vakar sapnavau zmones, visus visus, kuriuos sutikau per pastarasias savaites... daugumos ju nuotrauku net neturiu, kai kuriu galbut daugiau niekada nebepamatysiu. todel nutariau juos bent aprasyti, pamazu, po viena ar po kelis. si dienorascio lapa reiketu pavadinti "portretai", nauju draugu ir pakeleiviu portretai.

pirmiausia buvo armenai... mano kambarioke majamyje atvyko is sirijos, kur jos seima pabego po ivykiu turkijoje. o arto, su kuriuo gyvenu dabar, taip pat kiles is sirijos armenu, taciau jau seniai grizo gyventi i stambula. watertowne, vos uz penkiu myliu nuo walthamo, yra viena is dvieju didziausiu armenu bendruomeniu jungtinese valstijose... kita ju - los angele. is vidurio rytu buvo ir kitu veidu... viena mergina stovejo pries auditorija miami dade koledze ir pasakojo, kaip pries keleta savaiciu izraelio armija sugriove jos nama beirute... buvo ir zmoniu is vakaru kranto, buvo ir tokiu, kurie ant korteliu rase tiesiog palestina. buvo indu ir pakistanieciu uz vieno stalo, pasakojanciu, kiek valandu teko laukti oro uoste, kol juos apklausinejo del per ilgu barzdu ar "itartinu" drabuziu. yra ir vienas vaikinas is nepalo, kuris cia pateko is simtu norejusiu... dokumentiniu vargu keliai... o brandeis daugybe albanu... kaip ergys... taip pat turku... armenu... ir zydu... ir afrikieciu, kurie visi studijuoja heller school - tarptautine darnia pletra... pasaulis zino, ko reikia afrikai. dauguma ju is ganos. ir beveik niekas niekada nebegrizta namo.

kai gavome fulbright studentu sarasus, viena eilute mane sudomino. kazkas is musu studijuos astronomija harvarde, kazkas atvykes is ciles... pavardems sekant viena kita, zvaigzdes pamirsau. taciau ta pati vakara baltoje dvieju aukstu jachtoje, skrodziancioje majamio ilankos vandenis, visai atsitiktinai susipazinau su diego. ant jo vardo korteles, kuria nesiojau visa kita diena, buvo irasyta "astronomija". kalbejom apie zvaigzdes, apie visatos atsiradima, apie plutona... o vakara baigem kartu su katie vaikstinedami majamio uostu, kur sutikom debby ir apie ka jau pasakojau. dabar diego gyvena cambridge, taigi uz kokiu dvidesimt minuciu kelio, todel matau ji tik karta per savaite... idomesnems kelionems po miesta... ar salsai su mojitos... beje, lotynu amerikos kursui atliksiu ciles astronomu bendruomenes harvarde tyrima:) diego pasakojo, kaip jie susiskirsto i tuos, kurie gauna stipendijas, ir tuos, kurie moka uz studijas... mazas dideles socialiai stratifikuotos salies modelis... nuo nieko atsikurianti socialine hierarchija.



brandeis turiu visa vyriska draugu buri:) vakar kartu puse nakties zaidem riska... manoji afrika... ir valgem picu su dideliais ir riebiais amerikietiskais sausainiais... tiesa, buvau uzejus i graiku uzeiga ir suzinojau, kad fetos siame miestely negausiu... teks vykti i cambridge'a ar brightona... sestadieni vakarieniavom texaso restorane, kur meksikietis virejas ant atviros liepsnos suka kepsnius, o kitoje rankoje laiko mobilu telefona... quesadillas, niam niam:) jie turejo net greipfutu sulciu... tai stephan, simon, michael ir uli... ir dar vienas simon. meine deutsche freunde. su jais kiekviena diena keliaujam pietauti ar vakarieniauti. net per pertraukas tarp paskaitu. simon studijuoja politika, o likusieji - matematika. tuoj turetu ateiti... pro langa ziuriu i universiteto kiema, kur barbecue renkasi zmones, praejus vakaryksciam uraganui... taigi... simon yra vienos vokieciu roko grupes lyderis. sake, kad tures grizti kaledoms namo, nes laukia keletas koncertu. grupei teks palaukti sloves akimirku, kol dainininkas mokosi tarptautiniu santykiu teorija:)



anand studijuoja antropologija, bet ne kulturine ar socialine. biologine antropologija apie zmones ir primatus. ja sutikau majamyje, brazile, mokancia ispaniskai. ir ilgus vakarus leidome kalbose. dabar ji gyvena niujorke. apie sia nuotrauka vienas jos draugas parase ilga laiska... o as prisimenu, kaip isbridus is silto vandenyno nakti slapiomis ir smeletomis rankomis ta nuotrauka dariau:) vissgi fotoaparatas liko sveikas. ir daug dar nuotrauku is naktinio pajurio padare.



