#google told me they live in Sahara’s which is like a desert
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Yamcha babe ily and you’ve never done anything wrong in your life besides like idk rob people but Question how the Fuck you gonna call yourself The Hyena Who Made The Desert His Stronghold or w/e and then have a thing for wolves I’m going to scream
#snap chats#I had one more dumb thought please subject yourself to it#I’d understand if it was because wolves were one of the five major animal styles of Kung fu#but it’s not- it’s not even one of the 12 xingyiquan styles either#like wolf martial arts is A Thing- not as Wildly known and practiced as others but it checks out#tho I guess hyena style isn’t a thing either#do leopards live in deserts#google told me they live in Sahara’s which is like a desert#king could’ve just went with leopard style but I guess that’s not as cool as a wolf#plus ngl Wolf Fang Fist rolls off the tongue better than Hyena or Leopard Fang Fist#especially since I’m leopard style you typically refer to the ‘fist’ as a paw but Details That Probably Aren’t Important#this is not that deep I know it’s not that deep I KNOW#I just think it’s funny#ok I’m done now NOW I will do something else that is not spam everyone’s timeline
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Across the Sea-Chapter 2
Alright nerds, chapter 2 is FINALLY here!! After a month and a half, I’m so sorry for the long wait! I’m really excited about this story! I admit, I’m not totally confident in my Ezra writing abilities, so it’s not super dialogue or romance heavy at the moment. But I’m kind of wanting to focus more on the adventure part of the story. I hope you guys enjoy, even if it’s not perfect! This picture I just found on google, because Tumblr couldn’t find what I wanted. Also! Fun fact! I spent like 2 hours pouring over a map from the 1700s so all the islands actually exist! The general size/location and names of the islands are correct, but of course the rest is all made up because it’s my fantasy world and I can do what I want lol.
Characters: Ezra x reader
Words: 2802
Rating: T
Warnings: violence, caves/small spaces, a really big snake
After stopping in Tortuga and buying a smaller ship, you left your First Mate with your ship and your crew and a promise to meet back at Tortuga in five months. It would take you seven or eight weeks just to sail across the Atlantic to the Aethiopian Sea if the conditions were good; and you had no idea of what you would encounter when stopping to look for the aurelac gems.
You and Ezra chose a crew of six who wouldn’t ask questions to aid in your quest. The only reason you brought anyone extra with you was because the two of you couldn’t sail the damn thing alone. You had planned to bring members of your own crew, but you decided you’d rather have people who wouldn’t ask questions. The ones you chose were just looking for something to do, some work that would keep them busy. And most importantly they didn’t care if they would die.
Now you and Ezra were in the captain’s cabin looking over the map and journals left to you. It was cramped, much smaller than your own ship, but you didn’t mind so much. It was nice to be close to him again.
“No I think it’s this island here,” you said, pointing to a small island just east of Puerto Rico. “I’ve been to these ones here and they don’t have any rocks or caves. They’re all sand and maybe a few trees. The journal says there’s a cave, and we won’t find one there.”
“Are you sure about this, little bird? Tortola is barely even an island, I doubt it has any caves either.” Ezra seemed skeptical, but you were always the better navigator and better at riddles which was all that seemed to be written in the small leather-bound book.
“I’m sure, Ezra,” you replied. “I’ll go tell the others. It’s the closest, so starting there seems like a good idea to me. It’s no more than a day from here, probably less.”
“You’re the Captain here little bird, I will defer to your judgment,” he said, marking the little island. “We need to plot the rest of our course. If we meet something dangerous on this island, I want to be able to get away quickly and I want to be headed in the right direction.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll be quick,” you sighed, smiling at him.
After giving your heading to your navigator, you went back into the cabin with Ezra. He had opened a bottle of rum and offered it to you.
“If we’re going to be at this for a few more hours I’d say we deserve a drink,” he said with a smirk.
“I’d have to agree with you.” You took the bottle and took a sip before setting it on the table next to him.
You poured over the maps and journal, figuring out the riddles and selecting the islands you thought would be correct. You decided there would be one more island on this side of the Atlantic before you had to sail to the Aethiopian Sea and search the islands close to the African coast.
“Alright, it’s decided. After Tortola we head to Martinico, that’s the only one of those islands in that area that’s covered in jungles. Then across the Atlantic, we’ll have to sail south. There are hurricanes in this part of the sea this time of year and I don’t want to get caught in one of those in this tiny thing. Then when we get there, we start in Boavista, I think that’s the one this riddle is talking about. And then we sail north to Canaria, and then… To the continent? I have a friend from around here; he says a lot of the continent is desert, but this area here-the Sahara Desert-is the biggest. I think that’s what this part of the riddle means,” you said before reciting it to him. ‘Across the sea you have sailed, through many trials you have prevailed. Now trapped in a temple the goddess waits, but will brave the sun bleached gates? Once free, she is now confined, to live in a sea of a different kind.’ I’ve heard deserts described as a sea of sand. That must be what this means.”
“Your cleverness never fails to amaze me, little bird,” Ezra said, smiling at you.
“You’re just trying to gain favor with the captain,” you replied, marking another spot on the map.
“I thought I already had the favor of the captain,” he said, leaning closer. “Or did I imagine the way you were moaning my name last night?”
You rolled your eyes and smacked his arm lightly, but you couldn’t help the smile that crossed your lips. You really were happy to be with him again. You kissed him eagerly, you couldn’t help yourself. Ezra smiled into the kiss and pulled you even closer, gripping your hips. You ran your fingers through his hair, stopping and toying with the blonde patch on his hairline.
“It’s good to be with you again, Ezra.” you whispered to him.
“I agree, little bird. Though I don’t deserve your forgiveness, I will try to earn it. I never should have left you like that.” he said, pulling you into his lap and rubbing circles into your waist under your shirt.
“There’s nothing to forgive. He told you I was dead, there was no reason for you to come looking for me.”
“I still should have looked for you. I should have come back sooner,” he said.
“Ezra,” you replied sternly. “You did nothing wrong. If I was still upset with you, I never would have agreed to come with you.”
“I suppose I will have to let you win this fight, little bird,” he said, holding you a little tighter.
You kissed him again, smiling and lifted his shirt over his head. Trailing your lips down his neck, you left love bites all the way down and on his collar bone. You were about to take off your own shirt when you heard a knock on the cabin door and you groaned quietly.
“Captain?” one of the men called. “We’re here. We can’t risk getting closer to the island, but we’ve let down the anchor and the boat is ready for you to sail to shore.”
“Thank you, we’ll be there in a moment. You all can rest, you’ve earned it.” she called back.
“Duty calls, birdie.” Ezra sang, pulling his shirt over his head.
“So it does,” you replied, standing to straighten your clothes.
You grabbed the journal and a waterskin, shoving them into the deep pockets of your coat before heading up onto the deck.
“If we’re not back by nightfall, send someone after us,” you told the crew. “Otherwise, just stay here. Rest. We have a longer journey to the next island. Here, be ready to leave as soon as we get back.”
The crew nodded and set about readying the ship for departure as you and Ezra got into your dinghy to sail to shore. Once on the island, you realized just how small it was. There were rocks everywhere you could see, but none of them seemed quite big enough to hold a cave.
You pulled out the journal again, reading through it.
“It definitely mentions a cave,” you said. “But I can’t for the life of me see where one might be.”
Ezra read the journal again over your shoulder and looked about the island.
“It says on the East side of the island, correct?” he asked.
“Yes, ‘facing the rising sun’ is what it says,” you were reading the riddle again and again. Why couldn’t you find the cave?
Ezra walked to the East side of the island and you followed, still looking at the journal. It should be here, why wasn’t it here?
“I think I’ve found our cave,” Ezra called to you, and you realized you had stopped while he kept going.
When you got to him, he was standing knee deep in the water, looking at a particular rock. He pointed to it and at first you didn’t see why he had chosen that rock. But then you saw it. A small opening, just barely visible above the water.
“Yes! You’re right! ‘You must be there when the time is right, or the cave will be hidden from your sight’!” you exclaimed.
“We can only get to the cave at low tide,” Ezra agreed. “It is most fortunate that we arrived when we did, birdie. The tide is beginning to recede. It will only be an hour or two more before we can get into the cave.”
“Ezra you’re a genius! I wasn’t sure what that line meant, but you figured it out!” you said, hugging him tightly.
“I just made a guess, I wouldn’t say I’m a genius. I just read more than your average pirate,” he smirked at you.
You smiled at him and sat down while you waited for low tide to come. Ezra was right, it was only an hour before the water was low enough for you to get into the cave.
“We have to hurry,” you said. “I don’t want to be trapped in here when the tide comes back in.”
“That is something I can agree with. Lead the way, little bird.” he replied.
The two of you walked deeper into the cave, looking around. Just enough light filtered in through the mouth of the cave that you were able to see there was only one way for you to go. When it got dark enough you were worried about being able to see, you reached a hand out to the wall to guide you.
After several minutes of walking you couldn’t feel the wall anymore and you stumbled into a cavern. Taking a few steps forward, you looked around, straining to see anything in the darkness. Suddenly, torches along the wall sprang to life. That was unusual, it startled you and you ran into Ezra. He caught you easily and pointed to a raised dais in the middle of what looked like a lake inside the cavern.
“There it is,” he whispered. “The next aurelac gem, now we just have to find a way across.”
You smiled and practically ran to the edge of the lake. Looking around, you saw a boat close to the wall. You pulled it closer to the water and then hesitated. It couldn’t possibly be this easy, could it? You pulled out the journal again, reading through it.
“What’s wrong, birdie?” Ezra asked, sensing your discomfort.
“It can’t be this easy. I just can’t be,” you said, flipping through the pages.
After finding what you were looking for, you read through the writing quickly.
“It says we’ll face trials at every turn. The first will be… the writing is smudged, I can’t make it out,” you said.
“I think I just found out what it is,” Ezra said, backing away slowly.
“What are you talking about?” you looked up and then saw it. A sea serpent rising from the lake. A very large sea serpent.
It watched you for a long moment, like it was trying to figure out what you were. You and Ezra both drew your pistols and backed away from the water. The serpent ultimately decided that the two of you looked like a healthy snack and lunged for you.
You both jumped out of the way before running towards opposite sides of the cavern. The serpent lunged towards Ezra when he fired his pistol at it’s big head and you looked around for anything that might help. You looked up at the ceiling of the cave and saw stalactites hanging everywhere. If you could fire a shot just right, maybe one of them would fall.
You heard Ezra yell and you looked at him. The serpent had him trapped and it was only a matter of time.
“Ezra!” you called. “The ceiling!”
He looked up and saw what you were pointing at and fired his pistol at the stalactite above the serpent’s head. You fired a shot at the same one, but it wasn’t working. Any of them big enough to hurt it wouldn’t fall just from firing a few shots.
“Hey! Over here!” you yelled at the serpent before firing a shot at it’s head.
The bullet managed to pierce it’s hide, but that only angered the monster. Swinging its head around, the serpent chose you as the new target. You didn’t move, waiting for the right moment. It picked up speed as it slithered through the water to you and still you waited. At the last possible moment, you jumped out of the way, and the serpent ran into the wall.
You smiled as it appeared dazed, but you stopped smiling when you realized that the stalactites all over the cave were falling. You jumped behind a rock, hoping it would shield you just enough to not get hit by the falling rocks.
When the dust settled, you looked to the serpent. It was pinned down, several stalactites had gone right through it, but it was still moving. You made your way over to it, watching it struggle. It lunged for you once, but couldn’t move close enough to hurt you. You drew your sword, and as it lunged for you again you stabbed it through the eye.
The serpent’s screams were so loud you had to cover your ears, but you had managed to kill it. When it’s screams stopped, you took your sword and turned to smile at Ezra; but he wasn’t there.
