Turkey // Let's have olives for breakfast and Ayran to drink

Rabia arrived home after a 12-hour flight.

Exhausted to wear those high heels and that tight skirt.

She sat on the bed, unbuckled her blazer, stretched her arms, kicked off the heels and laid on the bed staring at the ceiling.

Staring at the ceiling...finally some rest.

It took a good 15 minutes to realize there was an unheard message on the answering machine. That red sign... she was not really in the mood to hear that she should have started a new shift in 8 hours.

She just wanted to stare at that ceiling.

Flight assistant - that was her job


"The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it."

At that very moment the doorbell rang. Her neighbour, Özge, came to drag her to the Altın günü (*).

Özge: "Rabia, did you check your calendar?"
Rabia: "... what?... hey Özge, I was about to sleep..12-hour flight.. hemmm"
Özge: "It's the Altın günü..come on... you promised you would have been there this time.."

Özge grabbed Rabia from her hand and she dragged her fiercely to her place.

It was her third time she handled to stop home for more than 8 hours and she just wanted to enjoy some "no-flow".

"If there is free flow, there is no pain; if there is pain, there is lack of free flow.”

At that table she found all she was expecting form her place: chai, ayran and Altın günü.

Altın günü is the best way to keep up with all the misdeeds and gossip among friends and neighbors and to make some good savings. Rabia was happy to have some contacts with the earth and that was the best way for her to be up to all the facts happening while she was in the sky.

Furthermore, it is a good example of solidarity among women and well.. sooner or later it would have been her turn ;)

She had in plan to purchase that beautiful Kartell chandelier. She thought how it could look superb while staring at the ceiling.. the chandelier..

Rabia arrived home after a 4-hour Altın günü.

Exhausted to wear those high heels and that tight skirt.

She sat on the bed, unbuckled her blazer, stretched her arms, kicked off the heels and laid on the bed staring at the ceiling.

Staring at the ceiling...finally some rest.

Flight assistant - that was her job


(*) Altın günü DEFINITION:

Altın Günü (The Day of Gold) is a specific form of Turkish women’s networks functioning as a type of rotating savings and credit association promoting both savings and make financial capital available to its members with trustworthy relationships.

A way of empowering women by mutual assistance of other women. For example, a person is inviting at her place a group of friends and each of them gives .. let's say... 50,00 €, that makes a good amount of money for the host. Well that is a kind of rotating savings, because on a next reunion, all the other people will receive the money back.

Hope you get somehow what I mean... if not... let me know and I will try to explain it better. And of course I will talk about olives and ayran another day ;)

Australia // 7-Eleven - my home (sometimes) at nights

----- mY StOrY -----

“Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves.”
― James Joyce, Ulysses

One of the things I abosolutely love is the feeling of being anonymous in a city I've never been before.

Walking around, looking whatever and not caring about speding time in observing.

It's been almost 5 years since I came back.. but who knows why.... you really never come back from a journey or...if you do... you are not the same person anymore.

Yeh... I know... a commonplace :) but damn true!!

I have actually to thank a person for that...I have never written about him and I don't even think that I'll start now to write about this person... but everyone has an epiphany in one's life and my breakup was exactly that... I usually like to define it a moment of impact... but this time I prefer to bother Joyce and to steal his words..."epiphany".

“I wanted real adventures to happen to myself. But real
adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad.” 
― James Joyce, Dubliners

Well... in my "wanderings", I often ended up in one of those convenience stores... sometimes it was because I was waiting for friends, some other times to take a 1-dollar-capuccino (of course... in its beautiful taking aways cup) and some other times to rest a little bit after a shift or before starting a new one.

I remember there was a standing chair just close to the windows in one of those at the corner between Elizabeth St. and Liverpool St. (in Sydney -- btw, is it still there?) and while sipping my capuccino... I was spending my time in observing people running everywhere... I loved that. That was my first 7-Eleven "meeting".

---------------------------------------------

Out of curiosity I made some research and I have just learned that it is a Japanese-American international chain of convenience stores founded in 1927 as Tote' m Stores.

In 1946, it changed its name into "7-Eleven", for the opening times from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm, seven days per week. The first convenience store was born after a Southland Ice Co employee in Dallas started selling milk, eggs and bread from an ice dock.

