Lyudmila sends me her greetings from Belarus which, according to her is, "an oasis in the heart of Europe. Not by chance is it called 'blue-eyed.'"
I just looked on a map to see where Belarus is [postcrossing: improving my shoddy geographical sense one postcard at a time] and I have to quibble with that "heart of Europe" statement. Of course, that's because I came of age where Europe ended at the border of the USSR which is, of course, no more. So in that old mental map, Belarus is very much outside the heart of Europe. Then I looked up a map of Europe and got a EU one. Even in that map, Belarus is on the very edge and not in Europe (because it's not an EU member state). So perhaps that saying is asperational. I know those former USSR republics mostly didn't want to be members of said Soviet Empire.
Anyway, Lyudmila is 41 and has a husband and two sons--teenagers. She says, "I am happy with my family."
Fun fact I learned from my geography project: Russia is one of the few countries that is actually split between continents (Europe and Asia). Even so, most of it is on the Asian continent, so I would agree that Belarus as the "heart of Europe" is a bit of a stretch. Perhaps it's meant in more of a metaphorical sense than a physical sense? Also, neat card!
ReplyDeleteYou have not gotten many actual wildlife postcards, in my recollection. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to find wildlife on the postcard, because USA-centric me kind of thinks that only the USA (and perhaps Africa) has wildlife. This is why USA-centric me needs to exchanged postcards with people throughout the world. Because of course there is wildlife in Belarus.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think the same way! Funny, isn't it?!?!
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