“Ezra?” you cried. “EZRA! No…”
You ran to the other side of the cavern and started digging through rocks. He had to be here, he had to survive. You couldn’t lose him so quickly after getting him back. Hearing a noise, you ran over to it and tried to pull a bigger rock up. It was heavy, you almost couldn’t lift it, but then you felt it being pushed from below.
When you had heaved the rock off of Ezra you looked at him and hugged him tightly.
“Ezra you’re alive!”
“Yes, I’m alive,” he said, holding onto you.
You helped him up and looked him over. A few scratches, but overall he had been lucky. The first rock to fall near him had a divot in it just big enough for him to avoid being crushed and was big enough to keep any others from hurting him. It was a miracle it wasn’t worse.
“Let’s get that gem now, little bird.” he said, pointing to the gem in the middle of the lake.
The boat was not so lucky in escaping the rocks. Your only way across the island was crushed and shattered.
“We’ll have to swim across,” you said.
“Not necessarily,” Ezra replied, pointing to something in the water. “The serpent we defeated is rather large, you can see its body just below the surface of the water. I think we may be able to walk over it to the island.”
You looked at it and agreed with him before the two of you scrambled over the serpent to the island in the lake. Grabbing the gem quickly, you managed to climb over the serpent a second time before the torches along the walls went out.
You felt Ezra’s hand grab yours and pull you towards where you both thought the entrance to the cavern was. When your eyes adjusted to the darkness, you saw a pinprick of light and followed it out of the cave. The tide had already started to come in and by the time you made it out, the water was up to your waist.
The sun was already setting when you and Ezra climbed back onto the ship and into the Captain’s cabin.
“Two gems down, three more to go,” you said, setting the gem you had retrieved from the cave next to the one Ezra had brought with him.
“That was an exciting day, wasn’t it?” Ezra said with a smile.
“Indeed it was,” you moved to the bed and sat down. “They’re all going to be like that, aren’t they?”
“I think they will be,” he replied sitting next to you. “But I think we’ll be able to manage. We got out of that one alive. We’ve been in tighter spots. We’ll be alright, birdie.”
You nodded and leaned into his side, “Let’s hope the others are a little easier than this one.”
Ezra laughed and pulled you closer to lay down next to him on the bed.
“Let’s hope they are,” he whispered.
You smiled at him and held onto him tightly. Yes you were safe for now, but who knows what else you might face searching for the other three gems.
Tags: @rzrcrst @longitud-de-onda @pascalisthepunkest @landlockedmermaid77 @duamuteffe @princessbatears @hdlynnslibrary @beskars @lokiaddicted @mrsparknuts @the-feckless-wonder @readsalot73 @ezraslittlebirdie @pascalispedro
My taglist is a little wonky, so I might be missing a couple people! If you would like to be added or removed, please let me know!!
#ezra#ezra (prospect)#ezra (prospect) x reader#pirates!au#pirate!ezra x reader#pirate!ezra#pirate king!reader#pedro pascal#pedro pascal fanfiction#pedro pascal x reader#prospect#pedro pascal prospect
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How to bottle beverages.
SAFCOM now has employed many as a job in their head office cause it costs nothing developing mobile-lines to be used in new changed name of 2goinvoice, where weekly they give their people who will vote for their big wings as if that name give to few individuals will spread, not secrete anymore but made public which if known will hinder their agendas of we are rich or this land good than another.
How to make bottled water or glass liquor as with black and white, you place kart in much cold water alongside maize cob or flower which makes the sealed bottle while the above makes the liquor in the boom process. U can add thinner or pineapple as pumpkin juice in the solution above 4 better results as much as with soda. Same with siren gas inscribed in armored glass or just metallic container u, combine the 2 methods of making the same dude. When u take plastic chairs then place in rye mixed with flower, fruit or wheat flour as sewer water as well then hurl cold fanta soda makes even sorcer jets to transverse ya into other planets or siren gas cylinder as explained above.
How to tell what 1 is doing using their photos of face, like when sleeping with 1 as your wife or hubby, if u look at their eye on the photo u got, kinda, your head swell and though u feel as eating candy as much as being caressed dude.
Ghana landed 4 story airplane that can carry up-to 300 crew, can take samples of hard to believe African family 1 couple many trips into many cities to cement the truth which side is good instead of heaping ya such burden on 1 till u wanna open up a fight if they oppose ya saying but ardent truth, they want the same to get hiding as many family pretends that the kid is theirs as the wives and vice versa which if happens they have agreed on both sides after escape to send money and get their to make gadgets and open shops to send the same money as well and we got the DNA dude which is the most scientific and reliable way not to give in to arguments bro
https://www.google.com/search?q=4+story+airplane+that+landed+in+ghana+images&client=opera&hs=Uhe&sxsrf=ALeKk01LzSG88KFJ_WVArtG6lXnUhcGO9w:1595590344748&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=u-p4lqcbZIoB7M%252C2PmQ1vTjhvg7NM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kSdONqIHtM4Xc8271xaIjTKFwqSCA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipp9Kd5eXqAhWvA2MBHccJCToQ9QEwAnoECAoQBw&biw=984&bih=627#imgrc=u-p4lqcbZIoB7M
The solar light illuminated generator as 1 twits me has a side effect of making ya head big as u grow tall due to the fact, her inventor is maybe sidelined or altogether death plans heaped on him yet 1 might claim he is the owner as told earlier if u partake neem leaves mixed with much sugar u come to see as spirits guides u to the 1 who made it so which will be used against ya in life after death as explained in following tumblr a/c of sirjustice199
Now the sand deposits of their nation long gone, the likes of Hindu and Kikuyu blooded, so wants to get to the deserts of the world with building sands on much on the surface as Sahara nations or Afghanistan, Yemen or Iraq where the USA get few sample b4 making much in the boom process they did not know, which now they know, so relaxed in their ambitions as perplexed dude. We want now to make Military vehicles so USA delegates other military measures to be undertaken to us so we get the soil sand and sell worldwide as them now that we have known how to make ships to be reach, not knowing such steps as well increase your currency strength against strong exchange currencies as the dollars or Euro which will reduce ya Forex on what u export and what cash crop producing states fear most. On that front that is finished dude with how artificial sand is made using cereal chaff, hay or a little amount of the same diped in water as explained below.
When people have gotten the above as their character being monitored why Russia portraying a bad image so they follow without stop to get to their lands is know. Get it dude, they are wise and deem u copy cats whose sons in our land will do likewise to our kids so we know them and we wont give them asylum rather be yaself but respect the law to get out. They cant live in the vast land alone as love groups and business will not continue as usually as they love play all day long and petty theft without 2nd consideration of hurting another. To hell with ya,lets place green-card like Canada has done to bar them more as reduce the speed which they will hold us grudges dude. When the above is understood, people long not to kill themselves as they have known to make artificial foods, drinks and machines, so what u see are caskets near those people who had the above explained spirits of getting asylum dude
Rye as well is used to make even metallic parts as roofing in the boom process, where in the mixture maize cob added dude. Rye guns fails not as those made of sewer water, so in-case of war they triumph as those areas that such grows are protected. They can even make restaurants that serve rye products as donuts or spaghetti so u take it not to ya house where many can heep together the same and still make rye products as above to be par with those nations that produces such and that’s what it entails with promised land as even pavements and tiles they sell to ya not the rye as they can organize their own group not car pool as OPEC nations.
Say u did not know uses of what USA produces as rye and more, not that u r rich as thinking they got cement from the sea bed as sand as their nation if u transverse not left bare lands as query synonymous with Africa which angers many. Sometimes they mine on land but make artificial stones and Heep to block those left bare lands b4 heaping again soil then grow vegetation which makes u think as above to be wild but now u know. Out of the above if rye products sold across the North And south America it surpasses your tea sale which as well can be made in the boom process to reduce its sales as seen currently dude. If u cant fathom the truths above then u r insane and mad as animal like which is your shit not ours to signal us the same bro.
Between the links below which 1 got a long time utility with us, so women stop ya shit dude as u follow things which cant stand 4 long and not even change when truth told, is what is considered of Negros, bad people or taught bro, things which are erased in time as don’t stand forever dude
https://twitter.com/empirestatedev/status/164368044674650112?lang=bg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKnV5IYAfTE
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cali+cartel+2+khaligraph+
If u look at NY skyline u see the buildings made out of Afghanistan sand, not that u build USA, which can be made much in the boom process by placing few KG in cold water then adding maize cobs inside the solution by hurling with sewer water mixed with maize grain and boom ya sand or using millet samples as well cereal chaff following the procedure above.
Kalejin and kisii blooded people are known when 1 has triumph or just about to, they prove to ya that they are different and wants to control ya in ya money not in their money. That’s how its know if u r the tribe mentioned above blooded as men if u refuse starts to talk ill off/about you dude.
We got Lemonade, Vinegar, orange juice, mango, apple, pineapple and more, so u must check on states that grows such as many partake them to start saying this or that is rich or poor not just talking blindly dude as in the links below. And even onions, chillies and Tomatoes are they are used in daily kitchen
https://www.statista.com/statistics/298517/global-pineapple-production-by-leading-countries/
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/11/12/the-most-iconic-product-in-each-state/4/
https://ciderjournal.com/top-five-cider-producing-states-u-s/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_apple_production
https://www.statista.com/statistics/610460/production-avocados-us-by-state/
https://www.nation.co.ke/kenya/business/kenya-named-among-africa-s-top-avocado-exporters–207360
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_avocado_production
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-top-mango-producing-countries-in-the-world.html
https://www.tridge.com/intelligences/guava/production
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Florida/Publications/Citrus/Citrus_Forecast/2014-15/cit0615.pdf
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1044840/major-orange-producers-worldwide/
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-world-s-top-chili-pepper-producing-countries.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE17LBDdKFY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tomato_production
https://vegetablegrowersnews.com/news/3-states-produced-76-percent-u-s-veggies-2017/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/192727/top-10-us-states-by-production-of-fresh-market-vegetables/
https://www.countriesnow.com/top-lemon-producing-countries-in-the-world/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1134651/global-sorghum-production-by-country/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus_production
https://www.statista.com/statistics/195764/top-10-us-states-for-cheese-production-2008/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/194962/top-10-us-states-by-number-of-milk-cows/
Kansas wheat and Brazilian coffee as many have research spoil the wich/kichwa as head, mfalme wa yawhodi to cement the truth above. So lets desist from buying from such nations as much sold to the likes of USA Negros in store doing the same likewise to them.
China wood furniture in the link below dude, click
https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=alibaba+china+wooden+table+images&client=ms-google-coop&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj5r7rro-XqAhUK8hQKHca9ATkQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1280&bih=891
U can sprinkle dry maize mixed with cold water in the boom process when other methods fails not.
placing silver pieces in Sodom apple solution or break fluid mixed with much water makes siren gas in the boom process.
The above with muddy water makes cooking gas as ethane dude in the boom process.
Maize cob and maize when mixed with the solution in the boom process makes cement and paints where the solution is either cat family feces solution mixed with the above, when placed in rye dough makes paints as well as yogurt or curdled milk bro or bubble gum. Cut ripe banana mixed with much water and the above placed as cobs make the above as cements and paints.
Artificial sand, cereal chaff as rice or wheat or hay mixed with much water then maize cobs and maize added unto the solution in the boom process makes the former as sand and even wood pulp and cardboard dude. Click the link below 4 more. This are used to feed cattle during snow and dry periods as well as making like shoes or clothes and belts as in the process above or brown stereos. Locate ya state b4 they separate as well as feeding horses, don’t just speak with ya mouth wide opened and ears closed
https://beef2live.com/story-states-produce-alfalfa-ranking-0-107298
https://www.tridge.com/intelligences/alfalfa/production
Pebbles as kokoto in swahili is made with garbage inside inserted maize cobs and maize mixed with sewer water b4 much thinner added to make much in the boom process as well as with hardware tools like wires and metallic plates/rods etc. Or u add peas, apple, pineapple or mango juices, extract as well as with pumpkin just trying 4 better results. Mfalme wa yawhodi to cement the truth with maize.
