We have to be crazy sometimes!

I still can't believe what I've done yesterday - I've booked a flight to Israel! I still find it hard to think of this journey as of a real event, which is going to happen quite soon - on 7th of January! The idea of traveling to Israel this winter (and not in the summer, as I had previously planned) came to my mind on Friday. I knew I'd be flying to Brussels from Budapest on 14th January (I always fly either from Hungary or from Poland, because the flights from Ukraine are much more expensive), and I also knew that Wizzair offered cheap flights from Budapest to Tel Aviv, so why not fly there right before or right after my trip to Belgium? :) I talked to my Israeli friend to find out, which option would be better for her, so we agreed on 7th-12th January... but it still took me several hours to make the final decision and to push the "buy tickets" button in my browser. In the end my hands were really shaking! And no, it's not because of the price - those flights were actually cheap! But it really felt like making a big step out of my comfort zone. "Me traveling out of Europe on my own?! No way!" - I would have said a year ago. I'd probably also say that I'm not really interested in the destinations out of European continent. But something has been changing in me, perhaps I've been becoming braver and more open for new experiences. I still wonder, how far this change could take me... Not only in terms of my journeys, but mostly of my attitude to life. Yet at the moment I'm just really excited about my trip and have been reading about Israel a lot :) Of course, I've also started to realise that my plans are totally crazy - not only because I have an aviaphobia and because I'll have to spend one night at Budapest airport, but also because I'll probably have to spend 3 weeks traveling with just my small backpack, due to Wizzair's luggage limitations and me being too greedy to pay additional luggage fee :D But isn't life about being crazy sometimes? Aren't those crazy adventures the ones that we'll recall with tears in our eyes, when we grow old?

I can also feel it with my heart and soul, how blessed I am to have my dear penpals. No, I'm not trying to say that it's cool to have penpals all around the world, because then you can travel a lot just to visit them ;) There's Couchsurfing and other similar projects for those, who want to travel the world and have free accomodation - and you don't even have to put all that effort into writing letters and forming a friendship :) But isn't it great, when you become interested in a certain country, because you have a true friend there? A real friend, who understands and supports you even better than those people, whom you meet everyday. When your main motivation for traveling is to meet this friend rather than just to see some ancient cities, beautiful mountains or cool beaches? In such moments I feel it to the deepest that penpalling is much more than just a hobby and also more than a lifestyle - it's the best way to get in touch with kindred spirits, no matter what's their geographical locations. In the last several years I had quite a strong preference for European penpals, because the possibility of meeting them felt more real than in case with those, who live on other continents. But when you're brave enough and have access to low-cost airlines, distance isn't such a big problem anymore :)

As for my weekend, it's been calm and relaxing :) It's already quite cold outside (it's -6 C), but today I've been to one of my favourite café's in Lviv and started writing an extreme letter to my dear Tündi, while drinking Chai Latte ;) 

I'll do my best to fit into 30 pages, but I can't promise anything, because I often get carried away, while answering Tündi's letters ;)
Moreover, I've received one and sent 2 letters during this weekend:

This lovely letter, along with a postcard from Bremen and some tea, came from my new penpal Kathrin in Germany :) I was a bit afraid she wouldn't feel like answering my messy intro, written on a train to Moldova, but I'm really glad she did and I'll answer her as soon as I'm done with my huge missive for Tündi :)

This letter to Marina in Russia was sent on Friday :) I hope it'll arrive just as quickly, as her last letter to me did!

And that's my first letter for Mihaela in Romania, which I've sent today. Actually, we've been exchanging mesages on Interpals for about 2 months, so it didn't feel like writing an intro, but rather like simply continuing our discussion :) Mihaela offered to switch to snail mail after seeing my blog, so I hope my letter won't disappoint her :)

Is it really the last day of November today? And is there really just one month left until the end of 2014? Unbelievable... Time passes by so quickly... But I love it that the winter is coming. I'm happy to see even just a tiny bit of snow. It reminds me about the atmosphere of Christmas, which I haven't experienced for many years, but I have those memories somewhere deep in my heart and probably that's why winter feels... warmer than other seasons :) Have a lovely December!

