CURRENT MISSION

to learn what tomorrow will bring

ABOUT ME

hey. i am mara, translator. 'marks', the other half of my membername, is my son, he is 10, and it is difficult to decide which one of us is the most dedicated cs-host. nine months of every year he lives in luxembourg; i spent most of the last 3 years in israel. now we are back to riga to enjoy what we call summer in latvia.

PHILOSOPHY

Do you know what I really feel life is, deep down? A golden bell and a pomegranate.
Liffy smiled even more shyly.
Isn't that a beautiful way to describe it? Long ago I heard that and I've never forgotten it. And when life does seem bitter and cruel to me, I take those words into my heart and whisper them over and over, until I can manage again... And it has a special meaning for me that gives me hope so I can go on no matter how dark the way.
Can you share that special meaning, Liffy? Can you tell me what a golden bell is in this world? And a pomegranate?
Liffy lowered his eyes.
I am, he whispered. I'm both of them at once. And you are, and every human being is. For we are strange and wonderful creations and the sounds within our souls are as clear and haunting as the ring of a golden bell. And yet the taste on our tongues is always of the dusty earth, the sweet dusty taste of the pomegranate rich with seeds in the hot sun.

from 'nile shadows', edward whittemore

Interests

almond trees in blossom * baguadzhang (and bookstores) * calatrava's bridges * dancing * etymologies * friends (friends!) * grammars * hebrew * idiosyncracies * jerusalem * korae and kouroi in the athens' archeological * life as elemental force * mark, and the mediterranean * natural virtues * obscure meanings suddenly dawned * live performances * walking along abandoned railway tracks * stones, shadow theatre * unachievable goals * verbalization * long, whispered conversations * xenophilia * yiddish * and... ehm.. zappiness:)

• dancing
• tango
• cooking
• walking
• paragliding
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

recently i had to rebuild the my music folder on my laptop, so this (more or less) is what i feel like having with me: ali farka toure, andreas mustonen plays goldberg variations with his trio, anouar brahem, balkan beat box, boubacar traore, ejigayew shibabaw, giraffot, gogol bordello, golijov, goran bregovic, haralds simanis, hospitalu iela, idan raichel, kelitigui diabate, kronos quartet, kamilya jubran, l'arpeggiata, laurie anderson, le trio joubran, marianne faithfull, messiaen, oi va voi, savina yannatou.

movies, now and always: girl of the bridge, orlando, annie hall, va, vis et deviens.

forever: dido&aeneas by sasha waltz
this summer: orpheus&euridice by andreas mustonen

all the sasha waltz's dance productions

and books... no, this is impossible. i believe in wondrous all-purpose healing powers of dictionaries and grammar books, and more: i believe that in the judgement day, whatever it will be, a person can be redeemed if he/she had not parted from a collection of good poetry for most of the days of his/her life.

Teach, Learn, Share

you can teach me everything! how refridgerator works, new ways how to look at a place, tango, paragliding, how to whistle with two fingers (please!) untranslatable expressions in your language, how to cook a decent meal...
and the best thing is, you can teach me all this again and again; i never learn.

•