So a few times per day this guy, and similar guys, come through my street selling 2nd hand stuff from their carts. To let people know they’re there, they yell something like “Yehhhhhhh”. It sounds really weird. Like a very, very sick mule.
Besides these, we have accordionists walking the street, stopping on every corner to give their concert and wait for people to throw money out of the windows. Men that sell bread (they carry a huge stack on their head), gypsy women that sell flowers, people that collect water tanks to get them refilled for you… and I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of these professions soon… (and recording and uploading them of course ;-)).
As said in the previous posts, I live very close to the sea. The first evening that I was in my apartment, I got a bit bored and went to walk around a bit. I found a gorgeous sun setting in the sea. Check out the video below… It’s really soothing, relaxing, meditative. đ
Sorry for the crooked horizon… see it as artistic expression.
Locked myself out while my music was on waaaay too loud. Leading to complaints (in Turkish) from my neighbours when I finally returned to my flat with another set of keys. Of course I couldn’t explain the situation.
Shortly after that I broke the cable of my laptop.
At about 5 o’ clock I decided to close some windows to keep the noise out. There is one central open area in my building that connects the windows from all the bathrooms and kitchens. Quite noisy in the morning I imagine. Apparently I didn’t close the window properly, so imagine how noisy it was when it opened again and fell down and shattered in my kitchen… I think I woke everyone up. Way to go Bas!
Let’s hope that’s the last of my bad luck in this apartment. đ
You can read about my struggles finding it by clicking here.
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Even though they haven’t caught the spotlight of the big media, there’s quite a bit of ‘Tibetan’ protesting going on in Beijing. One of the protests was on Tiananmen square and lasted for ten minutes before the participants were detained and deported. Have a look at this video:
Students for a Free Tibet sent the following statements:
As China kicked off the 2008 Beijing Olympics yesterday, Tibetans and supporters in every part of the world staged hunger strikes, protest marches, solidarity vigils, and other direct actions to highlight China’s oppression in Tibet.
Just hours ago, five Tibet supporters held a dramatic protest in Tiananmen Square, calling for an end to the Chinese government’s occupation of Tibet. Four of the activists, lying down and draped in Tibetan national flags, staged a mock die-in with the famous portrait of Chairman Mao in the background. A fifth activist spoke about their reason for protesting there today. They were detained by security ten minutes after the protest began.
Meanwhile, Chemi Dolkar, a Tibetan-American who traveled to Beijing to speak out for Tibetan freedom, was detained at Beijing Airport for 15 hours and eventually deported. Chemi arrived in her hometown Minneapolis last night, and right now she is speaking with the media to keep the Tibetan plight in the spotlight. Many dozens of Tibetans planning to go to Beijing to protest against the Chinese government have been denied entry into China.
The world is watching China today as the Olympics begin, and with the hundreds of actions taking place around the world – from Delhi to Kathmandu, Brussels to London, New York to San Francisco, Hong Kong to Toronto, and many more – the voices of the Tibetan people will be heard loud and clear despite the attempts of the Chinese authorities to silence them.
Continue to check out www.freetibet2008.org for further updates on the global uprising for Tibet and to find out how you can join actions in areas near you.
Lhadon, Tendor, Kate, Heather, Han, Amy and the whole SFT HQ crew
Great message I’d say.
Meanwhile, during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, some Burmese people were commemorating the 08/08/’88 events.
The demonstrations of 1988 culminated in a massive nation-wide show of People Power on August 8 in which hundreds of thousands of people marched to demand a change in government. These peaceful demonstrations were violently crushed by army troops who fired relentlessly on the unarmed crowds in Rangoon and other cities killing more than 10,000 student, civilian and Buddhist monk protesters throughout the country. Thousands were arrested. (Burmawatch)
It’s a shame that we seem to have forgotten about Burma and I’m taking this opportunity to put another spotlight on the situation there. Burma Global Action Network just released an exclusive video from the International Burmese Monks Organisation containing a plea to the international community.
Visit the sites mentioned and find out what you can do.
This must be one of the coolest musical ideas I have seen in a long time! I’ve seen something similar on a video of a Terence McKenna speech, which was done by a group called Space Time Continuum, but to see it done like this is truly amazing! I found a place where one could pick up the album, if you’re interested, just click here. It also has some more information about The Web.
You can also visit their homepage, The Web Online, but it is down right now probably because too many people were checking out their material.
Just hours ago, 