Living in the country of careless translators and homophobic teachers

Today I've been really annoyed with people, who certainly shouldn't be working with languages, but unfortunately they are. As some of you know, I've been collecting papers for my permanent residence permit (and possibly also citizenship, if I'd be allowed to keep the Polish one as well) in Ukraine. And so, among many other papers, I needed a translation of 3 birth certificates: mine, my mother's and my grandmother's. That's a way to prove that my granny was born in Ukraine and that she's indeed my granny :) Of course, I might translate those documents myself, but I can understand why an official translation, signed and stamped by a notary is required. I can even understand, why such translations are quite expensive - afterall translating documents is a huge resonsbility. So can you imagine, how shocked I was, when I saw my papers translated with several mistakes?! First of all, my grandmother's surname was transliterated differently in hers and my mother's certificates, although in Polish the spelling was identical in both documents! And believe me, my grandmother's surname isn't that difficult to transliterate. That was the first thing I paid attention to, because the immigration officer told me that even if just one letter is different, my application can be rejected! I asked them to correct the spelling and went to uni. Fortunately, I had a boring class, so I spent some time reading through those translations carefully. And guess what? Apart from some minor mistakes, I've also found something really ridiculous! Next to the notary's signature and stamp it was written... "A translation from Ukrainian into English"! :D Polish into Ukrainian or Ukrainian into English? Makes no difference at all! I should have all those stupid mistakes corrected by tomorrow, but it seems to be a more global problem with Ukrainian translators. I remember how in one questionnaire, which my dean was supposed to fill in, they translated "your country" as "наша країна" (meaning "our country"). Just amazing! :)

The truth is that most of Ukranians still can't speak any foreign languages (unless we count Russian as a foreign one) and apparently you can't expect even those, who have a diploma in languages, to be thoroughly fluent. On one hand, it's a good thing for me, because being able to speak 7/8 languages in a country, where people can barely speak English, is a huge advantage. On the other hand, it becomes really annoying, when I need those official translations, I pay for them and I realise I would have done them much better myself.

Once I'm writing about people, who work with languages, although they shouldn't, I'd also like to mention my German teacher. Well, she's nice and I like it that she motivates me to learn the language (I doubt I'd be learning it actively on my own). But today we were discussing the topic of youth crime and she expressed her opinion that... "It happens because our society is too tolerant towards gays"! Dear readers of my blog, could you please explain me, what's the correlation between homosexuality and youth crime? I'm sorry, but I'm too stupid to understand! :/ But seriously... I wish one day it won't be acceptable to express homophobic comments at least at work in Ukraine. I respect it that people can have their own opinions and discuss them with their family or friends. But when you're working with strangers, for example as a language teacher, you should keep in mind that the person you're talking to might also be a member of the LGBT community and, what's even more important, be interested in learning the language rather than listening to your homophobic views. Now I regret not having said anything, but I'm not much of an activist. Sometimes I think I should become one, because I don't really care for my reputation (at least as long as I'm a student), but I guess I'm not brave enough :(

But not to finish my blog entry on such a negative note, I'll share the pictures of my mail with you, as usually :)

This beautiful envelope came from Marina in Russia on Monday. Amazingly, it took just a week to arrive! Anyone, who's had something to do with Russian postal service will understand why I'm so surprised ;) I love the stamps, especially the round ones! Marina has also sent me two postcards and some yummy tea :)

This letter came from another Ukrainian penpal of mine, Anastasia. Ironically, I've been to her city (Chernihiv - which is actually one of my favourite places in Ukraine) for 4 times since we've started writing to each other, but we've never met, because I was never alone during those trips. But I think one day I should just go there on my own with the goal of finally meeting Anastasia :)

