Special family gathering moments ...

I left the silence of my home very early in the morning to venture into the gloomy and under the rain streets of Lisbon by Cais do Sodré. As I waited for Mia and Liam I went across to Mercado da Ribeira, which I hadn't been to for quite a while. The initial feeling was one of surprise as the only things I recognised were the external architecture and the glazed tiles covering the entrance hall corners. 

Garbbage bin architectural piece outside the train station of Cais do Sodré

It was only after having reached Cascais that the nasty rain gave way to a fairly warm and sunny afternoon, which the three of us enjoyed immensely. A few places I had sketched on in the past brought back memories though the best memories would certainly be the ones embedded in me after such an unexpected family gathering. 

 

Cultural exchange gathering ...

My love for the Farsi language and the Iranian culture together with the willingness to get to spend some more time with an Iranian couple residing in Lisbon I had recently been introduced to had us meet at Azevedo's for a long Portuguese lunch and a fado listening session.

 

 

 

 

 

It's moments like these that contribute towards a  "so called" wider understanding of different people's lives and the extent of our similarities as  singular people. I must thank Azevedo and his wife Sónia who hosted the gathering, as well as Nahid and Ismail for their presence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The latest books I have read ...

I have recently read two books which despite being unrelated and written in completely different styles both had me wondering as to where I stand in life and what I want to further do with it. The first one is a very interesting account on Iran, which goes beyond what the average traveller would expect to find, once it includes quite a few encounters with people. Some of the encounters were fairly similar to some of the ones I had whilst travelling around the country and the prompts and potential answers equally similar.

 

"(...) then came the burning question, hard on one another and posed in such general and passionate terms that I was at loss to know how to anser them: marriage and the business of dowries, parental authority, work and money, the cost of a haircut (...) and how often one's family came to visit ... For the next three hours I was subjected to a good-natured grilling. I felt a familiar sense of inadequacy to all my replies; and on this and so many other similar occasions I felt almost as though I were an impostor, inventing comparable norms on issues which if answered honestly, seemed too brutal for these gentle people; and hoped that my answer wouldn't disappoint. But I was always touched by this hunger for knowledge. The son, in particular, seemed to me like a drowning person clutching for purchase on a world that held out infinite promise and allure. Don't leave your world, I wanted to say ..."

"The genius in all of us" reinforced some of the ideas I had on achievement and other similar aspects, though it opened up a whole new world into things I had never even thought of or considered.

 

 

"Uncommon achievement requires an uncommon level of personal motivation and massive amount of faith."

 

"Inspiration may spout after six weeks of life, or sixty years, or never. Where will yours come from? A sibling rivalry? A desire to impress your parents or children? An insatiable hunger to be loved? A straightforward fear of failure?"

 

"Every culture must strive to foster values that bring out the best in its people."

 

Everything shapes us and everything can be shaped by us."

 

The genius in all of us is our built-in ability to improve ourselves and our world."