Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter

Well, this year is one of those times when both the Orthodox and the Catholic Easter fall on the same date....


....so due to that, I want to wish a Happy Easter to all my dear blog readers who celebrate it! Hope it brings you love, health, joy and peace of mind.


Христос Воскресе! 

Вистина Воскресе!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Честит Божиќ * С Рождеством * Merry Christmas

...to me and to everyone else celebrating it today! Even though I can say we are like a minority compared to the people celebrating it on 25th December, im still glad and thankful that people DID remember I celebrate it today and expressed their kind regards. Thanks everyone!!!!
Im not in a real Christmassy mood....I think that (as ive said before) the whole euphoria goes to New Year's....and Christmas is more like a calm day, spent with your family...no presents here at Christmas...no fuss...except two non working days....I really really hope dear Mr. Postman will brighten up my mailbox tomorrow....lack of mail has been making me really cranky :P

it has been a nice day....I must note that the weather outside was absolutely gorgeous! 14 degrees (yeah, few days ago we had snow...)...But it was just really nice! I also had this unfinished task to do, but I gave myself the freedom not to work today and just enjoy myself....and it felt good! Plus there is tennis :)

Today wont be a regular post day...Ill just show you the Christmas cards I had received so far....enjoy! :)











































just want to point out, that cards are posted in order they were received...I dont want someone to feel wrong if his or her card is among the last or so :)

and of course, with some Christmas cards, come the Christmas stamps! I wont go into details for each and every one of them...ill just post them here for your own pleasure....and I must say that Russia never ceases to amaze me with their lovely colourful stamps! Just beautiful!!




















I know there are too many images and that this post may seem über chaotic, but there was no way I could exclude any of these cards....and it only Christmas once a year...so you'll get by :)

Once again, thanks to everyone who remembers that our Christmas is not celebrated in December, but in January....it really means a lot to me!

Will be back with the regular posts from tomorrow on, so stay tuned!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Greetings from Budva, Montenegro!! And yeah, im BACK :P

Yessss, im finally back home...and welcome back to me :D
I actually came back last Wednesday, but first it took me a few days to get back together, and settle myself and all my mail...and then i was also waiting for this card to arrive which i sent to myself, particularly intended for my come back post...and finally it arrived today, so i can get down to writing something...
And as you can see, i went to Budva in Montenegro...but i won give you facts and figures about it this time (i think ive already done it with my previous posts about Budva, and I still have a number of cards from there to dedicate them to history, geography, culture, and stuff like that. Ill just make a quick explanation for those who may not know...on the card you can see only the Old City....not the actual Budva where the hotels and holiday residences and people's houses are...and my guess is that this picture was taken in winter or so, since during the season, along the Old City Walls there are coffee-shops, and many people on the streets...oh, and you can take a glimpse of the numerous yachts parked at the dock...some really stunning :)
Ill use this card to tell you some bits and pieces about my stay there...i just fear that its gonna turn into a huge post...so i recommend a cup of coffee, good music in the background, comfy chair, and enough time ahead before you start reading :)