This big envelope and postcards came from Tündi in England, who is my most extreme penpal ;) Believe it or not, once she's sent me a letter, which was 124 A4 pages long :D Since then we've been trying to make our letters a bit... less extreme, but we seem to fail, all we manage to do is to make our letters look shorter :) For example, once I've typed a letter for her and was satisfied with it having less than 30 pages - nevermind that the font was really small and there was minimal space between the lines ;) Now she's handwritten "just" 32 pages for me, but there are about 60 lines on each page... Does that already sound ridiculous to you? Well, I think it indeed is, so we should just relax and write as much as we want :D

And here's my outgoing mail:

A letter for Søren in Iceland, sent on Tuesday. No, it wasn't me to put the "par avion" stamp upside down ;)

A letter for Katka in Czech Republic went out on Thursday and includes a sample of my very broken Czech :)

And a letter to Anastasia in Ukraine, also sent on Thursday.

Currently I'm writing to Marina and I'll try to send my letter tomorrow ;) It's going to be a slightly weird one, because I wanted to write it in a small and cute notepad, but 31 pages don't seem to be enough, so I'll have to add extra ones ;) I hope she'll like my letter nevertheless :)

On Ukrainian Revolutions and their impact on my life

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since I've become interested in Ukraine and started learning the language. Of course, this date (22 November 2004) is purely symbolic, because when you're 13, you often become fascinated with something and you never know, whether that would last for 10 days, 10 months or 10 years :) But after 10 years I can tell that it was the Orange Revolution, which inspired me to learn Ukrainian. I could already speak a bit of Russian at that time, but watching the news about peaceful, colourful and democratic revolution in Ukraine motivated me to learn Ukrainian as well. As a teenager, who already had quite a huge interest in politics, I was truly fascinated with those events and wished I could be on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square - the main square of Kyiv, where all the big demonstrations take place) as well. It was impossible because of my young age, but since I've moved to Ukraine, I've always tried to travel to Kyiv on the anniversary of Orange Revolution. Some people thought this "tradition" of mine was weird, because, despite all the enthusiasm that people had back in 2004, those events didn't bring any significiant changes for Ukraine. In fact, that wasn't even a proper revolution, because it didn't bring any really new faces to Ukrainian politics - it was just a political game, but the emotions and faith of common people were real. And at least there were no victims - which is a very important "detail" in light of recent events in our country. Therefore I see nothing wrong in commemorating the anniversary of Orange Revolution in this way or another - afterall that was the event that helped me to discover my Ukrainian self :)

 

So that's me on Maidan Nezalezhnosti yesterday with my new hairstyle :) But nowadays most of people come there to commemorate another revolution, which happened exactly 9 years after the first one, on 21 November 2013. I'll be honest with you - my attitude to this one is completely different and there's more than just one reason for that. Maybe it's because I've been studying political science for almost 5 years and I simply don't believe in revolutions anymore. Revolution always seems to be an easy way of solving social and political problems, but that's just an illusion, because most of problems come from our own mentality. I believe that something has to change in minds of people before we can have a fully democratic political system. I absolutely don't blame people, who believed the ideas of Euromaidan last year - they hoped for a better life, for an European country without corruption and they probably didn't realise where this revolutionary path could lead us. People blamed me for being "anti-Maidan", which isn't actually true. But when there's a revolution, people get very emotional and they don't see that there's more than just one step between being "pro" and "anti". They tend to believe that once you're not with them, you must be against them. I was sceptical about the Euromaidan, because I knew that its ideas weren't supported by everyone in Ukraine and that there was a huge regional differentiation. Euromaidan was mostly a Western Ukrainian movement. Of course, there were thousands of people from East supporting the revolution as well - but statistically, they were a minority in their regions. I also had the feeling that the energy of Euromaidan, just like energy of any other revolution, could get out of control and have totally unexpected consequences. But you know, even in my worst nightmares I couldn't see the war coming... Saying that Euromaidan caused the war would be slightly unfair, but I believe it was the factor to trigger the tragedy which we've been observing in East Ukraine this year. And again, I'm not even sure if that was a real revolution, because people, who rule Ukraine now, have been in politics for many years - and Euromaidan simply helped them to come from opposition to the power. I'm afraid that in a few years people will be disappointed in Euromaidan just like they were disillusioned a couple of years after Orange Revolution. But as far as in the first case they could only blame themselves for wasting time standing on Maidan Nezalezhnosti for the sake of political leaders, who weren't worth it, now we're talking of thousands of lives that were lost both during the Euromaidan and the war this year... So no, there's no way I'd celebrate the anniversary of last year's events. I still love this country and hope things will get better, but that certainly won't be a result of any revolution. The change must start within ourselves...

