When the Spirits roar

A Monday off! Wow, it is such a luxury to have a three-day weekend when working fulltime. Slowing down the pace, enjoying my home, the music playing, cooking and baking in the kitchen, reading, watched 'At five in the afternoon'. An impressive movie by Samira Makhmalbaf - it tells the story of Noqreh, a young Afghan woman who gets inspired by the idea of becoming Afghanistan's first female president, but she has to face the reality of a country destructed by war and a traditional and religious father instead. The images, made in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime, are so striking: dramatic, beautiful and awfully haunting at the same time. After watching it I sat in silent contemplation, close to meditation, alone in my home in the company of the sounds of a rainy night lit by candle light. This movie made my life in the Netherlands seem so, so little; of humble insignificance. Is that what I am currently doing in this world enough? Should I be here where I am right now? Am I doing the right thing? Am I in the right place? The nomad in me whispers soft tales of departure. That voice is here for some time already, growing stronger every week, seeding unrest in my heart, impatience running through my veins. The winds have changed.