Montenegro

Here is one lovely map card!

well, this one has some sort of a story...I got some of these map cards last summer....I was actually over-excited when I saw them, and had to grab more than one...but of course, in the end they could be found nowhere....yeah, tourists know what's most popular.
Anyways, since my mum went there last September, I asked her to look for some map cards again, and in case she didnt find any, I gave her mine so that she could send it to me written and stamped from there...now, I dont know if this is my last year's card or if it is one of the new ones she got, but it doesnt really matter...what matters is that I have it here with me...thank you so much mum!!!

And i must mention, that compared to the cards available last summer, this year, they have really gone down....pity.

the stamp is from a mixed 2008 issue, containing 3 stamps.

Holy Meteora, Greece

I was convinced that i had bought this card myself, but just as I started making this post i figured that my mum and dad had brought it to me when they went to Greece ones...well, i was at the Meteora so hence the confusion...

I visited Meteora only once...the time i went in Athens for New Years...I just cant recall if it was 1998 or 1999...i have it written somewhere...maybe even at an earlier post here...but right now my memory is not really on my side :)
I must say that this is one of the places in Greece which are a *must*! We visited the place in January, and i recall the weather was somewhat gloomy, and it had rained before that as well...but in general it wasnt really cold....i would manage with a denim jacket during the day...which for January isnt something you can afford in Macedonia for example :)
Anyway, i recall that the road up to the monasteries apart from being very steep, is also narrow, and waaaay tooo curvy...so it was rather scary while the bus was going up, coz all the time i had this feeling it was gonna lean on one side and fall into the abyss...and i could see the abyss from the window....it was right under me...i could see no road, no asphalt....just a deep deep abyys....on a road like that, it definitely didnt feel pleasant....but as you can see, im typing this, which means, ive lived :)
I cant recall exactly which monastery or monasteries we visited...but i know they had this rule, that you HAD to wear a skirt in order to come in...thats somewhat funny coz it goes opposite to all those 'skirts' forbidden rules which im used to in churches...thing here was, i was wearing jeans, and being not a skirt-fan, i had none in my bag of course...but the people there at the monasteries had a bunch for cases like this...so i had to put a long bluish canvass skirt over my jeans...i looked ridiculous....i have a picture of it, but i dont think i will post THAT here...i have this absolutely silly expression on my face so i rather keep it private :)
As i was walking along one of the monasteries, being all curious as i can sometimes get, i was trying to lurk into the rooms which were along, and i peeked into this one, from where i actually have the photograph below...i dont know what the room actually contained, and im pretty sure it wasnt allowed to take pictures...all the rooms were locked, so what i did was, i put the lens of the camera at the something which looked like a window and pressed the button...and took the picture...i think that the room contained skulls of some monks who had lived there....hmmm well...thats a big number of monks...why would someone keep the skulls i really dont know...feels creepy...though it feels creepy that someone like me took a picture of it...but i just couldnt have resisted....i knew that if i dont do it, i would regret it eventually...so here it is...

i just hope you WILL come by this blog again...i just had to share this with you when i was already posting a Meteora postcard...im not THAT insane...just a bit...in order to manage to get by in this crazy little world :)
Im pretty sure other people have taken pictures of this too...no? :)

Montenegro

I didnt actually intend to do an update today...apart from the fact i spend way too much time at the pc due to work, i have way too much work to do as well...but I was told that the deadline which was like supposed to be tomorrow, first postponed for Tuesday, and then for Thursday...and i felt some sort of relief, coz im way too much behind with the work, and now Thursday seems somewhat i can manage...though if i keep going with this pace I doubt, esp. since while I have to work on one document, i get others in the meantime as well...plus the lessons i have to prepare for next week and all...and i really have no idea how im gonna manage it all...but at least the pressure i feel had eased a bit...of course, it doesnt mean i can just go and idle now, but at least it doesnt feel so helpless now...and i fell somewhat disappointed with some people and i just need some remedy and clearance of thoughts...and this is my refugee...

Anyway...even though this card is about Montenegro...my post has nothing to do with Montenegro..but more with the dog on the picture...now, i know some of you will know what im gonna rant about...and feel free to skip this longish post...but i just feel inspired and find it appropriate for this card...

So...whats the deal...few days ago, out of nowehere a small puppy appeared in my garden (not one bit as the one on the card, but this is like the only card I have which features a dog :)). Anyway...the puppy was the most adorable fluffy thing i had seen..small and white...well, it was soo dirty and sticky that you couldnt call it white..but it was defintiely way too adorable...i regret not having taking a single picture of it...and it was way too lively coz it wouldnt stop running and jumping and going around...way too playful...and way too hungry coz it ate whatever i had given him...the sweetest thing was when i noticed that it accomodated himself (or herself, i dont know actually...but ill go for himself) in my mum's pot flowers...and was pretending to sleep, but when i would come around, it would raise its head, start waving its tail and jump to me...if it wasnt so dirty, i would have squeezed the hell out of him of hugging...we played with small balls as well, and he would run after them, bring them back to me, or hide them again behind my mum's pot flowers...i really dont know why he so much wanted to be around those pot flowers...some feeling of safety i guess...anyway...eventually i had to leave for work and was wondering if it would be there when i come back...well, it was...in my neighbours garden actually, he found a whole in the fence to be able to move here and there, but when i called him he came to me, again all jumping, yupping, running...waving its tail....a real real sweetheart....a few hours later, he went to sleep and he even found himself a hidden place for it...i really dont know how he managed but he was managing with everything perfectly, even though he was here for the first time...an incredibly incredibly smart puppy!!  Well...the following morning i woke up really early...partially coz i had work to do, partially coz of him...but to me greatest disappointment, he was gone...and hadnt come back until now....if it wasnt for my mum and dad to see him as well, I swear i would have thought it was all a hallucination...I still hope it would come back...and frankly, im gonna do whatever it takes this time not to let him go...i know my cat wont be happy, even though the puppy wanted to play with him and was teasing him and all...but i think that with time, they will settle down together...I just hope it would come back one day soon...he made me fall for him at an instant..and then just left...its really not fair...i wonder if it would have been better if he never showed up in my life at all...I wonder why things or people you care for the most just dont stay....life...

