El dia de los muertos se acerca!

I love halloween and I’m beyond excited for all the parties this weekend! It will be a nice break from school work too.

Anyway, play nice and check out the amazing band I got this shirt from when they played in Prague this Wednesday :]

xxLucie

Summer soundtrack

I should post more often. And I will now. Summer was just too busy with my internship and mother-daughter times. School should allow for more procrastination!

Here are some awesome tuuunes that I listened to a lot this summer. Some are new, some are old… I like gloomy music, can you tell? Don’t listen to it in a row, it doesn’t make sense that way.

xxLucie

Change Ensues in Chinese Foreign Policy.

I sincerely want to write about Libya, but the last time I tried is saved in my “drafts” folder, because quite frankly I don’t think anyone would read my three page rant about tribalism, Qaddafi and the oil fueled struggle that I think will soon kick off.
Let me just say that I think Libya is by far the most risky out of all of the Middle Eastern protests and I sincerely hope something remarkably miraculous is about to happen in order to prevent what seems like an inevitable escalation of the conflict.

China’s shift in foreign policy (refer to art below) is a somewhat different, yet equally historical shift within the international order. Despite many critics, in the past China has preferred to stay back from international conflicts and humanitarian interventions. It is debatable whether they just wanted to focus on economy or simply wanted to wait to be truly ready to take over as an emerging superpower.
Regardless, I am pleased that China is planning to step out of the shadows and help in policing the world.
(Though by no means am I saying that their efforts will be well received. It is however a nice gesture.)

I just hope they can contain their own protesters long enough to instill greater stability and balance into the Western-centric international system.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/asiaview/2011/03/chinas_foreign_policy.

xxLucie

Aberdeen fun-times.

The weather has been crap and needless to say of course I got sick. Hence the no post for over ten days *shame*

Anyway, I’m back in Aberdeen and it’s actually quite nice.
The weather here is insanely windy and I can absolutely understand why it’s called the Granite City… so grey!
We’ve been going out a lot and I’ve been shopping to pass time and procrastinate the inevitable confrontation with my dissertation…. eek! So here’s some pictures from the last few days:

My shoes are going to eat your soul!

Some delicious tapas times.

Michael hating my camera. It loves him though!

CZECH premium lager....?

I’m honestly not sure what to think of that last picture. I’d like to taste it, but judging by the cover I think I’m wise in my decision not to. What’s this obsession people have with Czech beer? I love our beer, but for god’s sake have a Pilsner or Gambrinus not some impostor piss in a bottle labeled CZECH.
That’s like drinking Smirnoff vodka and pretending it’s Русский Стандарт. You’re missing out on all the authentically Russian kick in the ass that a proper vodka gives youuu.

And here’s a picture of my last culinary triumph -chicken quesadilla- served with refried beans and low-fat yogurt. Yummy! It’s a part of my mission to feed Michael more veggies.

Bow to my presentation skills!

I’ve also been shopping a lot to pass time and procrastinate on the inevitably approaching confrontation with my dissertation… eek! I’m going to post more about my progress on that, I’ve come across quite a few amazing articles and organizations.
But back to shopping… I’ve been spending money going to Hobbycraft and I simply can’t wait to get back to Prague to my sewing machine, glue-gun and creative space. I miss it so much!
I’ve also been rummaging through Primark to find some nice extra pieces of clothing to take back to Prague with me. It’s like looking for a needle in a hay sack! But alas, check out my super cute sweater :] If I un-button the top it hangs down all loose and comfy like.

Mirror shot ftw!

ps. A LOT of people have read my post about Wave Gotik Treffen and found my blog that way. So in the upcoming weeks I will post a WGT countdown with the line-up and helpful tips.
Feel free to ask stuff :]

xxLucie

12 hours there, 13 hours back.

Actually together with the train ride to London, it’s more like 14 hours there and I don’t even want to imagine how long it will take me to get back. But here I am, sitting in a hotel room in Aberdeen.
Plus Michael’s company decided that not only do they want him this week, but weeks afterwards too! So I get to undergo my lovely bus trip again on Monday *sigh* since I just can’t afford a 250pound flight. Why is an hour and a half flight that expensive anyway?!

Anyway, it’s far from bad. It’s a very pleasant change of scenery, plus I can get a cheaper flight back to Prague than I would be able to get from London. Aberdeen is also surprisingly full of awesome alternative bars and restaurants, and it allows me to see one of my friends from Kuwait! Yep, I’ve got friends all over the world :]

A great metal bar.

