Summarizing The Week So Far

After almost a week, maybe less, of not having a clock on my desk, I finally have one now. It's a rather cheap, little "typically Made-in-China" kind with thermometer and hygrometer. Now, if Kari asks me again how cold or how hot is it, I can tell him... as long as he asks me at home. I've been working hard on my agenda, penciling up a lot of tasks and apointments, watching how a rather clear, lightly programmed week packed up to capacity.

Tasks upon tasks, everything written down in pencil so I could change it when it was change, which happens a lot.

In this week, so far, I have got to like my boss even more, as he has proven to me that he does treat me with respect and takes his time to talk to me about the projects I'm holding, explains me his observations, doubts and listens attentively to my explanations, seeking to understand. I realized how blatantly rude and lazy some people are. I had the chance to be amazed by the shamelessness of some people who believe that it is perfectly acceptable to escape responsability by placing the blame of the task on other people, or simply claiming ignorance based on not fulfilling another task, a BASIC TASK anyone should take by granted.

A meeting programed from a while ago was cancelled, and I shouldn't be amazed at seeing someone push so hard to reprogram it when he belongs to group that has done everything in their power to push the meeting appointments further, further, further. I really wanted to concrete that meeting so I could cement down a few things, things that continue to escape, and at the begining I was upset for it. However, when the whole scope downed to me, I realized that it doesn't matter that the meeting won't be held tomorrow, because that was I do now when I'm finishing at the office, and so I can arrange a meeting with my friends, and I did!

Tomorrow I'm meeting a very good friend of mine, taking a coffee and sharing thoughts and small gossip. Things like that make me happy, things like that make my week.

My Geek Pillow

Today, finally, I've got MyGeekPillow, and I must say, that I love it! Well, them. I've got two! Just in time, as the adorable micro-enterpreneur promised, and I must say, they worth every penny! Can't hardly wait for Kari to pick his geeky logo and have his pillows made just like mine! ^_^ Now, no, I'm not being cheap, but I'm keeping my pillows in their plastic bags because I don't want then to get all dirty before I take them home. Yep, they are going abroad and will live in Budapest with Kari and me.

They are made out of non-stretching cotton fabric (for the body of the pillow) and felt (for the design) and they are sooooo soft and so perfect and sooooo niiiiiiiice!!! I forget to ask whether they are washable, but I believe they are not really that washable due to the felt. Felt deforms easily.

I'm a total sucker for pillows, and I mean pillows of all kind. I even have three just for sleeping, and I pile up throw pillows everywhere. Office, bed, floow you name it!

When thinking about our home, I was always clear about throw pillows on the bed and in the living room, probably even at the bench on the hall... anywhere I can put a throw pillow I will. However up to MyGeekPillow I thought my pillows would be solid, serious pillows peppered up here and there with Pucca and Hoops&Yoyo, which I've got for my birthday a year or so ago from two different friends (who know about my not-so-secret liking). Perhaps I would score a few more before I'd move home or something. However, when I've got to know about these pillows through Twitter, the light was made: I wanted at least one of these cyber-era marks in my home.

Kari isn't much into the Internet, but I can think of a few programs that mean to us, that perhaps he would like to see lined up in our couch. This is our life, this is our world, and I want to bring all that together, have it represented in Our Home.

On So Many Things

Well, after a day like yesterday, it's certain I wasn't going to be in the shape of writing, nor after a day like Friday either. In days like this I'm actually quite happy if I can make it alive to the end of the day.

The original plan fro yesterday was as follows:

06:30: Skype with my boyfriend

07:30: Get ready to go out and run my errands, get around with my apointments.

08:15 and on: get money out of the ATM, buy dollars, pay the dollar portion of the L and the P credit cards, and then pay my P.O.Box.

12:00: Meet Li in P to meet Maurizio's new reataurant.

14:30: Go to Skylar's Bachelorette Party.

Since it's needless to say that this was a very heavy day for anyone, I started crossing out as much stuff as I could before, which is how in Friday I took my lunch break to do the paying of the credit cards. I went to a place where all the banks I needed to go to were in the same block (sort of). It took me longer than I thought, since the banks were full of people. Add to it, Friday was "devisa-crazy" day. I checked the devisa-rates before I left the office and located the bank that had the cheaper rate. Well, by the time I've got there, there weren't any dollars left to sell. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. I had never experimented anything like that before.

Since I was running out of time, and I had two credit cards to pay, I went to the first bank, L, to buy the devisa directly. BIG mistake. You see, they had anounced a price higher, MUCH higher than in the original bank. The teller girl was impossibly slow, something I had nbever experimented in that bank, which was my favorite (after BP, which is my fave because I used to work there). Then it was my turn (I was the customer right after the one she was attending). I calculated how much should I pay for the devisa to pay the "Cash Payment". This payment is lower that the full amount you owe, but if you cancel it, you cancel your entire debt. It has been created so that people prefer to pay the whole shebang, and the part that you save are the interest. Well, the teller girl calculated my paying amount and it was higher than what I calculated. When I told her, she said that the rate had gone up. Well, the bank should update their bulleting board, so that the clients are not mislead, but I was in a hurry, so I told her to go ahead, and gave her the extra money. She then started playing with her computer for solid 10 minutes and then dared to say that the rate changed again and that I was short in an amount higher than I have in plus the first time. It pissed me off.

"Okay, here you go, but do it now before it changes again!"