 

But let's move on to more optimistic topics :)

 

Aren't trains beautiful at sunrise? Well, not only at sunrise, if you ask me ;) I came to Fastiv, where my friend Anya lives, on Saturday morning. We've had a really nice time together and she convinced me to try a completely crazy hairstyle :) In fact, I like it that this year I've finally become open for experiments with my appearance. It's just a pity that I'm in last year of my studies and later I might have to stick to a more conformist style :)

 

Last but not least, here's my letter for my dear Sandra in Germany, which I've sent from Kyiv on Saturday. Hopefully it will arrive soon, because sometimes mail to Germany takes 3 weeks! :/ Currently I'm working on my letter for Søren in Iceland :) I'll still have a lot of time for writing tomorrow, especially that my dentist appointment will have to be postponed, as she's sick. Not that I'm happy about my dentist sickness... but I feel a bit relieved, at least for the few next days ;)

Scary Dentist and Lovely Mail

I guess nobody likes dentists. Neither do I. But obviously sometimes we need them... People, who are a bit wiser than me, go to a dentist as soon as they feel that there's some problem. I wait longer, trying to ignore the pain, and as a result I get a longer and more complicated treatment. On Tuesday I learnt that my dentist was on a sick leave, so I had to look for another one, which caused me even more stressed. Luckily, the new dentist turned out to be very nice and she's decided to do her best to avoid root canal treatment. Great, there's a chance to spare my tooth's nerves and my own nerves too! :) But things can't be all that easy, when it comes to dentists ;) I spent 2.5 hours in the dental chair waiting for the anesthetic to start working. No, I can't say that it totally didn't work on me. After 4 injections I couldn't feel half of my face and felt a bit dizzy for the rest off the day, but somehow it didn't work on the tooth! Now the torture will continue on Monday, but let me not think of it yet...

To be honest, I've been feeling tired and down this week. Maybe it's because of the gloomy and cold weather, maybe it's because of the dentist appointmer, or maybe it's still a result of my trip to Poland, but most likely it's just a mix of all those factors, but I hope my mood will improve soon. What has added some beautiful colours to this gray week was the mail from my lovely penpals! Here it comes :)

On Tuesday I received 3 letters. This one comes from my dear Bahanur :) I absolutely love those owls on the envelope! The biggest problem with this letter was that I wasn't allowed to open it, until I finished answering Bahanur's previous missive, which I had received just one day earlier. This make me stay awake until 1 am on Tuesday evening just to finish my letter and to eventually open this envelope :) Yes, Bahanur's letters are very addictive! :)

This amazing envelope came from my dear Sandra in Germany! I'm not sure, if I've ever told her how much I loved maps, but her creativity made me really happy :) But believe me, the letter itself is even more lovely and I've already started answering it, so hopefully I'll be able to send it out after the weekend. Last time I made Sandra wait for my answer way too long, so now I'm trying to be quicker.