Google USA states that leads in corn production where such states cant be finished as many use corn flakes, its used to make cooking oil as well as to feed cattle, used again in pop corn making which can be made artificially by placing few in cold water mixed with thinner or pumpkin/pineapple juice in the boom process
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090316/6-countries-produce-most-corn.asp
https://www.farmprogress.com/vegetables/13-ways-corn-used-our-everyday-lives
https://beef2live.com/story-states-produce-corn-0-107129
salt is made with sea water mixed with much water to dilute it, where cut cassava placed inside the solution in the boom process to make salt dude.
The black African beans as described in the link below makes ya back to be turf as people see u, making u a selection to follow and guide as many leaves u not, if u like eating such drink cold coke soda to remove the syndrome above always or peel the outer poly-cap to cook the white inside but still drink the above. It open ya mind to broad picture like wanting to look 4 office jobs and dislike kiddish ideas many know not but now i have told ya the remedy handy bro of ya conduct u know not or many, kinda, like the cargo drone lifts the load the same way 1 sees ya back curved trying to break to load ya with burden and many like to hate u but we know not
https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=black+african+beans+images&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGxLic9uLqAhVyzoUKHb5pBxoQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1024&bih=654
https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=e-cargo+drone+images&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjn97fj9uLqAhVPxoUKHY2EAooQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1024&bih=654#imgrc=Sa09855x3F83cM
Rye made military vehicle in the link below dude
https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=e-cargo+drone+images&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjn97fj9uLqAhVPxoUKHY2EAooQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1024&bih=654#imgrc=hMQ63DAjZp3ppM
Mitsubishi Japan up-to something not happy with me sending the contents of tumblr sirjustice200 or 199 to other people on Instagram i follow not which if they send me Friend request meaning they have digested my text, so i don’t worry dude even if deleted, they aint happy maybe have known how to make bombs and detonators to liaise with enemy to USA against Japanese people as per my look out. Lets open our investigation dude might aid in like Nagasaki/Hiroshima bombings of using people who transfigure to place the above, let city all rooms got sensor motion alarms and all corridors to combat the same even placing cameras below the earth crust on areas directly up above the city radius as now u have known to make E-cargo drones which will not harbor the excuse we are short of fuel to stop.
Cut banana, white guava when maize cob and maize placed with the solution mixed with much water as well as thinner or the above makes even rubber and plastic products option B to rye and cut flowers 4 those nations which might have the same but knows not dude.
When machine photos cut diagonally and placed in the above solutions makes same machines of those species reason why Christ was arrested cause was avoiding the dubious ways as above resorting to simple mechanism which if enemy knows can finish such producing nations big time dude, Sheep and goat parable made Christ to be arrested in the dark dude.
Ace vodka is overstayed rain water in iron containers where few liters of paraffin added b4 the boom process done and boom ya liquor b4 u bottle it where, u can locate the lid opener on computer image and cut diagonally as above when is of plastic,place in making solutions above then which microwave or hot air blower warm it to be elastic b4 u close just collecting the used bottles and washing in washing machine dude. Mfalme wa yawhodi and road to emus another version to guide us who are crafty in dealings or just dubious.
Most building to be detonated with a missile from lofty high the attacking nation send people to take the bearing of that place prior as tourists or other tribe agents same as phone size, so on the jet already set to hit the destination if u knew not dude but now u got it homey as in the link below.
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/There-is-a-gift-for-the_62414875931.html?spm=a2700.galleryofferlist.0.0.408b7864SpQQ6d
Click the link below to locate much of this tumblr following to read from them as well
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Check as well this tumblr followers by clicking the link below
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Traveling abroad while pregnant: 6 months pregnant all through Morocco and Turkey
So a little overview about this post
I will be going over tips and my experiences traveling while 6 months pregnanct (I came back to Miami at 28 weeks and 2 days pregnant) I was traveling for a little over a month. Please also see your doctor before traveling while pregnant or taking certain things I took—each pregnancy is different.
At the start of my pregnancy and well into the 5th month I kept throwing up pretty bad and well you can check those post to get a glimpse of how I felt! Thankfully I felt better a week before my flight so here’s some tips I recommend
Wear compression socks!
This was a life saver for me because I get cramps really fast and the flight was extremely long from Miami to Istanbul.
Bring an empty thermos bottle!
Also another life saver for me (basically everything was but this was extra important!) i filled up my bottle at the Miami airport at one of their water fountains.
Drink lots of water while on the plane
My doctor also recommended I drink lots of water in the plane to get up and pee as often as I can in order to prevent blood clots.
Bring a travel pillow
So I started getting sleepy around my fourth month of pregnancy and my head swung pretty bad in my car so I knew I needed a pillow plus you will use it if you are going on long road trips.
Don’t forget Imodium (or anti diarrheal pills)
I get pretty sick when I get food poisoning and I definitely did not want to risk it. My doctor didn’t tell me about this but I asked her and she said it was okay for me to take while pregnant. She also said if it lasted longer and I got really bad to go get an IV at a hospital asap. I ended up using 1 pill when I went to the beach in Kenitra. We had breakfast there and it was a cheap restaurant so bad idea! I wasn’t the only one to get sick. I brought two boxes of pills so I had enough to share.
Do not drink ice or from the faucet/ tap water.
The doctor did tell me this so I had to keep buying bottled water. Also this is where your thermos comes in handy. In morocco it was hard for me to find cold water especially down south (not ice but cold). The thermos will keep your water cool unlike plastic bottles. Just fill it with any cold bottles you buy. Also always make sure the bottles are brand new because some restaurants will fill them with tap.
Bring extra underwear/pads
So one new pregnancy symptom I got while in morocco was that I started to pee if I sneezed to hard or coughed! And sometimes it was ALOT! Pretty embarrassing but also if you are traveling cross country it’s bad when you have to change your underwear multiple times a day. I ended up buying underwear here but they weren’t that comfortable so do not forget.
Bring sanitizer and wet wipes
After going to the bathroom or just interacting with people or eating with your hands (before or after) try to always clean your hands/phone/items you touch often in order to prevent sickness. In Morocco lots of dishes are eaten with ones hands and it’s pretty easy to dirty your hands. Also don’t expect much from the restrooms. They have some old style restrooms that are basically a hole in the floor and no lie I kept getting piss splashing on my feet. Wet wipe came in handy because sometimes there’s no running water and most of the time no soap. Bring your own tissue if you need it.
Bring comfortable bras
I brought 1 regular bra and 2 stretchy nursing bras. I don’t plan on coming back while pregnant or traveling for this long anywhere but just in case! I would recommend to bring more.
Bring Tylenol
I used it a few times since in the start of my trip I did so much walking I was in extreme pain (lower back and legs). I also used it before arriving to the Sahara since I was really sick.
Bring a copy of your marriage certificate
I honestly thought this was a bunch of nonsense when I heard that a hotel was asking for this. After all I am not from here and my husband already has citizenship in the US so why right?! But apparently I saw it on trip advisor and I probably missed it I my morocco travel book if not they really need to update.
I was fortunate to have my mother in law find mine and send us a photo. It really didn’t matter that I was pregnant and showing (little bump but still).
Buy fruit/snacks for later
I didn’t each much during my pregnancy but I would wake up starving and having cookies/ fruit to calm me down was the best. The best snacks for the heat are nuts, cookies, and dates. I had a bunch of green bananas that browned in a few hours in the desert, hours....
Don’t push yourself too hard
I ended up pushing myself pretty hard with all the walking the first few days (11+ miles) and I started to get pain in my uterus area. Then I got a cold right before our road trip to the south of morocco. I went on a little hike but being extremely sick and pregnant didn’t help. We went later to Marrakech and I walked even more in the heat. Thankfully my hotel was wonderful and my stay there was the best. I took a day to rest up and left out seeing much of Marrakech to stay and rest but my health and the baby is first.
Do not go into pools/ hammams/ bath houses that look dirty
I went to a hot spring that was extremely dirty and gross. Also I didn’t get in because that water was too hot but also think twice to not risk any vaginal infection it’s best to skip that. While there some women were advising me to not be in there because of the baby and my doctor also told me no but it wasn’t that hot for me. Also in my moms country they rinse people with COLD almost ice water so I got cold water and rinsed. Once I started to feel like it was enough I left. Don’t stay until you can’t. The one I went to wasn’t that hot at all since it was more like a medicinal water thing instead of an actual hammam.
Bring sneakers that are for walking with grip
Many places in morocco do not have the best side walks and especially the old towns can be slippery. So think of comfort and grip before fashion.
Bring a belly support
The road can get very bumpy in the car and it made my uterus HURT. Unfortunately I must have taken mine out of my luggage before I came but I know it would have been useful.
Other tips I wish I would have known/taken:
Be careful with medication here
Even throat spray. I bought one and it made my heart rate go up. My husband thought it would be fine because Google says so but I never asked my doctor about it. Plus careful when buying headache medication here because it has penicillin (I’m allergic to that!). I went on to buy alcohol (scotch/whiskey mix) to gargle for my throat which made it better but either way it was a little too late and had to suffer with a stuffy nose, terrible cough, mucus in my lungs, and headache for around 5 days.
Bring Vick’s and cough drops
I couldn’t find Vick’s anywhere and when I wanted to buy it on Sunday everyone was closed. Strange for a Muslim country to close things on Sunday but either way that’s how it is so I never got my Vick’s. Vick’s will come in handy just in case you start getting sick it can help open your nasal way.
Don’t be cheap with your food
What’s cheap to Americans isn’t the same thing as people living in Morocco. One family member tried to save us a bit of cash by taking us to a cheap breakfast place but it was 1 really bad tasting and 2 it gave everyone diarrhea. So make sure you use google or trip advisor or if you are in a area that doesn’t really have that just make sure your cups are clean and just see if the place looks dirty/flys on the food etc.
One thing I didn’t mind was honey bees all over my food. In many places you will see this. A honey bee isn’t dirty like a fly and i never got sick from them (i ate pastries/cookies that had been stood on honey bees and I was okay). If you want to stick to more fancier places it’s good too but sometimes you will get hungry on long road trips and those places are usually no where in sight for miles.
How my trip went:
Overall my trip has gone well so far minus getting really sick. And no I would never travel abroad for this long while pregnant. If you want to see only some of Morocco or anywhere for a short time and don’t plan on road trips I think it would be fine. Take into consideration the roads, the long hours etc if you are going to try and see the more natural parts of it too.
All the walking and the camel ride I had was uncomfortable for my belly as well as scary because I did not want to fall and going down the sand dunes with the camel was terrifying. I also wanted to have more fun and go up the sand dunes and take those cute pictures like some people on instagram do with their partners but I was so exhausted it was really hard to do anything. I basically crawled up with all 4 plus my husband pushing my butt to get up the dune. Then to sleep it was so hot in the rooms I slept outside on a sofa but my back was in even more pain.
At Askchour there are 3 waterfalls and I made it past the 2nd one and returned back to it to relax because the third one was another hour hiking. So again don’t push yourself too hard but remember you probably won’t be able to see everything you thought you would compared to if you weren’t pregnant (or sick or both). I wasn’t sick at this hike but I knew I still had to go back down and it was blazing hot.