She did and interestingly was able to make the whole thing in a few minutes. Upset as I was, I went to the ATM again, got more money out, in case the other bank decided to play games with me too, and rushed to P. There I started asking the teller, a nice kid, what was the devisa rate at that moment, which was sensibly lower than that of L, and I told him to buy me this much dollars NOW because I needed to pay the credit card. Here everything went quick and swiftly, wich gave me 20 minutes to run into a Shell, buy myself a Red Bull, some Fritos and a Twix for lunch.

I was flabbergasted! L was my favorite bank (after BP) and I considered my L card my "good, though expensive card", while P's was my "I get VIP treatment with this, but it's the Dangerous Card in my wallet". Anyway, tomorrow I will call up and send e-mails to just about anyone I can think off to denounce this happening, so they will hear about me. In any case, I'm beyond glad I took care of this on Friday, and so this wasn't ruining my mood for yesterday.

Yesterday my day was a bit lighter, talking with my boyfriend at 7 am, and taking care of business with the P.O.Box. Li phoned me before I even left home to call off our lunch together, since she was very affected by weather change, and so her allergy was taking the best of her. This allowed me time to visit Entrepans and take an hour for writing in my journal, while taking a Ginger Ale (there was no Coke and they have no Dr. Pepper) and enjoying a truly supreme Continental sub.

I completed other of my errands fetching Skylar's gift, a set of candles and inciense sticks, for mood. Also added a small detail, a little compressed wood square that made a friendly candle holder which reads "Whenever you wish to end the day lighting a little candle". The drawing is pretty as well (or so I think), which made me decide for it. Naturally, as you'd imagine, I've got myself one too.

Fetched then a couple of apples from the marketplace at a price similar to that of the fair, but with much less heat. Of course, I drove the seller crazy because I took my sweet time picking the seven apples I could get for aproximately $2. Then went to fetch myself 2,5l of coke at the closest supermarket. Well, there I hit gold. I found 7 cans of Cherry Coke and 3 cans of Dr. Pepper. That made it for me. ^____^ I was set and my supplies were filled up once again. Thanks to my friend Sonja, I discovered Dr. Pepper and totally love it ever since!

I went home, unloaded my bags and got ready for the Bachelorette party. Now, unlike in years before, when I dressed up and sought to look "pretty", I kept my Tatuum jeans and simply changed my shirt, braided my hair and put on some eyeshadow. Now I'm old enough to be far beyond showcasing myself and making myself superficially pretty. What for? I'm not high heels or short dresses, stiff hair and loads of make up. I did put on some so that I wouldn't be too far from the crowd, but I wasn't dressing up. Truth is that I am,simple, I am comfortable and I am natural. That's who I am.

Skylar, as usual, was beautiful, encasing her looks in a wonderful dress. She was nice and adorable, as she always is, wearing the tiny Empress Sissi Star pendant I've got her from Schönenbrunn. Her fiancé, Alejandro, was simply as delightful as always. Chirp and adorable... and what was he doing at Skylar's bachelorette party? Because there were actually several gentlemen at the party. That was strange. The theme of the party was "autumn" with tones of brown and burned reds and yellows gracing everywhere. We chatted some, basically about office-gossip, then updating them about the life and miracles of my mother-in-law.

The bachelorette party was organized in a hall of one of the best hotels of Costa Rica, where the guests were arranged in five tables, all of them filled to capacity, save the table 1, where Skylar sat with her fiancé, her mother, her brother and his girlfriend, and I. Small snacks came with a program... games and loud music with coercing of people to play. A lunch of sheppard pie with anchovy salad, and then strawberry mousse. From the first moment on Skylar, Alejandro and I widened our eyes at the "animation" of the party. Evidently it wasn't checked over and controled by Skylar's uncanny sense of style and cool. Our eyebrows went up to our hairlines, but then were made participate. This is where I say, thanks Hyne I'm going to Hungary! Why can't a party be conducted simply with conversation and good food and wine? It's cheaper and stylish.

Through the games, many of them too awkward for me, people won all kinds of prices, of which I won two: a timer pear, green, which will come handy for Kari and I in our home, and a set of candles and scent-cones with a small white china saucer. I've got my invite for the wedding, which will be held by the end of February. The gift were opened by both of them, and to my surprise most of them were glasses. What the hell? Did people thought the Wedding List was optional? That's the point of them! So people don't buy the same thing!! I counted around eight boxes of wine glasses, the exact same boxes, and at least four-five boxes of whisky glasses.

Skylar was visibly happy, and Alejandro even happier. Alejandro was truly, visibly illusioned with the upcoming wedding. I'll be keeping you updated on that.

Today I rested. Today I called for pizza and simply rested. I needed it badly. And I blogged.

This is my Post #503

Unlike you'd probably think by the topic, no it ain't anything particular about the number 503, save the fact that if you add the figures they add up to 8, which is one of my favorite numbers... like for many, many other people in the world. 8, 7 and 10 are big ticket item in the "numerical world", where often the "rebelious" or the "geeky black sheep" of the herd picks the 6, often saying that, yeah, it's due to the 60 and the ancient numerical system... whatever. 501 has a meaning due to the famous Levi's jeans. I guess everybody has one, right? 502 is meaningful in China, where the way you read this number (in Chinese) says "I love you" in Chinese. (Damned, you gara count a lot in Chinese, to get to an "I love you". For them love IS in the numbers.)

The number is mainly because as I started this entry I had no particular topic in mind, but rather an array of things that will somehow come out and make an entry. (And I don't feel like making a [boing boing boing boing] 2. So that's out of the question.)

