Music from Azerbaijan

Last week I was at a concert of traditional Azerbaijani music. It took place at 'Cicha Kuna' in Poznań. I went there out of curiosity, without knowing anything about Azerbaijan and it's music. I guess I expected to hear some oriental sounds and see some unknown instruments, but most of the songs were played only on 3 instruments: violin, guitar and drums. In the end I was surprised how simple and beautiful the music was and I warmly recommend you to listen to some of the songs, although it was much more pleasant to listen to the music live :)

 

A woman from Australia makes dolls more child-friendly

Don't you think that Barbie dolls look unnatural? They usually are very slim and have vivid make-up. Apparently a lot of people, especially parents of girls who play with such dolls, are not fond of the provocative-looking Barbies. 

An Australian scientist and mother of a girl started to collect old dolls, remove their make-up and paint them natural-looking faces. She also made them new, more wearable clothes. One day the woman put a picture of her dolls on facebook and it went viral. Suddenly she got requests from people who wanted to buy such a doll, which was totally unexpected to her. Apparently a lot of girls would prefer to play with dolls which look more human.

I wish there were such 'girl next door' dolls when I was a child. Hopefully this initiative will be noticed by toy companies and future generations will have the opportunity to play with dolls which look like normal girls or women. What do you think of the remade dolls?

Alarming things going on in men's fashion...

... or more precisely on men's heads.
Some time ago one of my friends remarked that more and more young men are wearing a particular hairstyle. She called it the Genghis Khan look. We had a fervent discussion about it and I'm still wondering how this hairstyle could become so popular in our country. For those who don't know how the Genghis Khan style looks like: the lower part of the head is shaved and on the top of the head there's hair which is long enough to make a bun. 
After some research I found out that the mentioned hairstyle has been trendy for quite a long time and worn by celebrities like Colin Farrell or Jared Leto. It even has an official name: mun, which comes from 'man bun'. It is also known as top knot.
Some people love this style, others hate it. But one thing is sure: you can't have a neutral attitude towards the so called mun. 
If you want to know more about the man bun click here. 

 

The perfect hobby

Do you sometimes feel stressed and powerless? Are you worried about your posture (maybe you spend most of your time sitting in lecture rooms or in front of the computer)? Or maybe you're just bored? A remedy for all of the mentioned problems (and many more) might be physical activity. But the question is: which kind of exercise will be the best? Especially if you don't enjoy sports which involve chasing a ball, or don't want to spend a fortune on expensive equipment. Given the fact that I'm the kind of person who doesn't enjoy sweating, initially my favourite sport was swimming. But there is something which I find even more enjoyable: yoga. 

Actually I'm not sure if it can be qualified as sport, but bearing in mind that it made me discover muscles which I wasn't aware I had, it's definitely good exercise. Usually people think that yoga is just for those who have a flexible body and can sit motionless and meditate for hours, but the truth is: everyone can do it. The aim of yoga is not only to make your body more flexible, it also gives you strength. Working with the body also has beneficial effects on the mind, after a month of regular practice you will find it easier to cope with stress and negative emotions. 

Now the question is: which kind of yoga should you choose? For beginners I'd recommend hatha yoga, which is the most common branch of yoga in Poland. For those who like a more dynamic practice vinyasa yoga would be the right choice. If you want to work on your posture and prefer precision rather than fast movements you will enjoy Iyengar yoga. If you don't mind sweating and need something more challenging - ashtanga yoga will be just perfect for you.

If all that hasn't inspired you yet, maybe you should take a look at this.

How travelling can change you

There are many circumstances which can be life-changing. Graduating from school or University, finding a new job, falling in love - just to name a few. One of these situations is spending a longer period of time abroad.

I wasn't aware of this until I returned to Poland after a semester abroad. Spending almost half a year in Romania together with other Erasmus-students from all over Europe made me change some of my habits, learn a lot of things and overcome stereotypes… or at least some of them (because there are stereotypes with a lot of truth in them: it’s impossible to stop an Italian from gesticulating, Spanish people are really noisy and Czechs drink more beer than other nationalities).

The first days back home weren’t easy. Nothing seemed to have changed here, but at the same time everything felt totally different. Fortunately recently I came across some articles and videos, which made me realise that I’m not the only person who experienced such a feeling. Now it's time to continue my old life as a new version of me. 

Did you ever have a similar experience?