delirious jet lagged greetings to all..…I have had trouble emailing, so bear with me dear ones while I sort it out (thanks Stacey for your emails and yes Yvette I have received your posts and emails)…I have established a new email address which you can email me at while I’m away… toulakarayannis@yahoo.com so give that a go and maybe we can have more luck and then I can tell you the one on one sordid details of this journey!!!
despite my pre-departure trepidation of the flight, it was (dare I say it) pleasant…one thing about being a born again pessimist-stroke-grumpy-old woman, is that when good things happen they feel like manor from heaven…on the first leg of the journey to Kuala Lumpur I sat next to a woman who traveled to certain places in the world praying for world peace and healing…great workI think but she lost me when she started to talk about how we were all born with original sin…she moved to another seat very soon after... I think she realized that I wasn’t going to buy it readily…her move meant that I got 2 seats to myself…now that was mighty Christian of her…
from KL to Amsterdam I sat next to a man who lived in Canberra and was traveling to Geneva to work for the United Nations…I asked him what he did at the United Nations and said that he was trying to save the world…I told him he wasn’t doing a very good job and that he should try harder…despite my comment he, unlike my earlier companion did not move seats…we chatted for hours and it dawned on me that I have not been that still just talking leisurely with someone for what seemed like years…I loved it…I loved the company, I loved the challenge of the content which ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, I loved the generosity and openness of spirit but most of all I loved the kindness of a stranger…it only occurred to us that we hadn’t even exchanged names till we were disembarking…it left me strangely full and peaceful…
I arrived in Stockholm to the sunny greetings of my friends and Stockholm Challenge organizers Ulla and Earl…what a luxury to be picked up at an airport after an infinite flight…one thing Ulla and Earl are not is shy and retiring, so a marathon yabba-yabba fest ensued…from a quite pyjama clad existence in a sedate Eastern suburb of Melbourne to a manic Swedish trialogue (no dialogue, just three very fiery talkers)…they managed to engage me long enough to go to bed at the same time as the Swedish natives, at which I was rather cocky about, only to find myself awake several hours later in a brightly lit room…it was 5am in the morning and then remembered that Sweden is now moving towards it summer midnight sun phase where there are more light hours than dark…odd phenomenon for this Grecian antipodean…
...today I accompanied Ulla and Earl to their day long round of meetings with a Swedish events management company, students working on the Stockholm Challenge, organizers from the City of Stockholm and then a visit to an entrepreneur colleague of Ulla’s…we are now home and all catching up with some form of computer work…we’re a happening, hip and wired lot up here…but now the real effects of jet lag settle over me like a surreal veil…I zoom in and out of reality…(mind you those who know me would say that has nothing to do with jet lag!)…so now this tired and grumpy old gal will weave her way to a vacant bed and slumber till I can slumber no more…
Remember to use my new traveling email address if you want to email…toulakarayannis@yahoo.com ...can I also encourage the technically more adventurers amongst you to register with Skype, so we can chat directly for free!!!! You can register at http://www.skype.com/helloagain.html I just called my mother on her landline (this costs little) and she sounded incredibly clear…so please try it and see if we can talk directly to each other…like I said Skype to Skype calls are free…now that’s a great price…when you register let me now and I’ll add you to my contacts list and you vice-versa…
So for now my lovelies I bid you adieu till next we meet/speak…
god love your reading bits
xxxtoul@