dar nerasiau kaip ir su kuo gyvenu. mums namus surado john. jis atvyko is ganos pries kelis metus, pries tai mokesi olandijoje, o dar kazkada seniau buvo sankt peterburge ir moka siek tiek rusiskai:) be to, jis turi sena sena zenit fotoaparata. ir renka veliaveles is visu saliu. kaip ir dauguma afrikieciu brandeis john mokosi "sustainable international development", ka lyg reiketu versti kaip "darnia tarptautine peltra". istisus vakarus ir naktis jis kalbasi telefonu... su sese, kuri gyvena bostone.



to be continued...

looking through the library window this late morning i see overcast sky... and the wind was rather strong on my way to the bank to take some money before i get the debit card... this is the very edge of ernesto, i guess... the hurricane from the south. anyway, i have no time for contemplation, although i would be just sitting and writing letters... some three hundred pages to read and some on-line work to do during the first weekend... good, that we at least have labor day on monday, so no classes... but let's start from the beginning...



thursday was the first day of classes. the campus was busy with students like in the harry potter movie when hogwarts welcomes newcomers in september. undergrads following their instructors with yellow t-shirts, professors arriving from distant lands, full canteens of the hungry for knowledge and for food, full lawns of the resting between classes...

i do like brandeis campus. it's all in one place, different departments separated by pieces of forest or gardens, so green everywhere... if you go up to the financial student services you can see downtown boston in a sunny day, well, not like the one today... the campus has several restaurants, one bookstore where you can get almost all the books you need for classes, new and used, then there is a large sports complex or even several of them... i even got keys from my department so that i can come there anytime... to have some tea or to print or copy for free...



the infrastructure is also amazing compared to what we have in lithuania... here there are brandeis shuttles that operate all day and take students to different departments, take them to waltham center or even drive back home at midnight... it's better than a taxi as you don't have to pay at all, just sometimes to wait a bit... and from the next week the celebrated brandeis - cambridge shuttle will start... it takes students from brandeis to harvard square and downtown boston on mass av and beacon street corner... according to the schedule, the last bus leaves downtown at 2 am... hard to believe, isn't it?

then there is the police... brandeis has its own police cars which patrol the campus and a small police station... maybe it makes you feel safe, but i'm not sure if there is anything to be afraid of... except... well, the other day diego told me that at harvard they recieve e-mails from their police saying what had happened... and there was a girl raped. anyway, it'ss safer than anywehere else i have lived so far...



apart from the fancy police vehicles, there is the health center... here i got a shot for hepatitus b which apparently everybody already have... even the germans and the russians ... interesting that lithuanian health care system does not make it obligatory as it is in MA.

after classes on friday i went to downtowm boston to meet the fulbrighters. unfortunately, i chose the bus and not the commuter rail this time... and guess what? it took more than an hour to get there... the bus number 553 was stopping at every corner and then there was a huge traffic jam on the entrance from the mass pike to the south station in boston, which is near or in the chinatown. next time, i definitely take the rail... or the brandeis shuttle, of course. so, after i finally got there, there was nobody... so difficult to arrange meetings when most of the friends are "cell-phone-less":) waiting for ksenia i spent two hours at the border's bookstore... there is the "roots" by james clifford which was the first anthropological book i have read long time ago at the invisible college... i'll have to get that... then there was clifford geertz... but i was really disappointed with that section... really few books in anthropology. there were so many on women studies and even more on transgender studies... and some on men studies as well... actually, while waiting at park station i heard some guys talking... "are you a queer?" or "what a queer!"... a substitute for what we still call "gay" back home... and then... well, the whole section of military history... weapons, espionage and so on and so forth... a treasure for someone like deivis:) anyway, i liked the bookstore... as usually, with a cafe, many armchairs and all the comfort to come here and read books on the spot. however, no used books... these you can find in cambridge... at M.I.T. or harvard stores in particularly.