Among the things happening in my life right now, I'm still somewhat in shock about that certain penpal's letter, which has lead me to burden my dear penpals with notes and comments of "Oh dear Dr. Pepper! How can people like that even exist!". Well, what can I say? I'm not famous for my tolerance, and certainly not for my capability of dealing with disappointment. Of course, if someone has some, rest assured it would make a magnificent Birthday, Name-day or Christmas gift. (Please include Instructions of Use!)

On the other scope, well, on Saturday I received a BIG LOAD of letters (one of them was The Disappointing One), which made me INCREDIBLY HAPPY! People who don't penpal have no idea what are they missing! Six letters from different parts of the world, from different people, with different stories and handwritings waited for me in my P.O.Box (which I still have to go and pay before the 31st), which has spent most of it's useful life basically empty. Some thicker, some thinner, some with cards, some other with pictures, and yet another with unbelievable surprises in it! Some humorous, some pensive, but all of them warmed up my heart and made me feel VERY GOOD! ^_^ What can I say? My penpals are simply AMAZING! Now, they didn't all happen to get there that exact day or that exact week, as I was, as everybody knows by now, in my BELOVED HUNGARY, in my ADORED EUROPE enjoying blissfully my vacations, which were very eventful, from loads of snow, to 5 star hotels with no decent Internet, Bulgarian menus in BULGARIAN and so on (let's not repeat what you've already read); so through the lapse of four weeks (sort of) my letters landed quietly and lovingly in my tiny little mailbox, for me to then harvest an armful of fuzzy feelings.

In order to practice some sort of discipline, I decided to open my letters one by one and answer them in tandem, so that thoughts and ideas wouldn't mix and thus everybody gets replied swiftly. The system works like a charm, I must tell you, as this way I've got four letters answered by Monday, which made it to the Post Office in a moment of "Office Break" where, under the cloath of deception, I slipped away for some undisclosed minutes to run like the wind to the Post, place my letters, kiss them good-bye (which must have made a very bad impression on the poor post-lady, since they were four, all addressed to women...) and send them to my dear ones. ^_^

Two remained after: the Disappointing One and a very thick, very big, very bulky one. The Disappointing One I read first and since then I'm like @_@ waaaaah~ noooo~ the horror! The other one, just by looking at it, I knew it would be the opposite to the other, yet I was trying to decide whether it was from the New Unabomber or maybe... something else. Like any experimented bomb-expert, I shook the envelope first, then shook it again harder, to see if there was anything suspitious, bomb-like in it. It didn't explode, so I thought it was safe. (Don't do that at home. That's what offices are for. ^_^ The drawing is mine, I made it with my own hands, my own Sharpie and the office's recycled paper.) Finally I opened it up and A LOT OF THINGS came out of it! A printed out interview with handwritten side comments to it (I bet you all want that, don't you?), TRUCKLOADS of pictures and ANOTHER LETTER! And dear Dr. Pepper if that envelope wasn't a bulky, thick envelope too! (The shaking procedure went on again, just in case that too had a bomb. You can't be too careful.) After it didn't explote, I opened it and in the middle of a rain of silvery trumpeting angels, the thickest letter ever popped out. O_O The paper itself was also so thick it felt like unfolding a tree!

A unique "first letter" unfolded that broke all the rules pertaining "first letters" evolving rapidly with fresh, crisp notes scribbled up in round, youthful letters, drumming up the pace and style of a personal diary. (Yes, that's you Honey!) I was happy, but truth to be told, I must admit myself overwhelmed and taken aback. There while with my other beautiful friends the correspondence is unique and fluid, this one posed a challenge: could I match that much "media" in my reply? For the first time in ages I'm "planning" my letter. I questioned myself also, about how "me" would a media-enriched letter be, since my signature is "paper-and-unreadable handwritting in black ink". I mean, I sweated big time with my French letter (which I had to write twice, thanks to the always unreliable Costa Rican Postal Service and me not scanning it ahead), but that was still "Me". Now with media? So I pondered and pondered and decided I'll do a "Media-Me" letter, which will still be me, and would fulfill the pretty and colourful soul of my friend. Besides, I already made ONE card for a friend, so why wouldn't I be able to deal with a "Media-Me"?

So now I'm on that point where I would really like to start replying to the letter, but I can't because the "material" isn't done... as a matter of fact I have to figure out a way to get a few things done. Then, as a matter of fact, the material itself is still in debate: what should I include, how to "program the experience" and how to tie it into "The Letter". And regarding "The Letter" itself... change my eyeburning-red stationary and actually get stationary, add stickers (NO) or stamps (Get Real) or stay with the regular "format"? These and others alike are questions to be properly addressed by The Council (my working brain neurones... or so they say) in due time. Now my question is: will that "due time" happen before or after this next Saturday? After all, Saturday is Post-day!

MyGeekPillow

So it happens that there's something called "Geek Pillow", which is basically a pillow made with the logo of something geeky (or any design you'd like to put on it), and I must admit that it has caught my attention. Someone on the Twitter published a picture of one of these and I soon decided I wanted one. But one about what?

So today I was thinking about what kind of logo or image I would like to see on my geek pillow. That one was hard, because I don't really see myself as "geek", and add to it I don't have any favorite community or site or whatever I feel identified with. If anything I'm quite the "anti-site", since I'm a fierce anti-Facebook user, and my appearances on the Twitter (in spite of what some people say) are as occasional as the UFO sightings, not to mention my once-in-a-while appearances at the MSN, Google Talk and other IM places. So, today, after randomly searching for possible geek pillow motives (and keeping my personal symbol as a last resource), I came up upon a few options that do hit the nail in the head with me. Check out my options.

