for a living over there?"

It all kicks off with a CV.

Your name.

Skip the letters that don't belong to the local alphabet. Abbreviate your last name. Modify the first one. Become another Paddy, John or Amy. Who cares about the name anyway?

Work experience.

It must be relevant to the position you are applying for. Don't expect anything posh. Miracles don't happen in a day. Otherwise half of the more than average journalists you know from home would be applying for jobs in BBC. PR people would be knocking on the doors of those who partake in making something like this and finance analysts would be doing anything to get in HSBC or the likes.

Perhaps the best ones might even turn out to be lucky. Yet few even try - many choose rather to become local celebrities than international mediocrities. Thus we have 30-year-old journalists who act like gods, love to pose for local celebrity photographers and drive new BMWs. The result - our TV stations tend to focus barely on cheap reality TV shows (they sell) and our reporters can't afford to research for a story for a month (actually, it is the editors and the bookkeepers who can't afford it). Journalists get wasted with MPs, editors go to Majorca with those who advertise on the front page and reality TV shows produce journalists. On the other hand who cares about good quality media? Prime time is given to crime investigations anyway.

Back to the CV.

Since you're not applying for a job in RTE or "Irish Independent" and only want to get those alluring 8.65/hour voila you state your relevant experience. Your summer in the USA and the tables you've waited over there, places you used to go to for a pint back home (nobody examines the facts in your CV anyway) and a few months of experience of making latte in some Dublin cafe.

If you are a bloke you go into construction - they make more than the minimum wage (so ***ing sexist) or into IT if you have any idea about PCs (***ing computer geeks).

You might include the fact you've been working as a news editor for the largeset news portal in the country (a sort of Lithuanian BBC). But it was not in Ireland so who should care?

There's little point to mention a couple of months spent in the national radio as a reporter either. It was not RTE anyway. Besides you're not applying for a reporter's position (although you might consider it later).

Education

Don't bother with subjects taken, just mention having received the degree. In any case nobody knows your university.

Hobbies and other details worth or not mentioning

Make sure your contact phone number is on the very top of the page, bright and clear.

God forbid don't put your photo on the CV (an especially common trend among Eastern Europeans).

For Christ's sake skip "traveling" or "taking pictures" - it sounds so dull. Worth mentioning yoga.

If by the time you hand in the CV you can have a basic conversation with the manager of x cafe in English, it is magic! Don't give up if nobody has called you, print lots of copies and knock on many doors. It is nearly impossible to fail in this economic boom.

After a couple of years you might even chance to apply for a more demanding job - in order for the local celebrities you have left back home not to call you a failure. Perhaps you could even turn out to become an international mediocrity after all...

Why I've been hesitant about AdSense

2007-07-14T00:40:00.000+01:00

If above these lines you see an ad of sexy Baltic girls this is the reason why I've been hesitant about launching AdSense.

This also backs my opinion that women so far have been the best export in Lithuania. No wonder sometimes I prefer not to reveal the country of my origin.

On the other hand if you like 90x60x90 blonds go on - click on the links! You might find the love your life, I might earn some cash. We'll see if AdSense turns out to be a leprechaun after all.

"Confessions of a Celtic Tiger Call Girl"

2007-07-13T15:07:00.000+01:00

A soon-to-be-deported Israeli vice girl - whose forthcoming novel ‘Confessions of a Celtic Tiger Call Girl’ will be published anonymously by Opportunity Press spills the beans on her many high-profile Irish clients.

As confessed to Lorcan Roche of "Mongrel":

***

What does it matter to you, my name? You have all called me so many names in your accents, and whining voices. Horrible, Irish names (Seoige! Ni Bheolain!), Jewish ones too (Sharon!). You called me names as studio sweat and make-up and liquid guilt ran down your candy-striped arses, arses you paid me to whip and insert objects into. Like a torn-up contract for a better Ireland, while you pulled down your Lycra cycling shorts, halfway, and pumped the air.

You called me ‘Glenda’. You made me arch one eyebrow, like Dr. Spock. You made me scrub your pink skin raw, then rub Wintergreen ointment on your member while you babbled about ‘controlled passion’. You made me dress in an English rugby jersey, then you beat me with a copy of LIFE magazine. When you came, without warning, you screamed ‘Stringer! Stringer!’... What does this mean? Should I have tied you with cheap string, the kind my mother wrapped around my battered suitcase the day I left my homeland?