Well, i guess i should go to the very beginning or to the time before i departured actually.
I didnt really plan to go anywhere this summer...ive never been someone with the *i must go on holiday* itch...but one day while i was having a shower, i just had a moment of 'fuses connecting' and it was an instant decision that i MUST go somewhere...running away from reality? Well, probably...but sometimes you really have to do that in your life, when that reality starts choking you big time.
So, the initial decision was made, and then i had to get down to making a more particular one, like choosing my destination (n.b. choosing people wasnt involved from the very start coz i wanted to go all by myself....reasons for that? PLENTY).
The first thought about my destination was Budva...but then i also started considering Croatia (it simply remained my all time favourite part of the Adriatic Coast) and Turkey (Ive never been there, and even though i talked how i wouldnt want to spend my summer holiday there, i took it as an option this time). Ok, i also had Tenerife and Northern Cyprus on my list, but i realized that it would be better to leave them for some other time. After loads of consideration, my final decision fell on Budva....why? well, its much cheaper than Turkey and Croatia, i know the place, so i can get around very well (and for going alone, it was the most convenient option), plus it offers a lot things to see outside it....so, i made my decision, paid for the arrangement the next day, and after two days i left...yeah, a very last minute decision, which turned out as one of the best decisions ive made in my life...i think that when you have the least time to plan something and think about it and have your expectations, the better it turns out.
And i have to say, that from what i planned, barely anything turned out so. What I planned was to idle, relax, spend as much time on the beach as possible, write all my left-behind letters, visit one or two places around....but the circumstances dictated things a bit differently.
First of all, the weather wasnt really friendly the first days (and in some upcoming as well) so my plan to sit on the beach went downhill.
My plan for visiting places didnt turn out as initially expected as well...first, coz they offered many great places to be seen and i had to go to as many as possible (not just one as i thought). But due to the weather, my initial arrangement about it didnt quite turn out either...
and last, but not least, i met some really great people there... with whom it was really fun and cool to hang out with and spend time with, have coffee with, go to the beach with, play cards with etc etc.. (yeah, when it rains constantly for 3 days, you cant do much but play cards :))
Anyways, with all that, my plan to catch up with all my mail, read all that bunch of books i brought with me,  went downhill as well, since i had literally no time for that, but i didnt mind it one bit...
After the first half of my holiday, those great people left unfortunately, but thats why i had Anasty to make my second half just as great as my first one...what makes it so special, is that in my so long career of knowing people from abroad as my pen-pals or people i exchange postcards with, Anasty is the first one i met for real...Anasty from Russia...im sure that to many of you that name sounds more than familiar :)
Well, i accidentally, just before i left, found out she was going to Montenegro too, and i told her i was going there as well, and we said we had to meet...it would have been such a pity if after i came back i found out she was at the same place i was (she was actually staying 5 min. away from me) and that we didnt meet...so this was such a great thing to happen, which i still sometimes cant believe it, but i have the pictures to prove myself we really were there :) (Oh, if you are a regular reader and you havent seen the pics from the holiday but you would love to, just let me know, and ill send you the link :)
As i already mentioned above, i went on a bunch of excursions too, but i wont give you any details now...ill let you know about them through postcards and stories behind them. But these excursions also gave me the chance to meet some really really awesome people.
Speaking of postcards....i had sent out PLENTIFUL of postcards while being there....a real real lot, trying not to forget anyone...though i know someone might have slipped from the list (thats what happens when you send out 50 postcards)...and i know there is always this chance for a postcard getting lost....but in case you dont receive a postcard from me, and you feel you had deserved to get one, then i really apologize and will make it up to you one way or another...the last thing i would want is that someone feels left out when thats my last intention to do so.
Another thing regarding the postcards...when i went to send that huge pile, i actually had to put the stamps all by myself...so we had stamps for first category (Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia), stamps for second category (rest of Europe) and third category (outside Europe). Can you imagine how it feels to be licking stamps in the middle of the post office for like 40 cards (the amount i sent the first time) and on top of that, to have to put one of those airmail stickers for each card in the 2nd and 3rd category??? and someone would say postcard sending is an easy thing to do...he he he ....well, not easy, but certainly a pleasurable one :)
Btw, i also tried to use that sponge they actually use in the post offices for the stamps...but didnt quite work out for me...i always ended up with a part of the stamp totally unglued, so i got back to the licking (even though they say its not really the healthiest approach).
So in case you receive a card from me, with a badly glued stamp, know that its my fault...and im sorry..
Hmm, well...what else can i tell you in this short summary....i think that this was one of the holidays that changed me a lot...for the good or for the bad, i dont know, but i feel changed on the inside...its a holiday which brought me my so longed for peace of mind while i was there...and which i feel is fading away now that im back....which just again proves this love-hate relationship i have with this town and this country and all...I really need to get away from here, and if that could be somewhere by the sea, it would be perfect, coz the sea calms me down...a lot..its an effect i cant explain, but its present.
So, in short-words, that would be it....there are plenty and plenty of other details to tell...but ill save some for my other postcards from this holiday...and some, ill selfishly keep to myself only...sorry :P
and i really like these stamps...not only coz of the blue background, but they are just lovely stamps (on the left one there is a trace from a pen, and i have no idea where it came from...)
this stamp is from a set of two issued in 2007, called simply Fauna...the other stamp in the set is from a 0.50 €, representing an eagle.

aahh, feels good to be able to make my first post here after a long while, though i must mention that while i was away i didnt miss my computer, the internet....ANYTHING....it even felt good to be able to live without them and not feel so dependent on them.
While i was away, i had received loads and loads of great mail, new countries as well, so hopefully, now that my come-back post is done, ill get back to the updates regularly, and show you all those lovely cards i had received.

thank you for reading, and for still being a part of this. Hope you are all enjoying your summer holidays!!

See Ya!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Happy Easter!

As you probably know already....or maybe not...today we celebrate Easter...well, i know its a bit hard to keep track who celebrates it when, but i belong to that minority of the world, who celebrate Easter on this day.
So in order to commemorate it, i wanted to post this incredibly cute greeting card that i received from Ana in Serbia....I know some of you had asked me to send you an Easter greeting card from Macedonia, but unfortunately, after a nice quest, i came to realize that we DONT have Easter Greeting cards here, except for some handmade pieces of paper, and you can hate me as much as you want, but im NOT gonna send you those! I guess that people here just dont have the tradition to send Easter Cards so hence why you cant really find them....or maybe they exist SOMEWHERE, but not in all those places i had looked, and i looked in the ones which are most likely to have things like that, in parts of town where there is a high frequency, in markets which sold Easter decorations etc etc...but no luck...so I hope you'll forgive me!
And, this cat here, may not be exactly like Kimi, but he definitely looks like a Kimi's younger brother :)))))
Well, im not gonna bore you with stories and stuff...just wanted to wish Happy Easter to all those people who celebrate it today.