Here's the letter from my Ukrainian friend Antonina, which also arrived on Tuesday. We've been writing to each other for more than 4 years, but haven't had a chance to meet each other yet, because she lives in a very tiny village and has a little child... She's also been going through a very hard period in her life, but I'll do my best to support her and I hope that one day we'll finally see each other in person. Antonina is a great friend and also one of the most regular writers among my penpals :)

Today's evening has been brightened by a thick envelope from Søren in Iceland! Apart from the letter itself, he's also sent me a chapter of his novel and two beautiful Icelandic postcards. We've only been writing to each other for about half a year, but I really value his friendship and trust in me. He's one of those very few people in the world, with whom I can share even my most private and controversial thoughts. Looking at the Icelandic postcards I become even more sure that I'd like to go there one day. I just wish it wasn't so expensive ;)

Surprisingly enough, I've also managed to write and send 3 letters this week. I can be proud of myself! ;)

On Tuesday I've sent my answer to Taši's intro. 

This envelope started traveling to Turkey on Wedesday. As our postage for international mail is in US dollars and our currency has been devaluating very quickly, I have to use more and more stamps. But so far they still fit onto the envelope :D

And today I've sent my letter to Antonina. Normally I don't use the pre-paid envelopes neither for domestic, nor for international mail. But I liked this one, because it shows Uzhgorod - one of my favourite Ukrainian cities.

That's all for tonight :) In 3 hours from now I'll be on a train to Kyiv. I'm going to visit my "private hairdresser", who lives some 70 kms away from our capital city:) We met under rather strange circumstances - she's a relative of my ex-it's-complicated (in case you don't know, it's almost like ex-boyfriend, just more complicated) ;) and we came to her place escaping from the war in East Ukraine. She's become my friend and I'm really happy that we keep in touch despite my split with that guy. I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with her and I hope there will be still some hair left on my head afterwards :) I'll be back on Sunday :)

So glad to see my mailbox again ;)

I've just come back home on Sunday evening. It was quite a long trip - 10 hours by train, then crossing the border on foot and traveling for 2 more hours by bus. But I've already got used to it. I must admit that this relatively long way from Poland to Ukraine is always something more than just a train trip. My emotions change as I get closer to the border and I have time to think everything over... This trip in Poland has caused me a lot of emotions, both positive and negative ones. There've been really beautiful moments, which have touched my heart, but I also feel I have a big mess in my head and it will take me some time to find my inner harmony again. Actually, I've decided to try meditation, as I'd like to become more mindful and focused on "here and now" instead of thinking of the past and future. I know several people, whom it has really helped, but I know it'll depend mainly on my motivation. Yet I'm sure I should try, because I need some change in my life, or at least in the way I perceive some issues and events in my life.

Today I have a day off and I've been relaxing, but I've also finally had the chance to check my mailbox :) Believe it or not, I already had dreams about going to the post office and receiving letters! In my latest dream, which I've had tonight, there were 7 letters waiting for me, but in reality I've only received 3. That's a good thing, because I would have felt a bit overwhelmed with 7 letters at once. Yet I know there are more letters coming my way, so I think my mailbox will have some more happy days this week ;)

This wonderful letter came from my Turkish friend Bahanur. She's also enclosed a postcard from Syria, which I'm really thankful for, because it's the first one from this country in my collection! Receiving a letter from Bahanur always makes my day, as she's one of my closest penpals and I feel I can share even my most controversial thoughts with her. I know there should be one more letter from her coming very soon, so I'll do my best to answer this one before the other one arrives ;)

This letter is from my Czech penpal Katka. She always writes me a page or two in Czech (and so I also have to write in Czech, at least a bit!) ;), which helps me to practise this language, which I used to study for 3 years at high school and wouldn't like to forget it totally. She always uses beautiful stamps and she's also enclosed postcards from her trips to Finland and Slovakia.

This intro letter came from my new Slovene penpal Taši. I'm always a bit anxious, when it comes to the intro letters, because I've already received some really disappointing and impersonal ones. But Taši's letter was really interesting and I've already started answering it. I always try write back to my new penpals quickly, so the friendship can develop quickly :) Currently Taši is also my oldest penpal (the age difference between us is 17 years), but I'm more and more convinced that age isn't much more than just a number!

