I can't believe it's already October. In fact, it doesn't even feel like October at all - I've just spent 6 hours by the sea today and got slightly sunburn, I just hope tomorrow my face won't be so red anymore :) As much as I dislike sunbathing, I forget to hide from the sun when I'm busy writing a letter and watching the calm sea. It's still warm enough even for normal people to swim (for me it's never too cold, as long as there's someone to make a hole in the ice when the sea gets frozen) :D , which is quite unusual for this season, but I'm glad about it, because I'm still a bit afraid of the effect that the "real", gray autumn might have on my mood. But I'm trying not to worry about it yet and to simply enjoy these wonderful, sunny days :)
In fact it's been a really good week for me. Finally I feel I'm getting more confident about my Greek studies, especially after I took the 3rd place in translation competition, which means I did better than some 4th year students. Of course, I should admit that the tasks were rather simple and that I have good intuition in languages, so I might guess some words even in a language I can't speak at all. It also means, that the level of Greek skills of 4th year students aren't really great, if they can't translate the names of vegetables or clothes from Greek into Russian :P But it's good to feel that I'm not really behind anymore. I realize that if I want to learn to speak Greek fluently, I'll have to do much more than uni requires me to - and I think writing letters in this language is a good beginning. But each success, even a small one, makes me feel more motivated and inspired. I also feel how much I already love this uni, even if it's not the best or most prestigious one in Ukraine. Yet it's a place where a student can feel welcome and appreciated, which is extremely important itself. Believe it or not, I even started doing my homework, which I'd never do during my previous studies, even if I had much more free time :D To me it's indeed the attitude that makes the hugest difference.
Remember this guy? ;) Today, while I was writing a letter, he decided to use my laptop and to buy some train tickets! But I can't be angry with him, you know. It would also be a pity to return those tickets, so I think next weekend I'll have to go to Kyiv and Zaporizhia. It's not my fault :P I actually feel quite excited about going to Zaporizhia, because it's a city that played an important role in Ukrainian history and yet I've never been there (other than spending 6 hours sleeping at the railway station). It's the first time I'm going to leave Mariupol since August and I feel absolutely no pressure to do it, but I think it's worth meeting my friends, who live in the capital from time to time, as well as to visit new places. I might come back with a weird hairstyle, by the way... ;)
This week I've also spent some time exploring Mariupol (and getting lost). You know, going to the beach by bus is for normal people, and I've decided to check, how long would it take me to walk from the seaside to my flat. It took me 35 minutes, including getting lost for 3 times :P Those stairs looked really attractive to me, I love such abandoned places, but unfortunately they led to nowhere, so I had to go back and take a path, which made me feel as if I went to the mountains ;) I wonder why I never had such mood for exploring and adventures in Lviv? Well, maybe there are just too many guides to Lviv... And Mariupol seems to be a city, which still has some secrets.
And of course, I've also received and sent some mail this week :)
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| From Tasha in UK |
Tasha has sent me a beautiful postcard from her trip to Brighton :)
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| From Dasha in Ukraine |
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| For Søren in Iceland |
On Friday I've sent a letter to Søren in Iceland. Unfortunately, I had to use usual stamps as to avoid covering this nice old tram on the envelope. Still waiting for Ukrainian post to issue nice stamps with higher values...
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| For Bine in Germany |
Today I've finally sent an answer to Bine's lovely intro... It's a shame to answer it after such a long time (I don't even want to count how many months), but I hope she'll like my letter anyway. And in this case I didn't have to limit myself when it comes to the stamps ;)
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| For Gloria in Uganda |
And one more letter, an unusual one. I'm not even covering the receiver's address, because it would be great if more people decided to send letters there. But let me explain. Eddy is a teacher from Uganda, who's been running a very special and meaningful project for children living in rural areas, you can read more about it here: Revive a Rural African Child and join a closed group for those, who want to send letters.. The idea of this project is for people from all around the world to correspond with children, who've grown up in very tough conditions and need some motivation to make them believe that they should continue studying and that they can actually achieve something. It doesn't cost anything (of course, if you want, you can send some small gift to your little penpal, but there's no obligation!), but it can hopefully make a real difference in someone's life. I've sent a letter to a 13 years old girl named Gloria this week and I really hope it will put a smile on her face, even if it'll probably take a long time to arrive.
I still have to finish a letter and do some homework in Greek, so that's it for tonight :) Have a lovely Monday!
