Replies: 14 Comments
on Sunday, March 22nd, Unterhaltung said
Hi there,
I'm sitting in Germany - end of winter and passing time. That video is quite a trip and very entertaining. Also it gave me some Ideas for my coming up show. Very creative stuff
Greetings from Chris
on Monday, February 16th, Ellen said
Olga- I DO agree with you. Certainly close/good friends survive time, space, etc. I was referring to the many friends we have throughout our lives due to circumstance. For example school friends. I am in touch with a high school friend and two college friends, but there were so many others whom I just could not keep up with. I also had many neighborhood friends when my kids were small. Some of those people moved away, are too busy now or have different focuses than I. I simply meant that as you get older, there are so many aspects to one's life that time limits social contacts or friends.
on Monday, February 16th, olga said
>Re friendships: few survive these days because there is little time.
Ellen, real friends survive and time and silence.
I could be wrong saying this, but this is how I think.
on Saturday, February 14th, Ellen said
I saw the video on U Tube: "Cubicle" and thought it brilliant! What a concept! You will notice people reaching out to each other in a public place if something catches their eye. In the train stations of NY, in Times Square, in the airport, if there is an unusual event or set up or a TV with a breaking news story, people will seek each other out in commonality of feelings.
Re friendships: few survive these days because there is little time. I keep lists of phone numbers in my car to call friends once in a while. It is a tribute to my Dad's old WWII army friend that he still calls me on holidays and occasions even though my Dad passed away years ago. A thread of life and the past remains unbroken. It is a wonderful link to my Father that his friend makes the effort!
on Saturday, February 14th, olga said
Dear Andrew,
Friends and socialize is a little bit different things for me. I can have friends but not much time and possibilities to socialize with the. I try keep in touch through phone or e-mail. At work, I have friends - therefore I still have salary:). We don't have much time to socialize either, but we always ready to support each other as much as we can.
Once in week our friends come to us for dinner. Sometimes I cook, sometimes we buy food out.
on Saturday, February 14th, Andrew said
Moscow and St. Petersburg...I remember them well. Drinking Vodka out of a bottle in your coat while ice skating in Gorky park...playing pool with Vladimir Presniakov in the Bondarchuk's bar...getting stopped by Russian policemen for drunken driving who were so drunk themselves they could barely stand up, much less hold their Kalashnikovs...but they sure could hold my twenty dollar bill...yes, we're pretty much the same the world over, Olga, and we use the same tools, one of which might be the cubicle! Those policemen were MUCH more sociable than any I've met in the US, on the job here State Troopers are as social as Mr. Spock. Office romance, a variation of social activity, perhaps a deviation, it could so easily take place in a bar, but easier still where you have endless chances, and there are no drinks to throw in your face!
Americans spend more time working than people in most countries. In Italy, for example, they can't wait to leave work to go socialize! Americans there are so uncomfortable relaxing, like it's something they've never done before...most calm down after a week or so, or after a few glasses of wine. That is, unless they've scheduled an intense week of activity, to see but not to enter, to tell people at the office where they were, but not to experience those places.
Do you have any friends from work? I speak from the voice of inexperience, because I don't really have a job, and I haven't for such a long time...
on Friday, February 13th, findigart said
TO// bm
Well, I don't think that sarcasm contradicts honesty... But anyhow, surely only Jeffrey knows for sure what was behind those words :-)
on Friday, February 13th, Olga said
Just a funny thought:
What if, instead of your cubicle, Jeffrey, your install a smoking room. I think the effect will be much more pronounced:). Plus you can get money from the sponsor, Marlboro Inc. or other tobacco company, for instance.
on Friday, February 13th, bm said
Olga hits the nail on the head. Well said.
@findigart - I read Jeffery's commment more as a sarcastic one with, pehaps, some honesty behind it.
on Thursday, February 12th, olga said
Andrew! My main point is that western cultures are not much different from eastern in sense of socializing. I leave "much" because some cultures needs different "tools" for this. Russian "tool", for instance, is vodka and other alcohol.
on Thursday, February 12th, Andrew said
Olga, I have to differ with you, and support Jeffrey's theory. It seems from what I've seen, and certainly it hasn't been everything, that relationships develop as long as there's a reason for them to. That reason is often work. On my most recent trip, I stopped off in Alabama to clean a statue I had done in 1986. I made a great friendship on that trip, but what made it happen was that I had a work related reason to be there. As the process unfolded, and as we worked together, we shared a friendship, but I noticed that as soon as the job was over, it seemed like it was going to take a lot more work and effort to hold on to it.
If you have a role, a job, a cubicle, then something larger than yourselves is in the picture, which you're a part of. It seems almost sinful not to relax and enjoy yourself within that context. What might be a nice conversation and elicit a smile in the workplace might lead nowhere on a bus or plane where you know you won't ever have to deal with that person again. I feel this is an ill of our times, not a blessing, and never want to have to let any workplace make the choice for me, of who my friends are going to be.
on Thursday, February 12th, findigart said
TO// Jeffery
"Then perhaps it is only ME that has trouble socializing without the pretense of furthering my career..."
Great, I like the insightful honesty.
on Thursday, February 12th, Jeffrey said
Then perhaps it is only ME that has trouble socializing without the pretense of furthering my career...
on Thursday, February 12th, olga said
Very questionable theory, that people have difficulty socializing in western cultures unless it is work related. I've spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe, Western Europe and USA and never came to this conclusion. One can find socializing and non-socializing people in every culture, depends on your attitude.
As for the blog, thanks - I did not know about Madafah. Very convenient! You just need to keep one room in order, Madafah!
Traditional Palestinian houses have a separate room that is reserved for entertaining guests. This room is called the Madafah and is an addition to the main house. People entering the Madafah are at ease and in the mood for socializing. There are props in the Madafah that contribute to this phenomenon, namely a Mihbaj which serves as both a coffee grinder and percussion instrument, while the host completes the Mise-en-scène.
