Life After the Holidays

There is a creativity boom in our home at the moment and a full-packed schedule of activities, charted nicely into a timetable and attached on the fridge with magnets.

I had my first Hindi lesson this week and spent a few hours practising this exciting new script. I tried to make it feel less of a first-grade exercise, and more of a linguistics transcription project followed by a phonology lesson, where funny sounds came out my mouth and yeah, I finally used the IPA something I hadn’t really done since I was a UCL postgrad student.

I am also keeping up with my fitness resolutions and showed up both at the Yoga and the Interval Training class after 3 very lazy weeks. On Friday evening I went to the gym to find it pretty full, compared to what it was in December. Sandeep joined me in all these activities and I now have a training buddy, which is keeping my motivation at surprisingly high levels. It turns out that there are several benefits of exercising together; for one, it is more fun and enjoyable, but more importantly I discovered that it helps bonding and gives us more quality time together. And a less obvious one: after a good workout, we are equally tired, so there is less debating about staying up versus going to bed early on a weekday. 

Weekend was pretty full too. We spent Saturday in San Francisco immersing ourselves in art at the SFMOMA. The museum was rather small compared to the museums and galleries in Paris and London (unlike everything else in the U.S. which is huge for European standards), however, this is as good as it gets in this “boutique” city. Take it or leave it. 

We saw paintings by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Andy Warhol and Paul Klee, among others. 

 

*From left to right: Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1935-1942 / Pablo Picasso, Les femmes d'Alger (Women of Algiers), 1955 / Frida Kahlo, Frida and Diego Rivera, 1931

There were also a few pieces by British artists Damien Hirst and Gilbert & George. It was good to be reminded how the world sucks.

     

*From left to right: Gilbert & George, Suck, 1977 / Damien Hirst, Pretty Vacant, 1989 

After seeing the collections across all floors, the rooftop area was added bonus. 

           

Our happiness formula is simple then; learning a new skill, challenging our physical ability, sharing and participating in novel experiences. We’ve nailed it!