Last but not least, I've received a postcard from Kinga in Hungary! She's sent me one from her hometown, which I've actually been to in 2012, but I didn't buy any postcards there. I hope my 3 cards have also reached her safely :) That's all for today, but hopefully soon I'll have more good news. Now I still need some time to relax and to get back to my usual activities...

Finally meeting my grandmother

My grandmother is a very special person. She was born just next to Lviv in 1937 and later she moved to West Poland together with her parents, as the borders changed. And so she lived first in Kluczbork, and then in Opole, when she got married to my grandfather. She had 4 children and worked as an university teacher until she was 75 or so. She's always been not only my granny, but also a very close friend. I always enjoyed visiting her, when I was a child and we'd spend long hours talking about everything in the world. Unfortunately, my family issues got very complicated a few years ago and therefore I wasn't able to see her for more than 2 years... My penpals know what I'm talking about, but it's not something I could write about on a blog. In any case, there was quite a long period, when I was really worried about her, because I didn't even know, in which city she was... Now she lives with her sister and nieces in Kluczbork and I can see that they really care for her. She'd love to be independent and it hurts her that she can't, but there comes that time in our lives, when we simply need others to survive. I'm really glad I was able to spend 3 days with her and hopefully I'll come back in a couple of months.

As for the town of Kluczbork itself, last time I went there was in 2000 on my great grandfather's funeral. So I couldn't really remember anything... Of course, it's not a very exciting place and I could barely find any postcards there, but it has a cozy town centre. I had to go to the town hall to get a copy of my granny's birth certificate. Why do I need it? Because she was born in a place that belongs to Ukraine nowadays and that's enough to get a permanent residence permit in Ukraine for me. I've been renewing my residence permit every year, but this way I'll be able to get one that lasts forever. I didn't have to come to Kluczbork to get this paper, they could just mail it to me for a small fee, but I wanted to come anyway :)

I've also bought a book in a local book shop. It's called "Different Ukraine" and it's about Transcarpathia, my favourite region of Ukraine, which is very multicultural and has an interesting history. I was curious to read the Polish point of view (even if it was anti-Ukrainian at times, but as I want to be a scientist, I should take all the points of view into consideration), but I was slightly disappointed in the end, because the book contained many mistakes, even just in the names of Transcarpathian towns... Still, I've learnt some interesting facts abot the Slovak and German minorities in Transcarpathia, which are rather small nowadays, so I've never met people, who belong to those.

Here's my letter for Olga, which I've posted yesterday :) I've also sent one to Stav on Monday, but I didn't have a chance to take a picture of it, as the lady at the post office just took it away before I managed to say anything :)

And that's me on a local train from Kluczbork to Opole yesterday. The distance is 45 kms and so it takes just about 50 minutes. Polish people tend to call those small local trains "szynobus" ("rail bus"), but I disagree! It's a TRAIN! ;)

A weekend in Lublin and Zamość

The first part of my trip to Poland was really nice :) Surprisingly enough, I survived the 6 hours long bus ride from Lviv to Lublin. Of course, I'd rather go by train, but in lack on railway to Lublin, that wasn't the worst option either. Most of the passengers were actually smugglers and I was simply amazed with their creativity when it comes to places, where you might hide cigarettes on a bus! Not that I support such actions, but that was just ridiculous. Finally I came to Lublin and waited for my friend Olga, who arrived some 3 hours later by train (yes, she was more lucky) ;)

November probably isn't the best time for traveling, because it gets dark very early - it was already totally dark by the time we got to the city centre. But old towns look charming at night as well, so we spent several hours sightseeing, visiting local cafe's and sending postcards :) I really like it that each big city in Poland has a post office, which works 24/7. So in case you don't know what to do on a sleepless Sunday night, you can always go there and send some postcards ;) At the same time I wish stamps were a bit cheaper in Poland, but well... you can't have everything!

