Epic Man Amouage 2009

The episode of a time travel

There's an Arab proverb that says...
When the cat was told that your excrement could be used as medicine, she started to hide it That's pretty poetic

In order to broaden your cultural horizon, you have to go far away.
Welcome to the other side of the world!

The center of a world religion, is located in a 3000 year old old old city surrounded by huge city walls Country and people so different and impressions that you only know from documentaries.

It is July 2018, summer local time 12 noon.
A day that could not be more beautiful, bright sunshine, the heat drives the beads of sweat on your forehead.
The T-shirt, like a second skin, sweating so wet.
The alleys I walk through give me the feeling that time has stopped here.
I myself have the feeling that nothing has changed here since the last century.
Well...
As a European, you quickly reach your limits and here there is such an alienating aura somehow, which cannot be put into words.
Whoever moves here is simply different.
The scenery in the quarter looks like something out of The Passion of Christ.

What is offered here is very rare in Europe.
The enthusiasm for souvenirs increases from shop to shop and from one market stall to another.
In the alleys there is a smell of oriental cuisine and old stone.
Hunger comes up...
But there are also some peculiarities with the food, if only because of the large selection of spices that are available here.
Where with the European standard apothecary cabinet in the kitchen, with turmeric the repertoire comes to an end, here it really starts.

I make myself comfortable on a restaurant roof terrace and order a shawarma (is a kind of kebab for some who don't know) and water.
The planet is burning and we move in the shade at a temperature of 35 degrees.
From up here, you can observe the hustle and bustle in the old town.
The view is gigantic!
My gaze wanders around and wanders down.
I notice a little shop down on the corner.
After lunch, I pay for my lunch and go to the shop in question.

To the left of the entrance is an old man sitting on a chair.
I greet him with Shalom, but I can't say if that is right, but my feeling is that it is.
I take a variety of smells was and also immediately realize why ...
This shop consists only of spices, oils and a lot of dried fruits and a selection of nuts.
A diversity that is second to none!
All packed up and in such a small space.
The shop owner also enters, but no sound between us.
He's watching my moves that's it.

The initial communication between us seems difficult.
I'm going to get started on my English...
Hi,
You have a really large selection of spices here. It's incredible.

The old man just looks at me...

I'm going to make a second attempt...
Do you speak English?

Apparently he has understood this and is only shaking his head.
Well, I'm thinking, that'll be fun
I start to take a closer look at the spices, my nose is hanging over the baskets.
Some things are clearly identifiable by their appearance and smell, others not at all.
I try to make myself understood from a mix of hand signals and an Arabic English.
Apparently it worked and he hands me a transparent bag and points to a small shovel that is lying in a spice basket.
I grab these and start filling the first bag with a curry mixture.
The old man notices early on that someone wants to buy something here and animates me by putting out more bags.
Little by little I discover spices that I have never seen before.
I get into a real rush and fill one bag after another.

After 20 minutes of trying and studying, I ask him to label these bags for me.
I am not a spice specialist and at home, I would like to be able to distinguish between them He pulls out a black Edding pen and labels bag for bag.
When he was finished he stuffed all the bags into a big one and handed it over to me.

Normally I am a person who likes to act, here I spare myself the action.
I considered it appropriate from the point of view of the problem of comprehensibility.
I pay, say goodbye and leave his business.

The following days I kept the bag in my hotel room.

When I was back in Germany, I unpacked my suitcase.
What an explosion of scent it was when I opened this suitcase.
The spice bag went immediately into the kitchen cupboard.
Nice to have a new suitcase again, too bad for the old one, I can only say.
But believe me, even after a few days of extreme ventilation on the balcony, the smell wouldn't go away. I could only dispose of the suitcase, because the power of the spices had eaten into it.
Only a few months later I took the bag out again.
But what was waiting for me there, I did not expect at all.

There is a second Arabian proverb that says.
The best knowledge is what you know, when you need it

I opened the bag and the shock hit me. Apparently, the extreme heat had loosened the labeling.

What the fuck was I thinking?
And now... ...what else can I do?
I use my eyes, my sense of smell and taste, and the rest is, and will remain...

An epic potpourri ;)