Mirror, mirror on the wall...

The other day mom and I were walking through the shops and something caught my eye - envelopes for making wishes (about that a little later). I forgot how superstitious the Russians are. When I was growing up, we beleived in bad luck brought by black cats, broken or cracked mirrors, having to return home because you forgot something (retracing your steps), spilling salt, celebrating something ahead of its due date, sitting on a corner of a table, and many, many more.

So now I feel like people took it to a new level over the last 10 years - there are a lot of eastern cultures inspired items people buy and gift each other for good luck, such as special envelopes that make your wishes put inside of them come true, little ceramic statues of "7 gods of happiness" that bring you... happiness (see example one of them here), replica of chinese coins which guarantee you'll always have money in your wallet, miniature egyptian pyramids that reduce harmful energy of computer screens and television, etc. I asked mom if people really believe in all of that, which she answered by pulling out three chinese coins tied with a red string from her wallet - apparently the same coins that my sister carries in hers. It will be interesting to see what the next waive will bring.

I'm online!

I am finally hooked up to the internet! Expect to see more posts and updates in the next day or two. Let me tell you, there is plenty to write about and I'll try to post pictures when I can. Glad to be back online, that sure makes the world whole a lot smaller...