I still have a few days left in Morocco (still sick) and then I will be heading to Turkey for 6 days. Remember that your partner has to be in this to the fullest and try to put on the shoes you are in. My husband was extremely helpful carrying basically all of my stuff everywhere and holding a back pack with my 40oz water and all the items I needed. He also needed to be extremely patient with me since I am holding our child! I needed constant food breaks, pee breaks, and belly massages/ back rubs. Also he had to slow down and wait for me to be able to catch up to certain areas or he would just not go if I couldn’t make it. Your partner also has to remember that this will affect his vacation too and he has to be okay with that for it to work.
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THE INTERCEPT
Late in the morning of October 4 last year, a convoy of Nigerien and American special forces soldiers in eight vehicles left the village of Tongo Tongo. As they made their way between mud-brick houses with thatched roofs, they were attacked from one side by dozens of militants, if not hundreds. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Nigeriens and Americans fled, some on foot, running for cover behind trees and clusters of millet, their boots caked in the light brown earth. By the time the fighting was over, five Nigeriens and four Americans were killed, their bodies left naked in the bush after the militants took their uniforms.
The news went straight to the front pages in the United States and sparked a conflict between the family of one of the soldiers and President Donald Trump, after the president made insensitive remarks during a condolence call to the soldier’s widow. But the story also spread like wildfire throughout Niger, where the big news wasn’t so much that American soldiers had been killed, but that Americans soldiers were fighting in the country in the first place.
“I was surprised to learn that Americans had died in the Tongo Tongo attack,” Soumana Sanda, the leader of an opposition party in the Nigerien Parliament and taekwondo champion, told me in an interview in his pristine and sparsely decorated office in Niamey, the country’s quiet capital on the banks of the Niger River. “That was the moment I found out, as a Nigerien, as a member of parliament, as a representative of the people, that there is indeed (an American) base with ground operations.”
It was the same on the street. Moussa, a middle-aged man who sells children’s textbooks and novels on a busy corner in Niamey, captured the feelings of many I talked with. “We were surprised,” he said. “For us, this is another form of colonization.” Out of apprehension that he could get in trouble for voicing his views openly, he declined to give his last name.
In fact, U.S. Special Operations forces have been in Niger since at least 2013 and are stationed around the country on forward operating bases with elite Nigerien soldiers. What happened in Tongo Tongo is just a taste of the potential friction and instability to come, because the pièce de resistance of American military engagement in Niger is a $110 million drone base the U.S. is building about 450 miles northeast of Niamey in Agadez, a city that for centuries has served as a trade hub on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, not far from Mali, Algeria, Libya and Chad. In January, I hopped aboard an aging plane that followed a roundabout route to one of America’s largest-ever military investments in Africa, its latest battleground in an opaque, expensive, and counterintuitive war on the continent.
(Aerial view of the American drone base in Agadez, Niger, on June 4, 2017. Photo: Google Earth)
Flying into Agadez requires a tour around Niger’s countryside. I boarded a 30-year-old Fokker 50 propeller plane that is owned by Palestinian Airlines and leased to state-owned Niger Airlines with a Palestinian crew. After stopping in the southern cities of Zinder and Maradi, we descended on Agadez, its rectangles and triangles of compounds and dirt roads forming a mosaic, with the surrounding reddish beige of the desert stretching out in all directions as far as the eye can see.
On the southeast edge of the civilian airport, accessible by tracks in the sand used mainly to exit the town, is Nigerien Air Base 201, or in common parlance “the American base.” The base, scheduled for completion in late 2018, is technically the property of the Nigerien military, though it is paid for, built, and operated by Americans. It is being constructed on land formerly used by Tuareg cattle-herders. So far, there is one large hangar, ostensibly where the drones could be housed, a runway under construction, and dozens of smaller structures where soldiers live and work.
The air strip will be large enough for both C-17 transport planes and MQ-9 Reaper armed drones, as The Intercept’s Nick Turse found out in 2016. A Nigerien military commander with direct knowledge of the base, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press, told me that it will be mainly used to surveil militants like Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al Mourabitoun, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, and local Islamic State affiliates including Boko Haram, which operate in border zones in neighboring countries. The U.S. currently flies drones out of an airport in Niamey, but those operations will be shifted to Agadez once the new base is completed.
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THE SAND MACHINE
A worldwide search for singing sand by soundartists Lotte Geeven.
text by Jennifer Gersten, senior editor at Guernica New York
The samples of singing sand that the Amsterdam-based artist Lotte Geeven is soliciting from desert residents around the globe for her latest work, four batches have made it to Geeven’s doorstep without incident. The rest are languishing—at Dutch customs and police stations, a bus station in Brussels, another office in the Western Sahara—or lost. “Roaring sand is not just something you can buy,” Geeven tells me. For this project, she is prepared to be patient. Singing sand, a rare variety of sand that emits a thunderous hum as it slides down certain dunes, is a phenomenon exclusive to the planet’s nooks and crannies: spots in Nevada’s Mojave Desert, Chile’s Copiapo, and Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, among others. For The Sand Machine, Geeven, in collaboration with two French acousticians, will assemble twelve machines to amplify the sounds of twelve types of singing sand, allowing these typically distant musics to resound in public for the first time,.
Anyone may send a sample to the address listed on her website by the September deadline; the artist promises to reimburse the costs of shipping. Resembling a helicopter flying overhead, the sand’s voluminous song maintains an uneasy relationship with its granular source, as though the two had barely met. Each machine, a circular drum a meter-long in diameter, will contain a rotating blade that pushes the sand forward, simulating the environment that permits this peculiar acoustic property. Though the sand has been more difficult to come by than Geeven envisioned, she proceeds unfazed.
Exhibited internationally and inhabiting no single medium, Geeven’s work is as taken with process as with execution. Just as important as the final product are the narratives that happen upon her path, like coltish figure skaters. In several projects, including The Sand Machine, she enlists technical expertise to prod the extremities of our planet: The Sound of the Earth is a recording from the deepest hole on Earth, an approximately 5.5-mile-deep pit on the border of the Czech Republic, which Geeven located after extensive collaboration with several scientists.
Born to two artists, Geeven, thirty-eight, grew up walking among her parents’ sculptures and paintings, which struck her as “puzzles to solve.” The eclectic preoccupations spanning her work often resemble thoughtful pranks, disrupting unassuming spaces. Her residencies, including stints in Xiamen, Tblisi, and Kythera, are experiments with surveillance, sound, and botany, among others, poking at the seams in her surroundings.
Guernica: How did you first become interested in art that engages the natural world?
Lotte Geeven: We live in a systematical world where everything is explained and organized. Beneath this man-made system, there are wild, chaotic forces of nature that choreograph our behavior. While we are inclined to control and explain these forces, I try to see how we can relate to them in a different manner. I find that through art, literature, or poetry we get a deeper, non-intellectual understanding of this unstable world and our place in it.
Ahmed Salem Dabah with Morocco sand.
Guernica: What prompted your interest in the desert, and singing sand in particular?
Lotte Geeven: For me, the desert is like an empty sky. It’s a blank canvas, a projection field for your imagination. It’s almost abstract art. The acoustic sand I’m interested in is rare sand that generates a deep hum when it is put in motion, whether by the wind or by your hand. This acoustic sand occurs only in a few remote locations around the world: a hill in the desert of Mongolia and an area in the middle of the Namib Desert, to name a few. Sliding these layers of sand over one other generates vibrations that emit a deep, low rumbling pitch. This principle can be compared to a bow striking a cello string. In volume, this concert of sand can be as loud as the sound of a helicopter flying over your head. The singing sand phenomenon has puzzled people for many centuries, and there are various contradicting scientific theories about what exactly makes the sand sing. One thing is for sure: the size, shape, and surface texture of the grains have to be spot on in order for it to generate sound. The sound of this sand is so rare and so strange. So few people have heard this before. Listening, you have almost the same joy that you had when you were a kid, witnessing things around you for the first time. It surrounds you and gets really deep under your skin. When I heard it, I was very moved.
Guernica: Many of your projects involve interacting with earth objects in an unexpected fashion, whether by listening to sand or viewing mercury up close. What sorts of insights become possible as a result of displacing typical sensory relationships with the world?
Lotte Geeven: My works consist of minimal gestures that allow space for reinterpretation. Many of my works—The River, in which I have a river speak through the mouths of hundreds of poets; The Sound of the Earth, in which you listen to the earth roar; 127109 & 129110, in which the sea choreographs an encounter between two objects—explore the interaction between nature and humanity in simple terms. Such works allow the viewer to perceive the forces of the natural world as something unknown that is nevertheless part of us.
Guernica: How did you become invested in obtaining sonic representations of earth materials?
Lotte Geeven: The surfaces of our everyday lives are flooded with images that don’t enter our deeper consciousness. But sound sometimes can wedge its way deeper into the brain and move you. I have always been fascinated by how a natural sound is able to transport us to an atmospheric mental space disconnected from logic or reason. Whenever such a sound has a debatable or mysterious origin, like those sounds produced by the singing sand, the vivid friction between reason and fiction comes into play. The sounds emitted by the deserts are perfect examples of something that can trigger the process of story making. It is so strange and impressive that everywhere around the world, many stories arise from sand or a hole in the earth; trying to give meaning to the unknown. How we attribute personal and cultural meaning to these natural happenings speaks to the way we relate to the abstract unknown.
Imagine that you and I were standing in the middle of the desert right now, and all of a sudden the wind rose, making the whole desert-scape around us hum like a gigantic brass band. We would be in total awe. We would tell that story, and it would make its way into local culture because of its extraordinary nature. The sand is thus like a myth: it is polished, eroded, and carried from one generation to the other like whispers.
What I have noticed from collecting singing sand so far is that acoustic landscapes are often personified. In many local stories they become living characters with morality and souls, in the same way that you would bring a dead person to life by talking about them, which I find super fascinating. The Sound of the Earth, a recording of a roaring sound coming from the deepest open hole in the planet, generated a lot of similar reactions. Some people thought it was the sound of hell; others believed they could hear the planet breathe. The Sand Machine is along those lines.
vimeo
Guernica: How did you decide on the types of sand you wanted to feature in your project?
Lotte Geeven: I started out by making a series of machines with rotating blades to be filled with acoustic sand from all over the world. Two French scientists designed a lab setup that became a blueprint for The Sand Machine.
To fill these machines—or sound instruments, if you wish—I went looking for the sand that creates different tones in different places. Like a detective, I started tracking people down who lived close to the locations using Google Maps. I reached out to them via Twitter, Facebook, email, and phone and asked if they would be willing to send me some sand. To be honest, I felt a bit like a stalker scrolling their Facebook pages and looking for phone numbers. This became an extensive search. Day by day, my artwork became infused with mythical and hilarious stories about the origin of the sounds. At that point the project took a turn, and I decided to also collect the unfolding narratives told to me by the sand collectors. In the end these stories will become part of the work in the form of an additional film. The machines are being named after the people that collected the sand.
Guernica: What sorts of sand samples have you received from volunteers thus far? What do you know about their provenance?
Lotte Geeven: A few batches have arrived so far—they sound amazing, like sound portraits of the unknown. Right now there are a few batches on their way, but some are stuck at customs, and one got lost somewhere between Afghanistan and the Netherlands. Trying to get ahold of sand from remote areas actually seems fairly easy on paper, but proves to be extremely complicated in reality. The Dutch police even called me about one batch because they didn’t trust this big bag of sand. Another batch is stuck in a bus office in Brussels. At the moment there are four more people who will collect some of the sand for this project soon. Fingers crossed. These difficulties are noteworthy because we live in a time where we could easily order a camera from China or a book from Australia, and within a week or two these objects from the other end of the world have been delivered to our doorsteps. But roaring sand is not just something you can buy—it’s proved to be a rare resource that feels like it needs to be negotiated. Making this sand travel to me requires lots of resourcefulness, determination, patience, luck, and, most of all, the kindness and goodwill of others. The people I found online were at first very surprised and even excited that I had contacted them about sending me some sand. Immediately afterwards, they’d start telling me incredible tales about these sounds.
