Raymond Maufrais

Recently I've been trying to find some time to read something else than French classics. A friend of mine told me about a book called "Zielone piekło". It is based on a notebook of Raymond Maufrais - a man who had decided to go to Brazil to discover American Indian tribes in Mato Grosso when he was 19. Three years later he set off on a lonely journey through Guyana jungle and he never came back from it. He left his camp and notes on the banks of Tamouri river and that's how we know what was happening to him before his disappearance.

Raymond Maufrais was born in 1926 in Toulon, France. In 1946 he decided to go to Rio de Janeiro where one evening he bet one of his friends that he'll go to the unexplored area of central Brazil. With a lot of luck and help, he achieved his goal. He made notes throughout this journey; he described the ups and downs, the people he met - the prospectors of gold who spends their lifetimes hoping to find yellow glint in the bottom of their pan, a lot of people of questionable morals.

His next journey was supposed to end in the city of Belem but Raymond never got there. When he was leaving, his father promised him that if he's not back in 6 month, he'll look him. After finding out that his son is indeed missing, Edgar Maufrais did everything he could to find him. He traversed Amazon looking for the smallest trace of a white man, unfortunately in vain.

Armed to the (milk) teeth

In 2010 the number of American kids under 18 who died from gunshot wounds was 1,337. The number of American kids and teens under age 20 who were hospitalized from firearm injuries was 7,391. That means that on average a child or teen is shot almost every hour.

Even though this numbers are terrifying, Americans not only keep on having guns in the home but they also produce little rifles for children. A company in Pensylvania called Keystone Sporting Armes produced in 2008 thousands of rifles in bright colours and advertised them as "My First Rifle". At first sight they look like toys but they do contain little bullets that are able to kill a child. Last year a five-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his two-year-old sister while playing with one these "toys". The photographer An-Sofie Kesteleyn made a series of portaits that present American kids with their first little guns. I have to say it is quite shocking looking at a 8 year old girl holding a pink rifle that could potentially kill someone. Luckily, I am not the only one who thinks that guns in homes shouldn't be accepted. 

Boyhood

Few days ago I saw a trailer of a movie that I just can't wait to see. It's called "Boyhood" and it tells a story of a boy named Mason as he grows. Whats's so extraordinary about this movie is the fact that it's been filmed over 12 years with the same cast. 6 years old and 18 years old Mason are the same person.

In May 2002 the director of a movie and screenwriter Richard Linklater had decided to do something he has always wanted -  tell the story of a parent-child relationship that follows a boy from the first through the 12th grade and ends with him going off to college. 12 years later, in January 2014 his project "Boyhood" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. 

As I'm the same age as Ellar Coltrane (Mason) is, I think it will be fascinating to watch him growing up and changing, becouse I'll probably be able to indentify with his story with one way or another. Even though for a lot of people this movie may seem too long, too slow and too boring I have a feeling that it will be a beautiful timelapse of a young boy's life.

Handball

I'm not a big fan of any sport but one thing I genuinely like to watch is handball. It's one of the most exciting sports I've ever watched! It's fast, dynamic, and what's more important - it's high scoring. It's really good to know that your team will always score at least one goal. Many fans, especially those who somehow enjoy watching our football players in action, don't have that comfort.

Anyway, few days ago our handball team participated in Man's EHF European Handball Championship. Unfortunately they didn't make it through semifinals, they lost to Iceland 27:28 and finished this tournament on 6th position. But despite their defeat, they proved that they never give up, that they fight to the last second. Literally to the last second. I remember when in 2009 with just a few seconds left Artur Siódmiak scored a goal that qualified us to semifinal. Or just a few days ago during our match with Belarus when with 8 seconds left Jurkiewicz scored a winnig goal. I don't think that there was a single person that wouldn't be having a heart attack watching this game. Even players themselves said that they would be a perfect cast in one of the Hitchcock's movies.

I'm really glad that handball becomes really popular at least in Europe. Thanks to people like Bogdan Wenta, former coach of our team who is a living legend and extremely charismatic person more and more Polish people get interested in this sport. In 2016 European Championship will be organised in our country and I think it will be a great opportunity for everybody who's not into handball to give this sport a chance.

Christmas movies

My two favourite Christmas movies of all time are "Love actually" and "Holiday". They are both entertaining and sweet, perfect for a cold evening.

First movie - "Love actually" tells us 10 different love stories. There's Mark who is pathetically in love with his best friend's wife, Harry who seems to be happily married but is starting to get attracted to his co-worker or Daniel who's trying to help his stepson get an attention from the most popular girl in school. As we get to know all of the characters, we can see that some of them are related to each other in some way which makes it even more interesting. This movie is about all differents kinds of love, it can make you laugh, but even tough it is a romantic comedy, some of the stories may really touch us and show us how bittersweet and complicated human relations can be.

My second favourite Christmas movie is "Holiday". Even though Christmas isn't very important topic in this movie, this is still my every year must-watch. It tells a story of two girls - Amanda and Iris, who decided to swap houses for Christmas in order to get some rest and forget about their problems. It turned out that this short change of houses helped them change their lives - of course for the better. This movie is an absolute perfection - it has great actors, sweet and funny storyline, incredible music composed by Hans Zimmer. Even backround plots such as the story of an old, legendary and eccentric scriptwriter Arthur are very memorable.

Why did you buy me that?

With Christmas approaching we are all looking for a perfect Christmas gifts for our friends and family. When I was a child, it was simple - I didn't have to buy any special presents for anybody - I was the one who received them. Now it's not that easy. As much as I love giving gifts and make others happy, very often I have absolutely no idea what to buy. Usually there are so many things in shops that I'd love to buy for me or for my family, but it seems like with the end of November everything interesting suddenly disappears. But I'm not the only one who has this problem. From time to time every one of us have a lot of troubles choosing the best present. And everybody has gotten a really bad gift at some point. There's even a site where you can submit a photo and a brief story about this kind of gift - it's called whydidyoubuymethat.com. Some of the things presented on that site are funny, some of them are just really weird, but they all show how difficult it is to buy and sometimes even to receive a gift.

It's tea o'clock

In the East Asian cultural sphere tea is very important part of people's everyday life. Making tea is considered an art and is called Tea ceremony. But it's not just about special sets of rituals and gestures - researchers are discovering many health benefits of different types of teas.

Here's a short list of some of the reasons why you shoud start drinking tea:
-black tea: may protect lungs from damage caused by exposure to cigarette smoke and reduce the risk of stroke
-green tea: helps you loose weight by boosting your metabolism, contains an antioxidant known as polyphenols which helps you fight against aging and promotes longevity
-white tea: protects against cancer, heart disease, and stroke, helps you lower your blood pressure