Friday, May 30, 2008

bye bye penny :(

so there is obviously a downside to all the people coming here, and that is that people have to go... :(

one of my closest friends during my time of service here so far left last night, and we took her out to the airport to say good bye. also got to spend some time with her on wednesday night, and took some really awesome shots which will come up later.

life goes on, and somehow one gets used to it after a while, but it's always sad when people leave. hopefully I'll see her soon again.

here's a nice piece of poetry she left on our fridge:


I'll miss you penny.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

pilgrims are here! and more people coming!

so after two months of no pilgrims and other visitors (due to the International Convention), they are finally back. to my great joy, I have close friends in this group, plus family. my uncle is here with wife and one of their "kids" (she's got children older than me...), and it's great seeing them again after five years.

and best of all, there are even more people coming! my brother is coming tomorrow on a visit for two weeks, and a few others will be here on 3-day visits as the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh is commemorated tomorrow. it's going to be exciting to see everyone again, really looking forward to it!

and I also just found out that one of my second cousins will be coming here to serve from january! that's going to be really exciting, and I promised to take good care of her :)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

it's been a long week

last week turned out to be a really long one. we basically had to set up and present what I've been working on these past 6-7 months... and the evening before the first presentation we found out some things weren't working exactly the way we thought or expected them to. turned out to be very stressful to say the least. but now in the end it seems to be going quite well, with some last-minute fixes during and over the weekend, and today too. I think we got it now.

in other news, yesterday turned out to be an interesting one-year anniversary kinda thingie. if you remember or read this post about my first night of pilgrimage, this is written there:

took a walk down to the top of the terraces, couldn't be let in since we had no pilgrimage badges, so just stood out there, took a few pictures, and talked to the security guard up there. it was a nice chat...

now, I obviously didn't expect anything to happen in relation to that at any time and place. but surprisingly, we actually had a repeat of this last night. exactly a year later, on the same saturday evening (although 24th instead of 26th), at the same place, with the same security guard, I decided to volunteer in security. we had a lot of fun together, and there were also some pilgrims we didn't let in... :)

proof: the grass *is* greener on the other side!

took this picture outside today, and I guess this is the final proof that the grass actually is greener on the other side:


;)

Saturday, May 24, 2008

not a badger, not a mushroom...

... but a snake!

was walking in the hallway in our office, and just thought something seemed wrong... it looked like someone had left a leaf or something inside:


on closer inspection, I realized that it perhaps wasn't a leaf:


the curled up snake!


Monday, May 19, 2008

I'm an idealist healer!

actually describes me pretty well:

Healers present a calm and serene face to the world, and can seem shy, even distant around others. But inside they're anything but serene, having a capacity for personal caring rarely found in the other types. Healers care deeply about the inner life of a few special persons, or about a favorite cause in the world at large. And their great passion is to heal the conflicts that trouble individuals, or that divide groups, and thus to bring wholeness, or health, to themselves, their loved ones, and their community.

Healers have a profound sense of idealism that comes from a strong personal sense of right and wrong. They conceive of the world as an ethical, honorable place, full of wondrous possibilities and potential goods. In fact, to understand Healers, we must understand that their deep commitment to the positive and the good is almost boundless and selfless, inspiring them to make extraordinary sacrifices for someone or something they believe in. Set off from the rest of humanity by their privacy and scarcity (around one percent of the population), Healers can feel even more isolated in the purity of their idealism.

Also, Healers might well feel a sense of separation because of their often misunderstood childhood. Healers live a fantasy-filled childhood-they are the prince or princess of fairy tales-an attitude which, sadly, is frowned upon, or even punished, by many parents. With parents who want them to get their head out of the clouds, Healers begin to believe they are bad to be so fanciful, so dreamy, and can come to see themselves as ugly ducklings. In truth, they are quite OK just as they are, only different from most others-swans reared in a family of ducks.

At work, Healers are adaptable, welcome new ideas and new information, are patient with complicated situations, but impatient with routine details. Healers are keenly aware of people and their feelings, and relate well with most others. Because of their deep-seated reserve, however, they can work quite happily alone. When making decisions, Healers follow their heart not their head, which means they can make errors of fact, but seldom of feeling. They have a natural interest in scholarly activities and demonstrate, like the other Idealists, a remarkable facility with language. They have a gift for interpreting stories, as well as for creating them, and thus often write in lyric, poetic fashion. Frequently they hear a call to go forth into the world and help others, a call they seem ready to answer, even if they must sacrifice their own comfort.


I did my test on facebook (here is the app), you can read more here and take the test here. read more on wikipedia.

we are the champions

Sunday, May 18, 2008

stretching

I have realized warming up and stretching are heavily underestimated activities - they actually help against strains and pulls! I used to do it every night before going to sleep, but stopped when I got here (probably because I don't exercise as much as I used to). but now I've decided to start it again, because it only takes so little time (less than 5 minutes) and the benefits are definitely worth it. I only do a few sets of muscles, depending on my mood: calves, hamstrings, quadriceps, and occasionally the groin. 20 seconds per leg and stretch, so it's a total of less than 3 minutes. well worth it!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

it's not sunday...

... but here's my pic of the week anyways:

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

I'd love this!

okay, golf is not a sport... but this is:


football golf! that's like the most awesome thing ever! read here in swedish, but still, so cool. wish I could go and play!

obviously there should be a time limit in how long you can take to play a whole/the course, because otherwise it'll just be too lazy. add some requirements to that and I might even consider golf to be a sport. but for now? nah...

it was fun while it lasted

so I finally got my corn rows:


and unfortunately took them out only two days later:



why? because they were already going up... gonna let my hair grow a little bit more, and then we'll see if they'll stay longer. should be good fun!

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

sweden's great!

at least if you're a mother... sweden ranked as the world's best place for mothers, according to Save the Children. read a little bit more here.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Convention is over

time to recover now. read all about it here. I'll probably write more later.