I went to the library after that and in just a few hours read one more of Arto Paasilinna: Isoisää etsimässä (Finnish name of the book, I haven't found an English translation). The story is about travels of a man named Avgust who is following his grandfather over the Europe and spends unforgettable time with him. Perhaps another reminder for me to go out and play, to live my life fully and not just keep reading tons of books... Though, I am reading another one of Paul Theroux about his travels to South America. Rather depressing but I keep hoping that he will describe some more cheerful events going south. I still wish to go to Peru one day but I think I will wait that one of my colleagues who married a Peruvian girl in 2006 will move to Lima once in the next five years. At least he says so. Everything is so much cheaper in Peru that he decided to live there. It is amazing when you hear that you can build 30 houses in Peru with the money you spent here for just a very small one. Beside I know I will have to spend loads of money to finish it in the next few years. My kitchen is still halfway finished, I have bulbs for lights, I have only two chairs and and old table that I borrowed from my parents, I have no couch but only two armchairs, there is only one closet in my whole house... but funnily enough I take a good care of my books that found a neat place on Ikea's Billy shelves... My balconies have no fences, I have no blinds on the windows (obviously I will have to take care of this first as the sun is too strong and it gets too hot in the house) and the list goes on and on. First I will have to get rid of some old stuff I brought along from my ex-home. I haven't used those things for 5 years now, so I suppose I don't need them. Plans, plans...So, a day slowly passed yesterday. I went for another walk but didn't take my camera with me. The landscape will be more or less the same for another month when the first green leaves will emerge on the trees. It is colder where I live than in the city center, I saw crocus blooming yesterday not far from where I work. Mine at home have shown some leaves by now and it will take at least another 14 days before they start to show some flowers. Can't wait. I thought of sowing some tagetes but forgot about it completely. I will try to do this today. I sow and plant by seed calendar by Maria Thun. I got used to this and my grandmom says that it works. I believe her.
On Monday I received two more Valentine's day cards - together I received 6 of them. There should be 10 coming to my address. It is tempting to take part in a swap but at the same time I see that people are not really serious about these things. When I go into a swap, I try to do the best I can. So, maybe no more swaps for some time now. What made me really happy when I opened my mailbox on Monday was this:
A postcard from Australia! Thanks V! You really made my day! I was so happy, so excited! It is really something else when you receive a piece of paper written by hand. We got used to typing. It is faster and you can write more but nothing beats the postcard or letter with a nice stamp on it, written by hand. I still smile when I remember receiving the postcard. Pure joy! And so beautiful!
2 comments:
That is a beautiful postcard. I'd love to go there someday, or anywhere at all really. We haven't been out of the country (not including Cananda) for over four years now. The american dollar is not very strong and our budget has actually gotten tighter. I hope it won't be too much longer, but meanwhile, the US is pretty big and I guess we could always just see more of it.
I know what you mean about swaps. I just started about a month ago and I can already see that while some people put in extra effort (like I try and do) others just slap together any old thing. Ah well.
My pleasure! I'll be sure to send you more now I know it made you smile.
I know what you mean about swaps. I have participated in two. One was a mixed parcel including a minimum of a certain number of things and you listed your interests on the swap bot site. I had one parcel to send to Canada, one to Germany and really tried hard to send thoughtful items. The parcel to Germany ended up costing me $20.00 just to send, let alone the contents. I wouldn't have minded but I got one word responses from both of the recipients, which I felt really let down by. Also, for my parcels I received what I felt were kind of throwaway gestures. I know that sounds really greedy in a way doesnt it, but it felt mean.
The other swap was a children's christmas card swap. You had to make 10 homemade cards (by the child) and send them by a certain date including a little note about yourself. I helped Ella make them all, wrote them all telling each one separately about where we lived, what Ella liked etc and we received only 5 and they all just said "Merry Christmas". I had in mind that Ella would learn a little about other children in other cultures, so it was disappointing in content and response.
I'm not sure swaps are for me unless there's a relationship there first.
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