TheRadicalReality

Truly a lot better than your worst thoughts.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Travelling...

From my diary.
(well, not really a diary, but a small green Heinekken notebook that I got for free at a bar, and I decided to take along, just in case)


October 22nd. 21:00.
“We are on the way to Krakow...Our bus is full of young polish guys working in Italy (probably Rome), making their trip back home. They are quite a lively bunch. Noisy and happy spirited. Two polish girls, who also got on the bus in Venice, are now the center of their attention. Lots of flirting glances and smiles going around. Beer bottles run through the seats, back and forth. Two lucky guys have already been able to exchange seats and they are now sharing, each, a seat with the cute girls. This is starting to look like a college party and I’m sure some passengers are starting to get annoyed by now… But, personally, I enjoy seeing these fellows in such a happy mood. They are cool guys anyway. If you look at them for a couple of seconds, just out of curiosity, they even hand you a beer…

Right above the bathroom door, there is a hanging TV set no one is paying attention to (and those who really want to pay attention are probably having a hard time to do it, anyway); the movie on the screen is that flick where Jennifer Lopez teaches Richard Gere dancing lessons (“Dancing in Manhattan” or something like that I think… But truly I don’t remember the name of such a masterpiece). Of course, the movie itself is not the reason that draws my attention. The thing I’m really interested in is that the movie is in Polish. Well not actually in Polish, but with the original English soundtrack very, very low, and a guy, with a radio-like voice, translating to Polish the parts of all the characters… Kind of like instant translation on a conference. And a bit weird. And somehow spooky. There you have tiny eyed Richard Gere saying love words to beautiful J-Lo, and J-Lo replying with the deep same masculine voice, with that curious KGB sound that eastern European languages bring to the mind of anyone born before the fall of the USSR (*shivers*)… Now that I think of, I assume they are exchanging love words. After all I’m hearing a Polish translator and I can’t understand diddle shit…

We’ll soon be crossing the highest part of The Carpathians Mountains (which go all the way down from southern Poland to Rumania). There is no way you can hear Carpathians without thinking of darkness and good old vampire tales. Maybe that’s why I’m getting so suggestive…”

16 Comments:

Blogger bostezo said...

Que locura lo del televisor y la traducción. En mi país (Venezuela) no tenemos la suerte de chick movies en los autobuses, allá por ley tenemos que ver Steven Segal o Jean Claude Van Dame, ?insoportable! Saludos, Vero

10:20 PM  
Blogger Mr G said...

Hola Vero!
Ja, ja, ja.. con todo lo que uno viaja en bus en sudamérica, creo que yo también soy ya experto en los trucos de Segal, Van Dame & compa?ía...
Gustazo en verte por aquí!
:)

12:41 AM  
Blogger Mr G said...

Anamaría...
Seguro que ya llegará el momento para realizar un viaje de la forma en que realmente quieres... Tampoco siempre es tan fácil... Todos tenemos viajes fallidos... Cualquier "laguna idiomática", si alguna vez te interesa, te la aclaro via mail... Y siempre que tenga suficiente tiempo, intentaré traducir los textos... La verdad, tus palabras me han inspirado bastante para intentar hacerlo!
;)

1:19 AM  
Blogger TTTTT said...

muchas gracias por tus palabras :)

2:58 AM  
Blogger Mr G said...

kiwi merlina...
Si te sirven para ver las cosas de una manera diferente, eso es lo realmente importante!
*** Sending you lots of good vibrations ***
Cuídate mucho, nena! :)

3:12 AM  
Blogger PBS said...

Thanks for sharing some of your trip experiences! A notebook is great for writing down events as they happen.

4:43 AM  
Blogger Mr G said...

Hey PBS!
Welcome back! :)
Not much of a notebook, my tiny little Heinnekken diary... But useful anyhow!

5:03 AM  
Blogger Mr G said...

anamaría...
Es que hoy tengo una noche inspirada... ja, ja, ja! ;)
No, fuera de broma, yo sólo intento contribuir a la reflexión... Después de todo, la sonrisa ya la llevabas tu dentro, no?
Me alegra que te alegre!
:)

6:19 AM  
Blogger Amrita said...

that is a really linely description of your outing. journalistic!! keep it up.

10:07 AM  
Blogger TTTTT said...

Acabo de leer un post acerca del Sr Benitez. Estoy completamente de acuerdo. Creo que fuiste el único que me dió una solución razonable. Debiera existir un manual de cómo no ser víctima de la mafia. "hágalo usted mismo".

3:48 PM  
Blogger Walker said...

Sounds like the ride was fun and guys will be giys when there is a pretty girls around.
I can understand what you mean about dubbed movies especially if you know what the realk actors sound like.
Vampire eh. I jope you wore a thick scarf LOL

6:58 PM  
Blogger Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

I loved that post! It sounds like you were having a blast (except for that whole deep-voiced J-Lo thing!)

How cool was that going across the Carpathian Mountains!!! You KNOW I'm a big vampire fan!!!

Any pictures of that? :)

3:30 PM  
Blogger Happy and Blue 2 said...

Nice post. I really like your writing. It's almost like being there with you..

5:13 PM  
Blogger elle said...

I love travel journals. You brought me right along with you. Thanks. Thanks for the translation too! Now I love the song even more!!!

2:23 AM  
Blogger Mr G said...

Amrita,
Thank you! I'll try to keep the standard! :)

Kiwi merlina,
A lo mejor ha llegado el momento. Tu escribes bastante bien, así que... ;)

Walker,
I eat so much garlic, here in Spain, that I doubt a vampire would dare to approach me! LOL...
Hey, you greek guys must be immunized too (you get your share of garlic with your food too, don't you!) ;)

Majestad,
Sorry, no pics available. Crossing the Carpathians was, indeed, beautiful. We did the highest part of it a couple of hours before dawn, so I guess most vampires were already heading back home after some "bloody" party... he, he, he! ;)
Truly, more than scary, the mountains were very welcoming... It was a bit foggy and cold at night (no gipsies, nor wolves howling,:( ), but beautifully sunny in the morning. Mountains are not really that high, but the views are wonderful. All sort of green foliage everywhere; rivers; a few small lakes, hidden behind the trees; and nice little towns lost here and there, where people have a delicious rye & polish sausage soup for breakfast!

Happy,
Thanks for the compliments!
:)

Elle,
Any doubts, you know where to find me! ;)

4:18 AM  
Blogger portuguesa nova said...

Loving this!!

5:25 PM  

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