I loved the paintings.

This was in the ladies...

And this was in the males...

Makes me wonder if there was some reason behind posting those? Well the first one isn’t that hard to understand, but the second? I wish there were pictures.

And here’s a bundle of some other pictures from being out and about. There’s a really cool pub that’s in an old CHURCH! It’s decorated with alchemy looking things and spooky seating and all that. I got really excited, because I thought it would be full of goths, but it turns out normal people go there too :]

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xx
Lucie

Dear Egypt, I wish you luck.

When I went to Egypt for my 18th birthday, truth be told, I hated it. The heritage is incredible, but the cities are dirty, crowded, men are rude and I basically hid under my mom’s skirt the entire time.
I would constantly be grabbed, pulled, proposed to and followed…
Even at Cairo’s famous museum I got groped while passing through a gate to go into an exhibition.
Point being, there are many things wrong in Egypt.
(Though arguably that’s the case with most of the middle east…)

It always makes me happy, when people in a troubled region get together and fight to make things better. A few months ago when a project called HARASSMAP was launched in Egypt, I thought to myself, power to the women!
And I was genuinely happy for Egyptian women. Maybe in the future they won’t HAVE to use a women-only subway car. Maybe in the future they won’t have to fear going out in their own city.

And just as easily I got annoyed when Suzanne Mubarak said that the reaction was overblown, that the harassment of women has been blown out of proportion. Seriously? I doubt the first lady has ever taken a stroll down the streets of Cairo at night. And as the wife of the president, she should HELP the women of her state, not undermine them by making their fight seem trivial! Bad presidenting (yes I know I just made that up) on her part. Suzanne, you’ve failed the women of Egypt.

——–

Which brings me right to president Hosni Mubarak and the current riots against his reign.

The thing is that he’s not a completely bad ruler. He’s done a lot of  good for Egyptian regional relations. In fact, eradicating the peace with Israel brought Egypt back into the Arab League (from which they were expelled due to their former president..) and his participation in the fight against Iraq in 1991 lead to an eradication of debts and further deepened relations with ME countries.
When the US was thinking of going to war in Iraq he was firmly against it, warning that it would create more opposition than existed. Now we see, his words have come true.

Of course there is the other side of the story. His economical reforms have raised a number of doubts, as well as suspicions over mistreatment of radical Islamic prisoners. Perhaps the worst of all, the 2005 elections are suspected of being rigged, and consequently freedom and democracy are coming to question within Egypt. Not to even mention that Transparency International has labeled Egypt as one of the more corrupt nations in the world…

So there, it’s not all bad, but Mubarak’s approach to the current riots will definitely have consequences. His direct order to isolate Egypt from all social media will only discredit his reign. It’s well known how sites like youtube, facebook, twitter, etc. can spread word incredibly fast, it’s kind of the ‘CNN effect of the people themselves’, and by limiting that output, it just goes to show there IS something to hide.

I think criticism shouldn’t just go directly to him, I’m actually shocked that mobile phone operators have so keenly suspended their services. I’m no expert, but as an international company you must be able to have some kind of a right to resistance in such a scenario.
Indeed Egypt’s infamous Emergency Law dictates otherwise (read up about it, it’s insane), but I just hate when the international community rolls over like that.

So to end, here’s a video of a BBC local reporter who was ‘deliberately’ beaten by the police, reporting on just how bad Mubarak’s strike against the media really is.

[CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO]

I really hope this will lead to something good.
Egypt needs change.

xx Lucie

Stonehenge, Bath and our awesome weekend.

With a rented car, two large suitcases and MANY filled-to-the-top tote bags, we made our way out of Salford, away from Manchester and back to good old southern England.

First stop was definitely Stonehenge as we wanted to have a nice day in Bath, rather than rushing to Stonehenge to catch it before sundown. And what a great decision! Just as we were leaving, the clouds came in….

The magical Stonehenge.

It was really windy! I put on warmer shoes later...

It was definitely wonderful, but very VERY windy! I changed into warmer shoes when we got to Bath (since my entire wardrobe was in the car…).

We had some delicious Thai food right by the river and then went wondering in little streets and shopping. The local Hugo Boss store had a sale so I sat in the girlfriend chair for half an hour :]
Here are some pictures from the day!

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It was so beautiful, I would go back anytime!
Hopefully we can re-visit in the summer since it will be warmer and I won’t have to be subdued to the horrors of hat-hair… even if it is a koala.

xxLucie