A little bit attention
POLAND | Wednesday, 14 May 2014 | Views [259] | Scholarship Entry
Know it is boring to hear about somebody’s life. Half of it we don’t listen at all, half of it from time to time, when it concerns us or it is something really exciting. Therefore it would be better to show you kind of a short film.
Shot 1–Kazakhstan. This is the moment I stand at the edge of the cliff in Charyn Canyon. I am aged seven or thereabouts. My parents are not far from me, but I don’t see them and feel myself alone in the whole world. I see all these giant rocks, scorched in the sun, see this dizzy cliff under me and I feel a little bit of Canyon inside: all that power, freedom and lack of haste. I feel it only for the moment, but this is the magic I will hardly forget.
Shot 2–Turkey. There is comfortable small café opposite me. It is one of the warm Turkish evenings which I have loved that much. The music is playing. It is Zaz, Eblouie Par La Nuit, wonderfully harmonized with this atmosphere. Outside the café there are several tables under the stripped slightly faded tent. I see waitress coming out with a tray full of freshly-prepared dishes. Steam rises over it and almost immediately disappears in the dark. The waitress is not young, is not slim, she is even stout, but she moves so smooth, so naturally, it seems to me she is dancing. I get closer to her and see her smiling, from ear to ear, sincerely, kindly. And I feel a little bit of Turkey in me, friendliness and openness. Every time I return here.
Shout 3–Poland. It is several hours before departure and I decide to go for a last promenade along the streets. All these shops, apartment houses, bakeries are impossibly beautiful in the light of streetlamps at the twilight. A few streets later I turn into a small inner court, round like well. The first thing I see it is a well-kept balcony on the second floor with big pot of flowers. I entered the door and go up the wood stairs with wide red steps. On the third-floor landing I stop. There is an open window with a window-sill here. I looked out and see the sky. I breathe evening air and feel a little bit of Poland in me: a little cautious when first meets and then hospitable and generous.
…this is not the end of the film. There are a lot of shots in it. But I already show you the main. It is no need to try remembering all that things guide tells you. It is no need to stay in hotels or to see as many as you can. You only have to listen and to look around. Because there is a little bit of the world in all of us.That is the point.
Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip
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