Честит Велигден!
Сретан Ускрс!
Wesołych Świąt Wielkiej Nocy!
Христос Воскресе!
Happy Easter!
 

Wishing you all a great day!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who celebrates it, to anyone to whom it has the slightest of significance, to everyone out there who treasures it for the love and friendship.
Well personally I dont celebrate Valentine;s...Ive never have...for the simple reason that its a Catholic holiday...Macedonia's main religion is Orthodox Christian...but years ago people started celebrating Valentine;s Day here as well....probably coz they thought its fancy and markets and companies thought it would be a great way to earn money out of it...coz lets face it, everything that gets modern is money consuming...and what bothers me most is that here people celebrate Valentine's Day for the wrong reasons...so if you are with someone, then by default you celebrate Valentine's Day coz the calendar says so, not coz you truly believe in it...i like it that people can express their love and affection but then on the other hand, i dont like the idea of doing it on this day only...just as mother's day...i prefer to give my mum a gift on a day she least expects it than on the one where im somewhat obliged to do so...
Valentine's also somewhat depresses me, coz people so much emphasize it and in general make me feel more aware im alone...yeah, more or less ive always been alone on this day and even if i wasnt, that someone wasnt physically present so again i felt alone....thats why i dont like these holidays....they are all about being with people around you at times when i maybe dont feel like being with people....and that's just depressing...

Here on the other hand we have a holiday called St. Trifun. St. Trifun in Macedonia is considered the patron of the fields, patron of the grape fields and grape growers.

The holy martyr Trifun was born in Kampsada in Phrygia, near the town of Apameia. His healing abilities were manifested already in his childhood, when he was still tending the geese. He healed various diseases and freed people from evil demons. The stories of the miracles he performed reached far, and one day he was summoned by the Roman Emperor, Gordian, to heal his dauther Gordiana who suffered from a mental illness which no physician could heal. Trifun soon healed her, gaining even greater fame as a result.
St. Trifun died as a martyr during the rule of the Emperor Decius. He was summoned before the Emperor's regional administrator, Acquillian by name, and ordered to renounce Christ and make offerings to the Roman gods. Having refused, Trifun was tortured. He was tied to a tree and beaten with a stick, then tied to a horse's tail and dragged through the fields, and when all this failed to frighten him into changing his mind, they threatened to cut off his head. But as the soldiers were leading him outside the town to behead him, St. Trifun prayed to the Lord to take his soul, so that when they reached the place of execution his soul had already passed to God. This happened on 14th February 248, according to some in 250, when the holy martyr St. Trifun was only 21 years old.

Well, back to the Valentine's...there is a bright side on it, and that is that apart from celebrating love, it also celebrates friendship...and that is something i can accept coz ive barely seen anyone celebrating Valentine;s coz of the friendship...but thats why there are the GTKY ladies...and as it happened for Christmas, a Valentine's Flamingo was organised again...and i got a number of wonderfully hand-made cards from the ladies..with really nice thoughts and quotes...i think im really happy to know those girls
Here are the cards i had received so far...as it was for Christmas, i wont post the quotes or the personal messages....hope you have nothing against that :)

from Chrissy in the USA


from Essi in Finland


from Marta in Portugal


 
from Ana in Portugal

from Katy in Estonia

from Relie in Singapore

from Valerie in France
as i receive the rest of the cards, they will be posted below. Just want to say an enormous Thank You to to GTKY gang for being who they are and for befriending me in the first place...luv ya girls!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year!!!

Have a Happy New Year everyone!!!

I wish that you all have a great New Year's Eve and a very very great year ahead of you! I wish that its one full of joy and love and that you'll have the strength and will to fulfill all your wishes and desires and if needed, overcome any kind of hardships you may stumble upon. 

Im sorry for the lack of updates lately...or better said, sorry for their inconsistency, but i just couldnt really juggle with all life had served...so this is one of the things in my life that had to suffer a great deal, but hopefully, ill get back on track once the new year walks through the door and that you'll see things more regularly here.

I also want to thank you ALL who had been coming around in the past 9 months and who actually helped this place to get going...i hope you will keep coming in the following year as well, coz i do need your support, suggestions, critics, help, comments and contribution....coz if i didnt have that so far, this place wouldnt have been what is it today....so thank you ALL for giving all those things to me in such great amounts!!! You just make my time and efforts in this soooo worthwhile!! Thank You Thank You Thank You!!!

Have fun tonight everyone, or a nice calm evening, whichever you prefer.
Ill bring you a new post next year as soon as i can....having in mind im having a short holiday and break from work, it should be any time soon.....so stay tuned :)

Hugs to all of you out there, and thank you for everything!!!