at the entrance of the boston common - opened in the seventeenth century - i met ksenia. she is russian from kaliningrad studying for her PhD in literature at M.I.T. in fact, not usual litarature but 'fanfics'... or fan fiction... all the extentions of 'harry potter', 'the lord of the rings', 'shrek', charles dickens or sherlok holmes... these can be 'shipfics' on the relationship of two characters which is not developed enough by the author... or these can be new endings... interesting. ksenia told me that harry potter is not going to die at the end, that rowling can't kill him... although the rest disagreed with her... the rest were four other russian immigrants in the u.s., who were playing cards all night while we were talking over some bottles of red wine... they like role-playing games as well... dress up like hobits... or imagine what happened after romeo and juliet died... interesting people. they say that the russian community is rather differentiated here... there are the new and the old immigrants who barely speak russian... and then they divide according to the regions which they come from. ksenia didn't know any of them before coming here. and now they welcomed her, gave her some space to sleep and take care of her. that's a community. although ksenia feels some difference... on her M.I.T. t-shirt there is a star of young lenin which they used to give to second-year students at school... and the rest think this is inappropriate, this is rude... they fled because of the soviet regime, they don't like it. for ksenia it is only a game. at three in the morning the game of cards finally ended and pasha drove me home to waltham. he is learning how to pilot a plane, he's been doing that for more than a year now... and had a flight this morning... i hope that ernesto didn't ruin this plan. interesting evening it was, indeed.

now i have to do some research on museums in lithuania... gruto parkas and the kgb museum will do. in the evening i'm meeting the german guys to go out to moody street... like we did some days ago when we went to the asian fusion restaurant and the really stupid beyond any limits movie... "oh in ohio".

on wednesday i met diego and we went to explore the “freedom trail” in boston. starting at the boston common which is a park full of ponds and fountains, squirrels, ducks and sometimes swans, this trail goes through quite a few famous places, the places which are meaningful to the american history concerning its first inhabitants, the puritans, who knew witch-hunting and women were being burnt as we found out from one of the old-style dressed paid guide whom we chose not to follow… the trail is also important for the founding fathers, the revolutionaries, the ones who stirred the famous “boston tea party”. we followed the red line on the sidewalk… passing through churches, cemeteries, state buildings… the cemeteries are really nice… right in the middle of downtown boston near the high skyscrapers of the “bank of america”, there is a piece of green grass with old monuments keeping hardly visible names on them and american flags on their sides to recognize them. on the way we had indian dinner, first real food i’d eaten for many days now…and then on the trail again… through the italian neighborhood, still proud of winning the world cup… gli italiani orgogliosi… then across the charlestown bridge to sit over the inner harbor and end up at the monument square… finally the freedom trail was over. we were deadly tired… still had to walk back across the river to find the red line subway to porter square. more than five hours of walking… till the next time... till new explorations of the great city. we’ll have time for sure…

gerai, kad turiu tikrai stipriu vitaminu, nes butu grazios pradzios pabaiga. negaliu valgyti to, kas cia valgoma. sumustiniai... is tiesu tai tas pats vistienos saslykas arba graikiskos salotos, tik igrustos i gabala duonos... gerimai... visi spalvotieji ir jokiu sulciu... tiesa, gera ant butelio limonado matyti uzrasa "pagamintas is tikru apelsinu" arba "pagamintas is tikru apelsinu sulciu"... idomu, kas yra netikri apelsinai? ir gal is tiesu labiau baisu nei idomu... genetiskai modifikuotas maistas nera zymimas specialiais zenklais. parduotuveje issirinkti piena sudetingiau nei irodyti einsteino reliatyvumo teorija... visas jis su vitaminais, beveik be riebalu ir dar "organinis"... pasiklydau saltu baltu buteliu begalybeje... vakarais dazniausiai einam i graikiska uzeiga, kur ant sienos kabo meteoru vienuolynu nuotrauka... jie net turi graikisku salotu, bet tai tik salotos ir feta... visa kita - sumustiniai. mazos porcijos - didesnes nei gali suvalgyti suauges zmogus... dideles porcijos - dar didesnes uz mazas. majamyje juokemes, kai gavom dovanu "extra large" fulbright marskinelius... bet juokai juokais... uz metu tokie ir busim... ir dar nuolat kartojamas pamokslas... when in america - do as the americans do. noriu ryziu!!!







