Month: June 2024

TIME Magazine: You’re Vacationing All Wrong!

And in connection to the article about having a proper rest, here is one more TIme Magazine article, this one is about vacationing. The part I would disagree is the statement that it’s more fun to plan than to go on vacation. Maybe it works this way for somebody, and probably it worked that way for me many years ago, but not anymore 🙂

Anyway, here is the link, and the article!

You’re Vacationing All Wrong. Here’s How to Have a Truly Restful Break

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TIME Magazin: It’s Time to Take a Break

I am approaching the end of one of the best vacations I ever had, and a much -needed one! Thinking about what made is so awesome, I couldn’t ignore this article in Time Magazine: 4 Signs Your Body Is Telling You It’s Time to Take a Break. I agree with most of the observations, especially about being prone to colds. As for the short breaks, I am not so sure, it does not really work for me. And when life is really stressful, as it was for almost a month before my vacation, short breaks do not matter.

As always, see the complete article below.

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Narva

Narva is a border city, and nowadays, this border does not look peaceful. People who compare Tallinn and Narva might consider the latter one “depressed,” but that’s only if they never saw Ivangorod, a Russian city on the other side of the bridge. Boris saw both because he crossed this border a couple of times, and he says the contrast is striking.

You can see people on the bridge crossing by feet, or rather standing waiting in line at that point.

I took this picture when we visited the Narva Fortress. We had some time before the train back to Tallinn, and we went there. it turned out that there was some special occasion: they were reopening the city museum after some remodeling, so there was a ribbon cutting, official speeches, and TW news, We didn’t have enough time to see the museum, so we just walked around and saw the outdoor exhibit.

The exhibit showing the devastating effect of the Soviet “liberation” of Narva

I want to see more of that fortress, and I want to visit this museum and dine in their restaurant. I will come back!

Meanwhile In Chicago

I am still on my vacation (for two more days), but today, I am recalling my escorting shift on June 15. It was early morning, and only our shift lead and I were there. Our shift lead brought some food for those who didn’t have time to have breakfast at home, as she always does, and as always, the food was inside the lobby.

We just got outside when a young Latinex man approached us and started to ask about something. It took us a couple of minutes until we realized that he was asking whether we had any food. B. (our shift lead) asked: do you want a banana? He nodded, and she rushed inside. I saw her putting together a parcel with bananas and bagels, adding some cream -cheese to bagels and adding more bagels. When she finally emerged and handed the parcel to a young man, he burst into “thank you” and “god bless you.”

B. and I started to talk about Venezuelans who had been kicked out of the shelters just before that. She talked about their wounded dignity and how men can’t stand the situation when women find work, and they don’t. I keep wondering what happened with the promise to issue work permits for Venezuelans. We have enough open positions in the Department of Streets and Sanitation or on CTA. Why not let people work, make money, and make the city cleaner? That’s what I thought when Biden announced the path to citizenship. I mean, it’s all great, but that will be “sometime,” and what about now? Why are they not allowed to work?! I can’t understand that…

Narva-Joesuu

The pine forest was very much like I remembered it, but it looks way healthier now that there are fewer people wandering around.

I also found the house where we rented the rooms for summer! I remembered the address, and I went right there, and I saw the roof of the house from the far, and I couldn’t believe it was that house, but it was! There are just a couple of houses on that street that were not replaced by the new ones sometime within these 50+ years, and that house was one of them!

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