Spinning Words

And the light danced in the sky…

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Diana

It all started with a conversation in the kitchen in which I was informed that someone posted a message on a student FaceBook group that said that there was a big chance to see them all over Sweden. After dinner I went to my room, checked FaceBook, saw the info and thought “that would be so cool”. About 40 minutes later, at around 9 pm, another message appeared on another FaceBook student group and that message was: “Northern light above Lappis right now”. It took me exactly half a second to realize that I will storm outside the door in 3 minutes and return after I searched every dark corner I could think of.

So soon after I found myself on the subway towards the main campus (Lappis) but I either arrived there in a calm moment or didn’t know where to go because I couldn’t spot anything. But instead of giving up I took the bus to Vaxholm, gorgeous city 30 km away from Stockholm, a city I was lucky enough to call home last year. It was very strange to head there so late without actually going home. I also had only two buses I could ride back to Stockholm so I had about 35 minutes to see what I was going there for. I got off the bus and I saw the beautiful dark sky… and a few stars. So I started walking on the main street, staying close to the bus stops, heading towards the only darker spot I could think of: the field I could see outside my window last year. The moment I reached the end of the main street and arrived behind the town church I saw the curtain of light moving high in the sky. I spent the next 20 minutes rushing to the dark place without even looking where I was stepping, stopping every now and then when the light got brighter. When reaching the field I realized that the Northern Light was right on top of me, not on the horizon, but right above my head, and to my left, and to my right, it was everywhere, flowing or cascading. And it was so quiet. I didn’t exactly want to leave, I wanted to see more but I had to return to town. And when I got off the bus at Tekniska Hogskolan I saw a splendid display of Northern Lights defying all city lights. It was a burst of color that lasted a few seconds and I was there to see it.

Unfortunately my phone is not smart enough to actually take a picture of what I saw but do you know all the pictures you see online with the Northern Lights? What I saw might have not looked like that all the time but for the few seconds when it actually did… wow!

For such a northern city (says me coming from the south-east) this phenomenon is quite rare, I am amazed how Stockholmers seemed more interested in St Patrick’s day than in the lights. I mean, hey are both (mainly) green but… On the other hand it was quite short notice as they are quite hard to forecast. They seem to stick around till Saturday so maybe one of these nights we’ll meet again. I was more than delighted to make their acquaintance.

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Here We Go Again!

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Diana

There comes a time in someone’s life when he or she decides to make a change. This doesn’t happen because things are bad and they need to take a totally different turn, it can also happen because another door opens and the temptation to go through it is bigger than the desire to stay. Or maybe just as strong. I did go through this once before about 4 years ago. And again now. So I stopped what I was doing, I got out of my comfort zone and took a step into the unknown that I hope is going to be friendly to me.

But since 4 years ago until now I’ve had some good experiences in an environment that was once strange and cold and became warmer and warmer mostly because of the people I had the opportunity to work with and to have around as managers, colleagues and sometimes friends. I learned a lot. I made mistakes. There were times when I loved it and times when work and projects made days fly by. There were also days when getting out of bed to go to work was the worst thing ever and only the cup of coffee waiting for me at the office made me drag myself halfway across town. But I always tried to do my job as best as I could. I learned how to be a colleague, a team player, a subordinate, a team leader, a friend, a listener. I’ve learned how to smile when maybe I didn’t feel like it, to leave my personal issues at home, I learned to face my fears and open my mouth and talk, I am sorry I didn’t do it more often because maybe I could have said more smart things. I learned how to take responsibility for what I do wrong and how to work more in order to make things better next time. I learned how to communicate. And at the end I found out that it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be to leave all these things behind.

I’ve seen the sun set above the city so many times, I spent late evenings at the office, saw the moon rise above the park, saw the dim outline of the mountains from my office and went through projects with my trusty coffee cup to my right.

Time to move further. Thank you everybody and best of luck to all of us!