o kalifornijos vynas - merlot ar cabernet sauvignon - pardavinejamas mazuose butelaiciuose po keturis... kaip alus...



lotynu amerikos restoranai, ar tai butu kuba ar nikaragva - liko tik grazus prisiminimas... juros gerybes ir jautiena... ryziai ir kuskusas... ir zuvis... viskas. arba gausiu tikro maisto arba nebevalgysiu visai. tu spalvotu ir neaiskiu guminiu produktu, kuriuos iprasta vadinti maistu...

after the tour of boston which was celebrating some religious festival in the italian district, ergys took us to cambridge, the town of harvard and M.I.T. that's just how i imagined it. small streets with bars, parks and university buildings, lots of students here and there, musicians playing round every corner... also, bookstores, how without them...



the red-brick buildings of the undergraduate’s apartments, the alleys awaiting autumn, the charles river…



studying must be fashionable in and around boston. you grab a book and go to a café, you read on the staircase of the harvard library, you read on the metro… lectures haven’t started yet, but when they do i take my books and come to cambridge. to join the studying community.



although it seems too comercialized... you can buy harvard pullovers which lose their spirit because they are what tourists are looking for. on the other hand, maybe it's not about the comercial culture... it's alsways about the people. and people behave differently in this special place. they feel free to immerse themselves into academic conversations as well as play chess with some stranger... they are the community of dwellers which changes daily and at the same time remains the same through centuries. that's why harvard is famous.

it was love from the first sight, the glimpse of the city i got through the small window on the plane. rainy and cool after tropical miami. sad to start all over again.



but it’s boston. it’s different. it’s home… - i kept repeating to myself on the way through the downtown and the financial district with tall old skyscrapers…



i give a promise to return there as often as i can…



and then the brandeis bus with yellow t-shirt students heads towards waltham... away from the center but still in boston.

it was more than twenty-four hours since i left home. after houston in texas where i was unfortunatelly redirected the plane landed in a city of lights and heat. the taxi driver was happy i had no luggage… it remained in amsterdam… he, like most of the people I met in the next few days, was american by choice. midnight in the unknown city… humid wind in my hair through the open windows as we move across the place that used to be one of the most dangerous areas in the states some years ago. i am in miami.



next morning... the 'holiday inn' hotel was just in front of the ocean... the next evening we went on the boat tour of biscayne bay.



it's where all the rich and famous live… the white palace of shakira, the house of ricky martin. villas on the water, palm trees in the gardens with huge swimming pools.



after the dinner at some nicaraguan restaurant we headed to explore the night at the miami port. katy, diego and me. chatting and laughing until we saw the palm trees, a wonderful place at daytime. but somehow different at night. all the seats or armchairs under the trees used by businessmen during their lunch were occupied by the desperate. that’s how they call homeless people in miami. and then… there was a palm tree with the coconuts i wanted to take a picture of.



that’s how we met debby. debby was shot by a policeman a week before. her man is in jail. debby warned us of using the camera in such places… in downtown miami port… diego gave her a dollar and she vanished… or did we vanish?



pamela is a poet. she is from the carribean. i met her in the middle of the street and she asked me to translate her poems.

Keep spreading God's Word and His Love
Given freely to all that ask from The Son Above
For He came to save you and me
And those who believe He will set free
So to Him Just bend your knee
For you know He died on The Tree at Calvary
Well that's all I have to say today
Have a nice Easter Day!!!



little havana is the place in miami were most anticipate fidel castro’s death… rumours about it’s cuban population, their bars, mojitos and salsa are widespread. but we were too late. tt was already getting dark… we had to go back. to the beach.







south beach, the famous. it’s were sinatra was shot, it’s were he lived. many houses on the ocean drive are the art deco style, unique here. the sunset is more colorful than in the sweet postcards we see in the movies.



but the atlantic… lighting in the sky and water which is warmer than in the bath. home across it. or is it really africa? i send greetings home… the planes will carry them… across time and space.



i like miami, it's wild spirit. i don’t wanna leave it. the people here… mojito, cuba libre and 'sex on the beach'… salsa in 'mango’s' till the early morning… already missing it. with andre the brazilian we reached the airport. but never really departed.