A Nice Surprise

Carole

The postal carrier just chucked a *real letter* through my mailslot today from my friend Carole in Switzerland! Real letters are so noticeable because they are as rare as rollerskates nowadays. But I had to write Carole a letter a while ago because she doesn't have a computer at home and no internet at the office -- she lives in an old flat in La Chaux-de-Fonds and the phone is literally fused into the wall so it would take an electrician to re-wire the place for modern jacks. No dial-up, and forget about ADSL. Can't even get cable. So, no computer... cos what's the point without internet?

I really like Carole's place, though, it's spacious and comfortable and homey, but we have a good laugh about the quirks of living in a building that's older than any museum in Canada. There are things so easily taken for granted living here, in modern buildings. First of all, her washing machine is super-old and hyperkinetic -- I had to basically sit on it while it was running so it wouldn't shimmy across the floor and pull the rubber tube off from the kitchen tap. I tried reading a magazine while waiting for it to do its thing, but the machine shook so violently during the spin cycle I nearly fell off! Also, of course, there is no elevator in her building, and she's at least on the sixth floor, which doesn't sound very high until you account for the high ceilings. You feel like you've done a session on the Stairmaster by the time you reach her front door. Which is not a bad thing... people in North America are fatter and lazier as a result of our mod cons and reliance on vehicles. Big refrigerators means more food at our disposal without making as many trips to the grocery store, and we're eating food that's designed to have a longer shelf life. Elevators are ubiquitous. I'm off on a tangent...

Anyway, so I got this letter today, and it's a nice respite from the usual stuff that comes through my letter slot. I don't get much junk mail, but I'm on the mailing list of probably every charitable organization in Canada. They also phone me, but I have to tell them my university tuition has doubled over the course of 16 months, and it's creating a situation where I have to monitor my expenses, but they are welcome to contact me again next year. It's bad enough that I've had to shrink down my volunteer time to nearly zilch this year because of the increasing workload, but I'm going to have to cut back on my charitable donations this year. Drastically.

Tomorrow night is World Vision Canada's sponsor night at the Radisson Hotel in Richmond. I'm looking forward to hearing about their projects in Honduras and meeting some other child sponsors. I've been sponsoring a child in Brazil since 1997 who is now 10 years old, but I want to feel a stronger connection to my sponsorship than a passive occurrence of a monthly charge on my account.