People and Cafes

Some of the people whom I met with this week included an American behavioral therapist, a French campaign manager and a Greek researcher. They had asked me to meet them at different cafes in town, so that I could interview them on issues related to my thesis. All three places were new to me and completely different in style and atmosphere. Weidinger Cafe is an old smoky coffee house, which interior (and clientele?) hasn't changed for the past 30 years or more. It was like stepping into a time warp. I took a picture on my phone because I was so stunned. The following day I went to Cafe Gaga:rin, which played loud electronics and served a lunch plate with vegan, organic food based on the pay as you wish principle (and it was goood!). The third meeting happened on the more mainstream Point of Sale near Naschmarkt.

I know very little about the people I meet beforehand, but to sit there and wait for them at places they have suggested I suppose say a great deal of them already. People and cafes could totally be an anthropological study on its own. And that of course also made me think which cafe I would suggest if I were in that situation. I probably would choose this one... Which cafe [are] you?

Judging people based on their choice of cafe is obviously quite simplistic. I think all three selected the place because of its proximity to either work or home. Nevertheless the city is full of coffeehouse, cafes and bars, so why those particular ones? I'm intrigued.

I still need to find one more man to interview. If you happen to know someone, perhaps you can pass the information on. I'd be happy to pick the cafe, or just show up without being too judgmental. I promise.

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More Global Fashion...

While watching Denmark getting beat up by Japan in the World Cup (I'm not much into football), I thought to share a couple more insights from my Fashion, life style and culture course (- which I previously did a post about here). So, these images I like because of their contrasts and because they demonstrate the interconnectedness between cultures in the tangible form of fabric, tailoring style and accessories. Cool, eh?

I'll try to provide a few details for those interested -- and I hope I got it right, as the course is in German, which is not working too well these days with this brain of mine. Anyhow, first image shows Chola women from La Paz, Bolivia. Notice the bowler hats that originates from the UK. At the time of colonization the Spanish men wore bowler hats inspired by the British. It then later became a fashion among the local Indian population, the Chola women especially.

The second image shows a Congolese man belonging to la Sape, which are men (usually of poor backgrounds) who are inspired by Parisian high fashion. They consider themselves artists who seek to demonstrate supreme elegance. Enough said, I hope you like the photos and the fashion-inspiration-going-global like I do.

Photos via szeke & Flair.

World Refugee Day

We celebrated World Refugee Day this past Saturday in Bunkerei (a Biergarten/music venue) located just around the corner from us in the very lovely Augarten. I miss being involved with refugee work - something I sadly haven't touched since moving to Vienna (I tried getting involved with some volunteer projects when arriving, but that didn't pan out...). Anyways, it was great music, inspiring talks and people of all ages and skin colors going craaazy on the dance floor. Simply lovely!

On another note, I made it to Denmark and back without any issues. While it was great to be back home for a brief visit to celebrate my old grandmother turning 90 (with a heck of party!), it is equally nice coming back to Vienna where things at the moment are happening in a much slower pace.

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Saris

This semester I'm taking a course called "Fashion, lifestyle and culture" and today it was related to the materiality of clothing where the sari was used as an example through this study. I will spare you for the details, but the lecture was packed with colorful images that had me go straight home to look for more. And now I figured I might as well post some of them here...

All these colors are such a stark contrast to those dark colors that are prevalent in clothing in Scandinavia! (It was an American friend who once pointed out the Danes' love for black to me. I had never though about it before, but I do think she's right.)

Now, who would have thought I would be writing about clothing of all things... I for sure didn't.

Obviously I can't take credit for these images, but check out tripowski|pepealcaide|entrelec|sarahlane who took the pictures for more great material.

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Is It a Man? Is It a Woman?

These days are busy, so all I leave you with this time around is an image of a poster I'm personally quite intrigued by. Check out the blush on that guy's face and the faantastic 80s hair style. It almost makes me want to go and check out Phillip Kirkorov - the Russian King of Pop (or so the poster say), when he visits in May. ;)

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An Evening With The Danes

Next Tuesday is St. Martin's Day, which is celebrated in Denmark by eating goose or duck along with some traditional Danish side dishes, which, among younger generations, are not eaten very often. I haven't celebrated the day for years (much like a lot of other Danes), but this year we decided to do something about it, and invited a couple of Danes over for the traditional dinner. It was a crash course in the making of all these traditional dishes that I otherwise have very little experience with, and I felt much like a house wife wearing my apron stuffing the big goose and timing the potatoes with the red cabbage and the sauce. Oh the sauce! Very important part of the meal. It was impossible to find the brown coloring, which is ESSENTIAL to getting the proper color of the sauce, so it didn't look quite right. But otherwise I think everything turned out quite good, and it was fun hanging out with the Danes for a change.

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Scenes from Hannovermarkt

Greetings from an incredibly lazy Saturday afternoon in Vienna, where Bjarni is napping, and I should be working on a paper with an upcoming deadline, but keep procastinating (blogging included).. But hey it's Saturday, and we have a long weekend ahead of us, since Monday is Austrian national day (hence everything is closed). So taking it slow, should be completely fine, right?!
I went to our local farmers market in the morning. Being in one of "immigrant" neighborhoods the market has a Turkish/Eastern European flair, which is quite neat. I happened to fall into conversation with the guys at one of the stands, who insisted that I should not pay for the avocado, I wanted to buy, when they heard I was "visiting" from Denmark. "No no, let me please pay for it." "You want some bananas? Take some bananas!!". I kindly refused, but couldn't resist when they offered to pose for a picture. Nice guys.

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