Today (June 2019), the chain has grown to about 68,000 stores in 17 countries (more than McDonald's just to have an idea). Customers can grab drinks, snacks and everyday products on the go. Its main core is to meet the market needs. It has actually become a real case study. 7-Eleven is a very good example of how a brand needs to and benefit from adapting to a local market.

What does it mean "to adapt to a local market"?

For example, customers in Taiwan can service their bicycles or photocopy at a local 7-Eleven, in Hong Kong they can pay their phone and utility bills, and in the US they can pick-up their online Amazon shopping there.

The first 7-Eleven in Australia opened on August 24, 1977, in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh, Victoria. One of the main traits of the Australian stores opened in suburban areas was that to operate as petrol stations.

Actually, in 2010, 7-Eleven bought Mobil's remaining Australian petrol stations, converting them to 7-Eleven outlets, resulting in a huge success.

Well...there are other things to tell about its history and its development, but it'll be for another time... now I'm getting a bit tired :)

Just a note:

Each year on November 7, 7-Eleven promotes "7-Eleven Day" by giving away a free Slurpee to customers. - so please... do not forget to get yours!!

A man who swears to do something which it is not in his power to do is not accounted a sane man. ― James Joyce, Stephen Hero 

Italy // Catania: #DEMETRIODIGRADO

"I like good strong words that mean something..." - Louisa May Alcott

Demetrio Di Grado - CONSUMANDO
la selezione dei ricordi

It was on a December day that Franca was strolling around Catania and she suddenly found herself in a small street full of paper and words.

I love words

I love that a word + a word make a compound

Some people use them in unproper ways, some others make poetry, some others again illusions...

This time it was ART -

Poster Art

Franca took out her notepad and noted down #DemetrioDiGrado.

Demetrio Di Grado - Errore Psicologico

It was a particular perception. She was standing hypnotized in front of those posters. It was a kind of journey between consciousness and instinct.

She was chosen by those characters.

At home, always with that perception in her head, she looked for some information about the artist.

#DemetrioDiGrado was born in Palermo (M.Y. 1976), after some time spent in the Hip Hop culture, in 2012 he founded ManSourcing [the promotion of art in all its possible variations] and from here the collage/poster art.

#vintagepop, he defines his works.

“A survey done at the Louvre found that the average person spends 15 seconds looking at the “MonaLisa”

That was the time that Franca had more or less in front of the “ERRORE PSICOLOGICO”.

I love words

I love that a word + a neswpaper cutting 
make a sense

Demetrio Di Grado - Senza Parole

The scenes that Demetrio represents in his works – she went on reading – recall the years of the War. Men, women, children…each of them carries a message and leads us to our present contradiction.

And finally a sentence on the eyes to close the meaning, to provoke, to urge us to think.

And Franca felt that urgency.









#tobecontinued

Australia // Somehow I found myself collecting cups...

"Life happens, Coffee helps"

--- mY sTory ---

That's it... I can't even remember how happened, but it did happen (it was in Sydney btw). 


Here in Italy there is not much that culture - unfortunately. I mean...I love hanging out at cafes, smelling the perfume of fresh coffee beans and spending hours admiring people in their "traffic". But...

at the same time.. 

...I even like running from one part to the other of the city holding a cup ...one of the greatest satisfactions in life (at least for me).

I remember that in one of my several jobs there, I have also worked as a cashier at a coffee shop. And once...a guy said "Oh.. s*** the bus is here, it doesn't matter for the coffee .. I ll take another time" (it was already paid, almost done) and... I just ran straight away outside from the bar and I handed the taking away cup while he was taking the ticket on the bus and I will never forget his words "YOU MADE MY DAY"... I was so happy to hear that cos... it is exactly what happens to me when I have coffee in the morning...


"Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars..."


But let's go back to the cups...
For sure they were pretty cool, full of colors and nice indie fonts....yeah...I know... I follow the crowds...but honestly... I like being in the system ;) I always think that it is the way you live it that makes it all another stuff. I guess I got about 80 empty and dirty taking aways cups, hidden (for the joy of my flatmates) a bit everywhere...When it was time to travel back home I had two choices:

EITHER - to bring all of them with me 
OR....
- to take funny pictures and leave them there... (not at the beach of course ;)

Joanna was there with me (miss you!) and she supported me :)

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"

Europeans do not normally know that an Australian coffee culture really exists. And as an Italian... I was just saying...no way...we know how to make real coffee... but... I was wrong!


