the whole world in my hands

took this one a while ago... such a beautiful sunset:

a happy, crazy, laughing farewell

one of the challenges of being here, and something that one simply has to get used to, is people leaving. all the time. last week I went to the airport to drop off a friend, and this week again. but this time it was different... we had fun. lots of fun.

as we reached the airport, we decided to go to McD, grab a bite, hook up his laptop and watch some football. he goes to check in, after about 30 mins I get a call from him - they're going to check through all his handluggage and carry-ons and stuff. so we pack it down, go there and while they're going through all his stuff, we're just standing talking to each other and laughing all the time. they must've thought that we're rather crazy, instead of worrying about what's going on we're just cracking up and having fun. somewhere halfways through all this checking his mom calls to make sure everything's okay, and he hands over the phone to me, having me relay what they're saying to each other. it turned quite interesting when he had to walk away to have his shoes, clothes, belt and stuff checked... I kept on talking :)

the best was yet to come though... since they were going to escort him through the security and everything, there was always a security girl with us, to make sure I didn't give him anything that they hadn't checked. so as we're going to say good bye, he wants to make sure that it's okay for us to hug and say good bye. how he asked could perhaps have been put a bit better though: he turns to the security girl and asks "are we allowed to touch each other?"

at this point, all three of us simply cracked up... I turned around and walked back a few meters, he doubled over, and the security girl was laughing quite a lot too. she gave permission, we hugged, and also asked her to take a picture of us:

as I left, I was smiling and laughing... have never had a better good bye!

there is someone there

took this picture a while ago... I really like it, with someone praying in the corner, the focus on the flowers, though dark, and the Shrine lit up.

sliver of silver

managed to capture this just as I was heading out of the office... a lucky shot? perhaps, but it's still all about being there :)

in memory of shamim

today would've been shamim's 31st birthday (see my post from last year). since I couldn't make it to the one in sweden, yesterday evening we had a small devotional for him at home. it was really nice to be able to be here and say prayers for him. later on in the evening I also went up to the Shrine to say a few prayers for him there too.

this is me and him, almost four years ago now:


shamim, you will always be with us.

does anyone read this anymore?

- knock, knock
- who's there?
- ...
- who's there?
- ...

yeah, that pretty much sums up my blog in the past week or two... there's been a hectic amount of things going on at the same time, and there's not really all that much time to sum it all up. I turned 25 (!) last tuesday, my parents came the same evening, and there hasn't really been all that much spare time since. I've been here and there, doing this and that, and I think there's going to be even more coming up.

in true borna-style though, here's a picture from last monday evening. I took this picture after a small birthday dinner we had, and then walked down the terraces and chatted for about an hour:

pilgrims finally coming tomorrow! yay!

kabuki quantum fighter

bye nine five two

about a month ago, we got up early in the morning, to walk up the terraces. one of us was leaving, two of us wanted to say a last good bye. we met up at terrace 15 at 5.30, walked up to the top, said prayers and enjoyed each other's company. watching the sunset was really amazing, and we took some really beautiful pictures. this is not the most beautiful one, but it is still a favorite:

and here's a really beautiful picture of her:

we miss you maryam...

click here for the album.

sneaking up behind the trees

not everything looks better in black and white

lighting leads the way

flickr

so here we go... I got around to it, created an account, and uploaded my first picture yesterday:


the title? flowers make me tingle. I think I'll be keeping it up with weird titles. this is from the sunrise on tuesday morning at terrace 19. I absolutely love it. more pics will be coming up, but here is the link at least!

pilgrims are gone

this group was the last pilgrim group for this season. now it will again be a bit empty over the summer (although it's been very hot for two months or so). it's special to have pilgrims coming here, they bring so much joy and happiness, and I'm really looking forward to them coming back, as I have quite many close friends in the first few groups coming.

here's a picture from sunday morning. a friend of mine was on his last shift, so I got up a bit earlier to hang out with him for a while:


I really like the bright blue colors of the sky early in the morning. it was a really beautiful sunset as well, but unfortunately I wasn't able to take any good shots, was busy eating breakfast :)

marvellous pictures

I can't help but marvel at the pictures one can take... my recent favorites are from the fountains on terrace 9:




it's almost impossible to fail... see the new album here.

quadruple-Bahji, chill evening, finished book

it's been a while since I wrote anything here... mostly because there hasn't been much interesting to share, and I'm not really in the mood to do too much thinking either, it seems.