... because I'm a 100% IBM ThinkPad Believer

 

 ... simply too beautiful to let it go by...

 

... I'm honest and proudly Hungarian. I'm on iwiw.

... Duh.

As for which am I going to choose, I still don't know, and that also depends on the price of the geek pillows. I've told Kari about the pillows and asked him to choose something he likes so that we can geek-pillow it up, so that in our place we have these unique, personalized and geeky pillows in our living room, our bedroom and just about anywhere we feel like putting it.

Yay! Can't wait to decorate My Home!

[boing, boing, boing, boing...]

Today my head feels a bit... heavy. Nah, it ain't the worry or the tiredness of the trip kicking in, it's the sudden heat washing over the country after days and days of cold fronts turning our nails naturally blue and hanging icicles of our eyelashes. nToday I dressed up like every day, with layer over layer of clothes and a nice, thick wool poncho-like ... thing over a red knitted sweater over a rosewood, long sleeved shirt... and now it's so freaking hot my hair is melting. Damned, how I hate heat.

Work trickles down slowly, and this generalized heaviness weighing over one's forehead and eyes, where the pressure seems to kiss the poor vibe into you, makes you escape from even the simplest and most basic of tasks. You simply want to roll over and sleep next to a beer bottle under a palmtree lulled by the ocean. The amount of fluids I'm drinking is quite admirable, specially because it includes a liter of water. Me. Water. Yeah, that should give you an idea of the situation. It is Friday and that should put us all in a rather festive mood, but hell if this Friday isn't one of the longest ones in the history of mankind! Each minute seems to take at least a quarter of hour to pass. In a few minutes... or not so few, I'll be free. Free, free, free... to join the traffic jam that will only improve my building headache, that will make my trip home all the more straining.

It is even probable that I won't be able to see NCIS tonight, for I can't asure anyone that I'll be able to keep myself awake all the way to 7 pm. Yeah, talk about that.

The Internet has been on and off all day, making it hard to do anything with it, making you wonder what on Earth people did at the office when there was no Internet? Must have been so terribly boring... or "productive" in a seriously "tayloristic" way. If "the man who works with brute iron shall be as brute as the iron", then the "man who works at an office  shall be as dumb as it's access to the Internet". I left my book at home today, and I would have really, really enjoyed to grace my day a little with the notes of Maria Festetics about life in the court of Empress Sissi. I kind of love her writing, and her subjectivism is quite enjoyable.

In her entries you do feel the fact that she writes the journal to be later on read by many, to be published, and at some places it makes you wonder what would be her real feelings and thoughts. There's some self-glorifying, but what journal doesn't have those? The love and devotion to the Empress borders into unholly love that not one lesbian-lover would embrace passionately to the bosom. Comtess Maria is, without any trace of doubt, a complex and fascinating creature you can't stop reading. Well, you can, when you leave your book on the nightstand. Phew...

I'm addicted to books. I'm addicted to my journal, that's clear and undeniable, but I'm also painfully addicted to books, though I expect not to join no "retreat" to get me "clean". Yes, I love to read, and thick books with extensive chapters do not threaten me. Hell, I read Ann Radcliffe! That's not something you see often nowadays, when celebrities "write" books about themselves (all of them with the colaboration of a professional writer because, really, do you expect them to write? You know, when you are famous and rich, you can afford to write a book without actually writing it, because you can pay someone to write it for you, and it will be a best seller.), and everything that comes from the polished shelves and counters of the media-friendly bookstores filled with CDs and DVDs is conveniently chaptered up into no-more-than-two-page segments and chapters so short anyone with serious ADD can run through it in one sitting.

People don't read. They think they do, but they don't.

I know someone from a book club, who has labeled me like "you, who like the big books". Yep, that's me. "Over 150 page book" Bunny.

So, here I was, with a flickering Internet, no book, a boyfriend struggling to talk to me through Google Talk and a question in my head: how the hell can I send something via sea to Hungary?

boing, boing, boing goes my head. Hectic? To say the least. I just want to get out of here.

This is how desperation-by-heat "reads" like.

Shame to Christians

I think I was actually going to write about something else, but this really deserves my attention, basically due to the outrageous nature of it.

Around the world, there are thousands and thousands of people who actually believe in things like prophecies of the end of the world (like that one of the world ending in 1996, because Nostradamus said so, or this new batch thinking that the world will end in 2012 because the Mayans and a movie said so, and so on), as well as people who do believe that natural phenomenons are God's way to punish people. Yep, in this age, 10 years into the XXIst century, and there's people with the analytic capability of a caveman. So is Pat Robertson, host of the Christian show "700 Club".

He blames Katrina Hurricane on the legalization of the abortion in the U.S., and this current disaster in Haiti on an alleged "pact with the Devil" forged to get the island free from the French. Hn, wonter what's the Sin behind the 2004 Tsunami (known also as the Asian Tsunami, the Indian Ocean Tsunami).