I myself was a bit skeptical when I was told the various tecniques and coffees there. I thougt that they just had an Americano, while as you can see from this chart, you can get quite confused. I think... If I remember well, it's all a matter of coffee amount and froth consistency (??).. please Lance (the barista at the coffee shop where I used to work) correct me if I am not expressing myself in the proper way...

So I have learned that there are: double shot, latte, flat white (my fav), mocha, long black, mugaccino (a capuccino served in a mug - nice word) and that there are lot of types of milk you can choose for your beautiful take away cup (soy, skim, almond, rice, whole...). 

The hardest part of all this was to understand what the hell an aussie was saying to write it down on the cup and ending always with "cheers" (for this read my other post: "Let stalk strine, the Aussie slang - part I").

For today... I guess I am done... tired.. but next time I will have a couple of words on the most popular coffees brand there (Campos, Aromas, Allpress, Vittoria etc.)



And remember... that "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" lol ;)

Serbia // Хотел Москва - A semi-fictional story

"We should look into the future. We should walk into the future. All happier nations look into and walk into the future." - M. Crnjanski

Miloš Crnjanski

Hotel Moskva (Beograd), 27th January 1919 - It was very cold that night on Terazije way with my blue bottoned coat. I walked up quickly the hotel stairs to find some heat.

I was about to step into the revolving door but a spot of dark coats from the inside made me hesitate. I was captured by that spot. I pushed the door and I speeded up the pace not to fall over.

I couldn't recognize any of those dark coats though.

However I decided to grab a whatever newspaper and to sit next to their table. I learned only a few years later that they were the Grupa umetnika and among them now I recognized at least one coat, that of Miloš Crnjanski.

“Волети никад није бесмислено.” - M. Crnjanski

Crnjanski was a famous Serbian novelist. He was in Belgrade during the early post-war years and with his brown coat he decided to establish this group there, at the Hotel Moskva.


The other coats, well...

Pandurović, Rastko Petrović, Stanislav Vinaver, Ivo Andrić, Momčilo Nastasijević, and Branko Lazarević, just to name a few.

Amidst the city's ruins.. this group of young artists was as a breath of fresh air, a new beginning in art and culture. They used to gather at the Hotel Moskva's kafana, because according to Crnjaski, that was "the only place with light".

And on that day...I...was there.

Jovan, the name written on the waiter's shirt, came to take my order. I took the first thing on the list, Shumadian tea. I didn't care about that actually... I was bewitched by those coats. There was a wind of change and I...was there.

It was several years before I entered again that place... this time with a red coat.

In the post World War II, the hotel Moskva was once again the centre of Belgrade's cultural life.

Hotel Moskva (Beograd), 24th March 1947

If I remember well. [to be read with a pause]
It was Spring time. [to be read with a pause]
On a Monday. [to be read with a pause]
Strangely nice and warm for the season. [to be read with a pause]

I had a meeting with my sister there for the usual weekly coffee and talks. A quick look at the very bottom of the hall and I was pretty sure to see the gray coat of Ivo Andrić [ed. 1961 Yugoslav Nobel in literature].

You know... those kinds of stories you never know whether it is a fake one or true? Well.. it seems he was a kind of creature of habit.

Ivo Andrić

He used to have his own table at the hotel restaurant...with the usual cup of coffee and plate of pastries. I can't believe that there was the place where he put together all his short stories... and I...was there.

"If people would know how little brain is ruling the world, they would die of fear." - I. Andrić

Time goes by... it happened a third time to walk up those hotel stairs.

Hotel Moskva (Beograd), 2nd February 1974 - I was sitting by myself on a table next to the kitchen. I usually love to be seated there. I can admire the magic art of work.

The swinging doors - open and close.

open and close
open and close
open and close


With all this opening and closing.. you can't imagine... A woman, in her beautiful elegance, was creating what was going to become the most popular cake in Belgrade.

The Moskva Šnit, the hotel's signature cake.

That woman was Anica Dzepina.

Hotel Moskva (Beograd), Today - The Moskva pastry shop has been making Belgrade's traditional cakes and pastries for over 40 years.

- Hotel Moskva, a member of Historic Hotels Worldwide since 2016, dates back to 1906.

- Robert De Niro, Albert Einstein, Indira Gandhi, Luciano Pavarotti, Maxim Gorky and Alfred Hitchcock are famous guests who left their permanent mark - six suites are named after them.

That's all folks! Nite!