Najibullah Sedeqe collecting sand in Afghanistan. One of my favorite stories that I’ve collected is from a man named Najibullah, from Afghanistan. He lived close to a singing sand site, and he agreed to my request to go and look for some. About the mountain where the sand was located, the story goes that if you take something from the mountain, it will be returned to the mountain while you are asleep. That’s exactly what happened. He took a huge bag of sand and sent it through customs, and it got lost. In the end, actually sending the sand has proven to be a step too far for most people, which I can totally understand. About one out of every thirty people has been so incredibly generous and kind to ship the sand to the Netherlands. They include Rizwan, a limousine driver in Oman who likes to smoke his after-work-cigarette in the singing sand dunes, and Melanie, a lady living on the loneliest highway in the world in Nevada, went into the desert and collected sand for my project.
Guernica: Have you collected any sand samples yourself?
Lotte Geeven: I tried collecting acoustic sand too, which resulted in a rather unexpected adventure. I traveled to the Negev desert in Israel after hearing that there was a spot where the sand was supposed to sing. After a long journey, the doors of our bus opened, and I walked out into the desert. I heard a sound, looked to the left, and froze. I was facing a dozen tanks and armed soldiers. The hill of sand was apparently located close to the entrance of a military base, and the guys were completely puzzled by this foreign stranger approaching them with an empty bag and a camera. At that point a missile exploded one kilometer away from us. This hill was located in the middle of a firing zone close to Gaza, and I was told that the whole mountain was full of unexploded devices and that I wouldn’t be able to get closer. I sat down with the guys and we drank a Coke on the military base. They told me that in the winters, when the wind blows, they can hear the mountain sing.
Guernica: Your previous project, which entailed recording the sounds of the lowest places on earth, also involved long-term collaborations with physicists, seismologists, and engineers, among other members of the scientific community. What influence has working with science had on how you think about your art?
Lotte Geeven: The way I work is like how scientists work. They set some parameters and make something happen. They drop a ball and then they witness. Similarly, I cannot control the outcome of the artwork—it is choreographed by forces beyond. When I look for answers to simple questions I pursue in my work—like, what is the sound of the earth?—I always stumble upon scientists at some point. Collaborating with them isn’t always easy. Art and science are two different ball games. But in the end these projects are often as interesting for me as an artist as they are for the scientists. In these collaborations there is space for doubt and the unknown. My work is political in the softest sense of the word—I evoke space for doubt, for new thought and interpretation of the world around us. These qualities are very human and essential. Hard science has no place for this. It looks for answers and I don’t.
Guernica: Oftentimes your work takes the form of a variety of disruption, in which you induce an event within an unexpected landscape. Who do you perceive to be your audience in these “disruptive” projects? Is it you, observing the results of your manipulations? Or the people engaging with the work?
Lotte Geeven: I have a problem with the word “audience.” It places the artwork on a stage somehow, and creates a huge distance between the art and the people engaged with it. I don’t like my art to be high-end stuff that nobody gets; I want to make things that touch people. The art starts when it begins to engage the other, and we become both audience and curator.
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Sam Manicom travelled the world on his trusty 1992 BMW R80GS, with his partner Birgit on her 1971 BMW R60/5, for 8 years. He has been writing for various magazines around the world since 1996. Those titles include: Motorcycle Sport & Leisure, Adventure Bike Rider, Motorcycle Voyager, Canadian Biker, Motorcycle Monthly, Motociclisimo, Motorcycle Explorer, Australian Road Rider, MCN and ADVMoto Magazine.
He is the author of 4 acclaimed motorcycle travel books. His first book was written as a result of readers’ letters to editors. ‘We like Sam’s articles. When’s he going to write a book?’ Until that time he’d been travelling with just new adventures in mind.
Over the last few years, I’ve got to know Sam Manicom through our talks while working at #OverlandExpoWest in Flagstaff, Arizona. I finally had a chance to ask him a few questions about his journeys and inspirations.
What got you into travelling like you do?
A drunken moment in a bar on the tiny Channel Island of Jersey! Beer is a very dangerous thing, isn’t it? For sure it has the ability to dull the senses, but it can also open up a world of free thinking.
I was working on the island, which is tucked in the English Channel between the UK and France, and following a career path, as you are supposed to do as an adult. I’ve travelled a lot during my life but had eventually settled down, thinking that perhaps it was time to grow up and to be sensible. After all, we are supposed to feather our nests for old age aren’t we. Besides that, developing a career was going to be a new challenge. I’d not really done it before, so why not see what it was all about.
I surprised myself at how well I did in my retail manager role. Taken on as a very junior manager, I advanced fairly rapidly through the ranks and had all the trappings of life that one is supposed to have with success. An apartment, a sports car, holidays abroad and so on. I think the keys were that people matter to me, I’m fairly organised, I find it easy to respect the people I’m working with, and I liked looking after customers.
Some say that selling is a hard-nosed business, but my attitude towards it was that customers needed help, not sales spiel. If a customer was in my store, they were either there looking for general knowledge, or there for a problem solving reason. I’m happy with the former; we all do it, its curiosity, window-shopping from the inside. As for the latter, my job was to make sure that the customer was listened to, and guided towards products that might be a solution to their needs.
My staff and I had fun and we were successful. The Jersey shop was the number four store out of hundreds of branches throughout the UK. But for me, there was something missing. I had itchy feet, and the itch was increasing dramatically each week. I worked on, telling myself that bunking off on another long trip was irresponsible. After all, I was 34; at the peak of my professional career.
One night in the pub over a bit of a solo celebration when the beers were slipping down rather wonderfully, my thoughts had turned to the itch. By the time I’d made it to the 4thbeer I’d realised some important points. Other than work I had no responsibilities, and I had savings. What a brilliant combination.
The next beer slipped down dangerously and I started to ponder that call of the road. Perhaps I should push off on a new adventure. Would I ever be in this position of potential freedom again? I’d be giving up a lot though…
I’d actually spent most of my life travelling in one way or another. I was born and brought up in the Belgian Congo in Central West Africa. I was 10 years old when my parents decided that it was time to take my sisters and me to live in the UK. I think that was a really hard decision for them. Life had revolved around their work in the Congo for so many years. It certainly was odd for me to go from my usual attire of a pair of shorts and a great tan, to wearing full English school uniform; even a tie and a cap! I was known as Jungle Boy for quite a few years as I came to terms with life in England. I must have been quite a strange little lad as far as the other kids were concerned. A python? So what. But apples, chocolate bars and the Beatles? All new to me.
I made my first solo trip as a foray into mainland Europe, age 16. I rode a brand new bicycle, that I’d worked doing odd jobs to save the money for. That first trip taught me that destinations don’t matter, other than as a plan. What matters is that you go, and that you appreciate the things and people you see and get involved with along the way. Back then I’d no idea that this was going to turn into a plan for life; value the moments.
On finishing school age 18, I’d no idea what I was going to do. Having been to multiple schools and spent most of my time trying to fit in with each new environment, and buzzing around on the sports field, my grades weren’t very good. University? With my grades, only a poor one and it’s just another school, isn’t it. I chose to work a retail management training course for three years with one of the UK’s leading department stores.
Of course, at the time I’d no idea how much the training, new skills and character building would stand me in good stead. I probably couldn’t successfully do what I do now had it not been for all of the training that was involved.
At the end of those three years, the open road was calling and I set off to spend a year hitch hiking around Europe. With that trip, life changed. It wasn’t hard to make this become a way of living. Work and travel; sometimes combining both. Many of the jobs were basic and low wage, but with each new job I learnt; about the role itself, myself, and the country I was in. I travelled as far as India and Australia. Over the next years I hitch-hiked, bused, trained, hiked, sailed and had a go at every form of getting around that I could. And then the career in retail management took over. The trouble was, at no time in my life had I felt as alive, as challenged, as amazed, as delighted and at times frightened, as when I was on the move in some different land. One of my favourite sayings is ‘Become a stranger in a strange land’.
As I was sitting drinking those beers, that saying was in my mind. I started to ponder the possibilities; where to go and how to go? What didn’t I like about the other ways I’d travelled? I loved hitch-hiking but I’d done that a lot. So what’s new? I’d really enjoyed the pace and challenge of bicycling, but yep, those head winds weren’t something I looked forward to. I also knew that I wanted the ability to cover more ground in whatever time I could make available. Cycling was out then, and so was travelling by bus or by train. Unable to stop, I’d zipped on past things, people and places that looked interesting.
My beery brain was hunting for a new way to travel. A way to solve the issues I was identifying, and give me new things to learn. Slowly my mind worked around to travelling by motorcycle. I knew I wanted to travel through Africa too. I wanted to see if my childhood memories about how things sound smelt and tasted were true. The only problem was, I didn’t know how to ride a motorcycle!
I handed in my notice to work the next morning. I had a bit of a hangover but I was convinced that I was doing the right thing. I then bought myself a little 125cc trail bike to learn on, and passed my test 6 weeks later. It wasn’t long before I’d made it to the edge of the Sahara. Sitting on my 800cc BMW motorcycle, I looked south over the sands and contemplated the point that quite likely I was a complete idiot! I mean, ride a motorcycle through Africa with just a few months experience? I must have been mad, but it was too late; I was there. And anyway, I’d told my mates in the pub what I was doing. I couldn’t deal with the loss of face if I turned back without even trying.
So the journey through Africa began. The original plan, if I dare call it that with things happening at such a pace, was to ride through West Africa. Just as I passed my motorcycle test, things went politically pear-shaped in Algeria, and all the borders in that part of Africa closed. No one had the remotest idea how long this situation was going to continue. I had a ticking clock in my mind. Because of the terrain and the extreme temperatures, there are only certain months of the year when it’s sane to travel across the Sahara. If I didn’t crack on I’d lose the opportunity.
The alternative route was through East Africa. The problem there was that Sudan had a North to South civil war going on, and Ethiopia had been at war within itself for the past 20 years. On the up side, some people were getting visas for Sudan, and the war in Ethiopia was just coming to an end. With nothing to lose, I set off with new rough plans in mind; I might as well try. After all, I’d given up my job, and sold just about everything I owned. What hadn’t occurred to me was that Mike, and Sally, who I’d met on the way, and I were to be the first people to ride motorcycles North to South through Sudan and Ethiopia for those 20 years. We’d struck it lucky. A window of opportunity had opened.
This was 1992. No Google, no GPS, no cell phones and no digital photography. If you wanted to find something out you went to the library or wrote letters. If you wanted to find the way, you hunted out the best maps you could, and you asked the way. Getting lost was a part of the journey, and instead of being a negative it simply opened up a world of the unexpected. Some of the best adventures happen on a road you hadn’t planned to be travelling.
19 fascinating countries and a year later, I decided that actually there was no good reason to head for home. There were plenty of reasons to carry on though. Travelling by motorcycle, in spite of being thrown in prison in Tanzania and 17 bone fractures in the desert in Namibia, was more than fulfilling my beery thoughts in the pub. Another favourite saying is ‘Stop worrying about the potholes and celebrate the journey’.
I booked passage for my bike and I to sail on a container ship across the Indian Ocean to Australia. And so, what turned out to be an eight year journey around the world began. My motorcycle by the way, is called Libby. That’s short for Liberty; it’s what she gives me. All these years later, she’s still my only means of transport in the UK. She does now have a younger sister getting me around in the USA on trips there. A 2013 BMW F800GS. That bike is still waiting for a name to grow. Who knows, it might be ‘Lucky’. For sure I know how lucky I am to have her, and the opportunity to explore more of the amazing land that is the USA.