First of all, any midly literate human being, who simply reads the headlines, see an add, gets on the net, knows that, yes, these disasters are our fault (or at least  some of them) because of the climatic change our irresponsible poluting of the environment. We still use more electrical power than needed, still waste water "because we can pay it" and completely disregard the amount of waste we dispose, the amount of carbon monoxid we generate, and so yes, forests die, icebergs and snow blankets melt, wildlife dies and so do we. Others, like earthquakes HAPPEN. I mean, if you are not set in believing that the Bible holds far more acurate historical data than science, geology in this case, you may remember that once upon a time there was ONE Continent: Pangaea. It the broke in two, and then it broke again, the pieces drifted away and so we have our current global topography. Now, this "breaking" wasn't made with a kitchen knife, nor was it because God was punishing the dinosaurs: it happened because that's how the planet behaves. Naturally, in all these years, the planet hasn't been staying nice and still, but it continued shifting. That shifting is called "earthquakes".

So no, no God whipping the world into shape. I mean, after all,what kind of god does he think God is, that punishes the poor people and yet let the abusive, powerful ones get away with murder? Why on Earth would God punish the poor people of New Orléans for the legalization of abortion in the U.S. and not the lawmakers who drew up and passed it? Or why only New Orléans, when around the world other countries have legalized it?

Blaming natural disasters on "the will of the gods" or as "punishment for sins" comes from the time when people had no idea why these phenomenons happened. Now we know, so resourcing to them is plain stupid. However what's despicable is pointing a finger, blame and pretty much say "you deserve it" to people suffering from something that's clearly not their fault and they had no way to prepare for it or foresee it in any way. That's outrageous.

I'd like to kindly request Mr. Robertson to quit calling himself "Christian", for our religion is one based on Love and Mercy. I may not be a regular church goer, nor a Bible thumbler, but I do have present in my heart Jesus' message: "love your fellows as you love yourself". God is a god of love and mercy. He doesn't punish us, but we are subject to the consequences of our actions: we reap what we sow. Someone capable of speaking such hineous words, when the news flood us with pictures of pain and devastation, wounded children in the arms of their parents (or I hope those are their relative, may Gad protect their innocent souls) shall now bear the name of "Christian", not the name of "Human".

The Heart of Our Sister: Honduras

This is one of those few times where I'd wish my blog had many, many readers, so that my words would carry away and get stored in many hearts and many minds. Words that I may type, that I may compose, but that do not "belong to me", but to the world. Today I run around and scream desperately to anyone willing to hear me, tears in my eyes. Today, after desperation has frayed my sanity, I fall on my knees, close my eyes and pray, begging God that the inmense darkness around this cyberplace is filled with eyes around the world, and that the message finds receptive hearts. I don't need You to comment, I need you to be aware. Please, be aware!

Among the blogs I follow there's one I follow carefully, Sin Pelos en la Lengua, (With no hairs on the Tongue, which is a Spanish saying for talking honestly and directly), dedicated originally to point out and write about the reality going behind the DR-CAFTA, and calling people, back then, to vote and manifest against it. Last year they finally said Good-bye to us all and closed the site. As a blesing, realizing that the DR-CAFTA isn't the only injustice going on, and there's so much more to point out, they came back filling us with article after article about the many abuses our Government, our President and his "court" commit against the population, as well as abuse witnessed elsewere.

Currently in Costa Rica many things are happening that shouldn't be happening. The Ombudsman was politically imposed, making use of the Parliamentarian Mayority controled by the President, mocking every regular and legal procedure to eliminate perfectly capable candidates in order to give the position to a politician who received it as "consolation prize" for not getting the presidency of the Parliament. A politician who, while taking a position where she must defend the population, promises to be "impartial" (she's a defensor, not a judge!!), and refuses to hear the people rejecting her (instead of inviting them to dialogue and giving them and herself the chance to prove her worth), telling to the media that "No manifestation, no person will deter her from her position, she won't resign, and she will do a magnificent job".

The fight of the population to stop the President's determination to give a large portion of protected areas (Las Crucitas) to a Canadian mining company to mine gold, still goes on, with a President fond of blackmailing the poor, holding up funds and aid for their agreeing into the fatal poisoning of the whole country. Over 200 dangerous, poorly paid jobs for our landscape, our protected areas (upon which there are SIGNED international agreements of protection), for the health of thepopulation, adults and children alike, and the poisoning with cianure of extensive water supplies that feed this valuable liquid to over the 40% of Costa Rica, and an uncharted (at least as far as I know) portion of Nicaragua. Our sister country, Nicaragua has officially sent complains to Costa Rica, demanding the stopping of the mining project, for it also threatens their resources.

Then, inspite of promising in 2006 to the ILO that Costa Rica will reinforce job conditions, and protect the workers rights to Unions, unions and unionists are being persecuted, and those workers who try to orginize into a union are either mobbed or immediately fired. Meanwhile people have no one to turn to when they are being abused at their jobs. Abusive contracts are being put in practice, ilegal practices are set up, and nobody can complain. Cleaning ladies at big companies go up to six months working without payment, and then fired without ever seeing a dime.

Yes, Costa Rica has a delightful, colorful array of abuse that actually makes you smile when someone complains about how awful it is in their country, because a politician happened to have an affair with his secretary. I am of the believe that you must help yourself, your country first and then go looking to help those abroad. "Start at Home", that's my motto. As so, I'm seeking to be actively involved in the movement to stop the Gold Mining in Costa Rica. The job is hard, but the worst thing we can do is abandon the ship.

However, reading among the entries of Sin Pelos en la Lengua, I came across this one about Honduras.