Finally, about 11:30 pm, we met our couchsurfing hosts, who work till late, so we had to wait for them in the city centre trying very hard not to fall asleep while drinking ginger tea :) We were hosted by a very nice gay couple from Lublin - Rafał and Radek, who live quite close to the city centre together with their two guinea pigs :) They really did their best to make us feel comfortable at their place and I loved our evening discussions about politics, LGBT issues and many other interesting issues. I got so carried away with those conversations that we went to sleep about 2:30 am on Saturday and then we had big problems getting up at 6:30 ;) We soon realised that sometimes we have to change our plans a bit, so we don't end up becoming zombies by Sunday evening :) Still, we managed to go on a trip to Zamość, which is a very beautiful town closer to the Ukrainian border. It was designed and built as an ideal Renaissance town and so its centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I had only been to Zamość once a few years ago and that was in a hurry, so I've discovered quite a few new places for myself this time. We also met up with Ania, my former neighbour (we used to live close to each other until 2009, when I was still in Wrocław, but now she lives in Zamość and I live in Lviv), so she showed us a bit more of her town. We were very lucky with the weather - it was very sunny and it was about 20 degrees, which is quite unusual for November! But when we came back to Lublin, it was rainy and cold again, even though the distance between the two towns isn't more than 80 kms.

On Sunday we wanted to go to another beautiful town in the vicinity of Lublin, called Kazimierz Dolny. I've been there twice and I believe it's really worth visiting, but we had to give up on this part of our plans, as we were simply unable to get up! And traveling should be a pleasure rather than a torture, right? :) Instead, we went on a walk in Lublin together with our hosts, they showed us some nice, old yards, which you're not very likely to find as a tourist. I know this statement may sound slightly odd, but I like it that not everything is renovated in the centre of Lublin yet. I realise that you have to make renovations sometimes if you want to prevent the ruination of old buildings, but I like it when old houses actually look old. Yet I'm sure things will change in Lublin in a few years, so I'll just keep those photos, on which it still looks very East European :) I'll upload my pictures from Lublin to Facebook later, when I come back home (and when I'm not too lazy) :)

Last but not least, here's a little snail mail update :) Olga brought her lovely letter with her (I love it, when letters can be delivered in such a special way!) and so I should be able to answer it in a few days. Yesterday I spent 7 hours traveling by train (yay, finally some Training!) :) from Lublin to Opole and I've nearly finished my letter for my Israeli friend Stav. Now I'm already in Opole with my mum and gradfather, I'm also going to visit my grandmother this week. I'll keep you updated :)

My mailbox is happy and I'm going to Poland! :)

Today my mailbox has been very happy for the first time this month! To be honest, I had nearly lost my hope for receiving any mail before I go for a week to Poland, so you can imagine how happy I was, when I opened my mailbox and - to my great surprise - it wasn't empty! :) I've received a letter from my dear Israeli friend Stav :) Her letters are always long, beautiful and very thoughtful, so it's a pure pleasure to read them! She's also enclosed 3 lovely postcards and used special stamps. This time I won't make her wait long for my answer, because I've already started writing and should be able to send it from Poland.

 

There's also been some outgoing mail from Lviv today. My new penpal Erin has a special friend, who's been incarcerated for many years, but has been trying his best to be a positive person and to help others. He's going to have his brithday this month and I hope this day will be brighter thanks to the birthday cards that he's going to receive from all around the world! I really loved Erin's idea and decided to contribute immediatelly. It was the first time I was sending any mail to an inmate and, as I wasn't sure about the rules, I used a plain white envelope and standard stamp, which I normally never do. In fact, I've been considering finding an inmate penpal for quite a long while... Maybe this small experience will finally encourage me to give it a try! Moreover, I've also sent a postcard to Kinga from Hungary, who won my giveaway yesterday. She won two Polish postcards, but as she's kindly offered to send me a card from her hometown, I've decided to treat her with an extra one from Lviv, written in my broken Hungarian ;)