What next? More travels but in shorter stints; I need just enough to keep scratching that itch and to give me material to write travel articles about. I also spend a fair bit of time doing travel presentations and book signings at motorcycle dealerships, libraries, clubs, schools and businesses. They are my opportunity to share the fun of the road, and perhaps even encourage others to head out and to explore for themselves. I’m keen that people really think about life, recognise the opportunities as they occur, and take advantage of them. This is such an invigorating thing, both at work and play. I fully accept that many people have responsibilities that will not allow them to head out into the blue for months even years at a time. I really value being around people like that who are accepting their responsibilities and making life zing as much as they can. I love it when people say such things as, “I’d love to travel, but I can’t, yet.” Adventures begin with dreams.
I think of myself as being a bit of an accidental author. I didn’t set out on my journey with the aim of writing magazine articles or books. With enthusiastic encouragement from others I thought I’d have a go. I’d kept a journal every day, so I had the facts and many of the descriptions. Long term travellers learn quickly about the risk of being on intake overload each day; it’s so easy to forget the dates, statistics, sights, sounds, smells, names and so on. The drama and the funny side to life do tend to stay in one’s mind though.
It would be a new adventure seeing if I could write a book, and so settled down to write my first; Into Africa. I was putting in 10-12 hour days working renovating houses and then after a quick shower and some food, I sat down to write. It took me two years. Learning everything about the publishing and print industries has been a side fascination and I’ll never forget the sensation of having my first printed copy in my hand; it’s a wonderful moment.I certainly didn’t expect the 5 star reviews my books have been collecting from kind readers and media reviewers.
Each of the four books takes the reader riding and exploring through a different section of the eight year journey and thankfully people seem to like them. ‘Thankfully’ because I wrote them as travel books, rather than specifically as motorcycle travel books, and I describe the sorts of things I like to read about as a traveller. Years later I read that authors should only write about things they know about and have a passion for.
I think of my books as being a way to share the fun of the open road with those who for the moment can’t head out on a long trip, with those who really don’t want to travel but love to read about it, and also as encouragement to those who think they don’t have the skills to travel in this way. I had few skills when I started, but I had an open mind, a strong curiosity, understanding of the value of respect and I’ve got a positive attitude to most things. It’s a great world and travelling by motorcycle, to my mind, is a superb way to see it.
Into AfricaTakes the reader on that first eye-opening year through the incredible continent that is Africa. There are challenges a plenty; it’s a genuine tale of the unexpected. Woven into this journey between Cairo and Cape Town are the riding, the people, wildlife, history, the disasters and the silver linings; there’s plenty of humour too.
Overland Magazine: ‘The word-pictures that bring a good travel book to life are all here; Sam’s perceptions of people, places and predicaments have real depth and texture, their associated sights, smells and sounds are evoked with a natural ease. Where other author’s detailed descriptions can sometimes get in the way, Sam’s style is engaging and well-tuned. I found myself in the midst of action rather than a mere fly on the wall.’
Under Asian Skies This is the story of just over 2 years travelling from Australia and New Zealand, up through SE Asia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and through Eastern Europe. This without doubt is the most colourful and culturally diverse part of the world I’ve been lucky enough to ride. Every day was an adventure.
Horizons Unlimited: ‘Sam has the skills of the story teller and this book easily transports you into three years of journey across Asia. He manages to bring the sounds, scents and heat of Asia to life without wordy overkill and he has obviously researched his historical facts carefully. In places Under Asian Skies is sad, and in others it’s outrageously funny – look out for his battle with the Sydney port officials and the bus ride in Indonesia. All in all this is a really good read, whether you have been across Asia, or are planning a trip.
This is true travelling on the cheap and not your everyday story.’
Distant Suns My third book has me linking up with a German lass in New Zealand. Birgit agreed to ride with me, but to Africa first, and on her own bike. She rode out of Mombasa harbour in Kenya with just 600 miles of experience on a motorcycle! Over the next 3 years we rode together through Africa, and on up through South and Central America. These continents may be on the same latitude, but the contrasts in landscape, cultures and the peoples are huge. The Andes? Simply stunning. Oh and I’d not told Birgit what a disaster magnet I am!
Motorcycle Explorer: ‘An epic ride that almost becomes secondary to the events that happen and the very human element of travelling. Always evoking the emotions of others, because Sam never forgets to use his five senses in his tales. Leaving you immersed in the sights, sounds, touch, smell and taste of a journey of true human discovery.’
Tortillas to Totems? This book takes you travelling with us through the 3 countries that make up North America. Three neighbours that are so wonderfully different to each other, make travelling this part of the world a delight. North America was in fact the part of the world that surprised me the most. When you read this book you’ll find out all the reasons why I keep coming back.
ADVMoto Magazine: ‘What I enjoy most about Sam’s method is his way of describing the moment. You feel it, smell it… you freeze, you sweat, and you see what’s before him like you’re along for the ride. You are very much there. It’s a rather intimate, honest style that easily carries you from chapter-to-chapter. I highly recommend that you add Sam’s books to your reading list.’
Fall Presentation Tour 2019:
GO AZ Motorcycles Peoria AZSeptember 6th(Friday). On this, my second visit to GO AZ, I’ll be talking about the delights of travelling across Asia. I’ll also be book signing. 6pm start
BMW Motorcycles of North Dallas TX September (FRIDAY 13th!) Feel like risking it for a Presentation Evening and Book Signing? Start time is at 6pm. My multi-media presentation is about Incredible Africa!
Adventure Motorsports of NWF Pensacola FL September 21st (Saturday) Africa Presentation Evening and Book Signing. Join us 5pm if you can – we will be starting the presentation at 5.15 pm.
Pandora’s European Motorsports Chattanooga TN September 24th (Tuesday) Africa Presentation Evening and Book Signing – 6.30 to 9pm
Motorcycles of Charlotte NC October 2nd (Wednesday) – Africa Presentation Evening and Book Signing. Doors open for food at 6.30pm and the presentation with be starting at 7.15pm
Overland Expo East VA October 11th to 13th in Arrington. I’ll be presenting, running Classes, in Round Table sessions and Book Signing.
If you would like to meet Birgit then please join us at Motorcycles of Charlotte and at Overland Expo East. She will be joining me for this section of the tour.
Signed copies are available from Sam-Manicom.com with free UK delivery, and with free Worldwide delivery via the Book Depository.com https://www.bookdepository.com/author/Sam-Manicom
Sam’s 4 books are available as Paperbacks, Kindles and as Audiobooks. Sam narrates the books himself.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Store-Sam-Manicom/s?rh=n%3A341677031%2Cp_27%3ASam+Manicom
https://www.audible.co.uk/search?searchNarrator=Sam+Manicom
https://books.apple.com/us/author/sam-manicom/id516565970
Facebook– Catch up with Sam via his two pages: Sam Manicom and Adventure Motorcycle Travel Books by Sam Manicom.
Twitter– You’ll find him on @SamManicom
Instagram– sammanicom.author
Website– If you’d like to learn more about his books and his presentation schedule please go to www.sam-manicom.com
Sam is Co-Host of Adventure Rider Radio RAW show. Hosted by Jim Martin, the show is recorded monthly with a panel of 5 highly experienced overlanders from around the world. Listeners submit topics for discussion. RAW has been described by listeners as akin to sitting around a giant kitchen table with the team, beers, wine and coffee in hand, discussing motorcycles and travel; there’s controversy, challenging ideas, top tips and plenty of banter!
https://adventureriderradio.com/arr-raw/
Sam says, “If you are a You Tube fan, have a hunt. There are various riding and interview clips to be found, including a recent chat with the phenomenal Ted Simon.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-658_CSkrA
He was the first Overlander Interviewed by Adventure Bike TV for their popular ‘Under the Visor’ series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bToV6paAEXM
In 2017 Overland Magazine awarded him the‘Roho Ya Kusafiri Spirit of Travel’ award for his contribution to Overland and Adventure Travel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Y1BKPbp_Y
In 2011, Sam joined the team of advisors working with travellers supported by The Ted Simon Foundation.
I had to learn about book writing the hard way – there were few people in the world of publishing whose knowledge I was able to tap into. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to help other travellers get more out of their adventures, and to learn how to get their work published. We live in a stunning world that’s full of surprises, and what better way is there for a person to share those experiences than to write and publish a great book. The Ted Simon Foundation is the perfect platform to help this happen.
http://jupiterstravellers.org/
In Interview with Sam Manicom Sam Manicom travelled the world on his trusty 1992 BMW R80GS, with his partner Birgit on her 1971 BMW R60/5, for 8 years.