btw, this card was sent to me by my mum and dad back in 2001 from their holiday in Budva...a funny thing my mum had written on the card is: "Today its pouring, but its great for walking". I dont get it...if its pouring, how can it be great for walking?? it not a drizzle or a light rain....its pouring...or as the British would say..its raining cats and dogs....ha...now this is an irony :)

Ostrog, Montenegro

Well, not a newly received card actually....not that im out of cards...i have like over 20 pending....but i got this insane idea that i need to mingle my older ones as well...i mean, i barely manage to keep up with the newly received ones, so i dont know how i will with these ones added on top of that...but i was thinking...and the moment i started uploading my newly received cards, i had like hundreds of the previous ones which i had put on stand by...and at this rate, turns out ill never upload them...or i will in some distant future....so i decided to do it now, and mingle them with the new cards.....another reason for this is that i like having a variety here...and by that, i mean, cards from different countries....if you have noticed, i barely post 2 cards of the same country on a same day even if i have like 5 to post from that particular country....and by including these old cards, ill increase the variety, since most of those are from places ill most probably wont get a card now (both officials and swaps), so it really will bring some difference here....plus youll get to see more different stuff.....well, i personally like the idea...i hope you as well....and if we get realistic...the chances i get an official card from Montenegro are scarce....the chances for me to ask for a swap are even lesser, mainly coz i have too many cards from there.....so...there we go.....:))))

This card here was sent to me by my mum and dad in 2001 during their stay there......with a simple and concise message on the back: "Something very beautiful".

Well, it surely is, no?
The Monastery of Ostrog is of the Serb Orthodox Church placed against an almost vertical background, high up in the large rock of Ostroška Greda, in Montenegro, dedicated to Sveti Vasilije Ostroški (Saint Basil of Ostrog).

It is the most popular pilgrimage place in Montenegro, visited by believers from all parts of the world, representing the meeting place of all religions: Orthodox, Catholics, Muslims. According to the stories of pilgrims, by praying by his body, many have been cured and helped in lessening the difficulties in their lives.

(Maybe I should give it a try....)

Budva, Montenegro (03)

Sveti Stefan, Montenegro

Tivat, Montenegro

Montenegro

Montenegro

Budapest, Hungary (06)

Zlatibor, Serbia

Montenegro

interesting card my mum brought me (though i think i should label this as mum & dad together)

It shows a road map card of Montenegro and the neighbouring countries, depending of how much of the picture could have fit in I guess...

made me think of something.....there is this stereotype going on that women cant read maps and men have a much better sense of orientation...well, im not a feminist to jump now and say its discrimination and blah blah blah...but frankly, MY sense of orientation sucks.....big time...I have found myself plenty of times in a situation (in a foreign country/town) that i go somewhere for example....but when i need to go back, i barely have an idea where i had actually come from...or if i lets say, need to get somewhere, i cant really make much use of things around me to get to the right place
there is a thing that happened to me when i was taking my driving test....we came to a roundabout....and i had practised that, though never felt comfortable with it...so as i was about to go into it, one of the people in the comission told me "get back from the same street where you took off"...my initial reaction was a smile and a thought 'at least i dont need to count if its 2nd, 3rd street and so forth...'. Well, my joy lasted for just a second, since just as i passed the first few metres and made a small turn, i figured out i had ABSOLUTELY no idea which was the street i started from...so i got so confused that i didnt even manage to stick to the basic rules of 'passing a roundabout'....of course, i missed the right street...and of course, I failed....

Budva, Montenegro (01)

My mum sent me this one

Its an interesting card, regarding its shape...i like unusually shaped cards...what i dont like is that the card looks so small when uploaded....why do horizontal cards always look smaller, while vertical ones look so huge?

and i know there was a way to remove that 'border' around the card, coz its makes the actual shape get somewhat lost...but i cant find the 'tutorial' now of how it was done...i know i had done it with other pictures...so im not hallucinating..

Budapest, Hungary (02)

A card from my mum's trip to Budapest

As I remember (and the date proves me right) she went there with her colleagues in March regarding "Women's Day". Yup, travel agent's always find appropriate or inappropriate reasons to organize some kind of a trip, in order to empty people's wallets...

the card on the back says: "this is so you are delighted when you take a peek in the mailbox"

i think my mum is the person who best knew even back then, how i feel when i find something in the mailbox for me...cant say anything else, but an enormous "Thank You Mum"!