You came to me in the morning, sweating from the studio lights at RTÉ and you made me eat linguine and clams, three bowls, and you wanted me to confess in minute detail what other RTÉ presenters had requested, and it thrilled you (especially what Derek had asked for) and your greedy eyes grew wide and you wanted to see me with olive oil drizzling on my chin, like you often have on TV, except of course you have several chins. My God, I will never forget your lips, so big, and rubbery. They moved this way, and that, on my body, and your tongue was visible, always, like a ferret trying to escape from a ball of silly putty.

You came to me from RTÉ in the afternoon, and you crawled on the floor below me and looked up with real fear in your eyes, and you moaned ‘Grainne, Grainne’ and you asked me to dress in leather and to humiliate you, and to speak with a sexy lisp. Humiliating a grown man, even a redhead, and speaking in a sexy lisp at the same time is hard. But, after watching the show I mastered it. It’s about attitude, heels, and self-belief.

You came straight from the law library, wearing a pinstripe suit. You made me jump up and down for hours to Michael Flatley’s music, wearing a blonde wig and white stilettos. You invited me to a party in Killiney, but I had been there before - to Vico Road, where I was forced to dress in red and have deviant sex with a nanny and a dwarf. Vico Road. Where a famous film director paid me to beat him while he sat in a wheelchair, where a famous singer – dressed in PVC and big stupid glasses – paid me to chase him round the room with a can of fly-killer.

You told me your name was Eamon. You sniffed cocaine off my nipples and you said after that I was a good whore, but not a great whore, that the best whores worked in TV, then you scribbled all over the walls of my apartment, screaming about a homosexual farmer called Giles.

You said your name was George. You seemed kind, but then you took too much Viagra and you held me captive for days while you beat off and talked about yourself, endlessly. You said your name was Michael. I stroked your bald head. I let you play with my stormtrooper costumes. You cried. You opened up to me. But then I saw the guilt in your eyes – and knew it was you who would ring immigration.

***
Was trying to google the book, but couldn't find it. Hopefully will manage to get hold of it.

Baba's Business

2007-07-12T22:16:00.000+01:00

Once upon a time somewhere in the deep suburbia of Ukraine lived baba. Baba was producing homemade vodka, widely also known as moonshine. Then a tourist from the United States of America came along. Thus a video on You Tube appeared. Somebody in "Decanter" stumbled across it and that's how I discovered the recipe for Ukrainian vodka:

3 buckets of water
3 to 5 kilos of sugar (depending on the taste expected)
0.5 kilo of yeast

A couple of old pots, a pipe, old pair of knickers, rags, stove and coals also needed. Couldn't figure out the rest. Perhaps you might.

On the 19th of June 2007 the European Parliament has voted down a bid by MEPs from Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Sweden and Denmark to tighten the legal definition of vodka. The so-called "vodka belt" countries wanted to restrict the term to spirits made only from potatoes or grain. But a majority of MEPs voted in favour of a looser definition. According to BBC, vodka made from anything other than potatoes or grain will have to say so on the label yet it can keep the name "vodka" on it.

For those who come from countries mentioned above this was basically a battle for copyright. Just like Champagne has to be made in Champagne and Cognac - in the region of Cognac. Otherwise pleae be kind to use the name sparkling wine or brandy.

Despite loosing this battle Lithuania has to face another one now and it is a question of whether the politicians will have the guts needed to confront conservatives (by this I don't mean just political movement). I am talking about the legalization of homemade vodka which would include legal measures to control the quality of the production, making sure it is made in a more civilized way than "baba's pot". Just like whisk(e)y - once illegally mass-produced on such a scale that in 1820s as many as 14,000 illicit stills were being confiscated every year today it is one of the best-known Scottish exports. And boy, some of them are delicious...

Lobbyists who are pushing the legalization of homemade vodka in Lithuania claim this could become a huge attraction to foreigners, especially those interested in countryside tourism. The levels of production would be controlled, so would be the quality. Some believe this could help to decrease the rate of alcoholism in the country. Besides, the likes of baba would probably have to improve the sanitation.

On the other hand, what could be better after a day of swimming in the lake, fishing and horse riding than a dram of top quality homemade vodka with some Lithuanian charcuterie, rye bread and pickles? Old people say if it's well made you would drink a bottle and wake up the following morning fresh as a daisy. Forget "Smirnoff" or "Huzzar".