An experience from Kosice

I just needed a study break, so here´s what I promised in the last post - an experience I had in Kosice. It was on the evening of the 28^th around 5 o´clock - it was already dark and it was snowing, the streets were almost empty. I walked from the city centre to the flat (which takes approx. 30min), alone, wrapped in my warm winter clothes, nice music of Lunik and the beautiful voice of Jael in my ear - basically in my whole head…
Walking through those dark, empty, snowy streets I started to think. And there were two major thoughts which went through my head. First one: human mind. I was really amazed, how the human brain has the abitlity process things very fast and learn immediately. I mean I arrived around 24 hours earlier in a place, around 1´000km from home. In a city I haven´t been before where they speak a language I don´t know. But still from a look on a city map and the memorizing of the near neighbourhood I was able to find my way home immediately - even with walking the whole way. I´m amazed how humans can absorb stimuli with their eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin, process the stimulus somehow, sometimes connect it to earlier experiences and store the information. I can´t imagine how life would be without this ability…

The second thought I had that evening is something completely different but still connected to Kosice: Friends! How great is it to have friends?! Why I had this thought in Slovakia? Simple: I met a Slovakian trainee in Germany - Ludmila. She´s originally from the area of Kosice and is studying there. When I found out that NYE will be in this city I dropped her some lines in an email and told her that maybe I´ll come to Kosice. She was so excited, you could already see it when you read her emails. In the end we finally could meet on 27^th although not for such a long time but still better than nothing. And she even gave me the keys to her flat and let me, Dan & Kate stay in the flat for the whole time. Thank you so much for that Ludmila!!
But the point is not, that it´s great to have friends, because you can stay in their places when you´re there! But because a friend is someone, you can share memories with, someone you can have fun with. But as well someone with whom you can talk seriously, someone who helps you even someone who realizes you need help although you didn´t say anything! A friend of mine once wrote me the following:

The most beautiful thing about friendship is not an outstretched hand,
It´s not a friendly smile or the human contact,
but it´s the substantial feeling to have someone who believes in you and who trusts you!

Making friends is sometimes easy, sometimes hard. But really keep in the touch with them seems even harder - but it´s possible! Some time ago, after around 2 months without hearing from most of the people I spent a lot of time with in Germany, I got an email from one of them, complaining a bit that she haven´t heard from me since I left. I thought: She´s so true, I didn´t have contact with many of them! So I decided to write to almost everyone instead of just replying to her. A mail-chain started and I was so amazed - because it wasn´t a chain with emails of the kind “send this to 15 friends, and…” but it was a chain of people sharing things with each other! And some people even wrote: Simon, thank you so much for this email! Therefore: The time is now! It´s a time to make friends! But most of all: It´s a time to keep friends!

Queen once sang the following:

Friends will be friends,
When you're in need of love they give care and attention.
Friends will be friends,
When you're through with life and all hope is lost,
Hold out your hand, cause friends will be friends
right to the end!