#advrider#rtw#adventure#adventurerider#Africa#Andes#Asia#dreams#expedition#motorcycle#Motorcycles#Overland#Sam Manicom#travel books#wanderlust#wanderlust journal
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Sudan: Cycling the Sahara
Crossing the border to Sudan was a huge relief. Everything was even less developed. And I waited in the immigration building with the one other tourist and the squeaking fan rotating slowly overhead. Susan's ATMs do not connect with the outside world and so, the only option is to bring hard currency in US dollars. Not having Sudanese pounds yet, and having to pay a registration fee, the government official had his friend lead me to the black market money changer in order to get 50:1 as opposed to the 25:1 that the banks offer as it is an artificially controlled currency. I rode into Sudan and was able to breathe so much easier. Ethiopia has about 100 million people as opposed to Sudan's 13 million (in a larger land mass.) At the first roadside opportunity, I pulled over and had some goat meat at a local restaurant. After about 20 minutes, I'd realized that there was no crowd around me, no beggars, and no children staring at me. It was serene. For about 2 hours I laid there on one of their benches. I was listening to a podcast on my phone pressed against my ear when I noticed people started to take notice and act unusual. Eventually, an English speaker, probably police came up and asked me "Camera?!" It took me a minute to understand what he was asking and convinced him no, I wasn't filming, just listening to audio and he was appeased. But nonetheless, I realized there was an oppressive backwards reason why I felt so free here. Anyways, I set off and getting into sunset was eagerly looking for a place to camp. In the distance I spotted something unusual. I couldn't tell if it was a cycletourist, two motorcycles, or a fucking donkey and a wheelbarrow. Anyways, it turned out to be Alex and Merlin, two British lads on a tandem whom I'd been following on their journey, training local medical workers on optical medical devices. This was their first long bike trip. They flagged down a truck for water and we camped in the bush off the road. I had a few days riding to the capital of Khartoum. Lots of desert, but in the south there's plenty more agriculture. The Sudanese are incredible friendly and helpful. They'll invite you for tea and meals and won't let you pay. And if here, unlike much of Africa, you're in need of something like directions or advice, they'll actually help you without looking for something in return. Because of a collapsing currency, everything was also incredibly cheap. Meals were usually 50-60c though we're typically just bean paste and flatbread. Petrol is cheaper than bottled water and costs something like 50c/gallon (12c/L) And a hotel could be something like $3-$5. In Wad Madani I paid $6 and had a suite with king sized bed, air con, refrigerator, and kitchen. In Khartoum, I reached the youth hostel and to camp there was $1. I Had a few days to kill and so went to the pool, changed more dollars, and visited Ahmed, a Syrian guy I'd met a few days prior. I got a taxi to his town and met up with his friends. Some were Sudanese, but most were Syrian or Yemenite. Sudan has since welcomed refugees from various crises. We had dinner, went to a shisha bar, and chatted, largely through google translate voice. They were good fun and very generous hosts. It got late though and they wouldn't let me take a taxi back so I crashed at their place. It was fairly basic and I'm used to that, but on my own terms and with a mosquito net or tent, neither of which I had. They'd all gotten malaria at least once, so I didn't get much sleep. Up all night in a room with 5 other guys, I realized I was having a sober sleepover with 5 ~25 yr old (presumable) virgins. Something I hadn't experienced in probably 15 years. Gracious for their generosity and friendship, but realizing maybe it was time to start thinking past Sudan. Indeed, even bringing up the idea of girls or women to guys here sent them into giggles. But the more mature ones like to ask you if you fancy Sudanese woman. I have no fucking idea I tell them... I've never seen more than their eyes, let alone talked to one! On Friday in Kharthoum I went to see the Sufi dancers. It's a tradition that has been going on for centuries influenced by the Ottoman Empire, but with its own distinct Sudanese practices. The Sufis burn frankincense, sing, chant, dance, and some will spin on axis until they fall down in order to achieve a vertigo of feeling closer to God. As this is a popular tourist attraction, it attracted all the tourists in Khartoum. About 15 to be exact... It was high season after all. Some I'd met there lived there for work though, and to get back to the city I shared a taxi with 3 Scandinavian embassy workers. It was interesting to hear some very informed intelligent outside, but inside perspectives on the Sudanese Government as well as those of surrounding countries. Also, them being embassy employees, had a stash of contraband alcohol. We brought some pizza up to their rooftop and I ate and sipped champagne with tall, attractive, whiter-than-white, Scandinavian folks. A bizarre, albeit enjoyable experience that was highly unexpected. On the walk back I met three American cyclists just on the street. It was probably 10pm, but they were headed to camp at the same hostel. They'd gotten Sudanese visas at home and it had cost them almost $250 as opposed to the $70 I'd paid. The next day I set off as I was looking to meet up with Will and Wendy, an older cyclist couple of rode with briefly in East Africa. I was now entering the Bayuda desert. A very desolate section of the Sahara that strays from the Nile. Here things were a bit more remote and I carried quite a bit more water and food. Some stretches were flat, hot, and unstimulating. Others passed through varied terrain with desert scrub or picturesque dunes. I'd listen to music or podcasts, but frankly after a few days, the Bayuda was quite mind numbing. I ended the third day riding into the sunset with Pink Floyd's Time playing as I watched the road continuously slip below the shimmering horizon. I felt like time indeed was standing still, and with the visual in front of me, could easily understand how people saw mirages. Only for me, my hallucinations were of eating Chipotle. Specifically a double wrapped chicken burrito: spanish rice, pinto, fried veggies, lettuce, salsa, corn, cheese, and sour cream. I spent days riding 10km/hr into the wind with occasional stops for water or fowl, a bean paste served with flatbread. In fact, this was about the only food I ever encountered on the road. And getting diarrhea one stretch, with only fowl as sustenance was like pouring gasoline on the fire. Somebody's idea of a cruel fucking joke. I had a solid day playing carnival games with a squat toilet and fertilizing patches of the desert, but soon enough I was fine. People in Sudan are incredibly welcoming. There's endless offers for chai, conversation, and selfies. And one day I was invited over by two Bedouin goat herders who were cooking lunch not too far from the road. It was an interesting exchange as they were both about my age, but didn't know a word of english. We cooked and ate and laughed at whatever and the younger one crashed trying to ride my bicycle. After a few days, I crossed back onto the main highway where there were more villages as it was on the Nile. There was one in particular that stuck out. On the side of the road, there were three kids and one launched a rock past me. This was rather unexpected and annoying so I stopped and hurled one back. Just in this one village, this reoccurred five times. The PTSD from Ethiopia finally kicked in on the last and I exploded, sprinting after a series of kids and sending rocks flying. These were isolated to just this one area, but for a few days still served to shatter the comfort and trust I'd had. This was usual for Ethiopia but very bizarre for Sudan given the authoritarian government/police/education. I was told later that a child's punishment for such activity was 20 lashings by camel hide. I did finally catch up with Will and Wendy in the town of Dongola. Maps.me brought me to their hotel or so I thought. It was a very nice building, but with no sign. I asked a teenager standing "Lord Hotel?" He gave me one of those Indian headbob answers and followed me over to help me get my bike through the gate. Upon rounding a corner, the un-burka'd woman's look on her shocked face was enough to assure me was in the wrongg place. Someone pointed me around the corner to a very obviously signed guesthouse. I spent a day off the bike with Wendy, Will, and Tomás, a cyclist headed south. I had tea, falafel, and chicken with them and spent a good time finishing the book Quondam that Alex and Merlin had given me. It was about an Irish guy who rode down Africa in 1980. It was an incredible journey and had been fascinating to travel through the same places in a now much different world, and on paved roads. I then passed the book on to Tomás as he was also Irish, the same age, traveling the same course, and meeting his girlfriend in the same place. It was another two days riding before I caught up with Will and Wendy again and we both stayed at a nice guesthouse along the Nile. The owner came by and offered me to join him and some workers for food. "Eat much" he insisted, "the night is now longer than day." The north was filled with interesting desert terrain. You could camp almost anywhere and it was mind boggling to stare out in one direction and know that there was absolutely no humanity for hundreds of miles. After another two days of this I reached the town of Wadi Halfa where Wendy and Will had arrived. I had a change of heart though and decided to take a longer ferry than they were planning. I was kinda burnt out and it went across lake Nasser to Egypt and cut out 3 days of windy desert riding with only one shop. Again, I wasn't originally planning on it, but I happened to arrive to the port just an hour before the ferry set off for the week. There was plenty of hoops to jump through. I bought the ticket from one line, luggage with another, another line for a form, another for customs, immigration, security, etc. This isn't too different from any other port of entry or airport, but in Sudan it's complicated by a foreign passport which almost everyone blankly stares at upside down. They'll invariably ask me my name, nationality, and details anyways, which will be transcribed to Arabic script. We took off as the sun set. The ferry was packed with some 200 Sudanese guys all headed to Egypt for work or trade. The young ones were eager to chat and I was invited down below for dinner as well We chatted, the older men prayed, and the janitor heaved out the buckets of trash off the stern. The good-intentioned holy man approached me later and introduced me to the way of Islam. I had a few questions on fate, marriage, and theology. But he was more interested in giving me examples on hand washing and how God determines on decision day whether you live or die- this I assured him was also represented in Judeo-Christian practices. And when I respectfully told him that I was in no way planning on converting to Islam, but wanted to know what takeaway was most important to be a better person... He told me to be Muslim. It was an interesting atmosphere- mostly all young men looking for better prospects in a different land. I had enjoyed my time in Sudan, the desert was pristine, the people unbelievably friendly, and the bean fowl was plentiful. But after 3 weeks, and less than $2 worth of hard currency left, I too was ready for a change and looking for new prospects as we made port the next day in Aswan.
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When we hit that intermediate stage of our learning, we’re often told that now’s the time to start switching over to native source material and to step away from resources aimed at learners.
But how do you know just what native source material to choose?
Our hopes high, we take to Google hoping to find great French books or films, but lo and behold, the majority of the suggested material is what we politely call ‘classic’. In other words, it’s old.
You wanted recommendations for films, tv shows, books or songs in French that are fresh. Those that are relevant today.
And we’re here to help.
Today, I’m excited to share a post from Emily Handley of French Affliction. She’s worked hard to curate this list of 10 French movies, 10 French songs, 10 French books and 10 French tv shows that are not only interesting and relevant, but they also contain language that are suitable for those at the beginning level all the way up to the advanced level with straightforward vocabulary.
Thanks Emily!
Let’s dive right in.
11 French Books for French Language Learners
1. Le petit prince – Antoine Saint-Exupéry
The most famous of Saint-Exupéry’s books, Le petit prince (The Little Prince) is a philosophical fable presented as a children’s book. The narrator, a pilot who’s been forced to make an emergency landing in the Sahara Desert, hears a mysterious voice asking him to draw a sheep. This turns out to be the title character, a young prince who lives on an asteroid no bigger than a house in the company of a beautiful rose that he is in love with.
2. La petite fille de Monsieur Linh – Philippe Claudel
Published in 2005, Claudel’s novel centres on the title character Monsieur Linh, who has been forced into exile from his unnamed country of origin after a war. He begins a friendship with Monsieur Bark, a war veteran, after arriving in his new country. With Monsieur Linh having lost his family in his home country and Monsieur Bark having lost his wife, the bereavement experienced by the two men draws them closer. However, as the two men do not speak the same language, they communicate instead through gestures in this friendship based on their shared grief.
3. Bel-Ami – Guy de Maupassant
Social climber Georges Duroy mounts a ruthless seduction campaign in his quest for wealth and fame in this novel by Maupassant. After finding a job as a columnist for a Parisian newspaper, he takes on several mistresses in quick succession. When he gets married for the second time in a huge society wedding, it becomes clear that his days as a seducer are far from over. As he stands with his new wife on the steps of La Madeleine church in Paris, Duroy’s thoughts turn to one of his old flames and the possibility of rekindling their relationship.
4. Le silence de la mer – Vercors
Written during the Second World War, this novel by Vercors (the pseudonym of Jean Bruller) tells the story of a German officer who lives with an elderly Frenchman and his niece following the German invasion of France. The officer, who appreciates French culture, unsuccessfully attempts to establish a bond with his hosts, who express their patriotism and loyalty to France through silence and keeping their distance from him. The novel was the first to be printed by Les Editions de Minuit, a clandestine publishing house set up by Vercors and his friend Pierre de Lescure to bypass the literary censorship put in place in Occupied France during the Second World War.
5. La première gorgée de bière et d’autres plaisirs minuscules – Philippe Delerm
Divided up into thirty-five short essays with the longest coming in at three pages, this collection of short stories offers lots of little snapshots of different aspects of French life. In one story, Delerm writes about the ritual of reading the morning newspapers on the dining table surrounded by cups of coffee and pots of jam, and in another describes the pleasure of savouring a freshly baked and still-warm croissant while walking back from the bakery in the early morning.
6. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
Flaubert’s account of an unhappy housewife who turns to adultery was considered so controversial when it was published in the 1840s that it was the subject of a trial.
Although the author’s descriptions of Emma Bovary’s extramarital affairs are no longer thought to be obscene or immoral, his insightful depiction of her dissatisfaction and boredom still resonates today.
Definitely a classic read.
7. L’Étranger – Albert Camus
L’Étranger (The Outsider) tells the story of Meursault, an emotionally detached French Algerian who is sentenced to death for shooting an Arab man. When Meusault is tried for the murder, the prosecution seize on the fact that he did not cry at his mother’s recent funeral. They claim that this lack of emotion must mean that he feels no remorse for killing the Arab man and that he therefore deserves the death penalty for his crime.
8. Thérèse Raquin – Émile Zola
Like Emma Bovary, Thérèse Raquin is trapped in a marriage to a man whom she does not love. After being raised by her aunt, she has been forced to marry her cousin, the sickly Camille. Thérèse’s life of boredom and drudgery suddenly changes when she meets one of Camille’s childhood friends, Laurent. She starts a passionate affair with him, which leads to deceit, lies and, eventually, murder when she and Laurent hatch a plan to kill Camille so they can finally marry.
9. Un sac de billes – Joseph Joffo
Known in English under the title A Bag of Marbles, this novel is about Joffo’s own experiences of growing up in a Jewish household in Paris during the Second World War. The story starts in 1941 when the author is ten years old, a year after the Germans have invaded France. He then writes about his family’s escape from Paris, as they make arrangements to cross the demarcation line into the free zone in the south of France. The novel’s been adapted into a comic strip as well as into two films, with the most recent one having been released in early 2017.