 

Tomorrow morning I'll be traveling to Poland. First I'm going to spend 3 days in Lublin together with my Belarusian friend Olga (which means that I'm also going to receive a letter from her tomorrow - with a very special delivery) :) I've already been to Lublin before, but I'm happy to be going there again, because I actually like Eastern Poland. Myself I was born and raised in the West of Poland and didn't travel to the East until I was 18. I know it sounds strange, because you all know me as an avid traveler, but as a teenager I'd usually travel to Ukraine and see Eastern Poland just through the train's window :) But when I finally went to Lublin, it reminded me of Ukraine in a lot of ways - and that's probably why I felt very comforable there. I'm sure I'm also going to discover something new for myself in Lublin this time, so this trip certainly won't be boring. The only disadvantage is that there's no train connection between Lviv and Lublin, so I'll have to get there by bus. But well, I think I'll survive this 6 hours long torture ;)

Later, on Sunday, I'm going to take a train to Opole and meet my relatives. First I'll meet my mum and grandfather and then I'll go to a smaller town of Kluczbork to visit my grandmother. I'm very much looking forward to seeing her, because the last time we met was in 2012... The family issues can be very complicated sometimes, but  the older I become, the more I understand how important it is to keep them "alive". I was just 18 when I moved from Poland to Ukraine and it took me whole 2 years to come to Poland again (just for a few days). For those 2 years I thought it was better for me to start a "brand new life" and to cut the ties with my past. I was annoyed each time people were asking me about Poland. But I've grown up and have gradually developed a more relaxed attitude. I live in Ukraine and feel Ukrainian, but I'm originally from Poland and this will always have some impact on me. And I should never forget about those people, who love me. I don't know, whether I'll have a chance to blog during my stay in Poland, but I'll certainly be back in about a week! ;)

In need of letters (And of a better time management)

It's not my first attempt to blogging. All the previous ones failed and I'm not sure whether I can do better this time, but I've decided to give it a try and to change my approach. I used to write blogs on certain topics, such as postcards or my trips. This time I've decided to write about just anything that will come to my mind :) Of course, you can expect to read a lot about snail mail, train journeys and languages here, because those are the things that fascinate me and keep me alive :)

Having spent the whole weekend at home (due to a cold) I've realised that it' something I can survive, if I really want. This semester my weekends are 4 days long and that's way too much of free time for me. I've noticed that when I have a few days off ahead, I can barely motivate myself to do anything. Therefore I spent Friday and Saturday doing nothing (and my famous cold was an excellent excuse), but then I finally found some mental strength to fight my inner sloth (I really think I must have been a sloth in my previous life) and managed to write an article on how native language becomes a political issue in Ukraine in Moldova, an intro letter to a new penpal in Singapore, as well as to learn a bit of Romanian. I could be proud of myself now, but in fact I still think I need to develop a better time management. I still waste a lot of time - and I could say it's the Internet to blame, but if there was no Internet, I'd surely find something else to distract me from important activities ;) Do any of you face similar difficulties? Maybe you have some useful piece of advice? :)

My mailbox has been starving lately, but I hope some letters will come soon :) I must admit I'm really addicted to snail mail and therefore my mailbox's starvation led me to writing 5 intro letters during the last month. Well, maybe I shouldn't have done it, but isn't it good to get to know new people from time to time? I never allow myself to contact new potential penpals, when I have some unanswered letters in my pile of mail. So during the last month I finally had the chance to write those people, whom I had wanted to contact for quite a long while :)

 

Fariza was one of those people - I had been stalking on her Interpals profile for such a long while, so I'm glad we've finally agreed to become penpals :) I've sent my intro letter to her today and I hope it won't take too long to arrive. Hopefully soon I'll also have some incoming mail to share with you. And I can also promise you there'll be some Trains posts on my blog next week ;)