BY BARBORA KOUBKOVA
I am sure some of you know about the beautiful movie Chocolat. It is a story of a woman, Vianne, and her daughter, Anouk, making delicious chocolate sweets wherever they move, as the North Wind makes them move from one place to another. Whenever it can be felt in the air or appears at the doorstep opening their front door, it bears a message and one message only: it is time to go. The story is so close to my heart that I have always felt it was written for me. For me, my sister, and my mom. Yes, we could argue that I simply fell for Johnny Depp in his role as a pirate traveling on a nearby river. Yes, his charisma and looks have definitely influenced my choice of partners later on in my life. Still, I must disappoint you: Johnny plays a rather small role in my attachment to Chocolat, for it is the North Wind that has spoken deeply to my soul.
My mom, for that matter, must have always felt it like Vianne did, as we moved so often as four times during my elementary school years and two times during my first two years of high school. We moved from one town to another and made so many friends that I have difficulty recollecting their names now. As this happened so often, you may now understand that the North Wind from Vianne’s story just made so much sense. To the youngster me, it felt poetic and romantic and made enough sense to take keep me moving without too much complaining. My mom heard the North Wind; what a special thing to experience.
As I grew into my adult years, it came naturally, knocking on my own windows, breaking my own sleep, and speaking in the tongue only my mother and Vianne understood. It is time to go.
The North Wind has come a few times so far. The first time, it brought me to Saudi Arabia to have me stand on my own feet by the side of my stepfather, learn English, fall in love with a man from a faraway culture, get my heart broken by that same man, and understand how different moving from one city to another is from moving from one country to another — difficult, to say the least (as I wrote in my previous LOST article).
The second time, it came knocking during my university years. It took me to Ireland to run with the party wolves till the morning and meet the wildest me there ever was. I had trouble understanding why it took me to Cologne, Germany, at the time, but looking back, I believe it was for the very special stories I carry with me to this day. The story of the most innocent of my friends getting almost arrested for not wanting to pay for a party ticket the second time as she lost the original one, the weekends my ex-boyfriend visited and roamed the city with me till the morning, the apartment in a building full of music students making me feel like I live in a concert hall all the time. Precious.
Then came the wind calling me to London for a few months to make me realize I have a severe overworking issue, and so it called again, this time to go even deeper, to meet myself in a meditative state across the world, in India. And then it came again, dragging me to Oman to meet the most peaceful creatures I have ever encountered, Omanis and camels, and life so far from the one Europeans are used to that it almost sounds like a fairytale. Let me tell you one day, though, you may like it.
Now, after being swapped around for many years, at the age of 34, I have returned to my original place: the Czech Republic. Don’t be fooled, though — I still hear the North Wind. It comes and goes, in and out of my tiny Prague apartment, telling me of my old adventures, reminding me of all the places we, me and the wind, have not traveled to yet. And I smile at it, and believe it or not, it smiles back at me. Despite its very own nature, it calls for a different move this time. Stay, please, stay. It asks of me to find the one man and place to call home, to have a family, to live near a river that the pirate Johnny Depp used to call home. To live by a river, a river that is always and never really the same. It is not a farewell to the adventures, my friends, do not worry. It is just another stop on my journey before it comes calling again, maybe taking me and my future family for an adventure of a lifetime. Maybe it has a different plan in store altogether. We shall see!
BARBORA KOUBKOVA is a life-lover residing in Prague, Czech Republic. Having traveled the world for a while, she has collected stories she cannot but share with us. It is the different habits of people that fascinate her, unique views on life, and stories that usually get overlooked. She loves to make fun of herself and have people laugh along. You can reach her on IG: @barakoubkova or via email at bara@barakoubkova.cz.