Posted in Day to Day, English | Tagged eon, work | Leave a comment

European Figure Skating Championships

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Diana

Out of the blue, 2 days ago I decided to go to the European Figure Skating Championships to see the ice dance finals. It was very unexpected and not on my “to do” list but I always wanted to attend an official skating competition. In the end skating has been in my life long before tennis as both my grandmother and mother loved the sport and followed every competition that was broadcast on TV. Skating evening meant that the whole family would be in front of the TV set watching closely and listening to the comments. However, the moment I wasn’t at home anymore I lost my interest in watching and following the rankings. That was pretty much the same time I started focusing on watching tennis. Still, I felt that this time it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. In the end ice dancing was my favorite part of a championship and even now I still watch some old dances performed by teams that competed 15 years ago like this one:

So this year I had the opportunity to see live how such a competition takes place. When you watch it so close it is even easier to realize the difference between the first pairs that go on the skating ring, the ones that will hold the last positions in the final rankings, and the ones that fight for a medal. The first teams are quite slow and their dances have nothing that you can call spectacular. They do have a lot of grace, some teams at least, but there is nothing that leaves you breathless. But when the competition reaches its peak and the best of the best enter the skating ring for the warm up, you can actually feel the excitement and the tension that gather around. Some contestants can’t handle this tension and they miss, this is what happened to the Russian pair that was in 2nd place after the short program and unfortunately it made them loose any chance for a medal. I liked the fact that some teams went on the ice and appeared to have fun and just enjoy what they were doing. Only they know how much effort they have to put up with to actually focus on what they have to do and give the impression that it is actually easy. I liked how the Italian team Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri danced to Irish music and, of course, I liked the French team, Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron

Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron

who was the best team by far and the final scores showed it: there was a 9 points difference between the 1st and the 2nd place. There was also a 9 points difference between 2nd and 3rd place, the silver going to Italians Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (defending champions) who had a very expressive dance, and the bronze going to the Russian team of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin.

What I didn’t like was that the venue was more than half empty. I think that happened because the tickets were extremely expensive. I managed to find some at an acceptable price but honestly now, why have expensive tickets and a half empty venue when you can have cheaper tickets and a full house?

All in all it was a nice experience and a beautiful event to attend. Now I know what it feels like to freeze next to the skating ring while watching the contest. I hope I will do it again one day.

Posted in Away, Day to Day, English | Tagged european championship, ice skating | Leave a comment

Happy 2015!

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Diana

Winter has descended upon this gray city and I have to say it was about time! Now it is all covered in snow and I have to say it looks pretty. Together with the fluffy flakes the cold came as well. It is already all over the news that tonight is going to be the coldest New Year’s Eve in 50 years. Nothing unusual and nothing to worry about. Except perhaps slipping on the ice. Almost done it yesterday, about 3 times, but I ended up standing. As I said in my previous post I am not going to make any New Year resolutions. And about the year that has almost passed I can only say that I am grateful and happy for it. It’s been a long year, a lot of things happened yet it seems like it has passed in a flash. Whatever the New Year brings I hope it has tennis in it. And a nice tune to dance to.

To keep it short and not get sentimental, I hope you all had amazing Christmas Holidays and that the New Year will go beyond your expectations in the best and happiest way possible. Happy New Year!

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‘Tis the Season

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Diana

It is the last month of the year. No, I will not go on saying if I fulfilled my New Year resolutions or not simply because I don’t like making any in the first place… Except maybe watch as much tennis as possible and go to as many tournaments as I can but that is not a New Year resolution, it already became a way of life. Christmas is almost here so everybody, or almost everybody, is in the rush that is so specific to this time of the year. I do that too but I don’t quite like it. Not because I am a Grinch but because I hate the shopping fever that everybody goes into right now, though I like shopping, but all shopping malls are just too crowded. Can’t wait to get the tree, make it look all pretty and enjoy some quiet time with the family. Plus I am really not good at buying presents. However, while browsing through online content specific for this time of the year I came across this picture here. Made my day!

Moving on, I am still amazed by how some people react in some situations. On my way to and from work I normally listen to music and read but one evening I didn’t have the opportunity to read, the tram was simply to dark so I just listened to music and looked around. I also happened to be on a tram with a defective door that didn’t open at all. On a 30 minute ride I think about 6 or 7 persons kicked the door, kicked the button opening the door from the outside, tried to force it open, bang their fist on the window of the door, yell at the people from the inside to open the door, swear and curse, as much as the ones already on the tram tried to explain that the door won’t open, the conductor doing that a few times as well. I guess it was hard to just head to the next door, 3 meters away from it. Just as hard as putting a “Defective” sign on it by the people in charge with the public transportation.

Otherwise all is ok, don’t know if I have been affected by the fact that the sun didn’t shine in Bucharest for 30 days in a row but now we already had some clear skies, hope it stays like that a bit longer or, if clouds are on their way here, I hope they bring puffy white snow that blocks the traffic and brings joy to kids. The holidays are coming, maybe it’s time we slow down a bit, it won’t be absolutely necessary to get to work on time, would it?

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