The situation in this country goes beyond the Coup d'Etat, which many countries rushed to ignore are such, and touches the most sensitive parts of it: it's population. In this entry, and subsequent entries you can read about a nation kidnapped, terrorized where death squads are a daily thing, where Opposition Media is shut down with bullets, journalists killed, tortured, kidnapped from a taxi and beaten into a quivering pulp. 70 year-old grandmothers thrown into a dark cell, insulted, yelled at, tortured for once being part of the Resistencia.

A De Facto Government that smiles at the world and pretends that "now everything is dandy" while they continue abusing the population. Ingrid Betancourt times 7,6 million. Public lands to be given to poor farmers to work are taken back and given to powerful Estate Owners. No, everything is not "dandy", the Coup D'Etat continues, under the nose of the world, where powerful countries arm up and swear war to terrorism, and yet at their doorstep allow a gory form of endogenous terrorism where the terrorist is the Government itself.

Things are not right and we shouldn't close our eyes and pretend it is. Please, be aware. I'm not asking for money or a signature in a petition list, or stop buying Honduran goods. I'm pleading you to be aware. What you do with this information is up to you, either you contact a local Aid Program, or investigate, or simply file it on your mind... is your choice, but whatever you do, please, do not forget.

What to do for Earth

TV has been bombing me with pro-Earth and pro-environment adds, some of them seeking to wake up awareness in people, like Fundación Neotrópica, while others seek to wake up awareness and get donations as result of it. I bet you've seen those adds as well: "Our world is dying and we are dying with them. What will you do about it?". Perhaps you are just as oblivious of nature as I am, and don't notice the fish in the tank or the flowers in the garden, but these adds often manage to breath into your bones the fear of God. But what can you do to stop the destruction of the planet?

My boyfriend does selective waste disposing, always keeping paper, plastic and others separated, taking them to places where they can be properly disposed, but can we all do that? Not really. Do we know other ways we can personally help environment? Not always, so this can drift us towards something we can do: donate money. But shall we donate money? You may if you want, but I don't. I feel no trust for many of these associations, because what can they do? Lobby? More adds? Truth is that some organizations, such as Join Team Earth are being sponsored by Costa Rica, for instance, when Costa Rica, does little for environment. We have signed agreements to protect areas of forest and enterprises buy air for us, all while the very President allows gold mines into the forests and luxury hotels with golf courses on the beach, where they kill the environment. So where is the money going? When one sponsor does more to destroy than to keep, when it violates international agreements, what's the money good for?

Money can buy consciences, but it doesn't seem able to buy health and our environment back. But what can we effectively do?

Going Around in Vienna

Today it Snowed, and when I say "snowed", I mean, white blankets of cold softness everywhere. It was there in the morning and it didn't leave us all day. The program wfor the day consisted in visiting two castles: The Schönbrunn and Belvedere. Schönbrunn, selected by Kari, was the first and my Hyne, if it is beautiful! The second one was Belvedere, where I wanted to go to see Gustav Klimt's paintings, or at least some of them. This we didn't visit extensively, mostly because both of us were tired, with hurting feet for walking so much.

(I would include pictures but the Hotel's Internet is regulating my "upload" and I'm so low I don't think I could place even an icon.)

Schönbrunn, the former Imperial Family's home is impressive to say the least. It was made into a formal castle from a hunting house by Maria Theresia. Her life and style, even if many tried often to erase her, replace her, are all over the place, and as you walk from a room to the next (and here I strongly recommend the Imperial Tour, and get it with your Drei Tag Vienna Karte), with a voice in the language you've selected (we of course picked Hungarian, though English, French and Spanish were also available... among others) explaining you in detail what you see, what happend where to focus and what to pay attention to, it was made into a memorable experience.

To my utter delight, my beloved Sissi was also there, her writing room, her dressing room and her supplies to groom her long, beautiful hair, which was so long it reached the floor.

The Belvedere Castle was impressive to say the least, with gardens so well kept, so amazing that even as the snow cover them up, the designs made themselves vivible almost as if they would have been freshly and carefully carved or embroided into it. Big halls, curling stairways and many paintings from truly amazing Leopold Carl Müller, whose realistic painting took my breath away. There's a high ceilinged hall where a sign request you to scream as long as you can. If you do, and your shout is loud enought, a voice breathing and turning on anf off the lights will come from above. This is how you will be hearing shouts from time to time from the museum. Some dare, some don't, because, after all, in a museum you are supposed to be silent. No, we didn't scream.

Perhaps tomorro I'll be able to post some pictures, but today, I've reached my limit.

In Vienna

I never, ever thought something like this would happen. I made my reservation in September, the begining of it. My favorite hotel was already booked to capacity, so staying there was nearly impossible, so I looked for similar places around and in the same "price line". I found one: Hotel Kummer. Also on Mariahilfe Straße and quite near to my fave hotel. We went there, the place is beautiful, but guess what? Due to a mistake the hotel was fully booked and there was no room available for us. Okay, so I stress out here that I booked through Booking.com in SEPTEMBER 7th. Oh, but no worries, it's there mistake and they know it, and so they sent us to their five star hotel and paid the cab. Goodie. Please notice that I'm not laughing.

So the cab was paid and we went to this lovely hotel, Hotel de France, really beautiful, minibar is included, the same price we had for the other hotel, of course, but so it happens that the Internet is either free for 24 CONSECUTIVE HOURS or must be paid. Shall I start flipping up now? Yeah, perhaps I should. I mean, I go to Sofia, a capital city in the MIDDLE of the BALKANS where people doesn't even KNOW what English is, less they speak it, where they live in buildings CRUMBLING DOWN and where the paint flakes off the walls. Very simple, poor, honest people, much like I have always depicted the lovely Viktor Krum in my fanfics, and guess what? They had free Internet.

