When I posted these on my Facebook, Nabeelah suggested that I write something for 'Tower of Babel'. The column is welcome to repost this. You can comment the entry on DaivaRepeckaite.com

Have you ever noticed that the best compliment students give their professors is something along these lines: “S/he is capable of explaining complicated things in such a simple manner”? Teaching and research, as well as the media, is often about translation: from specific to abstract, from sound/view to words, from one culture to another. And some scientists work very hard to translate everyday language to the language they share with their colleagues.

Cross-posted from DaivaRepeckaite.com - feel free to comment the post there!

Malaga, in South Spain, on the Mediterranean cost, turns out to be a particularly attractive place to settle for all kinds of people, especially Germans looking for a nice place to retire. But, according to my friend there, people from all over Spain say they would choose it as a place to live. It was the first city I visited in Spain, and I think I know now why Spain appeals to so many people in my life. Malaga has it all: the sea and mountains, cultural life and comfortable, walkable city spaces.

Let It Be Night is an annual festival in Vilnius (see post two years ago). It brings together professional and amateur artists to perform at night. Most of the events are free of charge, and many happen outside. The idea is to make Vilnius more of a night city, which it is not. The festival takes place in June, just before academic year fully finishes. This year more than 100 events were promised, with theatres joining in to an unprecedented extent. The whole programme sounded very promising, and, despite the short rain, many people took the advantage to spend the night in the city centre. The Lithuanian media noticed both the success of some events, drawing large numbers of people, and much less success to provide adequate security.

Are Babel Blogs back to life?

Blogging on http://www.daivarepeckaite.com/category/english/ meanwhile

I know that Paris is the city that so many people have either visited or seen in films, so if I simply describe what I saw there, I doubt if those of you who read this blog on Google Reader or similar will click on the link. However, there are many angles to look at Paris, and, interestingly enough, its not-so-touristic objects are much prettier and more interesting than those we know of. One interesting thing I noticed was that Paris gives you an impression of being eclectic and artsy, while in fact it is built and kept up in precise order and follows a set of rules. We have already talked about overplanned urban spaces, remember? I guess the key to the success that Paris demonstrates in avoiding something like this is the fact that it is so old, and its shapes have developed and been tested over time.

A fellow blogger from Israel, Dimi Reider, recently publicised a shocking story, presumably from Tel Aviv, about a shocking case of humiliation, rape and incitement to violence. The victim is a young, recently-arrived Czech student in Israel. The suspect is a local who recently took courses at a 'pick-up school'. He boasts on the forum of raping the student so that there are no signs of violence on her body (in case she decided to turn to the police). The steps he has learned at the 'school' are aggressive pick-up strategy, crushing the victim's self-confidence, exploiting the local-foreigner differences, and using the humiliating approximation while the victim is still in shock. I join fellow bloggers and Israeli activists who demand not only that the suspect goes to court, but would also add that such a school must be closed.

While this particular case may be extreme, the pattern is not so uncommon, so I hurry to provide some tips for young women who are planning to or have recently arrived in Israel.

I wanted to write a blog post about the classical Christmas songs that have been 'translated' and appropriated by Lithuanian singers in the 90s. But I couldn't find some of them on youtube. Please send them along if you have them. One is certainly here: the original, the copy. Also this one: the original, the copy.

Well, at least no copyright legislation will ever forbid translating 'Silent Night'.

One day as I was on the way to my office with my flatmate, a bus, navigating through a traffic jam, suddenly hit the brakes, having most people grab anything they could hold onto. One passenger (approx. in her 60s) did not do it in time. She flew towards the front of the bus, lost her balance and hit the glass. Someone helped her to stand up and sit on a seat. She was sitting there, holding her head, moaning, and people were watching what will happen next.

This is something I dislike most about the local culture. The "see what happens" attitude does not allow more effective handling of minor crimes that happen on public transport. People get pickpocketed, sometimes when it's crowded, but often because everyone is afraid to say something (you never know if the pickpocket has a knife, so these fears are not ungrounded). Insults often get unnoticed (here are some insults that an American student experienced in Vilnius). There have been cases of someone being stabbed to death in public transport - other passengers did not do anything while the fight was escalating.

In this case, again, the injured passenger was obviously alive, she did not lose her consciousness, so perhaps it didn't alarm other passengers too much. Me and my flatmate, after some discussion what would be the best way to call her an ambulance, went to her and I asked how she was (in Lithuanian). She responded (in Russian) that she hadn't had a blackout and was not feeling sick, so she didn't think she got a concussion, but was experiencing terrible pain. I turned to the driver and knocked on the glass separating him from the passengers. "Do you have a first aid kit?" I asked, mostly because I was stressed and worried - typically first aid kits are designed to treat wounds only. The driver made a gesture asking me to wait, and pulled over in the next stop. Then he went to the passenger area and straight to the suffering woman. "Show it to me... Oh, this is nothing." he said (there was really no wound), and then raised his voice to speak to other passengers, "You saw it themselves - I didn't stop the bus too fast. Nobody else fell down. You witnessed that, right?" "Sir, you will discuss it later, she needs help," I said, desperately. The driver repeated to me (in Russian) what he said to the passengers. "This person needs help! Can't you leave your discussions for later?" I shouted in Russian, already getting furious. Meanwhile, another passenger, who was getting off the bus, said, "You did stop the bus too fast. You don't behave with people that way!" The driver got into a discussion with her, trying to prove he was not to blame, and then.. got back to his seat.

Meanwhile the injured woman called her family and made sure they will pick her up at a bus stop. She didn't want to go to hospital. So we got off where we had to go, with an uneasy feeling. Of course, the whole story did not end as bad as it could have. I heard stories of people falling on top of each other and someone breaking their leg on a bus, and my own shoulder was dislocated when a bus stopped very suddenly in a traffic jam. I bet in countries where driving is even crazier it happens more often. But what struck me was this egoism, when the driver first hurried to gather witnesses and prove it was not his fault before even paying attention to the suffering of the passenger.

You may ask, how is it that I'm not used to nobody ever being responsible for anything?

You will not believe it, but a week ago was the first time I flew Ryanair, the cheap Irish airline whose brand is known as widely as Coca Cola in Lithuania. Cheap airlines, like it or loathe it, represents a change in culture. Flying is no longer luxury, which is not because airlines are kind and benevolent, but because the growing migrant and otherwise mobile classes have created a new opportunity structure for businesses. Some say that Ryanair is planning to earn solely on secondary products and advertising, making flights themselves almost free (my outbound flight cost 5 EUR, but the card fee was twice higher). On the way back, I had a chance to experience contacts with the 'new' travelling Lithuanians, who are so often mocked at by various bloggers and writers. Not only that, I had a chance to look into something that is also a part of the routine for frequent travellers in cheap airlines - inconvenient airports and unfriendly staff. The whole thing was very interesting.