Blog
From the Summits to the Sea…
As promised here is a photograph I took of one of the Kalashi children last week. The clothes she is wearing are ‘normal’ attire; I can’t imagine what they wear at wedding or birthday celebrations! If you look closely you can see the intricate embroidery in the cap which is adorned with shells, despite the…
Read MoreEnjoy the Ride
It’s been a few days since I’ve blogged, and life has not been dull in the interim. It is sad to think my scholarship will come to an end in approximately two weeks, but I intend to make the most of the time remaining, and develop myself as much as possible. Even at this stage…
Read MoreOceans Full of Words…
I am now almost in the final week of my John Speak scholarship. I have been enjoying reading in Urdu a lot of late, perusing literally anything I can get my hands on (discarded flyers, road signs, food packaging…you name it). I find reading in any language a very empowering experience. Often I read something…
Read MoreEdward Mortimer – Final Case Study
My John Speak Scholarship took me to Pakistan for a period of ten months to perfect my command of the Urdu language; widely accepted as the lingua franca of the Indian Subcontinent, a rich blend of Persian, Arabic and Turkish vocabulary with a Hindi grammatical base. Much like the English we speak today it could…
Read MoreAbril en Madrid
Abril en Madrid , sin duda marcó el inicio de la primavera , ¡por fin! También se inició una serie de fiestas de la comunidad de Madrid, que me han permitido viajar y conocer Barcelona. Desde Navidad han sido unos meses muy intensos desde el punto de vista del trabajo con el re- lanzamiento de…
Read MoreAllianz Arena
The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany with a 69,901 seating capacity. Widely known for its exterior of inflated ETFE plastic panels, it is the first stadium in the world with a full color-changing color exterior. Located at 25 Werner-Heisenberg-Allee at the northern edge of Munich’s Schwabing-Freimann borough on the Fröttmaning…
Read MoreSchloss Nymphenburg, Munich, Germany
The palace itself is quite opulent and beautiful. When you walk into the main room upon beginning the tour, you will be amazed at the over-the-top decorations – cherubs, cherubs, everywhere!
Read MoreSchloss Nymphenburg Castle and Grounds, Munich, Germany
The palace is beautiful both outside and inside. A visit to the gardens in the summer is a must in Munich. They are beautiful and a nice and quite spot just outside the city centre.
Read MoreIt’s All Relative…
As I sat down to write I began to think about how the meaning of the word ‘family’ here in Pakistan (and in South Asian culture in general) is rather different from how it is defined in the West. In Pakistan, if your third-cousin once removed is getting married to a girl from the same…
Read MoreMaking Myself At Home
I visited the house of a friend this evening, and whilst I was there one or two other visits came and went. In an off-the-cuff way I commented that the house seemed to have quite a few visitors that evening. They looked at me strangely at first, afterwards explaining that tonight is unusually quiet, it…
Read MoreA Waiting Game
I have been thinking that you can tell a lot about a culture by looking at the way people queue (or don’t as the case may be!). I was in the bank today to take out some of my penultimate scholarship instalment, and everyone waiting to be served was standing in little groups around each…
Read MoreThe Spice of Life
I was invited by a family to lunch today, and I had a wonderful time. They made ‘peeka’ food in my honour. ‘peeka’ means ‘tasteless’ and is used by Pakistanis to refer to food that doesn’t have any spices in it! I really enjoyed the food; I just hope they didn’t mind it too much.…
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