Sure, I've been in more disappointing hotels, but this... this is one fo those that makes me promise myself that in Vienna, it's Pension Hotel Continental or nothing. Trust me: They are THE BEST.

About the Blogging

More and more my entries are becoming something of a recount of my day, which is something I don't really like to do. Why to make a journal or a blog into a "personal newspaper"? It is my believe that blogs and journals should usually be a collection of thoughts, and not a collection of events, even though events can be fascinating as well. It is interesting also to notice that events actually can be the triggers of many thoughts, but events alone are too plain, too boring to even bother to type them down.

Events such as my mother in law making a comment about how my boyfriend is good for cleaning and picking up things, but not for cooking made me think about the familiar relationships and what parents should do with kids. Here is also where I remember Julie and the way she's bringing up her son, and I smile as I think of the wonderful and creative, free way, Justin is growing up, and it makes me think that perhaps is a way for children not to be mangled emotionally by their parents.

Today psichologues talk about how family relationships, particularly parents can scar their children and diminish their potential as human beings branding the way they relate to others and to themselves as well. Love too much, love too little... but what is loving too much? There's no such thing. Love shall not be confused with "doing everything for", or "spoiling". Love is love and love is freedom and happiness. Parents often have no idea about how impressionable kids can be, and how sensible people remain through their lives to what their parents have to say, or what they do. Parents are important to us because usually they are the first people we get to know and in many cases the ones with whom we stay most of the time.

Parents often fall into the mistake of doing their best to live their kids' lives and say it's for their own good. This is how parents feel entitled to chose their career, their friends, their clothes, or perhaps not so drastically, but at least often they say something like "you are not good for this". Not only my mother in law's "comment" about my boyfriend's cooking skills (and I tell you, I really believe I've a potential Iron Chef Hungary in my kitchen! He's just so talented!), but also other mothers that don't let their kids help in the kitchen because they are "not good enough", or do their homework for them because "you are just too clumsy" and so on.  I believe that people, parents particularly, should remember that some things take practice to improve, to get the technique right. Home is not like the office, where the "practice time" is over and you have to do things right from the first time. Home is a world of opportunities, just like school: you don't have to get it right from the first moment, you just have to have the spirit, the wish to do it, and the discipline to keep doing it.

If I had kids and one of them were to tell me that he or she wants to be become a pilot, even if my baby had some kind of impediment, like bad sight, or not good aim or something bigger, or simply not enough attention capacity, I, as the mom, should never tell them that they can't because this or that, but say "go ahead! I believe you can fly!". But often, simply because you feel you can't do something, or because you feel menaced somehow, you trample those who place a great value on your words. We fear for them and so we stop them, when we should stand by their side and cheer them in their dreams. How far could kids and people go, if we gave them what they need?

Everybody can fly, we just have to believe.

Some of the First Impressions of the Year Ain't so New

2010 has started and so far is beautiful and hopefull, like every January and every new year in the begining of times. There are moments when I feel a bit at lost, overwhelmed by the size of many thing, worried at moments for pety things such as "debt" and "time" and how they seem some times to hover over my head like giant buzzards. I send them away clearing my head and filling it with hope and projects: I can make them go away, I can get rid of them and I will. This year I will get my University diploma, pay all my dues and fly back here, back home, get a job and live happily ever after with Kari.

Like everytime I'm here, my days are more planned than the protocols of the Parliament, and each minute has been perfectly planned from months before. On Friday, January 1st, we got home from Sofia and rested. On Saturday the double plan included visiting my "adopted" parents in Mezőkövesd, an adorable country village known for it's beautiful embroidery, where we had lunch, which was delicious, talked, and then went back to Budapest, got the battery replaced in one of my Swatches and later went to pay visit to some friends who had invited us for dinner.

Today I was supposed to go to church, but since I woke up filling less than well, I skipped the gospel and rather stayed home resting, which did wonders to me. On the afternoon we went to visit my Godmother to discuss a few issues concerning the future, and then back home, did some grocery shopping and finally sit at the computer and delve into meditation and evaluation. If the first days of the year tell you something about the whole year, I would say that it won't be free of worry, but it will be many times more filled with hope and homely feelings, and added to it, the comfort of knowing that I can trust and count on a wonderful mate and man, such as my man, Kari.

Some of the things that happened also made me meditate. In early days I saw people with little consideration for others, I saw people so terribly filled with themselves they force their pety things upon others, gather friends and family around to get served by them, throw all manners through the window and flaunt their "signs of success" in rather forced and unproper ways. I realized I'm still intolerant, I still expect people to behave according to the social patterns I learned, to hold themselves to a given standard. I realized I can be easily disappointed and that didn't bother me, since I learned also that disappointment is a way to learn about people, about what you can expect from people.

I learned that I love my friends, but that doesn't mean that they are perfect. It doesn't mean either that I must accept everything from them. It means that they are my friends. Plain and simple, and they are people, with flaws and virtues. With characteristics.

