When I came across an article about a glossary of positive emotions in the New Yorker, the idea was far from new to me. But this important quote is worth rethinking: Lomas has noted several interesting patterns. A handful of Northern European languages, for instance, have terms that describe a sort of existential coziness. The words—koselig (Norwegian), mysa (Swedish), hygge …
Open day at Kaunas mosque
The community of Kaunas mosque provided an opportunity for anyone interested to go inside the unique Tatar mosque of Kaunas, to see a Muslim prayer, look around and enjoy food from various countries and cultures. The mosque has become an important contact point for old and new Muslim communities, the latter consisting of foreign students, workers, spouses of Lithuanians, expats …
Cyprus impressions: ancient ruins at your fingertips
As my travel companion Ugnė wrote (in Lithuanian), Cyprus is rich in well-preserved and accessible ruins, particularly in Famagusta, which she calls the capital of antique ruins. As I wrote in my , people interact with objects in a very direct and laid-back way. Sterility of museums seems to be alien to the local culture. There are museums, of course, …
Cyprus reflections: a Middle Eastern collage
I continue blogging about my recent trip to Cyprus: all posts can be found . This post is inspired by my considerations as to where to put Cyprus on my . It’s beyond geographical Europe, but South Cyprus is in the EU, so I categorized it as Europe. Still, traveling there made me think about the position of Cyprus in …
Cyprus reflections: relating to objects
The trip to Cyprus was long and adventurous enough to prompt all kinds of thoughts. But before I start describing specific places visited, I am planning to write a few posts on general observations from both sides, the North and the South. One of the observations I made during the trip is about how people relate to where their stuff …
New trends at school
A conversation among five teenagers, overheard at a cafe today: “She told us not to cheat during the test. Everyone googled, but we couldn’t find the answers on Google, and the highest grade in class was 6 [out of 10].” Smartphones surely brought new ways of cheating in tests, and teachers need to adapt accordingly. In many ways this trend …
Anti-violence protection – an issue confined to bedroom and shower?
[The original of this article was published in Delfi. It was translated for public procurement purposes. All rights belong to Delfi.] Half-truth is worse than an open lie. Unfortunately, it is namely the half-truths that are used to juxtapose the Council of Europe Convention on preventing violence against women, family violence prevention and combat, with the widely-discussed Gender Loops programme …
Winter goes on
… But I won’t complain that it’s cold and boring. I’ll try to believe that it’s beautiful and it will soon get better.
Translating between regular language and economics
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 …
Men – between nature and prohibitions
[The original of this article was published in Delfi. It was translated for public procurement purposes. All rights belong to Delfi.] Manliness is natural but so fragile that a little equality ideology or a babe in arms can disrupt it like a house of cards. Such conclusion can be made after listening to the defenders of normative manliness. On one …