Valentine's Day Special

Hello earthlings, 

Greetings from the great land of Calgaria. It's 7:27 AM, I've been on a bus since 12:45 AM so I'm hardly functional right now. In any case, I thought I'd kill coffee-less time by writing this post before I forget.

So as you know, today is February 14th, the day when we honour teddy bears and heart shaped candy. To the commoners it's called Valentine's Day, for great people like me, it's Single Awareness Day, a.k.a. SAD. People wear red and by default start acting more flirtatious (whether you've noticed that or not, it is what it is.)

In any case, since it's a day where we talk about love, act like we're in love or actually are lucky enough to be with a loving partner, I decided to share a few things that I consider really beautiful...you know, about love.

I'll start with "Te amo" by Pablo Neruda:

More to follow...

Relax, think of the beach and hit play : Maria Gadu-Shimbalaiê

Un pais tan grande by Lina Zeron

Vivo en un país tan grande que todo queda lejos
la educación,
la comida,
la vivienda.
Tan extenso es mi país
que la justicia no alcanza para todos.

Translation:
I live in a country too huge that everything is far,
education,
food,
accommodation,
so vast is my country,
that justice is not enough for everyone.

Nostalgia: Childhood memories

A significant portion of my childhood was spent in front of the TV screen. This is a tribute to my favourite videos from when I was a kid.

Nu Pogodi!

Leopold

Cheburashka

The Muppet Show (dubbed in Russian, yes! All of the voices were performed by one person...)

Lassie :)

The adventures of Black Beauty

Bokloz and mama Nagwa.

Nelly's Ramadan riddles (I can claim I watched every Ramadan riddle ever made up to when Samir Sabry, Sherine Seif El Nasr, Samah Anwar and Hassan Kamy joined forces to make riddles and kill me.)

Chi Chi Chi Chip and Daaaaale!

Bougy and Tamtam :)

Ammo Fouad (Uncle Fouad) starring the late great Egyptian comedian Fouad Elmohandes.

Geddo Abdo (Grandpa Abdo) starring the late Egyptian comedy pioneer Abdelmoneim Madbouly.

Hatso, the genie that appears when you sneeze :) LOL

Taaloub (an endearment of taalab which means fox in Arabic)

Those mighty morphin' power rangers!

Mazenjer Z.

Teenage mutant ninja turtles.

Fantasia.

We called it "The frog song".

Tom and Jerry of course...(that was the version I had, with the German intro "Vielen Dank fuer die Blumen, vielen Dank wie lieb von dir:)")

There are many other clips that I watched, but the above were the most special to me. Maybe I'll do a part two some other time. Welcome to my childhood :)

Favourites: Yellow by Jem (Piano cover)

Te quiero by Mario Benedetti

A friend posted this yesterday and I couldn't get over how beautiful it was. I would like to share this beautiful poem with you.

Tus manos son mi caricia
mis acordes cotidianos
te quiero porque tus manos
trabajan por la justicia

si te quiero es porque sos
mi amor mi cómplice y todo
y en la calle codo a codo
somos mucho más que dos

tus ojos son mi conjuro
contra la mala jornada
te quiero por tu mirada
que mira y siembra futuro

tu boca que es tuya y mía
tu boca no se equivoca
te quiero porque tu boca
sabe gritar rebeldía

si te quiero es porque sos
mi amor mi cómplice y todo
y en la calle codo a codo
somos mucho más que dos

y por tu rostro sincero
y tu paso vagabundo
y tu llanto por el mundo
porque sos pueblo te quiero

y porque amor no es aureola
ni cándida moraleja
y porque somos pareja
que sabe que no está sola

te quiero en mi paraíso
es decir que en mi país
la gente viva feliz
aunque no tenga permiso

si te quiero es porque sos
mi amor mi cómplice y todo
y en la calle codo a codo
somos mucho más que dos.

Feel good melody: Xekina mia psaroboulla

You probably know it from the movie "My big fat Greek wedding"...guaranteed to make you feel better.