but the weekend produced a series of experiences in Bahji that I will remember for a long time. on friday afternoon I got to go out there and spend some time in the Shrine, something that I very much needed. since most people work on thursday afternoons, I got to be more or less by myself. it is quite amazing to be able to experience that, and a memory that will stay with me for a long time. here's a shot from that afternoon:



the next day we had youth prayers out there. this is a time when nine people are selected to say prayers out loud in the Shrines, with all the youth inside too. just as there's a special feeling of being alone inside, there's also something special about being so many youth inside, all praying together and it's a great bounty to be able to be a part of it.

a few hours later, I volunteered in security, out in Bahji again. being around the Shrines at night, with absolutely no one else around is indescribable. standing just outside at 1.30 taking pictures is... quite something else:


the shift was nice and calm, which felt kinda nice. nothing too much to worry about :) and here's a shot from quite early in the morning:


after the shift, I took a shower and went for dawn prayers. although I didn't have much time, it was another special moment. and the end to a weekend that I will long remember.


although that wasn't it, I also managed to get my hair done:


finally got the corn rows I wanted. soon it's time to cut ;)


with such a hectic weekend coming to a close, and the other evenings being quite filled up, I decided to take a very chill evening yesterday. I went home after work, my flatmates were just on their way out, so no one else was home. as I had gotten a few books, I decided to finish one of them, in praise of slowness. somewhere in between I cooked and ate, while reading about 150 pages or so. the book in itself presents an interesting concept, slowing down in a society of ever-increasing speed, but in my opinion doesn't present too good of a case for it. I found it to be a bit too much general stuff and facts for each section (food, work, studying, sex, raising children, etc) with a bit of a personal story, but that's it. some of the suggestions and tips require way too much money, whereas others are more or less common sense. I like the concept in itself, and have taken a bit of a more control of how much and what I do, the book left a bit more to wish for.

all in all, quite some hectic times :)

always ze germans

it seems my last week has been full of activities related to germany and the germans. first of all, a very close friend left last thursday:


so I tried to spend as much time as possible with and for her - arranging for her farewell, going to the airport, etc. we prepared a nice slideshow, watched the euro semifinals (so close turkey!) together, and had quite a fair amount of fun. I was obviously (?) rooting for turkey, which didn't make her all too happy, but germany won in the end, so it was good. me and another friend also resorted to calling each other up screaming "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" and then instantly hanging up when turkey (me) or germany (him) scored. good fun. finally on thursday a bunch of us went to the airport with her to say good bye. she will definitely be missed.

and then there was obviously the finals last night, and once again I was on the other side of the german fence. we were quite a group of people, and there were some cheering for spain, others for germany, and it was quite a nice atmosphere. and I must say it got all the better thanks to spain winning. although a word of thought must go out to michael ballack, whom I can't feel more than sorry for. he if anyone understands what it means to be close, but not really there. just look at his 2002 and 2006:
2002: runner up in the world cup (suspended in the final due to getting his second yellow card in the semifinal), champions league, bundesliga (on the very last day), german cup.
2008: runner up in the european championships (played the final half-injured), champions league (on penalties - the last one hit the inside of the post), premier league (again, on the last day), league cup.
on top of that, he finished 3rd in the world cup 2006 (lost the semifinal in extra time) and runner up in the premier league 2007. ouch.

observation shot

took this shot last week, from the observation point, looking out at the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh:


I like it. in other news, not a single cloud in the sky today. I like that too.

it's been a while

things have been a bit busy here as of lately... with my brother and other visitors being here, pilgrims, and a lot of work to take care of there's been little time for much else. right now I tried to plan a few things wih another friend, and it turned out that basically the upcoming two weeks it won't be possible to meet up, which seems kind of weird. whenever one of us is available, the other one is not. and then there of course are a lot of people leaving, all the time...

last week we commemorated the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, and it was a very special feeling of being out there at 3 am at night, as that was when He passed away. we got the opportunity of going into the room where He passed away, and offer our prayers and supplications there. it was a very nice atmosphere and a spiritual feeling.

between the visit to His room and the commemoration, we went into town to have some food, and also took a few pictures. I think this is the one that turned out best:



in other news, euro 2008 is coming up. it's going to be slightly exciting (not exactly sure which games I'm looking forward to), and a bit of a test of my detachment. in usual cases, I'd pretty much be glued to the tv for every single game, but now I have to decide which ones are important to me, and obviously there'll be classes and other talks as well to think about and prioritize. we'll see how it turns out, but there'll obviously be some games that I will try my very best not to miss - sweden for sure, hopefully I'll be able to see spain, italy and portugal play (they usually play fun and good football), and obviously as we'll get further on in the tournament I'll see more of the games. other than that, we'll see how it goes...

proof: the grass *is* greener on the other side!

took this picture outside today, and I guess this is the final proof that the grass actually is greener on the other side:


;)

it's not sunday...

... but here's my pic of the week anyways: