Interesting Facts and Things Happened To Me In 2012 You May Didn't Known

Today's morning I came to work to clean my office and throw away old scrap. Do you think I was done with the cleaning? NO! I crossed with some things I can't leave for the moment. I understood that I had to clean my head first.

Thoughts and remembrances were floating in my mind and I wrote a list with bright and interesting things happened to me in 2012.

Things Happened To Me In 2012

That You May Be Interested to Know

I celebrated the new 2012 year in the forest in Mongol yurt. That was a real Mongol tent which is a private eco-museum now. Read my story with photographs about the night published at 'Sakhalin Tourism' website. It's in Russian so use Google translation to get in.

One day in January 2012 I got an email from a guy asking me to sell my website ~~www.vkusnoeda.com~~ to rebrand it into a russian portal about carving. The deal was 2300$. I refused.

In February I met Marina, a Feng Shui advisor. She made me business and private life analysis. My opinion about Feng Shui is It Works and Helps. By the way, Marina speaks English.

Feng Shui apple carving

The year 2012 was full of artistic projects. I was involved in Ikebana activities. I embed new carving ideas and made large fruit arrangements for events. Lots of work, challenges and satisfactions.

My spring ikebana display in March 2012

Contests.

Samsung Global Blogger, my hope and my failure.

Watermelon Carving Contest, 50$ win

Soccer ball carved in watermelon won 50$ Amazon giftcard

Someday I visited a DVD movie shop. That day I was borred with my life, I was looking for something, I didn't know what I was looking for, indeed. A shop adviser gave me the Game of Thrones season 1, He said that I would like it. He was sooo right! I am looking forward to watching the season 3 now. Game of Thrones DVD has taken a special box together with other favorite movies of mine as 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', 'Barbarella', 'Lord of The Rings' and 'Lexx'.

The other movie passion of 2012 is Japanese anime. I bought a collection of Hayao Miyazaki (Ghibly studio). Just love them!

September 2012. My trip to Vladivostok, a beautiful city located on hills between two bays, in the Far East of Russia. It was my first visit to the city. Vladivostok has all romantic things beloved by me. They are sea, ships and beautiful bridges. I shared photos of the trip in my Facebook album.

Bridge over bay named Zolotoy Rog, Vladivostok

Intersting facts about Vladivostok:

a. Yul Brynner (Hollywood actor, starring in 'Magnificent Seven') was born in Vladivostok. The Brynners house still exists and it is in the city center.

b. APEC Summit 2012 was hosted by Russia in Vladivostok in September. I visited the city just after that.

c. Eleanor Pray story.

Eleanor Pray was an american. She came to Russian outpost named Vladivostok together with her husband for a purpose of family trading business in 1894. Eleanor fell in love with a strange but beautiful place. Every day she sent letters to her american home with stories about her daily life, russian traditions and town news. She loved photographing and often attached photos to her stories. Eleanor lived in Vladivostok for a long period and experienced good and tough times along with russian, japanese, chinese and korean people residing in the town. Wars, revolutions and wars again. Finally she left to China and then to USA.
Many years after that in our days letters of Eleanor have been found by her granddaughter. The young woman did a great job to collect all letters and photographs and published them in a book. The book is published in English and Russian, one copy can be found in the Library of Congress in the USA.

I heard about Eleanor Pray a couple of years ago from a TV report. I got much impressed by her story. So Eleanor Pray was in my To-Do List when I went to Vladivostok. I managed to find the book with her letters and photographs (it can be found at Arsenjev Museum and a publishing house book store right by the museum in Vladivostok, just in case FYI). I learned from the book that the Prays house still exists too and a guided tour is provided to there. I was much surprised to learn that the house was located at the same area of the place I stayed. According to a map the Prays house was just 'around a corner'. I went for exciting search and... couldn't get it. There was no paths to the supposed place. I found a brick wall which I ment as a private area. Houses in Vladivostok are built on hill terraces. The terraces are connected with stairs, it makes streets being complicated. So if you want to get the Prays house one day you are better to take a guided tour.

Carving Contest 2012, a first contest organized in my blog, in November 2012. Trully the Contest was a great and important event. I got many visitors in my page, new friends and close relations. Especially with Temple of Thai (award sponsor) and Samsam Bubbleman (guest judge).

Honestly speaking my relations with blogger friends became warmer and closer this year. I feel it's important for us.