I realized through 2009, just like in years before, and also in 2010 so far, that there are people who live for the "numbers", the "statistics", the "figures" as if life were nothing but a big, ongoing championship where these figures tell them how close or far are they from being  whatever they think they want to be. People desperate to get attention, to get more and more statistics about their position in a feeble, unrealistic world where a number can easily be dubbed, manufactured and even if it were "real" it wouldn't mean much about who they are and what they are. I'm sad for these people, hording their friends and followers to become another click, another number in a long list of meaningless numbers because "numbers" and their content-less filling is the only thing with meaning for them.

Kari has often told me that more people read me than what I would thing. That's unsettling. Sure, I like receiving comments from my friends, and I love getting that contact with people out there and in here, like a touch of fingerpads that makes us realize there are humans at the other side of the screen. Humans like J from Portugal, Humans like Julie up in beautiful Canada, Humans like Sartassa in Austria, Calendulina, Dragonfly, Lex... Humans, not numbers. People, not statistics.

I ask again: why would you want hundreds of followers/friends/buddies/readers... or whatever you call them if you can't reach out and "touch" them? Personally I believe that I'm not a collection item, and so I don't make my friends into one. I don't collect friends, I love them. What about you?

Another Year

Well, if this past year wasn't eventfull, I don't know what it was. Kari and I celebrated our first New Year as a couple, and I celebrated my first New Year in a relationship, since... well, a while. It was nice.

I never got around to publish the pictures Kari took in our trip yesterday around Sofia, and ain't like I've the time or the spirit to go around writing about it. For the first time in ages, for this year I've started flirting with the idea of gatting an "agenda". Yes, me, the PDA-lady, I'll get an agenda, a small, simple one that doesn't work on batteries and doesn't keep running low and erasing every appointment I've so carefully entered into it. However, were I to find a decent PDA, I would probably move to it. Decent machine, decent price, mind you.

Kari and I are more seriously thinking about our future together and making more sound plans for it. There's no more castles in the sky for us, but an actual, real future together in the horizont. This year will probably be my last year in Costa Rica. Naturally, there are still a lot of things to do, to consider, things that do not depend from us, but from third parties, which heavily influence our chance to be living together by the end of this year, but God willing it shall happen. The thesis is the biggest question for 2010, and my hope is high for it to be finally over, the University Degree finally in my hands and my financial record finally clean from debt. I hope and pray for the promotion at the office, which was frozen last year due to the "recession", which I hope passes this year and eases up my burdens, helps me pay my debts faster.

This year will be a frugal year for me, concentrating on paying my dues and buying nothing, or next to nothing so I don't have to carry so many more things on my way home.

My promises and hopes are as follow:

1. Finish my thesis

2. Pay all my debts

3. Excersize more, so that my health improves, mostly lungs and blood pressure

4. Eat healthier, eating every day at least two portions of fruit and always eat a salad to start the lunch. (These mainly to improve my digestive system and my circulation, as I've been experiencing a few blood pressure disorders in the last days. Nothing serious and nothing a good, fresh meal can't fix.)

Won't be easy, but keeping promises never is. If they are easy to keep, they ain't real purposes or promises.

Regarding the salad, here in Bulgaria I learned of a very simple and delicious salad. It's made out of cucumber, tomato, pepper bell, zuccini, black olives and feta cheese. It's amazing! It's their traditional salad. We had it yesterdays as part of the New Year's Eve diner (for which there was a 6€ reservation fee, and the final amount is still unclear). The diner had four courses:

1. A salad - the traditional one (I ate half of it)

2. A hot apperitizer, made or a fish filet with some sauce. It was stinky but I ate 3/4 of it.

3. Main Course, composed by two pieces of meat, one some sort of pork and another chicken, bathed in their special sauce, different for each piece of meat, some garnish salad and mini carrots. I ate two bites of the pork, for I was stuffed to capacity.

4. Cheesecake. I ate half of it.

Yes, I'm a very, very bad eater. I have very little apetite. I don't mean to be rude, but please, don't kill me with food! A lot of people, my dear mother in law included, seem to believe that if you don't eat everything on the plate you are being mean to them and telling them the food is bad. The food can be bad, but people should realize that not everybody eats the same amount of food, and that some of us can get full with a few bites. The waitress did look at me funny, but you know what? I'm the guest, so you can frot it very much. I'm not putting my health in risk for anyone's sake.

This New Year there was dancing from a dance group and then some "everybody dance together like the locals" thing, which I just looked at and didn't really felt like joining the party. There was champaigne at midnight and the Bulgarian Anthem. Then we went back to our room and had our very private New Year's and First Anniversary celebration.

I loved our stay here, and even though there was a mildly sad point yesterday during our conversation (I questioned Kari rhetorically about what's so good about being together and why shall anyoen choose being in a relationship rather than living in sweet freedom and independence. He took it to heart), it was filled to the brim with "I love you"-s and "I'm so happy to be with you"-s. Kari is a good guy.

Now, for finishing, because I still have to pack and be down and paying in 40 minutes, here are some of the pictures of yesterday's trip.

Some pretty building we saw. Should know more, but we don't.

Banya Basha Minaret, from the Ottoman occupacy. It's still working.

Mineral Bath - A public bath

St. Nicholai "The Miracle Worker"'s Church. Built in time with the Alexander Nevski Church

Alexander Nevski Church and Square.

The Church was built in the Memory of the 200 000 Russian soldiers

that died in the war to free Bulgaria from the Turks.

Close to the Alexander Nevski Church.

We should know, but we don't.

Kari at the ONDA Cafe heating up his hands a little.

Me at the ONDA Cafe

Guard of the Presidency being changed.

They do this change every hour.