10. Les fourmis – Bernard Werber
The opening novel of a science-fiction trilogy, Bernard Werber’s Les Fourmis (The Ants) is set in the early twenty-first century, around a decade after the book was first published in 1991. Werber writes about two worlds, the world of the ants and the world of the humans, which come together during the novel. In the world of the humans, unemployed locksmith Jonathan moves with his family into a large house in Fontainebleau after inheriting it from his uncle. Shortly after settling in the house, Jonathan receives a mysterious letter from his uncle telling him never to go down into the house’s cellar, but he ignores this warning after the family dog falls into the cellar and he goes down to rescue it.
11. Dessine-moi un parisien – Olivier Magny
This book, which takes its title from one of the most famous passages in Le Petit Prince, is a witty and refreshingly unclichéd look at how Parisians see the world. Covering everything from Berthillon ice-cream and salted caramel to why wearing white socks is a cardinal sin in the City of Light, Magny’s book is a must-read for anyone in love with the French capital.
10 French Songs for French Language Learners
1. Formidable – Stromae
This became famous around the world in summer 2013 after Stromae filmed himself singing it in an apparently drunk state at a Brussels tram stop and uploaded the footage to YouTube. The clip’s now had over 160 million views.
2. Quand tu me prends la main – Joyce Jonathan
Featured on Joyce Jonathan’s second album Caractère, this song showcases her gentle vocals alongside a jaunty guitar accompaniment.
3. Paris – Camille
There’s lots of clever wordplay here, as Camille sings of falling out of love with Paris’s ‘picture-postcard stairways’ and ‘grey skies’. While she considers leaving France’s capital for Toulouse, Seville or even Rio, its charm proves in fact to be too strong to resist, and she can’t help but return to the City of Light.
4. Ma jeunesse – Carla Bruni
Before becoming Mrs Sarkozy and one half of France’s First Couple, Carla Bruni was best known for her music career. She sings here of youth and the passing of time, with a dynamic piano accompaniment contrasting with the melancholy lyrics.
5. Dernière danse – Indila
Paris-based singer Indila had a huge success with this song, which can be translated as ‘last dance’, from her debut album Mini World which came out in 2013.
6. Les Marquises – Jacques Brel
Following his decision to retire in 1966 at the height of his music career, Brel turned his hand to acting and directing before moving to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. He wrote this song about his island home for his last album, released in 1977.
7. La Parisienne – Christophe Maé
This song, from Maé’s 2016 album L’Attrape-Rêves (The Dream-Catcher), is about a woman who, since moving to Paris, has abandoned her old friends for brunching, Facebooking and having apéritifs by the Seine.
8. Paris – Marc Lavoine
In this duet with Algerian singer Souad Massi, Lavoine sings of this attachment to the City of the Light, from admiring the Eiffel Tower to toasting to the health of its lovers and drifting in and out of its metros.
9. La maison où j’ai grandi – Françoise Hardy
Hardy, who is known as much for her fashion icon status as for her singing, was part of the ‘yé-yé’ movement that became popular in France during the 1960s. Here, she sings of her memories of her childhood friends and the house that she grew up in as a young girl.
10. Les gens du nord – Enrico Macias
After emigrating to France from Algeria as a teenager, Macias quickly felt welcomed by his host country. The idea for this song came to him after a particularly enthusiastic welcome from the audience at a performance he was giving in northern France. He co-wrote it with lyricist Jacques Demarny, and since its release in 1967, it’s become a popular French musical standard.
10 French TV Shows for French Language Learners
1. Braquo
Braquo, which translates into English as ‘hold-up’, follows the attempts of four Paris police officers to clear their colleague’s name following his suicide after he is suspected of seriously harming a prisoner in custody.
If you enjoy many of the crime-based television series in your native language, watching this particular series is a great way to switch over an activity you enjoy into your target language.
2. Un gars, une fille
This comedy series, which launched the career of French actor Jean Dujardin, centres on the lives of lovebirds Loulou (Dujardin) and Chouchou, played by Alexandra Lamy. Each episode starring the couple lasts around six minutes, and is made up of several sketches that can show anything from them relaxing together at home to attending a wedding, watching a show at the Moulin Rouge or even being stranded on a desert island.
3. Un village français
First shown in France in 2009, Un village français looks at the effects of the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War. It takes place in a fictional village in the Jura mountains, not far from the demarcation line that separated Occupied France from ‘free France’. Quite a few well-known French actors appear in the series, including Audrey Fleurot and Thierry Godard, who both have major roles in Engrenages.
4. Engrenages
Engrenages, a police and legal drama set in Paris, first became known in the UK after being shown on BBC4 under the translated title of Spiral.
The show, which prides itself on its realism, gives the viewer a thrilling snapshot of the French justice system through the eyes of an idealistic defence lawyer, a police chief inspector and their colleagues.
The title, Engrenages, carries interesting connotations in the language.
5. Les revenants
Set among the dramatic landscapes of the Haute-Savoie region in eastern France, Les Revenants (The Returned) is an eerie, exciting and original take on typical zombie horror fare. The residents of a quiet town in the mountains are left in a state of shock when former residents, many of who have been dead for years, come back to life and wanting to resume their lives as normal. Their reappearances in the town coincide with other strange events, from unexplained power shortages to the water in the local reservoir suddenly lowering to a worrying level.
6. Plus belle la vie
A long-running soap opera, which is something like the French version of Eastenders or Neighbours, follows the lives of a group of families in Le Mistral, an idyllic (fictional) neighbourhood somewhere in the coastal city of Marseille.
The show broadcast its three-thousandth episode in 2016, and is so popular that tourists visit Marseille just to visit its chocolate-box filming locations.
7. Disparue
Based on a Spanish crime drama, Disparue (The Disappearance) focuses on efforts to find a teenage girl when she goes missing after going to a concert with friends.
Although this thriller mini-series is only made up of eight episodes, it manages to be fast-moving as well as sustaining a satisfyingly complex storyline.
8. Fais pas ci, fais pas ça
The rather overbearing tone of the title (Don’t do this, don’t do that) reflects the differing views and attitudes of its main characters.
On one side, the laidback Bouley family. And on the other the Lepic family, their more conservative neighbours.
9. Clem
When sixteen-year-old Clem Boissier goes to the doctor’s to find out why she’s been feeling under the weather, the last thing she expects to hear is that she’s about to become a mother.
After telling her best friend and swearing her to secrecy, she then struggles to find the right moment to tell her family. At the time of writing, this popular series has been running for seven seasons in France, and an eighth series is due to start filming.
10. Chef’s Table: France
This Netflix-produced series Chef’s Table, which has been nominated for an Emmy, visits the land of wine and cheese to find out the secrets of the most respected French chefs.
We hear from Adeline Grattard, who’s behind the bao restaurant Yam’Tcha, and Alain Passard, who took a risk that paid off when he took red meat from the menu at L’Arpège in Paris and replaced it with fresh vegetables from his biodynamic farms.
12 French Films for French Language Learners
1. Hors de prix
This comedy, which translates into English as ‘priceless’, stars Audrey Tautou as Irène, a modern-day Holly Golightly. Whilst on holiday with her current lover, she meets hotel barman Jean (Gad Elmaleh) who falls in love with her and spends all of his savings on his seduction campaign. Luckily, a wealthy widow staying at the hotel takes a shine to him and, following in Irène’s footsteps, Jean becomes Madeline’s lover. When Jean and Irène see each other again by chance, they realise that they are still in love with each other. They try to spend as much together as possible while making sure that their lovers don’t suspect anything, which doesn’t quite go to plan…
2. Intouchable
After Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, this was the second highest grossing film ever in France. The film focuses on the bond between Philippe, a wealthy Parisian who becomes paralysed after a paragliding accident, and his live-in carer Driss.
Both Philippe and Driss are wary of each other when Driss starts to work for him, but this initial distrust leads to a close friendship between the two men.
3. Amélie
Featuring Audrey Tautou in the title role (along with Paris’s Montmartre district in a supporting role), Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s film is about a young woman who spends her free time doing good deeds for strangers.
The Café des 2 Moulins, where Amélie works as a waitress in the film, has become a popular tourist attraction since appearing in the movie.
4. Jules et Jim
Based on Henri-Pierre Roché’s novel, Truffaut’s film centres on the love triangle that develops when best friends Jules and Jim both fall for the beautiful Catherine. Even though she later goes on to marry Jules, Catherine still seems undecided about which of the men she likes, even beginning an affair with Jim while she is married. Jeanne Moreau gives a wonderful performance as the charismatic and unpredictable Catherine, and Oskar Werner and Henri Serre star as Jules and Jim respectively.
5. Potiche
Catherine Deneuve appears here as Suzanne Pujol, and the ‘potiche’ (‘trophy wife’) of the film’s title.
It’s the mid-1970s, and everyone around Suzanne sees her as a mother and a housewife, while her factory owner husband Robert brings home the bacon. But when Robert’s employees rebel against him, it’s up to Suzanne to step up to the plate and sort out the situation.
6. La Haine
Filmed in black-and-white, La Haine (‘hate’) focuses on 24 hours in the life of three teenage friends, Vinz, Hubert and Saïd.
Living on a housing estate on the outskirts of Paris, they learn at the start of the film that a friend of theirs, Abdel, is in a coma after being beaten up by police. After hearing the news, Vinz promises himself that he will kill a policeman if Abdel dies from his injuries.
7. Populaire
Insurance agent Louis Échard (Romain Duris) is a man on a mission. Having just hired Rose Pamphyle as his secretary, he’s seen how fast she can type, and has the idea of entering her into a regional speed-typing contest. Although Rose is beaten at the competition, Louis continues to believe in her, and decides to take her under his wing to train her for the world speed-typing championships. Over time, Louis and Rose’s professional relationship develops into a romantic one, in this film inspired by My Fair Lady.
8. Entre les murs
François Bégaudeau stars in this film adaptation of his novel of the same name, where he writes about his experiences of teaching in an inner-city school in Paris in the 20th arrondisement.
It’s an interesting view into the French education system as well as the struggles of teens in France.
It received the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes film festival.
9. Les parapluies de Cherbourg
The rainy port city of Cherbourg is given the Technicolour treatment by director Jacques Demy, who took his inspiration for the film from Hollywood musicals. Catherine Deneuve plays teenager Geneviève Emery, who falls head over heels in love with local car mechanic Guy. The young couple’s dreams of a future together are interrupted, however, when Guy is called up to fight in the Algerian War. Geneviève inadvertently breaks her promise to wait for his return when her family’s financial difficulties force her to accept a marriage proposal from a wealthy businessman.
10. La vie en rose
Marion Cotillard won an Oscar (a first for an actress in a French language film) for her portrayal of the singer Édith Piaf in this biopic, which takes its name from one of Piaf’s most famous songs.
The film recaps the main events in Piaf’s life, from her childhood in Paris and her early success as a singer to her meeting with Marcel Cerdan, who would later become her lover all the way to the events leading up to and surrounding her death.
11. Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre
The most successful of all of the Astérix and Obélix films to date, this story was adapted from the comic Astérix et Cléopâtre by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. Astérix and Obélix are transported to Ancient Egypt for this adventure. Along with their friend Panoramix, they are asked to help the architect Numérobis with the seemingly impossible task of building a huge palace in the middle of the desert in three months.
12. Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis
Directed by French actor and comedian Dany Boon, who is himself a Ch’ti (someone who lives or comes from the area around Calais), this comedy follows post office manager Philippe (Kad Merad) as he’s transferred from his job in the south of France to Bergues, in the far north. His friends and family warn him that the north is freezing and inhospitable and, when he gets there, he’s unable to make head or tail of the Ch’ti dialiect. Will he live to regret his move?
What about you?
What are some French native materials you’ve used to up your ability in the language?
We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
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The post 10+ French Books, Songs, TV Shows, and Films to Improve Your French Language Skills appeared first on Eurolinguiste.
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